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

Posted on May 6, 2011 by viviankirkfield

Image via Wikipedia

Yesterday I enjoyed my last Show-Me-How Story-time presentation of this school year at Queen Palmer Elementary School in Colorado Springs. I did two programs…the first teacher had picked Cornelius P. Mud, Are You Ready for Bed by Barney Saltzberg. What child doesn’t want to hear about a silly pig that has a unique idea of how one should get ready for bed. The children chuckled when they saw how Cornelius brushed his teeth with a body brush and soap. They were horrified when Cornelius fed his fish chocolate chip cookies. They counted the number of books Cornelius had picked for his father to read to him…19 books, they said, NO WAY! After the story, all of the children made construction paper clocks with movable hands and were excited to be able to take them home to show their parents how they could tell time. The second teacher had chosen Frederick by Leo Lionni. The children in that class loved hearing about the little mouse that collected sun rays, colors and words while his family collected nuts, seeds and wheat. I believe the children understand the lessons behind Mr. Lionni’s story…we need to celebrate the uniqueness of each individual, and every member of the family (even young children) contributes in his or her own special way. Do you celebrate your child’s uniqueness? Many of the activities in my book focus on celebrating a child’s unique gifts and talents.

The teachers loved the book and one of them is going to request that the school obtain copies for the kindergarten classes…she commented that teachers are so busy (just like parents) and would appreciate a resource like Show Me How! because it just about provides 100 lesson plans…complete with story suggestion, arts and crafts project and a simple cooking activity (and many of these are no-cook)!

As many of you read this, I’ll be winging my way from Colorado Springs to Chicago.

I’ll be spending the Mother’s Day weekend with my son and his wife.

Since we all LOVE eating sushi, taking long walks around the lake, watching classic foreign films and being with one another, I know I will have a great time.

My daughter-in-law (the talented artist who designed and drew the cover for my book) is picking me up at the airport. She’ll be taking me to Evanston, a suburb of Chicago, where I’ll be meeting with the owner of Lollie’s, a beautiful children’s boutique. Alexis has already read Show Me How! Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem Through Reading, Crafting and Cooking and is interested in offering it for sale in her shop. I’m really excited about that! My hope is that indie bookstores and shops across the country will carry the book to make it more accessible to parents and teachers. Several libraries in various states have also purchased the book for their collections…if you are not in a position to buy the book, why not ask your local library to purchase copies…many libraries welcome suggestions from patrons regarding future book purchases. If you feel the book would be a valuable resource for your community, let your library know!

The rest of my time in Chicago will be spent having fun and also connecting with my sister and her sons and their families, all who live in and around the Chicago area.

So, I may not be able to post in the next few days…but I’ll be back Tuesday afternoon and am eagerly looking forward to my first featured author guest post with Colorado Springs award winning author, Rebecca Dunning.

Also, a quick reminder about the Mother’s Day bonus offer that ends May 8 on my website. If you purchase a copy of the book (at 20% off the cover price), you will also receive, with your order, a $10 Marshalls/TJMaxx gift card. What a great deal…a wonderful resource of great fun-filled activities and story suggestions for you to use with your child and a gift card to stores that are overflowing with great stuff for mom…Happy Mother’s Day!

What’s in Your Child’s Bookcase Wordy Wednesday: MIMMY AND SOPHIE: THE VACATION

Posted on April 27, 2011 by viviankirkfield

Image by Francisco Diez via Flickr

Are your children old enough to ask where you are taking them this summer?

Do you watch the television commercials for Disneyworld and feel badly because you can’t afford to take your children to this magical amusement park?

Is your budget already stretched thin with just providing the necessities, but you wish you had extra money so you could plan a vacation?

The parents in today’s recommended picture book story are faced with the same budget problems that many of us are experiencing. However, even though they have very little money they do have a lot of creativity.

MIMMY AND SOPHIE: THE VACATION

Written by Miriam Cohen

Illustrated by Thomas Yezerski

Summer is coming and all the children are boasting about where they are going for vacation. Mimmy and Sophie don’t have anything to contribute to the discussion because their parents are struggling financially. When Mimmy and Sophie ask their parents if they can take a vacation somewhere, their mother suggests they have a special picnic on the Brooklyn Bridge.

After helping their mother make egg salad sandwiches, the two little girls accompany their parents to the store where they buy a special treat…cupcakes with filling. Mimmy and Sophie enjoy the picnic on the bridge and spend the rest of the afternoon watching the boats in the river and the beautiful sunset. Although they have not traveled far, both girls are satisfied with the wonderful day they have spent with their parents.

Mimmy and Sophie were fortunate because their parents were sensitive to the needs and concerns of their children. They used their imagination to plan a wonderful afternoon for their daughters and, with very little money, enabled Mimmy and Sophie to enjoy a very special vacation. The time their parents spent with them helped Mimmy and Sophie understand how much they were loved.

As parents, we need to listen to our children and spend time with them just like the parents in the story: Positive Parental Participation in action!

If you are looking for activities to do for the summer or anytime, please visit my website and check out my book for parents and teachers of preschoolers. It’s loaded with easy fun-filled crafts and cooking activities.

What craft activities does your child enjoy most?

Photo credits: Image of the Brooklyn Bridge by Francisco Diez

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

Posted on April 15, 2011 by viviankirkfield

Image via Wikipedia

Yesterday I walked into Bristol Elementary School…the halls are brightly decorated with the artistic efforts of the students. The two kindergartens where I was to do my presentation are separated by another room which serves as an office for the two teachers and their assistants…what a great set-up!

The children were eager to hear the story of Cornelius P. Mud, Are You Ready For Bed? by Barney Saltzberg. The teacher had introduced me as ‘Miss Vivian, who used to teach kindergarten many years ago and now she wrote a book about books and she is going to read to us today’. I opened the picture book to the inner title page and began, “This is a story about a little pig named Cornelius who does some very silly things…Cornelius P. Mud, Are You Ready For Bed?” I have to tell you how amazed I was when one of the boys asked, “And who is the author?” Usually I do say the author’s name after I tell them the title…this time I didn’t, and it was great to hear such a question from a 5-year old. 🙂 After I told them the name of the author, the same child piped up, “And who drew the pictures?” We talked a minute about the fact that in this particular book, the author was also the illustrator and then we read the story about the little pig getting ready for bed. When Cornelius brushes his teeth with soap and a body brush, the kindergarteners laughed. And when the little pig chooses a pile of TWENTY books as his bedtime story, the children knew that his father would NEVER read so many books at one time. But when Cornelius feeds his fish CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES, one girl raised her hand and said, “If you feed your fish cookies, they will die because cookies have sugar and fish can’t eat things with sugar.” I agreed and added that it was a good thing that this was just a story and that many stories are just “made up” and those events didn’t really happen. “That’s because it’s fiction!” exclaimed another child.

WOW!!!!!

I guess that is one of the things that I love most about young children…they are sponges for knowledge…what an opportunity parents and teachers have! It is so important to spend those precious moments with little ones…just 15 minutes is all it takes to read a picture book story or do a simple arts and crafts project or prepare something together in the kitchen. Those 15 minutes (or more if you have it) of “quality” time, participating positively with a child, leaves an impression that builds self-esteem, develops pre-literacy skills and creates a life-long parent-child bond.

After the story, I showed the children the No Tick-Tock Clock craft project and explained how we would proceed to make it. I loved the way the teacher wrote the steps on the board as I spoke…using a simple picture (like a bottle of glue) and then a word (like glue)…to give the children a reference to follow as they worked on their clocks. The children really enjoyed working on the simple craft project and were excited to be able to bring it home to show their parents and use it to help them know when it was time to get ready for bed.

If you are interested in getting a copy of a great resource that provides story suggestions, simple craft projects and easy healthful recipes, I hope you will take advantage of a very special sale going on right now to celebrate The Week Of The Young Child and to help enable young families to purchase a copy of SHOW ME HOW! BUILD YOUR CHILD’S SELF-ESTEEM THROUGH READING, CRAFTING AND COOKING. You can check it out by going to my website…if you pay by check or money order, you can get the book for $14.95 (plus postage…U.S. only)…only one copy per address, no dealers, please (April 10-April 16). This is an amazing 66% off the cover price of $44.95. The book is a great resource for parents with young children and I am trying to make it available to as many parents as possible.

For those of you who are interested in the Read with Max Book Blog tour, to find out more information about Leader Dogs for the Blind or to follow Max on the rest of his book blog tour: http://readwithmax.com/blogbooktour.html

Also, please don’t forget that I will be taking part in the EASTER EGGSTRAVAGANZA GIVEAWAY BLOG HOP from April 20 – April 25. It will be the first time I will be giving away a copy of my book on my own blog, although it has been part of many reviews and several giveaways on other blog sites. The other really cool thing is that there are over 200 bloggers taking part…you will be able to hop from one to another…read their posts and enter their giveaways. So keep your eye on my posts for more information. http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com/p/giveaway-hop-page.html

Please stop by tomorrow for Saturday Ramblings: Preserve, Protect and Promote…Earth Day 2011