Seasonal Changes

This week with Mother Goose Time we learned about changes:  changing leaves, daylight versus darkness, hibernation, migration, and meteorologists.  

We started off by learning about changing leaves.  During circle time the kids took turns coloring a leaf picture together.  They enjoyed going outside and collecting leaves for their leaf creature projects.  They used the leaves, other nature items they found, markers, and foam dots to create animals.  We worked on number order, counting, and number recognition with numbered leaves.  The kids worked together to get them all in order, then they would close their eyes while I took one away.  When I was done they had to identify the missing number. 

The kids had a great time learning about daylight and darkness. During circle time I used a globe and flashlight to show the kids that when it is day on one side of the Earth, it is night on the other.  Then they worked on rotating like the Earth.  The kids used paper and start stickers to make N is for Night pictures.  They also got more work with the letter N by coloring the N page from this months box, and also completing the letter N page in their my little journals.  The kids loved playing shining letters.  They took turns rolling the pocket cube, and then had to pretend to be the sun and shine a flashlight on the corresponding letter card that was taped to the wall.  We finished up by using the links and numbered stars to work on counting and sorting by color.

We talked about what hibernation means and read "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" during circle time.  Before we started I hid a bear in the room, and the kids went on a hunt and tried to find it.  They made bear den crafts using nature items they collected outside, a bear cutout, and a paperbag.  After the craft the kids were split up in to small groups to work on the monthly puzzle, use the magnetic story set, and play 2 learning games.  Race to the cave worked on recognizing letters.  The kids took turns picking cards, and if they picked the letter of the ladder their bear was on they got to move it up to the cave.  How many are sleeping worked on counting skills.  The kids would take turns rolling the pocket cube and adding the same number of bears to their bed cards until they were all full.

The butterfly wands the kids made while learning about migration were definitely their favorite craft of the week.  They had lots of fun dancing with them, and brought them on a walk down to the pond to see if there were still ducks that hadn't migrated yet.  They worked together to draw a community map, added blocks for buildings, and used cars and animals to play.  Moving animals was a huge hit.  The kids loved acting like the different animals that migrate.  This game will probably wind up being used on rainy days since they had so much fun with it.  The kids also got to work on patterning and do some writing in their my little journals.

On Fridays we walk to the town library for story hour, so never get as much done as I'd like.  The kids made weather wheels and we talked about different types of weather and meteorologists.  Next week we learn about storms. 

The Seasons

This week with Mother Goose Time we learned about the seasons.  

While learning about summer the kids made cherry tree pictures using leaves collected from outside, burlap, and small red stickers.

They also practice taking turns during a memory weather game,

and took turns while building their own flowers out of play dough and craft sticks.  They would roll the pocket cube and add the same number of sticks to their play dough ball until they had built a flower.

While learning about autumn, the kids used sponges, different colored paint, and stencils to make their own maple leaf pictures.

Each child got their own copy of the monthly I Can Read book.  They took turns using the sight word pointers to find different words in the book. 

The kids thought it was really funny dressing the bear in different clothing based on the weather type they spun.  

The kids got some math work by counting out leaves on a tree.

When learning about winter the kids got to use feathers to paint snow storm pictures.

They loved trying to free different cold weather animals from ice blocks.

I used the simple math story cards with the younger kids in the class, and the advanced math cards with the older kids.  We even made up our own math problems and used the counting bears to help solve them.

One of the favorite crafts of the week had to be the spring flower puppets.  The kids decorated their cup flower pots and attached flowers to straws that they were able to make grow. 

Weather

We just finished up our first week of Mother Goose Time's October theme, weather all around us.  Week 1 was spent learning about wind, sun, snow, rainbows, and clouds.  The kids made lots of crafts this week.

They used souffle cups to make sun and moon pictures,

used straws to blow paint around to make pictures with wind,

used a variety of materials to make rainbow art,

used eyedroppers to paint clouds,

and made really pretty snowflakes using coffee filters, markers, and water .  

The kids got to go outside and explore shadows,

and their favorite activity of the week was when I dripped food coloring into a tub of water with shaving cream on the top.  This simulated clouds raining "blue"  water drops.  

We did some work with shapes and colors,

practiced sorting bears by size and color,

and practiced sorting by color some more.

The kids figured out how to use their breath to make tubes fall down,

and how to blow through a straw to make a cotton ball cloud move along the letter C.

Each month comes with a new monthly theme poster.  I keep these hung up low on the wall for the kids to explore all month.  They used the look and find glasses to find different objects on the posters.

Each monthly box also comes with a my little journal, which we use throughout the month to work on writing, as well as a new nametag to practice name recognition.  We've also read a lot of themed books and started working on some decorations for Halloween.  Next week we'll be focusing on the seasons.