SNAIL MAIL AUTHOR LETTERS

Hello lovelies. 

Many of you are home with kids due to the current world health pandemic. {That is a sentence I never thought I'd write. }

But here we are, facing fear with courage and creativity. And in that light, I would like to offer some ideas. 

I got to homeschool my kids for four sweet years. 

During that time, we enjoyed heaps of knee-deep creative learning. 

In case it helps anyone who suddenly has a houseful, 

I thought I'd share some favorite creative learning projects with you over the next few days.

SNAIL MAIL AUTHOR LETTER PROJECT

One of our favorites was when we tried to write 100 letters to children's book authors & illustrators. Life jumped in and we only managed about 35 or 40 letters, but many authors wrote back & won fans for life! 

Some authors sent bookmarks and "swag." 
Some drew the kids beautiful pictures. 


Thank you Nina Laden!Thank you, Dana Sullivan!

Our very dear Kim Baker sent my girl Winnie a PICKLE t-shirt. Swoon!
 Rayna received a package from author-illustrator Evan Turk that had two of his books in it!
 

  This project incorporates:

• LITERACY (read an author's book)
• CRITICAL THINKING (What questions do you have for the author or illustrator after reading it? What do you wonder about? What connections do you have with the author or book that you can share?)
• RESEARCH (google author & hunt down a mailing address - or mail to the author c/o the publisher address)
• WRITING (How to write a letter is a helpful thing to learn! We always did a rough draft, edits, final draft)
• ART (I always had the kids add an illustration inspired by the author's book)

Stay tuned for more homebound learning ideas over the next few days!

Bea and Jules, all together:

Bea and Jules have had a busy month! 

Thank you for following their advent journey, and for cheering them (and me!) along the way. 

Long live the dreamers, 

the scissor-wielders, 

the glitter-lovers, 

outdoor gatherers, sweets-bringers, 
light-finders, 

the merry makers! 

Cheers to you all!

Tiny Valentine-y

 

Haven't you always wanted mini flashcards?

I thought they might be a fun Valentine-y gift. 

I like to carry around pocket-sized art decks, don't you? 

Because don't we all carry words on the go?

 

Who doesn't like a little

fun on a ring?

Or words on a string?

They're up in my shop, 

perfect word surprises

for your small people - 

or your pocket card collectors.

Local buyers can enter the code: LOCALPICKUP

on my shop to waive shipping fees 

and arrange a delivery option.

Here's to the small, the tiny, the mini,
the little bits of love and beauty in this big world
that make life sweet and good.

Tiny book favorites:

  

Enormous Smallness by Matthew Burgess, illustrated by Eric DiGiacomo
The Tiny King by Taro Miura
Tiny's Big Adventure by Martin Waddell, illustrated by John Lawrence
Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes - by Mem Fox, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

Mermaid sightings

The twins are fast approaching ten!
"Tween twins!" Winnie reminds me.
"Double digits, doubled!"

And just like that, a decade ebbs. 

 

Having soaked up the Emily Windsnap books lately, 

they want to be mermaids. 

So, I've been making art.

Mermaidy tattoos!

 

Painted shells. 

Waves of seaweed.

 

 

Glowy lights.  

Cupcakes + art = yummy.   

 

Mermaids, this way. Your party awaits.

 Books!

The Mermaid and the Shoe by K. G. Campbell

The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler

The Little Mermaid - Hans Christian Anderson, ill. by Lisbeth Zwerger 

Breathe - Scott Magoon

 

The Forgotten Sisters - Shannon Hale

Three Times Lucky - Sheila Turnage

Secrets at Sea - Richard Peck 

Listen, Slowly - Thanhha Lai

Down, Down, Down: A Journey to the Bottom of the Sea - Steve Jenkins

The Storm Whale - Benji Davies
Plastic Ahoy! Investigating the great Pacific Garbage Patch - Patricia Newman
Shackleton's Journey - William Grill

Wings and Winners

I am Icarus. 

Except instead of wax and feathers,
I'm patched together with glitter glue,
writing morsels and
cups of hot tea.
Struck by a blaze of new story lightning,
I'm going down.

That's a good thing, right?
...Right?

Muttering at walls, scribbling
"Words are my wings!" on sticky notes,
covered in ink smudges,
I'm delightedly doomed.

But not too doomed
to help with peg dolls.
Indeed!
And Ancient Greek peggies at that.
Thank you, Margaret Bloom!
 
Here is Athena, patron of wisdom, and arts and crafts!
She's an owl lady.
 
Aphrodite, patron of love.

Posiedon. Sea guy. And that's his trident.

Hera, wife of Zeus, patron of marriage.
Peacock lady.
Also compared to a cow in some circles.
Now you know.

Parthenon?

Ruler. Cardboard. Scissors. Tape. White glue. 



And now for the drum-roll, please...
we'd like to announce a winner!
 
A hearty thanks to all of you who entered
Margaret Bloom's Making Peg Dolls giveaway,
and thank you to Margaret for the fantastic blog tour.

Our winner is... Barb Davis-Pyles. Congratulations, Barb!

I hope you will all go out and find this beautiful book.
You are going to LOVE it.

And did you know SACRED DIRT has a facebook page?
"Like it" to get posts on the beautiful mess of artsy writing,
daily dirt, and parenting sent directly to your facebook feed.

Ancient Greece on the page:

Greek Myths For Young Children, by Heather Amery, ill. Linda Edwards
Explore Ancient Greece!
Greek Myths - Ann Turnbull, ill. by Sarah Young
A Gift From Zeus - Jeanne Steig, ill. by William Steig
The Adventures of Odysseus, by Hugh Lupton, Daniel Morden, ill. by Christina Balit
Aesop's Fables - Lisbeth Zwerger