Books About Boxes A box is only a box unless someone uses his imagination and creativity to make it into something more. Here are some books where the characters use boxes for all kinds of adventures. Not a Box (Antionette … Continue reading
Cardboard Box Use #2,490 (A Burning Building) My boys love cardboard boxes. In fact, I might even say that they are their favorite toy- the toy that gets the most attention, the most time and care and the most use. … Continue reading
I posted this link on my Facebook page, but thought it was worthy enough of posting here as well. This is a beautifully written piece about being a mother of sons.
http://studerteam.blogspot.com/2011/11/25-rules-for-mothers-of-sons.html
Creating a Book with Favorite Songs and Rhymes One of my son’s favorite songs as toddler was a song called, “The Fire Truck Song.” We learned this song in our gym class and we sang it all the time. You … Continue reading
One thing you will quickly learn about me if you continue to read my blog is that I am a huge connoisseur of children’s literature. Not only was I a elementary school teacher, but I was also a school librarian for a few years and worked for about 5 years in a bookstore dedicated to children’s books. I have a collection of, well, I am afraid to count, but I have a lot of children’s books. I am also a bit of a book snob. A good book to me has to capture my attention from the first page, the illustrations must be unique and add a dimension to the book that would be lost without them and, the story, well it darn well better be a good story.
One of my favorite authors is Maurice Sendak. He is a brilliant writer and his illustrations are the perfect match to his writing. But something has disturbed me over the years about peoples’ responses to his writing. They say things like, “His books are too scary.” or “The stories are too strange.” Okay, I will grant them some of that. They can be a bit scary and even a bit odd, but if you know what Sendak is trying to accomplish, then you will realize just why his books are the way they are.
Sendak writes about what children know. His books “acknowledge the terrors of childhood, how vicious and lonely it can be.” If you read anything about Sendak’s personal history, he lived many of the terrors of childhood and knows first hand how awful they can be. He does not “dumb down” his writing for children. In fact, he says himself that he hates being known as a children’s book author. He says “it belittles [his] talent.” He also says that he “refuses to lie to children…[he] refuse[s] to cater to the bullshit of innocence.”
So if you can get past the books being a little odd and perhaps scary and try to see them through the eyes of an adult who lived through some scary things and through the eyes of a child, then you can appreciate their value and their beauty. You can appreciate Sendak presenting these “terrors” but always, always reconciling things at the end. Take Where the Wild Things Are for example. It is the story of a little boy who talks back to his mom and is sent to his room (sound familiar?). The boy then “runs away,” but only in his imagination, to a land full of monsters (another childhood fear and perhaps a manifestation of a “mean mom”) where he is able to “tame them all with a magic trick” therefore he is able to resume his control and face down a childhood evil (monsters) and win. And, when it is all over, his dinner awaits him and it is “still hot.”
So you can take Sendak’s books or leave them, but realize the his books are what children’s imaginations are made of and they hold the power that allows children to fight those monsters and win.
Quoted items in this post are from http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/oct/02/maurice-sendak-interview
I came across another fantastic website today called, “Getting Boys to Read.” There is so much information about boys and reading on this site. My favorite article by far is called, “Boy Needs to MOVE IT: How to Use Movement … Continue reading
Spaceman (for Writing) When my son writes, he writes! He writes everything in one long word. You can still read it and tell there are a few different words in there, but they are all connected. I decided that tonight … Continue reading
Creating Your Own Dice for Learning In a previous post I introduced some math games involving the use of dice. As I stated then, the possibilities for learning with dice are endless, but not everyone wants to go out and … Continue reading
Reversals in Handwriting: Should I Worry? As a parent of young children, how often have you seen something like this? Your child sits down to write something and one or more of the letters she has written is backwards? Many, … Continue reading
Thoughts About Playing Cars and Trucks I can play most anything with the boys. I can play with play dough, paint pictures, create contraptions, collect sticks in the park, dig in the sand, do puzzles, play board games, build with blocks and … Continue reading
One of my favorite sayings is, “I was a really great parent before I had kids.” I guess I could also say, “I was a really great teacher before I had kids.” as well. This whole sending my son to “big boy” school is something else. One would think that having a degree in Elementary Education with an emphasis in ages birth to age 8 and 14 years of teaching experience would prepare me for sending my son to school, but I feel like such an amateur it is incredible. First, I had no idea what to do when my son sobbed on the first day of school and wouldn’t let me go. I cannot even count how many times as a teacher I have held that sobbing child while a mom or dad leaves and, never did I once imagine how absolutely awful that parent must have felt. I was simply thinking about how to engage the child and end the tears. If just one day- just one time, I took a crying child out of someone’s arms, I could have felt what they felt, I would have been a better teacher. I went to a parent’s night of sorts tonight at my son’s school. I had a gazillion questions– “How do I teach him handwriting?” “Is he ready even learn sight words when he doesn’t even know all his letters?” “Will he ever know how to count past 14 and stop saying eleventeen?” The questions went on and on. And how many times did I answer those very same questions for the parents of my students? I know all the answers, but suddenly, when it became about my son, I was lost.
Thankfully, my son’s teacher seems like a great guy. I love his attitude about school being fun. He said, “Let me do the teaching and you just enjoy your child.” Yes! He used words like “fun” and “relaxing” and most importantly he told us not to worry. As I listened to him talk, I began to relax. I put my faith in his teacher’s hands. My son is going to be fine. He is going to have fun in at at school and learn a heck of a lot along the way. He will learn. And, one day he may even stop crying and go to school with a smile. As for me, I am hoping that one day the teacher in me will meet up with the parent in me and find some happy, middle ground where they both can live and learn from one another.
I have always been adement that my sons will not have any toy guns nor would they even “play guns.” When they got a new Lego set with a gun in it, I took it away and told them that they were not allowed to have guns, even if they were just play guns in our home. I thought I was doing a wonderful job of sheilding my sons from the world of guns and violence. I was wrong. I realized this when my eldest son came home from Kindergarten one day and was talking to his younger brother about “killing the baddies.” Oh, my heart sank and I immediately said, “We do not talk about killing in this house.” After the words left my mouth, I wondered- was that the right thing to do? I know the importance of fantasy play for children- was that all this was? I took a step back from what was going on between my sons and decided that this is something that needed some thought. So, I thought and I read a lot and then I talked to my son. I asked him why he likes to play shooting and killing. His response? “Because his friends do it and it is not real.” I then asked him if he knew what guns were for. His response? “For getting the bad guys.” Finally, I asked him if he knew what guns actually did. His response? “You shoot them and something round comes out and it knocks other people over.” Wow. Right there with those three simple questions I learned a great deal about my son. We talked a bit more about “playing guns” and about what real guns can do. He listened and we talked some more, but he still plays “guns” at times. Mostly on the playground at school, but every once and a while it comes out in his play at home. And what do I do now? Well, I do not tell him that he cannot play “guns” anymore and I try to see the game from his point of view. We do continue to talk about the differences between real guns and play guns. We do talk about how playing guns can make others feel and how if someone wants the game to stop, he should stop. We also talk about where is is okay to play these kinds of games and where it is not. So if you are wondering whether or not I have given him back his Lego guns, the answer is no and I do not plan to. I figure, if he really wants to play guns, he will find a way, but I do not have to provide him with the tool to do so.
If you want to read more about this topic check out these links: