Honoring military veterans, the holiday Veterans Day falls on November 11th.  This is the anniversary date of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War 1.  In the 1950′s the name of the holiday Armistice Day was officially changed to Veterans Day to honor all veterans.

Each Veterans Day check your local area for celebrations, parades and activities.

Here are a few things and activities to do with your family at home:

IDEAS:

READ STORIES (Appropriate for age)

My favorite book is The Wall by Eve bunting. Most of her books are my favorite!

• Activity Idea:  In the story they make a rubbing of the name on the wall, you could place objects like a quarter under paper and rub with the side of a crayon to make your own  rubbing.

Books about Flag

• Design flags
• Write words/phrases on flag as below that have to do with story read or Veterans Day

Here is the plain flag that was bought from the store. The child could draw or paint the flag and then write on it when it is dry.

The words were written on the flag with a fine point sharpie permanent marker.  The words below were written by an eight year old boy who studied the civil war in his second grade class and also had just read the Star Spangled Banner.  That may explain some of his words he chose to write on the flag!

WRITE LETTERS

• Design notes and letters to send to troops or veterans.
• Younger children draw pictures and have the adult write a short message and note the child’s name and age.  If the child would like a certain message, put quotes around the message along with child’s name.

If you do not know anyone to send letters to, we  have found troops to send to through churches, local VA medical centers and check with local retirement center for veterans that would like to receive notes of thanks.

RESEARCH

Older children can research American war heroes such as George Washington. Have them write or present their findings. They could even act out the part for a meaningful experience they will not forget!  Give some creative free choice on how to present the material, children (and students) always amaze me how creative they can be when allowed the time.

Children love to play games and anytime children are involved in learning without knowing it they will be more involved. So, this game is based off of a spelling game I used to do in the classroom.  You can easily modify the game for ages four through eight years old.  In the example, I will use letters but older children could be learning suffixes and non-suffixes, compound words  and non-compound words or adjectives and non-adjectives .  This should be a fun and short way to reinforce spelling and word properties at home or in the classroom.

Example:

Write the heading “likes” and “dislikes” on the whiteboard or paper.  Then have the child or children guess what little Miss Picky might like to eat.

SHHH….. Do not tell them what she eats. As they guess, write down their guess in the appropriate column.

For this example, Miss Picky will only eat foods that start with the letter “S.”  But it could be only words with a long o sound, short a sound, two syllables, five letters….you get the point.

The object of the game is to discover the pattern of Miss Picky.

So on with the example:

In the “Likes” column you may see; spaghetti, strawberries, sandwiches, squash.

In the “Dislikes” column you may see jelly, tomatoes, bagels, oranges etc.

*If you have a few more minutes and they have guessed the pattern, allow them to come up and continue the list.

*Artsy people can draw a Little Miss Picky and write the accepted words on her body or dress.  If you are using this in a classroom, laminate Miss Picky and use a dry erase marker each time you play!

Perfect activity for emerging readers, practicing spelling words and makes a great center for classrooms.  This is so simple and easy to organize. Choose the words your child or students need to practice. Then, write or print the words on a list. Then print the words again large and cut the letters apart as in the picture shown.  I used sentence strips, I just love them!  Place everything into a bag or plastic container. The list of words can be taped to the front of the container or bag.

If you plan on keeping these, I would organize by color or some other system so you can easily pull out the words you will need. For example, colors could be a code for easy to difficult, or grade levels or the week of the spelling list.  Use what makes sense to you. Happy spelling!

Did you know that there is a day just to celebrate Pooh Bear?  The day is in honor of the English author, A.A. Milne.

Choose a story and read aloud as you munch on some Pooh Bear Treats!

Pooh Bear Sandwiches

Children can cut their own bread with a bear shaped cookie cutter. Mix peanut butter and “hunny” and have children spread on their bear shaped bread. Yum.  we toasted our bread first, and then cut out. I have heard you can freeze the bread before cutting.

Pooh Bear Tasty Treats

Ingredients:

1/4 cup crushed wheat flake cereal
3 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk solids
Non-stick cooking spray

Reserve two tablespoons crushed cereal. Mix honey and peanut butter. Gradually add nonfat milk, mixing well. Spray hands with non-stick cooking spray (or butter)and shape into 1/2 inch balls. Roll in reserved cereal. Chill until firm, about 1 hour. Store in refrigerator. Adult help may be needed and makes about 24 treats.

A yummy in the tummy way to practice letters for the little ones!  Using your favorite pancake recipe, look at mine below, make the letter of the day or the child’s initials on the griddle.   Or, as a class focuses on the letter “P” have a pancake snack and serve up letter P pancakes. Yum!

In the younger grades it is fun to read “If You give A Pig A Pancake” and have pancake snacks that day, as well as other literature activities. If you are in a school, please check your policies. As when I taught, we brought the griddle in the class.

One way is to write a letter on the pan let it cook until you see bubbles. Then pour batter over letter to make a “normal” pancake.  The image is in the pancake. Have fun with this, you can make smiley faces etc.  Also, note that you will need to write the mirror image for letters like “L”  or they will be backwards!

Or, just write a large letter to be the pancake itself. A turkey baster works well, but I just used a spoon for mine.

The whole family agrees that this recipe is the best so far.   Hope you and your family or class have a yummy in the tummy pancake experience!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, stirred or sifted before measuring
• 2  teaspoons baking powder
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 3/4 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons melted butter

Preparation:

Sift together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and 1 1/2 cups of milk; add to flour mixture, stirring only until smooth. Blend in melted butter. If the batter seems too thick to pour, add a little more milk. Cook on a hot, greased griddle, using about 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. Cook until bubbly, a little dry around the edges, and lightly browned on the bottom; turn and brown the other side. Recipe for pancakes serves 4.

After reading aloud “It Looked Like Spilt Milk” have the children take torn paper or cotton balls and glue to paper. Have then write “Sometimes it looked like…..” Then, place all the pages together to bind and make a book or place on wall or bulletin board.  I always have the child present and read their finished page to class or family to build speaking skills.

Class Book

The beginning of the school year is the perfect time for children to discuss and write about what friendship “looks” like.  This is a great writing activity and a way for classroom teachers to start creating the community of friends and learners they desire for the rest of the year. In a classroom, these pages could be collected and copied into a recipe book for each to take home or just to keep in the class library. The same thing could be done for a family, small group organization such as Girl Scouts etc.

Each year, the first Sunday after Labor Day is the official day to celebrate Grandparent’s Day. There is nothing wrong with celebrating every day (as my mom would say) but this official day has the purpose of honoring grandparents,  giving grandparents an opportunity to show love for their grandchildren and helping children become aware of the strength, information and guidance older people can offer.  If your children do not have grandparents, there are many elderly people that have no family around that would love to be a foster grandparent!

Many books can be found about grandparents. A few of our favorite picture books are Grandpa’s Teeth, The Song and Dance Man, Grandpa, Grandpa and The Gifts of Being Grand.

A writing and literature activity that can be done at home or school is to read a book and then design your own story using the same theme. We read Grandpa, Grandpa in my multi-age classroom and then each child made there own page. We then put the pages together to make our own class book. At home these pages could be used as a gift for grandmas and grandpas.

Cover Design for Class Book

First Grade Writing

First Grade Illustration

Second Grade Page

Second Grade Writing

Second Grade Illustration

A creative way to journal and/or sketch for any age child is to go on a hunt in your own yard or neighborhood!  Bring a pad of paper, we keep a spiral notebook for each kiddo in the kitchen that is easy to grab . Get on your walking shoes and just observe and listen. Have each child choose one thing to draw or write about.  On this day we found a lizard (or something like that) in a bush right outside out front door. What a lucky day!

Organizing tip: You can tape or tie a string to the pencil and to the end of the notebook.

                          I keep two holders/cans on the counter, one for me and for the children.

                             This way my favorite pens or permanent markers will not get lost or used.

Here is our new little lizard friend!

Retelling Through Drawing

When children retell a story they increase their reading and listening comprehension.  This activity is fun for all ages, especially non-readers.  This is also a good lesson for teaching a new language, small groups and young learners.

1. Read a story out loud. (Readers can read a story on own.)

2. Have child draw one or several pictures that will be used to retell the story.
Depending on age, children may number the sequence of the pictures to help them recall the story.

3. Have child share the pictures and retell the story.

Extension:

As the child retells the story write their words onto paper.
Make the words and the pictures into a book by cutting out pictures and words and gluing onto book (sheets of paper that have been folded and stapled together, remember to put tape over the staples to protect little fingers).

Older Children:

Pretend you are writing a letter to someone who has not read the story.  Tell them the story and what you liked or did not like about the story.