Buenos Dias

HOLA! For our kids who are missing Spanish classes, we have some links that may help:

ABC Mouse Preschool Spanish lesson for kids- 

Rock 'n'Learn Spanish Lessons - numbers, Colors, and More

Spanish Lessons for Food, Animals, and Activities

Spanish Lessons for Body Parts, Family, and Feelings

These are colorful, well-done videos that will capture their attention - no replacement for Senora Cobb, of course, but we are grateful she shared them. They are a fun way to learn and review Spanish vocabulary. Remember, what your child will get out of these lessons totally depends on their age, maturity and interest, but we think they are fun!

Our Yoga Mats Are Lonesome

Yoga continues to rise in popularity with adults, but, guess what! Kids love yoga, too. We love practicing yoga at the Day School, but right now, the mats are rolled up very tidy, missing the kids.
                                                 
We hope you will take some of this extra time you have to practice some yoga with your children.

One of our favorite yoga resources is Cosmic Kids Yoga. Each entertaining video has both a story and actions, the yoga positions. The children listen and watch intently and do a great job with the yoga moves.

Another favorite site of one of my grandson's is Yoga for Kids with Alissa Kepas, found on YouTu.be. He reaches and stretches and bends and breathes AND listens carefully.

There are so many advantages for you to do yoga with your children. The workout your body gets is gentle but effective, and we know it helps relieve stress. Yoga also helps children be more mindful of their bodies, their surroundings, their actions.

So take off your shoes, grab a mat if you have one, and have a wonderful, family yoga experience.

Going Bananas?

Do you feel as if you are actually going bananas? I know this is so difficult for everyone...moms and dads keeping little ones busy, moms and dads helping older children keep up with their school work, moms and dads trying to work from home. And then their are the grandparents and great-grandparents who are isolated and lonesome. We worry about them and need to make sure they have what they need. It is an exhausting list, but I know each of you can handle whatever is put before you with God's help.

So instead of going bananas, let's look at some kid-approved recipes with bananas:

Banana Muffins - 2 dozen large super moist muffins
¾ C. butter  (1 ½ sticks softened)
1 ½ C. sugar
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas
4 T. sour cream
2 C. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter in a large mixing bowl. Gradually add sugar. Beat in eggs, thoroughly.Sift together flour, soda, and salt; add gradually to mixing bowl. Mash bananas and beat into mixture. Add sour cream and vanilla and blend. Pour into lined or greased muffin tins until ¾ full. Bake 2350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.
Note: If gluten is an issue, I have substituted gluten free 1 to 1 cup flour blend and these muffins turn out just right. I have also made lots of mini-muffins, too. All yummy!

Frozen Peanut Butter Banana Bites
Slice bananas into ¼" pieces
Arrange in ice cube trays or on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper
Spoon ¼ to ½ tsp. peanut butter onto banana slices
Freeze for about 2 hours.
Enjoy!
Note: You can exchange any type nut butter for the peanut butter. You can also top each peanut buttered covered banana slice with another slice to make "sandwiches" if preferred.

Looks like mine have a little more than ½ tsp of peanut butter! Extra yummy!

                                                 

Quarantined Kindness

What a wonderful calendar to remind of us ways all of us can be kind during this time of social isolation and quarantines. Thank you to our Social Studies teacher, Miss Betsy, for sharing this. I challenge every family to take this to heart and follow it. What a difference it will make in so many lives, including each of us. And be kind to yourself and give yourself some grace, parents.

It's the Sabbath

Happy Sunday! 

This is a great day for family time and to continue in this season of Lent to prepare ourselves for Easter. I love this stain-glassed cross my grandsons created with chalk in their driveway. You can get plugged into a live-streamed church service, adult Sunday school class and Youth Sunday school class led by our different ministers or a Children's Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Sunday school class. All of these offerings as well as daily devotionals are available on You Tube IPC Birmingham. 

Stories for Bedtime or Anytime

I hope everyone enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and cool breeze today and spent a lot of family time outdoors. After a day of family fun, books would be a splendid way to wind down and get ready for bed. I know you all read to your children, but I want to share some resources that provide other people reading books.

Here are a few tried and true sites to visit over and over:

Storylineonline.net - Listen to movie stars and other celebrities read some of your favorite books

@petethecatofficial - Author James Dean reads his books aloud every weekday at 11:00 CST; you can also pull up past stories and watch and listen

PBS Kids -  Marc Brown reading Arthur's New Puppy or go to the Arthur or PBS Kids Facebook pages for more stories

@savewithstories - On this Instagram page, celebrities, like Jennifer Garner, read favorite children's stories

Bedtime Stories Read Aloud - Look for these on You Tube - lots of wonderful books that will be worth listening to

We're Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo How About You, You, You?

This Friday happens to be a gorgeous day with warm temperatures so I hope you spend a lot of time outdoors. When you need a rest, why not go visit The Birmingham Zoo? VIRTUALLY, of course! They are giving Meet the Neighbors tours, behind the scenes, and highlighting different animals in the zoo with videos on their Facebook page. Just go to Facebook and then Birmingham Zoo. Click on posts and you will see past videos and current ones. Some of the videos even have an activity page link. No admission fee, although I know they are happy to accept donations right now while they are shut down to visitors coming through the gates.

Once you have watched a particular video, decide on an activity or two to do with your child to extend the experience. These are just a few possibilities and tap into many levels of creativity and a plethora of skills from letter recognition, remembering details, and fine & gross motor skills.

• Ask your child what they heard, what they remember from video...different age children will respond differently which is the beauty of open-ended questions with no correct answer. Making a list they can see is a great pre-literacy activity.
• Talk about what letter and sound is at the beginning of the name of the animal.
• Parents can write the letters in dots that spell the animal's name & let your child trace it helping them with their grip if they need it.
• Make one of the animals out of play dough.
• Paint or color a picture of any part of the video; could be the animal or something else.
• Create the animal's habitat with whatever you have at home; good time to use recyclables and items from your yard; you can do it on a flat surface or in a box.
• Make a sock (yes, we all have those stray socks whose partners were eaten by the dryer!) or brown paper bag puppet.
• Create a rhyming poem about the animal. 
• Write a little book about the animal - the child can dictate or write the words & illustrate. 
• Have your child pretend he/she is the animal or one of the animals and parade through the yard moving as the animal would; some may want just one piece of a costume ( a tail, whiskers, ears) or prop to "get into character."

There are many zoos in the country you can also visit from home; I've listed just a few. Think of all the animals you can see without leaving home!

The Cincinnati Zoo - virtual daily afternoon tours
Omaha Zoo - Do The Zoo At Home with Henry Doorly Zoo's daily interactive videos
San Diego Zoo - they have cool polar bear and peguin cams & Meet the Animals videos
Smithsonian Zoo - Go to the Meet the Animals tab to choose an animal to learn about
St. Louis Zoo - Behind the Scenes Tours