Happy and Sad

For the second week of Mother Goose Time's me and my family theme we're learning about feelings.  Days 6 and 7 were happy and sad.

Elli worked on using the magnet set that was included in this months box to duplicate the pictures on the shape mats.  She also made some of her own creations.  

We read an interactive story about a sad giant.  There were actions included in the story, such as use blocks to build a turtle shell.  At the end there were comprehension questions that we went over.  

After the story Elli practiced making tears using water and a dropper to fill up cups.

For the invitation to create we looked at a painting by Picasso and talked about how it made us feel.  Elli used the provided materials to make her own picture, she said the plate was her and the red shape with eyes was a cat.  

We watched The Quit Story on youtube and then Elli made her own quilt picture using tissue paper and yarn.  She glued the tissue paper to the front of her paper and continued the quilt onto the back with more tissue paper and yarn.  She has lots of fun using the materials however she wants.

Elli also worked on making circles in her my little journal.  We will finish the week by learning about scared, mad and surprised.

Using Little Goose

 Elli loves Mother Goose Time, a little too much in fact.  There have been a few nights where she has gone to bed sobbing and saying "school stuff" after I've left the room.  I always tell her we'll do it again in the morning.  As soon as she wakes up she is saying "school stuff."  I have to explain we'll do it after we get dressed and eat, which usually results in tears.  Mother Goose Time has created a monster, but in a good way.  I love that she is so excited about learning and that to her school stuff is the highlight of the day (not counting when she gets to eat a dessert and watch Dora).  I never would have thought to do preschool activities with a toddler, but since I was using it with Addie it only made sense to include Elli.  When we started Mother Goose Time months ago I wrongly assumed Elli would only briefly be interested and that the activities wouldn't really hold her attention (she wasn't even 2 at the time).  Boy was I wrong, she loves it just as much as her big sister.  Addie wasn't home today and instead of waiting for her to get back, I decided to do most of the lesson with just Elli.  Usually most of the activities we do are catered more to Addie's ability and Elli just copies her.  Since Addie wasn't here I used the Little Goose lesson plan book instead.

I started by putting the gems for the craft in a dish of water.  Elli loved fishing them out, while counting.  A great fine motor activity.  Once she had them all out I gave her the rest of the craft pieces.

She made a handheld mirror and decorated it with the gems that she scooped out earlier.  

Then she practiced making different faces in the mirror.  

She also played an easier version of the feeling shapes game.  She picked the different cards from a bag, I told her what shape it was, and then she made the corresponding face.

After, she used the tanogram manipulatives to match the shapes.

 

Elli worked on the blue page of her my little journal.  She spent most of the time trying to peel a crayon, since for some reason she won't use any that have paper on them.  A recent development, which will hopefully pass quickly. 

She also completed the sad page for the my feelings booklet.  I gave her markers for this so crayon peeling was avoided.  After she finished that she danced to the friends and feelings DVD. There was a red light green light type game to play, but I think she'll have more fun with that once Addie is home.