Dollar Store Classroom Hacks and Play with Katie Blue Episode 101

🎙️ Podcast Episode: Dollar Store + Play with Special Guest Katie Blue

Adam Peterson [00:00:03]:

That’s what I want to do. All right, welcome back to the show, everyone. My name’s Adam, here with Deedee, and we have a special guest with us today, our good friend, Katie Mense. Do we still call you Mense?

 

Katie Blue [00:00:17]:

For now, I’m finishing up the school year as Katie Mense. It’ll officially change over the summer when I actually have time to focus on other things.

 

Adam Peterson [00:00:27]:

But our friend Katie got married to an amazing guy named Chad. So it’ll be Katie Rikers, right?

 

Katie Blue [00:00:33]:

Rocker. Like, rockers like rock and rollers.

 

Adam Peterson [00:00:38]:

Oh. So I. I thought it was Rakers the first time I met you, and then I. I messed it up again, so.

 

Deedee Wills [00:00:44]:

I know because you look at it, if we’re using our phonics, sure does look like Rakers.

 

Katie Blue [00:00:50]:

That’s right.

 

Deedee Wills [00:00:51]:

Well, so good to see you again. We just spent sometime like. We’re like ships passing in the night at the Illinois Conference. But we got to spend some time together.

 

Katie Blue [00:01:00]:

Yes.

 

Deedee Wills [00:01:01]:

Yeah.

 

Katie Blue [00:01:01]:

Just a little bit, but yeah.

 

Deedee Wills [00:01:06]:

What’s that, Adam?

 

Adam Peterson [00:01:07]:

We got to do a session together, Katie and I. Oh, I know you did.

 

Katie Blue [00:01:10]:

It was so much fun.

 

Deedee Wills [00:01:11]:

I’m a little jealous.

 

Adam Peterson [00:01:12]:

It was a good time.

 

Deedee Wills [00:01:13]:

That’s like advanced presenting when you could do it with another person. It’s really hard to share share thought. My shots, my thoughts or my shots. I don’t do shots. Maybe if I had shots, they’d be better. But my thoughts. My thoughts are all over the place. And so, like, I jump from one thing to another that I’m sure if I co. Presented a session, somebody would like, maybe throw something out.

 

Katie Blue [00:01:36]:

No, I think. I think Adam and I have similar brains to Thoughts All over, but it worked.

 

Deedee Wills [00:01:43]:

It worked.

 

Adam Peterson [00:01:43]:

Yeah.

 

Deedee Wills [00:01:44]:

I heard great things from a lot.

 

Adam Peterson [00:01:45]:

Of people, and I’ve gotten messages from people about it. Someone that was at this conference I was at just this past week said, like, hey, a good friend of mine mentioned seeing you and they knew your name because it was a bunch of Southern Illinois teachers, Katie. And they talked all about this dollar store session. And then I got a message. I need to talk to you about this. A message from a school that wants to bring me and you to their school to do it for teachers. I keep forgetting to do dollar tree stuff.

 

Deedee Wills [00:02:10]:

Yeah, I love Dollar tree stuff. Yeah, that kind of is a great stuff.

 

Adam Peterson [00:02:14]:

Dee Dee is like, wait a minute. I love dollar tree stuff.

 

Deedee Wills [00:02:18]:

I think it’s a good segue about what kind of. Some of the things that you incorporate in your own classroom. Many of you know that Katie is in the classroom. You’re doing TK still, right?

 

Katie Blue [00:02:31]:

Yes, yes.

 

Deedee Wills [00:02:32]:

Talk about that a little bit, would you?

 

Katie Blue [00:02:33]:

Yeah, sure. I absolutely love it. So I taught kindergarten for 15 years. Took a couple years off, and then I went back to the classroom teaching transitional kindergarten. And I. It’s like my dream job because I’m still. I still teach kindergarten standards. So my day is still very structured and very, you know, what I’m used to. But we go at a much, much slower pace.

 

Deedee Wills [00:03:02]:

Yeah.

 

Katie Blue [00:03:02]:

So. Because these kids will still be going to kindergarten next year, in the following year.

 

Deedee Wills [00:03:08]:

So it’s like kindergarten take one and kindergarten take two.

 

Katie Blue [00:03:11]:

Yeah, yeah.

 

Adam Peterson [00:03:13]:

And it’s pretty phenomenal. I got to visit there a few weeks ago. And, you know, it’s funny because I say my friend Katie that teaches TK and in the Midwest, that’s not really a thing. We don’t have that. It’s more of a west coast, western side of this, the United States. So if someone’s listening to this and they. They’re like, TK And I had to explain it to someone else. You. I asked you about your students. I said, so age range, skill wise, what are we looking at? And you. You basically said, like, kids who are too old for preschool but need a little bit more before going to kindergarten. And that’s. That’s the way I try to explain to people that I’ve never heard of it before. But your room, Your room is pretty phenomenal.

 

Katie Blue [00:03:53]:

It’s. It’s a lot of fun. So I tried, you know, I teach to the kindergarten standards, but I try to bring a lot of fun and play and hands on learning. And like I said, we just got it. We just have to go a whole lot slower because therefore. So.

 

Deedee Wills [00:04:11]:

Right. Can you talk a little bit about how you incorporate some of the play elements that in your classroom and maybe, maybe keep in mind the things that teachers who aren’t in TK who are kindergarten, first grade, second grade, maybe how they could incorporate similar ideas.

 

Katie Blue [00:04:29]:

Sure.

 

Deedee Wills [00:04:30]:

Okay.

 

Katie Blue [00:04:30]:

So I think that’s one of the biggest questions is, you know, everybody has all the fun things, and, you know, you have the games and you have, you know, the things that you want to incorporate. But like, where. Where do you fit it in? Where can you intentionally embed play into your day every day? And so some of the ways that I do it are first thing in the morning, we do morning tubs. And so as soon as they come in, instead of doing, you know, a worksheet or a coloring page or. Or whatever they have, there’s a chart and they have they have their job and they go get their tub. They can take it anywhere in the room. But inside the tub is just, just fun things that, that, you know, reinforce the things that we’re working on in class, but in a fun, novel, hands on way. And the great thing about morning tubs is they also really help work all of those fine motor skills too, which we really had a setback in since all the technology. And, and that’s, I mean, that’s just how, you know, our society is. So how do we evolve and, and how do we, you know, intentionally embed more of that kind of stuff into, into our classrooms? So that’s one way that I do it is through morning tubs.

 

Deedee Wills [00:05:56]:

Can you say like, can you share like one of the things you might have in a tub? Like what is that? What might be something in there?

 

Katie Blue [00:06:02]:

Yeah, sure. So, you know, I love Dollar Tree, so I did set out a couple of things that I could grab and just kind of show you. But it’s April, it’s Easter. There’s so much stuff just out there now. Even stuff, you know, that you might are, you already have in your basement for Easter. Like this might be a morning tub. It’s just these, you know, egg trays.

 

Deedee Wills [00:06:30]:

Yeah.

 

Katie Blue [00:06:30]:

I just use a Sharpie to write numbers in them. And then these are 98 cents at Walmart. Right. So they use the tongue, the tongs, the tongue. They pick an egg and again, I just wrote with a Sharpie, two plus three. So then they take turns picking an egg out of the tub and then whoever. So they would match two plus three to the five and whoever fills up their tray first wins, you know, because they might pick four plus one and their five’s already filled. So they would take turns and see who could fill it up first. Oh, I love that fine motor, super simple stuff you may already have in your basement. But throw it in a tub and that, that’s one right there.

 

Deedee Wills [00:07:16]:

So I love that.

 

Adam Peterson [00:07:17]:

I was just thinking too, they, they said I was at Dollar Tree this morning. I went to get some stuff for my music students because I just got home from my music class. But like jelly beans and stuff too, or little thing like they could count out and put in the egg. Two plus three, how many need to go inside and. Yep, that’d be another adaptation for it for sure.

 

Katie Blue [00:07:36]:

Yep. And I, I get this question all the time because I do throw candy in my morning tubs sometimes because it’s a cheap manipulative and I always tell people, you don’t have to use it, but, but I do because you know, it, it goes with my theme and I’m, I’m big on that. And it’s cheap and it’s a good little manipulative. You just, it’s just so, so important before I throw anything out, before I even put a new center or, or, or workstation in my classroom, just having those expectations and going over and over and I, I like to have, you know, pictures so it shows them the exact expectations so that, you know, when they don’t meet the expectation, we can go look at it. You know, they can tell me what it means and they can tell me what the expectation is. And so that holds them a little bit more accountable. But so yeah, I like to use that kind of stuff because it’s cheap.

 

Adam Peterson [00:08:41]:

People can’t see us if they’re listening this, but they didi and I are nodding up and down. I’m sure everybody in their car that’s listening this is nodding like yes, yes, yes. And I, I will say to attest to this, like your room. I was blown away because I, I had not been in a tiki. I’ve taught preschool, I’ve taught kindergarten. I’ve worked with kids across grade levels. But you had 20, I think. Right. 20 was your max and you had 20 there that day and you had a room flip going on. These kids were 100% engaged where it could have been out of control because you had to do amazing things. Chaos. Right.

 

Katie Blue [00:09:14]:

It’s very easy, you know, to bring all this stuff in and, and, and not have the management and not have the control.

 

Adam Peterson [00:09:22]:

Yeah, but it was, I, like I said, I told you this. When I saw you again in Schomburg, I was blown away by how, how much these four year olds knew your expectations. And we talked about that word a lot. You. And I was, that’s what it is. It’s expectations, expectations, expectations.

 

Katie Blue [00:09:37]:

A million percent and just being consistent. You know, when it’s predictable and consistent and they know what to expect, then yeah, it’s like a well oiled machine.

 

Adam Peterson [00:09:49]:

It was you. I mean, you are doing a phenomenal job with those kids.

 

Katie Blue [00:09:53]:

Thank you.

 

Adam Peterson [00:09:53]:

So cool.

 

Deedee Wills [00:09:54]:

One of the things that, you know, I kind of mentioned to teachers that I always found is when I was feeling like things were not going the way that I wanted them to go in my classroom, like I always have to kind of look inward. Okay. Did I set that expectation?

 

Katie Blue [00:10:09]:

Yes.

 

Deedee Wills [00:10:09]:

Or are the expectations a little more complex and would they benefit from a pictorial reminder? It’s just what you explained. It shows them Step by step. So if you’ve. If you’re listening and you feel like, well, I try to do centers, and it feels like chaos. Just take a moment to step back and look at it and see, you know, is there something that you as a teacher can do to help make your life a little bit easier? And then sometimes. Sometimes you have a class that, like, every year it worked, and one year it’s like, right, going on. What’s going on. So sometimes you have to change what you’ve done in the past.

 

Katie Blue [00:10:45]:

Right. And I. I feel like as primary teachers, you just. You have to constantly be doing that. Like, yeah, how can I make this, you know, work better for them? Or, how can I make this more.

 

Adam Peterson [00:11:01]:

You adapt. You adapt. You adapt.

 

Katie Blue [00:11:03]:

Yeah, you do. And like you said, sometimes it works, and. And sometimes you. You just have to rethink it. And. And it. And it is more work on your part, but not in the long run. Like, if you take that time to make those adaptations in the long run, you know, it makes your life so, so much easier. So.

 

Deedee Wills [00:11:25]:

And, you know, I think, like, bringing fun things that your kids are really engaged in into your classroom, and yet still knowing that you are bringing them forward in their knowledge of what they need to learn, it brings you as a teacher a lot of joy. Right? So, like, instead of, like, trudging through the school year, like, I could just make it to May, you know, you’re. You’re excited because your kids are excited. It, like, feeds each other.

 

Katie Blue [00:11:50]:

Yeah, absolutely.

 

Adam Peterson [00:11:51]:

That’s what I love about conferences this time of year, too, that we mentioned we were all together. Like, it’s one of those moments where you get that rejuvenation in the spring. And I love conferences all year, don’t get me wrong. But springtime conferences, especially at the primary level, there’s something special because you. You get these little tidbits of, I need to go try that, or, oh, my gosh, I totally forgot I had that in my room already. Like, Katie mentioned the stuff. And then you get the next two months to kind of test it with kids that can handle it because your expectations are in place, and that’s a great time to judge. Okay, this is totally gonna work with my newbies next year, or I’m never gonna use this again. Like, it’s a great little chunk of time to really just test the waters with stuff because you do have your expectations in place and you can try things with kids. And Didi, you said a bit, like, just that reminder that this is going to work for Standard A, B, C and D. Like I can cover those things with a fun tool.

 

Katie Blue [00:12:46]:

Right? And not only like reinforcing what you’re doing academically, but, you know, when they get together in those small groups and they’re playing, they’re learning how to problem solve, you know, they’re developing language skills, coping skills, self regulation, like so, so many, you know, things that, that they get to work on and do it together. And I just don’t feel like, you know, it’s happening as much as it used to, like in the home setting or because we have those devices, you know, so, so the kids don’t, they don’t have, they don’t develop those language and communication skills and problem solving skills and coping skills like they used to.

 

Deedee Wills [00:13:35]:

So turn taking as well.

 

Adam Peterson [00:13:37]:

Oh, gosh.

 

Katie Blue [00:13:38]:

Right.

 

Deedee Wills [00:13:39]:

Yeah, that’s a huge, that’s a huge thing. Look, it’s hard to go into a restaurant now and you see a family sitting there and two kids on their phones watching a video and the parents kind of having a conversation, but also on their phones.

 

Katie Blue [00:13:51]:

I’m like, and like, I, like I always say when, when, you know, you used to go into a restaurant and there were kids, what did you see them doing? You know, they were coloring, they were doing little games on the menu. They were talking, you know, talking. Everybody was having conversation. But yeah, and like I said, I’m not, I’m not trying to bash it. It’s just how our society is now, right, everybody? How can we help?

 

Adam Peterson [00:14:17]:

How can I. I just saw a funny meme or reel that was like a. It was shot from the husband’s point of view, but it was the wife, like sitting on her phone at the table. And it said, pretending that we’re both not having. Pretending that we’re both not searching up useless information on our phones while we’re supposed to be talking at dinner. And she sets her phone down and then it said, like, now it’s me waiting to see how long he realizes that my phone is down. Even though I was doing the same exact thing as him. And they were both doing it. But she was like, okay, I’m off my phone. And it, it is so true. Those things have taken over. It’s tough, but I, I know there’s someone listening to this that’s going, yeah, I love the idea of tubs and I love the other stations, but you know, if they’re a preschooler K or any grade level, like where, especially with your 4 year olds, like August rolls around, how are you introducing those expectations at what Point are you. I mean, is it. Is it kind of a child choice at the start before you get to it? So, I mean, you shared a really awesome idea with us, but how do you implement that? Are you modeling them all at the same time? Where do you start with your.

 

Katie Blue [00:15:20]:

So at the very beginning of the year, we don’t start with tubs. We start with just Play doh. And so everybody has play doh. So they’re still, you know, excited to come in and excited to get their hands on the play doh. Because, you know, again, that’s not something that they’ve probably been able to use a lot at home. So they’re excited, you know, and they’re, again, they’re talking to each other. They’re problem solving. They’re, you know, figuring it all out. But it’s just one material, right? And then we learn how to take care of that. We learn, you know, all of the expectations just for that one thing. And then I’ll slowly introduce, like, they have these little play DOH kits that I made, and they keep in their chair pockets, but I’ll introduce, like, a tool at a time. So here is, you know, like, your rolling pin. How do we take care of that? What do we do? What do we not do? Here’s a dice. Here’s a cookie cutter. Here’s, you know, and then kind of very gradually and slowly introduce those different tools. So that’s what we start out with at the beginning of the year.

 

Adam Peterson [00:16:31]:

Do you have a kit for each of them? Like, they all their own little Play DOH tools?

 

Katie Blue [00:16:34]:

Yeah. So, okay. So that’s awesome. It was when. It was when Covid happened, and that just happened to be when I wasn’t in the classroom. But I. But I wanted to make a little kit because fine motor is so, so important, you know, And I wanted it to be able, you know, to take home and portable and whatever. So I got those little crayon boxes, you know, you know, I’m talking about with the little latches on the side.

 

Adam Peterson [00:16:59]:

Yeah, I was like, what a travel soap dish, right?

 

Katie Blue [00:17:02]:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, what could I use for, like, tiny little tools? And I kept, like, searching and googling, and I finally came up with using just little wooden tools, like the little wooden honey dippers, the little wooden sporks, the little wooden spoons for Italian ice, like a little wooden dowel rod. And it all fits perfectly in this tiny little case. And there’s a dice in there. There’s toothpicks in there, and then little Task cards. So I love those things because when, you know, we have, you know, 10 extra minutes to kill, they can pull out their play doh kits. When there’s an indoor recess, if I don’t, you know, they can, we can always use play doh kits if, you know, you want a calmer recess and just, you know, if we have a snow day that I know is going to be coming up and it’s an e learning day, and I still want them to have some kind of fine motor, I’ll throw those, you know, in their backpacks. So I, I just absolutely love those things.

 

Deedee Wills [00:18:11]:

I love that. Can you send me one? Because I feel like, yeah, for sure I need one.

 

Adam Peterson [00:18:16]:

I mean, I’m picturing all the times that my, my little ones were like, I want that roller or I want that stamp or that play doh or that cookie cutter, like to all have their own little.

 

Deedee Wills [00:18:26]:

Yeah, I love that.

 

Adam Peterson [00:18:27]:

That’s genius. Those little travel soap dishes come in handy for so many things.

 

Katie Blue [00:18:30]:

Yeah. Yep.

 

Deedee Wills [00:18:34]:

How are you finding? Like, how are you finding? You know, I think, I imagine at the beginning of the year when you are starting to bring students together to work cooperatively, in my mind’s eye, I can see how it could start off. Can you talk about how that progresses throughout the year?

 

Katie Blue [00:18:54]:

Yes. So with morning tubs you’re talking about, right? Oh, really?

 

Deedee Wills [00:18:58]:

I mean, any type of opportunity. You know what? Because I know that sometimes, you know, adults have a hard time taking turns or wait or waiting to use the one thing that the person’s using. So, like, how, how do you handle those things? And like, like the, the. I’m wondering about the resiliency that you see in your students as the year goes on. That’s, I guess, what I’m wondering.

 

Katie Blue [00:19:23]:

So we talk so much about expectations, and I have them posted for every single thing. Or I won’t, I won’t open up that station or work area or whatever without having that. I mean, we talk about every material, but we also, from day one talk about how to solve, you know, how to solve your problem. And I have a huge poster of different scenarios and ways that you can be a problem solver. So it might be just talking, you know, they don’t. They’ll come in and, you know, tell on someone, tell me something. And I’m like, well, why are you telling me? What did you say to them? How did you try to solve your problem? I didn’t say anything. Well, they don’t know that, you know, you wanted this. If you don’t Tell them like, so we’re constantly, how, how can you solve that problem? What did you do to try to solve that problem? Because if you don’t ask that question and you just intervene, you know, a lot of times they didn’t try a single thing before they came and told you. So I’m constantly. And you know, people in my hallway, my co workers, they. They always hear me say that. That is my first thing I say every time a kid comes and tells me something. How did you try to solve your problem? Or what did you do to solve that problem? And a lot of times, you know, especially at the beginning of the year, they’ve tried nothing yet. So. So, yeah, that is kind of how I start with things and just constantly refer back to that.

 

Deedee Wills [00:21:09]:

I mean, you mentioned your consistency of how, you know, and I think, I think, you know, if I’m reflecting on myself, there are some times when I would try to be the how did you solve the problem? And other days that I would solve the problem. And so that inconsistency then becomes a crutch for students who want you to solve the problem to continue. So I love that. Like, I’ve always said, I don’t spell for students during writing time. Like, don’t spell for students no matter what. Don’t spell for. And so the moment you do it once and yet, you know, the moment you start to spell for students, then all of a sudden the problem just is. It’s like you’d never had that conversation before. And I think what I’m hearing you say is that you, you’ve had to stay very consistent as well.

 

Katie Blue [00:21:55]:

Yes.

 

Deedee Wills [00:21:55]:

And maybe, maybe had you gone back and solved the problem, you would not. You’d be back to day one.

 

Katie Blue [00:22:02]:

And it’s, I feel like the more consistent and the more predictable and the more, you know, just always handling it the same way and referring back to the same expectations. It also creates such a. Such a much safer feeling environment, you know? Yeah. When they know what to expect, when, when they know what’s going to happen, then they’re happy, they’re comfortable and they feel safer. So.

 

Adam Peterson [00:22:35]:

Well, and again, those are, like you said about the fine motor, that a lot of those things are not being taught at home. A lot of those things are being addressed at home. A lot of homes. I know we are, we are guilty of this with two kids in sports, like, we don’t have a lot of consistency going on right now at all. We are running from.

 

Katie Blue [00:22:51]:

That’s life, man.

 

Adam Peterson [00:22:52]:

It is. And then, and then the number of distractions that kids have nowadays, too, to get them, I mean, we, we have to teach them what it means to focus on a, on an activity. Because if there’s not a screen in front of them, they’re not focusing on a lot anymore.

 

Katie Blue [00:23:07]:

Right, right.

 

Adam Peterson [00:23:08]:

So these are.

 

Katie Blue [00:23:09]:

Okay, that’s another thing when, so during my centers, I have like half two centers and can do centers. And so when they’re done with their have to center, that’s another area where I bring, you know, play in. They can go to the dramatic play area. They can go, you know, wherever. But I lost my train of thought. Where was I going with this, Adam? Oh, one of the expectations that I have is once you choose, because I do let them choose. They have a little menu and they have to mark off where they’re going for the day and then hang their tag on the choice that they made. Um, but once they’ve hung their tag and they chose for that day where to go, they have to stay there for the rest of center time. Because otherwise you do like they’re four and their attention span is this big. So you’ll have most of the kids, you know, they’ll sit down at a puzzle for 30 seconds and then they get up and want to go, you know, to another station and another station and another station. And they never really sit and complete a single thing, you know, because their attention span is so small. But that’s one thing like, you have to be consistent with because, you know, the minute that you’re not, then it’s chaos and it all kind of falls apart.

 

Adam Peterson [00:24:32]:

And you taught that so well. I remember when I, when I was in there and they were doing, they were doing little centers, you had centers going on. And then when they finished or you finished something activity, I remember you had puzzles for the, like, it was like people puzzles and oh yeah, the human body. You were doing your kindergarten cardiology unit and there was a tough puzzle they had to put, like, the arms, the legs and muscles, all kinds of stuff. And there was one little guy in your room that he never left it. He, he sat there again and again was turning pieces with turning pieces. So I, I, I mean, you hadn’t told me this before, but I could totally see that you had that in place, the expectation to finish what you’re doing and focus on it. And it’s amazing to think that if we can get four year olds to do that, imagine what can happen in other grade levels.

 

Katie Blue [00:25:18]:

Right.

 

Adam Peterson [00:25:20]:

I think it’s kind of, it goes hand in hand with the fact that not only are you putting these expectations in place, but you’re giving them the opportunity to do these hands on things. You know, a lot of people would look at that and say, well, you’re, you know, I don’t want to give them those distractions and all those things because that’s going to cause even more. But it’s not because you’re quote unquote distracting them with things that are meaningful. You know, these are meaningful tools that they get to do and it’s proven that when kids are doing, they learn better. And yep, like I said, if, if you can do it with four year olds and, and can witness. I wish I would have just filmed what was going on there. It was awesome. And I’m not just saying this because Katie’s my friend, y’all. Like, it was Adam, I know you’ve, I’ve told you this since I’ve been in your room multiple times that we’ve talked. It was, I was blown away at the, just the, the calm calmness of four 24 year olds running around a room and it was, it was awesome.

 

Katie Blue [00:26:15]:

Thank you so much.

 

Deedee Wills [00:26:16]:

You know, Katie, you’ve always had these like, no, like I want to be in your classroom as well, like ideas and I know that a lot of people can find you on Instagram, right?

 

Katie Blue [00:26:26]:

Yes.

 

Deedee Wills [00:26:27]:

So Katie, Katie Blue Edu.

 

Katie Blue [00:26:29]:

It is Katie Blue Edu. Yes. Yes. I’ve had some major life changes and I rebranded a little while back, but and now my name is changing and so I’m sticking with my maiden name for all social media. So that is Katie Blue. Katie Blue is my maiden name.

 

Adam Peterson [00:26:55]:

So that will always be there. So that’s good. I like that. And it rhymes so it’s fun.

 

Katie Blue [00:27:01]:

Katie Blue. Eduardo.

 

Deedee Wills [00:27:03]:

Well, we’ll go ahead and add a link to your Instagram. Where else can people find you?

 

Katie Blue [00:27:08]:

So my website is down right now. I am getting it a total re haul on that as well. So hopefully it will be back up in the next month or so. But it is KatieBlueedu.com and then on Facebook at Katie Blue Edu.

 

Deedee Wills [00:27:26]:

Okay, fantastic. We’ll add all of those links in.

 

Adam Peterson [00:27:29]:

Can we talk about one more thing before we go though?

 

Deedee Wills [00:27:32]:

Yeah.

 

Adam Peterson [00:27:32]:

She’s been on the show with this but right behind her, if you’re not, if you’re watching this, you see a little picture frame with a fun looking yeti in it.

 

Katie Blue [00:27:40]:

Oh yeah.

 

Adam Peterson [00:27:40]:

People that are new to the show because there was an episode a while back when this released, we had you on but share with our New listener friends that might not have caught that one. All about Yanni the yeti.

 

Katie Blue [00:27:50]:

Okay, so this is my first children’s book. It’s called Yanni the Yeti and the Power of Yet. And it’s just a story about a yeti who can’t tie his shoes. And just all the different, you know, he wants to give up. His friends encourage him and his brother teaches him about the power of yet. He’s like, we’re a yeti, you know. So he teaches them all about the power of yet. And then he goes through, if I can’t solve my problem this way, there that is again, problem solving. Then how else can I do it? And so he asks his friends for help. He uses two different colored shoelaces. He looks on. It’s called yet tube in the story. But you know, it’s. He looks at videos on the computer and then he practices and practices and practices and then he finally gets it. So a lot of people will say it’s a book about tying shoes. I mean, the bottom line is, you know, keep trying, be persistent, and. And all about the power of yet. So.

 

Adam Peterson [00:28:56]:

So yeah, Katie and I were selling books at a conference recently together. And I can’t tell you the number of people that walk by and they’re like, oh, a shoe tying book.

 

Katie Blue [00:29:02]:

Yeah.

 

Adam Peterson [00:29:03]:

Open it. And you could see their faces. Like, oh, like they were like, yeah, this, this is so much more. I need this. And that’s, that’s when you could see it click. Like. Cause I mean, like, I keep going back to that word. Distractions. Right? These little ones are faced with so many distractions and nowadays everybody’s doing things for them just to make it easier and not deal with problems.

 

Katie Blue [00:29:24]:

We’re all in a rush. Like, let’s go, let’s go, let’s go. I’m gonna put that coat on for you. I’m gonna zip it up for you and tie those shoes for you.

 

Adam Peterson [00:29:31]:

Yeah.

 

Katie Blue [00:29:31]:

And they get to us. And so, yeah, I had to call.

 

Adam Peterson [00:29:35]:

It out because I love the covered sitting right there where we can see it.

 

Deedee Wills [00:29:39]:

Also add a link to that in our. In our show notes too, so people can find your book because it is precious. I have it. I know. The illustrations are adorable and also can be used as a demonstration if you have a child who’s trying to touch, use as a great reference as well. So It’s. It’s a two for one.

 

Katie Blue [00:30:00]:

Yep.

 

Deedee Wills [00:30:02]:

Well, thank you, Ms. Katie, for coming and being back as our first guest in like 27 years. So thank you. For doing that.

 

Katie Blue [00:30:13]:

Thank you so much for having me.

 

Adam Peterson [00:30:15]:

I’ve gotten a little grayer since the last time we did a podcast.

 

Katie Blue [00:30:19]:

I am, too, but, you know, you can’t. I use this thing called a hair stylist, so I cover that stuff.

 

Deedee Wills [00:30:29]:

All right, Brian, we’ll see you soon.

 

Katie Blue [00:30:31]:

All right, thanks, guys. Bye.