Waterfalls

 This month with Mother Goose Time we haven't been doing the days in order.  I've just been letting the girls pick what topic they want to learn for the day.  Today Elli picked waterfalls.  She started by coloring her waterfall picture and coming up with other words that started with W.

She had a lot of fun playing waterfall race, which was like shoots and ladders.  Simple games like this are good for practicing counting, taking turns, and following rules.

Elli completed the pages from her more math and literacy workbooks.  These have been a great add on for her.  

For the invitation to create Elli made her own waterfall picture using paper, pebbles and crayons.

She finished up the day by doing the waterfall picture in her my little journal. 

Sunsets

Even though Addie is 8, she still loves to join in with Mother Goose Time.  She was home for the day so I let her pick out whatever day she wanted, and she picked day 20, sunsets. 

 The girls started by coloring the sunset pictures from the monthly coloring book.

The girls got paper, paint, black crayons and glitter to create their own sunset pictures.  They drew with the black crayons first and then painted over it and added the glitter.  They love the invitations the create that come in every monthly box.

The girls tried to beat the music by putting together the alphabet puzzle that came in this months box, before the song we were listening to ended.  

We also have a big foam alphabet puzzle that we used today.  The girls took it outside and built houses.

Elli completed her more math and literacy workbooks. 

More Math and Literacy

This is our first month getting the More Math and Literacy add on from Mother Goose Time for Elli.  So far she has really been enjoying the extra practice working on math and reading.  She's just starting to write letters and numbers and figure out what they are so this has been a great add on for her.

The literacy pages help with letter recognition, letter sounds, story telling, etc.  

The math pages work on things like patterning, shapes, number recognition,measuring, etc.

With every daily Mother Goose Time lesson we now add a math and literacy page to the day.  Since there are more than 20 pages in the book, sometimes Elli does a couple pages. 

Captains and Wind

This is Elli's first month using the More Math and Literacy books from Mother Goose Time.  So far she has really been enjoying the activities in them.  Each day she completes a math page, with things like measuring and counting, and a literacy page that focuses on letter sounds and the alphabet.  Elli is just starting to write letters and numbers so when there are ones she needs help with I write them in highlighter for her to trace.  

She's also been getting literacy work with the daily alphabet coloring pages that are in this months themed coloring book. The My Little Journal always provides additional writing practice and reinforces numbers, colors and letters.  

This monthly box came with a coconut tree that I taped to Elli's wall.  Everyday she adds the coconut letter that correspods to the days lesson.  She loves having this letter tree in her room, and even made a coconut with her name on it.

Elli made her own captains hat.

And then she got to pretend to be the captain of her own ship (aka her inner-tube).

Elli used the materials from the invitation to create to make her own sailboat.  She drew a bunch of cats in it and decided it was a boat just for them.

We talked about wind and Elli tried blowing different items across our counter.

We talked about the directions on a compass and then played a game.  I put the north, south, east and west cards on the floor and the girls took turns spinning the compass and jumping to the right direction.  It's been so nice we've been spending so much time outside and have fallen a few days behind this month.  I'm hoping to double up a couple days to get caught back up.  One of the great things about Mother Goose Time is that you can customize it to work for you.  If there's a topic the girls really like we sometimes spend multiple days expanding on it.  When we wind up missing days we can always spend less time on the activities to combine days and not miss anything. 

Islands and Boats

This month with Mother Goose Time is a review month, so it's a little bit different than the normal months.  The theme is alphabet island and we'll be learning about things like boats, sunsets, surfing, etc. 

 This month came with an alphabet coloring book printed on thick paper.  Each day we start by coloring the picture for the days theme and coming up with words that start with the corresponding letter.

As with every month on day 1 Elli completed her new themed name tag.  She's been writing her first name for a while now, and is now working on her last name.

Every monthly box comes with a theme poster and look and find glasses.  The girls always love using these.  After they find the pictures on the posters they complete the prompts on the backs.

Every month also comes with a new rhyme time poster related to the theme.

Elli made her own spyglass and eye patch.  She also decided her stuffed dog would look good with an eye patch.

The girls made their own boats and used them to play a matching game.  If they got a match they would steer their boats to the cards and put them inside.

 One of the manipulatives in this months box is a set of foam block numbers and letters.  Elli used the numbers to make islands in a tub of water.  She would roll the pocket cube and find the matching number to fish out.  She used the letters to make islands that she tried to sink by adding shells and rocks.

The girls made boats out of tinfoil and added items to the inside until they could make them sink.  Once sunk they would redesign them and try to add more.  

This month we got the more math and literacy add on, which are 2 separate workbooks.  Elli has shown an interest in writing and is constantly asking me to write words and numbers for her so I thought this would be a good way for her to practice.