Birds and Bells and they can fly they have feathers

     The weather had astounded me all weekend. It had been in the upper 60's , rainy, and now the wind is starting to blow. I wonder what tomorrow will bring in Washington, Illinois. All of us met our Global Friend from Venezuela this week. I can not say it enough. I love the new map and the global friends. I have the map out all the time for the kids. I have each Global Friend on the map with velcro so they can be taken off and put back on the map. We have even been exploring our Theme Poster some more. Each time the kids look at it they find something new. 

  We became owls ourselves and flew around the room. I like that Mother Goose Time incorporates movement to the lessons. This is one thing that helps children under the lesson even better. 

    We "Passed the Patterns" with flying colors. Having the kids make the animal sounds while doing the patterns helped the children associate which animal made what sound.Patterns can be hard for children sometimes. I am glad Mother Goose Time has a different pattern children can make each month. 

  The "Owl Shapes Game" is so cool and adorable. All I had to do is put everything on the table and the kids were ready to play. This is an excellent game for children to learn shapes with. They already like the 
"Shape Builders" and they need all the practice they get with shape recognition. 

 The magnifying glass came out to find where Venezuela was on the map.

       We were having trouble visualizing the letter"X" so I got out the letter flag. They matched up the capital X and the lower case x with the letters on the letter flag.

 

    The children's creativity got to shine everywhere when they made the "Bell Prop". Markers worked very well for making designs on the bell. The got some practice with how they need to hold the marker. The "Bell Prop" some how became a trumpet too. 

    Counting with Jingle Bells. The kids loved it. We spent a very long time doing this.

       Our Loving Bees were taken care of in a very loving way. 

     The "Cardinal Scene" had some hidden talents . The skills involved were fine motor with spreading the cotton balls, glued by themselves, and got to be creative. We got to learn more about birds with the "Bird Matching Game". 

   We have fantastic adventures waiting for us with Mother Goose Time " Sights and Sounds of Winter".  Do not worry we are going to be back very soon to share our adventures with all of you.

http://www.mothergoosetime.com/

Beat on a DRUM

                                                                                                  No more snow for Washington, IL at least for the moment.  We have been having a fantastic week of learning. Our drums were made and played with and the stick came out so we will be repairing our drum. I liked this activity because it made the kids use their logic skills to see how everything went together. The "Shape Builders" made their debut early.

   I can already tell the "Shape Builders " are going to get a workout this month. They started sorting the colors and building towers. I would like to buy more of these where I could do more activities for the kids with them.

        The "Kazoo" activity challenged the kids. The kids wanted to have every single color possible and they had to figure out how to do it.They got to be creative and imaginitive in every way possible.

   We have started decorating our house for Christmas and all of our cats love to take a nap underneath the Christmas tree. This is our cat "Spot". She was making her self comfortable underneath the Christmas tree. Laminating all the topic posters last month from the "On the Go" Curriculum went over very well with all the kids. I put them up all over the house. Wherever they went they got to see something we had been learning about. I also do this for my daughter that I am homeschooling. It helps her remember what she is learning about and it is a awesome visual learning tool as well. I have started putting up the topic posters for "Sights and Sounds of Winter". I have also put up letter posters for this month that I had from previous Mother Goose Time Curriculum. I am trying to laminate the "Hands On" letters and numbers too. We will see if the kids like it. 

                                                                                                 This is our story board for "The Mississippi Musicians". I laminated all the pieces and I used velcro where the kids can put the pieces wherever they want. I had the story board out when we read the story this week. It helps the kids comprehend the story so much better. This is our front window in our living room. My daughter decorated it for CHristmas.

             The "Number Tree " came out of the forest to see us. We put the number 7 and 8 leaf on the tree and we practiced counting to 8.

                                                                                         We got to imagine ourselves playing an instrument when we drew on the cover of our journals and the kids got practice writing their names.

I loved letting the kids use pieces of yarn to make the letter "Vv". They were having trouble visualizing the letter "Vv" with just the Hands On Letters so I got out the "V" Letter Flag and that helped the children understand how to make the letter "Vv". I like letting the kids color the Hands On letters because I think it helps them recognize the letter.

                  We have awesome adventures waiting for us with Mother Goose Time Curriculum. Don't worry we will be back to share our fantastic learning experiences with everyone.

http://www.mothergoosetime.com/

Violins and Cellos

       It is definitely December in Washington, Illinois. The temperature starts off at 26 degrees in morning and if we are lucky it might get to 40 degrees. I have not been able to let the kids be outside as much as I would like to. We will have to find some learning games we can do outside.

                      Being able to make their own violins was a blast for the kids. They got to put their own design on the violin and they did very well putting the strings on the violin too. This activity is fabulous because it also shows how a violin is put together. The kids got so many learning skills from this activity such as logic, problem solving, fine motor skills, and even creativity. 

                                                           The kids came up with other ways to use the violins. The violins became guitars and they made up their own songs. 

     Tons of 
"Star Counting" went on at my house. I put different numbers of stars on my steps. I have some Star Cupcake holders that the kids really like. I put those on the steps as well. It was a blast watching the kids count the stars . I even counted the stars with them. Doing activities in different ways is very crucial to helping every child learn.

                         "The Mississippi Musicians" is a creative way teach the kids about instruments and being kind to everyone you meet. The kids enjoyed this book so much that I know we will be looking at it and rearranging the storyboard all month long.

   "Piano Keys" was so much fun. I laminated two of the pianos . I cut one piano into separate pieces and I let the kids match up all the colors. " Octave Jumping" here we come. This was so cool. I put my Star cupcake holders out all over my floor and played the "Sights and Sounds of Winter CD" .  There were many learning opportunities in this activity too. They started to recognize high notes and low notes. They also really listened to the songs. All the songs are well liked on the CD. There is one song they are getting attached to and that is song Number 2 " Flickering Flame".  

     We have adventures with Mother Goose Time Curriculum that are waiting  for us. We know we are going to learn and have a great time. Don't worry we will be back to share all of our learning experiences with everyone.

http://www.mothergoosetime.com/