Piggies by Audrey and Don Wood

Today we read one of our favorite books - Piggies by Audrey and Don Wood.  It's such a playful book with lovely full-of-detail illustrations.  When we finished reading, I gave Ella some piggies (that I found in a February 1999 issue of Mailbox magazine) to watercolor.  As we waited for them to dry, we painted her hand and made a handprint.  Once the watercolor paint dried, Ella added details to the pigs with colored pencils.  We cut the pigs out and added them to the fingers on her handprint.

house of cards

I have such fond childhood memories of creating elaborate card houses all over my grandmother's living room floor with my brother.  Yesterday we made card houses from card stock . . .  I pre-cut colored cardstock into 6 x 3 sheets and then cut half inch slits around the edges.  Ella decorated the cards with stickers (you could also use markers or paint) before building her house.

the dollar store comes through again . . .

I ran into the Dollar Tree for a tablecloth and came upon these cute wooden plaques with ribbons attached for hanging.

Ella and I looked through magazines for pinks and reds to cut out and collage.  Once we had a nice pile we applied a glue and water mixture to the surface and then started adding the magazine pieces.

Ella applied a second coat of glue/water and we let it dry overnight.  The next morning, we added a photo of Ella and she spelled out her name with alphabet stickers.  One more coat of glue & water finished it off.  And for only $1 she has a cute name plaque to hang on her door :)

still likes bugs

find huge beetle in backyard
gently carry beetle into house
using computer, find out it is a Hercules Beetle (reassure mom it is not a supersized cockroach)
examine beetle closely (with mom hovering over your shoulder)
sketch beetle
release back into the wild (even though you'd love to keep it - your sweet heart knows it belongs there)

Would I recommend Literacy Beginnings?

I am continuing to enjoy the book (and the comments of others reading the book out in blog-land).  It makes really valid points (preschool classrooms should be print-rich, young children learn through play but that doesn't mean you should shy away from literacy, etc) and I think that I already do most of the things they advocate.  It really feels like it's being written for someone who is new to teaching but I'm getting some new ideas.  I wish that I had this as a resource for my teachers last year when I was working as a director.  Even though I'm moving on to something new next year, I think I'll drop a copy off at my old center!

the view out my window

our summer rain is here.  grey skies.  all day.  and we are so accustomed to the sun.

i realized that this summer would be noisy.  and dirty.  and hard.  but i shut off the part of my brain that processes all of that and retreated into some inner world where i can actually see how beautiful our new little house is going to be in the fall.  i have trained myself to live in the moment so it's hard to go back to my old ways.

and while some things change - some stay the same.  always.  my girl loves loves loves little creatures.  this guy wanted to stay with her i think.

Literacy Beginnings: A Prekindergarten Handbook

I decided to take part in the book study going on over at Pre-K pages.  I love school - learning - anything to do with books and writing & can't think of a better way to spend my summer than devoting a bit of my time to getting my brain ready for the fall.  Oh, and the smell of brownies baking in my new oven helped my concentration as I read the first 5 chapters this morning.  Not loving my new reading glasses yet, though.  I think they make me dizzy but it could just be me resisting admitting that I need them.