Crafty Moms Share: school

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Sharing Saturday 13-35

Have you entered my current giveaway yet?

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week!! And a very special thank you to all the people who took the time to check out some of the amazing ideas shared!! With Hazel starting school next week, I am finally starting to think about back to school. Since we are one of the later schools to start I have seen lots of ideas on-line including at last week's party. Our features will be about back to school, fall, some favorites and we had a most clicked from Gift of Curiosity: Apple Printable Pack.

http://www.giftofcuriosity.com/apple-printable-pack/

Back To School Help

1) From Planet Smarty Pants: Questions for the New School Year

2) From Sunshine and Hurricanes: Armed and Ready to Make Lunch

3) From Krafts and Kiddos: Simple Ways to Make Back to School Easy

4) From Willamette Valley Wonder Woman: Back To School Free Printable Lunch Notes

Back To School Crafts

1) From Enchanted Homeschooling Mom: Back To School Wreath

2) From Stella123: Back To School Pinwheel Pencils

After School Snacks and Activity

1) From Schooling a Monkey: Healthy Snack Idea: Apple Chips Recipe

2) From There's Just One Mommy: 12 After School Snack Ideas

3) From Kandy Kreations: Fun Family Tradition with Cookie Friday

Some Art/Lesson Favorites

1) From Toddlers Through Preschool: Observing Trees

2) From An Idea on Tuesday: Painting Without a Brush

3) From Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds: Fall Watercolor Art

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! I hope you will join us and share again!! If you are featured here, please feel free to grab a featured button to display proudly on your blog.

Featured Button Code:

From Your Hostess: This week we continued our exploration of Japan with a look at the language, we reviewed the newest Octonauts DVD and are giving away a copy!, we made a doll checkers game for free, we made some Olaf mugs for party favors for Hazel's Frozen party, we learned about Saudi Arabia by cooking Al Kabsa for Around the World in 12 Dishes.

Now for This Week's Party

A Few Simple Guidelines:
1) Please follow Crafty Moms Share via GFC (or one of the other ways that work for you).

2) Link any kid-friendly, child-centered post. Please no etsy shops or giveaways, etc. Remember to link to your actual post.

3) Post the Sharing Saturday button on your sidebar or somewhere on your blog to help spread the word.

4) I would love it if you would follow me on Facebook, Google+, and Pinterest

5) If you do not have a blog, but want to share an idea you can leave it in the comments or e-mail it to me with a picture (if possible).

Disclaimer: By sharing here, you are giving Crafty Moms Share permission to use your photos for features and to pin your craft at Pinterest.

Sharing Saturday 14-34

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week and a special thank you to everyone who took the time to visit what others shared! We did not have a most clicked, so I picked three categories of features. With schools starting up across the country, Back to School seemed appropriate (though I'm still in denial and can stay this way for another week and a half even if her new school uniforms arrived today), Lessons, and finally Pumpkin Bread (I guess fall is really coming soon with several pumpkin bread recipes shared).

Back to School

1) From Juggling Act Mama: Back To School Teacher Gift

2) From Rubber Boots and Elf Shoes: Back To School Book and Poem

3) From Krafts and Kiddos: First Day of School Printables

4) From There's Just One Mommy: Back To School "I Spy" Craft

5) From Stella123: Kid Activity: DIY Back To School Pencil Sharpeners

6) From Sunshine and Hurricanes: Why I'm Not Excited School Is Starting

Lessons

1) From Munchkin and Bean: Colonial Small World {Safari Ltd. Review}

2) From Wugs and Dooey: Exploring Patterns, Colour and Symmetry with Tiles

3) From Five Painted Lane: Make a Treasure Map

4) From My Catch A Star Classroom: Introducing Children to Herbs

Pumpkin Breads

1) From Yesterfood: Pumpkin Bread (with nuts)

2) From Life with Garnish: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! I hope you will join us and share again!! If you are featured here, please feel free to grab a featured button to display proudly on your blog.

Featured Button Code:

From Your Hostess: This week I am sharing our posts for the week as well as three pictures from our week that I will not be posting about. Those pictures were seeing Rapunzel and Olaf at our local McDonald's and seeing a life size model of a humpback whale which we even got to go inside! For posts we shared making doll panties from newborn onesies (this goes with a post from last week about using the onesies for t-shirts for the dolls), the start of our exploration of Japan with some beautiful books from Tuttle Publishing, a review of Hello, Bali a great kids yoga book, our change from shed to clubhouse with some old party decorations and a few other things and DIY canopy for a bed to make a princess bed.

Now for This Week's Party

A Few Simple Guidelines:
1) Please follow Crafty Moms Share via GFC (or one of the other ways that work for you).

Disclaimer: By sharing here, you are giving Crafty Moms Share permission to use your photos for features and to pin your craft at Pinterest.

Flamingo Friday--A Flamingo Book for Fire Prevention Week

Next week is Fire Prevention Week. I thought it would be fun to start our planning for the week with a flamingo book. Yes, they actually have a fire safety flamingo story. We are going back to the Miss Mingo series of books. You may remember we featured Miss Mingo and the First Day of School about a month ago or so. If you don't know the series, Miss Mingo is a classroom teacher and her class is a mix of many different types of animals. In each book you learn about all the animals. In the First Day of School one you learned what was special about each animal. In this one you learn about how the animals deal with being scared or how they defend themselves.

In Miss Mingo and the Fire Drill by Jamie Harper, the class goes through fire prevention week with a series of lessons and practicing what to do when the fire drill goes off. Their week starts with Chief Grizzly coming to visit the class and talk about what to do if you hear a fire drill--get out as quickly as possible and what to do if your clothes catch on fire--Stop! Drop! and Roll! The next day the class practices the route of the first emergency exit route. They are not very successful at following the rules of staying with their partner and being quiet. Miss Mingo warns them there will be a fire drill soon. Then on Thursday Hippo sneezes and they think it is the fire drill. Miss Mingo is having lunch in the teacher's lounge and the armadillo lunch monitor is with the class. Miss Mingo comes back to total chaos. However when the fire drill does happen the class pulls it together and does a great job and is the first class to be out and counted. It is a wonderful story to introduce a fire drill to children.

After reading this story (and having a fire drill at school) Hazel wants us to have a fire drill at home. I am planning on doing this next week. If you look at the facts about fire at the National Fire Protection Association, you see that seven people a day die in the United States in a home fire. For this reason, we will practice and also review what is necessary to know. I also printed out some of the activities and safety checklists available at the National Fire Protection Association's site for kids. There is a lot there including games and more. There are also more ideas available at Scholastic. Some of their activities are done by grades so you can print out the appropriate ones for your children.

When I was buying a treat for Hazel, she picked out this stuffed flamingo at Joann Fabrics. She named it Miss Mingo after the books!

What are your plans for Fire Prevention Week? Do you do fire drills with your family?

A New Skirt for Hazel's First Day of School

Since September is National Sewing Month, I have been doing a lot of sewing. Ok, maybe not because it is National Sewing Month, but they are happening at the same time. Hazel started school last week. Since she has been very anxious about starting at a new school, I thought I would make her something special to wear the first day. I had this beautiful pink little girl fabric that I had bought ages ago to make something for her. It has wonderful little sayings like "Mommy's Little Helper" and "Fairy Princess in Training" on it as well as pictures of girls playing. I used a simple pattern that I have used before. I found it in Little Girls, Big Style by Mary Abreu. I also let her wear my gold cross that I wear every day. My grandparents brought it back from Jerusalem when they visited the Holy Lands.

Now I figured if the skirt made her this happy just trying it on, it had to work for the first day.

And she had a great first day. She was brave and her teacher was wonderful with her. She went in and had a great day. Then we went to the bookstore and did our first day tradition of letting her pick a book. Although I was not thrilled with her selection, she did choose a cheaper one, so I bought her a few.

Ready to go

The novelty of the Minnie Mouse backpack and lunch box ran out after the first day. The second morning she cried and screamed for an hour and a half, but then once I got her there had a great day. This morning it was only 20 minutes of crying with some great "reasons" to stay home--"I'm too young for school" and "I'm too tired today." However after school she thanked me for making her go. She had another good day. Hopefully it will get better each day.

What are your strategies and traditions for the first day of school?

Flamingo Friday--First Day of School Jitters with a Flamingo Book

Today we are sharing a book by Jamie Harper, Miss Mingo and the First Day of School. Now the teacher of the class is the only flamingo in the book, however this is a fun book with many interesting animal facts. Miss Mingo's class consists of many animals including an ant to an elephant and a giraffe. Plus she even has a narwhal and an octopus. The theme of the first day of school is to tel what makes you special. Miss Mingo starts with how she eats upside down and her food makes her pink. Slowly the students begin to share something special about themselves and warm up to each other. The day ends with a pool party in pelican's pouch and using giraffe's tongue as a slide.

This book is a fun reminder how each of us is special in our own way. I know many students and teachers are anxious about the first day of school each year. I know Hazel is extra anxious since we are switching her school. This book shows how many are shy and that is all right and if you open up and are yourself you will have fun.

To go with this book, I made up a little memory game. Hazel and I had fun playing it. The cards have each animal on them with their special characteristic in small print. To download your own copy in Word, click the picture below.

I know many schools have started or are starting next week. Hazel's new school does not start until after Labor Day, so we still are enjoying another week of summer. The change of schools has caused quite a bit of anxiety in Hazel, but we know it is the right thing for all of us. She has been very clingy this summer because she is afraid of the unknown.

Now I know I have not shared much as to why we have made the decision to switch schools. We had a bit of a discipline/communication issue last year. There was one student who had a few impulse issues and Hazel had a few run-ins with him. One being something inappropriate said to her. I found out about it from another child or that Hazel had cried quite a bit that day and it took me two hours to find out why from her. Then towards the end of the year she told me that the same boy was going under the snack table and biting her legs and pinching her. The teacher's response was that she thought it was only pinching but biting was unacceptable. Now pinching was unacceptable to me and the fact that it was happening quite often and I had not been told anything by anyone. Now many of the students had issues with this boy (one refused to come to school anymore even after he was kicked out). But what bothered us most was how it was dealt with and that we heard stories that it was not the only time where they had these kind of issues. We decided then that this was not the place for our innocent, shy, rule following (to a fault) daughter and looked for something else. We went to the opposite type of school and now she is going to be attending a traditional Christian school. She is excited that she will learn to read this year, but scared to be leaving what she has known.

To ease this transition, we have read books about the first day of school, we have had playdates with a few of the students in the new school and we have had several visits to the school. Today she got to spend some time talking to one of the teachers when we stopped by for a visit. I think this helped. There are several blogs that have wonderful lists of books to read, so I am going to leave a few links for you in case you want to ease the day as well.

Lists of First Day of School Books

Buggy and Buddy
Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas for preschoolers, kindergarten and first grade
KC Edventures for preschool through middle school
Play Dr. Mom

So that is our story on going back to school. We have truly found Miss Mingo and the First Day of School enjoyable to read and educational. Plus it has enabled me to have many conversations about the first day of school and making new friends.

Valentine's Day Gingerbread House

So today, we had school then we went and ran some errands including buying Valentine's Day themed candy for our next gingerbread house. We also picked up a jar of strawberry frosting so it would be pink.

I think Hazel liked taking the wrappers off the chocolate hearts because she kept using them.

She really likes just sticking the candy on. She asked me all morning before school to do it and then couldn't wait to do it when we got home.

Ok, I did this side. Hazel looked at it and noticed my wreath. Then she wanted to make one.

So the line on the side of M & M's is her wreath. She didn't quite get how to do it, but who cares. She had fun!

So what do you think of our Valentine's Day Gingerbread House?

Now Hazel is at my mother-in-law's house for the afternoon so I get to go work on (and hopefully finish) my quilt!! I will post pictures of it finished--I promise.

Tomorrow we have a tour (without Hazel) of the nursery room and kindergartens at Hazel's school and then our interview with the nursery teacher (with Hazel) in the afternoon. Such excitement. Hazel is beginning to get excited for it as well. She is talking about going to school without Mommy and needing to be potty-trained before then, which I'm happy to report she is doing pretty well except the setback from the pediatrician wanting a sterile urine sample. We had many accidents for a few days to avoid giving it, but after we got it, she has been doing well. :o)

So something to share: We were asked to view this video before the tour tomorrow. I think you might find it interesting. http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/prescriptionforplay Let me know what you think.