Mrs. H

Melting Crayons for Earth Day… part one- the posters

Y’all! It’s been forever and a day. Or a year. Or more! How long since I last posted? Well that’s too long! Ha! Teaching truly has been all-consuming. It’s been real and it’s been fun and it’s been real fun… but I’m ready for summer!! How bout y’all?

Here we are on Earth day, and I’m doing a project I have come to LOVE! Every year, my students and I collect up crayons that are broken and/or unwanted, and we jazz them up and melt them into something new and amazing for Earth day… as a true, physical picture of how you can really reuse and renew something that seems old and broken and ready to throw away!

This year our project reached new heights thanks to my partnership with the folks at Clear Path Paper! They hooked us up with some BEYOND BEAUTIFUL paper to make posters to spread around the school! We hung them up, our counselor helped with announcements, and the crayons rolled in. Seriously, y’all… I’m gonna be making LOTS of new crayons. More than I can make in just one day!!

But back to the beginning- the thing that made us so successful was our posters. For our posters, my partners over at Clear Path Paper hooked us up with some GORGEOUS Earth and water toned paper. Check out what we got:

I was able to print heart shapes right onto the mirror blue with no problem on our copy machine (just be sure to use the bypass tray and select thick paper b/c the machine handles it differently than regular cardstock). I printed some on the mirror side just to see if it showed up, but I cut those myself b/c it was a little dark on the blue to see. The kids were easily able to cut the ones with the lines on the back (white) side of the mirror paper. One even commented that it was easier (compared to regular copy paper) to cut that paper because it’s easier to hang onto the thicker paper while cutting. They also LOVED how pretty the mirror paper is, and totally thought it looked like ocean water. ❤

Then they tried to cut the recycling signs (printed on Kiwi Green) to look like islands, which they glued onto the water. Each poster got two oceans with islands, and then each student colored a “Recycle Your Crayons” print-out (again, on Kiwi Green) to color with as many colors of their crayons as they could. They loved that even white crayon would show up since the paper was green!

We hung our signs proudly all over the school, and they were a great success! The kids were even heard telling GenEd kids at a bathroom break- “did you see our crayon signs? We need broken crayons if you have any!”

Come back Monday for part two of this post- the “how to/recipe” for melting your own crayons! 🙂 -Christy

Click here to check out all the amazing papers available from Clear Path Paper!

Ready for part two? Click here!

Learning With Duplo

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I have several parents of students I’ve been sharing with recently about various ways for kiddos to use Duplo for learning… so I thought I would share a few ideas here that could benefit everyone!

Did you know – you can write on Duplo with sharpie marker, and it can be erased with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser or finger nail polish remover? So you can put whatever letters you’d like on blocks and kids can use them to practice reading sight words, or building even more difficult spelling words! This idea can last all the way up through elementary or middle school as a more interactive way to practice words!

Plus, check out THIS idea for using Duplo to build sight words in a whole different way!

You can have your child create word family/rhyming words with Duplo, too!

By writing whole words on blocks, and adding punctuation, your child can start building complete sentences and even making short stories with their Duplo blocks! Have your older child help you think of words to write on the blocks – practice which words are nouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs, pronouns, etc… and after you write the words, your student can sort them by word types! This is also a great way to practice labeling sentence parts, etc! So many things you can do with this to meet many needs.

Looking to use Duplo with math? Here’s an easy idea for using the dots to add, but you can also easily use Duplo to teach multiplication concepts, as well! And of course, you can always take away Duplo for math as well!! And just think – you could use it for non-standard measurement, sorting by colors or size, patterning, counting by twos, graphing, and fractions, too!

The possibilities are truly endless.

And don’t forget to let your kiddos play with Duplo to build their creativity! 🙂

ENJOY, and please – share with me any ideas you and your kiddos come up with!

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Boy child

Where do I begin? Yall, I LOVE teaching. I always have. It was my dream from 8th grade on. I’ve worked hard for first a bachelor’s and then a master’s, and now three certifications. And I have soaked up knowledge from countless professional development sessions. I have read countless books (despite hating non-fiction) to help me perfect my craft. I seriously love teaching. I love watching light bulbs flicker and then stay on as a child learns to read or count or add or tell time. I love watching kids observe nature with excitement. I simply love what I do.

But this? This school at home thing is about to break me to my very core. In a way different than I have ever been broken. Because Grayson was not made for homeschooling. He doesn’t WANT me to be his teacher. He wants me to be his snuggly mama bear who reads TO him and snuggles him and only makes him do chores, which he can put up with because there are snuggles on either side. He does NOT want to read to me. He does NOT want to do any school work. He has informed me that I am NOT his teacher and I can’t begin to count how many times he has asked if he HAS to do … xyz thing.

I’m over it.

He is normally sweet and helpful and kind and a super loving big brother to Elle. Now he is disrespectful and laughs about it and looks to see what I’m gonna do. Picks physical fights with her and then gets MAD because she fights back! (Good for her!!) He whines and complains about every. Single. Dang. Thing. He is asked to do!

He has given up on riding his bike because it’s not easy. So he plays on a scooter that is Elle’s size and half the time fights me on wearing his helmet. My kid who used to be the one grabbing everybody’s helmets and making SURE they were all on. I can still hear him saying, “safety first!” My kid who was riding a bike so well last summer we could have taken the training wheels off then!

What has happened to my child?!?

Stress. Change. Sorrow.

Despite the fact that we have a schedule that we’re sticking to at home that is very predictable and gives him the structure he needs, it’s not HIS schedule. He desperately misses his teacher and friends. Despite being a shy kid who takes a bit to open up (nothing like the social butterflies his sisters are!), it’s April! His classmates are his world. And they were suddenly snatched away from him. He loves his teacher fiercely. And she’s gone. Might as well be on another planet.

And he’s sad. He cries every day multiple times a day. Ask him why, and he doesn’t know. But he’s just tired all the time, and he doesn’t know why. I know his tired. It’s depression. It’s anxiety weighing down his shoulders. I carry that tired on me. But I’m an adult. It saddens me to see him carrying that weight. No, it doesn’t just sadden me. It breaks my heart.

The girls are thriving. And their bond is even stronger than ever before. And then there’s him. He’s stuck somewhere in the middle- in limbo. An outcast. And his own behaviors keep it that way. I try to make him see what he’s doing, but it’s impossible.

Lord, you know all of these things. You see his tiny confused heart and you know it well. You loved him first- before I even knew he was in my womb, you knit him together. You knew these days would drive him crazy and drive me to the end of my rope. Lord, give him peace. Give him comfort. Help him to feel your love. Give me to words to say and the calm of spirit to handle his outbursts. You know my tired. Carry my burdens. You know I have so much experience, but none with this. Teach me your ways. Give me your wisdom for how to handle his heart gently, but his behavior firmly. I need help. Nothing has prepared me for this. I want, no I NEED my sweet boy to come home. I miss him desperately. I see him when he sleeps. Can he come back to stay? Please?

What We’re Doing to Survive… School at Home #COVIDChronicles

If you’re anything like me, you have gone through a wide array of emotions this week as you struggle to figure out how to handle all of this stuff. It’s just a crazy mess. But the bright side is, all of the teachers out there are working hard to come up with great ideas and find resources to help you with your kiddos at home!! I’ve stolen some ideas from others, and come up with a few things on my own that are hopefully super helpful to yall as you’re stuck at home!!!

So first up is Stained Glass Window Painting! A friend of Gray’s from school and church enjoyed doing this at home and his mama posted on Facebook… so we tried it!! It was SO MUCH FUN that now we’re contemplating doing the bottom half of the kid’s bedroom windows, too! Here’s how I did it:
Get some Crayola Washable Paint (you can get the little pots on Amazon if you’re not venturing to Walmart these days, but even with Prime shipping they are about a week out on delivering… just fyi!). You’re going to mix the paint with dish soap and water. The proportions I used were kinda just by feel, but I mixed approx half of the little paint pot with two (small) pumps of dish soap and probably about 2-3 Tbsp of water, and mixed thoroughly.
To prepare, I used painter’s tape and some construction paper pieces of colors we don’t use much to mask off the window sill and sides. Even though the paint is very washable, I didn’t want to have to stress. I also talked to the kids a lot about wiping their brush on the side of the pot before painting so that it wouldn’t drip on other shapes below. (But they still dripped, and it’s thankfully super easy to wipe off and fix!)
Lesson learned… we did one window one day, and the other one the next day. So I discovered that if you kinda let the first coat dry and then add another coat, they look much brighter! You can also try fun brush strokes – try doing some straight, some swirly, some zigzag, etc – because the brush strokes WILL show when it dries. Then, because you’re using water in the paint, be sure you LEAVE the tape and paper up for several HOURS to insure it dries and you don’t have runs into your blank spaces. It is a super fun and easy project, and DOES wash easily off of skin AND out of clothes.
(ALSO! A couple different friends have shared similar ideas using painters tape and sidewalk chalk on a fence – that looks super fun, too!)

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Another super fun activity that we borrowed from a coworker friend of mine was playing with Magnatiles on the Garage Door! This was a super fun activity (and also a good lesson on gravity vs the strength of a magnet for the big kids) that we tried out yesterday morning, and this morning the littles are having fun doing the Magnatiles on the freezer drawer inside! Elle got super excited about this activity, too, and created Arendelle (“Adondell!”) and Elsa’s castle (“Elsa’s cast-tell!”) all on her own!

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Trying to figure out what to do with the papers that your kids are doing for school at home? Try making this easy Recycled Cereal Box Paper Holder! Simply take a large cereal box (we get the family size boxes), completely unfold it, and let your child decorate the blank sides! I wrote on them first and had them use stickers (because we have MILLIONS of stickers!) to decorate where I didn’t write. But you could have your child paint, draw, doodle, or even make a collage on the box. Then, tape it back together! I have a roll of clear contact paper, so since we used stickers that I didn’t want to fall off over time, I covered the boxes in clear contact paper. I’m keeping the kids’ work in folders, but they are rapidly filling. So after I take pictures of their work for the week to send to their teachers, I’ll be sticking that finished work into their boxes, which easily fit on the shelf in the closet!

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And now for a couple other ideas that you can purchase relatively inexpensively on Amazon! (Reminder – I am no longer an affiliate, these links are just to help you out… please remember to always shop on Smile.Amazon so that you are helping out your favorite charity with every purchase!!!)

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This Water Doodle Mat is super fun for all three of my kids (3rd grade, kinder, and 2 yrs), and was only $24. WELL worth it! They have used it multiple times a day since it arrived, and I love that the water pens are interchangeable with our Melissa and Doug Water WOW! Books that we have gotten from my friend Casey over at Munchkin Land Kids! (Yall please go and check out all of her awesome stuff… now is the time to support small businesses!!!!)

We also seriously LOVE Paint By Sticker Kids books, which you can get off of Amazon. We have done SEVERAL of their books, but the ones I got for the kids for right now are Unicorns & Magic (full of LOTS of sparkly fun stickers!) and Beautiful Bugs. They are $10 a piece and worth every penny! Great for number matching/recognition practice, and fabulous fine motor / hand eye coordination practice! They also make fabulous story starters for your kiddos who need some inspiration to get WRITING!!!

I also shared in that last graphic a photo from Natalie Grant and Charlotte Gambill… remember through all of this, mama… the struggle is real. Make sure to let your faith rule over your fear.

WE CAN DO THIS!

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How’s It Going? COVID-19 Distancing Day #5

Well, yall… here we are – about to start our fifth day of school at home. Or, as I called it in my title, “COVID-19 Distancing Day #5.” If you’re like me, this is still overwhelming to figure out. It still doesn’t make sense. My brain is still totally boggled trying to process all of it. So mama, if all your kids have done is play, then that is the absolutely RIGHT thing for them to do. If your kids have had a structured day every day, then THAT is the absolute RIGHT thing for them. Why do I say these two extremes are both right? Because, Mama. What is right for YOU is exactly what they need. The phrase “you can’t pour water from an empty pitcher” is more true now than ever before. We as parents are totally overwhelmed. Our brains can’t fathom what is going on. So whatever WE need for our kids to do, is what they need to do.

90018932_2836630339897650_748395263894224896_n — Elle is our WHY for social distancing… if you aren’t familiar with her story, you can visit her Caring Bridge site here.

Soon our schools will be providing some work for at home. Some schools already have. Some it will take a couple of weeks to get there. Be patient with your school. Be patient with your child’s teacher. Be patient with your child. Be patient with YOURSELF. Plan for lots of breaks. And take them with your kids. I started out the week trying to clean and organize and do laundry. All of those things are great. But they create burn out. Then I decided to slow down and do those things at the pace I would NORMALLY do them. And do the relaxing, fun things with my kids. Build with the Legos. Build with the magnets. Draw the doodles. Watch the fun videos online (because let’s face it, if it’s exciting for your kids to watch Fiona getting fed Romaine, it probably is for you, too… at least it was for me!!!). Do the brain break activities. Because you need it too.

Last night I finally sat down with the kids and we watched the first of Mo Willems’ doodling sessions. (link and picture below, don’t worry!) It was AMAZING!!! I had as much fun doodling as Becca did! And I know that today when Gray isn’t so tired, he’ll dive right in, too! (Which means Elle will follow along! 😉 If you’re like me, there are actually TOO MANY resources being thrown at me right now. I didn’t know where to start. I have to pick and choose what is right for my kids, and you’ll need to do the same. There are SO MANY video resources, which is awesome (our kids get a LOT of tech at school!)… but I don’t want them doing so much tech at home. Especially Gray. I see a lot of attitudes about regular paper/book practice when too much tech has been allowed. So I have to pick and choose what tech resources I use. And I figure you may be overwhelmed, too. Or you may feel like what’s best for you is for your kids to be distance learning on the computer or tv all day. Whatever works best for YOU mama!!!

So I thought I would give you a list of the resources I have decided to prioritize for my kids at this point, and then if we add any great ones, I’ll let you know!
GoNoodle.com – We use this one at school and it’s AWESOME!!!! My kids are loving using it at home to get moving even on rainy days! (And yall, send up some prayers because it’s RAINING all day today and tomorrow!!!) Screen Shot 2020-03-20 at 6.56.32 AM

Cincinnati Zoo – They are doing Facebook live events daily showing off different animals and kids who watch live can ask questions! Plus, they have tons of other animal videos that are awesome!

PBS Kids – My kids are loving playing their games, and they are ALL educational!! So if you want to sneak in learning, this is a great way!

Prodigy – This is an online math program that our school uses, so Becca has an account and is loving having time to use it. I believe that any kids 1st-5th grade can be signed up from home for a free account as well.

Girl Scout Virtual Meetings – If you have any scouts in your house, it doesn’t matter what troop you are with, the Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas are doing daily virtual meetups with lots of fun activities that ANYONE is welcome to stream – just click on over to like and follow their Facebook page!

Mo Willems’ Lunch Doodles – These are streamed live at 1:00pm Eastern each weekday, but the videos remain online so you can stream anytime. We just did day one last night. With it raining today, we’ll likely do one this morning and one this evening. 🙂

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As we add more resources, I’ll let you know, but we really are keeping it simple around here. I need simple. I need organized. I need structure. We can do this!

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Looking for activity resources? Check out my First COVID-19 School At Home post here!