Pond Animals

We finished up March's at the pond theme with Mother Goose Time by learning about snails, crayfish, lizards, alligators, and fish.  

Elli's favorite thing we did all week, and quite possibly all month, was to make a touch pond.  She filled a plastic bag with hair gel, glitter, sequins, rocks and shells.  She loves to draw in the gel and squish the gel around.  

Other crafts that were made this week included snail tracks made with sand, crayfish clappers, a lizard picture using a stencil, and painted alligator skin using bubble wrap.  

We played a game that worked on making og words.  Elli can't read but was able to mach the letters and colors in order to move her frog piece.

The girls used the duck counters from this months box to help solve easy and also more complex math problems.

Every monthly box comes with a new shape stamp.  The girls used these while designing their post cards.

Elli used the story telling set to make up a story about pond animals having a birthday party and needing cake.

We also talked about what danger means and who to ask for help when you're in danger.  We played a card game to enforce the idea a bit more;  if you picked the alligator you had to yell for help and run away.  Next week we start a new theme, birds and eggs.

Pond Insects

This week we continued with Mother Goose Time's at the pond theme by learning about pond insects.  

The girls made dragonflies.  They both love the crafts included every month the most.  Addie is in second grade now, but asks me to save the crafts for when she gets home from school.  Even though the curriculum is geared for preschoolers older kids can also get something from it.  

The girls also made mayfly puppets this week.

They had a lot of fun with the backswimmer invitation to create.  They were given a tray, paper, paint, twist ties and buttons.  

Elli also used provided materials and a water strider photo for inspiration to make her own creature.  

This week for literacy work Elli made her own story using story sequencing cards, helped tell the participation story, searched for words in the I Can Read book, worked on snapping insects while reading the rhyme time poster, and did some work in her my little journal.  A few months ago Elli couldn't find the words in the I Can Read books with the sight word pointers so instead we'd look for letters.  Now she's pointing out letters that she knows to me, and loves using the sight word pointers to find complete words.  Her story telling has also improved a lot.  Before I would make up stories for her, and this month she came up with an elaborate story about pond creatures baking cakes. I love that there are simple ways to customize the curriculum to make it fit your child better.  When Elli was younger we used the little goose add on to make it simpler, and now that she's getting older we'll start using the more math and literacy books soon to challenge her a bit more.

This week we also did the would you rather cards, played strider slider by moving a space every time a food for the water strider was picked, and worked on giving mosquito bites to the letter P.  Next week we finish up by learning about life in the pond:  snail, crayfish, lizard alligator and fish. 

What's in the Box for March

 Mother Goose Time picks a new theme every month.  March is at the pond.  In each box you get a teacher guide, planning journal, gathering list, theme web, CD, shape stamp, and manipulatives.  The manipulatives for this month are green and yellow ducks and a magnifying glass.  

Each box also comes with a theme poster, color wand, calendar, circle time songs, letter cards, cookie cutters, number fish, cloud shape, and gosling.  

The celebration pack for this month is for St. Patrick's Day.  It includes a complete lesson plan with games, crafts, and even snack ideas.

For week one we'll be learning about life around the pond:  turtle, snake, tadpole, frog, and duck.

Week two covers pond plants:  submerged plants, bog plants, emergent plants, floating plants and algae.  

Week three is all about pond insects:  dragonfly, mosquito, water strider, mayfly and the backswimmer.

For the last week we'll learn about life at the pond:  snail, crayfish, lizard, alligator and fish.  I love how easy Mother Goose Time makes it to stay organized.  All 20 days come in their own bag with all the little extras needed to complete the lessons.  We're having a lot of fun this month with nursery rhymes, but I know the girls are excited to learn about ponds.