Swimming

Day 8 with Mother Goose Time was swimming.  I held off on doing this at the beginning of the month until it was warm enough to take the girls swimming.  We spent 2 days learning about swimming.

 We spent the first day at the lake having a picnic and swimming.  After a couple of hours we went home and swam in our pond for 2 more hours.  The girls were very excited to see toads mating.  They even got to watch them lay eggs.  The girls both had a great day and Addie asked if we could do the exact same thing tomorrow, unfortunately it wound up being too cold and windy to swim the following day.  Luckily we had a mother goose time lesson on swimming to get us through the day.

 The girls made a list of animals that can swim.  Then we looked at the bilingual vocabulary cards.  The girls took turns picking cards and creating their own dance on our beach towel "stage."  They had a lot of fun with this.  

The girls also used beach towels to make different letters.  They took turns hiding this months shape link manipulatives in the towels and letting the other person find them.  Once found they would identify the shape and color.

We used the shape links again, for catching letters.  I would name a letter sound and the girls would take turns finding the corresponding letter and hooking the shape links on it and then pulling them to safety.  Elli is still learning her letters, so she just worked on identifying those, not the sounds.

The girls spent a good hour playing outside with water and containers.  Their favorite thing to do was use the water to paint our deck.  

The girls each got a glass jar filled with water and added dirt, sticks, rocks, etc.  They shook up the jars and then let them sit for a few hours.  They observed how the different elements separated and how this resembles what happens in a lake.  

We're a little behind on the Experience God lessons this month, so we used some free time to complete the third week, we'll finish up the last lesson tomorrow.  

We finished the day with a book about swimming.

Bath Time

Day 11's theme with Mother Goose Time was bath time.  

We started off by watching a youtube video of Harry the Dirty Dog.

The girls made their own Harry dogs.  One side they left clean, and the other they painted with a mixture of dirt and paint.  They used them to retell the story.

The girls gave some plastic dogs we have baths.  They have dirty spots on them that disappear when you wipe them with warm water, so these went perfect with the story they heard.

The girls read the I Can Read book for the month.  Addie reads these out loud to Elli, and Elli follows along in her own book.

 The girls mixed dish soap with a wisk and then added this months manipulative, rubber boat counters.  They used spoons to catch the boats and then worked on making patterns with them.

One of their favorite activities of the day was playing sponge balance.  They would spin the included spinner and then balance a sponge on whatever body part the spinner landed on.  They thought this was great fun.

Dancing to Bubbles, Boats and Floats

 Every month we get the Dance n' Beats add on that Mother Goose Time offers.  It comes with a DVD full of choreographed dances and a book of ideas for each song.

The dances go to the songs from the monthly CD.  Each dance has a different background that goes along with the song.  

We usually do the dance n' beats at the end of the day, but sometimes it's also a good warm up for the morning.  

Since the girls love crafts so much, it's always good to get extra ideas of things to make.  I've held off the fishing themed day until a day when we can actually get out and fish.  This will be a great craft to add to that day.

 Elli loves the dance n' beats DVD  It's the first thing she unpacks when our monthly box comes each month. 

Boats and Waterfalls

We finished up week 1 of Mother Goose Time's bubble, boats and floats theme by learning about boats and waterfalls.  The girls completed the covers of their my little journals.  We also introduced the book of the month, Rowing Down the River.  

The girls did some creative playing by pretending a cushion was a boat.  They packed their bags;  good thing Elli brought rope because she needed it when Addie fell overboard.  I also brought up a huge cardboard box that I was going to hang streamers over to make a waterfall, but the girls decided they wanted to turn it into a house.  After playing in their house for multiple days it eventually collapsed and wound up in the recycling bin.

The girls used the rubber boat manipulatives included in this months box to work on addition and counting.

Elli worked on her shapes by using Popsicle sticks.  She then tried floating them in a tub of water.

We collected a bunch of small items from around the house and the girls predicted whether they would float or sink, then they tested their ideas.  A great science lesson in buoyancy and the scientific method.

And as usual, Mother Goose Time provided a fun craft for the kids to make.  Elli made her own ribbon water dancer to go with the dance n' beats DVD.  Next lake we learn about things on the lake:  fishing, sailboats, swimming, ducks and rocks.

God Is All Powerful

 

Mother Goose Time has add ons that are available to customize your curriculum.  We receive the Experience God add on every month.   This month is God is All Powerful and features the story of the disciples fishing.  The teacher pack includes a lesson plan book, 4 story telling cards, a memory verse poster, and storytelling set.

The student packs include all the material needed for one child, so we receive 2 packs.  All the craft materials for the lessons are included as well as take home sheets with extra activities and pictures to color.

After reading the Bible story for the month the girls were able to make their own net to catch fish.  They cut out fish and glued them to a paper plate.  Then they wrapped string around it to complete the net.

They also worked on their coloring book and made a fish hook bookmark.  We'll finish up the rest of the lessons throughout the month.

Alligators

We started off our alligator day from Mother Goose Time by introducing the global friend from Australia.  We talked about how crocodiles live in Australia an alligators live in the USA.

Elli made a letter A alligator.  We also came up with some other words that started with A.

 

I drew an alligator on a rock with sidewalk chalk.  Elli collected smaller rocks and drew different animals, like fish and turtles, on them and then she fed to the alligator.  She had so much fun doing this that she wanted me to draw other animals on all the big rocks in our yard so she could feed them different foods. 

The numbers of the month are 17 and 18.  Elli worked on pulling out 17 "alligator teeth" and putting them on the counting cards.  She did this a bunch of times and then tried making alligators out of the play dough.  

It started raining so the girls couldn't make rubbings of bark.  We found other items inside that were textured for them to make rubbings with.  Once they were done they turned them into pictures of alligators with textured skin.  

The girls completed the diamond shape in their my little journals.

They had fun playing alligator freeze.  We talked about how alligators stay very still.  The girls had to freeze while counting to 20, and then they were able to crawl around like alligators and find food.  I also hid a stuffed alligator around the house and they would race to find it before they got bit.  They had a great time with today's lesson.