The Story Garden with Mrs. Sandoz

My boy's school did an End-of-the-Year-Book-Exchange.  It was a HUGE success!  There were piles and piles of books and piles and piles of kids.  My boys brought home a backpack full each of new-to-them books.  Some of them will definitely be keepers.  The rest we'll just send back next year.  I think I might have been more excited about the book exchange than my boys.  And next year I might even volunteer to help with it.  It was that cool! A used book exchange is a brilliant idea for the summer.  I am so pleased to be a part of a school which has some amazing creativity!  The best part is that it is something anyone could  do.  So if your school doesn't do a book exchange or you just need a fresh pile of books try this idea. The concept is easy.  Invite a good handful of friends or neighborhood kids to bring all the books they are done reading and ready to pass on to someone else to your back yard. ...

Sometimes we get to laughing an awful lot during our story telling.   Other times a great story is created that we hope to remember for the future.  I have found myself wishing I could immediately capture these moments for posterity.   But alas!   The dishes or laundry or poopy mess in the bathroom calls and I don’t have time to write it all down.   Then the moment is gone.   It’s so sad! Enter my smart phone.   I discovered it has a voice-recording app.   How cool is that!   So now all I have to do is turn it on while we play story games at dinner or when I tell my boys a bedtime tale.   So simple!   Of course if you don’t have a smart phone I don’t know what you could do.   Perhaps a good ol' fashioned tape player? Enjoy! Kristen

Your Challenge:    Tell a "That's Good.  That's Bad."  story with your children this week.  Report back by commenting on this post and tell how it went. Story Tip:  Try this game on Christmas Eve when kids are having trouble sleeping. Tonight at dinner we played a new story game.  It was brilliant!  We came up with it on the fly.  With two boys and one on the way dinner discussion can often be about bodily functions, body parts, or just plain fighting.  It can drive the Bug with Black Spots and I crazy.  We try to come to the table prepared with a good question or topic for discussion.  Tonight we got talking about books and somehow a story that the boys really enjoy came up.  It’s called “That’s Good, That’s Bad” by Margery Cuyler .  The boys clearly enjoy this story.  We decided to make up our own version of the story at the dinner table.  Reading the book would be a great idea for your family....