Last week was all about Art in Italy. In Lesson 2, of Mother Goose Time’s Art Studio curriculum, the topic was “Portrait.” The day before they completed self-portraits, so we talked about the difference of a self-portrait and a portrait. Our Pre-K students paired up and sketched a portrait of their friend.

One of the activities in this lesson was called Magic Letters. The toddler class used the letters of each child’s name and wrote their names in the white crayons that Mother Goose Time provided. We love that Mother Goose Time provides so many of the materials needed for each lesson – it is really convenient!

Once the teachers wrote their names on the paper, the children got to paint with watercolors to uncover the hidden letters. Using the letters of the child’s name for this activity provided a great way to practice name recognition. The teachers traced their names in Sharpies when they were dry so that they could see them better. It is fun to see what colors the toddlers use and how each piece of artwork turns out.

Our first week with MGT Art Studio was a great success! We are learning a lot and having a lot of summertime fun!

Our school was closed last week for the 4th of July holiday. We came back this week and were excited to start our Art Studio curriculum. This is always a fun unit with Mother Goose Time. We love seeing the creative artwork that the children come up with.

For our self-portraits, our teachers decided to take pictures of each child. From there,they did things a little bit differently, depending on the age group they were working with. Our toddler teachers let the children pick out their own colors of paint and they painted a picture. The teachers attached their photo to it and they wrote four things that they thought described the child, such as “I am sweet,” “I am funny.” Our infant teacher let the babies do some finger painting and then attached their picture to it, making their “self-portraits.” Both of these classes had really sweet artwork!

Our preschoolers are able to describe some of their features, so this class was able to have a discussion about what color their eyes or hair are. The teacher set out the inspiration photo and took photos of each child in the classroom. She laid the photos on top of their paper and asked them questions about what they looked like. The children got to study their photos and talk about what they saw. After their discussion the children got to paint a picture of what they look like. It was really fun to use the child’s photos to complete these projects. The parents thought these self-portraits were really special!

To celebrate our last day of the school year, we took a family field trip to the Oregon Zoo in Portland. We had a total of 51 (students, parents, and siblings) and then a great group of kiddos under 2. It was an amazing turnout, a beautiful day, and such a fun way to wrap up our June “A to Zoo Animals” unit with Mother Goose Time!

Along the way, one of our kiddos spotted a collection of bees in the flowers and said, “Look Ms. Jennie, they are pollinating!” (April- Bees and Butterflies) As we finished up our school year with graduation and this adventure, I am always amazed at how much our children have learned and retained.

They have had fun, made friendships and a community of parents has been formed. I love having a moment to reflect on the impact our little school has on our community!

 

Ok, here’s a few highlights from our field trip!

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We had such a great day at the Zoo and we have really enjoyed our school year together! We are looking forward to Summer camp with Mother Goose Time (Art Studio and Science Lab). When there are great families and sweet children, there is always more fun to be had!

Do you ever find yourself needing an extra activity for your class? Maybe they finished what you had planned for the day faster than you expected, and there is still a lot of class time left. Or there isn’t much planned but you need to come up with an activity that ties into the unit. We love the Mother Goose Time ‘More Math’ and ‘More Literacy’ books for this reason. These books are a great way to incorporate some extra math and literacy practice into the day and they make great work samples. We get a set of these books each month and our Preschool and Pre-K.

Today we reviewed the letter M in class. We found the Measure the Moose Antlers worksheet in the More Math book, which tied in perfectly with today’s topic. With this worksheet they practiced scissor skills by cutting out the ruler and antlers. They decided which antlers they liked best on the moose and then practiced measuring. We worked on where to place the ruler when measuring something and then they lined up the antlers from smallest to biggest. This was a great way to see how everyone is doing on their scissor skills, and if they needed help it was a chance to remind them how we hold our scissors and that our thumb stays on top.

Another worksheet we did today to add some extra literacy in was a Quick Review, where they described what was happening in the three pictures and then told me what happened next. They all said similar things about the three pictures (the girl sat the apple on the fence, the raccoon saw the apple, and then by the third picture all of the animals ate the apple). They all had very different endings, for instance one child made his ending about an alligator finding another apple and sharing it with the girl after the animals ate hers. After everyone had a chance to dictate their story with me we read them as a class. It was fun to read all of the different endings, when the story started out the same.

Sometimes we make copies and send some pages home so the parents and children can work together. This gives the parents a chance to see what we are working on in class, and gets them working together and practicing these skills at home.

If you need something extra to do with your class, these books are great to have on hand! We love that they line up with the Developmental Continuum of Skills chart that Mother Goose Time provides at the beginning of the year. 13.1 was on our Quick Review worksheet, so we can easily match this worksheet to the chart and see what skill we are working on.

Mother Goose Time has a variety of ways to differentiate instruction and having these extra resources is just one example. Check out their website for more information about the basic curriculum and all the materials that can be added to any type of learning environment!

 

This last week our Pre-K class had a special guest. One of the parents from that class recently took a trip to Africa and brought back special beads for the children to make bracelets. Before they got to pick their beads and make their bracelet, we learned about how these beads were made and what special cause they support. The children learned that not everyone is provided a free education in elementary school, and we learned that the proceeds from the jewelry that is created with these beads helps send children to school as part of the Sub-Saharan Education Project. We think this is a great cause and have provided the link below, if anyone is interested in learning more!

 

The children got to see where Africa is on the map that Mother Goose Time provides us. We love that the map is colorful, because when asked if the children knew where Africa was, they responded with “It’s the brown one on the map!” They easily recognize the continents by what color they are.

The children had so much fun feeling the beads and picking out which ones they wanted to include in their bracelet. This was a special experience and we loved learning more about this special cause that she is a part of. 

This also gave us a chance to talk about what animals they might see in Africa, which tied into this month’s MGT “A to Zoo Animals” unit. We are loving this unit, and at the end of the month we are looking forward to seeing some of these animals at the Portland Zoo!

For more information about the Sub-Saharan Education Project please visit https://ssepempower.org/

and for more information about Mother Goose Time and the fun upcoming Summer Camp units, please visit https://www.mothergoosetime.com/

We are so excited for our June MGT unit, “A to Zoo Animals”! This is one of our favorite units and at the end of the month, we are planning to visit the Portland Zoo for a fun family day! There are so many fun activities for each letter/animal and I love how this unit is organized. It is a lot of fun and a great review of our basic concepts. It is also fun to see just how far our kids have come in their basic concepts!

One exciting link that is available in the online “Member Resources” for this month is the Letter Outlines. There are upper and lower case letter outlines available. We print a set of these and use  them throughout the year for a variety of activities.

 

 

 

 

In our Pre-K class, they use them to practice the Monthly Letters with words they can think of that start with that sound. They have been practicing all year and it is so fun to see how much their writing, letter and sound recognition has improved! They work together to create a word wall with Ms. Jennifer and then they get to choose which words they want to add to the Letter Outline.

 

These letter outlines are also great for quick and easy letter art projects. Yesterday, my friends made “Beautiful Alligators” for the Letter A, and today they made Blue Birds for the Letter B.

On top of the great curriculum kits and daily activities, we love that Mother Goose Time provides our teachers and children even more resources to tap into their creativity!

 

 

 

Engaging our community of families happens from the very first meeting. How a parent and child feel coming through the door for a tour is their first impression and it matters. Hopefully they feel welcome and at ease. Sometimes the classroom is busy with the activities in progress. Sometimes there is the remainder of snacks or art projects on the table because we were really excited to go outside. Sometimes there is sand on the floor that came in from recess that morning. Sometimes a child is sad at that moment, but seeing how the teacher handles the situation is what matters. Parents may appreciate the security of the building, the interactions they observe, our system for checking in/out and communicating throughout the day, etc. But parents always want to know what their child is going to do while they are at school.

We love that Mother Goose Time has this covered. Not only do we have a new theme each month that keeps us all excited and engaged, but we are automatically communicating about what we are learning by posting our theme posters from MGT. Parents and children look at the activities and books that are on the shelf that rotate with each unit. They look at the bulletin boards in the classroom to see what we are learning about. They may notice the artwork or writing that is displayed and all of this sets a standard that we are learning through play. We have activities planned each day that are fun and educational. While a child is in our care, they are not only loved and cared for, but also taught!

We are so excited for our upcoming unit, “A to Zoo Animals”, where we will review the alphabet and other basic concepts that we have learned throughout the school year. June is always a fun review and at the end of the month, we will be taking a family field trip to the zoo!

Learning together is so much fun!

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!

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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!