Fun Stuff for Earth Day

~ Dirt Girl World ~
Wes (and I) are very excited about the premiere of Dirt Girl World, a new tv series that encourages children to "go out and get grubby". 



For more info check out the Dirt Girl's website.  For activities, games, coloring pages, and videos check out Dirt Girl World's page on the Sprout website.

~ Free eBooks ~

Lose that Remote and Seize the Day!
TV Turnoff Week Overlaps with Earth Day this Year

Mount Pleasant, SC (April 13, 2010) – Join Sylvan Dell in celebrating national TV Turnoff Week April 19-25 and Earth Day, April 22. Every year this week challenges families to turn off their television sets and find an alternate form of entertainment. Earth Day, celebrating its 40^th year, happens to fall right in the middle of TV Turnoff Week this year and provides a perfect excuse to turn off the television and learn about the earth.

So, instead of channel surfing, do something good for the Earth. Here are some suggestions:

• Visit an animal rehabilitation center near you. Ask what types of animals do they help? Are any of these animals endangered or threatened? What can you do to help?
• Take a trip to the zoo or your local aquarium. Turn it into a learning activity. Draw or make a list of the ways the animals are alike or different.
• Go hiking in a nature reserve. Collect leaves, shells and flower petals. Draw a tree or make a nature journal.
• Visit a nature museum. Quiz yourself after, what do you remember? Write down what you learned.
• Read a book like “Where Should Turtle Be?” or “What’s New At the Zoo?” Sylvan Dell books are great educational resources that promote awareness and appreciation for animals and the environment. 

 Sylvan Dell is participating by giving schools, libraries and families free access to their 50 eBooks for the week of April 19-25.  More than 40 of these eBooks explore Earth Day related themes including marine animals, habitats, wildlife, zoo animals, earth and physical science, birds, and astronomy. So, before deciding to turn on the TV, read an eBook and learn about the wonders of the Earth!

For more information about Earth Day, visit http://www.earthday.net/earthday2010
For more information about “TV Turnoff Week,” visit: http://tvturnoff.org/
For more information about Sylvan Dell Publishing, visit: http://SylvanDellPublishing.com
eBook access instructions are located on the Sylvan Dell website at: http://www.sylvandellpublishing.com/TVTurnOffWeek.htm

~ Art Activities to Celebrate Earth Day ~

Good Earth Art: Environmental Art for Kids (Bright Ideas for Learning)
Over two hundred projects for painting and drawing, sculpture and mobiles, collage and printing, weaving and crafts, and handmade art supplies emphasize recycling and natural materials.

 ~ Great Earth Day Links ~
Planet Pals
Earth Day Crafts ~ Kaboose
Craft Projects for Kids ~ Family Fun
Games, Activities, and Craft Ideas ~ National Geographic Kids
Celebrating Learning and Sneaking in Some Learning ~ Teach Mama
Win a Kid's Vegetable Growing Kit from Terracycle ~ Mommy Niri

F is for Fisherman Bear

Wes loves Little Bear (An I Can Read Book) and the cartoon based on this book. One of his favorite episodes is Fisherman Bear's Big Catch.  In this episode Little Bear and Fisherman Bear go fishing and they meet an Octopus who takes Fisherman Bear to tea.  He is fascinated with  "Fisherman Bear" and even named his favorite teddy bear after him.  So when we stopped by Build-a-Bear a couple of weekends ago, we just had to get this fishing outfit...

So cute!

Wes and Fisherman Bear go fishing (via a cardboard box "boat").

Notice the Tinkertoy paddles.

Our Fisherman Bear craft.

So proud!

More Little Bear...

Little Bear Printables

Little Bear Coloring Pages and Mask

Little Bear: Preschool Thinking Adventures (Jewel Case)

Little Cooks with Books: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

My children love the book Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.  They think it is hilarious and like to discuss what they wish would fall from the sky.  The girls heard from their friends at school that they movie was great, so we bought it this weekend.  It was really cute, and  all three children enjoyed it (which is a miracle).

After spending a weekend in Chewandswallow, it only made since to make meatballs for our Little Cooks with Books cooking lesson, so that is exactly what we did.  This cooking lesson went much better than our lesson last weekend.  The girls took turns and cooperated nicely.  Best of all the meatballs turned out perfectly!  Sam and Gracen were so proud to serve them at dinner (with spaghetti marinara).

My Goals for This Lesson ~

• Practice reading a recipe.
• Discuss abbreviations commonly used in recipes (For example:  T for tablespoon and tsp for teaspoon).
• Measuring dry ingredients.
• Cracking eggs.
• Roll the meat into balls.  

The Recipe ~  This recipe came from Mommy's Kitchen.

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs ground beef (85% lean)
2 - eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 T. dried minced onion (We used fresh onion.)
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 tsp pepper

 

 Cutting an onion with our Curious Chef Large Nylon Knife and Green Pepper Cutting Board.

  

 Gracen sautes some onion.

 

Squishing all of the ingredients together.

  

Scooping meatballs with our Curious Chef Ice Cream Scoop.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.

 

The finished product.

The Results ~  The girls did very well with all of the goals.  The only part with which they needed assistance was making the meatballs a consistent size.  I gave them a scoop to use and that helped.  I also used the opportunity to explain that when they make meatballs or cookies they all have to be the same size so that they will cook evenly and at the same rate.  I told them that if they had some big meatballs and some little ones then the little ones would be done way before the big ones.  This made sense to them.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Activities and Printables

• Printables for Grades 2-4 
• Discussion Questions Grades 1-3
• Weather Activities Pre-K and Kindergarten 
• Pre-K Weather Printables
• On-line Game
• Coloring Pages 
• Spaghetti and Meatball Hat Craft
• We Can All Be Meteorologists Craft
  
  

Curious Chef offers real kitchen utensils for small hands.  Their products are available as individual pieces, Gift Sets, and Build-A-Kitchen Sets.  Curious Chef generously sent my children and I the following products to review:  Ice Cream Scoop, Non-Stick Rolling Pin, 3 Piece Nylon Knife Set, and the Green Pepper Cutting Board.  My children are truly enjoying these utensils.  They like being able to safely cut, chop, and roll with easy-to-use products.  We will be using these products in many of our Little Cooks with Books lessons.

Check out our other Little Cooks with Books lessons!

Little Cooks with Books: If You Give a Pig a Pancake

Tomorrow is National Pancake Day. To celebrate, I thought we should do our Little Cooks with Books lesson on Laura Numeroff's If You Give a Pig a Pancake.  This book about an adorable, but demanding, piglet, is one of our favorites.  When Wes was 2 I must have read it at least 1,000 times!

My intention was to have the girls take pictures of the different steps in the recipes they cook.  However, we did not do to well with this one.   Sam and Gracen had a bit of trouble working together.  They both wanted to do everything. We had to talk about taking turns and dividing up the tasks.  Hopefully, our next lesson will go a little more smoothly.

My Goals (or Objectives) for This Lesson ~

• Practice reading a recipe.
• Discuss abbreviations commonly used in recipes (For example:  T for tablespoon and tsp for teaspoon).
• Measuring dry ingredients.
• Cracking and whisking eggs.
• Flipping a pancake.

The Recipe ~ I have been working on a healthy whole wheat pancake recipe that is tasty and not too heavy.  I combined several reciepes and came up with the following one.  My kids love these, so I think I have found a keeper.
Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes

The Results ~ Overall, our first lesson went well.  Sam was able to read and comprehend the recipe easily.  She does have trouble with fractions (1/4 cup) .  We will be working on that skill.  Both girls can crack eggs with  no problems.  They can both measure dry ingredients, as well.  The skills we will need to practice are whisking eggs and flipping pancakes.  We all loved the pancakes and the book (especially Wes).

***If you aren't up for making your own pancakes, stop by IHOP tomorrow between 7am - 10pm for a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes. 

If You Give a Pig a Pancake Activities

The Itty-Bitty Bookworm - Bo's Curriculum for June Year 2 - SampleDecorate a Cake for Pig
Pick the Correct PigPig's Letter GamePrintables Classroom Activity Guide

Pancake Activity LinksBaker Activities and Printables
Pancake Ideas and Activities 

Little Cooks with Books

 Jamie Oliver's Ted Talk got me thinking about a lot of things, but one thing in particular.   American families and schools are no longer teaching children how to cook.  I really hadn't thought about his, but it is so true.  How can we expect our children to grow up and cook healthy meals for themselves (and/or their families) when we don't directly teach them how?

This truly resonates with me because I was never taught to cook.  My mother died when I was nine years old and my father never remarried.  Dad did the best he could, but with little time and money he turned to many convenience foods.  This left me with little to no skill.  Luckily, I married a man that enjoys cooking.

For most of our marriage John has done the cooking.  Yes, I am lucky.  However, when I began working from home it just made more sense for me to cook dinner.  Therefore, I decided to teach myself how to cook.  I watched lots of Food Network, read cookbooks, and experimented.  This was not the easiest way to learn.  For this reason, I have decided to consciously teach my children how to cook.

Both of my girls are used to helping me in the kitchen and most of the time they really enjoy it.  However, they usually only want to help when I am baking.  Sure it is great to know how to bake cookies and quick breads, but they aren't great "go-to" recipes.  So, starting this weekend, the kids will be preparing one dinner a week.  To make it fun, I am going to connect the dinner with a children's book.  We will read the book as a family and then the kids and I will cook the accompanying dinner.   I think this will be a fun and motivating way for them to learn how to prepare healthy, "real food" recipes.

To make it even more fun ~ the girls will be blogging about their experiences.  They will take the pictures and will write about their experiences.  I will type the post and add links when necessary.  Our blog series will be called "Little Cooks with Books".  I hope you will follow along.  It should be interesting!

Tiny Treats

 A few months ago my friend, Susana, posted about how she had bought Tiny Treats for her daughter.  Samantha enjoys crafting in the kitchen (and American Girl!), so I knew she would enjoy this book, as well.   We gave it to her for her birthday (on Christmas Eve).  I made sure that I had the ingredients necessary for a couple of the recipes because I knew she and Gracen would be very excited to make something.  Here is what they made:

 A Teeny Tiny Breakfast

Samantha's Breakfast

Gracen's Breakfast ~ She's a bit of a picky eater.

The Eggs ~ White candy melts and yellow M&Ms

The Sausages ~ Tootsie Roll Candies

 Oranges ~ Orange Candy Slices

Toast ~ Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal

The dolls (and the girls) enjoyed this oh, so nutritious breakfast.

We also made  Itty-Bitty Smores.

They were very cute. Unfortunately, the pictures did not turn out.

Graham Crackers ~ Golden Grahams Cereals

Marshmallows ~ Mini Marshmallows

Chocolate Bar ~ Chocolate Chip

*Melted in the microwave for a few seconds.

Our First Pioneer Woman Recipe

It came!  Despite the snow storm, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girlpromptly arrived on my front porch on Saturday morning.   Thank you, nice mailman!

I had been so excited to read this book, that I read the entire thing in one sitting.  All I can say is ~ LOVED IT!  It is so much more than just a cookbook. It contains beautiful photography, home-spun stories, lots of fun country clipart, and (of course) scrumptious-sounding recipes. In fact, as I read over each recipe, I realized that I want to try almost all of them.

Samantha saw me reading it and asked if she could read it when I was finished.  As soon as I finished, I handed the book over to her.  She loved all of the pictures of  Ree's horses.  She also picked out several recipes that she wants to try to make.  One was Ree's "Egg in the Hole". So, Sunday morning Samantha gave and I tried our first Pioneer Girl recipe.  

 

 

 

 

 

First Recipe:  A+

Easy to make.
Sam cooked the whole thing by herself (I helped flip). 

Very yummy.

Everyone loved it.

A Recipe for Christmas Joy: A Giveaway

This giveaway is closed.
Jen from The Happy Little Homemaker is the lucky winner.
Thanks to everyone who entered!

When life gets busy I don't always have time to visit all of the blogs (and sites) I love to follow. However, I do visit this site each and every morning. I find that the Daily Devotionals on their blog are the perfect way for me to start my days. One of my favorite contributors on this site is Marybeth Whalen. I love her style of writing and, from reading her personal blog, I find it very easy to relate to her. She seems like someone that I would be friends with "in real life".


I recently purchased A Recipe for Christmas Joy, an e-book written by Marybeth. I cannot tell you how much I love this book. It has tons of great ideas for finding peace and happiness during the busy holiday season.

Here is Marybeth's detailed overview of what you will find in her book:

* how to make Jesus the center of your Christmas
* a complete menu for Christmas dinner and a traditional New Year's Day meal (with recipe's!)
* a week by week checklist for organizing your Christmas
* helpful websites
* suggestions for easy meals on those busy nights
* how to observe advent in a way that will work for your situation
* ideas for decorating for Christmas and instructions for gifts you can make
* many tried and true recipes for Christmas goodies
* 25 ways to make the holidays holy days
* fun and creative ways to reach out to others at the holidays
* list of great Christmas read alouds for you and your children
* a week of devotions for the week between Christmas and New Year's

Marybeth has written several other books. You can check them out here . She also has a novel, titled The Mailbox, coming out in June 2010. I can't wait to check it out.

For this giveaway, Marybeth is offering one of my lucky readers a copy of A Recipe for Christmas Joy.

First Entry Requirement ~ Leave me a comment telling me about one thing that brings you joy during the holiday season.

1. Subscribe to Cheaper by the Half Dozen, Marybeth's personal blog. (1 entry)

2. Follow Marybeth on Twitter. (1 entry)

3. Subscribe to Raising Itty-Bitty Bookworms. (1 entry)

*Make sure and leave a comment after this post for each entry so I can give you all the credit you deserve (and don't forget your email address too)! Winner will be announced Friday, December 18, and contacted by email. Winner has three days to contact me at contact@ittybittybookworm.com. After three days another winner will be drawn.*

The download link will be emailed to the winner, so be sure to leave your email address in your comment entry.

C is for Cookie

This week Wes and I read Mmm, Cookies! He thought this book was hilarious and asked me to read it over and over again. If you aren't familiar with Robert Munsch, you have to check out some of his books. Kids think that they are so funny. Here are my children's Munsch favorites.

Mmm, Cookies!
A boy tricks his family with play dough cookies.

Stephanie's Ponytail (Annikins)
A little girl tries to be original by wearing unique hairstyles.


Alligator Baby
Kristen's parents just can't seem to do anything right. First they have their baby at the zoo, not in a hospital. Then, they accidentally bring home an baby alligator instead!

Here are some of the activities we did to go along with Mmm, Cookies:

1. A Cookie Jar Game - I printed the cookie jar blackline and chocolate chip cookie printables. Then I made a set of number flash cards. Wes would pull a card, identify the number, and place that amount of cookies in the cookie jar.



When Wes was finished with the game he chose a final flash card, identified the number on it, and glued that amount of cookies onto the cookie jar.


2. Play Dough Cookies - Wes made a big, huge play dough cookie and tricked his sisters with it!


3. Letter "C" Collage -Wes cut pictures of cookies out of grocery store circulars and glued them to the large "C".

Printables for C is for Cookie

*The entire Mmm, Cookies unit is part of Bo's Curriculum for December (Year 1). The download can be purchased here.

For more What My Child is Reading visit Mouse Grows Mouse Learns.
For more Learning Through Love visit My Family My Forever.

Thanks Giving

Each month my Mother-in-Law writes a seasonal poem or story for my children. They love receiving these and we keep each one in a special binder. The latest story is about Thanksgiving. My children absolutely loved it, so I thought I would share it with you. Feel free to change the names in the story and use it with your kiddos.

A Thanks Giving Story

Thanksgiving’s in a few weeks; the last leaves begin to fall,
It’s getting colder; there may be snow upon the wall.
That leads down the driveway and ends at the sidewalk.
Inside it’s cozy, and Mom is in the kitchen looking at menus for the feast.
“I want pumpkin pie,” says Sam, the dessert fan.
“Well, I want macaroni and cheese!” from Gracen, the cheese eater.
“And I want pizza!” cries Weslyn, who isn’t sure what Thanksgiving is, but knows he loves pizza with pepperoni and cheese.
“We must ask Dad, turkey or ham,” muses Mom, paging through Betty Crocker.
“Turkey! Ham!” shout the three rascals, dancing up and down and banging their hands on the counter tops.
“Mashed potatoes! Butter beans! Sweet potatoes!
"Yeah!”
“There’s more to Thanksgiving than lots of food,” reminds Mom.
“Thanks Giving. That’s what we need to remember. We should be glad that we have so much to be grateful for.”
“Let’s make a Thanks Giving list of what we are happy about.”
“Well,” says Dad, coming through the front door, “I’m just happy to be home.”
“You can help with the list.” Mom hands out paper and pencils.
“Give me a min. to rest, then I will.” Dad sits down in his favorite chair.
“Guess what? When I look around, I see something to be glad for—Darla!” says Sam.
“I’m glad for my birthday presents,” smiles Gracie.
“And I’m glad for pizza!” yells Wes.

What else will the three rascals put on their lists?

Here are the children's responses:

Samantha

Gracen

Gracen is thankful for flowers and art.

Wes

This is the book we read to go along with this activity:

Thanksgiving Is for Giving Thanks
Sure, Thanksgiving is about pilgrims and history-and turkey, of course!-but most importantly, it's a holiday all about everything that we are thankful for. Cheerful, colorful illustrations accompany the simple text in this celebration of family, friends, and the holiday that brings them all together.

Wes watched an episode of Sid the Science Kid about pulleys. Later that afternoon, we found him doing this...

You can't tell in the picture, but he tied an empty milk jug to the end of a rope, pretended to make a pulley, and hoisted it up to the top bunk. Too cute!

Sam taught Darla to "Shake".

For more What My Child is Reading visit Mouse Grows Mouse Learns.
For more Learning Through Love visit My Family My Forever.