Exploring Perspective, Watercolors, and Balancing with the Poppins Book Nook

Welcome to the May edition of Poppins Book Nook! 

I am so excited to be a part of this great book club again this year. Won't you join me for a year of book related fun.

This month's theme was: Caldecott Medal Books    

I stopped by the library earlier this month and picked up a bunch of Caldecott medal winning books. I really wasn't sure at first how I was going to approach this month's theme. I figured, no matter what we decided to do, we could spend some time looking at these award winning books. In case you are unsure what the Caldecott Medal recognizes, as I was, I thought I would share the terms that I found on the Association for Library Service for Children site. It states, "The Medal shall be awarded annually to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children published by an American publisher in the United States in English during the preceding year."

I decided we could have some fun reading two books that had a similar theme.

Mirette on the High Wire by Emily Arnold McCully is a fictional account that "began as a biography of real-life daredevil Blondin. But the author changed her mind to accommodate the tree-climbing child and risk-taking adult she was and is." Mirette is the daughter of the boardinghouse owner where the Great Bellini has been surreptitiously staying. She discovers that he is a tightrope walker, but does not know that he was famous in his day. He refuses to teach her, so she teaches herself, until one day he discovers her skill and she becomes his protege.  Eventually we learn why he no longer wire-walks and didn't want to teach her. She finally teaches him courage once again. 

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein tells the true account of Philippe Petit who walked between the Twin Towers in Manhattan, NYC on August 7th, 1974. We discover that Philippe was a street performer who had once walked between the steeples of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, his home city. Now living in NYC, he watched the Twin Towers being built and decided he wanted to walk between them. With the help of friends, he placed the wire under the cover of darkness so he could illegally perform his stunt. He eventually is arrested, though the police were not able to do so until he came off the wire. He remained on the wire for almost an hour performing. 

Though we read both books together a couple of times, we focused more on Mirette on the High Wire.  However, Philippe Petit's actions did fit in well with our lessons on wisdom and foolishness. Plus it was exciting to learn that this event took place when I was a year and a half old and was living in Queens NYC, but had never heard of it. We also loved that two pages unfolded to give the feeling of how big this feat was.

I discovered a book called 450 More Story S-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-r-s for the Primary Grades by Shirley C. Raines which helped me come up with ideas for activities to go with Mirette on the High Wire. 

We learned a bit about perspective by looking at the different angles used for the high wire illustrations. 

The book was illustrated with lovely watercolor paintings, so we took some time to create our own, starting with figuring out which angle to draw our tightrope. We then painted our own tightrope walker and added in details.

Harold just enjoyed painting.

Here is Amelia's finished painting.

And here is mine. I will have to add Tabitha's picture when I find it. It appears to have grown legs of its own and performed its own feat, one of disappearing.

When we went on our field trip to the PA Grand Canyon, an opportunity presented itself for the children to work on their balancing skills.

Don't worry, it is no longer a working railway, in fact, there is only a small section of track remaining. 

Even daddy joined in.

Mommy tried, but with my foot problems, I needed help to walk just a few steps. Plus, my balance has NEVER been good.

Don't forget to check out what the other Poppins Book Nook co-hosts have been up to this month. Then, don't forget to link up your own posts! Lastly, enter the Bring a Caldecott Honor Book to Life Giveaway.

Enchanted Homeschooling Mom - 3 Dinosaurs - ABC Creative Learning - As We Walk Along the Road - Brain Power Boy - Chestnut Grove Academy - Embracing Destiny - Every Bed of Roses - Farm Fresh Adventures - Growing in God's Grace - Kathys Cluttered Mind - My Bright Firefly - Peakle Pie - Preschool Powol Packets - Pray Species - SAHM I am - Stir The Wonder - Sunny Day Family - Sweet Silly Sara - Teach Beside Me - To the Moon and Back - Tots and Me - Tree Valley Academy - Witty Hoots

 

Bring a Caldecott Honor Book to Life Giveaway! Why not have some fun crafting your way through some pretty yarn fun crafts while bringing a Caldecott Honor Book to life this month in the Poppins Book Nook! Every month this group will be offering readers a chance to win a brand new storybook or product that ties in with our theme for the month. This month one lucky entrant will win the Bring a Caldecott Honor Book to Life Giveaway. The winner will enjoy two fun Caldecott Honor Book themed learning items. The two items that they will win is the Extra Yarn storybook by author Mac Barnett and a fun Yarn Craft kit by Alex Toys. So let’s all get to reading to Bring a Caldecott Honor Book to Life this month with the Poppins Book Nook!

Entrants must be 18 years or older and reside in a country that receives U.S. Postal mail. This giveaway is brought to you by the company Enchanted Homeschooling Mom who is owner and founder of the Poppins Book Nook. By entering this giveaway you are also acknowledging that you have read and agree to all of the PromoSimple terms & conditions as well as Enchanted Homeschooling Mom's disclosures found here {http://enchantedhomeschoolingmom.org/disclosures/}.  Just enter the PromoSimple below to win:

Come and find out more information about Poppins Book Nook at Enchanted Homeschooling Mom, on Facebook and on Pinterest.

Clip Art by Melon Headz

Littles Learnng Link Up: Watercolor Painting Fun

Welcome to Littles Learning Link Up. Each month you will find:

• A seasonal round-up (at the beginning of the month)
• A guest post featuring crafts, activities, tips, snack ideas or other early childhood topics. (toward the end of the month)
• Posts where I share what I have been up to with my preschoolers and/or early elementary children.

Each week, I will host a link up, where you can share either what you have been up to recently, or old posts that may go with the theme.  Feel free to link up more than one post.

Each week I will continue to feature a couple of posts from those that have been linked up. 

I hope you will continue to share your wonderful posts, and I hope you will find something new to try with your child.

The children have been very busy lately. Ever since we bought some watercolor paints for our Poppins Book Nook craft, my paper supply has been dwindling as they have been painting picture after picture. I will be sharing more about our craft with Poppins Book Nook soon, I am a little behind in getting it up. But I wanted to share some of the paintings the children have created.

Harold:

Hannah:

Amelia painted so many pictures, I had to ask her to pick her two favorites.

Tabitha: 

Now onto:

Littles Learning Link Up Features

On my last Littles Learning Link Up post, there were 8 wonderful posts linked up. I will be picking one randomly selected post to share, plus the top clicked-on post.  

This week's randomly selected post is:

Kidz Activities shared A is for Airplane Craft.

The following post had the most clicks:

Brittney from Mom's Heart shared B4FIAR: Learning the Alphabet with ABC Bunny.

I would love to have you join in this week! What sort of activities do you do with your young children? Do you have some favorite activities you would like to share? I invite you to link up below. I will be pinning posts on my Toddler Ideas or other relevant board, and I would love to feature some of the activities each week from what is linked up.

Please know I may share a picture from your post and link back to it, along with sharing how we used your idea in our school time. By linking up you are giving me permission to use a picture from your post. I will ALWAYS give credit and link back. Additionally, if you choose to try out any of the ideas with your child, please make sure you give credit where credit is due.

Linky will be open through Sunday night, to give me time to check out all the posts and get the Features organized. Please take the time to visit some of the other wonderful posts linked up.

<a href="http://totsandme.blogspot.com/search/label/Littles%20Learning%20Link%20Up"><img alt="Tots and Me" src="http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt58/kewkewphoto/littles%20schooling%20b%20small%20Collage_zpsefibifom.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a>

Tuesday's Giveaway Link Up- May 26th, 2015

<a href=" http://totsandme.blogspot.com/search/label/Tuesday%20Giveaway%20Linky "><img alt="Tots and Me" src="http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt58/kewkewphoto/TuesdayGiveawayLinkup2.jpg" border="0" alt="num2"></a>

Welcome to Tuesday's Giveaway Link Up with your hosts Karen @ Tots and Me, Emily @ Emily Reviews, Shelly @ The Attic Girl, and Rena @ An Ordinary Housewife.

So glad you could join us as we share our giveaways on  Tuesday's Giveaway Link Ups. 

This link up will be posted Monday at 7 PM est. and run all week long! Make sure you stop in as often as you can to list your latest giveaways.

Here is how to use the Giveaway Link Up

1. Post your reviews and/or giveaways, as many as you have, be sure to add the end date (family friendly please)

2. Help spread the word about the giveaway link up by grabbing our button, Tweeting or posting on Facebook. (Not mandatory- but it helps get more exposure to your giveaways as well!)

3. Take a moment to enter any giveaway that strikes an interest to you!

If you would  like to follow the  hostesses, we will gladly follow you back! Simply leave us a message to do so.

Featured Giveaways

Down on the Farm Bundle Giveaway Ends 6/25

Thank you for linking up with Karen @ Tots and Me, Emily @ Emily Reviews, Shelly @ The Attic Girl, and Rena @ An Ordinary Housewife.

Kids and a Mom in the Kitchen #116: Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Time for Kids and a Mom in the Kitchen

(A weekly linky to share what you and your children have created in the kitchen.)

<a href="http://totsandme.blogspot.com/search/label/Kids%20and%20Mom%20in%20the%20Kitchen "><img alt="Tots and Me" src="http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt58/kewkewphoto/KidsandaMomintheKitchen2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

The linky is at the bottom.

Last week I decided to make banana bread with the children. It has been so long since I had made banana bread, and I never had the children help me with it. I used to make it all the time for bake sales, but for some reason we just hadn't had any for a long time. I made some for our church's refreshment time and had enough bananas left to make two loafs for us.  As I made that first loaf, I realized it is such an easy recipe, no reason the children shouldn't be helping. We ended up making 1 plain banana bread and one chocolate chip banana bread (which is the exact same recipe, just had the chocolate chips). Even though we did a double batch, I will be sharing the ingredient amounts for a single loaf.  I have had this recipe for years, long before I had internet, and I am not sure where it originally came from, but I have looked up other banana bread recipes when I misplaced this one, and I have never enjoyed them as much as this one, it has a yummy flavor and great texture. 

 Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 cup mashed banana (approximately 2 large or 3 small)
Make sure the bananas are nice and overripe for best flavor.
1 3/4 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tea salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Two girls all ready to help.

They took turns mashing bananas, because they both wanted to help with that step. While Amelia mashed her share, Tabitha was combining the sugar, oil, and eggs.

We just use a fork to mash the bananas.

We mix the oil and sugar first and then add the eggs.

We beat it until it was nice and frothy.

When Amelia was done with her bananas, Tabitha took over in the banana mushing department while Amelia combined the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.

When the bananas were ready we added them to the sugar mixture.

Tabitha stirred it up, while Amelia finished the flour mixture.

We then poured the flour mixture into the sugar/banana mixture and folded it together. Technically, it ended up to be more of a gentle stirring. 

We then stirred in the chocolate chips.

We greased and floured 2 loaf pans and poured the batter in.

Two loaves of bread ready to go in the 325 degree oven.

We baked it for 1 hour, til the crust was golden brown.

Directions: 

1- Combine sugar and oil, then add the eggs and beat vigorously until frothy.

2- Mash bananas and blend thoroughly. Set aside.

3- In a small bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 

4- Stir flour mixture gently into sugar/banana mixture until well blended.

5- Stir in chocolate chips.

6- Pour into greased and floured loaf pan.

7- Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour until crust is golden brown.

8- Remove pan to a rack and let stand for 10 minutes.

9- Remove from pan onto a plate and allow to cool if you can resist the temptation to dig in. (We can't as we enjoy it nice and warm from the oven.)

It tastes really, really good with butter. Or you can omit the butter if you are like my husband and just enjoy the bread

Do you have your children help you in the kitchen?  What lessons do they learn? Do you have any kid friendly recipes to share?

I'd love to see your posts, whether you have done something this week or some time in the past. Just link up below. This is a weekly linky.

I am linking up to:

Melt in Your Mouth Monday
Try a New Recipe Tuesday at Home to Four Kiddos
The Gathering Spot at Mamal Diane
Friday Food Frenzy at Close to Home
Fantastic Thursday at Five Little Chefs
Foodie Friends Friday at Robyn'sView
Family Fun Friday at Happy and Blessed Home

And here is my Kids and a Mom in the Kitchen linky