BAD Reads
Opening Day For Programs, and a "Dump Dinner"
Programs started today. My toddler program only had 5 kids attending, one veteran and four newbies. One is the little sister of a kid who has some sort of attention disorder/sensory integration problem/ lord knows what, and always was a challenge at programs. And I'm beginning to wonder if the sister doesn't have the same sort of disorder. We'll see. The others were sweet little bewilderbeests--one active little hellion and two shy ones.
I expected my second program (for 2s mostly) would be tiny too, but I ended up with 16 adults and 17 kids. Most are regulars from last year--including boy/girl twins who I adore. They often sat in my lap during "Mother Goose" and both charged up to hug me today.It's things like that that make me adore my job!
The kids were all great. Since I didn't know how many I'd have, or how they'd be,I'd planned out a very basic program:
Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin, but instead of the book I used huge cut outs based on the original illustrations by the great author/illustrator, Eric Carle.
They were made by a clever young man who worked for me when he was in his late teens.He's now in his 30s, a web designer and has a little boy of his own--he met his wife when they both worked for me!
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom also by Bill Martin.
My favorite alphabet book. It was MADE to be read out loud, with lots of rhythm. And it has the ABCs on front and back covers, perfect for singing the ABC song.
Bill Martin not only did great books, he was lucky enough to have great illustrators do the pictures. The art here is by Lois Ehlert, one of the people high on my top 10 list of "Incredibly Creative Illlustrators Whom the Caldecott committee has never seen fit to recognize". Eric Carle's on that list too....
One Was Johnny by Maurice Sendak
Where would I be without the "Nutshell Library" books? I use enlargements of the characters in this book on my magnet board, since the book is so tiny. The Carole King music from "Really Rosie" for this song is so deeply entrenched in my head that I just CAN'T read this book--I have to sing it! And though I'm no Carole King, the audience always seems to enjoy it......
We also had dance time, which has become a regular part of my story time programs. Today I tried out a selection from "cELLAbration!: A Tribute to Ella Jenkins". A group of children's musicians gathered to honor Ella Jenkins, legendary performer of children's music, and this album is a collection of Ella's songs, performed by these artists.
The selection I used is called "Dulce,Dulce" (Sweet,Sweet) and is performed by Michele Valeri. It has an infectious Latin beat and got the room rocking!
It was a nice day, ending with a fabulous "dump dinner".
For those of you who don't know, a "dump dinner" means you dump a batch of things into a slow cooker, leave it cooking and come home to a dinner that's pretty well made.
Tonight's meal is something that I'll call "Kind of Cacciatore". I tried making it this summer and we all gobbled it, so I repeated it tonight and it came out equally well:
"KIND OF" CACCIATORE
4-8 chicken thighs (bone in)
1 jar spaghetti sauce (your choice--any good tomato sauce will work)
chopped onion (I used about 1 cup of frozen chopped onions)
peeled garlic cloves (optional, but not optional at my house--not with my garlic loving spouse!)
1 package mushrooms (I use the presliced kind)
2 chopped sweet peppers (your choice) or 1/2 package frozen pepper strips
If you have a metal steamer basket , place it in your slow cooker. (If your pot has its own rack, use that)
Pile chicken pieces into the basket. Pour the sauce over the chicken and sprinkle on the onions. Add the garlic--if using whole cloves make sure they are well into the tomato sauce.
Cover and cook on HIGH for 4-6 hours.
About 20 minutes before serving: saute the peppers and mushrooms in a small amount of olive oil. Set aside.
Remove the chicken from the steamer basket and put it on a plate. Scrape any sauce on the basket into the cooker pot and mix well with the liquids already in the pot. Add the mushrooms and peppers.
Add 1 Tablespoon of corn starch mixed with 1 Tablespoon cold water to the sauce. Stir well.
You can continue to heat the sauce in the pot, or place it in the microwave for 5-10 minutes on MEDIUM power until it thickens.
Serve the chicken and sauce over your favorite pasta (rotini works well) or rice. Yumm!
