Grasslands

We're on our third week learning about the safari with Mother Goose Time.  While learning about the grasslands we spent a day learning about beaded necklaces.  

The kids used beads and pipe cleaners to work on patterning.  They also made their own colored bead patterns.  

They looked at pictures of people wearing elaborate, thick beaded necklaces.  They made their own by painting a paper plate with a cotton swab.  

The letter C was also introduced this week, and the kids colored with letter C books.  

We talked about predators and prey and the kids completed food webs with African animals.  We also came up with other food webs using local animals and the things they eat.  

Safari Animals

This month with Mother Goose Time we're learning all about safaris.  We spent a week learning about how to prepare for a trip, a week learning about safari animals, and have started to learn about life in the grasslands.

The kids practiced taking turns, patience, and counting while playing race to the water hole.  

They got more counting practice, and number recognition while counting out spots for the giraffe.  

The kids made rhino horns, some thought they made better party hats.  

The letter R was introduced this week, and the kids made their letter R books.

They were able to get extra literacy practice in their my little journals.  

The kids loved playing drums and maracas.  

We practiced drumming out patterns and also the syllables in our names. 

The kids made their own shakers filled with beans.

We had a fun day learning about migration.  The "herd" had to walk around the room looking for hidden food to eat.

They also sent a ball "migrating" across a blanket river to get to the corresponding letter to the picture cards they picked.  

They also made collages of migrating animals.  

We got some color practice by matching elephants to their correct color herd.

Safari Lessons

Every day with Mother Goose Time starts with circle time.  We figure out the weather, day of the week, date, and calendar pattern.  This is also the time when the daily topic is introduced.

Mother Goose Time provides a circle time activity every day.  These are usually games or songs that the whole class does together, like packing orange items in a suitcase,

or pretending to be baby elephants following the leader in the front of the line.

After circle time we move on to the craft.  Any good safari explorer will have a safari hat,

and a passport to record their travels.

We made lion masks,

drew chalk zebras,

and completed elephant pictures with either a head or back.  

I also have one on one time with the kids when we work on writing their name, working in their journal,

and using the I Can Read books that come with every monthly box.

Some activities we do as a class.  We played a game to work on memory where the kids had to remember what item was removed from our packing list,

worked on the letter S and figured out what items started with that letter,

used the look and find glasses with the monthly theme poster,

figured out what animal was hiding,

used elephant tusks to dig for leaves,

built zebra striped letters,

did some patterning,

and had to race like a lion to catch the same numbered zebra.  It's been a busy two weeks, with lots more fun to go this month.

Game Reserve

We just started our safari theme this week.  For day 3 Mother Goose Time had us learning about the game reserve.  During circle time we talked about the weather, figured out what day of the week it was, added the days calendar piece to the board and said the pledge.  Then I introduced the topic of the day and the kids took turns saying what animal they would like to take a picture of while on safari.  Monkey had the most votes.

The new book this month was Sock Fari, which we read during circle time.  The kids liked guessing what animal they thought the socks were going to be.

We also played animal memory.  Games like this are good at teaching kids to take turns and work on patience.  

The kids made binoculars by decorating paper and adding string.  

I taped and hid animal cards all over the room and the kids got to use their binoculars to go on a safari around the class.

We finished up the day by working one on one on their my little journals.  They practiced writing their names on the front and drawing a safari picture on the cover.