Experience God

Mother Goose Time has add ons that you can get to enhance your curriculum.  One of the add ons we get is the Experience God pack.  It comes with a lesson plan book containing 4 lessons, each broken down into 5 activities.  There are also story telling cards and a memory verse poster to go along with the set.  The child packs have all the craft materials needed and family activity sheets.

This month revolves around Moses.  The girls learned the story of Moses parting the red sea.  They made with own puppet set to retell the story with.

We talked about using good and helpful words and tone of voice, as well as when it's best to listen without talking.

We spent 2 days learning about the 10 commandments.  The girls got to make their own tablets.  They also came up with their own rules for our house, like put the lid back on the markers when you're done and listen to your mom and dad.  

Learning About Camels Through Individualized Instruction

One of the reasons I love Mother Goose Time so much is because I can use it with both my 6 and 2 year old.  The lessons can be adapted and made easier or harder depending on your child's ability.  Despite the fact that my girls are at two very different points in what they know, they both love the lessons Mother Goose Time provides.  This is an open and go preschool curriculum that both my toddler and first grader are benefiting from it.  On day 7 we learned about camels.  During circle time the global friend from Yemen was introduced.  I called out continents for Addie to point to on our world map, and with Elli I called out the colors of the different continents for her to find.  

The girls learned how to say camel in ASL.

We talked about how many humps camels have.  Addie read the rhyme time poster, Sally the Camel, out loud.  This is a great way for her to gain confidence in her reading.  The girls took turns picking number cards to change the rhyme.  

  Addie helped Elli put the number cards in numerical order after they were done with the rhyme.  I made up simple math problems for Addie and she was able to use the number line to calculate the answers.

Camels humps store fat.  I filled a paper bag with scrap paper and the girls had to try to balance it on their back and crawl around in a circle.  They both had a terrible time getting the bag to stay in place, so we wound up sticking it under their shirts while they were crawling. They both thought this was a pretty funny game.  Once they went around the circle they rolled a dice and removed the corresponding number of paper pieces from the bag.

A lot of times there are ideas for simplifying or making a lesson more challenging.  This makes it easy to individualize the lessons based on the child's level.

Addie picked out the letter cards to spell out the word hump.  Then she and Elli worked on creating the letters and putting the finished word together.  

I hid the hands on letter H card under a pillow hump and then the girls had to sit on whatever pillow they thought it was under.  If they were wrong they had to come up with a word that started with H.  Elli is able to come up with words that start with certain letters if you give her a few examples first.  Addie can easily come up with words so to make it more challenging she had to spell out the whole word.

The girls love making crafts.  Today they made camel puppets.  Addie is really into what the finished product looks like, and usually tries to recreate the example.  Elli is only 2, so the finished product isn't as important as the process of making the art.  With this project she got to use markers, scissors, glue and tape.  

Addie used her camel to put on a puppet show.  She also added some plastic people to the show.

The girls were able to use their camels to follow directions.  With Elli they were simple, like put the camel on the table.  With Addie they were more complex and had multiple steps.

The girls completed the number 13 page in their my little journals.  Elli spends most of her time trying to trace the numbers and letters on these pages.  She's learning to use a pencil properly so this is great practice for her.  Addie spends more time working on the prompts, in this case it was making a 13 humped camel.  

Mother Goose Time also makes add ons that you can use.  Addie gets extra practice with the more math and more literacy workbooks. There is also the little goose book, which is a supplement for younger kids.  I used to use this with Elli, but now she is able to complete enough of the activities without modifications that we no longer need it. 

We also managed to find a camel book at the library.

Horses and Rodeos

After learning about cowboy boots, cowboy hats and lassos, we moved on to horses and rodeos.  During circle time the letter H was introduced.  If the girls picked the card with the horse on it they got to gallop around the room.  Addie knows her letters so this was easy for her, but Elli is still learning what letters make what sounds, so it was a fun way for her to practice.

The girls tried to balance small objects on the horse manipulatives that came in this months Mother Goose Time box.  

We talked about how sometimes cowboys ride wild horses that try to buck them off.  The girls took turns picking the hands on letter H from the pile, putting it on their backs, crawling to the letter flag H and then bucking the H off their back.  

The girls had fun making their own horses that they used to race with.

The hands down favorite activity of the day was counting horses.  The girls started off by building a stable for the rubber horses.  They pretended to sleep and the horses escaped.  I hid them around the room and when the girls "woke up" they ran around collecting them.  We did with with 13 and then 14 horses. As they found the horses they would put them on the counting cards until they were all found.  Then we'd do it all over again, and again, and again.  

I was only able to get the girls to move on to horseshoe toss by promising we could hide the horses more when they were done.  They actually wound up having a lot of fun with this game as well, and played it for a bit before going back to the hiding horses.  I called out a shape and the girls would take turns throwing the provided horseshoes on to the matching shape.  

The global friend from Hungary was introduced during circle time.  Horseback riders in Hungarian rodeos do tricks on their horses.  Elli dressed as a cowboy and pretended to do tricks of her own.

Apparently jumping off an object counts as a trick when you're 2.

Elli loves to do puzzles.  She actually did the provided cowboy puzzle 5 times in a row before I told her it was time to move on.  

Elli used the horse manipulatives more today.  She worked on sorting them by color and size and then color and size combined.  We also practiced counting them.

The horses also got to compete in their own mini rodeo, complete with barrel racing and and a lasso contest.  Both Addie and Elli LOVE these horses and they get played with on a daily basis.  

Elli used the rodeo storytelling set to make up her own story.  It involved a clown who liked to race horses around barrels.  

Elli practiced using her lasso and doing tricks on a stuffed horses.  She also held on tight and rode a "bull" that jumped around the room.  She had such a fun time with the days lesson.  

Elli finished the letter H page of her my little journal.  She taped popsicle sticks to the page to make an H and practiced tracing the ones on the bottom of the page.

We read quite a few books over the past 2 days.