Mad Made Fun

 This week with Mother Goose Time the girl are learning about identifying feelings.  Today's feeling was mad.  

making a surprised face

We used the monthly theme poster and talked about what emotions the different faces were showing.  The girls used the look and find glasses to find the faces and then copy them.

We played sight word lap, which the girls loved.  I called out a word for Addie or color for Elli and they had to find it and slap it with the fly swatter.  We pretended the cards were mosquitoes, which make us mad when they bite.

The girls each got a copy of this months I Can Read book.  Addie read it to Elli; she was able to figure out all the words except friends.  

Addie used the sight word arrows to find and point to the matching words from her book.  I like that these little books have words simple enough for Addie to figure out.  They're great for building confidence in beginning readers.

 The girls completed the mad page in their my feelings booklet.  Elli said her picture was of a shovel.  She gets mad when our puppy takes her sand shovel.

The girls each got a dish of cornstarch and conditioner.  They felt both and guessed what would happen if they were mixed together.  Then for the fun part, they added food coloring and mixed them.  It turned into a dough, good for squeezing when you're mad.  The girls loved this and played with it for over an hour and a half.  I was able to get a lot done, but didn't finish the entire lesson.  The following morning they had the dough out again and were using it with the cookie cutters. 

Using Little Goose

 Elli loves Mother Goose Time, a little too much in fact.  There have been a few nights where she has gone to bed sobbing and saying "school stuff" after I've left the room.  I always tell her we'll do it again in the morning.  As soon as she wakes up she is saying "school stuff."  I have to explain we'll do it after we get dressed and eat, which usually results in tears.  Mother Goose Time has created a monster, but in a good way.  I love that she is so excited about learning and that to her school stuff is the highlight of the day (not counting when she gets to eat a dessert and watch Dora).  I never would have thought to do preschool activities with a toddler, but since I was using it with Addie it only made sense to include Elli.  When we started Mother Goose Time months ago I wrongly assumed Elli would only briefly be interested and that the activities wouldn't really hold her attention (she wasn't even 2 at the time).  Boy was I wrong, she loves it just as much as her big sister.  Addie wasn't home today and instead of waiting for her to get back, I decided to do most of the lesson with just Elli.  Usually most of the activities we do are catered more to Addie's ability and Elli just copies her.  Since Addie wasn't here I used the Little Goose lesson plan book instead.

I started by putting the gems for the craft in a dish of water.  Elli loved fishing them out, while counting.  A great fine motor activity.  Once she had them all out I gave her the rest of the craft pieces.

She made a handheld mirror and decorated it with the gems that she scooped out earlier.  

Then she practiced making different faces in the mirror.  

She also played an easier version of the feeling shapes game.  She picked the different cards from a bag, I told her what shape it was, and then she made the corresponding face.

After, she used the tanogram manipulatives to match the shapes.

 

Elli worked on the blue page of her my little journal.  She spent most of the time trying to peel a crayon, since for some reason she won't use any that have paper on them.  A recent development, which will hopefully pass quickly. 

She also completed the sad page for the my feelings booklet.  I gave her markers for this so crayon peeling was avoided.  After she finished that she danced to the friends and feelings DVD. There was a red light green light type game to play, but I think she'll have more fun with that once Addie is home.

Happy with Mother Goose Time

This week with Mother Goose Time the girls are learning to identify feelings.  We started off the first day with happy.

How many different ways can you smile?  According to Addie there are just 2, with or without showing your teeth.  

not bad for a 2 year old, although it look more sad than happy

In today's bag there was a my feelings book.  The girls will be working on this all week.  Addie wrote a sentence about when she feels happy and drew a corresponding picture.  Elli just drew a bunch of smiley faces.  

 

I read The Woodcutter's Woes to the girls.  They used their facial expressions to mimic the corresponding emotions in the story.   When the woodcutter wished his wife had sausages on her nose, the girls taped some on their noses.  They thought was hilarious.

I love the map that came in the starter kit.

I showed the girls were France is and they put the French global friend on the map.  We talked about games that make them happy and what games frustrate them.  Then I told them about the game Petanque, which is played in France.

Then they tried a version of the game.  They took turns rolling a large ball and then bouncing smaller ones to see who could get theirs the closest.  

 The girls used the provided recipe card to create smiley face creations using rice cakes, raisins, peas, peppers, etc.  Then they got to eat them.  Addie asked if we could make them again tomorrow.  She loves anything remotely similar to cooking.

Elli worked on her tray play activity from the Little Goose supplement, using play-doh to make faces.  While Elli was busy with that, Addie completed her more math and reading workbooks.  She also retold the story in the reading book to Elli, who was happy to sit and listen.

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Playing Together

The girls and I had so much fun with today's Mother Goose Time lesson, playing together.  We read the book of the month, A Big Problem.  It was about an elephant that gets stuck in a tree and a group of kids that come up with different ways to try and get it down.

After we read the book the girls used a variety of household objects to come up with ways to build playground equipment, just like in the book.

They had so much fun with this that I extended the idea and gave them marshmallows and toothpicks to make whatever they wanted.  When they were done they ate their creations. 

We took a field trip to the playground and the girls practiced climbing.

We talked about what it meas so be a good friend, and what respectful means.  Then they made puzzle friend headbands, and exchanged one piece with each other.  

We also read The Berenstain Bears and the Trouble with Friends.

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Getting to Know You

Since we're learning about friends and feelings this month it's only fitting that one of the monthly letters is F.  The girls looked at the hands on letter F and Addie worked on coming up with words that start with F.  

The girls made a fox out of the letter F.  We talked about the difference between a domestic and wild animal, and which type you can be friends with.

The girls worked together to make a pizza and pick out different toppings and seasonings.  They both love helping me cook so they thought this was especially fun.  The best part was eating it for lunch after it was done cooking.

While the pizza was cooking Elli worked on her tray play activity from the Little Goose book while Addie worked on her math and reading workbooks.

 Every month box with Mother Goose Time comes with a game;  this month the game is Elephant and Friends.

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