Learning From the Walls

My mom always had this quote hanging in our kitchen growing up:

Without meaning to, I probably read it at least a million times before I became a grownup. While eating my Fruit Loops at breakfast, while "paying attention" as my dad tried to explain my algebra homework, while chatting on the phone, or just hanging out at the kitchen table. I spent a lot of time reading the walls in that kitchen, and over the years, I internalized the message. Anyone who knows me can tell you my own home is definitely more "playful" than clean.

We also had this hanging in bathroom:

Honestly, I can't say I've mastered that one yet. (In fact, I'm usually wildly dog-paddling and gasping for air.) But I'll always remember the words and I constantly strive to be a work hard and stay calm type of gal.

My early experience with reading the walls is the reason for the many not-so-subliminal messages hanging everywhere in my own home.  Sure, it makes cute decor, but really I hang them with high hopes that my boys will soak them up and carry them off into their own lives when they're big.

Letters, numbers and colors in my little one's room...

Simple messages and reminders...

Reminders about our beliefs and our traditions... (This one hung in my Grandparents' living room and I always loved it.)

And my greatest hopes for my boys...

To some extent, as my kids grow and my decorating tastes change the words will evolve. (ABC's and 123's will be replaced with more grown-up thoughts to ponder.)  In fact, I just purchased this one, this one is next, and I'm sure a few more of these smart thoughts will eventually find their way to a wall or the fridge.

Raising smart, motivated and inspiring kids obviously takes more than simply posting smart, motivational and inspirational quotes on the wall. Modeling those ideas in action is one of our many jobs as parents. (Although their house is very tidy now, my parents still play more than they clean.)

So that's my plan. With a few words on the wall and lots of time to practice and ponder, I'm hoping that at least a few of these messages will securely lodge themselves in my boys' brains before they head off to set up their own homes and raise their own kids.

I'm not the only person with this words-on-the-wall obsession. Which meaningful messages are you displaying at home? Do you post family rules? Lyrics from songs? I'd love to see 'em! If you have a link, post it in the comments and I'll pin some here.

By the way, sorry I haven't posted here in, like, forever. My absence has something to do with the quotes above. I've been busy just playing, holding my new sweet niece, heading back to my home town to help my sister launch her amazing 3rd book at our former high school, paddling like the devil to get some projects off my to-do list, and yes, even doing a bit of spring cleaning.

Learning Through Play Spring Edition

If you took advantage of this offer, thank you! This special deal is now closed, but you can still purchase any product individually by clicking on the links below.

It's the Spring Edition of Learning Through Play!

Brought to you by Melitsa of Raising Playful Tots and Cathy of NurtureStore, along with some other talented bloggers, teachers and authors, the Spring Learning Through Play special offer is now open. (From April 8th to April 14th only.) We've put together a package of playful learning resources worth over $130 – available to you for $9.99. This super spring deal includes e-books, printables and an on-line course; and you'll find ideas on sensory play, outdoor play, art and crafts, positive parenting, learning to read and write, math explorations and lots more. -Plenty to use with your children all spring and summer long!

Details...

• When: Available only between April 8th and April 14th. 
• What: $130 worth of creative and practical resources for $9.99. Check out the detailed list of included products below.
• How: After you purchase you'll get an instant download of each resource so you can start playing right away.

Here are the goods...

1. The Garden Classroom by Cathy James of NurtureStore: The Garden Classroom brings you fifty-two creative and playful outdoor activities, giving you a whole year’s worth of garden-based projects to enjoy with your children. Value $9.99  
2. ScienceArts by MaryAnn Kohl of Process Art and Treasures of Childhood:  ScienceArts inspires children to explore the world of science through art with open-ended experiments. 141 pages of art experiments amaze and delight children as they discover the magic of crystals, light, constellations, plants and more. All scientific reactions and concepts explained. Value $9.99  
3. The Playful Family by Shawn Fink of Awesomely Awake: The Playful Family encourages and challenges busy parents to slow down and spend quality time together with their children, regardless of their age. With nearly 100 ways to connect, engage and play together this easy-to-read e-book is a must-have resource for any parent interested in becoming more playful and happy while raising children. Value $4.99  
4. Connecting Family through Creative Play e-Workshop by Gina Kimmel of Connecting Family and Seoul and Katherine Lockett of Creative Playhouse: Connecting Family through Creative Play is a 30 day e-Workshop designed for families who wish to connect with their children on a daily basis through simple, creative play. These ideas are perfect for parents looking to find a balance between the everyday responsibilities and connecting with your child in meaningful ways that fit into your family’s daily rhythm. You will receive daily messages from us in your inbox with inspirations to play, ideas for connection, and resources to help spark your imagination, including access to a private Facebook community. {Please note this course is running April 29th 2013 to May 28th 2013 only and you must register on the course before May 15th 2013} Value $25  
5. Alphabet Glue: Volumes Nine through Eleven by Annie Riechmann of Bird and Little Bird: Alphabet Glue is a downloadable e-magazine for families who love books, and aims to help more families to incorporate creativity, imagination and all things literary into their everyday routines. Each issue contains leveled book recommendations organized by theme, bookmaking tutorials, story-building activities, and hands-on projects that complement favorite titles in children's literature or teach basic elements of science. Value $11  
6. Alphabet Summer Learning Pack by Erin Wing of Small Types (Me!) The Alphabet Summer Learning Pack is a collection of summer learning ideas organized around an "A to Z" theme. Use these resources to prevent the dreaded "summer slide" and build fun learning routines into your summer plans. Ideas are simple and flexible, so families can pick and choose the activities that work for their particular child and schedule. They provide opportunities to practice key literacy and math skills, and they leave plenty of time for lemonade stands and sand castles. Value $7  
7. Pink and Green Mama Crafts: Backyard FUN by MaryLea Harris of Pink and Green Mama: Backyard FUN brings you 13 Art Lessons and Craftivities to create your own Backyard Fun Camp at home or in your classroom with step-by-step instructions, supply lists, and full color photos. The supplies for these fun and easy projects will come from your own art and craft stash, garage, hardware store, and recycling bin! Value $10  
8. Alphabet Crafts by Allison McDonald of No Time For Flash Cards: Alphabet Crafts lets you create the alphabet from A-Z with fun crafts that promote more than just letter recognition. Kids will love making their own alphabet and forget that they are learning in the process. With 5 exclusive crafts never published on No Time For Flash Cards. Value $8 
9. Alphabet Games by Malia Hollowell of Playdough to Plato: The Alphabet Mega Pack includes 12 hands-on games that teach children to recognize the names and sounds of letters - skills that are important for learning how to read. Each activity includes easy to follow parent instructions and helpful photos. The games are addictively fun for kids AND their families! Value $6  
10. Raising a Creative Kid: Simple Strategies for Igniting and Nurturing that Creative Spark by Jillian Riley of A Mom with a Lesson Plan: Raising a Creative Kid will help you raise a creative thinker by simply setting up a creative environment, using intentional language, and nurturing mistakes. This easy read is full tips and tricks that will help you transform your environment into a creativity growth center. Value $7.99 
11. 5 Minute Reading Tricks for Raising Rockstar Readers by Amy Mascott of Teach Mama: Fifteen 5-minute reading tricks that cover everything from teaching names to what parents should say during read-alouds, from learning sight words to reading fluently. It’s about rolling out the red carpet for our rockstar readers. Now. Whomever you are, wherever you are, no matter how busy you are. Value $10   
12. Parenting with Positive Guidance: Building Discipline from the Inside Out by Amanda Morgan of Not Just Cute: Parenting with Positive Guidance gives you the tools for understanding your child’s behavior and effectively teaching and guiding your child toward increased self-control while fostering a healthy parent-child relationship. 100+ pages of information you can start using today! Value $9 
13. Treasure Basket Play by Melitsa Avila of Raising Playful Tots: Treasure Basket Play lets you learn step by step how to make your own natural sensory baby play activity with a Treasure Basket. Includes case studies and interview with a sensory play expert on using Treasure Baskets. Value $8.95  
14. Play Grow Learn Issue 2 by Christie Burnett of Childhood 101: Issue 2 of Play Grow Learn is packed full of playful fun with 55 pages and over 100 activity ideas. Includes ideas for creating family stories with internationally acclaimed author Hazel Edwards, an exclusive full color, printable sea themed bingo game, 12 pages of active and outdoor play ideas, recipes, art, literacy, creativity, construction, imaginative play, books and more! Value $4  
15. Spring Literacy and Math Activities and Games by Christine Lanyon of Scribble Doodle and Draw: Spring Literacy and Math Activities and Games includes 15 fun learning center ideas. Skills worked on include, addition to 8, patterns, counting to 20, measurement, number sequencing, abc order, writing 3 letter words, rhyming, syllables, compound words and more. Value $8

*Please note: You can buy the bundle on any device, including computer, Apple, Android and portable devices. Downloads will be sent to the e-mail address associated with your Paypal account. The delivery system gives you 9 attempts at download within 120 hours, so you can buy now and do the download a little later if you prefer. We recommend you use a computer to download and then share to your mobile devices.

Springtime Stick a Story

Here's an easy little DIY storytelling project to celebrate all things chirpy, tweety and springy: Springtime Stick-a-Story!

Kids can use the pictures and story words to tell their own spring stories. If you have a magnetic whiteboard, write words to complete the story. If you're working on the fridge or another non-writable magnetic surface, just place the pictures and word magnets, then tell the stories orally, filling in the details as you go.

Great for brainstorming new stories or retelling old ones!

Materials:

• Adhesive magnet roll (1 in.) or any adhesive magnet sheet
• Stick-a-Story printable (Available for free download here.) Or let the kids draw and write their own pictures and story words/phrases.
• Scissors

Just print or make images and words, cut, stick and play!

A few tips:

• Make sure your magnet roll is completely flat before attaching paper to cut down on paper creases. (As you can see, some of my longer pieces creased before I figured this out.) Printing on card stock also helps with this.
• If you are planning to use with markers on a whiteboard, you may want to laminate the paper before attaching to the magnets so you can wipe off any stray marks.

Don't want to do magnets? You can print on adhesive paper to make stickers, or just print on regular paper to cut and paste on construction paper or in a blank book.

Have fun sticking some springtime stories!

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Speaking of spring, have you heard about this super fun spring deal?  Don't miss it!

Green and Lucky

Happy March! I love this month! Buds on trees, the smell of spring, the wearin' of the green, my parents' Reuben sandwiches, Easter, Read Across America week and Dr. Seuss!

Here's my lineup of green and lucky literacy ideas to try this month:

To Read...

• Like a Windy Day  by Frank Asch
• Everything Spring (Picture the Seasons)  by Jill Esbaum
• The Luckiest St. Patrick's Day Ever  by Teddy Slater
• In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb by Marion Dane Bauer   

To Do...

• Create a green scene: Make a leprechaun habitat out of grass and twigs, Lego, or whatever you like. Grab (or make) some characters and act out a story.
• Do a limerick scavenger hunt to talk about a favorite style of poetry, follow clues and have some festive fun.
• Make a lucky banner or any other kind of banner!
• Literally read across America this week. Challenge your family to find something to read about each state! 
• Try one of the activities from Seussville.

To Write...
I'm a big believer in teaching my boys to make their own luck in life. Hence, the Make Your Own Luck book! Here's a free printable if you want to make your very own luck book.  :)

What are your favorite ways to sow the seeds of literacy in March?


FYI: Book links are Amazon affiliate links.
Clipart: www.misstiina.com

Read All Over

Hey, remember this goofy old riddle?

Q: What's black and white and red all over?
A: The newspaper!

(The "red" should obviously be "read" in that sentence, but I wasn't sure how I should type it since I didn't want to give away the riddle. Hmm.)

Anyway, since this month is about the color red, with Valentine's Day and hearts and all, that little riddle popped into my head... So I shared it with my kids... So that lead to a family newspaper! (And a newspaper template for you!)

Even if you can't follow my convoluted logic above, you may want to try writing a family newspaper. It's a fun way to review the week and report the happenings from around the world or in your home. Use the family newspaper to update Dad after a business trip, to share with grandparents, or to just save as a keepsake to remember the little and big important events that happened during this week in history.

You can download the printable here. The download includes a blank template to write on and a version to use with PowerPoint. (Just highlight sample text and type your own, add images, and customize to suit your own family.) There's also a prewriting sheet to help you get a plan together before writing.

For more ideas about writing a family newspaper, check out this post from Playful Learning, or this one from Imagination Soup.  I also just read about this super cool online tool for creating your own newspaper articles. (Via the super cool new Organized Classroom Magazine!)

Ok, that's the scoop! Report back and let me know what you think.

Ready for Valentine's Day

Thanks to the Internet, our valentines are all packed and ready to head off to school tomorrow. Whew!

No doubt you've seen the millions of adorable valentine printables floating around on Pinterest this season. I love that it's so easy to just pick, print and sign something cute for free. And with all the choices, it was hard to choose.

This year, we went with these arrows from Sweet Muffin Suite and these cute critters from Secret Agent Josephine.

My oldest son had to write a personal note to each child in his class, so we made up these little note cards to use instead of traditional valentines. Click here for your own copy. -Not for Valentine's Day since yours are probably all packed and ready to go too, but maybe to accompany birthday presents, to write nice notes at home, or just because.

Have a L-O-V-E-L-Y day tomorrow!

Super Ball Games

Happy Super Bowl Sunday! In my house, the boys will be gathered around the TV all day, and I'll be watching commercials and catching up on a few projects. (Yay for football!)

In the sporty spirit, here are a few fun literacy ideas for the ball players in your house.

Sight Word Super Ball: Type up your child's sight words or difficult-to-master spelling words and stick them on an old ball. (Or just write them with a permanent marker.) Play a game of catch. Each catcher says the word closest to his thumb. His partner spells the word. Continue until lots of words are caught and spelled!

*Note: In retrospect I shouldn't have chosen a ball with holes. (It quickly became hard/annoying to find spots to stick words.) Since my kids would have freaked if I covered their Seahawks ball in spelling words, this old, unloved ball at the bottom of our ball bin had to do the trick. :)

Also try these super ideas...
Alphabet Ball Games from Hands on As We Grow
Build-a-Sight-Word Basketball: Free on Teachers Pay Teachers
Reading Comprehension Beach Ball from I Can Teach My Child
Sight Word Soccer: Free on Teachers Pay Teachers
Toss and Answer from Growing Book by Book

And since we're on the subject of SUPER, most sellers on Teachers Pay Teachers are having super sales today. All of my products are on sale, including my super sporty Oh Boy Literacy Pack. Enter promo code SUPER for discounts up to 28%.

Have a super day!