Posts Tagged ‘community center’

Be Safe and Have Fun on Halloween

Tuesday, October 29th, 2013

The “Can Do” kids want to share their Halloween safety tips with you so you are sure to be safe and have fun on Halloween.

  1. Be sure to have a snack or dinner before you go trick or treating so you won’t be tempted to eat anything from your treat bag until you get home
  2. Don’t complain when your parents want to add some reflective tape on your costume. It will help drivers see you as you walk along a dark road
  3. Wear face paint and a hat and not a mask, since masks can make it hard to see, especially on dark roads.
  4. If you are with a group, with one or two parents, stay with the group, don’t wander off
  5. Don’t go into someone’s house unless your parent goes with you.
  6. Be respectful…say thank you for the treat, whatever it is, even if it is not a favorite of yours. You can always trade with a friend later or the next day.
  7. Once you get home, let your parents inspect everything you have in your treat bag to make sure it is safe to eat. They will check to make sure that all the candies are popular, well known candies that they recognize from the grocery store and they are all unopened and well sealed.
  8. Be sure not to share any small treats or toys with a younger brother or sister, as they might choke on them.
  9. Don’t eat too much candy at once. You will only have tummy troubles later on and that is no way to end a fun Halloween.

Pocket

The Three Little Pigs With a Woof and a Tweet Continued…

Tuesday, October 8th, 2013

storytellingThe “Can Dos” couldn’t wait to see how Storyteller Bill finished the story about The Three Little Pigs.

They raced into the room where Storyteller Bill was waiting for them. They looked up and saw that half the blackboard was covered. The other half of the blackboard had the story of the Three Little Pigs with the changes Storyteller Bill had made last week.

As soon as the “Can Dos” were seated, Storyteller Bill reminded them that they left off with the story just as the Woof was coming down the street looking like grandma. The Woof was singing, “For food I am looking, that doesn’t need cooking. I need just a bite and a chew and a crunch. Something soft, or something fat for breakfast or dinner or lunch.”

Then Storyteller Bill, uncovered the rest of the story. Storyteller Bill asked Orrie to read the rest of the story to the group.  This is what Orrie read:

The Woof said to The Three Little Pigs, “I’ll blow off your roof, with a woof and a poof. I’ll knock down the walls with Ah Ha trick or treat!

So you’d better build strong, and do nothing wrong, or I ‘ll gobble you up, I’ll gobble you up, I’ll gobble you up for a song.”

The Three Little Pigs and Tweet built their houses. The 1st and 2nd Little Pigs were cold and not very comfortable. The 3rd Little Pig and Tweet, however, were warm and safe, because they built their house together. It was bigger and stronger.

“I’m back,” cried the Woof. “I smell pork chops in the air.” Tweet yelled, “It’s a Woof! It’s a Woof! It’s a Grandma Woof!

The 1st Little Pig said, “Go away fur ball.” The Woof answered, “No way! I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down to the last straw. So you might as well join me for breakfast.”

The 1st Little Pig answered, “Not by the hair of your chinny chin chin!” Then the Woof started huffing and puffing. The 1st Little Pig ran to the 2nd Little Pig’s house where they hid under a blanket.  Tweet saw what was happening, and flew to the 2nd Little Pig’s house calling out, “It’s  a Woof…a Woof…a Grandma Woof.

The Woof said, “You gotta be kidding—you built your house with sticks? I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down to the last stick.  So you might as well join me for breakfast.”

Pigs 1 and 2 answered, “Not by the hair of your chinny chin chin!” Then Pigs 1and 2, followed by Tweet, ran to the 3rd Little Pig’s house. Woof, dressed like grandma was not far behind them.  When Woof got to the house, he saw The Three Little Pigs and Tweet staring out the window, at him, all snug and safe  inside the house.

pigsWoof said, “Well this house at least has taste.  After all this huffing and puffing and woofing and poofing, I hope they taste good. I’m hungry. Trick or treat.” The Three Little Pigs and Tweet answered, “Not by the hair of your chinny chin chin!”

The Woof huffed and puffed but he couldn’t blow the house down. Just then a brick, from the house, fell on his head and knocked him out. The Three Little Pigs gathered round him trying to think of what to do. Just then, Woof sat up and said, “Where am I?  Who am I? The Pigs and Tweet answered, “Why, you are a Woof.”

The Woof asked, “What is a Woof!”

The 3rd Little Pig quickly answered, “Why you are a very special kind of a creature. You’re a vegetarian…you don’t eat meat! You just eat fruits, vegetables, grains and things made of dairy, like milk and cheese and ice cream.”

Woof answered, “Oh, I am a very hungry vegetarian with a bump on my head. Would you have something for me to eat?”

The Three Little Pigs and Tweet all answered at once. “We do; we have Halloween treats. Would you like to join us? All our treats are vegetarian.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” said the Woof.

Then the Three Little Pigs, and Tweet sat down on the ground and shared apples and nuts from their Halloween treats with Woof. Forever after that, the Woof  shared the forest with the Three Little Pigs and Tweet as their friend and neighbor.

The End!

Just as the “Can Dos” were clapping for Storyteller Bill’s version of the Three Little Pigs, and of course, for Orrie doing such a good job of reading the story, the bell rang. Time to go. The “Can Dos” wanted to know what they would do next week. Storyteller Bill smiled and said,”Hmm, how about a poem about The Three Little Pigs? And, how about we talk about how to make up a brand new story?”

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The Three Little Pigs… With a Woof and a Tweet and a Trick or a Treat

Tuesday, October 1st, 2013

When the “Can Do”  Kids arrived for Storytelling class, Storyteller Bill was just finishing writing on the blackboard. He turned and greeted each “Can Do: as they came into the room. As they sat down they read what he had written. It was the story of The Three Little Pigs that they had gone over the week before.

Storyteller Bill said, “Today we are going to review the story together, pick out the scary parts and talk about making some changes that make the story less scary and more fun. After we have done that, I will show you what I did with the story of The Three Little Pigs.”

For the next 45 minutes, the “Can Dos” picked out the parts that scared them in the story of  The Three Little Pigs. They talked about the wolf blowing down the house of pigs one and two. They talked about making the wolf not such a bad guy. Maybe he didn’t have to be so mean; maybe he didn’t have to try to eat The Three Little Pigs.

With only 15 minutes left in the class, Storyteller Bill stopped the “Can Dos” who were hard at work trying to rewrite the story. “Boys and girls, let me share with you how I rewrote the Three Little Pigs.”

The “Can Dos” all sat back in their seats, glad for the chance to be listening, not writing.

pigsStoryteller Bill began, “This story takes place in a forest just before Halloween.

One fine autumn day, three little pigs broke out of their pig sty. They ran from the farm. They ran into the woods. They ran beneath the open sky.

The three little pigs agreed there was no more space in that run down place; it was like living as sardines in a can. “We need room to spread. We can’t sleep three in one bed; we were squeezed together like a tin filled with Spam.”

One pig wanted to play; the other wanted to roam. The littlest one wanted a home of her own. They decided to build houses without any mice so finally they could be what they are.

The littlest pig started to build as soon as she could, for winter was not far away. The other two pigs roamed but didn’t build homes of their own. They wasted time day after day and soon it would be Halloween.

The littlest pig was fast at work when she heard…tweet…tweet…tweet. She jumped with fright, then squealed with delight when she saw it was a bird. “You can be my first friend,” she said. “I will call you Tweet.”

Tweet nodded and smiled and said, “Why I ‘d be pleased to be your friend. If there is danger about, I’ll tweet. When you are sad, I’ll sing something sweet. It’s something you do for a friend.”

woof and tweet refinedJust then the first and second little pigs passed by and seeing Tweet they began to sing, “When summer is over frost is on the clover and the pumpkins start to grow, that’s my favorite time of the year because Halloween is near. It’s time to trick or treat, you know!

We’ll put masks on our faces and visit lots of places where candy and treats are found. We’ll knock on someone’s door and see what we can score. Then we will pass the goodies around.”

Just then, who was coming down the street dressed like a grandma but Woof, and he was singing…”For food I am looking, that doesn’t need cooking. I need just a bite and a chew and a crunch. Something soft, or something fat for breakfast or dinner or lunch.”

Just then the bell rand signaling the end of the session. The Can Dos” moaned and groaned. They knew they had to leave , but the story was really getting exciting and now they would have to wait until the following week to hear how the story ended.

Storyteller Bill wished them all a  good week and encouraged them to think about possible endings for The Three Little Pigs.

 

Pocket

Some of the “Can Do” Kids Take a Writing Class

Tuesday, June 11th, 2013

Wendy FrontWendy is the “Can Do Kid who loves to write. She writes every day. That is why Wendy is so good at writing.

Most of the other “Can Do” Kids do well with writing but…Bobby, Eulyn, Maria and Yundi, Wendy’s brother, need to get better at writing. When the community center announced that there would be a beginner writing class for young kids, in the early grades of elementary school, their moms enrolled them in the class.

Maria and Eulyn were willing to go every Saturday morning for 4 weeks. They knew they needed help with writing.

However, Bobby and Yundi were really unhappy about having to take the class. After all, it was baseball season, and they were on the team. How would the team get along without them?

Eulyn, Maria, Yundi and Bobby were thrilled to discover that their teacher was Miss Pat! Miss Pat was concerned that the “Can Dos” were having problems with identifying the main idea in stories. So she started the class with the following story to help them recognize the main idea . Read the story and see if you can pick out the main idea of the story

The Story:

Mark trys to be friendes with Jim, the new boi in school. First, Mark smils at Jim in the lunch room. Mark has a dog. Mark plaes with Jim after lunch.. Finalliy, he shares a seat with Jim on the school bus.

When the  “Can Dos” finished picking out the main idea of the story, Miss Pat gave them directions for doing other things with the story. Just follow the directions and correct the errors in each sentence.

Directions:

Underline sentences that have details that say more about the main idea.

Cross out the sentence that does not belong to the main idea.

Circle the words that are misspelled or need to begin with a capital letter.

Why not get busy writing an ending for the story?

Be sure and have your parent or older brother or sister check your work to see how you did.

Have fun!

Pocket

Ice Skates… Who Got New Ones…Who Got Their First Pair

Saturday, December 29th, 2012

The day after Christmas was cold and clear. It was a perfect day for trying out new ice skates at the ice rink.

Jay got new skates. He is a good skater. He learned to ice skate when he was three, before he and his family came to “Can Do” Street. Annie and Kathy are also good ice skaters, but Nellie and Willie and Arthur J. are just beginners at ice skating. They need to take lessons and get help from the other “Can Dos’ who know how to skate.

Here are some ice skating tips from Jay, Annie and Kathy to help you if you are new at ice skating:

  • Don’t push. If you are not doing well, wait a while and try again.
  • Bring a pocketful of small stuffed animals and if the rink’s not crowded practice bending over to pick them up.
  • Play Red Light, Green Light to practice starting and stopping.
  • Make sure to lace or cinch your boots tightly. If your foot wobbles in its skate boot, you won’t have any stability on the ice.
  • Unless you are playing ice hockey, don’t wear knee pads. Instructors say they restrict moving too much.
  • To improve your balance, don’t look at your feet and hold your arms out in front, as if putting them on a table.
  •  Grab your knees if you feel a fall coming on. This will lower your center of gravity and may prevent the fall.

Keep practicing and you will get good at ice skating. It is great fun and good exercise.

Happy Skating!

 

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