Self-Portraits

July's Mother Goose Time theme is the art studio.  It is set up differently than the rest of the year, and is meant to be like a summer camp.  We started with day 1, self-portrait.

Elli wrote her name on her new paintbrush name tag.  The color of the day was orange, so she used her new brush to paint things around the house that were orange.

A special feature for the month is Falco and his character feathers.  We read the story of Falco and then Elli colored him.  She made a nest out of a box, which we filled with all the character feathers.  Today she had to find an orange discipline feather.  We talked about what it means to be disciplined and not to give up on goals.  I read the feather Elli picked and she correctly identified that Falco used his feather properly.  I really like that they are introducing preschoolers to concepts like contentment, disciple and integrity.

The shape of the day is the square.  We played the game square it up, which is like 4 squares.  

Every day this month there is a new art project, which my girls love.  Today Elli used a mirror to draw a self portrait.  

I gave Elli 7 pieces of paper, to signify the 7 continents.  She put them in order for smallest to biggest.  We found Europe on the inflatable globe that came in this months box.  We talked about how it is the 2nd smallest continent, and also where the girls' grandma is from.

There is also a money kit that came in this months box.  Today we talked about what it means to earn money and played some games to illustrate this point.

Elli completed all of the days tasks, and as a result she earned 3 FLY dollars.  She put 1 each in spend, save and give envelopes.  This is something that she will be doing everyday throughout the month.

Ibis, Kangaroo and Jellyfish

We finished up week 2 of Mother Goose Time's A to Zoo animal theme with the ibis, kangaroo and jellyfish.  

Elli learned what an ibis is and what they eat.  She had a lot of fun using a straw to suck up food for the ibis.  She had a hard time with some of the larger pictures, so she improvised and used her hands.  

We talked about jellyfish and how they move in water.  Elli made her own pet jellyfish in a bottle.  She played with this for a long time by herself.  

We also went to an aquarium earlier in the month and got to see real jellyfish.  

Elli worked on her fine motor skills by making a nest out of shredded newspaper and then using tweezers to add pom pom ibis eggs to it. 

She worked on her writing skills with a kangaroo hop and slide game.  She used a q-tip "joey" and hopped down the trail to the mother.  She did this multiple times in different colors of ink.

Elli completed another page in her my little journal.  She worked on writing the letter I and drawing an ibis.

We also did a little geography work by using the world map and putting the animal counter manipulatives on the continents they live on. 

H is for Hippo

Day 8 with Mother Goose Times A-Zoo animal theme was the hippo.  Elli started by adding her hippo card to her zookeeper ring.

We read the I Can Read book of the month.  It has each animal with its letter and a page to color.  Elli spent quite a while coloring in some of the pages.  She was excited to find the hippo, since we're learning about it today.

 Elli really liked playing Hippo Moves.  We took turns rolling a dice, counting out our spaces, and then completing the action on whatever space we landed on.

We talked about how hippos stay in mud to keep cool.  Elli played with the animal manipulatives that came in this months box and put the hippos in mud.  She had fun getting them all dirty and then cleaning them off.

We did an obstacle course, and ended it by swimming in the pond to cool off like a hippo. 

G for Gorilla

It's no secret that my girls and I love Mother Goose Time.  It is such an easy curriculum to use.  Each day has its own lesson ideas and a bag with everything needed to complete the activities.  You just open and go, with little to no prep work.  We always start with circle time.  This is when the calendar and weather are completed.  The topic of the day is also introduced with the topic poster and a small activity.  There is also always a discussion question.  For today it was "What do you know about gorillas?"  Elli knows the routine, and will ask "what we gonna learn about today" before I even get a chance to hang up the topic poster.

This month has been a little different because there is a zoo keeper ring that the girls get to add a new animal to every day.  This has been a big hit.  For day 7 we learned about gorillas.

Today Elli got to paint with a comb.  The girls love to paint, and using anything other than brushes always seems even more exciting to them.  She loved her complete gorilla mask and wore it while making gorilla sounds. 

We watched some youtube videos on gorillas.  We talked about how gorillas express their feeling with sounds and body language.  Elli spun the feeling spinner and acted out the emotion that it landed on.  She thought it was fun pretending to be a gorilla.

I hid the letter tiles from this months manipluative pack around Elli's room.  We pretended they were bugs and berries that she had to find to feed the gorilla.  Whenever she found a letter she would add it to the letter search card.  We actually played this a few times since she always LOVES games that require hiding and finding things.  It's great that she's learning her letters while playing a game. 

God Asks Me To Listen

 Mother Goose Time has different add on options to help customize your curriculum.  One of the add ons that we've been getting is the Experience God pack.  For June the theme was God asks me to listen, and the story it focused on was Noah's ark.  This was a perfect fit for the A-Zoo theme.  The teachers pack includes a lesson plan book, memory verse poster and 4 different story cards.  This month also had some really cute animal cards, one for each letter of the alphabet.

The child packs are ordered separately, so we get 2.  This includes all the materiel needed for the crafts as well as direction sheets and take home papers with pictures to color and additional games.  We are actually going to be going on vacation this month, and I'm saving the child packs to bring with us for when it rains.  This will give us some quick activities to pass time inside during the brief showers that happen.

Dancing Out the Alphabet

 This months Mother Goose Time theme is A-Zoo animals.  This theme has been so much fun and is definitely a favorite.  Elli always loves the dance n' beats DVD's, and I'd have to say this has been her favorite of them all.  It has 26 choreographed songs, one for each letter and a corresponding animal.

I don't normally remember to use the accompanying book, but this months has some serious cute craft ideas.

 26 songs with dances will get your preschoolers up and moving.

What a great way to get some exercising into your little ones day.

F is for Fox

Day 6 with Mother Goose Time brought us to the letter F.  Since this months theme is A-Zoo animals, the animal for today is the fox.  Elli has been loving getting a new animal card to add to her ring everyday.  

Elli used the provided materials to make her own letter F fox.  This went straight up on the fridge when she finished it.

Elli made a den out of play dough and I hid the letter tiles from this months box in it.  She had to find the letters, which spelled the word fox.

There was a really cute storytelling set in today's bag.  Elli played with the animals for awhile.  Then I pulled out the storytelling prompt set to go with it.  Elli would roll the 2 dice, pick out the corresponding animals, and then pick a prompt to answer.  She decided the tiger and fox would be friends.  The tiger was hungry so the fox made him a pie, and they both shared it.  I almost skipped using the storytelling prompts because I didn't think Elli would be able to do it, but she LOVED making up stories with the different animals.  She spent a lot of time coming up with some pretty detailed stories.

Elli practiced writing the work fox in her my little journal.  

We also read some books from the library.