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.

_____________________________________________________________

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.

_____________________________________________________________

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

________________________________________________________________

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.

___________________________________________________________________

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