Maps

Today with Mother Goose Time we learned about maps.  We're still on vacation so I shortened the lesson just a bit. The lesson started with the introduction of the color of the month, orange.  We used the world map and painted items orange, and then went on an orange hunt around the house.

We also read the provided book of the month, A Ride For Duck.  Me on the Map is anther great book to use when learning about maps and addresses, but unfortunately I forgot it at home.

The girls worked on the cover of their my little journals, which we use all month long.  They also completed a maze on the back.

The girls looked at real maps and we looked at the states we will be driving through when we go home in a few days.  They used blocks to build roads and houses and  the plane and train manipulatives provided this month.

A couple of weeks ago Addie created a map of our town and added friends houses and businesses we go to, so I decided not to have them create new map.

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Traffic Signs

Today's Mother Goose Time lesson was about traffic signs.  We did this lesson while out of town, so I didn't have our circle time display to use at the start of our lesson.  I like that it was very easy to just grab the day bags and manipulatives and pack them, making it easy to do the lessons while traveling.  

The girls made traffic lights that were later used to play a dancing game.  Green meant you dance fast, yellow slow, and red you freeze.

I set up the wooden road sign manipulatives around the bedroom.  The girls would weave in and out of them and then when I said to stop they would freeze.  I would call out a shape and color and Elli would find it and Addie would estimate how many steps she thought it would take to get to, and then they'd check the guess.  

The girls painted cone cups orange to resemble construction cones.  We set these up as a fake construction zone and played their favorite game of the day.  They would take turns rolling a cube and then performing the action down the side of the road once the flag holder waved them through.  They had a lot of fun with this game and played it for quite a bit.  Addie was upset when Elli decided she wanted to play something else, but I told her they can always play it again.

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On The Go With Mother Goose Time

This week we started a new monthly theme, on the go, with Mother Goose Time.  Day 1's topic was roads.

Every monthly box from Mother Goose Time includes a new set of circle time displays.  This includes a CD, hands on numbers and letters, letter flags, global friends, friendly bees, calendar and pieces, theme poster and song cards. We start every day off with circle time, picking the weather, checking the date, singing, and discussing an opening topic question.  

Today we worked on the number five and the girls made five roads out of blocks.  I also brought out one of the new manipulatives for the month, road signs and a little yellow car.  They made more roadways and added the signs.  I love the manipulatives that come every month, this month came with the road signs and also a bag of rubber airplanes and trains.  

We talked about road signs and worked on our address.  The girls also made their name tags, which we pretended were road signs.  Elli loved the yellow car from the manipulative bag and insisted on carrying it around while we did the lesson.

We talked about how roads are made and the girls used cardboard rolls as steam rollers to flatten out roads in the sand.  

They also made a really cute road craft with cars and road signs.  Mother Goose Time even provided the chalk to draw on the road lines.  They really thought of everything when they put the curriculum together.  The girls liked playing with their roads, and we brought out some toy cars to use with them.

The girls used toy cars to make different tracks on play doh, and then matched the imprints to the cars.  They also used some transportation themed cookie cutters to make more vehicles.  Tomorrow they will learn about traffic signs.

Learning About Life Stages with Nancy Larson Science

Disclosure: I received this product for free in exchange for my complete and honest review.  All opinions are my own.

 Back in June I received the complete Nancy Larson Science 1 curriculum to use with my 6 year old.  You can read my initial post here.   Now that the school year is well underway, we've been able to finish the first of the six topics that will be covered this year.  We spent a month learning all about the stages of human life.  The unit was made up of 12 lessons, each of which was fully scripted.  Each lesson has a list of what you might need to prep before the lesson and what items you will need to gather from the curriculum.  I love that I can just pick up the teacher's manual and read right from the book with very limited prep work.  This makes teaching science easy and stress free. 

Addie learned about life stages of humans, infant through elderly adult.  The lessons involved using personal photos to discuss the different stages, which really helped reinforce what she was learning. 

After each lesson there was a review worksheet in the student materials to check on student comprehension.  

There was also a booklet that had a page designated for each life stage that Addie completed. This gives her a nice reference tool that she wrote and illustrated herself.  Each of the six topics in Nancy Larson Science 1 has its own separate booklet.

 

After Addie learned about all the life stages, she spent two days working on a booklet.  She spent a day looking through magazines and gathering photos of people, and another day making her book using the pictures.  She really enjoyed this because it was a hands on project that she was able to do on her own.    

We also spent three days learning about our habitat.  We drove around town and Addie took pictures of different businesses and plants.  She created a mural, which she hung in her bedroom, showing houses of friends, businesses, animals and plants that are in our community.  Up next we'll be learning about plants, specifically trees. 

Building Literacy with Mother Goose Time

Mother Goose Time provides a monthly curriculum for preschool aged children.  Each month comes with all sorts of resources that help develop and improve literacy through fun games, journals, easy to read books and more.  I know when I use this curriculum that my girls are learning important skills that will help create a foundation for reading and writing. Elli is only 2 so she's still learning her letters and the sounds they make.  Every month comes with hands on letters and letter flags to use with the circle time display.  These are really beneficial for young children, since they actually get to hold the letters.  I laminate these pieces and the girls can use dry erase markers to practice tracing them.  

 

Every day has a new topic related to the monthly theme.  I just open the lesson plan book to the correct day, grab the corresponding bag, and we're ready to go.  Each activity in the lesson plan book shows what skills will be gained from the exercise.  For example, the postcard helps with emergent writing.  This is a good way to see what skills your child may need more help with, or what skills can be made more advanced for them.  

 Every month comes with a new book related to the monthly theme.  I pull the book out when we get our monthly box and we read it many times throughout the month.  There are also story telling pieces so the girls get to use those to retell the story.  This is great for seeing how much they are comprehending.  Addie likes to use these to tell the story to Elli.  This month the girls also made their own Johnny puppet based on the book of the month, which added yet another prop for story telling.  All these activities are designed to make reading fun and engaging.  

There are always numerous fun games that help encourage beginning reading.  These are great confidence boosters for Addie, since they are easy words that she can read herself.  I use these activities to work on letter recognition with Elli.

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Let's Celebrate Fall

This month Mother Goose Time included a pumpkin patch celebration kit with October's monthly box.  It had so many fun ideas in it, that after 3 hours of crafts, games and songs we still didn't finish everything.

The girls painted paper bags orange.  While they were drying we played games and had a snack.  Once they were dry the girls stuffed them with crinkled scrap paper and added faces and leaves. They had so much fun making these.  Addie even made 2 faces, one for the front and one for the back. 

Th girls loved playing pin the patch on the scarecrow.  They took turns rolling a cube and then would tape the matching shape to the scarecrow poster while blindfolded.  This game was a great way for Elli to practice her matching and colors while having lots of fun.

I made jack-o-lantern snacks for the girls.  They ate the cut off edges while I made the faces.  

We carved pumpkins and the girls helped scoop out the insides.  Elli really didn't like getting slimy so she mostly just played with pumpkin seeds.

The girls used pumpkin seeds on the pumpkin counting cards.  Elli worked on counting and matching the numbered cat cards to the correct pumpkins.  Addie worked on adding using the cards and seeds.

The girls also colored their own scarecrow pictures, which matched the pin the tail on the scarecrow game they played earlier.  Mother Goose Time included another celebration kit for November, which looks like it will be even more fun. 

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