Finishing up Bees and Butterflies

 We finished up bees and butterflies with Mother Goose Time this past week.  We've done a lot this month learning about these insects.  

The kids made bee puzzles with pieces they could change around to make different bees.

They loved making bee shakers that were filled with rice to make rattling sounds.

The kids used eyedroppers to suck up paint out of muffin cup flowers and spray it around their bee picture, pretending it was pollen.

We spent time learning about the life cycle of a butterfly.  The kids made caterpillar eggs on decorated leaf pictures.

They used starch noodles to make caterpillars.

And they made collages of butterflies using shape cutouts.

The kids did basic math problems using the math story cards and using the monthly manipulatives to help figure out the word problems.

The kids took turns voting for their would you rather choices, like would you rather have a pet bee or a pet butterfly.

The kids loved using sticky butterflies to catch words or pictures that matched the letter they rolled on the pocket cube.

The kids worked together to build a caterpillar.  They would add whatever shape was rolled on the pocket cube to the caterpillar.  Once it was done they took turns measuring themselves to see who was longer than the giant caterpillar. 

The kids colored their letter M and X books.  These were 2 of the letters we focused on this month.

Every monthly box from Mother Goose Time comes with a puzzle that goes with the story book of the month.  The kids always work together to find the pieces that get hidden around the room, and then put the puzzle together.  This teaches them to work together and take turns.

The kids practice finding sight words in the I can Read books using sight word pointers.  This helps them recognize high frequency beginner words.

All year long we have been working on patterning.  The patters have been getting harder as the year goes on, but the kids figure them out quickly.

There are always fun games to help increase math skills.  The kids had fun picking numbers and finding the corresponding flower. 

In addition to using the loose letter parts, the kids got to make letters using wax sticks.  They made the letters of the month, and then tried building their names.  This is just a snapshot of some of this months activities, there were lots more.  Next we'll be starting bubbles, boats and floats.