Memorial Day: Picture Book Author Tribute

Memorial Day Weekend. Memorial Day. 
What does it mean to you? What is the meaning to your family? 
Is it a day of family-fun and picnics? The opening of the community pool? 
Deviled eggs and a cook-out on the grill? Popsicles perhaps?
Do you make it to a parade with marching bands? 

My husband served in the Navy for four years aboard the John F. Kennedy air craft carrier, back in the day. My son-in-law Scott is currently a captain and pilot in the Ohio Air Guard and has had numerous deployments to war zones leaving our daughter to hold down the fort here with their three children. My son-in-law Zac is in the Navy and is permanently stationed in Annapolis. So perhaps I have a slightly different view when it comes to Memorial Day. Our men are all well and among us. Thank heavens. I'm so proud of each of them for their service to our country.  

I wrote my patriotic original children's song, "Red, White and Blue" immediately after 9-11. As a result of creating the song in it's picture book format I had the amazing opportunity last spring to go on tour to four of our US Army bases across Germany and Italy. 

National Indie Award of Excellence Winner for Children's Picture Book with Audio: shiny gold sticker!!!

Singing and sharing my picture book with the children of our troops stationed abroad gave me a much richer perspective of the sacrifice of our people in the service. It was amazing to have men and women in their fatigues, holding babes and toddlers and chasing their big kids at our family concerts together. 

Family Concert: Meeting the Troops and Signing Autographs in Italy

My travels to their midst were part of the celebration of "Month of the Military Child." I got to take my songs, picture books and camera to amazing moments cherished in my heart. My leading songs in the midst of such heroes was beyond humbling. 

Daddy hug at Army base concert in Italy

My very favorite photo of my two week European tour is this next image captured in Italy. I chose two daddies to help me explain how I make quilts for illustrations for my picture books. One daddy is holding the quilt I designed and sewed while the other holds my open book. These images are of the 'end papers' of my book. The adoring little daughter looking up at the comparison is what captures my heart forever!! (You can see that I was literally in motion the entire two weeks.)

I have seen those very same dusty boots captured above in the midst of my WonderPeep's (grandchildren) kitchen awaiting yet another departure from their midst. So Memorial Day holds a very special place in my heart. 

Close up images of the Kindergarten Bulletin Board Welcome for my Author Visit with "Red, White and Blue" picture book

Last Friday I made my final 'author visit' for this concluding school year. It's such a thrill to return to St. Paul's in Westerville -- where I have been every year for almost a decade as a part of their end-of-the-year festivities. Yeah, kindergarten!!! 

The teachers went over-the-top this year to welcome me back into their midst. The students created amazing work in response to all three of my picture books, making a bulletin board in honor of each one!! Today I want to take a look at the patriotic projects they created in response to "Red, White and Blue."

I asked Mrs. Grote how on earth her students had achieved such awesome results as these photographed above. She told me that the Statue of Liberty drawings are a result of a guided drawing exercise from a packet of ideas by Deanna Jump, available at Teachers Pay Teachers. The very same Deanna I have come to know and love this year through our collaboration together at PreK+K Sharing. Cue: "It's a Small World After All." 

Kindergarten Room 26, St. Paul, Westerville OH, in anticipation of my author visit: WALL of patriotism

Imagine my heart as I walk into this classroom. To walk into their kindergarten room here in Ohio and to literally be SURROUNDED with their patriotic art projects in honor of my arrival, my patriotic picture book and the coinciding observation of Memorial Day is again way beyond humbling. Its moments like this that I have to pinch myself. I really am living the dream.

Blue sky parade and Old Glory in abundance

However you spend this Memorial Day, I'd ask that you take a few moments to ponder those who currently serve our country. Those separated from their loved ones this weekend. Those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our country. Their contribution and sacrifices go beyond words. These are very real people, doing very real work, with very real families who love them. 

I am honored to share these images with you on this significant weekend. Come back tomorrow for the concluding fireworks project. 

   -- Debbie --
Of course those who know me know I have a Pinterest board for each of my picture books. 
Here's the direct link to the collection of nearly 350 patriotic pin-spirations!

Last week I had an article with several great patriotic project ideas. Click here to go see those. 

Handprint painted flag project

To view the overview of my book, please read my blog article from September 11th. 

To view the 45 blog posts relating to my European tour click on the link "Month of the Military Child" 

To view the comprehensive round up of images and impressions of response to the picture book itself, you can click on the link "Red White Blue"

As always I welcome your visit to my store at my dot com. 

Anytime you order my materials, use the promo code: GREAT to receive a 10% discount. 

Linked this article up to Itsy Bitsy Paper!!

Fine Motor Sign in Systems

FRIDAY!! DOING THE HAPPY FRIDAY DANCE!!!!!

Welcome or Welcome Back!!
We've reached the 15th installment of my continuing series! Today I'm going to group together six different 'sign-in-systems' that I've observed in my "music-lady" travels -- all here into one spot for your ease in planning for next year. 

Let's get started with a brand new concept that I saw just recently up in NW Ohio, making my Author-visits throughout Bryan on behalf of their public library and Family Advocacy Collaborative. Expectation: sign-in at arrival to school. Materials: White Board + Dry Erase Markers. 

Here's what the process looked like for one preschool child: 

Here are some results from hard working students. Keep in mind that these pictures were taken at the end of May and this has been a daily procedure for the entire school year. Let's hear it for progress!!

There were other students needing more 'real estate' for their names. This classroom is designed to serve children with special needs as well as their typical peers -- so there is an entire spectrum of abilities when it comes to Fine Motor.

Here's what the morning's worth of signatures looked like sharing the board. 
Yes, the names themselves are laminated cardstock with a magnet affixed to the back of the card. That way the name cards can easily be shifted around the board as the children enter the classroom and need more or less space for their assignment. 

I worked extra hard to document the afternoon's sign-in process. I wanted you to see the hard work, concentration, effort, focus and persistence that has developed by having a daily expectation of fine motor work. Work that is meaningful. Work that is appropriate. 

I've been literally ALL OVER DA MAP this month, making visits to schools for a variety of end-of-the-year celebrations. Here's a system I saw last week up in Michigan. Clipboards loaded ahead of time with names ready for the signing-in. These were ready-to-go as I made my way about their building for my evening concert with families. Do you just LUV people who plan ahead and are organized?

Now let's go for a ride on the way-back time machine and take a peek at the earlier 'methods' for signing into the classroom that I have shared here in previous episodes of Fine Motor Friday. Here's the first example I saw this fall. Pre-written names on paper. Child arrives and finds their name in the midst of their friends and traces it with a marker. These are preschool children in Ohio.

Next came this Louisiana preschool classroom where the children's names are recorded in their own spiral bound notebook. Arrive at school and clock in by writing your name. This is a simple way to see progress over time. Each child also has a couple of shapes to trace after they get their name written. Notice that some children are just working on their first name and other have more involved assignments. 

This is a pretty brilliant set-up for a writing center in a VPK (Voluntary PreKindergarten) in FL that I had the opportunity to observe last winter just prior to our singing together. 

Fine Motor "Office" Center, with friends names on index cards

All the children's names are on index cards and bound together on a ring. Child chooses which names of their friends that they want to write out while they are 'playing'  working playing in the office. All of the needed materials are organized in the office center for independent work.

Here's the most recent sign-in system cataloged here in my Fine Motor Friday series. This one's documented from my kindergarten visit to my very own WonderBoy's elementary school earlier this month . LUV LUV LUV LUV this one, too! The photographs of friends are a brilliant touch in making connections to our new friends and their names! This would be pretty brilliant for beginning the year..... getting acquainted. 

To improve 'auto-maticity' in the writing of letters is to increase the ease of expression of ideas in creative writing into the future. Having a 'sign-in' system  makes writing an expectation.  Someone on Pinterest repinning an image from this article called it a 'self-registration system' which I like. Incorporating an opportunity and the materials for practice in writing at an early age is to strengthen literacy skills for a lifetime!! 

Are you giving this gift to your young students? 

Do you have some digital photos to share here with my readers? 

These MI envelopes were being prepared for sending home the end-of-the-year collection of goodies and make such a delightful portfolio-of-sorts with the children's drawings as a permanent gift for end of the year reflection. 

Note to self: I'll have to feature lots of 'FINE ARTS' ideas in a future post to balance this one. 

[**Spoiler alert. I just got this post all together and now today I have seen the ULTIMATE in sign in systems. 

So while I hoped to have everything here in one post, these ton of new pictures will have to wait, but they are fully deserving of their own post.] 

REMEMBER!!!

Have the children see your writing!!!!

-- Debbie --

As always.... you're welcome to use the promo code: GREAT to receive a 10% savings on your purchases at my website. 

The entire collection of Fine Motor leads to Fine Arts series is housed in this click. 

Earlier editions have been devoted to such topics as rainbows and Mother's Day and explain my bias on this topic. ENJOY!!

This post has been added to TBA's International Blog Hop!

Chicks, Chickens and Delayed Gratification

What came first? The chicken or the egg?

DELAYED GRATIFICATION!!!!! 
Let's continue yesterday's conversation on the importance of delayed gratification. (Yes, as I sit here writing these little articles I pretend I'm talking to you.) Yesterday I gathered up some 'growing/seed planting' inspiration. Growth over time. Developing patience over the long haul. Plant your seeds.Tend your garden. Harvest. Reward: Kennedy Center. Today it's all about eggs and chickens and bringing them home to roost!

Today let's look at the ever-illuminating science project of the eggs in the incubator. Our own Twinzee WonderPeeps had the proverbial eggs in an incubator to observe this spring. Every day they come home cackling about not seeing anything happening in the eggs, but maybe tomorrow would be the big day!!! They were so excited!!! Imagine their enthusiasm on the day when there was a tiny chick to observe!!!!! They couldn't talk fast enough to tell all that had happened and what it looked like. 

Here are a couple of projects that are the outgrowth of watching and waiting for those eggs to hatch. SPRING!!!!
You just can't go wrong in sending home a project that includes a child's handprints...... whatever the season, whatever the reason. This craft is truly THEIR OWN! As in their very own hands!! You can see that the child's scissors cut out the oval egg shape for the body. Mastering scissors is tricky stuff. An older child could cut out their own handprints. 

Here are some kindergarten chickens over in Laurel Indiana that are fully hatched and tending their own eggs! These K-kiddos had just had their own incubator experience and they were THRILLED to tell me how long it took, the various parts of the egg, how warm the incubator needed to be -- it was all cataloged in their hearts -- having been a direct part of the experience. I think their artwork shows their interest. (LUV the addition of the letters onto the drawings!)  

These next pictures are Florida kindergarten hens. I grabbed these photos running through Garden Elementary during my Author visit there. Can you catch the glimmer of their writings? Everything in their little stories rhymes with 'hen.' I can see the words Ben and Ken and Jen and den in their writing. 

Here's an over-sized Anchor Chart with the math and familiar children's rhyme. LUV LUV LUV the student writing mixed in with their own illustrations. 

So back to our weekend just passed and our visit to our youngest. Her playing in the Wagner concert at the Kennedy Center was glorious enough, but that was just the cherry on the top of our traveling to her. 

This weekend our little YoYo Beanie earned her DOCTORATE from the University of Maryland. Delayed gratification indeed. All of those hours of practice. All of those hours of reed making. All of those hours of study. All of those hours of reed making. All of those hours of practice. All of those rehearsals.  Well you get the idea. She now has a doctorate to her honor and credit. Nine years of higher education through Bachelors, Masters and now DOCTORATE. This is a first for our family. Makes my head spin as my heart dances. 

What does it take to earn a doctorate? Lots of people who stand behind you cheering......... I'm certain that folks probably earn degrees without a cheering section. I've gotta think that its easier when you have a fan club, supporting you, encouraging, listening, enthusiastic. 

Noelle's fortunate in that she has a small village of those who love and care -- from across the country we came, from around the globe there were others cheering. So plant your seeds and then watch the incubator as they begin to percolate. Cheer on those around you in the midst of amazing journeys. Then CELEBRATE the moments and the milestones! 

We are so very, very proud of all of the hard work and effort and happy -- oh, so happy for the accomplishment and all of its incredible recognition. 

-- Debbie --

I've started my own lesson in delayed gratification. 
I've opened my own little store at TeachersPayTeachers.



I am gradually adding zipped files of my songs in Mp3 format PLUS support materials.  
PERFECT for spring and science: POLLY, the Pollywog! 

Growing, Gardens and Delayed Gratification

Delayed Gratification! 
According to Dr. Pam Schiller, the number one predictor of school and LIFETIME success is the young children who can 'delay' their gratification. In other words, the child who is patient. The child who can wait. The child who can build on yesterday's effort. That is the child that we can predict will do well at school and ultimately do well in life. Life requires the capability to persist. Persisting at one's passions is what brings success.

We live in an 'instant' generation: instant soup -- just a zap away, instant electricity -- just a switch away, instant entertainment -- just a click away. 

• How do we build lesson plans that nurture and also build a sense and ability to delay gratification? 
• How do we plan sufficiently, giving incentive, offering something to look forward to?
• What activities expand a child's capability to delay their gratification?  
• How can we instill a sense of building for the future?
• What projects can we design that require 'steps' over time for their completion? 
• What reinforcements do we offer for those who stick with the project?

Spring offers the opportunity to return to our roots. LITERALLY!

Walking into the preschool classroom in Taylor, MI last week for my 'music-lady' visit felt like a personal episode of "Back to the Future" for me! Cue theme music. Voila. I'm a kindergartner myself.


Seeing those baggies taped to the window took me back to my own childhood. I was instantly in my own kindergarten room -- walking in wondering what sort of growth had taken place overnight. We, too, had taken lima bean seeds, paper towels, wet them and placed them into bags taped onto the window. Some lessons never go out of style. Wait and watch. See the growth over time. 


I've been thinking a lot about delayed gratification this week on a 'personal' note..... so I have therefore seen examples in my AUTHOR travels everywhere I go. 
Take a look at this series of display cases at Darby Creek Elementary school, just inside their front door. Look at the 'framing' underway -- surrounding the display cases. Look closely. Look above the display cases. 

I had the opportunity to speak with Amy, the Art teacher and she explained that the ceramic tiles are being made by fifth graders in the building and that the project has been on-going for the past four years!! That is institutional approval of delayed gratification. An epic project of this magnitude teaches that great things take time to complete. SERIOUSLY!!! BRAVO!!


So why have I been so focused on 'delayed gratification' these last couple of weeks? Thanks for asking. We spent this past weekend in the Washington DC area with our youngest. She had the opportunity to play at the Kennedy Center and we were able to attend. My first time at the Center. THRILLED!!! PROUD!!! OVER-JOYED!!!!

Noelle plays the oboe and she is well qualified to address the issue of delayed gratification. Starting the instrument in elementary school -- I don't know that any of us had visions of her gracing the Kennedy Center stage, but through persistence and perseverance she followed her own dream arriving over a decade, seventeen years later at her destination. Plant those seeds with your little ones and help them learn to observe the 'growth' that unfolds over time. It may seem non-existent but with time and tender hands the seedling grows.

Theoretically one is 'not' to take photos inside the concert hall, but I just couldn't restrain myself and will have to use the "Mother-of-the-Oboist-on-a-first-time-to-Kennedy- Center-Defense" if caught red handed. I promise there was no flash involved in the taking of this picture and if you look closely you can tell that this was during the concluding applause.  

        -- Debbie --
Come back tomorrow for the rest of the story.
Which came first? The chicken or the egg?