Seasonal Changes

This week with Mother Goose Time we learned about changes:  changing leaves, daylight versus darkness, hibernation, migration, and meteorologists.  

We started off by learning about changing leaves.  During circle time the kids took turns coloring a leaf picture together.  They enjoyed going outside and collecting leaves for their leaf creature projects.  They used the leaves, other nature items they found, markers, and foam dots to create animals.  We worked on number order, counting, and number recognition with numbered leaves.  The kids worked together to get them all in order, then they would close their eyes while I took one away.  When I was done they had to identify the missing number. 

The kids had a great time learning about daylight and darkness. During circle time I used a globe and flashlight to show the kids that when it is day on one side of the Earth, it is night on the other.  Then they worked on rotating like the Earth.  The kids used paper and start stickers to make N is for Night pictures.  They also got more work with the letter N by coloring the N page from this months box, and also completing the letter N page in their my little journals.  The kids loved playing shining letters.  They took turns rolling the pocket cube, and then had to pretend to be the sun and shine a flashlight on the corresponding letter card that was taped to the wall.  We finished up by using the links and numbered stars to work on counting and sorting by color.

We talked about what hibernation means and read "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" during circle time.  Before we started I hid a bear in the room, and the kids went on a hunt and tried to find it.  They made bear den crafts using nature items they collected outside, a bear cutout, and a paperbag.  After the craft the kids were split up in to small groups to work on the monthly puzzle, use the magnetic story set, and play 2 learning games.  Race to the cave worked on recognizing letters.  The kids took turns picking cards, and if they picked the letter of the ladder their bear was on they got to move it up to the cave.  How many are sleeping worked on counting skills.  The kids would take turns rolling the pocket cube and adding the same number of bears to their bed cards until they were all full.

The butterfly wands the kids made while learning about migration were definitely their favorite craft of the week.  They had lots of fun dancing with them, and brought them on a walk down to the pond to see if there were still ducks that hadn't migrated yet.  They worked together to draw a community map, added blocks for buildings, and used cars and animals to play.  Moving animals was a huge hit.  The kids loved acting like the different animals that migrate.  This game will probably wind up being used on rainy days since they had so much fun with it.  The kids also got to work on patterning and do some writing in their my little journals.

On Fridays we walk to the town library for story hour, so never get as much done as I'd like.  The kids made weather wheels and we talked about different types of weather and meteorologists.  Next week we learn about storms.