Skeleton Hiccups!

hic
hic
hic

Skeleton can't get rid of his annoying hiccups no matter what he does in the adorable book by Margery Cuyler- Skeleton hiccups. This is such a fun book and perfect for this time of year.

Luckily, Skeleton has a good friend, Ghost, who is there to help him solve his problem. Will Skeleton get rid of his hiccups? If so, how does Ghost help him? Read Skeleton hiccups to find out and then have fun doing one of these skeleton activities that I found on the web.

Mr. Bones: My 5 year old tried to help me with this online activity. I wasn't very good at putting Mr. Bones back together again! This is a fun activity, probably best for older children, that also teaches the names of the different bones in the body.

Macaroni skeleton at kid's domain

SkeletonEducator Guide Awesome Educator's Guide- great information for older children as well as a neat macaroni skeleton activity. Links to lots of skeleton resources and activities.

3D Skeleton Mobile- Love this one! I need to start collecting boxes though if I want to do this- Halloween is just around the corner.

How about a fun Halloween song? To download the spooky song, Scary Skeleton from Boo, Cackle, Trick or Treat by Sue Schnitzer,visit freekidsmusic.com.

Have a spooky and fun day!

Jen

Wordless Wednesday: My Little Witches

Peanut: Little witch in Orange and Black



Sunshine: Little witch in Black and Purple

The girls had fun marching in a local Halloween Parade. They liked the goody bags even more.

Happy Wordless Wednesday! Be sure to visit 5 Minutes for Mom and Frugal Fritzie for more W.W.

Jen

Love the Pumpkin Farm!

Isn't this time of year just lovely? The pumpkins, the warm cider, the changing leaves- I just love it. Yesterday, we had a family day out at the pumpkin farm. The weather couldn't have been better.


Our festivities included a hayride, pumpkin picking, corn maze, face painting, and more! Take a peek:


The Hayride


My Sunshine Girl with her pumpkin!



Pumpkin just lookin' cute.



"Did the girls have to pick out pumpkins this large?" Poor Dad.


Is this pony smiling?? Peanut's first pony ride- yeah!


Sunshine enjoying her pony ride.



Smile!

Happy Fall from our family to yours!

Jen

Fly Away with Me!

Tis the season, I guess. The season of coughs, sneezes, runny noses, and fevers. My girls have been struggling this week with bad head colds and have watched way too much TV. Even so, their creative juices are still flowing. Last night, they placed two chairs in front of a big map that I have posted on the wall. They were pretending that they were flying to different countries around the world. It was so cute hearing them pretend that they were on an airplane and talking about their adventures around the World.
"Let's fly to Spain."
"I want to go to China."

I love that they are learning Geography as they play. Geography hasn't always been one of my favorite subjects, so I try to find fun ways to introduce them to other countries and cultures. If we are reading for example and the book talks about the Eiffel Tower, we venture over to our map and find France.

Well, Poor Peanut was back on the couch today with a fever. Her Pediatrician thinks that she has the flu. She did watch quite a lot of TV, but in between naps, I read few books, too.

Hoping my creative girlies are back to their normal selves soon.

Take Care,

Jen

Halloween Costumes and More!

Halloween is right around the corner, so if you haven't done so already, you better get moving on your child's costume! Luckily, I found my kid's costumes weeks ago for very cheap at a resale shop- two little witches. If you are good at making homemade costumes (which I am not!) and are looking for something unique, why not take a look at the great resources available at PBS Parents. Recently, I was contacted by PBS with great information to share with my readers from costume patterns, book recommendations to recipe tips. Check it out below!

"Still looking for a Halloween costume for the kids? PBS Parents is offering a free exclusive costume pattern for "Buddy," the T-Rex star from the new hit PBS KIDS series DINOSAUR TRAIN. The full-body sewing pattern, designed by the artists of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, is available in two sizes for ages 3 to 5. You can click here to access the pattern: http://www.pbs.org/parents/dinosaurtrain/costume/

"You may also want to check out the new Craft Apparent page on PBS Parents with columns on budget-friendly costume ideas and how parents and children can make a fun, festive Halloween treat bag together. In addition, parents can find tips and articles on having a fun and safe Halloween, alternative trick-or-treat giveaways, themed recipes, activities and Halloween book recommendations."

Parents can also get great ideas and tips for a safe and happy Halloween from Twitter.com/PBSParents and from other parents on Facebook/PBSParents."

If you get a chance to check out the resources above, let me know what you think. Also,if your child dresses up for Halloween, what will they be wearing this year?

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Jen

The Magic Pumpkin

As I was searching online to find more information about the book The Magic Pumpkin by Lucille E. Sette, I couldn't find much. Then I realized of course not- the book was written in 1984! To find this classic, you may have to search through the archives at your local library. It is well worth it, though. We especially love the ending- which I won't tell you, of course.

Here's a sneak peek of one of our favorite Halloween stories: Old Mr. Squiggs is extremely grouchy. He hates everyone, especially children and animals. He even enjoys scaring kids on Halloween. Each year he carves his pumpkin to look scary and ugly and then he waits to listen to the children scream. One year, things change when he picks a very special pumpkin from the patch- a magic pumpkin. Read to find out what happens to mean,old Mr. Squiggs!

I adore my girls smiles as we get to the end of the story. Don't you just love a good ending?

Happy Halloween Reading!

Jen

Halloween with Arthur

We've been busy reading many stories about pumpkins, trick-or-treating, and autumn, so I thought it would be fun to share a few of our favorites over the next couple of weeks before Halloween.

Recently, we enjoyed reading Arthur's Halloween by Marc Brown. Arthur is stuck taking his little sister D.W. trick or treating with his friends. Read to find out what happens when they approach a very spooky looking house. This character is also one thier favorite characters featured on the awesome television station- PBS Kids!

For more Halloween fun with Arthur, visit Arthur's website: Halloween: Arthur. Play games with your kids or print out Halloween coloring pages and Masks.

After reading,check out your local video store and rent your favorite Arthur episode. Maybe you'll get lucky and be able to find the Halloween episode.


For older children, Marc Brown writes a series of Chapter Books. For this time of year, I would recommend Arthur and the Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club. For independent readers, it is listed at a 3.4 reading level. This book can also be used for a great bedtime read-a-loud.





And I say - Hey! (Hey!)
What a wonderful kind of day
If we could learn to work and play
And get along with each other.

I couldn't resist ending with part of the Arthur theme song. A good lesson for all of us. Enjoy your day!

Jen

Halloween Fun: Oldies, but Goodies!

Just a couple of fun ideas from last Halloween that the girls enjoyed!

Glitter Spider Webs













Ghostly Fun!












Have a great day!

Jen

Math fun with Candy Corn!

Each fall, the kids and I get excited when we see candy corn on the shelves. While eating a fun, sugary treat with the kids, why not incorporate a little bit of math! Here are a couple of ideas to do math with candy corn:

Estimation: Fill small, clear cups with different amounts of candy corn. Estimate the number in each cup. Count and compare guesses with actual count.

Addition and subtraction: 3 candy corn + 4 candy corn = 7 candy corn. This is great for preschoolers and kindergartners to practice beginning facts. Manipulations are great for this age group.
Older children can use a larger amount of candy corn and create their own story problems. For example: Johnny had 10 pieces of candy corn. He shared 2 with Sally and 3 with Tom. How many candy corn does he have left? Have fun solving your child's problems. My kids love to try and stump me!

Sorting for the littlest learner: Mix up regular candy corn and Indian corn and have your child sort them into 2 categories. For more than 2 categories, mix with other types of candies.

Patterns: Again, mix regular candy corn with Indian corn and have your child follow patterns. With two different candies, practice abab pattern and abba patterns. Add in another type of candy to practice abc patterns.

Measurement: How many candy corns long is the toy? the book? etc.

For more ideas, visit Candy Corn Math.


Funny that I'm posting these ideas today, because I was eating candy corn at 8:00 this morning. Weird pregnancy craving! 11 more weeks left and I'll get to meet the little guy! Wondering if he likes the candy corn- probably why he's so active this morning!

Have a great day! If you have any ideas for candy corn, please share!

Jen

Spelling Fun!

Now that my daughter is in second grade, I noticed that some of her spelling words are starting to challenge her. Being that she loves to use technology to learn, I put her on Spelling City to help her practice her weekly word list.

Just type in your child's spelling list and walla! The site will generate activities and games with your child's personal list. We were introduced to this site last year when my daughter was in Cyberschool. She was so excited to get on it again and practice her words. There is even a feature on the site that will teach the words or test your child. This has been helpful this week in evaluating the words that she needed to focus on more while studying.


Let me know if you think this site would be useful for your child or your students.

Happy Spelling!

Jen