What should we do this summer?

Summer is an exciting time!

It is a time of freedom, warm weather, water, sunshine and lots of down time. Often time kids get bored and lets me honest mom needs a break outside of the house.

 Here is a list of 30+ activities

that can get you off the couch and out of the house almost every day of the summer.

Evergreen Park 

1. Go to the Park
2. Find a splash pad near by
• EnjoyUtah.org has an awesome list of Splash Pads in Utah
3. Seven Peaks water park (Purchasing a PASS OF ALL PASSES is an awesome idea! It is around $40 but it gets you a season pass to Seven Peaks Water Park, Tracy Aviary (on Tuesdays), Seven Peaks fun center, and much more.) 
4. Tracy Aviary
• $1 on Tuesdays with a Pass of all Passes
5. Liberty Park 
• After going to the aviary in the morning head to Liberty park for lunch and playtime.  There is an awesome playground, splash pad, and a miniature version of the East Mountain canyon lands and rivers with running water. 
6. Go to the library
• Most libraries have a summer reading program your child can participate in.
•  Murray City Library's theme this year is "Every Story has a Hero!" They have all sorts of free activities to go to.  Every Monday of July @ 2pm
7. Hogle Zoo



Hogle Zoo

• This summer 2015 they have an amazing dinosaur exhibit. Zoorassic Park 2! If you have not been yet! The dinosaurs are amazingly life like. 
8. Boondocks
9. Seven Peaks Fun Center
10. Layton City Surf n' Swim 
11. Herriman City Beach 



The Beach 

• Wish you lived near a beach! This one is pretty awesome! 
12. Go up the canyon on a Hike
• Utah is one of the number one cities for hiking! 
13. Park City Alpine Slide, Adventure Zone and Little Miners Park  



Little Miners Park Airplanes

• We did this last weekend and it was a blast! Eli had so much fun riding on the train, airplane and carousel.  For $20 you get an all day pass to ride any ride in the Little Miners Park and Adventure Zone.  Eli was just tall enough to ride the carnival rides and go mini golfing. It was still a fun time! For around $15 more you can buy unlimited rides on the alpine slide on coaster, if your child is tall enough. 
14. Go to Snowbird
• Snowbird is one of my favorite summer locations.  My family has a condo up there for a week.  There are so many activities for all ages. 
• Go on a hike
• Ride the tram
• Walk the walking trail to the look out! 
• Go to the top floor of the cliff lodge and look down at all the amazing rugs
• Play on the alpine slide, coaster, and other rides. 
15. Have your kids weed the yard! It is important to teach them hard work ethics! 
16. City Creek Shopping and Splash pad! Don't forget the indoor dino playground for the little ones! Located inside the food court. 
17. Go play at the Gateway Fountain
18. Head up Milcreek Canyon and have a picnic
19. Explore Timpanogus Cave 
20. Go to the local pool
• There are dozens of local pools that only cost a few dollars.  I love cottonwood heights and Murray city park. 
21. Explore Discovery Gateway
• Talk about a fun indoor activity area for Toddlers and Young kids! It is also so reasonably priced.  You can buy a season pass and pay for it monthly! For 3 people it is only $8 a month! 
22. Explore Thanksgiving point Curiosity Museum
23. Go to the NEW Loveland Living Planet Aquarium



Loveland Living Planet Aquarium

24. Enjoy the farm animals at Wheeler Farm
• They also have a tractor ride and train. 

1. 

   Wheeler Farm

25. Go to your local pet store-Its kind of like a Zoo, but for free! Just be careful your older children may convince you to buy a pet! 
26. Go to a Jump House Arena 
1. Jump around
2. Kangaroo Zoo
3. Jump On It 
27. Heber Valley Rail Road 
28. Go on a bike ride! Tanner Park and Mount Olympus Park have awesome trails for bike riding! Just make sure your child is up for a little off roading!  
29. Go Miniature Golfing 
30. Go Bowling! 



Side Walk Chalk 

• Fat Cats Bowling has an awesome family deal! 
31. Don't forget the simple activities that are just outside your home! 
1. Sidewalk Chalk
2. Blowing Bubbles
3. Water balloon fights 

Remember the goal is to get up and get out! 

Take me to the beach!

   On cold wintry/rainy days all I want to do is go to an island and lay in the hot warm sand! But that is not going to happen! So we bring the beach to us!  For Christmas Eli received this started set of "Sands Alive!" I love this stuff.  It is not messy and cleans up really easy.  It molds like normal sand or clay but can be easily reshaped.  I have also found several recipes online and they only take two simple ingredients. 8 cups of flour, 1 cup of baby oil! You could add a little food coloring and make it any color you would like.
   Sand and moldable objects such as play dough, salt dough and cookie dough are fabulous for fine motor development and hand eye coordination.  They provide an activity that strengthens fingers for holding pencils, crayons, etc.

Hint: Using a cookie sheet helps contain the mess and makes for easy clean up! 

  To make the sand more enticing try changing up the objects you put into it.  Try using everyday cooking tools such as measuring spoons, a funnel and a plate to flatten it down. They make for an easy cheap alternative then buying all those made for dough toys.  You could also put bath toys, cookie cutters, army men, hot wheels, my little ponies, etc.     Remember to think outside the box!
   Often times as parents we feel the need to show our children how to do everything.  Although it is not a bad thing to help and be an example (because heaven knows we are the biggest examples in their lives) it is important to let your child explore on his or her own.  The more they figure out on their own the more their brain will grow. So take a step back and watch them explore.  It is amazing what they can discover on their own.  Just remember to keep a close eye! Safety is always the most important thing!
   I hope that you are excited to try sand dough with your kiddos! Below is a recipe for DIY Sand Dough! Try making your own! Take pictures and hash tag them #younghandslove2learn.  I want to see how your kiddos are using their hands to grow and develop!

Dry beans make for another hands on fun, clean activity!
Post Coming Soon! 

Don't forget to try it with play dough! 

Try making your own! 

"Egg"cellent Colors!

   Getting your child to learn COLORS can be a tricky thing! They are so important. It is something that some kids will pick up fast around 18 months, while others may only learn 1 color by the age of 3. The trick is exposure! When you are playing, reading a book, or simply eating you can point out colors! By saying things like, "Your broccoli is green" or "Look at this red flower." You can also give your child choices using colors such as; "do you want a blue sippy or a yellow cup?" I do not believe in drilling your kiddos.  I think that just creates frustration and can make your child turn away from learning! The more you say and point out colors the more familiar and comfortable your child will become with them.  They say "practice makes perfect!" In this case "repetition makes permanent!"

   Every holiday/season I love to decorate. It's been tricky with a toddler to decorate how I use to but I have found that he doesn't touch my decorations if I make something just for him. For instance for Christmas I put a bucket of ornaments under the tree that he could dump, play with, put on the tree,etc. This kept him from pulling on the other ornaments. For this spring season I put out a bowl full of old plastic Easter Eggs! If you do not have any you can buy them at the dollar store this time of year. Eli loves dumping them and putting them back in the bucket. He recently discovered you can play golf with them using a spatula. So just watch what you have around, kids do the darnest things!

  Today, I decided to use them to sort and talk about COLORS! We pulled all the eggs out of the bowl one color at a time. Every time we pulled one out I said the color over and over again.  Eli started repeating the colors as I said them. Not clearly but I could still make out what he was saying.  He loved saying the word purple, "puple!"   When all the eggs were out of the bowl we then put them into piles by colors.

   To clean up, I began by asking Eli to put them back in the bucket. Again I repeated the colors as he dropped them in.  I tried to get him to only put the colors in that I asked which he did couple of times but for the most part he is a little to young for that.  For an older child you could definitely ask them to do different things such as, "find one orange egg, find two green eggs, how many yellow ones do you have left?" These eggs would also make a great math activity.  You can have your child count how many there are of each color.  You could also have your child put together  a group of 7 using some blue ones and some red ones. Followed by asking, "how many blue ones did you pick and how many red ones?" This is similar to the tasks that teachers are asked to use for teaching the Common Core. It provides a higher order of thinking then just asking your child to grab 3 blue ones and 4 red ones.  Although that is still a great way to teach addition.

Remember to not drill and kill! When your child is done they are done.  

Don't push it on them. Just have fun with it! 

It is so easy to find just everyday things around the house to help teach simple concepts like colors, numbers, letters, etc.  Kids get really excited about new things in the house such as holiday decor.  Use it to your advantage! 

Remember "Repetition makes Permanent!" 

Back to the basics of Handwriting! 5 ways to strengthen fine motor skills!

As children are growing their hands are getting muscles and we have to train them to know how to write, how to hold a pencil, pen, spoon, fork, marker, needle, straw, etc.  Teaching a child how to write starts way before they hold a pencil.  Often times, when a child comes into my classroom and is struggling to hold a pencil correctly I have to think back to the basics.  So this post takes us back to the basics of handwriting and strengthening our child's hands.

It all starts with the fine motor skills.  What is fine motor? Our fine motor skills are those small muscle movements that we make with our hands, fingers, toes and feet.  Most of them focus on our hands.  Making a fist with our fingers, touching each finger with your thumb, pinching, snapping your fingers together and most importantly holding a pencil which can also be called a pincher grasp.

It is hard to teach kids how to hold a pencil. Most kiddos like to hold their pencil in a fist.  It is their first natural instinct of how to hold. There are five muscle training techniques that I suggest to parents when we are trying to teach kids how to hold a pencil. All hands-on and kids love them!

The Tissue Trick, Lego Pinching, 
Tweezer Pick Up, 

Q-tip Write and Wipe, Pin Art 

The Tissue Trick: Kids can either love this technique or hate it.  It is all in how you approach it.  I always like to teach kids that it is a trick or game.  The concept of the game is to not drop the Tissue.  How to play: Give your child a pen, pencil, marker or anything to write with.  Show them how to hold it correctly by placing the pointer finger, middle finger, and thumb in the pincher grasp on the writing object.  With their ring finger and pinkie finger place a tissue under them holding it against their palm. Remember to make it a game and say, 
"Don't do it, don't drop the tissue."  
They can then write what ever they want.  Try coloring a page or writing on whiteboard.  

Lego Pinching: I don't know that I have ever met a child that doesn't like playing with Lego Blocks, most LOVE playing with them.  If you have ever played with Lego Blocks it's hard to not pick them up in a pinch.  The trick with this technique is to have your child pick them up with their middle finger and their thumb.  This strengthens  that middle finger so that it is easier to control a pencil.  This can also be done using the Tissue Trick as well.  

Tweezer Pick Up: I know, I know giving your child tweezers can be nerve racking! I am the first to admit that they can be dangerous.  You can find kid friendly ones at Lakeshore, Discount School Supply or any other teacher supply store. The ones at Lakeshore come in a fine motor skills game.  But if you are up for the challenge you can give your child normal old tweezers.  The name of the game says it all.  The goal is to have your child pick up as many objects as they can with the tweezers. Find small objects around your home.  One thing that I like to use is food such as; raisins, M&M's, Skittles, peas(careful they can pop), popcorn, etc.  You can also use craft supplies such as; pom poms, buttons, dry beans, beads, etc.  Put these objects on a plate or in a bowl and have an empty bowl next to it.  I like to put everything on a cookie sheet so that objects do not roll away.   Show your child how to pick up an object and place it in the empty bowl.  Do a few for your child and then help guide your child's hand until they are comfortable doing it themselves.   

ADD-ON: When your child gets good at moving the objects to an empty bowl try adding another teaching aspect. Get a muffin tin and have your child sort each different object into a separate muffin cup.  You can also get a bag of rainbow pom pom balls and have your child sort them by colors.  

Q-Tip Write and Wipe: All you need is a Q-tip, water, and a towel!  Clean off an area of a table or a desk.  It is going to get wet so make sure that it can.  You can also use a cookie sheet (Buy one at the dollar store just for kid art and school, it is worth the dollar investment.)  Use the pinching grasp again have your child dip the Q-tip in a small cup of water and then write and draw on the table/cookie sheet.  Dry it off and start again. 
ADD-ON:  Print off a few letter writing or number writing pages on colored paper and slide them in a sheet protector.  Your child can then write on the sheet protector with the Q-tip and water with out ruining the paper.  They can also use a dry erase marker and practice their letters and numbers. 

Pin Art: Yes! Just like you did in elementary school.  You need a push pin and a piece of construction paper.  Either have your child draw a picture with a pencil on the paper or print a coloring page on the picture.  Teach your child to hold the pin in their thumb, pointer finger, and middle finger.  Then have your child lay down on a rug or carpet with the paper in front of them.  Start poking holes on the drawn lines. When you are all finished hold it up to a window and enjoy the picture lit up! 

I hope you enjoy all these techniques!
Let me know what works for you and your child or class! Don't forget to take pictures and label them #YoungHandsLove2Learn. I would love to see what you are up to!

Feel Free to leave a comment, question, or outburst of emotion! :)

Expected Behavior "at home, at school at play!"

   Okay, my son may not have been old enough here to be taught rules and I am not sure I deserved this, but recently I have been working on correcting Eli's behavior and teaching him appropriate ways to act. We are in the tantrum phase so more often then not he ends up on the floor screaming.  But I believe that you can not teach positive behavior through positive reinforcement too early.  
  I think too often these days we, as parents, are forgetting that correct behaviors have to be taught and expected. As a teacher, I have often seen parents that have taught but not established positive behaviors in their young children. It takes time and your child needs to know what to expect when they do something wrong. As adults we know that if we break a law there is a consequence. If we run a red light we may get a ticket or worse, in an accident. Children need to know that life has consequences for both good and bad behavior.
I believe that it is not only our child's teachers job at school to teach our child correct behavior but more importantly it's ours. We need to be hands on and willing to help our child establish positive habits.
  It is my hope that this can help you establish a strong foundation for your children so that those positive habits will come out even when you are not present.
  I am so excited to share with you an awesome training I had on expected behaviors from children and how we can teach them the procedures and rules to create good lifetime habits.

   I felt that this training was not only beneficial for a classroom but also in a home setting.

We had two presenters, the first one was Shawn Johnson, the behavior specialist for Murray School District and the second one was Tim Frost a presenter for educators and principals on the "Big 8!" strategies to help manage students for maximum engagement by Brinkman, Forlini, and Williams.  It was both amazing and engaging.

Shawn Johnson's presentation was a great reminder of how to establish expectations and rules in the classroom and at at home.  Students should know the rules and expectations.  It is important that there are 3-5 rules that are explicitly taught, posted where everyone can see and then re-taught constantly through out the year.
There are 5 steps to teaching the expected rules:
1) Define the expectation/rule. 
2)Provide rationale for the expectation/rule.
3)Teach critical discrimination of exception/rule. What it looks like and sounds like.
      (model examples and non-examples) 
4)Practice the behavior as many times as needed
5)Discuss what will happen when expectations/rules are followed and what will happen if behavioral errors occur. 

  After rules are established it is important to "Plan, Plan, Over-Plan" lessons, outcomes of lessons, and expected behaviors.  It is very important to have "pre-planned" consequences for both positive and negative behaviors. The consequences for negative behaviors have to be non-negotiable.  Consequences should never be threatened. "Behavior does or does not deserve a consequence." 

  Even though you have planned for negative behaviors the positive behaviors are the most important to reinforce.   It is important to remember the "4:1 rule".  The rules says "teachers should have at least four positive interactions with students or give students at least four positive comments for every negative or corrective interaction or comment." (Smith & Sprague, 2006)  This can be true not only at school but at home.  It is so important for us as parents to find the positive in what our children do.  Even when our child is spilling the beans all over the floor it is important to praise them for trying to pour them into the other bowl.  4 compliments to 1 negative comment! 

 One of my favorite pieces that Shawn shared was how to get students to follow through on a task through "Precision Requests/ Commands."  A precision command starts with a statement using the word "please" such as "Eli, will you please pick up your toys?" or in a classroom "Eli, will you please write your name on your paper?" then a brief wait period of 5-10 seconds. It is important during the wait time to leave the child alone and count in your head and not aloud. If the child does not follow through then it is followed by a second command using the word "need" such as "Eli, you need to pick up your toys." followed by another a wait time of 5-10 seconds.  If the child does not comply you say, "That is not following directions".  You then help them follow through and then give them a consequence for not following through.  I am excited to try this with Eli! 



After a mother or teacher has given a consequence it is important to follow through.  Recently, I have been watching the TV show Parenthood.  On the show one of the families has a son named Max with Aspergers.  In a recent episode, Max is playing a video game and Christina, his mother, asks him multiple times to stop and turn off the game. He continues to play.  Christina, finally at her wits end, turns off the TV losing Max's game. Max freaks out and calls his mother a bad name. Christina is irate and tells Max that his consequence for calling her that name is that he will not be allowed to go on the family vacation.  She follows through and keeps him home.  He continues to be angry and states, "You never follow through with consequences, why are you following through now!" It is so important that we follow through with our children or they will not believe us and their negative behavior will continue. 

Our second speaker Tim Frost presented on "The Big 8! Maximizing Student Engagement" published in Class Acts" Every Teacher's Guide to Activate Learning by Brinkman, Forlini, and Williams. The big 8 are as follows

1. Expectations-
• It is important to make sure students understand our rules and procedures so that they become habits. Procedures are functional things that have to be done for the class to run smoothly.  Rules are those items that are non-negotiable that help keep safety and control. Habits are those internal behaviors that a student or child will do even when you are not there. 
2. Time Limits-
• Define not only the ending time limit but the start times as well such as "you have 20 min. to complete this activity. You need to start in 5 seconds. 5, 4 ,3, 2, 1." 
3. Cueing-
• Find those moments that your child or a student in your classroom is following expectations. Reinforce those expectations with positive statements. 
4. Attention Prompt-
• "Use verbal prompt and physical stance to get students' attention for upcoming instruction or direction." 
5. Proximity-
• Move, move, move! Walk around the room and make eye-contact with students.
6. Signals-
• "Give students ways to signal that they are ready, finished, or need help." One of my favorite symbols for a finished student is having the students put their pencil in the air. 
7. Voice-
• Using many different ranges of voice levels can gain a students attention. Try it! If you can't get your child's or class's attention try talking in a whisper voice. I promise they will immediately turn to look at you. 
8. Tasking- 
• "Shape questions and devise activities to engage students directly in responding."

I have probably been through dozens of behavior based training's. I feel like you can never reinforce positive behavior enough.  I hope that this has provided you with a few ideas to help you at home as well as in the classroom. 

Below is a list of great resources if you would like more information or help! 

You Can Control Your Class

The Tough Kid Book

Champs

You Can Control Your Class

Class Acts