Encouraging Literacy in Preschool

Mother Goose Time includes so many great tools to help promote literacy in preschoolers in every monthly box.

The lesson plan books have charts to help assess your child's progress in each domain of learning.  

Each activity in the book shows you what areas are being worked on and can be observed.  There are always lots of activities to help increase literacy.

Each month focuses on 3 letters.  There are letter cards, cube cards, hands on letters, coloring pages, and games all designed to help reinforce the selected letters.

The hands on letters can be used to make simple words, which helps introduce the concept of letter sound and phonetics.

They can also be used in during the games to help with letter recognition.

Kids get to practice writing and letter formation with monthly name tags, post cards, and in their my little journals.  The younger kids started by scribbling at the beginning of the year, but as the year as progressed they have improved their fine motor skills and are able to trace their names.  The kids who were tracing their names at the beginning of the year are now working on writing their full names independently.  Repeated practice has leg to huge improvements.

Every month also comes with sight word pointers and easy to read books the kids are able to take home.  They are starting to realize that letters in a certain order form words.

Another resource that goes home are the monthly newsletters that have a list of suggested books parents can read at home.

The lesson plan books have suggested books, and online there is an even bigger book list that suggests books to read in class on each daily topic.

At the beginning of every month I pull out the new book of the month, puzzle, and magnetic story teller set.  When kids are done early with projects they can use these items independently.  We read the book during circle time and they can make up their own stories with the magnetic set, or retell the story I read.

If you have older kids who need a bit more of a challenge or more practice there is a workbook add on that goes with each monthly theme and reinforces the monthly letters and works on letter sounds, writing, etc.

Salt Water

We started a new theme with Mother Goose Time, oceans.  Day one was spent learning about salt water.

During circle time the kids each took a sip of plain water and salt water.  They agreed the salt water did not taste good at all.

We listed to the new ocean commotion CD and I called out different sea creatures for the kids to move like.  

We always start out a new monthly theme by writing our name on our name tags.  After the name tags were finished they were put "under water" and the kids took turns swimming under the blanket and finding their name.

We talked about the oceans of the world and located them on a map.  The kids took turns rolling the pocket cube and adding the same number of shells to the different oceans.

The kids made salt water paintings.  They used eye droppers to drop paint on a paper and added salt.  

Everyone found an object they thought would float and one they thought would sink from around the room, then we tested to see if they were right.  We talked about how adding salt makes items float easier.

I picked up some books from our library to go along with this months theme.

Octopuses and Dolphins

We spent the week learning about large sea creatures. The girls made octopus windsocks.  They loved making these and even put the provided stickers on their own feet and ran around the house pretending to be octopi. 

 

Another favorite of the day was the counting sucker octopus game. 

On day 8 the girls learned about dolphins.  They swam around the room and practiced leaping like a dolphin. Elli can't actually leap yet, but she is getting better at jumping.

 They also took turns being a dolphin or dolphin trainer.

Elli wasn't a very cooperative dolphin

The girls also worked on patterning and read this months I Can Read book.

 Addie completed her more math and reading books while Elli napped.  She also made an octopus and a dolphin with a fused bead kit.  She loved making these.

An InLinkz Link-up

Whales

 Week 2 of Mother Goose Time's ocean commotion theme is large sea creatures.  The first animal we learned about was the whale.  We started by learning the letter w and practiced writing it. 

Addie already knew whales were mammals, but we talked more about what that means.  They have a blowhole, which is their nostril that they breathe oxygen from.  The girls each got a straw and went around the house trying to find things they could move using just their breathe.  Feathers proved to be the easiest.

Next they used the straws to blow paint around a whale cutout.  Elli had a hard time with this, and wound up using the straw to move the paint.

After the paint dried they attached the straws and added tissue paper and a sticker eye to complete the project.

Whales are the biggest animal on Earth.  So big that it's hard to comprehend without seeing them in person.  The biggest get up to 90 feet while the smallest are 13-15 feet long.  I put 14 sheets of paper on the floor to replicate the size of the smallest whale, which the girls compared to their own size.

We also talked about how whales hold their breath when they're underwater.  Addie practiced holding her breathe as long as possible and then we charted how long she was able to do it for.

The girls had a lot of fun learning about whales.  I think they're really going to enjoy this week learning about large marine life.

An InLinkz Link-up

Ocean Caves, Plants and Coral Reefs

We finished up week 1 with Mother Goose Time talking about ocean caves, plants and coral reefs. One of the manipulative that we received this month was a basket of shells.  I built a cave out of pillows and sheets and hid the shells in it.  The girls took turns picking a counting card and using a flashlight to find the hidden shells in the makeshift cave.

pretending to be a narwhal

 We also talked about what it means to be respectful.  The girls danced to the dance n' beats dvd inside a hula hoop while being respectful of each others space.  Afterwards they each got a friendship bracelet saying I am respectful.

Every monthly kit from Mother Goose Time includes 2 different manipulatives.  The second one of the month was plastic tanogram pieces.  The girls used these to make different ocean shapes using the provided shape design mats.  Addie also created her own designs, she made a pirate ship and a fish. 

We also talked about the different ocean zones and the girls created their own underwater stories with drawings.

We read Ocean Animals A-Z.  This is a fun, interactive book.  Each page has a sea creature and a different way to trace the accompanying letter.  The favorite seemed to be tracing the letter t with a toe.

 We also played hide and seek.  The girls would pretend to be different sea animals hiding in a reef and then I would be a reef shark looking for food.  We played this game for so long before moving on to a fun sea fan craft.  I cut sea fans out of the provided plastic canvas and the girls used plastic needles to sew yarn through it.

Next week we will be learning about large sea creatures. 

An InLinkz Link-up