Dear Grandchildren,
When we woke up this morning, the wind was blowing very hard. We can't see the wind but we can tell it is blowing because the tree branches are moving. We can also see the bushes and flowers moving, and sometimes things are being pushed along the ground or in the air like leaves and papers. Sometimes we know it is blowing without even looking outside, because we can hear it, and also, the fans in the ceiling of our bathrooms or kitchens are going clackety clack!
Sometimes the wind blows very hard, and sometimes only a little. We call a little wind a breeze. Did you know we can make wind in our homes and don't even need to open the windows or doors? Do you have a fan in your house? The fan can make the air in the house move and make a wind. You can make wind too. Blow on your hands and make a tiny wind and feel it on your skin. We call this little wind our breath.
Have you ever blown bubbles? The wind you blow is caught inside the bubble and blows around in the air. When you have a birthday, you can make a wind with your breath and blow our the candles on your cake. When our soup is too hot, we blow on it, and the wind we make with our breath helps cool the soup so we don't burn our mouths. Remember the story of The Three Little Pigs and how the big, bad wolf blew down two of the little pig's houses? He huffed and he puffed and he blew. Let's hear you huff and puff and blow very hard. Ask somebody to read that story to you. You can color a picture of the three little pigs which somebody can print for you. Is a pig a plant or an animal?
When I was a little girl, my mother would make soapy water in a bowl, and give us empty spools from wooden spools of thread, and we would dip one end of the spools in the water and blow into the other end and make bubbles. Maybe you don't even know what a spool of thread is. Now you can buy little bottles full of soapy water, with little wire circles on handles to blow bubbles. Long ago we had to make our own.
Bubble, said the kettle. Bubble, said the pot.
Bubble, bubble, bubble, we are very hot!
Shall I take you from the fire? No, you needn't trouble.
That is just the way we talk, Bubble, bubble, bubble!
Who has seen the wind? Neither I nor you,
But when the leaves hang trembling, the wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind? Neither you nor I,
But when the trees bow down their heads, the wind is passing by.
When you drew zeros and made your round books, you were making a shape called a circle. Circles are round and don't have any corners. Another shape looks like a box and is called a square. Print out the page of dotted squares and draw around them. Then you can color the squares pretty colors. You can see that a square has straight lines and four pointy corners. The straight lines are all the same size.
You know what a penny is. We also call it a cent. If you have five cents and you could squish them all together into one piece, we would have a nickel. A nickel is the same as five pennies or five cents. Go find a nickle and look at it. Nickles are silver, while pennies and cents are reddish brown. You can see a man's head on one side of the nickel to the right. His name is Thomas Jefferson, and he was a president of the United States a long time ago. Can you see the tiny writing by his face that says, "IN GOD WE TRUST"? Behind his head is the word, "LIBERTY" and 2004 the year it was made. The other side shows Thomas Jefferson's home "Monticello". Have your parents tell you what else is there.
Grandpa and I really like visiting with you like this. We love each of you and know you are trying hard to do the things your mama and daddy ask you to do without whining. We are trying to chew our food quietly and put our clothes away when we take them off, and to be kind to everybody. Have a happy day!
Love, smiles and squishy hugs,
G-ma and G-pa
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