Today’s Guest: We are pleased to welcome Lisa Callsen to the show. She will be talking to us about Signing for Parents and Baby.

 

Story:

 

Thomas the Little Tailor
The Brother Grimm’s, Revision of Household Tales
By Mary Beth Marino and Pam Sargant

Used for Blog-Talk Radio Story-Hour, February, 2008

Once upon a time in a land far away there lived a little tailor named Thomas. One morning Thomas was sitting by the window, working cheerfully away, when he heard an old woman down in the street calling, “Good jelly to sell! Good jelly to sell!

Thomas smiled and called out “Here! I’ll buy some of that good jelly!” He selected two of his favorite flavors and eagerly took them into the kitchen to taste them. He took two thick slices of bread and spread out the jelly, brought them back into his work area and sat down to have a treat while he worked.

Before long several flies caught the scent of the wonderful jelly and came to have a treat themselves. Thomas did not like the idea of sharing his special treat with flies and started waving this way and that, trying to get rid of them. Finally he brought his two hands together with a loud SNAP! When he opened his hands again he found that he had caught 7 of them. Seven flies with one blow! As he went to wash his hands that phrase kept repeating in his mind and the little tailor was very pleased with himself. He didn’t think there was anyone in the world so skilled as to catch 7 flies with one blow.

Thomas went back to his window to continue his work and finish his treat. While he worked he started to sing a little song to himself.

Seven came and thought they’d stay
Ruining everything as they play

I told them all to go away
And seven with one blow I did slay

Thomas was working on a very nice belt for the Mayor, but he was getting so carried away, he decided to make it for himself instead, and stitched “Seven with one blow” right across the middle. He could always make another belt for the Mayor. He tried it on for size.

Then Thomas decided it might be time for him to go out on his own to seek his fortune. He gathered some things into a pack and before he could change his mind set off with a skip and a whistle.

Thomas was well into his journey, many miles from home, when he came upon a huge giant sitting against a tree. Now you would think that Thomas would be afraid, but not anymore…after all, his belt said, “seven in one blow”!

The overly brave Thomas, boldly called out to the giant, “Hello, Giant! I’m on my way to seek my fortune, do you know where I can find it?”

The giant glanced at Thomas and then decided to ignore him. Many a man would feel lucky to be ignored by a giant.
But Thomas was not afraid; he threw open his coat and showed the giant his belt with the inscription,“seven at one blow!”

Now the big giant looked twice at Thomas! This small human must be something special. But the giant decided to test Thomas himself and see just how great he really was.

The giant put Thomas through some tests. One was to get water from stone. Thomas knew he was not strong enough to do what the giant had done, but he put his brain to work on the problem. He had some cheese in his pack that looked like stone. He took it out and squeezed as hard as he could. There was a puddle of water at his feet! The giant was impressed.

Which each new test Thomas searched his brain and found some way to do the things the huge man asked of him. In the end, the two men sat down together for a rest and a good meal. The giant told Thomas of a nearby kingdom where he could try his fortune, “But be careful.” The huge man said, “I have two brothers who live near there and they are not as nice as I am.” After their meal, Thomas cheerfully went off in that direction, promising to be careful.

When Thomas reached the kingdom, he made his way through the castle town to the castle itself. On the way he heard many tales about the two giants who made messes all over the kingdom. He also heard that who ever got rid of the giants could marry the King’s beautiful daughter. By the time Thomas reached the castle he had an idea of how to do this.

“oh good King”, Thomas said. I hear you are having terrible problems with two mean giants who are making a terrible mess all over your kingdom. With your permission, I have a plan on how to take care of those giants and get rid of them once and for all.”

“How can such a little man take care of such big giants?’ the king asked.

“Trust me King”, Thomas said, throwing open his coat so the King could see his awesome belt”

The King, seeing the inscription on Thomas’ belt, “seven with one blow”, he realized that Thomas was just not “some little man”, but maybe a very powerful little man!

“O.k. Thomas, go and take care of those awful giants who are making a mess of my kingdom. I will give you the promised rewards if you can get rid of those giants once and for all”.

So, off Thomas went into the woods in search of the two mean giants.

He found the giants sleeping soundly under a huge oak tree. They were snoring so loudly, they did not hear Thomas creep up. Thomas picked up a large stone and a large metal cone and put them into a bag. Then Thomas quietly climbed up to top branch of the highest tree he could find and hid himself under the leaves, so the giants couldn’t see him.

Thomas counted, 1…2…3! And then dropped the brick on one of the giants. Thomas watched from the treetop, and heard the giant roar! Then he saw the giant stand up and start yelling at the other giant!

“You should NOT have thrown a brick at me”, he roared waking up the other giant who did not have a clue what was going on! Thomas then took out the large cone and yelled into it in his deepest voice. The cone made his voice boom over the countryside. “I threw the stone!” The two giants looked around. They could tell that whoever spoke was much taller than them but they couldn’t see a thing. “It must be a humungous invisible giant!” The older of the two whispered.

Thomas watched as the giants started to make poking motions around the area trying to find the other giant, then brought the cone to his mouth once more. “This is MY kingdom now! Leave before I step on you!”

The two giants looked at each other then up in the air around them. They were starting to get scared. Thomas brought the cone to his lips one more time and made the loudest scariest roar he could manage.

That did it, the giants did not wait to see what would happen and took off through the woods. They did not stop until they reached the other side of the world.

Thomas climbed down from the tree and was so proud of himself that he decided to add another inscription to his belt, “One blow and two giants, gone!”

So Thomas the Tailor, went back to the castle, and reported to the King that both giants would NOT be messing up his kingdom any more. The King was very impressed with Thomas and fulfilled his promise. Thomas and the king’s daughter were married, which made Thomas a prince. One day, he would own the keys to the kingdom and live happily ever after, knowing he had never in his life hurt a human being, but he did swat 7 flies all at one time.

 

Craft:

 

3-D Owl

 

 Today’s Guest: We were happy to welcome Katherine Reschke to the show. We discussed getting an active 3 year old to settle down for a group storytime and getting a stubborn child to listen to his parents.

 

Craft:

Easter Egg Pinata

Materials:

• Strips of newspaper
• balloon
• thin glue
• colored tissue paper
• scissors
• string

1. Prepare the papier mache glue.
2. Blow up the balloon and tie it
3. Dip the newspaper strips into the glue one at a time making  them completely  wet. Plaster them onto the balloon until the balloon is completely covered. Make sure newspaper overlaps.
4. Allow to dry
5. Cut a hole in the top, popping the balloon. Keep the piece you cut out.
6. Take the popped balloon out of the paper mache shape
7. Decorate your pinata. One way to do this is to wrap a small piece of colored tissue paper around the end the flat end of a pencil, covering the end completely. Dip into glue. Then glue to the pinata leaving a flower shaped piece of tissue.
8. Fill pinata with candy
9. Put the cut out piece back onto the top and seal it with paper mache glue or tape

About Our Guest: Crystal Pina of Crystal Visions Administration. She is the mother of 5 and unschooled the youngest two since they were in grades 5 and 6. Today she will be talking to us about what unschooling is and giving us some facts and resources to unschooling and homeschooling.

Easter Egg Flowers

Materials Needed

• 8 Egg shaped Styrofoam balls
• 8 Pipe Cleaners
• Paint
• Construction paper
• Pie tins
• Scissors
• Markers

1. Pour paint into the tin plates, leaving one plate for mixing.
2. Stick one pipe cleaner into each egg shaped ball
3. Dip “eggs” into paint then roll in empty plate to create swirly designs
4. Allow to dry
5. While paint is drying, use markers to draw out flower shapes on the construction paper
6. Cut out shapes
7. Find the center of each flower shape and cut a small hole
8. Push the flower shape onto the pipe cleaner so that it rests just under the egg shapes
9. Add extra flower layers or leaves if desired

Poem from Crystals daughter Erica.

Today’s Guests:

Michael Smith is from Buxton Derbyshire in England. He is currently studying media, at the University of Derby, Buxton. At the age of 10, was diagnosed with Dyslexia, in 2000 his mum heard a radio interview with Winford Dores, the founder of the DDAT, talking about Dyslexia, and from that one interview started down a path which has helped Michael, gain a better understanding of his dyslexia, and while not cured, is a lot better than he used to be.

Sandra Weber is the host of WAHF Radio and the mother of 7 children, 2 of which were diagnosed with Dyslexia.

Her husband Thierry was also diagnosed with Dyslexia at the age of 11 and is the owner of Jungle Dad Productions.

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Cut-out 3-D flower

 

 

 

Materials Needed:

· Heavy Cardboard

· Construction Paper

· Pipe Cleaners

· Glue

· Scissors

· Glitter

· Hole Punch (Optional)

· Poster Board

This craft also requires a bit of preparation on the part of the parent. Draw a flower shape on a piece of cardboard. This can be a minimum of four petals, but as many petals as your child would like. I found that four petals work best for this craft. Cut out the flower shape and use that as a template. Trace the flower shape onto several pieces of construction paper. You should have at least four copies for each child. You should also give them a choice of colors, so make a few extra. You can have your child cut these out or do it yourself beforehand. Kindergarten teachers always seem to be concerned if your child does not know how to handle scissors, so teaching them yourself through crafts like this are recommended. It is always recommended that young children be well supervised whenever using tools such as scissors.

Now comes the fun part, decorating the flowers. There are a variety of items your child can use to decorate. Let his/her imagination take full reign for this. Use glue and glitter, a hole-punch, stickers, crayons, etc.

While they are doing this, you can glue a pipe cleaner onto poster board. This will be our stem. It will take time for the glue to dry enough for the pipe cleaner to stay. You can also cut out a strip of construction paper to use instead.

Once your child is finished decorating his/her flower petals they can glue the flower petals one on top of each other onto the poster board, overtop of the stem. Give an eighth of a turn to each set of petals to make the flower look fuller, then curl or bend the petals upwards to give them a 3-d look.

To finish off the flower, you can trace and cut out leaves, and put a circle for the center. These can be glued onto the poster board as well.

If you look closely at some flowers you will notice little straight parts coming from the center, called stamens. You can add these as well with curled pieces of construction paper or pipe cleaner. You might even want to take this opportunity to teach your child a bit more about nature. The flowers use these stamens to pollinate themselves through bees and other small insects. Another idea is to draw and cut out a bee shape, color it, and add it to the flower picture. You can either add it right onto the poster board or use a strip of construction paper folded in an accordion shape to make the bee look like it’s flying.

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Bobby and Susie Bake some Cookies

“I am so excited today!” Susie shouted to her mom as she ran down the stairs to go eat her breakfast.

“Why are you so excited dear?” her mom asked as she smiled at her pretty blond six year old bundle of energy.

“Remember? This is the day that I get to go to Bobby’s house after school! We are going to bake a whole bunch a treats with his mommy!”

Suzie chattered on excitedly during breakfast about how much fun she would have at Bobby’s house. She thought it was wonderful that Bobby’s mother got to stay home and cook all day. Suzie’s mommy agreed that it would be great to be able to stay at home instead of working in the post office all day.

“Some mommies just have jobs that they can do from home. Bobby’s mommy makes dinners and desserts for restaurants and parties. Your mommy runs the mailroom at the post office and makes sure everyone gets their letters from their Grandmas and Santa. We all have important jobs; just some jobs can be done from home.”

Her mother kissed her gently on the head while she played with Susie’s ponytail.

“Now go wash your face for school, the bus will be here in a moment.”

Her mother gently shooed her out the door towards the washroom.

All through school, Susie could not sit still, thoughts of strawberry cakes and big fat chocolate chip cookies kept dancing through her head. She could not wait to be able to go to Bobby’s and meet his Mommy.

Finally the day was over. Susie rushed to put her coat and boots on and meet up with Bobby outside.

Bobby’s mommy was waiting outside in their blue mini van with the cool TV for watching movies.

They all climbed in and drove to Bobby’s apartment which was in a nice area with a big park full of trees, swings, slides, and a wading pool for in the summer. Susie thought she would love to come over in the summer to swim and play.

When they got into the house Susie smiled. It smelled like fresh bread and brownies. Yum.

“Susie, come into the kitchen and we will make some chocolate chip cookies for the bake sale at the church on Saturday. Have you ever baked before?” Bobby’s mother asked with a smile as she tied her pink frilly apron around her waist.

Bobby went to a large cupboard and opened the doors. Inside the cupboard Susie could see bags of raisins, chocolate chips, candy sprinkles, nuts and other goodies used to mix in cookie dough.

“Oh this is going to be so much fun! This will be my first time making cookies.” she said with a laugh.

“Well then, this will be a treat.” Bobby’s mommy said with joy.

Susie and Bobby had a lot of fun learning to bake with his Mommy. Soon they were done, and headed off to play in the living room.

While they played, Susie could hear Bobby’s Mommy making plans on the phone to make a lasagna dinner and salad for one of her customers.

“Having your mom home to do stuff with is great isn’t it Bobby?” Susie asked.

“Yeah, it is. But she still has to work; she has lots of paper stuff to do so I can’t bug her too much. I just help her when she bakes cookies. That’s my favorite part.” Bobby grinned as he finished putting the cards face down for their game.

“Does your mom cook all day, every day Bobby?”

“Mom usually talks on the phone a lot. People call her all the time to make orders. Sometimes she gets big party orders, and then she is running around all over the kitchen trying to make all these meals. Other days she doesn’t get any work, and then gets upset cause she has nothing to do. I hear her talking to Daddy some days and she wonders if she should just go back to being the manager of a restaurant. But most days she gets orders that are just right and she can make them no problem, and get them delivered. She likes to make special sandwiches and salads the most I think because she always seems to sing and be in a better mood when she has these kinds of jobs.” Bobby replied with a crooked grin.

“My mommy works in the post office. She is in charge of all the mail coming in and making sure it goes to the right addresses. Her job is pretty important too, I know but sometimes I wish she could stay home and be with me.” Susie commented with a frown.

“It is nice to be able to come home to your mom after school, but sometimes she gets cranky. Sometimes she has to do deliveries when I want to do something else. If she doesn’t have work to do, she doesn’t get any money. Your mommy always gets money because she has a regular job. That is good, especially when your daddy doesn’t live with you.” Bobby spoke as if he were much older than his seven years.

Susie sat back and thought about what Bobby had just said. Bobby was right. Her mommy had to make sure she made money all the time. With Susie’s daddy not around her mommy had to pay for everything all by herself. Susie did miss having her mommy be home all day with her, but Susie also knew that when her mommy did come home at night she always made sure to spend lots of time with her.

They would talk about their day during dinner. Then after Susie would do homework at the table while her mom cleaned up. Her mommy liked to be close by in case Susie needed help with her homework. Then when she was done, they would cuddle up under a blanket on the couch to watch a Disney movie. Susie smiled. She was glad to have special time with her mommy and wouldn’t trade it for the world. Susie looked forward to going back home in a little while to spend some time with her mom.

By Melanie Bremner- 2008

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Song of the week:

When will it Snow?

When will it snow

Oh when will it snow?

There’s school tomorrow

I don’t want to go

I’m dreaming of angels

With snowy wings

Sliding down hills

And snowball flings

I’ll build a fort

From which to plan

A glorious battle

With my friend Dan

I sit by the window

I watch and I wait

If it doesn’t snow soon

It will be too late

There’s school tomorrow

I don’t want to go

When will it snow

Oh when will it snow?

I’d really like to know.

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Links mentioned in the show:

http://www.sokarsstudio.net/about/page20/page20.html

http://www.sokarsstudio.net

http://www.dore.co.uk/

http://www.interdys.org/ the International Dyslexia Association

http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/ The British Dyslexia Association

http://www.dyslexia.com/ Dyslexia the Gift

http://www.dyslexiaaction.org.uk/ Dyslexia Action

http://www.dyslexia.com/qafame.htm Famous People with the Gift of Dyslexia

http://www.dys-add.com/symptoms.html Symptoms of Dyslexia

http://jungledad.momsbooknook.com/ Jungle Dad Productions

http://www.wahftalkradio.com Work at Home Family Radio

http://ebooks4families.biz/shop/ Informational E Books for Families