A Complete Curriculum for Preschool

 With the beginning of a new month comes a new theme with Mother Goose Time.  For January we will be going on a safari.  Week one is all about getting ready for the safari.  Mother Goose Time makes it easy to open the box and go.  Very little prep work is needed.  The lessons are organized by day.  At the beginning of each lesson plan book is a list of the days activities and the different areas of learning that each activity teaches.   

Every day has a community challenge which is an activity where the whole class participates and works together.  We usually do these during circle time.

Language and literacy activities include writing/recognizing your name, working in the my little journal, using the loose parts to build the months letters, a book of the month, and games that help develop letter recognition and language.  

Math and reasoning is done with lots of games.  The daily calendar works on number recognition, patterning, and counting.  There is a sturdy puzzle in every monthly box and games that introduce problem solving, matching, sorting, charting, comparing, and shape recognition.  

There are new art projects every day.  These help develop fine motor skills and give the kids a chance to create items to play with like binoculars, or gives them a chance to share their own unique interpretation with materials through invitations to create.  

There are ideas for STEAM stations, which are fun ways for kids to explore materials at their own pace.  There are also games every day that get the kids up and moving.  A monthly CD with themed music also adds to the movement through dancing and singing.

If any of your kids are struggling in certain areas you can check in the teacher tool bag for a list of which activities from the month will help with reinforcing each domain of learning.  When you use Mother Goose Time you can be sure your kids are doing activities that will help them reach the benchmarks of learning in a fun and engaging way.

Winter Fun

If you're looking for a complete preschool curriculum with loads of engaging activities then Mother Goose Time is for you.  Each monthly box is based on a central theme and then contains 20 related topics.  This month we've been focusing on sights and sounds.  This has been a great theme for the month with Christmas coming up.  

The kids made bells, which will make great ornaments.  

They decorated and sewed stockings.  Lacing activities are a great way to develop fine motor skills.  

We spent a day learning about owls.  They kids worked together to each put their number piece into the puzzle to see what our topic for the day would be.  

We used this months shape manipulatives to work on shape recognition and matching to the owls of the same shape.  

They also made cute owls by decorating an owl shape and then adding googly eyes to muffin cups.  

Every monthly box from Mother Goose Time comes with a book, puzzle and magnet set.  The class worked together to build the puzzle, and were able to do it individually if they choose to.

We've also done holiday patterning this week.

The letter B was introduced and the kids made their letter B books to take home and add to their collections.

This months color is green.  The kids went on a hunt around the room and when a bell rang they had to grab something green and run back to  their spots.  Since we have been getting ready for Christmas there are plenty of green items throughout the room for them to choose from.  When we come back from Christmas break we will finish up sights and sounds before jumping into January's theme.  

Sights and Sounds of Winter

We started a new theme this week with Mother Goose Time.

The theme is sights and sounds.  We spent the first week learning about and playing different instruments.  

During circle time we completed a long breath challenge and took turns seeing how far we could blow a feather.

We continued working on using our breath by creating art by blowing paint across paper.  

Every monthly box comes with a new book.  This months book is "The Mississippi Musicians"  which is based on The Bremen Town Musicians.  Throughout the month we will have items like a puzzle and story telling set that help reinforce the story.  

Whenever we start a new theme the kids get a new name tag to practice writing their names.  We also use the name tags throughout the month to work on name recognition.  

All month the kids work in their journals.  They practice writing the monthly numbers, letters, and have pages that focus on the color and shape of the month.  

The kids made drums by stringing beads and attaching them to paper plates.  When you spin them the beads hit back and forth and create a drumming sound.  The kids played these and worked on drumming out the syllables in their names.  

The theme posters with look and find glasses are always a class favorite.  The kids love finding the items and then completing the prompts on the back of the glasses.  

Transportation Station

We've been having a great time learning about transportation with Mother Goose Time.  Every daily lesson includes circle time activities, an art project, STEAM station ideas, and activities and games to reinforce monthly topics.  There are also book suggestions and themed songs.  

Every monthly box comes with a book that relates to the monthly theme.  This months book was "A Ride for Duck."  

There is also a puzzle that features pictures from the book, as well as a magnet set to use for retelling the story or making up a new one.  

We had a relay race where the kids had to pick items up with their feet and race them to the hoop.  We talked about how it's harder to use your feet then hands for picking things up.  

The kids decorated their own boots and added laces which I helped them tie.  

We also spent a day making horse puppets complete with yarn manes.

Every month comes with new would you rather questions and cards.  I read the question and the kids all vote on what they would rather do.  For example would you rather ride backwards on a camel or bike?  After everyone votes we count up the results and talk about why we picked what we did.

We spent a day learning about helicopters.  I set a helipad on the floor and the kids took turns dropping their helicopters to see who could get closest to the H.  They really liked playing this and we did it multiple times.  

The kids all got their own shape pieces and design mats.  They used the pieces and made different modes of transportation.  This has been a fun month, but we're getting ready to move onto a new theme, Sights and Sounds.  

Keeping Parents Updated

Mother Goose Time makes it easy to keep parents informed of what's going on for the month.  At the beginning of the month a parent newsletter is sent home that shows all the daily topics that will be covered and things like suggested readings parents can do at home to help reinforce the months theme.  

Every day I write what we did that day so parents know exactly what book we're reading, letter we're working on, games we're playing, etc.

The daily art projects the kids make get sent home and Mother Goose Time also includes daily notes on what the different projects are which I staple to the back of pictures.  

Some work is kept to display, but sent home later in the month.

And items like the my little journal are used all month and sent home at the end so parents can see the letters and numbers they are writing.  

And of course pictures of games are able to be seen on facebook posts.  We have a closed group with all the parents were pictures from the day can be posted.