November 30, 2012

How can I incorporate scriptures into our Christmas celebration?

I love Christmas. I love Christmas! Wahoo! Christmastime is finally here!!! Just so you know, I am one of those sticklers that won’t let people sing Christmas songs or decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving. I mean, come on people, Thanksgiving is a holiday too. We can’t just skip it.

But, I’m also one of those people that just loves Christmas and waits all year for it to come! (I had to point this out, obviously. I’m sure you didn’t guess that already with all of the exclamation points. ;) )

So, now that Christmastime is officially here, there are a few things that must get done:

• Decorate the tree
• Put Christmas lights up around the house
• Make hot cocoa daily
• Put up the advent calendar
• Decorate gingerbread houses
• Play Christmas music 24/7
• Make sugar cookies

And best of all… Make a countdown to Christmas chain!

I don’t know what it is about these chains, but they are always one of my favorite things about Christmas! I am a visual learner, so I guess I just like seeing that there are fewer and fewer days until Christmas. This year I really wanted to do something a little bit unique for our Christmas chain. I really want to focus on the Savior this Christmas so I thought having a scripture for each chain link would be the perfect thing.

I was going to find a bunch of scriptures that had to do with the Savior and with Christmas, but then I thought, this is 2012, I’m sure someone has already done that for me. Case in point, when I looked up “Christmas scriptures” on Pinterest, the very first pin was a link to this awesome 25 Days of Christmas Scripture Chain. Amazing!

Now, that scripture chain has several scriptures from the Book of Mormon, so I decided I should try to find something similar, but with only scriptures from the Bible for my readers that do not read the Book of Mormon. Again from Pinterest, I found this awesome website that has a free printable with a Bible passage for each day of December. This website also suggests small items that represent each of the passages.

If you want to make a scripture countdown chain with me, here is all you do:

Go to the website with the scriptures that you want and print them off. Cut the scriptures into strips.

Next, glue the first scripture to either a red or a green construction paper. Once all your scriptures are glued to a colored paper, cut them out. Little Bear had a blast doing this. I told him to cut between the white strips of paper to make a straight line. He did all the cutting on his own and he was very proud. :)

When all of your scripture strips are cut out, make your first chain by gluing the ends together. I put the scripture on the inside of the chain so the Christmas colors would be more prominent. Add the next chain by putting a chain strip of the opposite color through the first chain before gluing it.

Continue until all your strips are in a nice chain. We always cover the last chain link (for Christmas day) with aluminum foil just to make it a little extra special.

To use the Christmas chain: Each day, tear off one chain and read the scripture that is on it. Impromptu discussions about Jesus Christ are recommended. Next, remark how much closer it is to Christmas! :)

We've found some fun people with great linky parties. You might just see this post linked up on one of these amazing sites! Link and Learn from No Time for Flashcards Sunday Showcase from Train Up a Child Share it Saturday from Teach Beside Me Tot School Gathering Place from 1+1+1=1 Montessori Monday from Living Montessori Now Tuesday Tots from In Lieu of Preschool Show and Tell from ABC & 123 For the Kids Fridays from Sun Scholars Finished Friday from All Our Days Weekly Kids Co-op from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails Preschool & Kindergarten Corner from Homeschool Creations TGIF Linky Party from 123 Homeschool 4 Me

November 29, 2012

What is a quote that will reflect my or my children’s identity and testimony?

I have tried writing this post several times and I just haven’t been able to do it. This is a very personal topic for me and it just hasn’t been easy finding the right words. Bear with me as I do my best.

The idea for this post came during the October 2012 LDS General Conference. During Ann M. Dibb’s wonderful talk entitled I Know It. I Live It. I Love It. She said about an encounter she had in a grocery store, “I wondered how this young girl from Colorado came to possess such confidence in her identity as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I couldn’t help but wonder what meaningful phrase I would figuratively choose to have printed on my T-shirt reflecting my belief and testimony.”

This quote hit me to the very core. I quickly thought of a phrase that I have repeated throughout my life that reflects my identity and my testimony. You see, I have this mom (weird, right), and she made my sister and I repeat a simple phrase before we went to school each morning. I know that my mom was inspired because the words in that simple phrase have been a source of comfort to me in every difficult time in my life.

I am a beautiful daughter of God who is loving and capable.

Only 12 words, yet they contain the core of who I am. When I felt fat and ugly in high school (don’t we all), I remembered that I am beautiful. When I was mad at someone or jealous and wanted to hate them, I remembered that I am loving. When I felt like life was too hard and that I couldn’t possibly accomplish the tasks that were given to me, I remembered that I am capable. Most importantly, when my faith was weak or I felt insignificant, I remembered that I am a daughter of God! Those words have helped me through every hard time.

It is truly difficult to convey the emotion that this phrase holds for me. I don’t know if my mom realized how helpful these words would be in my life. I don’t think she knew that there would be times when this phrase would be the only thing keeping me going. Her testimony and her love are embedded in these words. Each time I say these words to myself, I feel her close by. I know that she believes in me. Thank you, Mom for this wonderful phrase that reminds me who I am.

Now that I am a mom, I wanted to teach my sons a similar phrase that would be a source of comfort and strength throughout their lives. Since the words my mom taught me are decidedly female, I wanted a phrase that would be male specific. I asked my husband for some help thinking of a similar phrase and together (okay, mostly he) thought of a phrase for our boys to say.

I am a diligent son of God who is strong and faithful.

We have Little Bear say these words each morning. It is amazing the boost of confidence that I have already noticed in him. He knows that diligent means, “to work hard and never give up” and that faithful means, “to believe in Heavenly Father and Jesus and to trust in them.” I hope that this phrase helps my sons to know their identity.

If you think that this phrase could help you or your children, PLEASE download a copy of the quote. There are four versions below, two for each of the phrases I shared. One is the photograph shared above and the other is just the basic text of the quote. I have the boys’ quote in a picture frame right above their beds. When they get old enough to have a mirror in their room, I will definitely put the quote right above the mirror.

Feel free to print as many copies of this as you want. Use it in your family, give it to your friends, use it in church, etc. Obviously, I still expect you to give the credit to me (or link back to this post if you write about it online), but please share it if you think it will be useful to someone. I cannot express how much this phrase has meant to me, but I will say that I would not be the same person without it.

Download the quotes:

• I am a Beautiful Daughter of God — black and white version (8.5×11″)
• I am a Beautiful Daughter of God — photo version (8×10″)
• I am a Diligent Son of God — black and white version (8.5×11″)
• I am a Diligent Son of God — photo version (8×10″)

We've found some fun people with great linky parties. You might just see this post linked up on one of these amazing sites! Link and Learn from No Time for Flashcards Sunday Showcase from Train Up a Child Share it Saturday from Teach Beside Me Tot School Gathering Place from 1+1+1=1 Montessori Monday from Living Montessori Now Tuesday Tots from In Lieu of Preschool Show and Tell from ABC & 123 For the Kids Fridays from Sun Scholars Finished Friday from All Our Days Weekly Kids Co-op from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails Preschool & Kindergarten Corner from Homeschool Creations TGIF Linky Party from 123 Homeschool 4 Me

November 28, 2012

What is a Christmas themed math game my preschooler can play?

Now that Thanksgiving is over it’s time to decorate for Christmas! Wahoo! I love candy canes, so when I saw this candy cane banner on Pinterest, I knew it would make a fun activity. But, of course, I have to make everything educational, so I put a little bit of a math twist on this fun idea.

We started with a blank candy cane template. I just printed these on regular paper, but if you want to make your candy canes extra fun, you can print them on colored paper. Just make sure the color isn’t too dark because you will be coloring them. We played two different games with these candy canes: Patterns and Roll and Color.

Patterns:

This one was really easy. We looked at a real candy cane and talked about how there is a pattern on the candy cane. We chose two colors to use on our candy cane and decorated the candy cane with do-a-dot markers. You could also use crayons, markers, paint, or glitter.

We made about 3 candy canes with simple ABAB patterns. After that I wanted to make things a little bit more challenging so we did an AABAAB pattern. Little Bear was getting sick of the do-a-dot markers at that point so we switched to crayons and did a few more patterns. When we were all finished, we hung the candy canes up along the top of our wall.

Check out this beaded candy cane craft for another great Christmas-y pattern activity.

Roll and Color:

We did this game on a different day than the first game. Little Bear really enjoyed both of these activities, but I would definitely suggest doing them on different days because they take a lot of brain power for a 4 year old. ;) I’ve included a little video of the Roll and Color activity at the end so be sure to take a look!

First, we got out our dot markers and I told Little Bear to put the four markers in any order that he wanted. Once he chose an order, I got out some dice. This always gets Little Bear really excited. I got the brilliant idea to put dice in a container from Pinterest. I’m sorry I don’t know the original source of this pin. If you know, please tell me because I would love to give you credit.

To play the game, roll the dice. Take the first color (from the order previously chosen) and make that many dots on the candy cane.

Roll the dice again and make that many dots with the second color.

Repeat those steps until the candy cane is all the way filled. This was really fun for Little Bear because it was always exciting to see how many colors would actually be on the candy cane. If he rolled really high numbers, it was possible to only have one. If he rolled really low numbers, though, he could have all four colors and have some of the colors repeated. We used two dice, but you could use just one or even more.

If you don’t have dot markers, you could also use stickers, crayons, markers, paint, glitter, or stamps. Be creative. :)

These two candy cane math games were really fun to play, but our favorite part is our holiday décor. It’s beautiful, right? Who needs crown molding when you can have an awesome homemade candy cane banner. :)

 

We've found some fun people with great linky parties. You might just see this post linked up on one of these amazing sites! Link and Learn from No Time for Flashcards Sunday Showcase from Train Up a Child Share it Saturday from Teach Beside Me Tot School Gathering Place from 1+1+1=1 Montessori Monday from Living Montessori Now Tuesday Tots from In Lieu of Preschool Show and Tell from ABC & 123 For the Kids Fridays from Sun Scholars Finished Friday from All Our Days Weekly Kids Co-op from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails Preschool & Kindergarten Corner from Homeschool Creations TGIF Linky Party from 123 Homeschool 4 Me

November 27, 2012

What is a good deal at the dollar store? How can I use dollar store items in my preschool?

Welcome back for another part of Dollar Store Finds. This will probably be an on-going series that pops up every once in awhile. Basically whenever I find something awesome from the dollar store, I’ll do another post for this series. Since there are SOO many things, it will probably pop up quite often. So, what did I find this time? Hair Clips and clothespins.

Hair Clips

I found a package of 30 small hair clips and I thought of a way to use them for preschool! I know, I’m pretty creative. As a mom of two boys, I have to use my imagination when I want to buy girlie stuff for a daughter that I don’t have. I will note that I got the package that had the least amount of girly colors. There were pink and purple clips, but there were also blue, green, yellow, orange, and white.

I used the hair clips with clip cards from the Letter of the Week curriculum from Confessions of a Homeschooler. She doesn’t name them clip cards in every letter set, but there is something like them in almost every letter set. They are basically a picture with a number on it. The T letter set has 10 turtles. Each turtle has a number 1-10 on it. Some of the clip cards have a number of objects rather than an actual number. For example, the U letter set has 10 umbrella pictures. Each umbrella has raindrops above it. The first one has 1 rain drop, the second one has 2 rain drops, etc.

To use the hair clips, the students simply have to clip the right number of hair clips to the clip card. Since there were only 30 clips, the students clip the right number of hair clips on a card, count to check, take the hair clips off, then go on to the next card. If you wanted, you could buy two packages of hair clips and then the students wouldn’t have to remove the hair clips with each card. They could leave all the hair clips on until the very end. If you only give them 55 hair clips, then they can self check because if they have any extra hair clips or not enough hair clips at the end, then they know they made a mistake. The hair clips are great, too because they are slightly difficult to open which really helps with fine motor skills!

Clothespins

This was an item I was happily surprised to find at the dollar store. I bought a package for 36 clothespins for $1. I haven’t found them cheaper anywhere else. Now, clothespins are one of those things that have a million and one uses. I’m sure you can think of plenty of ways to use clothespins, but here is how I use them to make words. On each clothespin I write a different letter of the alphabet. I do all 26 letters and a few extra for the words that have double letters.

Every week we get a new set of words to add to our word wall. There is usually one sight word that cannot be easily sounded out (was, the, our, etc.) or that is extremely common (it, in, to, etc.) and a few words that are easy to sound out and that have the vowel sound we are currently working on. Our short a words were wag, man, sat, ant, tap, bad, fan (We didn’t do all of those in one week ;) ). I write the words on word strips (hey, those are also from the dollar store, cool). Next, each student gets a word strip. They look at the first letter in the word and find the clothespin that has the same letter. Then they open the clothespin and put it on the letter so that the letter on the clothespin is showing. They repeat with the second letter and third if there is one. Again, this really helps with fine motor skills, plus I find that kids really love clothespins. I don’t know why, but it’s universal.

There you go, two fun activities courtesy of the dollar store!

We've found some fun people with great linky parties. You might just see this post linked up on one of these amazing sites! Link and Learn from No Time for Flashcards Sunday Showcase from Train Up a Child Share it Saturday from Teach Beside Me Tot School Gathering Place from 1+1+1=1 Montessori Monday from Living Montessori Now Tuesday Tots from In Lieu of Preschool Show and Tell from ABC & 123 For the Kids Fridays from Sun Scholars Finished Friday from All Our Days Weekly Kids Co-op from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails Preschool & Kindergarten Corner from Homeschool Creations TGIF Linky Party from 123 Homeschool 4 Me

November 26, 2012

What can I knit for my family and friends as Christmas gifts?

Every Christmas, I have a bunch of Christmas knitting. I knit several projects and give them away as Christmas gifts. I have had a few requests for the patterns I used this year. I was hesitant to post them at first, because some of the recipients read my blog. :) So, here is a warning, if you are related to me, please do NOT read this post!!! You’ll have to wait until Christmas to see what you are getting. ;)

Now that that’s out of the way, here are the patterns (and a few pictures) of things I have knit this Christmas and a few things from Christmases past. (click on the title to go to the pattern)

Man Paws Fingerless Gloves

 

Not a Sandy Bottom Beach Bag

I actually used a slightly different pattern, but it is no longer available. The colors are purple and gold for the recipient’s school colors.

Theresa Scarf

 

Chunky Cabled Legwarmers/Boot Socks

Double Layered Slippers

I haven’t finished these yet. :) I’ll put up a picture as soon as they are finished.

The next several patterns are patterns that I have made in past years, or that I haven’t finished yet, so I don’t have any pictures.

• Ribbed Slipper Socks
• Child’s Simple Striped Mittens
• Eyelet Slouch Hat
• Four Cables Slouch Hat
• My Favorite Knit Dishcloth (That is the name of the pattern, but just to clear up any misconceptions, this is also MY favorite knit dishcloth. Soooooo easy.)
• Bridal Shower Lace Washcloth
• Cabled Clutch
• Baby Cable Striped Purse

If you are looking for even more knitting patterns. My very favorite place to look is Knitting Pattern Central. There are so many patterns, you can almost always find what you are looking for. If you are looking for knitting supplies, I simply adore these Knit Picks nickle-plated interchangeable circulars set (and no, they are not paying me to say that ;) ). I also will be getting this set of double pointed knitting needles for Christmas. I haven’t tried them yet, but the reviews are pretty good. I love Caron Simply Soft yarn especially for children. The yarn is nice enough, but not ultra expensive. If you are looking for high quality yarn, check out Knit Picks or a local yarn shop.

If you are new to knitting, I highly recommend getting an interchangeable set of circular needles. Having every size available and being able to knit flat or in the round has opened a world of possibilities. I also suggest learning how to do cables. I went 3 years before trying a cable because I thought they would be so hard! They are are actually super easy. Find a cable tutorial on youtube (or a couple) and you’ll have it down in no time. In fact, that applies to any knitting technique that you haven’t mastered yet. There are so many knitting tutorials on youtube, you can easily teach yourself anything you want to know.

One last note, I don’t knit a ton for men. I do knit mittens and hats every year for my boys and I have knit some manly scarves in past years. To be honest, the main reason I don’t knit as much for boys is because there aren’t a lot of manly patterns out there. Yes, the pattern might be titled “Manly Sweater” but the picture is of a sweater my husband would NEVER wear. Even if I made it especially for him. I did make some fingerless mittens this year for a brother and I kept asking my husband if he thought they were manly enough. He said yes and has even requested that I make him a pair after Christmas is over. :)

Good luck with your Christmas knitting! Feel free to share a pattern you are using this Christmas and I will add them all to the list.

We've found some fun people with great linky parties. You might just see this post linked up on one of these amazing sites! Link and Learn from No Time for Flashcards Sunday Showcase from Train Up a Child Share it Saturday from Teach Beside Me Tot School Gathering Place from 1+1+1=1 Montessori Monday from Living Montessori Now Tuesday Tots from In Lieu of Preschool Show and Tell from ABC & 123 For the Kids Fridays from Sun Scholars Finished Friday from All Our Days Weekly Kids Co-op from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails Preschool & Kindergarten Corner from Homeschool Creations TGIF Linky Party from 123 Homeschool 4 Me