Week 20: Honesty

This week we are going to do a topic that

the girls did not necessarily choose...

but rather one that has come about due to necessity,

so it kind of chose them.

I really want to see if we can get the topic of the Big L (lying)

to be better understood,

and more so focus on telling the truth, or honesty.

I did some research online, and apparently,

many pediatricians and doctors agree that lying

is a part of cognitive development and it is actually a

recorded 'milestone' to show that your child is learning

to make decisions on their own,

realize that they are separate from you,

and also that they have an imagination

which can make the real word a lot better!

I am really interested seeing how this lesson impacts

Lily and her understanding of telling the truth.

Alright,

To be totally honest ( ha ha),

we all came up with a plan to have a

"Gum Night"

if we can all go three days without lying.

We start the day with a sticker, and if we lie, we lose our sticker...

Needless to say, Mommy and Daddy were the first to lose their stickers.

Who needs this lesson more?

hmmm...

(FYI- my lie was exaggerating ( a weakness of mine)

that the girls have seen a million cats....not true.

My husband's lie was that he wanted to eat the rest of the trail mix

and told the girls there was no more...

his guilt set in, and a sticker was lost.)

The only one at the end of the three days

to get to have gum was our 2.5 year old Claire...

great job Claire!

Books

Fancy Nancy : my family history by O'Connor, Jane.

Big whopper by Giff, Patricia Reilly.

Tell the truth, B.B. Wolf by Sierra, Judy.

Princess K.I.M. and the lie that grew by Cocca-Leffler, Maryann,

Honesty by Pryor, Kimberley Jane.

Honestly, Mallory! by Friedman, Laurie B

Honestly! by Doudna, Kelly

Ruthie and the (not so) teeny tinylie by Rankin, Laura.

Miko. "It was me, Mom!" by Weninger, Brigitte.

Alex did it! by Weigelt, Udo

Edwurd Fudwupper fibbed big by Breathed, Berke

Edith & Mr. Bear by Wright, Dare

Crafts & Activities

We will make a truth wheel using a printable PDF- Click on the website, and then scroll down and click on the PDF entitled Telling The Truth vs Lies.

I couldn't find many crafts, so I decided that we would do a story board... I will ask Lily to come up with a story where a child has the opportunity to tell the truth, or lie...we will have two different endings. Lily can draw her own pictures of the story, and hopefully the ending for telling the truth will be a positive one for her. I'm excited to see what she comes up with!

Songs

Snacks:

We will read the book The Empty Pot by Demi- which is a Chinese fable about rewarding a child for telling the truth.... the main part of the story is about Seeds, so I thought we would make some kind of snack dealing with seeds...possibly a trail mix that has seeds in it, or even a lemon poppy seed muffin..mmmm.

On a personal note, I ordered these If/Then charts to help me with consistent discipline. They also include verses that go with the particular behavior. To go along with that, you can order the Blessings chart which rewards your children for being a blessing to others...best of both worlds!

Thanks!

Week 19: Bridges

When you randomly ask your child what he/she would like to learn about,

make sure you are prepared to hear

the most random thing you can think of....

enter Bridges.

Why on earth my daughter, while eating bagels at the bagel place,

tells me she wants to learn about bridges is beyond me.

I even looked around (we were outside)

to see if there pictures or logos with bridges.

Nope.

Out of thin air; bridges.

So here it is, a lesson about Bridges.

Books

Golden Gate Bridge by Riggs, Kate.

Brooklyn Bridge by Tieck, Sarah, 1976-

The bridge is up! by Bell, Babs, 1944-

Who's that tripping over my bridge? by Salley, Coleen.

Hey kid, want to buy a bridge? by Scieszka, Jon. (Assuming this is a chapter book, but we'll see if its appropriate for reading aloud when we get it.)

Cross a bridge by Hunter, Ryan Ann.

The monkey bridge by Martin, Rafe

The family under the bridge by Carlson, Natalie Savage.

Twenty-one elephants by Bildner, Phil.

Crafts

Bright Hub has a great lesson plan for The Billy Goats Gruff...story. You can read it online here. I'll read the story, and then we'll talk about bridges, and why we have them.

Then we'll construct our own popsicle stick bridge. Everything I have found is for a little bit older aged children, so I think we'll just wing it. We'll probably make a bridge more like the ones in the Billy Goats Gruff picture, rather than a real 3d bridge...but we'll see. If I get daring, we might try to build THIS bridge.

If only we could accomplish this.... {Photo Source}

Here's a great Bridges Clip Art Site...

Songs:

London Bridge is Falling Down ( Have to do this one!)

London Bridge is falling down,

Falling down, Falling down.

London Bridge is falling down,

My fair lady.

Take a key and lock her up,

Lock her up, Lock her up.

Take a key and lock her up,

My fair lady.

How will we build it up,

Build it up, Build it up?

How will we build it up,

My fair lady?

Build it up with silver and gold,

Silver and gold, Silver and gold.

Build it up with silver and gold,

My fair lady.

Gold and silver I have none,

I have none, I have none.

Gold and silver I have none,

My fair lady.

Build it up with needles and pins,

Needles and pins, Needles and pins.

Build it up with needles and pins,

My fair lady.

Pins and needles bend and break,

Bend and break, Bend and break.

Pins and needles bend and break,

My fair lady.

Build it up with wood and clay,

Wood and clay, Wood and clay.

Build it up with wood and clay,

My fair lady.

Wood and clay will wash away,

Wash away, Wash away.

Wood and clay will wash away,

My fair lady.

Build it up with stone so strong,

Stone so strong, Stone so strong.

Build it up with stone so strong,

My fair lady.

Stone so strong will last so long,

Last so long, Last so long.

Stone so strong will last so long,

My fair lady.

Snacks:

We'll probably make bridges out of pretzel dough, and I will bake them...

Thanks!