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.  

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.

Packing Up

We continued our safari theme with Mother Goose Time by talking about packing up.  During circle time I introduced the letter S.  I helped Elli on her letter S hunt, she went around the house trying to find things that started with the  s sound.  

Elli had a blast making her own safari hat.  She used the provided tissue paper and also added pom poms and glitter.  She always has so much fun with the crafts that come every month with Mother Goose Time.

Elli used some bowls to make safari hats for her stuffed animals.  We looked at pictures of African animals and read Honda's Surprise.  This was the suggested book for today, and I'm so glad it was because both my girls loved it.  

Elli got a Dora the Explorer backpack for Christmas that she was able to use for some of today's lesson.  She used the included packing list to pack her bag, she also found the matching items around her room and added them.

She also worked more with the color yellow that was introduced yesterday.  She found yellow items in her room and then packed them up in her backpack.

We worked more with the letter S, which starts sock.  Elli tried to make the letter s with socks and also worked on matching pairs and folding.

An InLinkz Link-up

Passports

We started our new theme with Mother Goose Time for January. This month the girls will be learning about safaris. Day 1's topic was passports.  This actually was a perfect topic for the day, since we took Elli to get her real passport picture taken in the morning.

During circle time the color of the month was introduced.  Elli used the yellow paint brush to find yellow objects in the house and paint them.  She always has fun going on color hunts.

We sang I Need a Passport and then started the lesson.

 Mother Goose Time provides a new name tag every month.  I write Elli's name with a highlighter on these and let her practice tracing the letters.  This is great for reinforcing the letters in her name.

Elli got her own passport with each continent in it.  She would roll the continent cube, find the matching continent on the world map,and then stamp it in her book.  We talked about what colors the different continents were and what sort of animals live there.

Since Elli had so much fun stamping her passport, I gave her a bunch of African animal stamps for her to use.  

We continued working with the world map for our next game.  Elli threw a pom pom on the map and then used inchimals that we had to measure how far it had landed from Africa.  She had a lot of fun with this game and played it for a long time.  She loves using the inchimals.

I made a tape road for Elli and she used cars travel to other locations.  Elli had a great time starting the safari theme;  it's going to be a fun month.

An InLinkz Link-up