Growing Gardens

Starting in May we'll be learning all about gardens with Mother Goose Time.  We were on vacation for 2 weeks in April and didn't get to finish all of the ocean theme, but I have the extras saved for a rainy day.  As much as I hate for vacation to end, I'm excited to get back to our routine using Mother Goose Time.  I briefly skimmed through the bags, and this month looks like there will be a lot of fun activities for the kids.

each day covers a new topic

 We'll be using the dance n' beats dvd and supplemental book again this month.  My girls both love these dvd's and dance to them all month long.

Addie will be getting extra math and reading practice with the more math and reading books.

 I also get the Little Goose book for Elli.  It gives great ideas on how to tailor the lessons plans to younger kids.

inside the teacher tool bag

Each month also comes with manipulatives and a book. 

I opened the bag for the first day just to get an idea of what we'd be doing this month.  There are the name tags and look and find poster that come every month.  There is also a parent newsletter (not pictured).  Day 1 is soil, and there is a bag of dirt, grass seeds, cups to plant them in, and a tracking sheet where the girls will record their observations. 

This is bag 1 of 20, and I can already tell the girls are going to love this theme.

An InLinkz Link-up

Science All Around Us

Every month Mother Goose Time asks their blog ambassadors to write about a specific focus topic.  This month's topic is science all around us.  We spent the month learning about the ocean and science was incorporated in every single lesson.  Every day I start by asking "what is the weather today?"  The girls both will run to the window and look outside and observe the weather.  Addie will also make a prediction about what she thinks the weather will be the following day, and then we check and see if she was right.  They're completing steps of the scientific method without even realizing it, and that's before we've even begun any of the lessons.  This month we talked about sea animals and what makes them mammals, reptiles or fish (we didn't learn about birds or amphibians this month). We also talked learned about conservation, which was great since Earth Day was also this month.  Of course the girls don't know what conservation is, they just know it was fun jumping around the room without touching coral. They also won't be able to tell you what density means, but they can tell you the ocean is made of saltwater, which makes things float easier.  Preschoolers learn about science by asking questions relevant to what they are seeing around them.  They learn by observing what is their environment.  Just because they aren't learning the proper scientific terms, doesn't mean they aren't learning key concepts.  Mother Goose Time makes learning about science fun for kids by incorporating hands on activities and experiments and getting the that gets kids actively involved. 

watching an ocean documentary

Octopuses and Dolphins

We spent the week learning about large sea creatures. The girls made octopus windsocks.  They loved making these and even put the provided stickers on their own feet and ran around the house pretending to be octopi. 

 

Another favorite of the day was the counting sucker octopus game. 

On day 8 the girls learned about dolphins.  They swam around the room and practiced leaping like a dolphin. Elli can't actually leap yet, but she is getting better at jumping.

 They also took turns being a dolphin or dolphin trainer.

Elli wasn't a very cooperative dolphin

The girls also worked on patterning and read this months I Can Read book.

 Addie completed her more math and reading books while Elli napped.  She also made an octopus and a dolphin with a fused bead kit.  She loved making these.

An InLinkz Link-up

Whales

 Week 2 of Mother Goose Time's ocean commotion theme is large sea creatures.  The first animal we learned about was the whale.  We started by learning the letter w and practiced writing it. 

Addie already knew whales were mammals, but we talked more about what that means.  They have a blowhole, which is their nostril that they breathe oxygen from.  The girls each got a straw and went around the house trying to find things they could move using just their breathe.  Feathers proved to be the easiest.

Next they used the straws to blow paint around a whale cutout.  Elli had a hard time with this, and wound up using the straw to move the paint.

After the paint dried they attached the straws and added tissue paper and a sticker eye to complete the project.

Whales are the biggest animal on Earth.  So big that it's hard to comprehend without seeing them in person.  The biggest get up to 90 feet while the smallest are 13-15 feet long.  I put 14 sheets of paper on the floor to replicate the size of the smallest whale, which the girls compared to their own size.

We also talked about how whales hold their breath when they're underwater.  Addie practiced holding her breathe as long as possible and then we charted how long she was able to do it for.

The girls had a lot of fun learning about whales.  I think they're really going to enjoy this week learning about large marine life.

An InLinkz Link-up

Ocean Caves, Plants and Coral Reefs

We finished up week 1 with Mother Goose Time talking about ocean caves, plants and coral reefs. One of the manipulative that we received this month was a basket of shells.  I built a cave out of pillows and sheets and hid the shells in it.  The girls took turns picking a counting card and using a flashlight to find the hidden shells in the makeshift cave.

pretending to be a narwhal

 We also talked about what it means to be respectful.  The girls danced to the dance n' beats dvd inside a hula hoop while being respectful of each others space.  Afterwards they each got a friendship bracelet saying I am respectful.

Every monthly kit from Mother Goose Time includes 2 different manipulatives.  The second one of the month was plastic tanogram pieces.  The girls used these to make different ocean shapes using the provided shape design mats.  Addie also created her own designs, she made a pirate ship and a fish. 

We also talked about the different ocean zones and the girls created their own underwater stories with drawings.

We read Ocean Animals A-Z.  This is a fun, interactive book.  Each page has a sea creature and a different way to trace the accompanying letter.  The favorite seemed to be tracing the letter t with a toe.

 We also played hide and seek.  The girls would pretend to be different sea animals hiding in a reef and then I would be a reef shark looking for food.  We played this game for so long before moving on to a fun sea fan craft.  I cut sea fans out of the provided plastic canvas and the girls used plastic needles to sew yarn through it.

Next week we will be learning about large sea creatures. 

An InLinkz Link-up

The Ocean Floor

Day 2's theme was the ocean floor. We started by talking about what's at the bottom of the ocean and looking at the letter o.  We looked at the letter set for o and talked about octopi.  I made a path of o's on the floor and stood at one end with the letter set.  When I held up the octopus picture the girls had to join together and come down the path, and when I held up the owl picture they pretended to fly down it.  We did this for a really long time, and they showed no signs of tiring.  I eventually told them it was time to move on. 

octopus

flying owl

Next the girls made mountains and volcanoes out of blocks.

Then we used a sheet to make waves. The girls took turns pretending to swim in the waves.  They had a lot of fun with this, but I couldn't get any pictures since I was making waves.   The girls also made an oyster craft complete with pearls.

painting their oysters

stringing the pearls

 Addie worked on her Mother Goose Time workbooks while Elli made a fish picture using button art.

We finished the day dancing to the dance n beats dvd and making a bubble wrap painting, which was in the dance n beats activity book.

An InLinkz Link-up

Ocean Water

This months theme with Mother Goose Time is Ocean Commotion.  I absolutely love the ocean, so I think this month will be even more fun than last month, if that's possible.  Our first day we talked about ocean water.  To start off I gave the girls the blue color bird for the month and they had to fly to the world map and find something blue.  We looked at the map and how much of it is blue ocean. 

The girls pretended to swim to their seats and then made their name tags.  I put the name tags under a sheet and the girls had to dive under it and swim to their name.  They loved doing this so much that I wound up leaving the sheet out for them to play with later on in the day. 

We talked about what lives underwater and looked at the theme poster.  Every month Mother Goose Time sends a cute theme poster with look and find magnifying glasses.  There are fun activities written on the back of the magnifiers and the girls really seem to love this monthly tool.

Next the girls pretended to be different animals moving through the ocean.  They were dolphins leaping over the ocean, eels slithering through the ocean, fish swimming under the ocean, etc.

leaping dolphins

Next I read Why the Sea is Salty, which is a Philippian folktale available in the member resources section online.  After I read it Addie retold the story to Elli using the story telling set. 

Then we did the science activity that was provided.  The girls each got a cup with sugar water, saltwater, and plain water. 

First they smelled them to see if there was a difference

then they tasted them

Obviously they did not like the saltwater.  We talked about how the ocean is made of saltwater, and what it would taste like.  Saltwater is also more dense than regular water, making things float easier.  To show this I poured 2 cups of water and added an egg to each.  They both sank to the bottom.  Then I added salt to one of them and the egg floated to the top.  Both girls thought this was neat and tried pushing on the egg to see if they could make it sink.

The girls also worked on measuring the temperature of a warm bowl of water. Then they worked together to get the temperature to drop.

To finish up the day the girls danced to the dance n beats dvd and completed one of the activities provided in the dance n beats book.  They listened to ocean commotion, and every time a word started with o they made a circle on their paper. 

Day 1 was so much fun and was packed with so many great activities that even after all that the girls didn't want to stop. 

An InLinkz Link-up