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September 23, 2015 by: Amy

{Writing Poetry} Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn

I love the changing of the seasons, and autumn is my favorite. I’m ready for cool mornings with hot drinks, collecting colorful leaves on our walks, and tromping through the pumpkin patch with my kids.

To celebrate the first day of autumn, we wrote poems about all the summery things we’ll be saying goodbye to, and all the fall things we’ll be welcoming.

Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn Poetry for Kids

This poem is written in a two-line pattern:

Goodbye, {summer thing},

Hello, {autumn thing}.

Just like a list poem, this poem can be short or long, depending on how many ideas you have. We tried to add lots of descriptive, “juicy” words to our poems, too.

If your kids get stuck thinking of things to write, you can try asking open-ended questions: What different drinks do you enjoy in summer and autumn? Are there any special holidays you can think of?

Here’s a big list of topics that might spur ideas for a seasonal poem:

  • outside activities
  • indoor activities
  • weather
  • changes in nature
  • drinks
  • meals
  • treats
  • clothes
  • holidays
  • animals
  • places to visit
  • family traditions

This is a fun poem for all ages to write – from preschoolers to adults! My girls have been writing poems (with me as their scribe) since they were around three-years-old. This could even be a helpful way for your preschooler to process the seasonal transitions in their daily activities- like exchanging flip flops for sneakers, or shorts for long pants.

Here are the poems my girls wrote:

Goodbye, Summer
Hello, Autumn
Goodbye, cool, clear swimming pool
Hello, crunchy, wet leaf piles
Goodbye, hot, bright sun
Hello, wet, misty drizzle
Goodbye, cold, sweet lemonade
Hello, chocolatey, warm hot cocoa
Goodbye, red, juicy watermelon
Hello, steaming noodle soup
Goodbye, tank tops and flip flops
Hello, fuzzy jackets and rain boots
Goodbye, Fourth of July fireworks
Hello, costumes and candy
Goodbye, bright, summer butterflies
Hello, loud, honking geese flying south
Goodbye, Marco Polo and cannonballs
Hello, pumpkin patch
Goodbye, roasting smores by the firelight
Hello, pumpkin pie!
{by Natalie}

Goodbye, cool swimming pool
Hello, crunchy leaf piles
Goodbye, refreshing lemonade
Hello, warm apple cider
Goodbye, hot summer sun
Hello, cold fall breeze
Goodbye, sweaty tank tops
Hello, cool long sleeves
Goodbye, sweet popsicles
Hello, sweet pumpkin pie
Goodbye, pretty flowers
Hello, plump pumpkins
Goodbye, singing birds
Hello, hungry squirrels
Goodbye, Independence Day
Hello, Halloween
Goodbye, tasty watermelon
Hello, warm, filling turkey
Goodbye, gooey smores
Hello, Halloween candy
Goodbye, puffy dandelions
Hello, curly pumpkin vines.
{by Delaney}

And, of course, this can be done with any seasonal transition. In fact, I think a homemade poetry book with four of these Hello, Goodbye poems, paired with illustrations, would be amazing!

December 15, 2014 by: Amy

Creative Writing Project :: Letters to Santa from the Naughty List

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My girls adore reading and writing fractured fairytales. Here’s a simple Christmas-time creative writing project that we had a lot of fun working on – writing letters to Santa from a character that might be on Santa’s naughty list. These letters are great practice for creating a character’s personality and voice, and for writing persuasively, too!

To get the creative juices flowing, we brainstormed fairytale, book, and movie characters that might be on Santa’s naughty list. Here are some of the characters we thought of:

  • Big Bad Wolf
  • Cinderella’s stepmother
  • Ursula
  • Witch from Hansel & Gretel
  • Evil Queen from Snow White
  • Maleficent
  • Captain Hook
  • The fox from The Gingerbread Man

After settling on our characters, we had to think of a way in which each character had been misunderstood or misrepresented. Maybe the Big Bad Wolf had very bad allergies and his huge sneezes blew those houses down. It’s fun to twist a traditional story around and see it from a new perspective!

Of course, these characters really are naughty, so we tried to reflect that in their wish lists added at the end of each letter. Natalie wrote about the witch from Hansel and Gretel, and the witch asks Santa for a “Kid Turkey Broiler 3000″. Cinderella’s stepmother, in Delaney’s letter, reminds Santa that some glass slippers, a fairy godmother, a fancy dress, and a handsome prince would be most welcome.

Here are both of my girls letters in full, in case you and your kids need some inspiration.

Letter to Santa from Cinderella's stepmother

Letter to Santa from the witch in Hansel & Gretel

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by John Scieszka and Dear Peter Rabbit by Alma Flor are great follow-up reads for this activity.

Let us know if you give this writing project a try!

June 3, 2014 by: Amy

Book Review: The Fantastic Family Whipple

It’s Natalie’s turn to make her blog-writing debut! She is sharing her review of a book that is now on her list of favorites. She has raved about this one so much it is on my summer reading list! Here’s Natalie…

{This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting this site!}

The Fantastic Family Whipple Book Review

The Fantastic Family Whipple by Matthew Ward

Have you ever wanted to break a world record?

This book is about the Whipple family, the family that holds the most world records, more than any other family on earth. Every Whipple has broken at least one world record, except one person – Arthur.

Suddenly, a lot of accidents start to happen, putting the lives of the Whipples in danger. Everyone is worried about a mysterious curse, but Arthur has a different idea. Two suspicious clowns appear at the Whipples’ birthday party, and Arthur thinks they are the cause.

My favorite part is when they go to the Unsafe Sports Showdown, where the family competes in events like Mother-Daughter Knife Throwing. I think this book was funny and different from what I normally read. It has interesting characters and a good plot. The Fantastic Family Whipple is one of my favorite books. I can’t wait to read the sequel that is coming out this fall!

A note from mom: I love pairing fiction and nonfiction books together for gifts – The Guinness Book of World Records is the perfect partner for The Fantastic Family Whipple. Also, my aspiring-author daughter enjoyed reading this interview with Matthew Ward. Enjoy!

April 24, 2014 by: Amy

Book Review: The Sasquatch Escape (The Imaginary Veterinary)

Please welcome my nine-year-old daughter, Delaney. I’m so thrilled that she will be sharing book reviews for kids here on the blog! She has a fun book to share with you today…take it away, Delaney!

{This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting this site!}

The Sasquatch Escape by Suzanne Selfors

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to find a real Sasquatch?

sasquatch-escape

For the summer, Ben Silverstein is sent to stay with his grandpa in boring Buttonville. Things definitely get more exciting when his grandpa’s cat brings home a baby dragon. With the help of a new friend, Pearl Petal, they take the dragon to Dr. Woo’s Worm Hospital. Except it isn’t a hospital for worms, it’s a hospital for imaginary creatures!

When Bet lets a Sasquatch free, it’s up to him and Pearl to get the Sasquatch back safely. I liked when Ben and Pearl opened the Sasquatch Catching Kit that shows how to catch a Sasquatch. My favorite character is Pearl because she is adventurous. My favorite funny part was when lots of squirrels came at the sound of the whistle in the Sasquatch Catching Kit.

The Sasquatch Escape is very funny, with a bit of fantasy and adventure. The book has a map of Buttonville and other cool illustrations. In the back of the book, it has lots of fun activities that go with the story. This is the first book in The Imaginary Veterinary series. I will definitely read others in this series!

April 14, 2013 by: Amy

Spring Audio Books for Kids

{List updated April 2013}

We love listening to audio books, especially in the car. Luckily, our library has a pretty good selection of picture book/CD sets and audio chapter books. I also like purchasing audio stories and making themed audio story playlists for the girls. We can listen to them on our iPod or burn a CD for the car. The stories I choose to buy are usually favorites that we already own in book-form.  That way, we can enjoy the pictures while listening if we choose.

Audible Kids has a bunch of children’s audio books that are only 99¢ each – I’m usually able to find lots of great choices under a dollar, which is awesome!

Here is our Spring Audio Book Playlist – each one is just 99¢!

  • Blueberries for Sal :: Robert McCloskey
  • Happy Birthday Moon :: Frank Asch
  • Make Way for Ducklings :: Robert McCloskey
  • Max’s Chocolate Chicken :: Rosemary Wells
  • Miss Rumphius :: Barbara Cooney
  • Mushroom in the Rain :: Mirra Ginsburg
  • Rechenka’s Eggs :: Patricia Polacco
  • The Caterpillar and the Polliwog :: Jack Kent
  • The Very Busy Spider :: Eric Carle
  • The Very Hungry Caterpillar :: Eric Carle

And, if you’re in the mood for a longer listen, here are a few chapter books that are perfect for spring. Chapter book prices are around $7-$15 – so, a bit pricier, but lots more to listen to!

  • Clementine and the Spring Trip :: Sara Pennypacker
  • Frog and Toad Collection :: Arnold Lobel
  • Sophie is Seven :: Dick King Smith
  • The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter
  • The Wind in the Willows :: Kenneth Grahame

{One note about the audio books from Audible — you can only burn one CD, but you can put the books on your iPods, listen on your computer, etc.}

Happy Listening!

P.S. Those Audible linkies are affiliate links – just FYI. :)

February 10, 2013 by: Amy

What We’re Reading: Poetry Books for Kids

Poetry books are getting a lot of love around our house right now. Do your kids like to listen to or read poetry? My girls love silly poems, clever word play, and poems that describe everyday things in new and interesting ways.

It only takes a couple minutes a day to share a poem together! Here are five favorites we’re digging right now:

My America: A Poetry Atlas of the United States – collected by Lee Bennett Hopkins

My state-loving daughter often has her nose in this poetry book. Pair it with a game of Scrambled States for a fun afternoon!

A Pizza the Size of the Sun – Jack Prelutsky

Jack Prelutsky’s poetry books are a staple in our house. His poems are funny, clever, and total kid-pleasers.

The Llama Who Had No Pajama: 100 Favorite Poems – Mary Ann Hoberman

This is a sweet collection of animal, family, and playtime poems.

Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices – Paul Fleischman

These poems are perfect for your budding performers! Each insect-inspired poem is meant to be read by two people. Winner of the 1989 Newbery Medal.

All the Small Poems and Fourteen More – Valerie Worth

These poems are all about finding delight in small, ordinary things. Illustrations by Natalie Babbitt are a bonus!

“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”
~ from the movie, Dead Poet’s Society

September 21, 2012 by: Amy

Edible Cells & Poetry Journals

Edible Plant and Animal Cells Activity

The hands-down highlight of this week’s learning activities was the creating (and eating!) of edible animal and plant cells. I saw this project at Se7en’s blog, and knew the girls would love it.

Edible plant cell model with jello

Using jello as our cytoplasm, we added various fruits and candies to represent some of the major components of the cell. We practiced saying tricky words, like mitochondria and nucleolus. The diagrams at Classroom Jr. were our reference for creating our cells.

We weren’t caught up in memorizing the cell components’ names and functions, but rather focused on how intricate and complicated cells are! The girls really enjoyed comparing the similarities and differences between plant and animal cells, too.

Before digging into our cells for snack time, I took photos of each one. I printed the photos and the girls labelled the cell parts. The girls are already scheming what other things they can make out of food – a map of Europe, perhaps?

Poetry Journals

We love reading poetry, and usually read poems together at least once a week (lunch time is perfect for this, or try Tuesday Teatime like Julie at Brave Writer suggests.) Last year, we chose one special poem a week to practice reading aloud fluently, plus to have more in-depth discussions about patterns, rhyming, imagery, etc. The girls would usually illustrate these poems, and we kept them in a binder, which they frequently pulled out to read.

This year, we’re trying poetry journals. We still have a poem of the week, which we glue in our journal. We’re writing a response to each poem – just a couple sentences about parts we like, interesting words we notice, or what the poem reminds us of. We’re still adding illustrations to our poems, too.

The key to making this work (and not seem like busy work), is having a rich discussion about the poem before hand. Then, the girls have plenty of ideas and material for writing.

So far, poetry journals are one of the first activities they choose to do each week. I’ll be sharing our poetry response sentence starters and favorite poets in another post soon.

Other highlights from our home school this week:

We’re almost finished with The Secret Zoo by Brian Chick. The girls are loving this fantasy/adventure book with unusual settings, friendly animals, and plenty of mystery. It was a little slow to get into, but the action picks up as the book goes on. Natalie bought the second book with her own money, just so she could be ready to read it right away when we finish.

My girls love it when I put stickers on their work – I had no idea they were still into that! I need to replenish my cute sticker supply, for sure.

The girls can’t get enough of the Schoolhouse Rock videos (we watch them on You Tube). From The Tale of Mr. Morton (subject/predicate) to Do the Circulation, these are a fun, light-hearted way to introduce a topic.

Feel free to share or link-up to your learning moments from the week.
Have a wonderful weekend!

September 10, 2012 by: Amy

All About Me Wordle for Kids

The girls and I love starting the school year with new photos, a self-portrait project, and an interview. This year, we had fun making All About Me word clouds using Wordle. We’re totally hooked on Wordle now!

Check out our finished Wordles and tips at Make and Takes today – see you there!

August 4, 2012 by: Amy

What We’re Reading: Horse Books

Delaney is all about horses right now. For her birthday, we gave her a few horseback riding lessons, along with some fun horse books. If you have a horse-lover at home, you might enjoy reading these books together:

Libby of High Hopes by Elise Primavera – We are big fans of Auntie Claus, so I couldn’t resist picking up Elise Primavera’s new book about 10-year-old Libby and her wish to ride horses.

Horse Diaries by Patricia Hermes- Delaney and Natalie have read the first two books in this series and are begging for more! Each book takes place in a different time and place in history, told from the perspective of a horse.

We’ve also enjoyed the Horse Crazy and Keeker and the Sneaky Pony series, which are perfect for beginning readers.

July 16, 2012 by: Amy

Secret Codes for Mini-Detectives

Happy mid-July! How’s your summer treating you so far? We’re getting ready for Delaney’s 8th birthday this coming weekend – she’s having a 50 states party!

As I’ve mentioned before, my girls are on a secret agent/detective/super spy kick. (Remember the homemade detective kits from Christmas?)

Every good detective needs a way to send secret messages, and we’ve been having a blast playing with various secret codes. I’m sharing three of our favorite secret codes at Make and Takes – ever heard of the Pig Pen cipher?

Be back soon, with party highlights to share. :)

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