Mother Goose Time Giveaway Hop

This is so exciting!  Some of the blog ambassadors for Mother Goose Time and I are doing a Giveaway Hop.  We are each reviewing a few books and then giving them away!  We are doing all of this to celebrate the addition of these amazing books to Amazon.  Previously these books were only available in Mother Goose Time curriculum kits.

At the end of this post I will link up to the other blogs so you can hop on over and enter all the giveaways.  That should better your odds of a win.  Yay!

The first book I am giving away is called There Are Bugs by Chris Lensch.  This book came along with our Bugs and Crawly Things curriculum set.  It's perfect for any one studying bugs or just going through a bug faze!

This book not only has great illustrations by Chris Lensch but the part I love the most is that the bugs in the book are actual photos of the real thing.  The mix of the two come together beautifully.  

At the very end there is a glossary of bugs and crawly things.  If you are squeamish you might want to skip this page.  But if your home is anything like mine, full of boys who like bugs, this will be the most visited page of the book.

To see how we used this book to learn more about Bugs and Crawly things with Mother Goose Time click here.

Next is Waiter! Waiter! written by Leslie Falconer and illustrated by Chris Lensch.  This book is not just a book but a song and it's a catchy song at that.  Honestly, I wasn't sure how much my boys were getting out of reading this book.  But soon after reading it we were out to eat and they asked what the guy was called that was taking our order.  I said "waiter" and they started in on the Waiter, Waiter song. 

One of the reoccurring lines in the song is "waiter, waiter, I'd like some food, so I'll try to not be rude."  As the song/book continues it talks about different ways to not be rude - to be polite.

The page above illustrates how not to eat and makes everyone chuckle.  The page that comes next explains that we should chew with our mouths closed. 

When we were at the restaurant and got to the line about not being rude, both my boys asked what that meant and it lead to a really great conversation about manners when out to eat or at home for that matter!

The last page of this book includes the music and the words to this song, so you can hum along too. 

The last book you may win, is Baby Animals Learn And Play .  Who doesn't love baby animals?  This book is a fairly simple book with excellent photos of baby animals and how they play to learn.  But they have added a creative element I and my children found to be quite fun.

They have the words themselves move the same way the baby animal is moving.

They also end each page with a question that gets the kids you are sharing this book with actively participating. 

Sorry about all the pictures, but you really have to see it to fully understand how great this little book is.

To see how we used this book to explore the topic of Baby Animals with Mother Goose Time click  here.

Now it's time for the raffle!  Thank you for reading and thank you for entering to win.  I hope it's you!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here is the list of the other Mother Goose Time book giveaways this week. Hop on over, and enter to win at all of the blogs to increase your chances!

The Blue Elephant
Blessed Little Thistle
Hip Homeschooling
Only Passionate Curiosity
Book Wishes
Things to Share and Remember

This giveaway will be open from 1/26/2015- 2/2/2015. Prizes will be fulfilled by Mother Goose Time. Must be 18 years or older to enter to win, and a resident of the USA or Canada. Void where prohibited by law.


If you just can't wait to see if you win, you can purchase these MGT books and more at Amazon (affiliate links).   

Bugs & Crawly Things - Hills & Spider Webs

On Day 8 we were learning about hills.  For week 2 of this theme we are learning about bug homes and ants live in a hill.

We made these super cute ant hills for the craft that had a hole at the top and one at the bottom.  We put the yarn through each hole and tied in the back and stuck an ant to the yarn.  As you pulled it up and down the ant moved to the top of the hill and then to the bottom.  I didn't get a picture of the craft but I did get a picture of what was left over because I thought it was kind of funny.

What does a paper plate, cotton swab, glue and sand have in common?

When we were done with our Anthill Art I took the paper plate and it's contents with me to throw away.  Along the way my attention got pulled somewhere else and I set it down.  I came across it a little while later and just chuckled.  I thought to my self "only with Mother Goose Time would I find this combination of things just lying around my house."

The next part of the day about hills was to build a hill with our foam rectangle pieces for the activity called Tall Hills.  First they had to build one as big as they could.  It was a little tricky outside in the wind.  The foam pieces kept blowing away.  So you can see Joy trying to block the wind.

It was a good thing Joy was here because they had to count how many rectangles they used next and Lachlan can't count that high yet.  They used 41 rectangles. 

Next I had them build a hill with only 19 rectangles and I asked if it was bigger or smaller then their other hill.

I had Lachlan place the hands-on number 19 on the counting board. 

Here is there hill of only 19, still trying to protect it from the wind.

On Day 9 we learned all about spider webs.

First we made our own Spider Web Art.  Mother Goose Time provided us with these awesome cardboard rings with notches around the outside.  We took our piece of yarn and weaved it back and forth to make a web.  I thought this would be a synch for the boys but it turned out to be more challenging for them then I thought.  So I ended up doing the weaving while asking them where to put it each time.

 This is Peter giving it a try.

 Sticking his plastic spider on the web which was also provided in the supplies.

 Later I was able to make one with Lachlan and here are their finished products.

Also included in today's lesson was our monthly pattern.  This one being a bug pattern of course.  This was Peter working on this one, he did this all by himself with out even skipping a beat.  The first three were the only ones on the card, he added the rest. 

For this pattern activity there are 3 skills listed: Patterns and Sorting 18.1, Fine Motor 5.1 & Self Direction 2.3.

For patterns and sorting 18.1 I would put Peter at Benchmark E which states: Creates and extends three and four step patterns and plays complex memory games.  Benchmark D says that they can recreate two step patterns.  Peter can do patterns more challenging than that, so he is definitely above that benchmark.  Benchmark F says that they can determine the missing piece of a pattern and they can recognize simple patterns in the environment.  I am not sure if Peter can do that.  So I might have to try those two things out on him. It wouldn't surprise me if he could, he has always been good at memory games and patterns.  But for now I comfortably put him at Benchmark E.   

The last thing we did was for the Sticky Stuff lesson.  I had them feel the tape and describe it to me.  "Sticky" they both said.  We talked about how spider webs are sticky and that's how they catch things in their web.  Then we made our own sticky web in a cereal box.  I think it's kind of funny that it's a spiderman cereal box.  The sticky part of the tape is sticking out.  We are supposed to leave it outside for a couple of days to see what we can catch.  But it's been raining here so we had to leave it inside.  Not sure we will catch too much.  But it's still a neat idea.

Bugs & Crawly Things - Bee & Plants

These lessons were from both Day 5 & 6.

One of our favorite games that comes in the Mother Goose Time box is BINGO.  This is the second one that we have ran across in our time with Mother Goose Time, but we did take a couple months off for baby.  This months was Bug BINGO of course.  Instead of numbers each card has pictures of different bugs and then corresponding cards to draw form a pile.  I've used dried beans and this time pennies as markers.  The boys and I have played this everyday for like 3 days in a row.  I now have the game packed in my diaper bag, for those moments where we are waiting and need something to do.

Lachlan and Adam were both sleeping so Peter and I were playing a game together.  At first, they played with just one card each but have now worked their way up to playing with 2 each.  I have to watch their cards and help them call out BINGO when they win.  But I am sure with practice they will be able to see and call on their own.

Next I got out the I Can Read book for the month.  The site words we were looking for were I, am, the.   So first they had us say "I am the _______."  Which ever bug they wanted to be.  I chose the word I for Peter to search for first.  I had him choose a color he wanted to use to circle all the I's in the book with.  He chose yellow and first circled the letter I on the little word card first.  Actually, he came up with that idea, and then moved on to finding it in the book.

 

He found it on the back page too!

I love how hard he was working on this.  He had to get super close to circle it at first.  I used to do this, my parents thought my vision was bad.  But I just thought it was comfortable.

Listed as skills for this activity is: Letter/Word Recognition 12.1, Vocabulary 9.1, Social Relationships 3.2 and Communication 8.2.

For Letter/Word Recognition 12.1 the topic is Identifies Letters and Words.  I would probably put Peter at the beginning of Benchmark D, which is Preschool level.  Benchmark C says that they can recognize the difference between pictures, letters and numbers in print.  Peter can do that no problem.  Benchmark D states that they can recognize some common words in print, such as his/her name, mom, dad or stop.  Peter can find his name easily, but otherwise does not recognize other words from memory.  To get to the next benchmark he would need to know all upper and lowercase letters when presented in random order.  He knows quite a few, but not all of them yet.  The other part of the next benchmark, Benchmark E states that when shown a 2 or 3 letter word he could find it in print.  This he can do, and is doing here, but can't do the first part.  I would comfortably put him at Benchmark D. 

At the end of the book they had a tracing activity where they drew a line between the letter that the bug starts with and the bug.

On day 6, we were learning about plants, which are homes for some bugs.  The first lesson of the day was Catching Bugs which had us learning how to say different bug names in Spanish.  Peter was matching the illustrated cards with the picture cards of each bug and we practiced saying each bug in Spanish as he did so.

You are supposed to cut the words out as well but I have been leaving them attached to the picture.  I have lost the words on previous sets and gotten them all mixed up.  They are numbered so you can figure out which word goes with each picture even if you don't know what the Spanish word is.  But I have found this to be easier unless the activity in which we are supposed to do with them requires that they be cut apart.

The last activity Peter chose to do was this.

That took a lot of work to undo.

Bugs and Crawly Things - Grasshopper

This was Day 3 of this months themes and it ended up being one of my favorite days ever!

One of our first lessons of the day was Hop to the S.  I set up the letter S card in the middle of the room, which just happened to be in the rectangle we still have on the floor.  Then I put the phonics tags on each end of the room.

Next I gave them the Hands-On letter S and had them hop from the center letter to one of the phonics tags.  When they got there read the letter S word on the tag and tried to come up with some more.  S is a pretty easy letter, but we got stumped after just a few.

I guess, this "Day" was spread out to two days.  The first day was in the evening.  It was a beautiful day and the boys were outside.  So I took their My Little Journals out to the picnic table.

I asked Lachlan the discussion question.  What would you call a bug that hops on a tree? On Grass? On a stick?  It was a fun way for him to figure out why the grasshopper is called the grasshopper. 

 Next I had them draw a bug to look at under the magnify glass and they got right to work.

 Lachlan also wrote his name on the front.  I wrote it right above and he copied. 

They love doing the backside of the journal.  It's always some sort of matching activity.  This one matched a bug to his bug home.

Since we were still out there, I got the More Math and More Reading books out. There was another page to draw another bug in a magnify glass, which is what Lachlan is doing.  Peter is learning about the number 9 by drawing 9 dots on the back of the lady bug.

And this is a wide shot of my messy backyard.  But I just loved the view out my back door of my son doing "school".  He was out there cutting out another activity from the workbooks.  You really can learn, anywhere.

For Keeping it Clean we asked, what do you use to stay clean?  Soap.  We talked about germs and how we need to wash our hands, the table and counters to keep them clean.  I gave them each a wash clothe and asked them to wash the counter in an S shape.  They did, super quick, I didn't quite catch it with the camera.  Then Lachlan decided he wanted to fold his towel into a rectangle shape, which is the shape of the month.  Of course I was thrilled he was extending the lesson all on his own and he was pretty pleased with himself as well.

Next, he hopped down and and ran around to the other side of the counter where he put the Hands-On number 9 on the counting card and counted out 9 rectangles. 

Peter, took a cue from Lachlan, and decided to make his towel into the letter S.  Pretty clever, huh?  So proud.

But the best lesson of all was the Brave Grasshopper.  Mother Goose Time provided us with Brave feathers, friendship feathers is what they call them.  I first asked the question, what does it mean to be brave?  This is Lachlan's exact words and I am not entirely sure what he meant, but I had my pencil out ready to write his answer, so I wrote it down. "You got to be brave and think of what you know and think of what you are by."  Now that I write this out, I think it's from Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.  There is an episode about what to do when you are scared.  Like if there is a scary noise, think about what's around you that could be making that sound.  It's not a monster, it's just the dryer running, that sort of thing.

Then I told him the meaning of brave, being brave does not mean that you do not get scared.  Bravery means that even though you are scared, you try your best anyway.  Next it had us ask about a time they were scared.  Lachlan was thinking and thinking, then I said, I know of something you were scared to do today.  He immediately knew what I was talking about and said, "I was scared to say sorry when I kicked the ball and when I stole the toy."

On Thursday mornings we are now part of a homeschool co-op.  We get together and play and cover various topics.  Lately we have been covering safety, from strangers safety to fire safety, it's been great.  But as we were playing Lachlan kicked a ball which went zooming to the head of one of the other Moms, Stacey.  I gasped, oh no, Lachlan say sorry.  He was so embarrassed and upset, he just wouldn't say sorry.  I tried to explain to him that it was just an accident, but even when it's an accident we should say sorry.  Still he refused.

Last week, we also dealt with a first, stealing from a store.  It was a second hand store that has toys out for the kids to play with while you are in there.  There was this dollar store hotwheels type car that Lachlan thought was really cool, so he stuck it in his pocket.  When I found out what happened we returned it to the store, but he clammed up there too and did not say sorry.  So we came home and wrote a note and took it to the store.

So when we brought up the topic of Bravery and this came up, I took it as a perfect opportunity to roll play.  I chose to roll play the ball situation, since the stealing felt pretty well resolved.  I told him to pretend to kick the ball, so he did.  Then I pretended it hit me in the head and was upset.  Next I handed him the Brave feather and told him now that he has the feather, he is brave.  So he said "sorry".  We celebrated his accomplishment together. 

Then I asked Peter what he was afraid of and he said dinosaurs.  So I pretended to be a dinosaur.  Then I handed him his feather.  He said "I'm not scared of you!"

They added their own feat of bravery by climbing high onto the couch.  Not sure how brave I am of this situation.  But they survived.

You can see, Lachlan still has his brave feather in his hand as he jumps from the couch.

We ended our day by dancing to the grasshopper song, and a few more songs about bugs too.

 He's actually airborne in this one.  He did a great job following along. 

What a day!