More Math and Literacy

One of the things I love about Mother Goose Time is that it is customizable.  When Elli wasn't even 2 we started using Mother Goose Time, and she was able to join in with her big sister by using the Little Goose supplement.  Now that she's 4 we've been using the more math and literacy add on, which are a set of workbooks designed for 4-5 year  olds who are just starting to write and recognize numbers and letters.  

Elli has really been enjoying these workbooks.  They are great to use during quiet time, and also at home when she asks for homework like her big sister gets.  The books work on things like rhyming, shapes, counting, letter recognition, etc.  If you're thinking about trying them out, here's a quick youtube video.

Halloween

 We've had a pretty busy week getting ready for Halloween.  Next week we will go trick or treating, but we spent this week making decorations.  Mother Goose Time includes a monthly celebration kit in every box.  It was full of fun ideas to celebrate the season.  The kids made paper bag pumpkins.

We were very fortunate that one of the grandparents donated a pumpkin for each child in the class.  They loved decorating them with googly eyes, stickers, and paper shapes.  

 We made orange ooblek using corn starch, water, and food coloring.  Each child got a decorated baby food jar filled with the slime to take home.  

We've been doing lots of pumpkin crafts, like painting pumpkins, making pumpkin life cycle pictures, and making Halloween scenes with foam shapes.  In addition to all the crafts the kids have also played pin the patch on the scarecrow, and read tons of themed books.  They've investigated pumpkin seeds, and even got to taste some.  They've had a pretty fun week, and I can't wait to see all their costumes on Tuesday.

Seasonal Changes

This week with Mother Goose Time we learned about changes:  changing leaves, daylight versus darkness, hibernation, migration, and meteorologists.  

We started off by learning about changing leaves.  During circle time the kids took turns coloring a leaf picture together.  They enjoyed going outside and collecting leaves for their leaf creature projects.  They used the leaves, other nature items they found, markers, and foam dots to create animals.  We worked on number order, counting, and number recognition with numbered leaves.  The kids worked together to get them all in order, then they would close their eyes while I took one away.  When I was done they had to identify the missing number. 

The kids had a great time learning about daylight and darkness. During circle time I used a globe and flashlight to show the kids that when it is day on one side of the Earth, it is night on the other.  Then they worked on rotating like the Earth.  The kids used paper and start stickers to make N is for Night pictures.  They also got more work with the letter N by coloring the N page from this months box, and also completing the letter N page in their my little journals.  The kids loved playing shining letters.  They took turns rolling the pocket cube, and then had to pretend to be the sun and shine a flashlight on the corresponding letter card that was taped to the wall.  We finished up by using the links and numbered stars to work on counting and sorting by color.

We talked about what hibernation means and read "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" during circle time.  Before we started I hid a bear in the room, and the kids went on a hunt and tried to find it.  They made bear den crafts using nature items they collected outside, a bear cutout, and a paperbag.  After the craft the kids were split up in to small groups to work on the monthly puzzle, use the magnetic story set, and play 2 learning games.  Race to the cave worked on recognizing letters.  The kids took turns picking cards, and if they picked the letter of the ladder their bear was on they got to move it up to the cave.  How many are sleeping worked on counting skills.  The kids would take turns rolling the pocket cube and adding the same number of bears to their bed cards until they were all full.

The butterfly wands the kids made while learning about migration were definitely their favorite craft of the week.  They had lots of fun dancing with them, and brought them on a walk down to the pond to see if there were still ducks that hadn't migrated yet.  They worked together to draw a community map, added blocks for buildings, and used cars and animals to play.  Moving animals was a huge hit.  The kids loved acting like the different animals that migrate.  This game will probably wind up being used on rainy days since they had so much fun with it.  The kids also got to work on patterning and do some writing in their my little journals.

On Fridays we walk to the town library for story hour, so never get as much done as I'd like.  The kids made weather wheels and we talked about different types of weather and meteorologists.  Next week we learn about storms. 

The Seasons

This week with Mother Goose Time we learned about the seasons.  

While learning about summer the kids made cherry tree pictures using leaves collected from outside, burlap, and small red stickers.

They also practice taking turns during a memory weather game,

and took turns while building their own flowers out of play dough and craft sticks.  They would roll the pocket cube and add the same number of sticks to their play dough ball until they had built a flower.

While learning about autumn, the kids used sponges, different colored paint, and stencils to make their own maple leaf pictures.

Each child got their own copy of the monthly I Can Read book.  They took turns using the sight word pointers to find different words in the book. 

The kids thought it was really funny dressing the bear in different clothing based on the weather type they spun.  

The kids got some math work by counting out leaves on a tree.

When learning about winter the kids got to use feathers to paint snow storm pictures.

They loved trying to free different cold weather animals from ice blocks.

I used the simple math story cards with the younger kids in the class, and the advanced math cards with the older kids.  We even made up our own math problems and used the counting bears to help solve them.

One of the favorite crafts of the week had to be the spring flower puppets.  The kids decorated their cup flower pots and attached flowers to straws that they were able to make grow.