Parashat Ki Tetsei and bird nests

There are around 70 mitzvot in this week's parasha. We kept it pretty simple with just one mitzvah- shiluach haken-"when you chance upon a bird's nest...let the mother go and take only the young." Many say this is a commandment to teach compassion for the mother bird so she doesn't witness the taking of her eggs.

Here are some bird and nest activities we did:

Puffed wheat cereal mixed with melted chocolate and peanut butter. Put the mix into a muffin tin, indent center and freeze for an hour. The girls shooed away the mommy bird before eating the "eggs".

Got the idea from challahcrumbs.com (great resource for Jewish crafts).

Then we made a paper plate nest with pom pom birds. Instructions Here

I plan on continuing more lessons on birds and nests with this and other books:

"In this retelling of an old English folktale featuring birds native to the U.S., Magpie patiently explains to the other birds how to build a nest. Some birds are impatient and fly off without listening to all the directions, however, and that is why, to this day, birds' nests come in all different shapes and sizes." 

Rosh Hashana T-shirt Decorating & More

Here are some easy t-shirt crafts:  

1. Crazy Easy Sandpaper T-shirt:

 Color on sandpaper with good quality crayons, turn over on shirt and iron. Voila!

Place shirt in dryer to help set the colors and wash separately the first time.

2. Ink Blot T-shirt

 Squeeze fabric paint all over shirt and fold in half

 We could not believe the cool pattern that appeared. Hearts, bird, hippos..oh my!

This is my 20 month old's creation. She was insistent on squeezing the paint bottle while it was pointed upwards, so she used a paintbrush instead. (Some of the neater patterning in the center is from my attempt to  show her how to squeeze downward).

3. Freezer Paper T-shirts

In honor of Rosh Hashana, I cut out an apple and shofar from freezer paper (no substitute will do). Iron on the cut out with glossy side down. This will keep your stencil in place.

 Using sponge tip brushes and fabric paint, my 3 year old painted her shofar black with a layer of glitter paint and my 20 month old painted the red portion of the apple. I filled in her gaps and painted the green stem for her. 

 Not too shabby! 

Perfect PJ's for the late night Rosh Hashana Meal!

Giveaway Winner!

Drum roll please....

Our first giveaway winner is Gina !!!!

I will have your prize shipped out today!

Thank you to everyone who participated!

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

When thinking about our summer, the good has so majorly outweighed the bad and the ugly, but I wanted to draw attention to some of my struggles over the last two months.

Photo Source

A number of people have told me that they couldn't stay home with their kids because they don't have the patience for it and they just cant imagine spending so many hours with their kids. So let me let you in on a little secret: I lose my patience too, I get frustrated, I get angry. I am not proud of it, but its true. All parents do. 

Photo Source

There were a few days where I was really bad and really ugly. When my three year old was yelling uncontrollably in the backseat of the car, I threatened to pull over the car and let her out. I saw the fear in her eyes and I cried. That was not okay. It is NOT okay. 

My children are normal children who see the world from only their point of view; they want, they need, they yell, they fight, they cry. That is not an excuse for me to snap at them. They are doing the best they can with their still undeveloped cognitive control centers. I am the adult. My brain is developed. I don't have an excuse.

So, with all that said I have taken theses really low points and turned them into teaching moments for myself and my girls. I talked to my kids about my reactions and to my 3 year old about how she feels when mommy doesn't stay calm.  I explain to her that we are allowed to feel angry, but we need to control our words and actions when we are angry.

So this past week, when my girls colored on our rug, spilled all the bath water onto the bathroom floor so that I almost slipped and cracked my head on the floor and the clincher when my 20 month old pulled off her diaper, pooped on the carpet and came running in to show me her creation in her hand!!!! I was able to take a deep breath, and ask my girls, "How do you think Mommy feels?" and respond with  "Yes, I do  feel REALLY angry, but I am not screaming or losing control. I "will keep calm and carry on". Of course we have consequences that match the 'crime' like having to clean up the mess (poop excluded) or not being allowed to play with crayons for the rest of the day.

 But these moments are priceless opportunities for me to model self control and being slow to anger. "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city" (Proverbs 16:32). Imagine how much more peaceful our world be if children all over the world grew up in homes that were slow to anger and quick to forgive. 

 Every family finds a rhythm that works for them. 

Would love to hear about some things other families use to maintain a fun and healthy beat for their families. 

Parshat Shofetim, Justice, & Critical Thinking skills

"Justice, Justice shall you pursue..." (Deuteronomy 16;20). 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yYv5mjHGdI
Watch the above video link for a cartoon summary of the five types of justice discussed in the parasha.

The parasha begins with the commandment to set up judges and police officers (loose translations) for the Tribes of Israel to maintain justice and make rulings in matters of controversy. 

 

 I discussed with my three year old the duty of a judge. We went through real life examples where we have to make judgements and rulings. For example, when mommy has to decide who gets the toy when two children say they both want it. We focused on the importance of doing "strong thinking" to help make these tough decisions. 

I then presented her scenarios with her stuffed animals and asked her what questions she would ask in order to decide who was right or wrong in the case. (She needed my guidance, but we definitely got the wheels turning).

For older kids this can be expanded into a mock trial with family members acting as different players in the court scene.

 I then connected the idea of "strong thinking" used by judges to the same kind of thinking we need to understand math concepts. 

I told her to use her "strong thinking" when completing exercises from this book:

Photo Source

 This is a great Pre-Math book. There are actually no number problems in the book, but rather fun stories and activities that teach the critical thinking skills necessary to understand math. 

Photo Source

There are three books in this series. We currently only have the first book. 

The chapter titles in book one are: What is Different, Putting Together and Taking Apart, Numbers in Order, and Who's the Tallest? Again no numbers are used. So the book is really focused on the conceptual nature of math.

The math of today's classrooms looks very different from the math we were exposed to. Many of us are from the generation where math class was rote recall and memorization of facts and formulas. Today's math classes focus much more on the procedure than the outcome. Kids are asked questions like "what did you use to get to that answer" and "how else could we have figured that out." 

This disparity might explain why so many of us (myself included) are convinced that we are just not good at math. Maybe if we were taught math in a more natural and conceptual way, we would not cringe when trying to figure out how much that dress in Macy's will cost when it's 30% off regular price and we have an additional 20% off coupon. Clearly, I've been there.

Here is a great list of kids' books that center around math concepts: http://mathmamawrites.blogspot.com/p/math-books.html

A friend of mine also recommended: http://lifeoffredmath.com/

I would love to hear from others about ways they incorporate critical thinking and mathematical concepts into their day with their kids. Looking forward to your comments!