Lucinda's Library Notes

  The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper is a classic golden book first published in 1930. This makes it a book that grandparents and even great-grandparents may have treasured as a young child.  I remember having it on my bookshelf!  The classic story has stood the test of time and new versions of the story are shared with little ones today.   One of the benefits of this book is that it is the personified story of toys and trains which are popular toys for children.  Wooden train tracks are probably just as loved today as they were fifty years ago!  This makes for an easy connection for the child from the book to their toys, giving them ideas for stories to tell as they make believe with their toy trains and characters.   In particular, this book tells an important story that remains just as important today as it was on the day it was written...hence the term, 'timeless classic'.  This engine had an important job but she was little...

  A child's developmental level is specific to the child but there are key milestones expected by set ages to guide the expected progress and make people aware of any early signs of delay.  The delays may not be significant in the long term but they do alert people to keep an eye on the child's development and prompts early intervention. When we get involved before the gap becomes too noticeable, we can help prevent a widening gap and the secondary impact of those delays.  For example, delays in gestures may lead to delays in speech which may impact early academic skills.  If a child is late to crawl and walk, they may catch up and even excel in gross motor skills or they may remain delayed because it was a sign of an underlying issue that needed to be identified and addressed. We never want to delay the offer of help.  We don't want to wait and see. We want to jump in and help in any way we can as soon as we can.  Knowing the anticipated developmental mile...

Dogs is a hot topic in our house. I have four sons and they all want their own dog and they all want big dogs but they are too busy to get a dog at this stage of life. However, my mother who thought she was past the stage of owning a dog has now applied to adopt a small-medium one. At the same time, one of my sons applied to foster a dog (or kittens) as a short term commitment which is more suitable to his stage of life. Both are full of anticipation as to what dog we may get. As my son prepares to foster, I am also being inundated with his comments on training videos, healthcare videos and reports about the various breeds. He wants to be a vet so knowing all this and encouraging it is a positive experience. It is good to have an interest, especially one that involves caring for animals or people in one way or another, and to invest yourself in these special interests. I am 'following my child's lead' in learning about dogs and sharing with you about them in this blo...

Post #100! How do I choose a book for my one hundredth post?  "Go Dog Go!" is a classic but so is "The Ugly Duckling". "Dragons Love Tacos" was a fun new one I wanted to read but then again "Down by the Bay" has a catchy song to accompany it...THEN I saw Disney has 100+ characters and they are a true success story so DISNEY is the way to go for this post.   Tell me your favourite Disney stories. You can share the actual storyline of a book or movie or of a connection between it and your own life/world.   For example, when I was 16 my dad took us to Disney in Florida and I chose a Donald Duck necklace charm, not Mickey Mouse ears so it seems I liked Donald Duck. I still have him.  My friend in USA has a teenager with special needs who has her Disney crew of stuffed animals join her for her breakfast each day. For our twin boys' fourth birthday we gave Toy Story's Buzz Lightyears and they still argue about it because I gave the 'better...

Duncan "got a gold star for creativity." This was the final phrase and it sealed this book's destiny to be on my list. It is not one I read before even though it is well-known.  It drew me in as a funny story line that suggested it was quite imaginative.  Then having another important 'C' concept, creativity, as a part of the story of the crayons....well, that just made me doubly sure it was the one to share today! The book, "The Day the Crayons Quit" is  written by Drew Daywalt and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers.  The m ain character is Duncan.  He receives a stack of letters from his crayons who all have problems!  Can you imagine what problems crayons have? Well, apparently red is  overworked, blue is happy but now is too short, white is empty feeling, grey is tired and peach got his wrapping peeled off and now is naked and embarrassed!  What other problems do you think crayons may have? Duncan wanted to make his crayons happy. He got an idea....

  At first I wondered why I chose Christmas as my theme since there are SO MANY Christmas activities already out there.  I thought about changing to C is for Cats but then I challenged myself to come up with at least ten suggestions for you and the ideas started to flow. Clearly, we have the dot to dots, colouring pages, Christmas carols, tree decorations in our minds, maybe we can add to your ideas with something else from this list. 1. For those who like an advent calendar. Here are two variations.  To make a simplified one, cut out a shape like a tree and draw on boxes (12 or 24).  On each box attach the same treat like a hershey's kiss for the child.  Each day they can randomly remove one until they are all gone (full advent or 12 days of Christmas).  But if you want something more advanced/interactive, you can try an advent seek and find.  Perhaps you could choose one treasure box.  Each day leading up to Christmas you can put a small treat ...

Child Led Interactions automatically indicate that the child is motivated and engaged. It is what they want to be doing at that moment in time and so they are interested and ready to interact right then.  When we connect in moments like this, our children are most open to learning from us.  When they are looking at an apple, turning it, smelling it and about to take a bite, it is meaningful to them for us to label it 'apple'  and encourage them to try to say apple too. If a child is loving their toy firetruck but just moving it back and forth, you could add in the sounds and some people to rescue and a hill to go on or a chalk road for it to drive along. The child is much more likely to respond to you if you join in with this than if you try to get them to move on to a different activity of interest to you. We all want to know that people support our interests and want to hear about what matters to us, even if it is not so important to them.  We all want to have some...

Babies learn at amazing rates!  In 1000 days, from conception to their 2nd birthday. a child goes from non-existence to interactive, communicative beings who change our life!   I shared one of the 16 by 16 lookbooks available on the baby navigator website. They have a variety of resources that help you know what skills a baby typically masters by a set age if you want to learn more.  An example of a baby's incredible growth is seen in their speech.  From undifferentiated cries to babbling, they typically have 1-2 words at 12 months, 20 by 18months and 200 by 24 months.  That is a tenfold increase every six months. It is even more incredible when you consider that this infant accomplished this level of growth in multiple areas of life simultaneously! Also, this is just a baseline, many children far surpass this guideline. When we talk about babies we think of eating, crying, diapers, snuggles, hope...They require a lot of loving care but they are very active...

When I use the word balance, what comes to mind?  Balancing building blocks?                                                       A balance beam with a gymnast on top?  A  logger trying to walk on rolling logs in a river?                         Is it a calendar with the words 'work/life balance' written across it? Is it the balance of justice's golden scales or regular scales?  or do you think of relaxation, openness, equilibrium, good and evil, ??? What comes to my mind is the balance of give and take in an interaction.  Taking turns creates a balance whereas dictating creates a hierarchy of dominant authority over submissive subjects. In the home, the parent is the authority but the child is their heir, not their subject. Parents need to have balanced inter...

Just a note to say that the PAGES tab has a list for Building Skills, Library Notes and Themed Activities that outlines what topics are already completed and what topics are planned for the weeks and months ahead.  You can search it for an area of interest and if the one you are looking for is nowhere to be found, send me a note! 

                                    Brown Bear, Brown Bear  What do you See?                                          Written by Bill Martin Jr and Eric Carle                                                                        What are some reasons why I chose this book for your consideration?  What makes it so good? *The predictability and repetition found in the text are great literacy tools for young children. *The book is good for memory building. Do you remember what animal    the red bird sees? *It is good for story retelling, another memory buil...

Book :  Maybe I can mention Ten Apples up on Top here as a book choice!  Yay!   Following Directions :  How to make applesauce, apple pie, apple crisp, apple butter. Find some easy recipes to follow and enjoy time together either creating the masterpiece or devouring it! Snack :  Spending time together talking while enjoying an apple snack is an excellent use of time! Counting : Using the seeds from your apples, count the apple seeds as you glue them onto an apple picture.  You could do an apple picture for each number (ie. one seed on apple #1, 2 seeds on the second apple and so forth OR you could cut an apple outline in half and put seeds on both halves then practice your addition skills. It could be a random number or you could make halves and have the child find which combinations add up to ten (eg. 3+7 or 1+9) for easy counting and adding activities. Funny faces :  While you have the apples sliced you can use a slice as a smile in your mouth....

The root word of activities is active so the goal of the activity is for the person involved to remain active or to remain actively engaged in the task. Their activity will help to build their skills. We do not give children activities to do simply to keep them busy, but it is nevertheless a good choice to engage your child in actions as they are helping to develop their skills and propel them forward. Here are some common activities and samples of what skills they are developing in the process of completing them. Activity 1: Brush your teeth.  Hand/eye coordination, grip, self-care, up/down and side to side concepts, following instructions, counting teeth, on/off (tap), squeeze toothpaste, brushing teeth. Activity 2: Make a snack: Food groups, what foods go together, what foods are healthy, measuring amounts, counting, using utensils, cleaning up after, sitting to eat, sharing, textures, colours, sizes. Activity 3: Read a Book:  learn orientation of the book, prediction, turn...

Today I planned to do Ten Apples Up on Top.  I like that book  It is humorous and great for counting! However, instead I am sharing with you an online book with beautiful photographs relating to autism.. https://babynavigator.com/16-early-signs-of-autism-by-16-months/#fb0=3 Please review this book and share the link with others who may be interested in the development of little ones...and what differences may be seen in that pattern for a child who may end up fitting into the parameters for autism.  Baby Navigator has a wide variety of resources that help you know what to expect and to guide you how to move forward to help children with delays before they become more pronounced as they grow.  The goal is to narrow the gaps and optimize the child's skills, no matter what the starting point may be for any child. Some early signs of autism include: being more interested in objects than in people having great difficulties with changes and transitions having unusual senso...