What’s In Your Child’s Bookcase Wordy Wednesday: YES WE CAN! and the Versatile Blogger Award :)

Posted on March 23, 2011 by viviankirkfield

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It’s been a most wonderful week so far! I want to share some good news before I review the picture book I choose for today’s post.

Of course, every coin has a flip side…and I guess we all decide which side of the coin we will focus on. Sunday afternoon, I pulled my back out and was in quite a lot of pain. No, that is NOT the good news. 🙂 Then, on Tuesday, I went to my doctor who did an adjustment of my back (OUCH!) and when I went to the parking lot to get in my car, I noticed I had a flat tire! No, that is still NOT the good news. 🙂

The GOOD news is that one of my fellow bloggers, Eliz of Mirth and Motivation presented me with the Versatile Blogger Award…an honor coming from the best blogger I know out there. She asks that I pass along the “good vibrations” to other great bloggers out there…so many of them were on her list already. 🙂 But, when I get back from my trip to the east coast, I will try to send it out to some of the people whose blogs are so very helpful to so many. 

The other GOOD news is that Jamie of Avant Garde Parenting selected me as Parent of the Week and I’ve posted that button on my sidebar. You can click on her link to read the article.

Oh yes, and there is still more good news! I leave on Friday for New Hampshire to spend a LONG weekend with my daughter and her family…I am really excited to see them…I know my 2 ½ year-old grandson has grown so much since I saw him in October. I’m excited to be reading, crafting and cooking with him and I’ll definitely try to do a post while I’m there…but, if you don’t hear from me for a few days, you’ll know why.

This week, I’ve been concentrating on the theme of companionship and, in SHOW ME HOW! BUILD YOUR CHILD’S SELF-ESTEEM THROUGH READING, CRAFTING AND COOKING, I found the perfect picture book to review, Yes We Can! by Sam McBratney.

YES WE CAN

Written by Sam McBratney

Illustrated by Charles Fuge

Little Roo, Country Mouse and Quacker Duck start to make a giant pile of leaves, but stop to rest. While they are resting, they start making fun of each other for what they don’t do well. Roo’s mother suggests that each show what they CAN do best. Little Roo jumps over a log. Quacker Duck floats on a puddle. Country Mouse chases and catches his own tail. The friends agree that each one is special and has unique talents and qualities.

Little Roo’s mother found a creative way to teach her son and his friends to appreciate their own special talents without envying those of others. Being a good friend and companion does not always come naturally. As parents, we need to encourage our children to value their own strengths and qualities, as well as the strengths and qualities of others. We make a start by recognizing their uniqueness and by supporting their creativity, even if it veers in a different direction from ours.

If you are looking for 99 other MUST READ picture books, please visit my website where you can purchase a copy of SHOW ME HOW!…a unique resource that pinpoints and summarizes 100 picture books every young child should hear and provides a matching craft project and cooking activity for each recommended title. Leave a comment here about why you would like to win the Crafty Easter Basket for your preschooler or fill out the contact form on my website. At 50% off the cover price, this MUST HAVE BOOK is now a CAN HAVE BOOK.

Quotable Timeless Tuesdays: COMPANIONSHIP

Posted on March 22, 2011 by viviankirkfield

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“Tell me thy company and I will tell thee what thou art.” – Miguel de Cervantes (whose famous book…that every student taking 4th year Spanish has to read…details the travels of an old man with his faithful companion)

As infants, our companions were our mothers and fathers and older siblings.

“Without love, what are we worth? Eighty-nine cents! Eighty-nine cents worth of chemicals, walking around lonely.” – Benjamin Franklin

As children, our world expanded to include friends, classmates, teachers and relatives.

“We have lived and loved together.

Through many changing years,

We have shared each other’s gladness,

And wept each other’s tears.” – Charles Jefferys

As adults, we often choose someone to be our life-long companion.

“To get the full value of joy, you must have someone to divide it with.” – Mark Twain

But whether it is a long-standing marriage or a friendship between children, it is the companionship that is the foundation of the relationship.

“Sexiness wears thin after a while and beauty fades, but to be married to a man who makes you laugh every day, ah, now that’s a real treat.” – Joanne Woodward

My husband and I have been married over 43 years, and I can tell you that a sense of humor is so important in a marriage or in any relationship between two people, be they husband and wife or parent and child.

“The first duty of love is to listen.” – Paul Tillich

Listening is one of the cornerstones in the Positive Parental Participation approach to parenting. Young children have a lot to say and they need to be heard. When we listen, we validate their self-worth and help build their self-esteem.

To find 99 more gentle parenting tips like the one above, visit my website and check out my parenting book on sale till April 9^th. This shortcut for busy parents lays out a simple, easy-to-use program of books to read and fun-filled educational activities. This is a MUST HAVE book…and the 50% off sale makes it a CAN HAVE book! SPECIAL BONUS: Purchase a book for an automatic entry to win a selection of craft supplies for your preschooler or you can leave a comment on this post to tell me why you’d like to win the prize…please make sure you leave your email so I can contact you if you are the winner. Winner will be announced April 10^th.

Please stop by tomorrow for What’s In Your Child’s Bookcase Wordy Wednesday.

Follow-Me-Fridays: Where’s Miss Vivian?

Posted on March 18, 2011 by viviankirkfield

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St. Patrick’s Day was yesterday…and the luck of the Irish was definitely with me.

I had the most wonderful day!

Early morning found me at Taylor School again, visiting with the kindergarten children in back-to-back story presentations.

We read Cornelius P. Mud, Are You Ready For Bed?

When I walked into the first kindergarten room, I did a double-take! The children were dressed in pajamas! At first, I thought that the teacher had requested this because the picture book story is about a little pig who is getting ready for bed…and putting on his pajamas is one of his tasks.

It turns out that Thursday was Pancakes and Pajamas Day…and all of the kindergarten children were dressed in their favorite PJ’s. Some even had robes and slippers…I was definitely jealous…they looked so comfy.

So it was really the perfect setting to read a story about getting ready for bed…and the children did not disappoint…they were eager to discuss the story and knew right away how silly Cornelius was when he fed the gold fish his chocolate chip cookies. 🙂

After reading and discussing the story, the children were ready to move to their tables to construct a No Tick-Tock Clock with movable hands. I was impressed with their ability to write all of the numbers of the construction paper clock face and I know they will enjoy taking the clocks home and using them to help them get to bed “on-time”.

The second presentation differed a little because we ran out of time and were not able to do the craft project. The teacher found a wonderful alternative…she handed out small resin-board clocks to groups of three students each…and then drew a digital clock on the board. Each child had an opportunity to read the digital time and then use the numeral clock with movable hands to show the correct time.

Telling time is an important skill for young children to learn…and especially today, with digital clocks in most places, parents and teachers need to make sure that children know how to tell time “the old-fashioned” way.

Leaving Taylor School, I headed over to Columbia School, where I had an appointment to be interviewed by two students who had a job shadow assignment. As each of them aspires to be an author, they wanted to talk to someone who had published a book so that they could find out what was involved. I had brought the rough drafts of my SHOW ME HOW! book and also the original mock-up of one of the picture books I’ve written. That mock-up was written over 30 years ago…so it was interesting for them to see it and then to see the finished product with illustrations by my talented daughter-in-law.

The 4^th-graders had LOTS of questions…when did I know I wanted to be a writer…and what inspired me to write? What do I do in a normal day and do I use paper and pen or the computer? How did I contact a publisher? Does the author hire the illustrator or does the publisher handle that.

My advice to them was to follow their dream and never give up. It takes a lot of patience and hard work and perseverance to succeed at ANYTHING…and writing is no different. I encouraged them to have confidence in themselves and in what they hope to accomplish.

SHOW ME HOW! BUILD YOUR CHILD’S SELF-ESTEEM THROUGH READING, CRAFTING AND COOKING is all about instilling a sense of competence and confidence in your young children. Children with a positive self-image are more likely to take on new tasks and accept new challenges. Isn’t that what we want for our children?

Please visit my website to take advantage of the 50% OFF SALE PRICE on each copy. You can also enter to win a FREE Crafty Easter Basket which will be awarded on April 10^th. All you have to do is fill out the contact form.