our favorite christmas board books

Wait..is this a blog? Like, where I'm supposed to post frequently, or something? I guess I didn't get the memo :). Goodness, I have been busy. Between coaching, teaching, graduate school and my baby turning one a few weeks ago, I have been a whirlwind. But now that stuff has slowed down, I'm back.

We love books at our house. LOVE. {e} has more books than I can count right now, and her collected is always growing. She is really into 'reading' right now. Often times she will crawl up to me with a book. She doesn't always want it read- she is perfectly content to flip through the pictures and babble her own story. Because of this, we are on a big board book kick- they are a little more indestructible. I like to keep a basket of themed/seasonal board books in our living room for her, and a few in her diaper bag for when we are out. These are some of our favorites right now.

Christmas in the Manger by Nola Buck. This has very cute artwork with simple words about the manger and Jesus' birth

Where is Baby's Christmas Present? by Karen Katz. Karen Katz is very popular at our house. {e} loves the all of the lift-the-flap books, so the Christmas version was an obvious addition to our collection.

Olivia Helps with Christmas by Ian Falconer. I remember being a fan of Olivia when I was younger, and I love sharing stories from my childhood with {e}. I'm also a sucker for the sweet and simple illustrations.

A Christmas Carol by Jennifer Adams. I love, love, LOVE the Babylit series. The concept of turning classic novels into primers for kiddos is adorable, and the illustrations are delightful. {e} will be finding some of these in her stocking this year, but I didn't want to save this one until Christmas day.

10 Trim the Tree'ers by Janet Schulman. We actually do not have this book- it was one that I stumbled upon while compiling our favorites list. We have 10 Trick-or-Treaters for Halloween and {e} enjoyed it. It is another one with cute illustrations that I didn't mind reading 10000 times. This one is on its way to our house.

Five Christmas Penguins by Steven Lenton. This book is full of shiny foil throughout that is fun for {e} to play with in the car, where the sun can catch the foil. A silly little story about penguins excited for Christmas.

Twas the Night Before Christmas by Kate Toms. I had to make sure that {e} had this classic story. Kate Toms does amazing mixed-media illustrations, so I was happy to see that she put her own spin on this story.

Winter by Roger Priddy. Not necessarily Christmas, but seasonal. We have the Spring and Fall versions of these books and they are a simple and tactile way to introduce littles to the seasons.

Welcome Winter by Jill Ackerman. Another cute book about winter, using the senses to discover the season.

2nd Grade | Common Core Checklists

Like most schools, we are moving to the Common Core State Standards this year. We have done a lot of professional development with the standards, and I'm familiar with what they are, but this summer I want to really dig into them and see what I have that can stay, what needs to go, and what needs to be added. I made these checklists to help me with this process. I don't know about ya'll, but my pinterest is overflowing with great ideas. And if I'm not careful, that is exactly where those ideas stay. One of the big motivations behind designing these checklists was to give myself some space to jot these activities down and to get them off the internet and into my classroom. These lists contain the strand code, the written standard, a place to write notes, a place to record dates taught/assessed, and a place to record matching lesson numbers from your school's curriculum. Another part of my design was to break each standard down if it had multiple parts, so I have made separate note boxes for each part, if it applies. Sometimes one standard contains 2-3 concepts, and each concept may have a different lesson, so I have taken that into consideration when designing this. I tend to think in parts like this, so it's nice to have space designated for that. If you are interested in these checklists, you can find them in my TPT store!

 

sensory baby play | float & sink pool time

I was so looking forward to summer for many reasons...no school, sleeping in, time at home with {e}, sleeping in, baseball, sleeping in, and taking {e} swimming. Growing up I was such a water baby, so I was excited to introduce {e} to the pool. We started by getting a small, one ring inflatable pool for the yard. I only put about 4 inches of water in it, and of course watched {e} like a hawk the whole time. And, she loved it! She enjoyed splashing around, running her hands through the water, and poking the inflatable sides. After introducing her to the pool, the next day I decided to bring a little learning in. I grabbed a few different items that would sink and float for her to explore.

You can see in the picture that I grabbed a couple rings from her ring stacking toy, a rubber duck, a full water bottle, and a silicone whisk from the kitchen. As I put each one in the pool, I held it up and told her what it was. Then I put it in the water and told her if it sank or floated. Once all the items were in the pool, she really went to town.

You can see that she really enjoyed the whisk...in fact, she played with it the rest of the day! She also explored the water bottle for a little, but didn't pay much attention to the floating items. Looking back on it, I think that is probably because those were toys she has seen before, and she is more familiar with the concept of floating from bath time. We spent about 15 minutes in the pool on this day- with her fair skin I'm afraid of being outside too long, even with sunscreen {disclaimer- she does have a hat, but had taken it off at this point- we're working on it:)} But, {e} was engaged the whole time! Now, do I expect her to know, remember and understand the concept of floating and sinking after this? No! But, the more she is introduced to these things, and the more experiences I can give her, the better! Like I mentioned above, I could tell she was familiar with the concept of floating to a certain extent from bath time...so the more I expose her to other things, the more familiar she will become with them!

I am up to my eyeballs in homework, but I wanted to pop in to share this article that was shared on Facebook.

The Important Thing About Yelling

{e} is only 8 months, and fortunately I have not yet had the opportunity to become a yeller. This article gives me a lot to think about, especially as very soon, {e} will get to the stage of baby destructo and I will need to exercise more patience than I may think I have. I know there are many different parenting styles, but this seems to fit with mine- and I wanted to share for others who may have similar views.

2nd Grade | Spelling

This summer I have a lot on my to-do list. Besides soaking up every moment with {e}, I also have my masters program to work on, and I have some classroom projects to work on. It seems like every year I bring home a bag full of things to work on during the summer, and every year, my spelling has  been in that bag. My school doesn't use a spelling curriculum, so it is up to each teacher to come up with their spelling program. I have been working on the actual list for about 2 years. Last year, I finally got the set-up the way I wanted, so my plan this summer is to find some engaging and fun ways to practice our words & patterns in class. I've been combing Teachers Pay Teachers, and have also been making some of my own activities. And that's where this post gets nice for you- I have finished one of my activities that focuses on the /ai/ pattern and am offering it for free! Below is a little preview of what is included- you can get the whole packet in my Teachers Pay Teachers store! (link to the right)

how we survived the first six weeks

All my friends are having babies, y'all. Seriously, there are 7 of us with kids a year or so apart- 6 of us with babies 6 months apart, or less! The other day, someone asked me what my must-haves were when {e} was born. If I was being completely honest, I would have said an IV of pure caffeine, or something stronger, because I was up 23 out of 24 hours with my baby there for a while. But, since that is not medically advised, I was able to give her 6 things that we used daily. And I thought that I'd just put it out there, for anyone else who was needing some ideas.

1. Munchkin | The Medicator - {e} was kind of a sickly little thing there for a while. This was the best thing we found to give her any type of medication. She was not a screamer, or a head-turner, but she just didn't quite have the whole I-need-to-close-my-mouth-when-there's-something-in-it down. She has always taken a pacifier well, so this was amazing.

2. Mary Meyer Wubbanub Pacifier | Ella Bella Elephant -Like I said before, {e} loves a pacifier (or bink, as it's called in our house). This was actually a gift from her aunt, and we love it for many reasons. The reason it made our 'must have' list was because when {e} was little and had some trouble keeping a bink in her mouth, having the elephant attached and laying on her chest kept the bink from becoming lost once it fell out. Now that {e} is 8 months old, she not only likes the bink, but loves chewing on the legs and tail too.

3. Hyland's Colic Tablets - These are magical. {e} was slightly colic-y, but her cousin was such a little fuss pants as an infant. These worked so well for both girls. I love that they dissolve really quickly. Usually these would be just the thing to help {e} get out that burp that she couldn't manage to get out on her own. Gas drops did nothing for her, so these were a lifesaver.

4. Fisher-Price | Rock 'N Play Sleeper - This was actually recommended to us by some friends who had a baby about a year before us. I am so glad they did! We don't use it much now, but for the first 5 months, it was a constant. We used it in place of a bassinet in our bedroom for the first few weeks so {e} could be right there by me at night. There were countless times I can remember flinging an arm or leg out of bed to rock {e} when she would fuss in the middle of the night. As she got older and slept in her crib, this found a new home in our bathroom so {e} could lay there in the mornings while I got ready for work. Now that she is sitting up, she does not like to be in it much, but it was such a worthwhile purchase when she was little.

5. Fisher-Price | Precious Planet Projection Mobile - When we were transitioning {e} to her crib, this mobile made it so much easier for her. Don't judge me, but as a first-time mom, I had a very hard time letting her go to her own room. There was a lot of rocking to sleep and taking naps on mommy's chest when she was an infant, so this transition was tricky. But, with some hard work and this mobile, we made it. I love it because it has 3 different settings- just noise, noise and spinning, or noise, spinning and projection. It has lots of different sounds, and two volumes, so we can get it just perfect for {e}. Perhaps the best part though, is that it comes with a remote, so if it times out, we can restart it with the push of a button.

6. Mommy's Bliss | Gripe Water - I know some people who love this product because it settles stomachs and relieves gas. I love it because it is a natural product and it gets rid of hiccups. {e} gets the hiccups constantly. Like, 2-3 times a day at least. As a baby, this was very frustrating to her. But a couple drops of gripe water and her hiccups would disappear! This was where the medicator pacifier got most of its use. I hated when she would get the hiccups, and didn't feel bad giving her this to relieve them, because of its ingredient list.

There is so much out there, and by no means am I an expert. And every baby + momma is so different, but this is what worked for us, and why. Maybe some real-life user insight will do someone some good, because it can be a scary, stressful guessing game sometimes.

Some Amazon affiliate links used

and so it begins...

Well, here we are. I feel like the first blog post is always so awkward. Like your first date which is actually his senior prom and a friend volunteered you to go with him without telling you first, so you go because your friend said you would, and he seems like a nice guy anyways, and your parents want all those awful prom pictures of your putting on his boutonniere and standing nicely together, and then the actual location is two hours away and you don't really have anything to talk about on the drive there because you don't know each other, but it turns out that you had a great time and he's funny (and CUTE!) and such a gentleman and so you stay up ridiculously late to talk on the phone and finally make it 'official' and then it's ten years later and you've been married for four years and have a beautiful baby girl and thank your lucky stars that your friend set you up.

Wait...that was just me?

Anyways. I wanted to start this little space of mine as a place to overshare, like above (not for that sole purpose alone, but more than likely this will be a frequent event) and to be  place to share what I'm doing as a young (and hopefully hip) mother of one and teacher in a small town. I've always liked to peruse blogs, but once I became pregnant I was a crazy information junkie, and it's only gotten worse as I'm trying to find ideas of how to have fun and maybe teach my baby a little something along the way. I hope you'll find something useful here, or at least slightly entertaining!