Thursday, January 9, 2014

Pre School Reading Comprehension Exercise

Hello- I wanted to start making a note of some of the things I've learned. Here is a pre-school / kindergarten level reading comprehension exercise that I think is just awesome and fun.

Plus I'm a "mean mom" and want to make sure my kid is paying attention during story time!

Prep Time- About 8 minutes with the photocopier
Activity Interaction Time - About 12-16 minutes plus however long to read the book

1) Get a book with a plot (pick a book that has a story line, with a beginning, middle and end).
2) Read the book together. Here I'm illustrating the steps with "Where the Wild Things Are"



This exercise is best with a picture book that has a plot.

3) Photocopy some pages from the book that have the key points. No more than 4-6.

4) Lay them out but not in order.

5) Now you ask your kid, "Which came first?" Now if this is a little overwhelming, you can always narrow it down to a choice. So you would say, "What happened first in the story? Did Max make mischief of one kind or another, or did Max sail away?"

6) Have them select the appropriate page.



Here I've laid out the options on a table.
6. Pin them in order on a wall.
7. Repeat until they are all in order.

Here Matt and I are doing the exercise. He really enjoyed it!


This is a lot of fun.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Some Fall Updates

This is one of the views on the way to our train station. I like these peaceful Philly streets.


Meanwhile, Matt and I have done some alphabet activities this week.



I need to get back on my food photography but this week we kept it simple. Meatballs....



... And a staple I like to make in the fall, butternut squash and red cabbage stirfry with tofu and ginger. This is just perfect in the fall, even though the picture looks weird.

Monday, October 7, 2013

Camping on the Beach-

We somehow pulled it together for our annual camping trip on the beach, even though it was a quick one. Ger really spearheaded this one, even though he was exhausted from shifts he still managed to get all our stuff in the car in record time.



Muesli!

Used the last of homemade vanilla to whip up a batch if everything muesli. I'll have to post the recipe later in but it rocked the house, almonds, walnuts, flax, oats, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, coconut, goji berries, cranberries, apricots and more. It was truly luxurious.


Fall Craft





Monday, September 23, 2013