ALL THE PLACES TO LOVE BY PATRICIA MACLACHLAN
READ BY MELISSA
Right now we are all staying home. We are going for walks and discovering some of the outdoor spaces around our homes and neighborhoods. But things are different. There are lots of places we love that we are not visiting. There are people we miss and things we wish we could do with them. We are finding new ways to stay connected.
All the Places to Love is a story about a child who lives on a farm with his grandparents and mama and papa. He talks about each of their favorite places they love around their home and what he likes doing with them.
Perhaps in this time, we can bring back some ‘older’’ ways of staying connected with people we can’t see in person. Drawing and writing for others is a beautiful gift of self. As your child listens to the story, provide paper and writing utensils to create a drawing of a favorite place around your home or somewhere/something they like to do with someone they miss. Perhaps you can write a story together. Then send it off in either the mail, or digitally as an email, text or other.
Things to bring to the story reading:
Paper
Crayons, markers pencils
Envelope or camera
Ask your child these questions: Do you have a place you love in our home, yard, neighborhood? What have you enjoyed doing together while we are all staying home? What do you miss doing with your grandparents, cousins, friends?
Before sending it off, ask you child to tell you about their drawing and if there’s a message they want you to write and where they want you to write it (front, back, separate piece of paper). Or invite them to tell a story and you will scribe.
GEORGIA AQUARIUM WEBCAM

Check out the Georgia Aquarium’s webcams featuring many aquatic creatures. There is a jelly cam, an underwater puffin cam and even a piranha cam. Chomp chomp! This might be a really nice down-regulating media suggestion to offer before quiet time.
MINDFULNESS
Pair the aquarium webcam with this wave and sea bird soundtrack to “drown out” other noises for a really relaxing sensory experience that will make you really feel like you are near the ocean with these creatures.
Or you could turn off the videos and use this as a listening, mindfulness exercise. Close your eyes and refocus your mind on the sounds that you hear while taking deep breaths. This promotes active listening with a specific sound in mind. The attention is refocused on the sounds of the waves and the birds.
You can also practice this mindfulness without any music or videos playing and see what you can hear around your home or in your yard. Can you hear any birds? Try to focus on one sound at a time and visualize that sound in your mind. Don’t forget to breathe deeply and try to relax.
ERINN’S SESAME NOODLES!
These are a big favorite at school! This recipe serves 4-5, but can easily be doubled or even tripled! These keep well in the fridge in a tightly covered container for up to two days and can be eaten cold, or warmed up a little in a shallow pan over medium/low heat. (If you reheat leftovers, add a few tsps of water to your pan.)
You need:
• 1 lb box Spaghetti noodles
• Sesame oil – can be found wherever your find the soy sauce/Tamari in the grocery store
• A few cloves of garlic or some garlic powder
• Soy sauce or Tamari
• Apple cider or white vinegar
• Honey
For the sesame sauce:
Mince 2-3 cloves of garlic as finely as you can and put in a small bowl, OR put 2 tsp garlic powder in a small bowl.
Add about 3 Tbsp of sesame oil and 3 Tbsp soy sauce, 2 tsp of apple cider vinegar, and 2 Tbsp honey.
Add a little hot sauce if you like things spicy. Whisk it up!
Cook spaghetti in a large pot of water, with about a Tbsp of salt added to the water. Drain and rinse briefly with cool water to stop the noodles cooking, then return to the pot. Pour the sesame sauce over the top. Toss well with tongs or two forks to combine everything.
If you want to add veggies:
Peel 2 or 3 carrots and cut into sticks, then carefully slice the sticks into matchstick slices.
Remove the tough outer leaves of a head of red cabbage, then thinly slice about 1 cup of cabbage. Set aside with the carrots.
Slice off the fringe end of some green scallions, then slice them into little circles, getting both the white and green. Set aside with the rest of the veggies.
Toss these together and add to the noodles.
Other veggies that work well with sesame noodles- any color sweet peppers, cucumbers or zucchini sliced thinly, broccoli chopped into small pieces, green beans…
You could also serve with fried eggs on top or on the side!
See you all tomorrow!
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