literature day

I can vividly remember back when I was in kindergarten, walking through the classrooms of my elementary school dressed in my Halloween costume. Halloween was pretty much the highlight of my life at the age of 5, and I remember snaking around the desks as we moved from one classroom to the next, with the older kids clapping.

I had no idea until I had kids of my own, that many schools don't allow costumes on Halloween anymore. At the school we used to attend, Halloween was just a regular day at school. No costumes, no parties, no special treats or games. 

Last year we switched to a new charter school in our area, and they have a great way of celebrating Halloween. They call it "Literature Day" and they have the kids dress up as a character from a book they are reading. The teachers dress up as well and rotate into each others classrooms throughout the day to read the book they have chosen. 

In the morning, they have a serpentine parade where all the kids line up outside and every class gets to walk around and show off their costumes while holding up their book. My favorite part was how ALL the kids were involved, from the cute little kindergarteners to the big eighth graders, they high-fived each other and cheered as each class walked by. Most of the costumes were homemade, pulled together from things around the house, and it felt so much nicer to me than the usual store bought character costumes you see on Halloween.

Bee wanted to be Pippi Longstocking. We adore the illustrations in Lauren Child's edition. We happened to have a striped shirt and some striped tights and I cut a few squares of fabric and pinned them to her jumper for patches. A stuffed monkey made a perfect Mr. Nilsson, Pippi's pet monkey. 

The hair is really what makes Pippi unique. We took a wire hanger and bent it straight, then parted her hair in the middle and braided each side around the wire hanger. (It's a little awkward to work around the wire but you'll get the hang of it.) Secure with rubber bands and cut any excess wire at the ends. Then bend the wire up on each side so the braids curl up. Since Bee's hair is brown you couldn't really see the wire hanger at all. We drew some freckles on her cheeks with brown eyeliner.

C decided to go as Harry Potter since we were right in the middle of Book 1 last Halloween. Luckily his cousin had a costume already and all we had to provide was the shirt. (No weapons are allowed at school, but I guess wands don't count?)

Do schools around the country still celebrate Halloween? I am wondering this "no costumes at school" rule is just in Southern California? I understand that not every holiday needs to be celebrated in school, but I think this is a great way to celebrate reading and Halloween at the same time. 

back to school dinner

Inspired by others who have similar traditions, we have started having a Back to School dinner the first night of the new school year. It helps to get the kids excited about school and to give the family some time to talk about each child and what they have to look forward to. This year we added a theme for the school year, something we want to focus on as a family throughout the coming year. Our theme for this year is: "Be a Builder".

We took some time to explain to the kids what this means. We built a little tower of blocks and talked about all the things we could do to help "Be a Builder". How it takes time and effort to build something great. How we want to be people who build things, not tear things down. We talked about how to help build others, both at home and at school. How we need each person's help to build our family. And most importantly, how to build their brains (did anyone else read Nurture Shock? There is a great chapter about teaching kids that their brains are a muscle that needs to be worked... not that some kids are just born smart).

I printed out "Be a Builder" signs and placed them on each plate, and asked each person to put their sign somewhere in their room to help them remember our theme. The kids have it on their bulletin boards, I have mine on my bathroom mirror. I also printed a big version for the door to the garage, so the kids see it as they walk out the door. To be honest, I think it is helping me the most. It can be hard to Be a Builder, to remember to build my children up (rather than focus on all their little mistakes)... but I am trying.

We had pulled pork sandwiches for dinner with some homemade coleslaw, and corn on the cob and watermelon. The most exciting part of dinner for the kids was the shrimp cocktail, which won a lot of points for presentation (i.e. hanging them on the side of a glass bowl). My 7 year old said "I've seen this before... like in movies, but I never knew we could do it in real life!!". I followed Ina's recipe for Roasted Shrimp Cocktail, and though the cocktail sauce was a little spicy for the kids, the shrimp were a big part of making it feel like a "special" dinner. Instead of boiling the shrimp (or buying it pre-cooked at the store), you roast the shrimp with a little olive oil and salt and pepper.. simple and delicious and sure to grace our table again sometime in the near future.

preschool co-op

Bee went to a traditional preschool last year and loved it, but when I heard some friends were organizing a preschool co-op, I decided to try it. We've been having a Monday morning playgroup with these same kids for two years now, so all the children are buddies, all the moms are well acquainted with each child's personality, and the kids feel really comfortable at each home. (And I should mention that all of the moms in this co-op are pretty amazing, so I knew Bee was in good hands.)

A few details, in case you're interested:

-There are five children in our co-op, and all are 4 to 5 years old and starting kindergarten next Fall. (I think 5 kids is the perfect size for a class).

-We teach in two week rotations, two days a week for three hours, rotating houses. (It makes for a busy two weeks, but once you're in the preschool mode it's nice to stay in it for a while and then you have a little break before you teach again a few months later.)

-We follow a pretty detailed schedule so that the structure of the day stays the same no matter who is teaching. The kids are really into the order of things, and can usually tell you what we're going to do next.

-We're basing our curriculum on children's books. A new book each week which helps you figure out your art or science projects. For example, I just taught Where the Wild Things Are, so during the week we made Wild Thing masks, talked about manners and how we are not Wild Things, learned all about seeds and how things grow (like the jungle growing in Max's room), and for music had a wild rumpus dance party.

Last week we focused on Thanksgiving, and I chose the book The Story of the Pilgrims. It's not a complete history lesson, but it was perfect for this age group. During the week we learned about the pilgrims and the indians (aka Native Americans), focused on being thankful, baked pumpkin muffins, made Thankful trees with paper leaves, and dressed up as pilgrims and indians for a feast.

I remembered these paper bag vests from an old Halloween costume we did at Martha Stewart Kids, and the kids had fun fringing the bottoms and decorating their vests. We strung indian necklaces (cheerios on some yarn) and made feather headbands (grosgrain ribbon with a slit cut in it for a feather).

We also made these super easy pilgrim bonnets and hats, so the children could decide whether they wanted to be a pilgrim or an indian for our feast.

The kids and I are in charge of the decorations for the kids table at Grandma and Grandpa's this year, and I'm thinking these would be awfully cute at each place setting. Bee and C will have way too much fun chasing their cousins around while we finish dinner.

Family nearby, good food, happy kids.. all things I am truly thankful for.

honest abe

I hope you're enjoying a lovely President's Day weekend. Bee brought this log cabin home from preschool last week and proceeded to dazzle us with her knowledge of Abraham Lincoln. Not bad for a four year old...

"This is Abraham Lincoln's house. He wears a big black hat and he's really really tall. He was very poor when he was little, so he lived in a house made of pretzels. Then he died. But he never ever told a lie, so they put his picture on the penny."

Awesome.

this week's library book

We just returned from our first Back to School night, so this week's library book seems especially appropriate for this time of year. Miss Nelson is Missing! by Harry Allard and James Marshall. (And I just realized that Mr. Marshall is also the creator of another favorite series of mine, George and Martha.)

Miss Nelson is a sweet soft spoken teacher who has lost control of her classroom. The children don't obey any of the rules, they shout in class and won't sit in their seats, so Miss Nelson does not come back to school the next day.

"Great!" say the children. "Now we can really be terrible!" They wad up their spit balls and start making paper airplanes. But then their new substitute teacher arrives.

Miss Viola Swamp is a different kind of teacher, mean and impatient. She barks orders at the children. "Where is Miss Nelson?" they ask. "Never mind that," yells Miss Swamp. "Open those arithmetic books!"

After a few days of Miss Swamp's harsh tutelage, the children are desperate for Miss Nelson. They try to find out what has happened to their sweet teacher. And a few days later, she returns. Happy to have their teacher back, the children are now perfectly behaved. Only Miss Nelson knows the real identity of Miss Viola Swamp, but smart kids who read this book sometimes figure it out as well.

I read in this interview that the character of Miss Viola Swamp is based on a teacher that illustrator James Marshall had as a child. Mr. Marshall recalls... "When Harry (the author) and I were doing Miss Nelson is Missing, we devised the scenario so that a wicked substitute arrives on the scene. And Harry said, “I want you to draw the most awful teacher you ever had.” Well, it took me five seconds to get Viola Swamp down. She’s the spitting image of my second grade teacher, who is still alive in San Antonio, Texas. In April I saw her in the supermarket in San Antonio. I was pushing a cart and around the corner came Viola Swamp! And I felt my knees weaken. There she is! She has seen the book and she finds it very amusing, so I don’t feel too terrible." So teachers, watch out!

school bag

C started kindergarten last week, and his teacher informed all the parents on the first day of school that she prefers bags to backpacks, especially for kindergarteners who are still learning the art of zippers. (And they have these big manila folders the kids bring home which don't fit very well in a backpack.) Clearly a bag needed to be made.

Forgive the wrinkles, this bag is clearly already in use. I used my favorite bag pattern from Lotta's book Simple Sewing, with gray canvas on the bottom and some Heather Ross fabric on top (a heavier home dec line called Rabbits and Race Cars). C picked the fabric out himself, what five year old wouldn't want a bag with race cars on it? I love the little tow trucks and ambulances as well. (Thank you Heather for making a race car print that doesn't look like a Nascar ad, I love you for it.)

I added the letter C using the applique technique Heather teaches in Weekend Sewing, where you sew the letter to lightweight fusible interfacing and then turn it inside out. (Visit the Purl Bee for a better explanation of how this works, they used it on their Thanksgiving table runner last year.) C is not the easiest letter to turn, but I think this technique is much easier than traditional applique, though I still need a little practice.

I love seeing my son as he runs off to class, his school bag on one arm and his lunchbox in the other. So far kindergarten is a big hit. I was a little nervous sending him off to school without any friends (he didn't know anyone in his class). C is a friendly boy, but he can be a little shy around new faces. But he's doing just fine. "I made a new friend at school today Mom," he reports back to me at the end of the day. "That's great buddy.. how did you do it?" "Well I just did what you said Mom... I said Hi! My name is C. What's your name? And it worked!" I love this kid.

and so it begins

Forgive my absence here, we've had a busy couple of weeks. We took a road trip with the kids to celebrate the last week of summer and got back just in time for one last perfect day at the beach before school started on Tuesday. We've barely had time to unpack our bags.

It has been a week of many firsts. Bee's first day of preschool, C's first day of kindergarten, Bee's first dance class (which she's taking with her cousin, and yes, those are tap shoes! Can you think of anything more exciting than a bunch of three year old's tapping their hearts out?)

And C is starting soccer. He picked up his uniform last night and has his first game this Saturday, it should be entertaining, especially because he has no idea how to actually play soccer.

And one more first... my friends Angie and Kristin of Blonde Designs have started their own blog. We were all art directors at Martha Stewart at the same time, Angie on Living, Kristin on Weddings, myself on the Kids magazine. But we actually met back in college when we went to study abroad in London. These girls are super talented, and I've already been inspired by their blog, as you can see from the photos above. Welcome friends!

learning time

I've been trying to keep our summer schedule pretty loose, it is summer after all. We've had a few family reunions and a few weeks of swimming lessons, but other than that we're free to spend the day as we see fit (which usually includes the beach or the pool, or both).

I do think we need a little bit of structure, so we've been having a specific time set aside as solo "learning time" each day. C, who is five, plays with his alphabet puppets or practices his letters (I bought this large writing pad when it was on sale at Pottery Barn Kids, it's the perfect size for his big handwriting). Bee, my three year old, plays with matching games or animal flashcards. I get to catch up on email for a few minutes. It's really a win all the way around. I have found that the kids will sit still a bit more easily if learning time is accompanied by a snack of some sort, cookies and milk work nicely. I'm hoping this practice will get them ready for the days I see coming when we're all gathered around the dining room table working on three hours of homework! (When does that start nowadays? second grade?)

As I prepare to send C into the public school system in a few weeks, I've been reading up on what I can do to get him ready for kindergarten. It seems the most important thing is to incorporate learning moments whenever we can throughout our day: at the grocery store, sitting at the beach, driving in the car, etc. Every outing can be a chance to learn.

So how are you getting your kids ready for school? Any important tips I should know before I send my little boy off to kindergarten?