A couple of firsts...

While the threes can be a difficult age to manage... especially in public which is where we often are... it has its perks. One of which is the many "firsts" he is experiencing and I love that we get to experience them with him and not miss a thing!

Today, we  got to experience 2 such firsts...

1. This morning, before I hoped in the shower to get ready for the day, I pulled out Caleb's writing pad, so he could enjoy drawing. He often scribbles and draws lines or circles. Sometimes he was draw a car, truck, or camper, all of which look the same... a rectangle with circles around it. With me, he likes to trace letters we are learning. This morning, completely by himself, without any prompting, he drew a picture of our family. As I opened the door and stepped out, he proudly raised his picture and said, "Look Mama! Eyes and Mouths!" I looked at the picture and immediately recognized faces and bodies arms and legs. Something he has never drawn or had an interest in drawing before. "Wow!" I exclaimed in sincere excitement. I grabbed the writing pad and carried it down the hall to brag about Caleb's picture to Daddy. He was genuinely excited too by this first that we both got to experience together. I asked Caleb whose eyes and mouths he drew and he named each one. Starting from left to right, you will see Caleb, Baby, Daddy, and Mommy.

2. On another note, we have been to the Boardwalk at Daytona beach many times. As Caleb has gotten a little older and like most boys is passionate about anything with wheels, he has always wanted to ride the go karts, but he was too small. Tonight, we visited the Boardwalk again and he reached the height requirement! Tonight was his first time to ride the go karts with Daddy. He had a blast! I know he's going to be asking to do that again... and again... and again... and again...

Have a blessed learning journey!

Happy Birthday Caleb & Happy Memorial Day to You!

We’ve been camped out at Stone Mountain for the past week enjoying the activities and getting ready for a birthday for my soon-to-be 3 year old son. I say “soon-to-be” because we had his birthday party about a week early so we could celebrate while we were near family. Sadly, due to sickness, some of the family wasn’t able to make it. While our celebration was small, just as in show business, the festivities must go on. That morning, we got his face painted, took the Skylift (a cable car) up to the top of Stone Mountain to enjoy the view, rode the train, and climbed the rope-stical course. Enough to tire the little ones out so they’d take a good nap. It worked great for Lily Anne, but Caleb was so excited about his party he had a hard time falling asleep. I kept hearing him sing, “Happy Birthday to me…” while in bed. When party time rolled around, we had a good time cooking out, eating cupcakes, and opening presents. I think Lily Anne made my Mom walk a mile up and down the hill at our campsite. After cleaning up, we headed to Memorial Lawn to view the laser show and fireworks. There, we met some new friends while waiting for the show to start. It was an exhausting day, but I hope my little man knows how special he is to us and how thankful we are that God blessed us with him. XOXOX

We are also grateful to the men and women that serve and have served our country. This weekend is a great time to celebrate with your friends and family, but it is important to remember the sacrifices that have been made so we are able to do so. 

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Hug your friends.

Kiss your loved ones.

Thank a Hero! 

Respect the Constitution. 

Honor the Commandments. 

Stand up for God.

God bless your learning journey,

What about you? How did you celebrate this holiday? I'd love to hear about the special memories you made with your family or the actions you took to honor those most deserving. Please share your stories in the comments below.

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Going Fishing... A playing game today, a learning game tomorrow!

The buzz today is all about using play time to learn. No more worksheets… No more lectures… Let’ the kids play. While I couldn’t agree more, there are some mistakes we can make in doing this. 

I have always tried to incorporate games, experiments, crafts, and activities into the learning process to keep my students engaged. I’m easily bored myself by sitting and listening to someone talk about something I don’t have any interest in, but I love to play games, so it only made sense to me to play games with my students. The problem area I have come to realize is that sometimes the mound of skills I want to teach become my focus. Yes, I still play games with my students, but I think what is missing sometimes is just the pure joy of just “playing the game.”

I found an old fishing game in my teaching boxes as I was going through things while at the house and thought I would bring it along as a fun activity on the trip. I gave Caleb and Lily Anne each a fishing pole, scattered the fish around the campsite, and showed them how to “catch” a fish. It was fun! We laughed together as he caught fish and then threw them in the air to do it again. We all just played.

Was there learning going on? Absolutely, but it wasn’t specifically any standard or concept I had an agenda to teach. It was just learning through play.  Sometimes that’s all we need to do… play.

That said, this is an oldie but a goodie activity. Even so, after a while, I could see that just playing with the fish wasn’t as engaging as our first experience. That’s when I started adding some challenge to it. I would asking him what color fish he caught and how many fish he’d caught so far to practice counting. I’d ask him to get me 3 red fish or find one that was the color of a pumpkin. With a dry erase marker, you can challenge your students with a variety of skills as listed below.

For example, for addition practice, you could write addition facts on the fish and flip them upside down so the facts are not visible. Students catch fish and solve the facts. You could write addition facts on some fish and answers on others. Flip the fish upside down and have students flip 2 fish over during a turn trying to find matches. You could even, have students catch fish for a given time (30 seconds). Then, they can write an addition problem for what they caught and even an addition story. (I caught 4 blue fish and 7 red fish. Altogether I caught 11 fish. 4 + 7 = 11)

Be creative and have fun with this activity or any other activity you choose to play with your students, but don’t forget to just let them play. Don’t skip that moment where they can just have fun. Those are learning moments too even if there’s not a specific standard attached to what you’re doing.

Have a blessed learning journey,

Checking out what growing... in our backyard!

Home Sweet Home! Even if it was only for a few days before leaving again. Our visit back home gave us a chance to take a refreshing walk around the yard and check out all the beauty from the spring growth. I was honored to receive a multitude of flowers... a gift I treasure!

There are 13 pecan trees in the backyard and it was a most beautiful sight to behold their green foliage shading our play area. It's hard to tell until later, but we hope this fall our yard will be covered with yummy Georgia pecans of all different varieties!

We also spotted green berries weighing down our blue berry bush and our raspberry plant canes are filled with white blooms!I hope we can be home to get them before the deer do this year!

The most exciting produce we found around our home was up in the pear tree! Caleb was so excited to tote around a "baby pear." He kept asking... "is it ready yet?" I told him it had to get much bigger before it was ready to eat. He knows that he gets bigger when he goes to sleep, so he says, "tomorrow be ready?" I told him, "No, it has a lot of growing to do and that will take many nights of getting bigger."

This is the first year we didn't plant a spring garden. We haven't been home enough to tend to it, but we're still excited about collecting the treats God has blessed us with this summer and fall!

What about you... have you planted a garden this year? What are you growing?

Blessings to you on your learning journey,

Laying the Foundation for Geographic Vocabulary

It’s about time… we’ve only talked about it since we first bought our camper and here we are 15 states later and we FINALLY add a map to our RV that we can use to keep track of all of our traveling and spark some interest in geography for Caleb. 

During the last Chicken Whisperer tour, which took us through 12 states in 5 weeks, Caleb began showing an interest in know where we are and where we were going. Luckily I had brought a book along with us that helped encourage that interest. Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney shows children where they stand on the map beginning in their own bedroom, moving to their house, street, city, state, country and planet. My only fault with it (for later use) is that it doesn’t mention continent. Even though maps and such geographic knowledge are way too abstract for my little man whose not yet 3, reading this book over and over has laid the foundation for later understandings and vocabulary. As I mentioned earlier, we finally purchased a United States map sticker and added it to the RV. After we placed it on the RV, we talked about the outline being our country, the United States of America. We named each state as we added them and talked about things we remember doing in those states. 

In Florida, we enjoyed the hot sun over the winter, seeing oranges on trees, making orange juice and Caleb's first out-of-the-home-teacher at the Children's Museum during Tot Time each week over a 5 month period. 

In Indiana, we went to the largest Children’s Museum in the country where we played with blocks, at the water table and used the digger machine to move dirt around. 

 
We also got to ride in the Chicken Limo and meet new friends! 

In Tennessee, we visited the aquarium where we saw penguins, fish, sharks and butterflies. 

We rode the incline railway up Lookout mountain and saw story book characters at Rock City! 

We talked about Georgia, where are home, farm and family are located.

We talked about all the fun adventures we’ve had in each state, remembering fond times together, building vocabulary, and laying the foundation for deeper geographic understandings to come in the future.

Blessing on your learning journey!

Easter Egg Multi-media Decorating

Caleb and I had a great time decorating eggs yesterday! We enjoyed experimenting with crayons, markers, watercolor paints using Q-tips, and stickers! It was fun to watch him try the different mediums to express himself artistically. I think the markers and stickers were his favorite. When he was finished, he carried the egg he decorated using markers and stickers around about half the day. It was very loved! His least favorite medium was the crayons. I think it was because he has a very light touch on the paper when using crayons and it didn't stand out as bold as the markers did. I thought the paint made a pretty design on the egg. That was my favorite, so I used that to decorate my egg. 

I hope you enjoy your Easter with your family. Remember to have fun, but don't let the commercialized version of an Easter bunny cloud the true meaning of this holiday. It's not about children receiving gifts from a bunny. It's about sharing the true meaning of love, sacrifice, and resurrection with your children and your family. The most wonderful gift any of us could receive. 

Thank you Jesus for taking my place on the cross so one day, I can be with You!

Have a blessed learning journey!