Christmas Traditions

'Tis the season for upholding family traditions and making memories. One of my favorite Christmas traditions is decorating the tree. To me there are few things better than listening to Christmas music and putting my favorite ornaments on the tree. I also take this task very seriously. I remember one Christmas when I was home from college, my teenage brother wanted to talk to his friends on the phone instead of decorate the tree and I was furious with him. I know, a little silly. But in all seriousness, we don't decorate the whole tree together, I do have a 4 year old and a 20 month old. But we always start it as a family and take pictures of the first ornament being put on the tree.

This year has been even more special to me for two reasons, one being that both of my children were able to help this year and the second reason being that I just got a whole bunch of Christmas decorations from my Grandmommy. Some of the decorations are super old ornaments that my Great-Grandmother made and some are just from when I was a child, but I'm really excited to incorporate them into our tree this year. What's funny is that a few years ago Grandmommy tried to give me some ornaments and I didn't want them because they were too old. Also, I was very into having only traditional Christmas colored (red and green) ornaments with silver accents.  Yes, my tree was a little bare.

Perhaps it's the recent passing of my husband's grandmother, or the realization that my own children are growing right before my very eyes or the fact that this is our first Christmas in our new home, but I'm feeling very nostalgic this holiday season. Instead of fancy and proper, now I am craving vintage, homemade with lots and lots of colors. Which has perhaps led me to my latest DIY project, the mini-paper chain. Okay, yes, I'm a little obsessed with paper chains right now. This idea actually came from the paper chain I made with my 4 year old son to countdown the days until Christmas. In past years, my garland was silver beads that I never quite had enough to fill the tree, but given my homemade love, I thought a mini-paper chain would be perfect.

First I chose my colors and cut double sided cardstock into mini-strips. They were 1/2 inch wide and 3 inches long.

Next, I rolled them into loops and glued them together forming a chain, with a repeating pattern.

Now, I opted to complete this project on my own because of the length it needs to be and how small the chain is. (I quite literally spent hours completing this project. Difficult, no, but time consuming yes). However, if you have older children, they could complete the chain and it will add even more sentiment to your tree. And yes, I will be saving this garland for years to come.

Now, will my tree be a total and complete hodge-podge of ornaments this year? Absolutely! Will I love every second of it? Absolutely!

Biscuit

Biscuit by Alyssa Satin Capucilli and illustrated by Pat Schories is one of my favorite easy readers. It's also a favorite of my children, who own several different Biscuit stories including Biscuit Goes to School and Biscuit Visits the Pumpkin Patch. Even my 20 month old daughter, walks around carrying the book saying, "Bisuit, bisuit."

In the original, children can really relate to Biscuit as he wants another drink of water, wants a snack and wants a story. I go through a similar routine with my son every night, although he doesn't wind up curled up on my bedroom floor. Biscuit is a great book for beginning readers. It has repetitive text which will help young readers, but is an early to middle first grade reading level, due to some of the vocabulary. Although, it definitely could be used for earlier readers because it has strong picture support and is easy to memorize. 

Christmas Countdown

With 19 days to go until Christmas the countdown is officially on in the Fields house. I was really planning on making a really cute handmade advent calendar using ideas from Pinterest, but I could never quite fit it in and before I knew it, the tree was up and every night my four-year-old was saying, "tomorrow is Christmas!" Maybe I should start a fancier calendar now for next year? But for this year it's paper chains and a sticker tree, both really cute, easy to make, and purpose serving for a busy Momma.

First we started with the chain. I pre-cut 20 1 inch by 6 inch red and green strips of tagboard. You can use construction paper, but after all of my Thanksgiving projects, I'm a little low on construction paper and tag is a little sturdier.

Next, I told my son we were going to make a paper chain to countdown to Christmas. I helped him use a glue stick to put glue on the end of one strip and roll it over to attach it to the other end of the strip. I showed him how to connect the next strip to the first and he took off. Completing this project by himself.

I had every intention of practicing patterning with this activity and he started with an AB pattern, but after the fourth chain he started doing his own thing and I just let him be creative. He was content and excited and not everything has to be academic right? Plus there is some number concept practice that goes along with counting down to Christmas. Every couple of links he would want to stop and count how many he had until he had them all glued together. (I had to help with the counting).

After he finished, he insisted on hanging the chain on the tree for decoration. Every night we will take one chain off and count the remaining chains to see how many days until Christmas.

In addition to the chain, I also made a Christmas tree out of green paper and numbers. Each day, my son will put a sticker over a number to countdown the days until Christmas. I pre-made this activity, but older kids could make their own and it would be great number writing practice. You could even write the numbers lightly with a pencil and have your child trace them. This is a great visual so that your child can see the numbers while counting down.

Have fun and enjoy the countdown!

Mercy Watson to the Rescue

I love, love, love this series of books beginning with Mercy Watson to the Rescue by Kate DiCamillo and illustrated by Chris Van Dusen. Mercy Watson is a porcine wonder according to her human parents, Mr. and Mrs. Watson, and a nuisance to her grouchy neighbor, Eugenia Lincoln. Quite simply she is a stubborn pig with a love of hot, buttered toast.

This is a great read aloud for kids who are transitioning to listening to chapter books because each book is full of fun and adventure and because it has awesome, colorful pictures. I know you can't judge a book by it's cover, but in my personal opinion colorful illustrations make me want to pick up a book. The pictures in these books really help young listeners connect with what's happening in the story as they transition from picture books to chapter books. Also, it helps that the storylines are simple and move quickly from one event to the next.

They are written on an early second grade reading level so they have great content for younger students (kindergarten-1st graders) who may be reading above grade level. (It's sometimes really tricky to find books for those higher readers, who's content is still appropriate). Even though I love this series for younger readers and listeners, I used to read them to my 2nd graders a few years ago and they equally enjoyed Mercy's adventures. Mercy also has her own web-site www.mercywatson.com, which is partially why this post is so late, with addition and matching games as well as more information on the books and their characters that is more suited towards 1st-3rd graders.

Image from amazon.com

In the first book of the series, Mercy Watson to the Rescue, Mercy sneaks into bed with her parents and causes the bed to crack through the ceiling. As the bed begins to fall, Mercy is woken up and hops off the bed in search of food. Mr. and Mrs. Watson, however, are stuck and think Mercy is running off for help. Mercy finds no food downstairs so she heads over to her neighbors' house hopes that she might find some cookies. That's where the adventure begins. What would you do if you saw a pig looking in your window in the middle of the night? You'll have to read to find out. Trust me, you and your kids won't be disappointed.