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May 5, 2006
Cinco de Mayo
Today, May 5th is a national holiday for Mexico – Cinco de Mayo! It was on this day in 1862 that a small group of poorly trained Mexican peasants bravely fought for their freedom against 6,000 French soldiers. In America , Cinco de Mayco is taken as an opportunity to celebrate Hispanic culture in general – this is done through Mexican singing, dancing, feasting, costumes, fireworks and entertainment. You may even hear a mariachi band playing the "Mexican Hat Dance."
Creating K-W-L chart with your child:
This is a great idea to use with any subject of interest with your child. Create a chart listing K and W and L. Ask your child (after the K) to write down everything they may already Know about Cinco de Mayo. After the W have your child list things she would like to know about the holiday. As your child Learns something about Cinco de Mayo, have them write the information after the L on the chart.
Basic Spanish
Why not use this holiday as an opportunity to teach your child some basic words in Spanish. "Cinco de Mayo" when translated is the "fifth of May." Here are some other words you can teach your child:
Sombrero - hat
Fiesta - party
Flores - flowers
Puebla - city
Hola - hello
Adios - goodbye
Verde - green
Rojo - red
Amigo - friend
Si - yes
No - no
Por favor - please
Gracias - thank you
De nada - You're welcome
May 12, 2006
Mother’s Day
Sunday, May 14th is Mother’s Day. Today we’ll focus on the history of the holiday and we’ll provide you with some easy activities to make this Mother’s Day special for the moms, stepmoms, grandmothers and other special women in your life.
The story of Mother’s Day:
The earliest Mother's Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. During the 1600's, England celebrated a day called "Mothering Sunday". Celebrated on the 4th Sunday of Lent (the 40 day period leading up to Easter*), "Mothering Sunday" honored the mothers of England. During this time many of the England's poor worked as servants for the wealthy. As most jobs were located far from their homes, the servants would live at the houses of their employers. On Mothering Sunday the servants would have the day off and were encouraged to return home and spend the day with their mothers. A special cake, called the mothering cake, was often brought along to provide a festive touch. In the United States Mother's Day was first suggested in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe (who wrote the words to the Battle hymn of the Republic) as a day dedicated to peace. Ms. Howe would hold organized Mother's Day meetings in Boston, Mass ever year. In 1907 Ana Jarvis, from Philadelphia, began a campaign to establish a national Mother's Day. Ms. Jarvis persuaded her mother's church in Grafton, West Virginia to celebrate Mother's Day on the second anniversary of her mother's death, the 2nd Sunday of May. By the next year Mother's Day was also celebrated in Philadelphia. Ms. Jarvis and her supporters began to write to ministers, businessman, and politicians in their quest to establish a national Mother's Day. It was successful as by 1911 Mother's Day was celebrated in almost every state. President Woodrow Wilson, in 1914, made the official announcement proclaiming Mother's Day as a national holiday that was to be held each year on the 2nd Sunday of May.
Mother’s Day activities and ideas:
Have your kids create “Mother’s Day Vouchers”
• Walk the dog voucher
• Babysitting voucher
• Feed the goldfish voucher
• Do the dishes voucher
• Set the table voucher
• “You name the task” voucher
Plan a breakfast in bed menu for mom and create a breakfast scroll/card to go on the tray
Book Selection
Mother's Day
by Anne Rockwell
May 19, 2006
Enjoy Spring!
This is a great time of year to enjoy the outdoors and to enjoy all the beautiful things that happen during the spring months. Today’s activities are fun arts-and-crafts opportunities – great for those rainy Spring days, too.
Spring flowers:
• You’ll need:
• Green paint
• White paper
• Coffee filters
• Water colors or markers
• Glue
Have your child place their hands in green paint – be sure to get the washable kind. Have the child put their hands on white paper – at the bottom of the page to make a flower’s leaves. Use a paint brush or markers to make a green stem for the flower. Use watercolors or markers to decorate a coffee filter as a flower. Then, glue the coffee filter to the top of the stem. Now you have a beautiful spring flower!
CD-Fish-Sun catcher
Do you have old CD-Rom’s laying around the house? How about all the “free offers” you receive on CDs in the mail. Now you can use the CD’s to make a spring fishy! Just take two CD’s and between them glue construction paper fins, a tail and lips. Then either draw eyes on the side of the fish or glue on googlie-eyes. Use fishing wire to hang the fish and you have a beautiful window sun catcher!
May 26, 2006
Memorial Day
Monday is Memorial Day. Do you know the history behind the holiday – well enough to talk about it with your child? Memorial Day – originally called Decoration Day – is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. It was officially proclaimed a holiday in 1868 and was first observed on May 30th of that year. On Monday you may wish to help your children remember those who died for America’s freedom. Here are a couple of activities:
Celebrate Freedom Hat:
Often Memorial Day comes with celebrations – picnics and parties. Why not teach your child the history behind Memorial Day by sharing family stories about those who were part of the Armed Forces? As you’re sharing your stories, get creative and create card-stock hats that your child can decorate for those attending your picnic or party? You can use pipe cleaners to affix stars to the hats – and can even write in the names of those family members and friends you’ll be remembering on this special day.
Remembering our Troops:
Memorial Day is a great time to remind your children about the men and women serving the United States in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world. Check out www.operationdearabby.net and help your child write messages to the troops serving America. Operation Dear Abby dates back to the years of the Vietnam War. Nowadays, people can read other letters that families and friends have posted online and send letters of support as well. Many service branches actually print out the letters and deliver them to servicemen and servicewomen who aren’t able to read them on a computer.
Get ready, get set and learn!
May 5, 2006
Cinco de Mayo
Today, May 5th is a national holiday for Mexico – Cinco de Mayo! It was on this day in 1862 that a small group of poorly trained Mexican peasants bravely fought for their freedom against 6,000 French soldiers. In America , Cinco de Mayco is taken as an opportunity to celebrate Hispanic culture in general – this is done through Mexican singing, dancing, feasting, costumes, fireworks and entertainment. You may even hear a mariachi band playing the "Mexican Hat Dance."
Creating K-W-L chart with your child:
This is a great idea to use with any subject of interest with your child. Create a chart listing K and W and L. Ask your child (after the K) to write down everything they may already Know about Cinco de Mayo. After the W have your child list things she would like to know about the holiday. As your child Learns something about Cinco de Mayo, have them write the information after the L on the chart.
Basic Spanish
Why not use this holiday as an opportunity to teach your child some basic words in Spanish. "Cinco de Mayo" when translated is the "fifth of May." Here are some other words you can teach your child:
Sombrero - hat
Fiesta - party
Flores - flowers
Puebla - city
Hola - hello
Adios - goodbye
Verde - green
Rojo - red
Amigo - friend
Si - yes
No - no
Por favor - please
Gracias - thank you
De nada - You're welcome
May 12, 2006
Mother’s Day
Sunday, May 14th is Mother’s Day. Today we’ll focus on the history of the holiday and we’ll provide you with some easy activities to make this Mother’s Day special for the moms, stepmoms, grandmothers and other special women in your life.
The story of Mother’s Day:
The earliest Mother's Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. During the 1600's, England celebrated a day called "Mothering Sunday". Celebrated on the 4th Sunday of Lent (the 40 day period leading up to Easter*), "Mothering Sunday" honored the mothers of England. During this time many of the England's poor worked as servants for the wealthy. As most jobs were located far from their homes, the servants would live at the houses of their employers. On Mothering Sunday the servants would have the day off and were encouraged to return home and spend the day with their mothers. A special cake, called the mothering cake, was often brought along to provide a festive touch. In the United States Mother's Day was first suggested in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe (who wrote the words to the Battle hymn of the Republic) as a day dedicated to peace. Ms. Howe would hold organized Mother's Day meetings in Boston, Mass ever year. In 1907 Ana Jarvis, from Philadelphia, began a campaign to establish a national Mother's Day. Ms. Jarvis persuaded her mother's church in Grafton, West Virginia to celebrate Mother's Day on the second anniversary of her mother's death, the 2nd Sunday of May. By the next year Mother's Day was also celebrated in Philadelphia. Ms. Jarvis and her supporters began to write to ministers, businessman, and politicians in their quest to establish a national Mother's Day. It was successful as by 1911 Mother's Day was celebrated in almost every state. President Woodrow Wilson, in 1914, made the official announcement proclaiming Mother's Day as a national holiday that was to be held each year on the 2nd Sunday of May.
Mother’s Day activities and ideas:
Have your kids create “Mother’s Day Vouchers”
• Walk the dog voucher
• Babysitting voucher
• Feed the goldfish voucher
• Do the dishes voucher
• Set the table voucher
• “You name the task” voucher
Plan a breakfast in bed menu for mom and create a breakfast scroll/card to go on the tray
Book Selection
Mother's Day
by Anne Rockwell
May 19, 2006
Enjoy Spring!
This is a great time of year to enjoy the outdoors and to enjoy all the beautiful things that happen during the spring months. Today’s activities are fun arts-and-crafts opportunities – great for those rainy Spring days, too.
Spring flowers:
• You’ll need:
• Green paint
• White paper
• Coffee filters
• Water colors or markers
• Glue
Have your child place their hands in green paint – be sure to get the washable kind. Have the child put their hands on white paper – at the bottom of the page to make a flower’s leaves. Use a paint brush or markers to make a green stem for the flower. Use watercolors or markers to decorate a coffee filter as a flower. Then, glue the coffee filter to the top of the stem. Now you have a beautiful spring flower!
CD-Fish-Sun catcher
Do you have old CD-Rom’s laying around the house? How about all the “free offers” you receive on CDs in the mail. Now you can use the CD’s to make a spring fishy! Just take two CD’s and between them glue construction paper fins, a tail and lips. Then either draw eyes on the side of the fish or glue on googlie-eyes. Use fishing wire to hang the fish and you have a beautiful window sun catcher!
May 26, 2006
Memorial Day
Monday is Memorial Day. Do you know the history behind the holiday – well enough to talk about it with your child? Memorial Day – originally called Decoration Day – is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. It was officially proclaimed a holiday in 1868 and was first observed on May 30th of that year. On Monday you may wish to help your children remember those who died for America’s freedom. Here are a couple of activities:
Celebrate Freedom Hat:
Often Memorial Day comes with celebrations – picnics and parties. Why not teach your child the history behind Memorial Day by sharing family stories about those who were part of the Armed Forces? As you’re sharing your stories, get creative and create card-stock hats that your child can decorate for those attending your picnic or party? You can use pipe cleaners to affix stars to the hats – and can even write in the names of those family members and friends you’ll be remembering on this special day.
Remembering our Troops:
Memorial Day is a great time to remind your children about the men and women serving the United States in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world. Check out www.operationdearabby.net and help your child write messages to the troops serving America. Operation Dear Abby dates back to the years of the Vietnam War. Nowadays, people can read other letters that families and friends have posted online and send letters of support as well. Many service branches actually print out the letters and deliver them to servicemen and servicewomen who aren’t able to read them on a computer.
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