“There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million.”
We are so excited to have been selected as Blog Ambassadors for Mother Goose Time, the company that develops and produces our amazing curriculum! In return for writing and sharing all the great things happening in our classrooms, we will receive free supplies and/or curriculum directly from Mother Goose Time.
For a complete list of Ambassadors, follow this link:
https://feedly.com/mothergoosetimepreschoolcurriculum/MGT%20Bloggers
It’s important to stay hydrated, and today we talked about why! We filled a pitcher full of nice cold water, wrote their names on a cup and put a line on it. We had the children practice pouring their own water, filling their cup to the line. When they drank their water they colored in a line on their Water Bottle Chart provided by Mother Goose Time for Week 4, Lesson 19 of “Bubbles, Boats, and Floats”.
They were surprised that the recommended amount of water each day is eight!
This activity led into a great discussion about water conservation (Week 4, Lesson 20). They learned what conservation means. We talked about how our water is a very important resource, and one that we have to help save. We read “A Cool Drink of Water” and learned that not everyone is lucky enough to have fresh water easily accessible.
We talked about ways that we can save water; turning it off while we brush our teeth, watering a plant instead of dumping it out, turn the water off while washing our hands or hair. They came up with great ideas on how they can help save this precious resource, and are challenged to make small changes throughout the day that will help conserve the water!
When a child walks into school first thing in the morning, they are (more often then not) excited to be there. They are excited to see their friends. They are excited for their activities, and they are excited to play outside. We like to welcome our children in with smiles and activities that are inviting. Mother Goose Time makes the inviting part really easy – as they supply most of the materials that we will use in the lesson. How we set it up determines if it is going to look exciting to the children or not.
Today’s topic was Washing Dishes – Week 3, Lesson 12 in our Bubbles, Boats, and Floats unit. We had two tubs of water out today – one filled with dish soap to make “soapy water” (the theme this week), and one with clear water. There were dishes and towels, and the children had fun washing and rinsing the dishes over and over again! This has been a fun unit because they have had the chance to play in the water quite a bit.
Having materials out and ready to go on the table allows the children to have creative freedom.
For our “Invitation to Create” and “Make and Play” activities, We love the Inspiration Photo that Mother Goose Time sends along with the supplies. We like to hang it above the art table with the materials that they will use to create their project. It is always fun to see how the children decide to use the materials that are given to them.
We had so much fun creating bubbly art with paint, cups, and bubble wrap. It was interesting to see how each piece of art in this Invitation to Create turned out different based on how the child chose to use the materials. Process art is a beautiful experience for early childhood and we appreciate that Mother Goose Time gives opportunities for Process based art, as well as some product based art where children follow directions toward a specific outcome. All of this is an invitation to fun!
There is so much to be learned about our own nature by observing the life cycle of another creature. We thoroughly enjoyed the “Bees and Butterflies” unit in the month of April with Mother Goose Time, but we had to wait to fully end the unit until our butterflies were set free, so here’s the recap!
Over the first week or so, we observed our caterpillars as they grew a little each day. The children had great questions about the black flakes, what they were eating, and the silky material they seemed to be spinning into a web.
Mother Goose Time provided us with a lot of information and fun projects that first week as we focused on the Life Cycle of a butterfly.
Then, one day we came in a saw that our caterpillars were doing something new- they were hanging upside down in the shape of a “J”. We knew what that meant- soon they would all be chrysalises.
Over the next week, we watched and waited.
Finally, we came in to school one morning and noticed there was one butterfly! Then we got to observe the next one emerge. Then there were three, four , five…
One of our children is very mathematically minded. He loves numbers and he knew there were 6 caterpillars, 6 chrysalises and that meant there should be six butterflies. What had happened to the last one?
We also had one day where the children were very concerned about the reddish fluid all over the netting. They thought the butterfly was dyeing and asked the teacher if she could save it and give it CPR? We talked about how when something is born, it is going from a liquid state to dry on the outside and sometimes that is messy. The butterfly was okay and just needed time to dry its wings.
The day came to release the butterflies- so magical!
After weeks of learning and observing, our butterflies are free to complete their final stage of the life cycle- to lay their eggs and begin the cycle again. What an amazing journey!
Our classes are really excited for the May unit with Mother Goose Time, “Bubbles, Boats and Floats”. What is this unit about exactly? We are learning all about different bodies of water, the water cycle and conservation, soapy water, rainbows and more! So far this week, we have learned about Rivers, Beavers, Boats, and Alligators. My favorite was the sleeping Alligator in our preschool class that led them to have a very quiet morning, so as not to wake him.
We recently celebrated Earth Day and we talked about ways we can help out our planet. This unit ties in nicely with our recent discussion, as they learn how they can conserve water.
This is a tricky unit when it comes to filling our shelves with activities because there is so much we will be covering, so we look at other units we have had that tie in with this one. For example, we tie in some elements of weather, ocean and pond themed activities so that we have more toys to go around (we have 4 classrooms). We also take a look at any Toy Box recommendations from the Mother Goose Time website.
We love to incorporate mini units within our main one, and for “Bubbles, Boats, and Floats” we like to spend some time talking about the ocean and the different bodies of water. They love the beach (we live an hour away from one), and they get excited to spend some time learning more about the ocean. We love that Mother Goose Time makes it easy to be able to incorporate mini units within their lessons.
Bubbles, Boats, and Floats is a fun unit to incorporate lots of science. We have fun making predictions and experimenting with what floats and sinks in the water.
We have measuring cups to practice pouring and measuring, and the kids are enjoying getting to play in the water!
As the weather is getting warmer, we are excited to take some of our water play outside! More to come on that adventure!
When we talk about literacy in the classroom, it goes beyond just letters, the sounds they make and pre-reading skills. If you google “what is literacy?” the definition is…
Mother Goose Time takes a global approach to learning, which matches the way the brain is developing in the early childhood years. Each activity is carefully planned to include skills across the content areas, to pack the most learning and fun.
For the month of April, we are learning all about Bees and Butterflies. The first two weeks was focused on Bees and this week we shifted our attention to butterflies. Is is so fun to hear children using big words like “metamorphosis”, “chrysalis” and “larvae”.
Did you know that a caterpillar that forms a chrysalis will become a butterfly and a caterpillar that forms a cocoon will become a moth? One hangs and one lays- do you know which is which? Ask your child!
Our outside time has included many signs of Spring. We have been pulling out weeds from the garden beds and planting some wild flowers for our growing caterpillars to enjoy after they make their transformation.
Monday was all about “Eggs”. We gathered a variety of leaves from outside and made some guesses as to which kinds would be able to support Butterfly eggs and which probably wouldn’t.
Naturally, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” was on the MGT recommended book list for this month and we have been really enjoying retelling the story with our felt board!
Today was all about Caterpillars. We started sorting a dying noodles for our Butterfly Life Cycle sensory box (more on that another day).
We used our Pocket cube to practice our shape recognition, as we worked together to build the longest caterpillar. Whatever shaped was rolled, is what we picked out of the basket to add to the caterpillar. We measured each other and other things around the room in the same way.
To round out the plan for the day, we had a true letter learning activity, but even that incorporated fine motor development, teamwork and cooperation. We used our letter recognition cards. We flipped over one card at a time and decided what letter, or sound, it started with. Then we “munched” a hole in the correct letter leaf with a single hole punch. Our children came back to this activity later in the afternoon because it was so fun. We will definitely be adding it to our literacy shelf!
We love that our Mother Goose Time activity guide is so comprehensive for not only letter literacy, but overall comprehension of the topic at hand. Every child learns differently, so when we take a global approach, we can guarantee everyone learns and it is so fun!
Mother Goose Time offers plenty of opportunities to teach literacy in the classroom. We love the “Little Letter Books included (3 each month), new name tags, picture cube letter cards and so much more!
We love pulling other activities to extend the lessons. For instance, kite is one of the site words given to us to use this month for the letter K. Our Pre-K class made kites, and finished the sentence “If I was a kite…” that we wrote on a cloud to go on the back of their kite. One kiddo said they would “Go to Mexico and eat a lot of things!” Another kiddo said that they would fly to Colorado. Having them finish the sentence made it a complete one, and was a fun way to use their imaginations to create a sentence. Art and literacy go really well together, and often times the art creates a really good visual for literacy. Our kites are hanging from our ceiling with their sentences on the back. The kites are a fun visual for a word that starts with our letter this week.
Any time we introduce a new letter we always create a list of words that start with that letter. Today we made our list of K words. We practiced making the letter sound, and had to find words that matched that sound. Some of them named words that started with the letter C, so we discussed how though they sound similar, they don’t start with the letter K. We came up with 11 words.
We also love to use the “Experience More Literacy” book that is an option with the curriculum. We printed out the ‘Letter Kk’ worksheet that helps us identify letters and words, and practiced tracing and writing the letter k, as well as the site words that were given to us. The children worked really hard on their worksheets and by the end of it were getting the hang of how to write the letter K. They chose a word from our list that they wanted to write to finish the worksheet.
The letter printouts are so fun to use and we do several different things with them each month, whether it be making artwork out of the letter or tracing the outline and filling it up with words. Today we filled it up with 16 K’s! 16 is one of our numbers this month, so it was a great way to tie in one of our numbers to practice counting while we practiced writing the letter K some more.
One other smart thing that Mother Goose Time does is introduce the letters away from traditional ABC order. This forces children to know the letters individually and what sound they make, not just because they can sing the song. We love to incorporate letter learning across the content areas because the more children see it in a variety of ways, the more likely it is to stick!
For the month of April, our Friendship Trait focus is on “Beeing Respectful”.
As we close out one unit and begin another, we sometimes have a hard time sharing the toys, games, books, etc. Our preschool class was having a particularly hard time yesterday and their teacher was fast on her feet. They had already completed the activities for the morning and were getting antsy for lunch. Ms. Heather asked if we had any books in the office about sharing and the closest we had was “How Full is your Bucket for Kids”. 
After reading the story, Ms. Heather gave each child a piece of paper with a hand-drawn bucket on it with the child’s name. She put stickers out on the table and they proceeded to fill the buckets with stickers. Some children didn’t want the help of others and some were very excited to get a sticker from a friend. We talked about how it feels good to get a sticker and it feels good to make someone else happy by giving them a sticker.
This morning was a very different tone. Children were excited to work together, they were more respectful, asking before taking, and there was a lot more collaborative play.
While everyone was busy checking out the new activities on the shelf, I was working on scrubbing some crayon off the table tops. My little friends were so excited to be bucket fillers that they all wanted to help. They were enthusiastic about being helpful and before long, we had the tables looking much better.
We love that Mother Goose Time makes character building a regular piece of our day. The first 5 years of a child’s life are critical to their social/emotional growth and a time when the brain is most receptive to learning.
It is an honor to join them on their journey!
We are so excited for our April unit with Mother Goose Time- “Bees and Butterflies”! This is always one of our favorite units and we learn so much! We spend the first two weeks learning about Bees and the second two weeks on Butterflies. Here is a sneak peek of what we are going to learn!
Our Portfolio dividers and one of the beautiful Daily Topic posters for April. We love the beautiful photographs on the Topic Posters- such a great way to get us thinking about what we are learning each morning. Thanks Mother Goose Time for giving us such a great platform for fun and learning!
We have reached the end of our “Desert Discovery” unit with Mother Goose Time– March flew by so fast!
Our Days were full of fun and STEAM learning, but one of our favorite activities was the Desert Night activity.
This project took two days and led to some great conversations. We began by drawing in crayon some things we thought we might find in the desert at night. There were animals, cactus, other plants, bugs and snakes. We talked about what animals might be awake and what might be sleeping at night, and why. Then we painted over our drawings with thinned black paint. The next day, when the painting was dry, we added sparkly stars in the night sky. This was one of our favorite projects.
Another favorite activity from our play shelf was the balancing cactus. Sometimes children were stack them independently, and sometimes we would use it as a cooperative game. We always love the new puzzle for each month from Mother Goose Time. It is a great way to add to our collection of available activities each month!
Each month with Mother Goose Time, we receive two new books (one Forest Friends Book and one exclusive MGT book) and we use the Recommended Book List to gather other great books from our collection or from the local library. Mother Goose Time is such a complete package program!
For the last week we have been on Spring Break at our school. We understand that for some parents, this is inconvenient, but what we do takes so much time and energy and we need breaks to refocus and rest. Spring break is always much needed, not because we don’t like what we do, but because our brains need a break. We spend all week looking after young children, planning and implementing lessons (thanks to Mother Goose Time, most of our lessons are already prepared for us), answering emails, cleaning, budgeting, menu planning, and grocery shopping (and no, that’s not all ).
We think about the following week, the following school year, special activities, and extra things we can do to help the young children in our care succeed (and no, that’s still not all).
It takes a lot to keep a licensed childcare center running. And if you are like us and share a space, our weekends are cut short due to setting up our center on Sunday’s. This means family time is cut short. Burn out is very real in the world of education. Breaks allow us time to re-charge. Spring break offers time to catch up with our own families. We get to spend quality time together, check-in with one another, and create more memories together.
Self-care is vital. When you spend most of your days looking after everyone else, it is easy to forget to take care of yourself. Educator’s tend to put everyone else before themselves, and breaks allow us time to take a step back and do something for ourselves. Not to mention, educator’s don’t stop thinking about their jobs just because they are on a break, they think about fresh ideas to start implementing as soon as they return. We really do love what we do, and we certainly have earned the breaks we have scheduled.
Educator’s shouldn’t feel guilty for taking a break – it is part of self-care and we have certainly worked hard for it. Here are some highlights from how some of our staff spent their Spring Break with friends and family!
