Boogyin' with my Woogie

One of my favorite things to do with Z-man is dance. Somehow we started playing this game that we call "Boogie Woogie". I start singing "Boogie Woogie..." in a sing-song voice and then I ask Z-man a question like "what's your favorite animal?" He then answers in a speed- round fashion. "Giraffe." The more dance filled and blues-esque my performance, the more excitement I get back.
I ask another one: "Boogie Woogie, what color are your socks?" "Blue." There are some trivia questions "Boogie Woogie, who are your grandmothers?" He has five, so this is quite a test of memory recall. "Boogie Woogie, what's Mama's real name?" We go on and on. Sometimes, Z-man accompanies us on the piano and often we have microphones, either imaginary or like these fabulous light up ones.

Why is this goofy game share worthy? Well, its super fun. And the more fun times we have together, the more cooperation I gett. Also, boogying with my woogie gets us talking--and learning new things about each other. I love the chance for him to learn important information in a fun way, like my real name or where we live. And lastly, this jingle has saved us those few minutes before dinner is ready when he is hungry and tired and just done. Those minutes are sometimes super rough but when we boogie our way through them, we are both happy. 

My Discoveries of 2014

2014 was an amazing year.  It was a year with so many more ups than downs, so much family time,  and settling down (somewhat) confidently into my job as a teacher and role as a mama! 2014 was a year of trying different things, working on myself, and making new discoveries.
I'll share five of the best things I discovered this year:
1. Coconut oil is for everything. I've used it to remove spray paint from my hands, get permanent marker off the wall, condition my hair, whiten my teeth, and treat Z-man's diaper rash. I credit coconut oil with my clearer skin (I use it as face wash, make-up remover, and moisturizer) and Z's still-baby-soft skin. I'm obsessed!
2. Consciously saving cash changed my spending. I started saving every $5 dollar bill I got as change. No matter what I wanted to spend it on, I refused to and instead put it in an envelope. I did this for about six months of the year and amassed a pretty decent amount. When I stopped intentionally saving cash, my spending in general increased. I'm going back to this in 2015.
3. Running is therapeutic. This has been my greatest self-discovery this year. I've always hated running and said I just couldn't do it. I ran for 13 minutes one day in May to see if I could and struggled through it. The other I day, I ran five miles! I find that when I run, I'm much more relaxed and less irritable (and healthier!). Life changing for sure.
4. I don't need rigid rules.  Z-man has to brush his teeth twice a day, but he doesn't have to do it right after breakfast.. Some mornings he can finish getting ready at school--we get there early to get my room set--or before we go upstairs for breakfast. There are definitely some exceptions to this discovery, but realizing that rules can be much more fluid has led to greater cooperation and given Z more autonomy.
5. Inside jokes are my magic with Z. We have been cultivating all these little jokes and games since he was born. When I want to reconnect with him, zone out for a second, hear his awesome laugh, or get him onboard with something, whipping out one of these jokes is magic! Also, its really fun!

My guy trying to keep his eyes open three hours after bedtime!

Here's to a 2015 filled with soft skin, saving, long runs, flexibility, and laughing--and more discoveries!

Date Night To Go!

Pinterest really helped me out this Christmas (and every other day of my life! What did I do before I discovered Pinterest?!) 

For my couple friends, I found this great date night bag idea on Pinterest and decided to tweak it a little. A trip to the dollar store and some magic marker fun later and viola! Merry Christmas to my favorite couples!

 

Bath salts, candles, playing cards, measuring cups, plastic champagne glasses, and popcorn make for some awesome dates! Enjoy, my friends!

La Novena de Mama Suerte

My Z-man's dad is a first generation American; his parents moved here from Colombia before they had children. My family has been in America for as long as we have traced back. It is very important to me that I support and help to foster both sides of Z-man's cultural identity. 

I know my family's stories well, of wars fought, Great Depression struggles, the brave move from farm to city life, our legacy of educators.  Sometimes, my traditions, recipes, and values are shared so naturally that I don't even realize I'm doing it; these things are so much a part of who I am.

Fostering Z's Colombian identity is much more conscience for me-a challenge. I acknowledge that I might not always get things right, that my understanding might not be complete, and that the language barrier is a pretty big one. I'm committed to trying my best, asking family for priceless input and to make time with my guy, and to learning as much as I can.

So, last year, when his Tia mentioned la Novena, I knew I wanted to somehow work it into our December. I researched it and found out when to start it (December 16th) and what the ritual was. Then, I chose the parts of the ritual that speak to me, and that I thought would be important to Z-man. We haven't done the big party part of la Novena, but I'm hoping to incorporate at least one visit to a neighbor's house next year (any takers?).

So yesterday, and today, and every day for the next seven days, we will plug in our candle (classy, I know) and pull out our bible. I had the opening prayer from la Novena translated and I adapted it into something that Z can understand. We open in prayer and then read part of the birth story from the bible. We sing Christmas songs that Z-man picks out, lots because he loves to sing, and then close with a prayer.

I know my version of this is not culturally accurate. I know that it barely even resembles the traditional Novena. Today, Z-man asked if we could do his "novena". I can feel that this is making Christmas more meaningful for us. And that is what traditions are all about.

Christmas Around the World, Part Två

Last week, my class continued their world travels with trips to Australia, England, Israel, and Sweden. Oh what fun we had!
In Australia, we read The Australian Twelve Days of Christmas by Heath McKenzie. This book taught us about animals we might find down under (like kookaburra in a gum tree) and also gave us a great chance to compare and contrast this version with the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas song that they already knew (a partridge in a pear tree). We noticed that both versions repeated each of the items again and again and that they both counted down from 12. These are big things for a three year-old to realize! Christmas crackers were made: cookie cutters were dipped in paint to make prints on white paper and then wrapped around toilet paper tubes. My students put candy inside as they tied them up, making one for themselves and each of their siblings. They took them home to share and open.

Our trip to England included looking at Christmas cards, a strong tradition in Great Britain. Our school gets a lot of Christmas card front pages, which are so fun to make crafts with and also, really great for retelling the Christmas nativity story and The Night Before Christmas. We read The Jolly Christmas Postman by Janet and Allen Ahlberg. This is story plays with common fairy tales as familiar characters open little envelopes with holiday messages inside. I remember loving this book as a child, and my students did, too! Stamps, stickers, and staplers turned discarded bulletin board borders into Christmas crowns to wear on our heads like the children in England do this time of year.

One student in my class is moving to Israel with his family, so this day was extra special to our class. We ate cupcakes decorated with the Israeli flag in blue icing. We spun dreidels and talked about how some children don't celebrate Christmas, but celebrate other holidays. We read the Birds of Bethlehem by Tomie dePaola. My students covered six pointed stars cut from cereal boxes (the BEST crafting cardboard) with aluminum foil. Then, we used spray bottles filled with glue, water, and blue paint to sprinkle the stars. As we placed torn up tissue paper on it, the students watched the white tissue absorb our spray, changing to blue as it did. The stars are far from the best looking project we have done, (:/) but they really enjoyed making them.

We ended our week with a trip to Sweden for Saint Lucia's Day (a day early). Here, we made wreaths of candles for our heads to celebrate St. Lucy's Day. We glued green paper scraps onto paper plates and painted wine corks white for the candles, hammering the corks onto the circles to make them stay upright.

The best part of this week was our reference books. I found books on each country from the children's nonfiction section at the library. My students asked questions about each location, like "What do they drive there?" and "What do people drink and eat there?" Then, we used the index and table of contents to look up where to find the information and found it!
One more of world travels before the real holiday trips begin!

P.S. We broke our pinata open!

Christmas Around the World

In December, my lesson plan focuses on holiday traditions around the world. Each day, we look at our class globe, pretend to pack a suitcase full of appropriate clothes (flip flops or winter boots?), and do some yoga poses to represent planes as we fly to a new country. Then, we read a book about Christmas, mostly about or from the destination of the day, work on projects representing Christmas traditions these, and talk briefly about each country.

This week, we visited Germany first. We ate Gingerbread cookies and talked about how these treats decorate some trees in German households. We cut and stapled our own advent calendar chains to count down the days until Christmas, because advent calendars are a big thing in Germany. First, the kids cut their own strips (yeah for scissor skill practice!). Then, they put them in patterns (math!). Finally, they stapled them in loops (fine motor skills!) and counted to 24 as they went (more math!). Each day we remove one loop and count the days until Santa's big arrival.

The next day, our travels took us to Mexico where we read The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie dePaola. Using a real poinsettia for inspiration, we turned toilet paper tubes into flower ornaments. For the first time ever, I tried paper mache. So. Much. Fun. So. Much. Mess. We made our own pinata to break at the end of the month, like the children in Mexico do on Christmas.

When we visited Brazil, we read Christmas Around the World by Disney Book Group (the inspiration and resource for most of this month's planning). We tried to mimic this awesome idea substituting a glowing Christmas tree for buildings in the firework pictures. Although our representations weren't nearly as cute, my students loved the idea of fireworks to celebrate!

Friday, we traveled to Holland and made Kruidnootjes together which was so much fun. This links to a fabulous recipe with easy instructions for use with kids. I substituted Trader Joe's Speculoos Crunchy Cookie Butter for the speculaas spice, because I couldn't find it in my grocery store and didn't want to take the time to make my own. They were pretty tasty cookies! 

During circle time, we placed our shoes outside our classroom and miraculously, they were filled with candy and small presents when we checked them later! We guessed that Sinterklaas had stopped by for a visit!

Feliz Navidad! Feliz Natal! Vrolijk Kerstfeest! Frohe Weihnachten!

C.H.R.I.S.T.M.A.S.

Since we had so much fun wrapping birthday presents together, I wanted Z-man to be part of prepping Christmas, too. Inspired by this pinner's classroom activity, I made little Christmas tree light bulbs from construction paper and wrote letters on them. Z-man searched for the first letter of each name from the pile of letters. Then, I pulled out the rest of the letters and he tried to find the next letter as I told him what it was. I'm thankful for family members with short names! And very thankful for every minute with my guy.