Volunteering During Craft-a-Palooza Week

Last week during Wonderopolis' Camp What-a-Wonder "Craft-a-Palooza Week", we volunteered with at-risk children again.  Betsy shared Wonder of the Day #659, How Do Dream Catchers Catch Dreams? and the history of dream catchers.  We took supplies to make paper plate dream catchers as suggested in the "Try it out" section of the Wonder.  It was a wonderful way to end this summer's Camp What-a-Wonder.

I can't wait to show my second graders how to make these as an indoor recess activity this year!

Books for Camp What-a-Wonder "Craft-a-Palooza"

This week's theme for the Wonderopolis' Camp What-a-Wonder, is Craft-a-Palooza.  I found several books at my local library that combine nature and crafting.

Look What I Did With a Leaf by Morteza E. Sohi

This book is all about collecting leaves of different colors, sizes and shapes and creating art with those leaves.  Included is a a section that describes the different shape and sizes of leaves you will want to be sure to collect and what you might use them for.  In the back of the book is a "field guide" that tells where you can find certain leaves and what colors they turn in the fall.

I can't wait to use this book with Wonder #47 Why Do Leaves Change Color in Autumn?, go on a nature walk and collect many different sizes. shapes and colors of leaves and then create some art work.

Nature Crafts for Kids by Gwen Diehn and Terry Krautwurst

There are some fantastic crafts and ideas for kids, using nature and natural resources for kids.  Some of my favorite ideas are, fish kites (p. 24), wild flower candles (p. 41) and a nature kaleidoscope (p. 58).  The nature kaleidoscope goes perfectly with Wonder #594 What Is a Kaleidoscope.

EcoArt! by Laurie Carlson

This is great book filled with arts and crafts made from natural resources or recycled materials.  Some of my favorites are a twig picture frame, a seed mosaic wreath and an animal track paperweight, which goes wonderfully with Wonder #479 Do All Animals Leave Tracks?.

Camp What-A-Wonder "Craft-A-Palooza" #WonderChat

This Thursday, July 26th from 7:00-8:00 PM EST will be Wonderopolis' Camp-What-A-Wonder virtual Campfire chat for "Craft-A-Palooza" week on Twitter.  The Campfire #WonderChat will feature Angela Daniels, The Guilty Crafter (Angela's blog, Cooking, Crafting and Cocktails) and Kathy Cano-Murillo, Crafty Chica.  Angela's video was also featured in Wonder of the Day #659, How Do Dream Catchers Catch.

The Campfire #WonderChat will center around easy crafts for the entire family.  Come ready to share crafts you have made with your family, favorite crafts, crafting with nature items and memories you have about camping and crafting.

Plan on joining Wonderopolis, Angela Daniels and Kathy Cano-Murillo for the last virtual Campfire chat of the summer from 7:00-8:00 PM EST, Thursday, July 26th on Twitter.  Don't forget to use the hashtag #WonderChat.

Books for Camp What-A-Wonder "Creepy Crawling Critters"

This week's theme for Wonderopolis' Camp What-A-Wonder, is Creepy Crawling Critters, a.k.a bugs.  My fellow Wonder Lead, Jon Fines is the virtual camp counselor for this week's activities and events.  He has shared some wonderful post on his blog, including sharing bug books to build background knowledge.  Below are some additional books that I found at my local library to go along with this week's theme.

I Wonder Where Butterflies Go In Winter by Molly Marr

This book is organized with one question posed per two page spread about insects and then answered in more detail.  Each question and answer is complimented with illustrations.  Each page includes an "amazing but true" fact.  Some questions posed, What does it take to be an insect?, Is a caterpillar a worm?, Why do fireflies flicker? and How can a fly walk upside down?  

Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! by Bob Barner

This is a simple text all about bugs.  Insects included in the book are roly-poly bugs, ants and bees.  This would keep the attention of any toddler.

Bugs Up Close by Diane Swanson

This is a great book organized by the parts of a bug and up close actual photographs of those parts.  The text on each page tells what the body part is used for.  Also included on each page is a "buggy bit" about one of the photographs on the page.

1001 Bugs to Spot by Emma Helbrough

I like how this book gives the readers different kinds of bugs to locate in different habitats.  Some of the habitats include flower beds, rocky deserts and leafy woodlands.  The illustrations also show where in the habitat to look for the insects.

Backyard Detective Critters Up Close by Nic Bishop

Do your kids like I Spy books?  This book is for them.  On one page is a photograph (habitat) with creatures hidden throughout the picture.  On the next page is text and small photographs describing what was seen on the previous page.  What a fun way to spend a summer afternoon!  After you read the book, head out and look for some of the insects.

#CyberPD Opening Minds - Part 2

Thank you Jill Fisch at My Primary Passion for hosting this week's #CyberPD conversation about Peter Johnston's book, Opening Minds.


I made a couple of connections to the section titled, Uncertainty, Inquiry, and Meaning Making (p. 59).  "Most conversations about school work from the assumption that a curriculum is a bunch of certain facts to be efficiently delivered to the students, and that a teacher's problem is to deliver the true facts so that they stick, are well organized, and can be assessed" (p. 59).  When thinking about this quote, my mind immediately began thinking about the current testing climate in schools.  I feel like as long as student learning is based on a test, then to some degree "teaching to the test" is going to take place.  In doing so, often times teachers are delivering facts only for the test and to improve test scores, not for the  good of students.

A second connection I had to the section came from the following quotes, "The unfortunate problem with facts is  they are generally inert and thus uninteresting" (p. 59).  "it's true we find unusual facts interesting...."(p. 59) "But the reason these facts are interesting is that they raise so many new questions" (p. 59).  I began thinking about Wonderopolis.  Kids seem to be naturally drawn to the website and remember so many facts, because the Wonders posed are of high interest to them.  I then thought about many of the great discussions we had last year after reading over the Wonders.  The discussions were usually centered around questions the students had about the Wonders.  Often times while reading over the Wonder, students would blurt out new questions and wonders.

On a side note, I have downloaded Carol Dweck's book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success to my Kindle.  It is a great companion to Opening Minds.

Camp What-A-Wonder "Creepy Crawling Critters" #WonderChat

Please join Wonderopolis, Family Counselor, Jon Fines and expert Zach Slavin for this week's Camp What-A-Wonder virtual campfire #WonderChat.  Jon Fines (@WonderLeadJon) is a kindergarten teacher in Missoula, Montana.  Zach Slavin is from Audobon's and Toyota's togethergreen.

We will be discussing "Creepy Crawling Critters" this Thursday, July 19th from 7:00-8:00 PM EST on Twitter.  Don't forget to use the hashtag #WonderChat.

To get you in the spirit my daughter, Betsy made a little video looking for creepy crawling critters in the woods behind our house.  Enjoy!

Camp What-A-Wonder: A Visit to Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams

Have you ever heard of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams?  If you haven't, you probably will be sometime soon.  According to U.S. News Travel, Jeni's is America's number one best ice cream.  Recently we were luckily to tour Jeni's ice cream sandwich kitchen.  Jeni was a gracious Camp What-A-Wonder Campfire Cooking expert and Pete and Jake (ice cream chefs) were gracious hosts on a WONDERful tour.  We watched her staff making oatmeal cream ice cream sandwiches (my favorite) and hand piped orchid vanilla ice cream sandwiches (everyone else in my families favorite).  We were amazed at the care, attention and pure art work that went into making such yummy treats.

As we toured a surprisingly small kitchen area, we learned some very interesting things about Jeni, her team and her ice cream:
Betsy wondered where Jeni gets her inspiration from.  We learned:

• Jeni gets her inspiration often from one ingredient and goes from there.  She compared getting her inspiration to a writer getting an idea and making a web and going from there.
• She can always get inspiration from the library.  She said that if she goes into any library, picks out any book and reads almost any sentence, she could find inspiration for ice cream. 

Betsy wondered how Jeni would describe herself.  We learned:

• Jeni is a forward thinking person.  She doesn't look back.  She commented that she expects to make mistakes and mess up.

Ben wondered what was the worst flavor she made:

• Her worst ice cream creation was smoked bananas.  She said it looked and tasted like turpentine.

Some interesting facts we learned along the way:

• Jeni's ice cream sandwich kitchen makes about 10,000 sandwiches a week.  Keep in mind these are all made by hand.  It was amazing watching her staff hand pipe the orchid vanilla ice cream sandwiches.
• Jeni believes that the ice cream ambassadors (the scoopers in the shops) are the pin point in an inverted triangle, makes the connection with the customers and leads to everything else.
• Jeni's ice cream sandwiches are featured in this month's O magazine.
• Jeni buys her fairly traded vanilla beans from a small farm in Uganda.
• Jeni won a James Beard Award for her cookbook, Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home.

After our tour, we went to dinner while Jeni set up a special treat for us.  My children were fortunate to get to make ice cream in Jeni's test kitchen with several other families participating during a virtual Camp What-A-Wonder Campfire Chat google+ hangout.  I can't think of a more memorable or wonderful way to spend a Friday night!