September 13 - Kids Take Over the Kitchen Day

SEPTEMBER 13TH IS “KIDS TAKE OVER THE KITCHEN DAY”

In our Screenless Activities: Quick Recipes blog post, we discussed how beneficial it is to cook with your kids, and how uncomplicated it has to be. There are A TON of lovely children’s books that even have recipes! A good example is on the READ ALOUD section of our Common Ground Youtube Channel. Blue’s Clues Read Aloud: Blue Makes Breakfast. (We will have a list of Teacher Recommended books about food with recipes at the bottom of this blog! Don’t forget to scroll down!)

There is nothing more bolstering to a child, more comforting, more healthy, than quality time with you.

In our busy lives, this can feel hard to come by. We spend A LOT of time with our children! With school, extracurriculars, work, and finding time to breathe on our own, this can feel daunting. But Conscious Discipline says that even FIVE MINUTES of undivided attention a day can make all the difference in the world.

NAEYC has an incredible list of Quality Time Tips for Meaningful Days that basically boils down to: Noticing the positive, expressing affection, special rituals for daily quality time, letting them choose your activities, and putting technology away so your attention is only on each other. Utilize this CELLPHONE PARKING in your home for meals, games, books, walks with your family.

One of the tips is to take the time to EAT with your child! Does this sound stressful because of a picky-eater? You can give them some of the power they crave in that interaction by allowing them to COOK/PREPARE DINNER with you.

  1. Provide them choices that give them power, but are within parameters you set. If they are not fans of vegetables, give them an option of vegetables to choose from and cook. “Would you like to cook broccoli, carrots, or snow peas tonight with dinner?” “Do you want to make the bbq chicken or the meatloaf?” “Which fruit from these options could go with what you have chosen?”

  2. It is going to take them longer, and there will be more mess. We are constantly in the current of busy-ness. Cooking may feel like it takes forever already without a kid taking forever to break an egg (INTO the bowl… with the shells… and now it’s all over their fingers…) and spilling flour all over the place. This is how they learn. Think of every shaky letter and number they’ve ever drawn that you cheered over, and cheer over their stirring, their sifting, their pouring in the same way. Maybe they never develop a true passion for cooking… but they will learn to love learning. They will know that you are their champion, and that you support their process every step of the way. *Bonus* You can teach them how to clean up their messes, and give them more responsibility!!

  3. They may not be interested, They may not want to try the food, et cetera. This is okay! Invite them to join you, allow them to “parallel play” if they want to be in the kitchen, but not engaging. Explain what you are doing step by step. These kinds of activities almost never go as planned, and sometimes do not go as well as you hope. The point is that quality time, that expression of patience. Still give them choices over what you make, still offer them the chance in the future. Teaching them that they have autonomy and how to express their choices with strength and kindness is also an incredible lesson.

  4. Mistakes are Science. Does your kid want to use baking powder instead of baking soda or vice versa? cut the batter in half and let them try both. Do they want to double the amount of sugar? Do they want to try to add something odd to the sauce? Our instincts are to immediately say no. Treat moments like this like improv: “Yes, and-” is your friend here. OBVIOUSLY keep them safe, don’t let them play with boiling water or eat raw chicken. But letting them have a little leeway for experimentation, especially if it’s just this one day, or once in awhile, is a positive experience.

  5. Cooking is a chance to tell Family Stories. Family Recipes are often inextricably tied to Family Traditions and happy holiday memories. There are recipes with cultural and religious significances that tie important lessons to a tangible experience. Cooking can be a history lesson! Connect your digital-native child to their great-great-great grandfather who kept their master-chef recipes written in a water-logged journal. Humans have changed between generations… but everybody has to eat.

There are a ton of poignant children’s stories with recipes in them.

We use a lot of them in the Creative Curriculum too! See below:

  1. Peeny Butter Fudge by Toni Morrison and Slade Morrison. There is no one like Nana in the whole wide world. She is the best. Nana knows how to take an ordinary afternoon and make it extra special! Nap time, story time, and playtime are transformed by fairies, dragons, dancing, and pretending -- and then mixing and fixing yummy, yummy fudge just like Nana and Mommy did not so many years ago....

  2. Every Color Soup by Jorey Hurley. All you need is a pot, a spoon, an adult helper, and vegetables of many colors to make a very special soup—Every Color Soup! Learn colors and vegetable names in this bright and colorful picture book with minimal text perfect for the beginning reader. Jorey Hurley’s bright, graphic art and simple text make this vibrant book a perfect read-aloud for budding cooks and their families. This lively picture book also comes with a recipe!

  3. Apple Sauce Day by Lisa Amstutz. Applesauce Day is here! Maria and her family visit an apple orchard and pick apples. Then it's time to turn the apples into applesauce. Every year they use a special pot that has been in the family for generations. Follow along as everyone helps to make delicious applesauce.

  4. Kalamata’s Kitchen by Sarah Thomas. This book does not have recipes, but encourages trying new things and experiencing foods from around the world! Tomorrow is Kalamata's first day at a new school, and she's nervous! What if the kids aren't friendly? Or worse, what if they don't like alligators!? If only Kalamata and Al Dente could go to back to the Indian spice market they visited this summer, then maybe she'd remember how to feel brave when new experiences seem scary.

  5. The Empanadas that Abuela Made by Diane Gonzalez Bertrand. A whimsical look at the making of empanadas serves up the festive fun of a family’s effort to concoct the delicious pastries, with an easy empanada recipe included.

  6. Cora Cooks Pancit by Dorina Gilmore. Cora loves being in the kitchen, but she always gets stuck doing the kid jobs like licking the spoon. One day, however, when her older sisters and brother head out, Cora finally gets the chance to be Mama's assistant chef. And of all the delicious Filipino dishes that dance through Cora's head, she and Mama decide to make pancit, her favorite noodle dish.

  7. Bee Bim Bop! by Linda Park. A Korean American girl celebrates food and family in this cheerful book about cooking a special meal by Newbery Medalist Linda Sue Park.

  8. Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story By Kevin Maillard. Fry Bread is elegantly written with lovingly rendered pictures that evoke family and love on every page. It’s all about cooking to be connected to the past while moving forward together.

  9. Star Wars: Galactic Baking. These are NOT PICTURE BOOKS. They do not have a story! But any Star Wars Cookbooks that you can get your hands on are so fun, silly, weird, and worthwhile. Star Wars is loved by so many people young and old, and it is such a fun way to connect responsibility and learning to ADVENTURE and IMAGINATION STATION.

  10. Sesame Street Let’s Cook! These are also not picture books, but they are an EXCELLENT introduction to cooking for young chefs.

PLEASE share your experiences, your stories, and, most importantly, YOUR RECIPES with us! We will share more recipes on our social media leading up to September 13th. We would love to someday build a Common Ground Cookbook from our BIG, SHARED COMMON GROUND FAMILY.

Love Love Love,

Your CG Chefs

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May is Asian-Pacific Heritage Month

May is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month—a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. A rather broad term, Asian-Pacific encompasses all of the Asian continent and the Pacific islands of Melanesia (New Guinea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, and the Solomon Islands), Micronesia (Marianas, Guam, Wake Island, Palau, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, and the Federated States of Micronesia) and Polynesia (New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands, Rotuma, Midway Islands, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, French Polynesia, and Easter Island).

It is incredibly important to educate ourselves and our children about our Asian-Pacific American neighbors, especially because of all the misinformation spreading around due in-part to the coronavirus pandemic. The more we inform ourselves, the more we can understand the Truth, the less fear and hate we help spread!

We got a lot of our suggestions below from The U.S. Dept. of Education, and we have added our own ideas as well! Please share some of the ways you make learning fun in your home in the comments!

History and Culture

  1. HISTORICAL LANDMARKS: Teach your kids about the Great Wall of China, and then use ALL THE BLOCKS YOU HAVE (we are talking duplos, legos, wooden blocks, plush blocks, couch cushions, everything!) to make the longest wall you can!

    1. Here is a great book about it: The Emperor who built the Great Wall of China — This is part of a whole series of children’s books on the History of China, and it’s incredible!

  2. Go for a visit: Pretend you are going to be visiting a country on the Asian continent or one of the Pacific Islands, and plan your imaginary trip! You can research tourist sites, talk about the food you’re going to eat there, what language you would have to learn to speak, etc! You can even look up local music on YouTube or Spotify. Who knows? This may be such a fun experience that you want to do this for real!

    1. Japan: Travel for Kids — Here is a great example of a “travel book” you could look up to help with this immersive learning experience!

  3. Explore AAPI history: From helping build the first transcontinental railroad to protecting the nation during times of war, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) have played significant roles in shaping modern history. Help your kids learn more about how AAPIs have enriched America’s history, by visiting some online resources.

Geography

  1. Make a globe: Help your kids cut and wrap a map of the world around a ball. Show kids how big Asia is compared to our North American continent. As you make it, you can point out the Pacific Ocean area of the world, and how Asia is on the opposite side of the world from us.

  2. Books on Countries: Geography books like Where in Asia is Malaysia? help kids (and their parents) to understand how diverse the Asian continent is!

Arts Connections

  1. Make lei: Tell your kids that lei, which are garlands, are made and given for occasions like marriages, birthdays, and lu’aus. Colorful flowers and greenery are braided, twisted, wrapped, or strung together to create lei for the neck, head, wrists, and ankles. Take construction paper and/or tissue paper and twine to make your own lei. Have a lu’au (see Healthy Eating below) and wear them, or give them to friends.

  2. Check out an art exhibit: Consider the diverse cultures of the AAPI community by looking at Asian art. Check out the Smithsonian’s Museum of Asian Art online. Point out to your kids how some of this art uses mediums like ink on paper; have your kids try their hand at creating similar art with basic supplies, such as paper, pencil, and chalk. Older kids may like to compare the similarities and contrast the differences in media used and subjects chosen.

Social Studies

  1. There are 48 countries in Asia: Write them all down and have your kids put them in alphabetical order!

  2. Find out more other cultures: Ask your kids how many countries make up the Asian-Pacific area of the world. Let them know that it’s not a small number, but instead over three dozen. Put the names of some Asian countries (e.g., Japan, China, South Korea, Philippines, Vietnam) each on a separate piece of paper, crumple into a ball, and put in a pile for kids to pick one. What do they know about that country’s location in the world, what language(s) people might speak, what foods they might eat, and what kind of climate they have.
    Help older kids appreciate a multitude of diverse ethnic backgrounds by exploring the Smithsonian photo gallery A Day in the Life of Asian Pacific America. Older kids may also like to read about what steps agencies, such as the National Endowment for the Humanities, have taken to preserve the APPI heritage.

  3. Have a lu’au: Our own state of Hawaii is part of the Asian-Pacific culture. Tell your kids that a lu’au is a traditional Hawaiian feast; today the lu’au is a celebration that brings together an entire family and community. The lu’au is a contemporary expression of a traditional Hawaiian feast set with food cooked in an earthen pit oven, covered with hot rocks and leaves; food can include fish, pork, and coconut dishes. Help kids contribute a dish, like Haupia, which is Hawaiian coconut pudding, to the family meal.

  4. History of Origami: Origami is a beautiful, relaxing hobby you can practice with your kids! You can start at a very young age, and get materials HERE. But you should really understand the history and cultural significance of the craft! Origami and Haiku is an incredible book that delves into two lovely art forms of Japan.

Science

  1. Learn about the lunar calendar: Explain to your kids that the lunar calendar is based on phases of the moon, unlike the calendars we typically see at home and in the classroom that are based on the earth’s rotation around the sun. Observed by people of Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tibetan, and Mongolian heritage, the Lunar New Year is a time of modern festivity and ancient tradition.

  2. Discover more about trees: Let you kids know that in 1912, Japan gave several varieties of over 3,000 cherry trees to the U.S. as a symbol of friendship. These trees were planted in Washington, DC, and produce the well-known cherry blossom. According to the National Park Service, in 1965, Japan gave another 3,800 trees. In 2011, about 120 propagates from the surviving 1912 trees were sent back to Japan to retain the genetic lineage. Look at the different trees in your neighborhood or on the way to school, and see how many different kinds of trees you can find. How can you differentiate among the trees you see—do some have noticeable flowers, like cherry blossoms, in the spring? Are leaves different shapes and sizes on different kinds of tress?

  3. Try Asian horticulture: With your kids, read about bonsai and penjing. See if your kids would like to try their hand at creating a bonsai.

Healthy Eating

  1. Make an Asian dish: With your kids, research different countries in the Asian-Pacific region, and think about what kinds of foods the people there might eat. Why do you think fish and rice dishes are frequently consumed—could it have to do with people in a lot of Asian and Pacific countries being close to or on the water (look at your globe) or the climate and soil in those areas? Find recipes that your kids can help prepare. They might enjoy following a traditional fried rice recipe created as part of the Let’s Move! initiative. or watching a video on how it’s done. Many grocery stores carry ingredients common to Asian cuisine. You could also make a special trip to a local Asian market.

Reading

  1. Read books with AAPI connections: Help your kids discover different aspects of the AAPI community by reading books related to the Asian American experience—the Smithsonian’s Asian Pacific American Center has a list of books aimed at developing multicultural appreciation in students. For younger kids, consider this list of children’s books

Thank you so much for helping us celebrate our Asian-Pacific American Teachers, Students, and Families!

Love, Love, Love,

LJ and your CG Family

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CG Birthday: Celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd

April is not just our birthday month! It’s the month we celebrate our incredible home: The Planet Earth.

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  • What is the History of Earth Day?

    • April 22nd, 1970 was the very first Earth Day! Proposed in 1969 by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day was celebrated all over the nation in a collaborated effort between grass roots groups and their local governments. Elementary schools did trash-pickup and anti-litter movements. Flowers were planted. People swept their streets. Mothers protested the pollution destroying their children’s air quality.

  • Did it work?

    • By the end of 1970, the Nixon administration had established the Environmental Protection Agency and passed the Clean Air Act.

    • Environmental justice gained momentum in New York especially.

    • Activists increasingly emphasized “environmental racism,” or how toxins and lack of green spaces in poorer neighborhoods disproportionately affected communities of color.

    • In the 1980’s El Puente and WE ACT formed to oppose environmental hazards like sewage plants and other pollutants that contributed to health disparities, including high rates of asthma.

    • Many observers have invoked the threat of climate change and pollution during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some have pointed to falling pollution levels in cities, as certain industries are on hold and transportation has slowed.

  • What can you do?

  • How you can celebrate at home

    • Animal Exercises to do at home with your kids ALL MONTH.

    • Stock up on reusable bags and try to go a month without using plastic ones!

    • Plant pollinator friendly local plants in your garden

    • Walk whenever you can or take public transportation (Keeping in mind Covid-19 precautions)

    • Use blankets or open windows rather than cranking up the Heater or AC

    • Pick up trash when you can! Even one piece can make a difference.

    • Watch Our Planet or Planet Earth to get your kids excited and curious about Earth

Remember everyone, we all share ONE COMMON GROUND. Our little blue planet is precious, and we have to take good care of it.

Love Love Love,

Your CG Family

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CG Birthday: Book Fair List for Week of the Young Child

Our Book Fair is Live!! You can access it Here. Any of the books on the website will contribute to our fundraiser so long as you follow the directions on our book fair page.

Not sure what you want to read? No worries! We will be posting excellent book lists all week.

JUST LIKE THIS ONE! See below for recommendations of excellent children’s books for celebrating Week of the Young Child with us.

Music Monday:

Acoustic Rooster and his Barnyard Band
One Love: Music Books for Children
Music: A Foldout History Book
Music Board Book

Tasty Tuesday:

Kids in the Kitchen — A whole Scrawl Books catered book list about cooking with kids.
Work Together Wednesday:
The Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room
The Berenstain Bears and the Trouble with Chores
The Berenstain Bears: Patience Please
I Just Forgot


Art Thursday:

Harold and the Purple Crayon
Red: A Crayon’s Story
Anywhere Artist
A Parrot in the Painting: The Story of Frida Kahlo and Bonito

Family Friday:

Daddies Do
Love Makes a Family
Llama Llama Gram and Grampa
Grandpa Grumps
Grandma, Grandpa and Me
Between Us and Abuela
Just like Mama


All Smiles Saturday:

Julián is a Mermaid
Sulwe
I Love Me
Sharing a Smile

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CG Birthday: How to Celebrate with Us!

We are turning 49 on April 6th, but we are celebrating ALL MONTH LONG!!

Normally this would warrant one of our excellent all-school events with food trucks, moon bounces, a giant cake, maybe a carnival…

But since we can’t do that, we are finding a ton of new, exciting ways to celebrate, and we want to tell you how you can join us from your own home.

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Sign up for our Spring Stuffy Sleepover!

Our featured author Andrea Lamont will be doing a reading of her new book “The Friendship Rock” for the stuffys and their kiddo friends at home. This event is a total blast that we really think is a perfect way to celebrate together while apart.

Participate in and Share our Book Fair!

From April 12th-April19th, 24/7, you can participate in our Online Book Fair with Scrawl Books! There will be readings, book recommendations, and wish lists! Whether you are supporting your classroom, buying your kids’ new favorite book, or finding your next “relax by the fire pit” Spring read, any book you buy supports our fundraising efforts to raise money for our Non-Profit mission. The best birthday present you can give Common Ground is helping us raise money for our educational efforts.

Host your own Fundraiser on Facebook!

Our Non-Profit missions benefit our students, our teachers, our outreach, our support of much needed educational reform. By supporting our beloved school, we are also supporting our community! Helping us raise money to support those efforts is an AMAZING WAY to help us celebrate our birthday.

Here is our Our PayPal Donation Link where anyone can donate! Thank you for widening our impact.

You can Celebrate “The Week of the Young Child” with us!

We have several activities we are doing with all of the children at the center, but here are some ideas for how to celebrate at home!

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Music Monday: Instead of turning on the tv when you get home, turn on the stereo and have a dance party!! Show your kids your favorite songs, and let them show you theirs, make a big Youtube playlist of your favorites, dance your heart out!
Pro Tip: Eighties Pop makes great Dance Music, here is our Owl’s Spotify List.
Struggling to come up with songs? Check out our Mister Josh Rock at the Blocks series on Youtube!
Tasty Tuesday: THROW YOUR OWN COMMON GROUND BIRTHDAY PARTY!! We know putting together something complicated on a Tuesday night feel like it’ll take more energy than you have, so you can always save this for a free weekend day. Whether you decide to try it on a weeknight, or a weekend, this does not have to be over the top to be special with your kiddos. Big Bird has a super easy Banana Bread Recipe! Make healthy banana bread “cupcakes,” stick candles in them, sing Happy Birthday, and chow down!
Work Together Wednesday: At school we will be planting our new class gardens!! We encourage you to plant local, pollinator-friendly plants with your kiddo so they can contribute to a healthy environment. Every little act brings great goodness to the world, and if your kid learns that early with you, they will be more confident and ready to do more and more each day.
Artsy Thursday:
Draw chalk art on your sidewalk. Send postcards to family members you haven’t seen awhile with pictures from your kids. Let your kids paint with ice cubes or paint rocks to leave on your local trails. Any little art project that you do with your kid is time spent creating something lovely in the world, no matter what your skill level is. This is also a perfect opportunity to show teacher appreciation: If you want to make your teacher’s day, have your kiddo make an art project for them telling their teacher just how much they matter.
Family Friday:
Movie Night! Family Walk! Shadow Charades! Board games! If you want to make it Common Ground themed, this is a fine night to throw the CG Birthday Party! You can also do a “name that teacher” guessing game.
All-Smiles Saturday: Sign your kids up for our Saturday Session on April 10th! While your kids are partying it up with us, you can relax, go on a date, do some much needed yard work, finish that 1000 piece puzzle you’ve been saving, anything that makes you smile!

HOWEVER: If SPRING CLEANING without interruption is what really makes your Saturday perfect, we highly suggest saving any gently used clothing/linens, small household appliances, personal accessories, and books for our JUNE FUND-DRIVE DONATION EVENT! By cleaning out your houses and freeing up your space, you could earn your school BIG MONEY. It’s our favorite type of “fundraiser,” because it is a WIN WIN WIN. You get a cleaned out bureau and don’t create more waste, we get much needed funds for our various educational objectives, and someone gets much needed “new to them” items for an affordable price from UNIQUE without creating more waste.

Whatever you do to celebrate, however you do it, please send us pictures. We would love to make a huge birthday picture collage for the center to show all the ways we honored Common Ground Childcare. Show us your cakes, your decorations, your art projects and gardens! Whatever it looks like, it was done with love, and that is everything to us.

Love Love Love,

Your CG Family

P.S. Let us know how you plan on participating on Common Ground’s Birthday in the Comments!

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Women's History Month: Fantastic Books for Kids

Hello Common Ground Readers!

TODAY IS READ ACROSS AMERICA DAY!!

March is also WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH, so we decided to share ten of our most favorite books to share with your children. Reading to children is essential. It is food for their imagination. It is integral to the development of empathy and understanding people not like them.

Reading is a gateway to the entirety of what we can know. All you have to do is hand them the keys.

  1. Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison: Buy Here - Little Leaders educates and inspires as it relates true stories of forty trailblazing black women in American history.

  2. What will I be? by Jayla Joseph: Buy Here - There are no limits on the greatness we can achieve! A positive & powerful picture book showing Black girls planning for their futures.

  3. Little Feminist Board Book Set by Lydia Ortiz: Buy Here - It is never too early to learn about amazing women of history! This set of board books teaches our littlest leaders about women activists, artists, leaders, and pioneers with colorful pictures to capture their imagination.

  4. Fantastically Great Women who Changed the World by Kate Pankehurst: Buy Here - Share a different story each night, fill your children’s brains with all of the wondrous things even one person can do to change the world.

  5. A Is for Awesome!: 23 Iconic Women Who Changed the World by Derek Desierto: Buy Here - Why stick with plain old A, B, C when you can have Amelia (Earhart), Malala, Tina (Turner), Ruth (Bader Ginsburg), all the way to eXtraordinary You―and the Zillion of adventures you will go on?

  6. Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean's Most Fearless Scientist by Jess Keating : Buy Here - Who doesn’t love sharks? Who doesn’t love a woman awesome and brave and smart enough to swim with sharks just to learn about them? Read your little marine biologist all about Eugenie Clark!

  7. My Little Golden Book about Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Buy Here - The Little Golden Books all about amazing women are phenomenal, and this one is no exception. Add it to your shelf for your little freedom fighter.

  8. The Girl who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill: Buy Here - This one is for middles instead of littles, but it is worth reading to anyone who will listen. Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorizing their town. But the witch in the Forest, Xan, is kind. She shares her home with a wise Swamp Monster and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon. Xan rescues the children and delivers them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey.

  9. I will be Fierce! by Bea Birdsong: Buy Here - A powerful picture book about courage, confidence, kindness, and finding the extraordinary in everyday moments.

  10. Dear Girl: A Celebration of Wonderful, Smart, Beautiful You! by Amy Krause Rosenthal: Buy Here - A book about how every woman is extraordinary, especially YOU.

Please share your favorite children’s books on amazing women in the comments!

Do you like posts like these?? We have several book lists for all different themes! Here’s one for Children’s Books on Math!

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