September 11, 2001

I didn't create a post yesterday because I wanted to spend some time with my boys, mainly my oldest talking about how important the day means to so many. I shared my experience with him. I believe we should keep it just alive as our grandparents have about World War 2. It is part of history that we experienced. 

Here is my story:

I was in my 8th-grade art class. That day, my art teacher was teaching us a new technique so he did not have CNN like most days. Another teacher came in the room and to see if he saw what happened since the tv is usually on. As soon as he turned the news on, that is when we saw the second plane hit. I remember the first time being confused over what was happening. My teacher said something about how it cannot be an accident if another plan hit. I was stunned, there is no other way I can explain my feelings. The entire class was silent. It was art class, it was never silent. 

The bell rang for us to go to our next class. I had gym class that period. It was a beautiful day. It was the perfect day for the gym teachers to have class outside. We were outside for a little bit. I don't remember how long. I don't even think we received the instructions yet when another teacher came running out saying we needed to go back inside because the school was on lock-down. A plane crashed in the field in Pennsylvania, about an hour away from my junior high school. The rest of the day we stayed in the locker room. It was quiet as we sat there watching the tv and absorbing the information. 

It is one of those days that I can still clearly recall like looking at a photograph. It is amazing how certain parts of your memory are blurry but then some feel like it just happened yesterday. 

I will never forget.

Book of the Week: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Book of the Week: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

 

 

 

Last week, with my toddler we dived into the world of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. 

 

He has been obsessed with butterflies lately. They feature a butterfly at the very end but it was fun to talk about the many types of foods while counting. The pictures kept him interested in his reading. Here are some of the activities that we did. I also share these on Instagram, if you would like to follow us there. 

I put red and green paint on paper plates and handed him a potato masher. We created the body and head by dipping the masher into the paint and placing it onto the paper. We also did this with the head. I let him dip his fingers into the red paint to create fingerprint feet for the caterpillar. Once the paint dried I drew a face.

 

 

The day we did this activity we focused on circles. I cut out a couple of green circles and one red one from construction paper. I had him glue them onto a piece of paper in a wavy line like a caterpillar. Afterward, I had him practice drawing lines for legs. He also drew eyes onto the caterpillar. He is three and is finally attempting to draw facial features. It is an exciting milestone for me.

Here is our final caterpillar activity for the week. I cut out strips of green and red construction paper. I helped him create a chain link caterpillar by creating rings and gluing them into each other. Again, he drew eyes onto the caterpillar.

Since the book ends with the caterpillar turning into a butterfly, we ended up creating a clothespin butterfly, at the end of the week. To do this we took a coffee filter and painted it with watercolor paint. Once it dried we accordion file folded the filter and clipped it into the clothespin. I did glue a small magnet on one side to create a magnet that he plays with the refrigerator or he can use to hang up some of his art.

This week we are doing a dinosaur book, check back next week for those activities.