Do you hear what I hear?

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In Oregon we heard much needed rain fall on our rooftops and on our forests.  As soon as it rains I consider it candle lighting season and I just couldn't choose which one to light so I lit them all.

In the second week of the My Amazing Body theme we learned all about the five sense.  On this day we were focusing on the sense of hearing and we made our very own musical instrument out of a bowl.  First he colored the paper bowl, then I helped him stretch two rubber bands over the bowl.  When you pluck the rubber bands it makes an awesome sound.

We did things a bit backwards (for us) and did the Make & Play craft at the table as we were eating breakfast.  Then, after breakfast, I moved the Circle Time board to the living room so we could sit on the rug and try to work through the full Circle Time routine.  I asked the opening question about hearing, we checked the weather, talked through the days date, and I set out a few of the tools we were going to use that day.

This month I put all the calendar pieces on the calendar and created a gold star that I could use to mark the current day.  I was putting the dates up as we worked through the month but if we got a few days behind it would take a lot of time to catch up on our dates and delay the start to our day.

 Here is a close up of the gold star.

Once we completed all the Circle Time stuff we moved into the My Senses Game.  We were given a beautiful spinner with the five senses and cards with photos of items we could either hear, touch, see, smell or taste.  Some of them we could do multiple things with of course.  You can smell a skunk and possibly touch a skunk.

He spun a nose, I asked what he could do with his nose, smell of course, then asked which item he could smell. He found the rose first.

Next he spun an ear and I asked him what he does with his ear.  He pointed to his ear but gave me no response so I held my hand up to my ear like you can see him doing and asked again.  Honestly, I don't think we ever talked about how our ears hear, so he couldn't come up with the word.  See! Even the topics you think have been well covered by your little one in everyday life haven't been.  The information was never put together for him in this way.

Now we were off to find something we could hear.  He pointed straight at the french horn.

Here we go, spinning again and this time we got the mouth.  What do you do with your mouth? "Eat something" he said.  True.

Then he found the banana picture at the same time he happened to be eating a banana.

So I asked him, what does a banana taste like?  That's when I got the face you see below.  He took a bite and looked up as he chewed and thought about what a banana tasted like.  "A banana" he said.

Fair enough.  I am not really sure how I could describe a bananas taste either.  But it was fun for him to ponder.  The older boys were around as we were discussing this and I asked them which part of the mouth tastes.  Lachlan knew it was the tongue and that we had little bumps on our tongue that did the tasting.  I am assuming I can thank the "Magic School bus" for this scientific understanding.

At this point I lost Adam, he was ready to move on.  We had only one more activity to do to complete the day and it was a science experiment.

So I gathered all of the supplies and put them together and left them by the Circle Time board.  I figured there would be a natural time in the day where Adam would become curious and we could pick up the items and we would get started.  We were to drop the items in this metal bowl one at a time into the bowl and sort them by which items were LOUD when they hit the bowl and which were quiet.

This month all the Blog Ambassadors are talking about their routines.  Ours has always been pretty simple, we start at breakfast, usually doing Circle Time while we eat.  I ask about the weather, we talk about the date, study the pattern on the calendar, count along with the numbers, talk about the letter and the sound it makes.  Sometimes we sing the alphabet as I point to all the letters along the bottom.  We almost always sing the days of the week song and the months of the year song.  Usually by that time Adam is almost finished with eating breakfast and I get out one or two of the days activities that can be done at the table.  When he is ready to get down he is free to do so and I gather supplies for any remaining activities and leave them out for us to grab later in the day.

However, on this day we did things a bit different. We have been going to a preschool co-op where they are using Mother Goose Time and doing a formal Circle Time with other preschoolers once a week.  This inspired me to try to get him down in front of the board on the floor for a nice one on one formal Circle Time.  It went pretty well and I think I might try to incorporate this slightly switched up routine into our weeks more often.

Since our Circle Time has always been so informal I have never done much research or looking into how to do a good Circle Time.  But recently I have been watching videos and gathering ideas from the other Mother Goose Time Blog Ambassadors and hope to keep testing and trying out a variety of options to see what works best for us.

And now it's the big kids turn.  Lachlan finished up his writing assignment and then spend quite a while building a Lego RV.

Camping with Mother Goose Time

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This is such an awesome theme from Mother Goose Time!  We are learning all about camping, and guess what?  We are going camping in two weeks.  Day one we learned all about backpacks.  What kid doesn't love a backpack.

We got our My Little Journals in day ones box this month and Adam wanted to draw a picture on it right away.  He drew a backpack, which actually really resembled the shape of a backpack.  

 As always, my big 8 year old even joined in.  He drew a quick face on his backpack.

Then I had him write his last name on the name tag and practice spelling it out loud.  We have a LONG last name.  Other eight year olds may already have theirs memorized, but I have been afraid to tackle ours.

Peter, who is 6, traced and cut out hands for his backpack craft which he ended up turning into a puppet.

Adam, who is 3, has gotten really good at cutting so I gave him the alphabet cards that we were supposed to cut and put in our backpacks.  But this time he decided to try to cut them all together at once.  When I stopped him, he was heart broken and mad.  It took us a while to recover.  I really should know better by now.  I just really have a hard time seeing the beautiful Mother Goose Time tools get destroyed.   But I know the heart of the CEO of MGT and she would be genuinely happy for a child to just enjoy and be happy creating and learning however they see fit.  And cutting three pieces of card stock at once sure would build hand strength!

 When he had finished cutting his letters he put them all in his backpack.

 Peter's puppet just got out of the pool and is wrapped in a green towel.

 He put on his backpack . . .

 and herded chickens out of our house.

When he was in the backyard I took one of the extra name tags and wrote Adam's first and middle name on it with a red marker.  He had already written his "name" on one at the start of the day.  But his name as written by him is a bunch of zigzags.  I asked him to follow the lines of his name and he sat down and made sure to get them all.

 I took a video of him hard at work.  I love watching him concentrate.

And here is my table after they have all cleared out.  My coffee, which is now cold.  The egg we collected from the coop, papers everywhere.

Not to mention soggy cereal that never got finished.  I don't know why I keep doing this. I always jump into Mother Goose Time when we are at the table for breakfast.  It really works the best for us because with out the idea of food being served, my boys wouldn't stop long enough to come to the table.  But so much wasted cereal . . .

Mother Goose Time really can be done anywhere, I just need to get better about bringing it to them.

I put the Look & Find Glasses in Adam's backpack and set his backpack under the theme poster which I have taped on the wall this time.

 I put Adam's two name tags that he did this month on the back of our display board where you can see the progress he has made through out the year.

And then I cleaned up our table leaving just a few of the items they had been working on at their place setting so they can pick it up again at lunch or the next time they run by the table and it happens to catch their eye.  I also left the teacher guide out in my spot so that I could glance at it easily.  I often like to use the discussion questions as conversation starters through out the day.

We pretty quickly moved through this day of lessons and there is so much more that we could do.  We really could dive into each day of lessons for a few actual days.  I just keep telling myself, doing something is better than nothing.

Random Mother Goose Time and Experience God Learning

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Although my follow through of Mother Goose Time lessons may be random, what they teach and how they teach it is not.  That I know for sure.

We have implemented the new 10 drawer system which has lead to bits and pieces of Mother Goose Time done here and there.  I don't see that as a negative though because it has given my 3 year old much more choice and freedom in how he wants to do "school".   He is able to initiate school time which has lead to some really amazing time together.  So this post is going to include random MGT and Experience God activities we have done here and there.

First up is an Experience God lesson.  We have taken a long break from Experience God because I just didn't feel like I was using it to it's full potential.  What we did instead was read little daily devotionals from the Jesus is Calling book or spent some time memorizing scriptures from our Awana book.  Although these are great and quick options, Experience God really makes things interactive and brings a whole new level to biblical truths.  This month is called "God is Eternal" and in week one we are learning that God Always Was, Is and Will Be.  All three boys were sitting at the counter eating breakfast and I was across from them, I thought it was perfect time to pull out the tri-fold paper I had pre-folded.  I painted a pattern on the center section, then folded one side in and then the other.  Then I showed them that the shape was the same in all three sections and I pointed to them and called the first section, "yesterday", middle section "today" and the right section "forever".  Each day has a little blue box with a simple synopsis of the lesson.  "God never changes.  We can trust him to always love us."  Then I added, He is the same yesterday, today and always.

And then we went to the beach for our anniversary with a plus one and ate gelato.

Now onto day 1 learning about islands. We actually completed most of this days lessons.  First Adam got to explore the new foam letters and numbers.  I sent numbers one through six with him to the bathroom sink.

The Great Kite Rescue

This story is a classic tale of childhood - the kite that got stuck in the tree.

Lachlan got his new kite on Easter.  We took it to the park a few days ago and he got his first real experience with flying a kite all by himself.  Since then he has been obsessed with flying his kite.  An obsession I can fully support. Thankfully our neighborhood doesn't have power lines, everything is under ground.  So he can fly in our front yard and in the street.  There are a few trees though, so we warned him and warned him again - keep your string short and don't get close to trees.

Well, a warning is one thing, but don't we all learn better by making our own mistakes?  I think it is safe to say, Lachlan has learned his lesson.

I tried pulling on the string to see if I could get it loose and it was not budging.  It looked too high for a ladder and Lachlan, who normally loves to climb trees, was a little nervous about the height.  I knew my husband would have some ideas when he got home from work but I couldn't stop my wheels from turning.  I even put it out there on Facebook for my friends to give some advice.  One idea was to train a squirrel to fetch. ;)

I said to Lachlan, I wonder if we could call someone to help.  His first idea was to call Mayor John, because he can solve any problem in this town.  We had a special meeting with him a while back.

But my first thought was a cherry picker truck.  Hmm ... do I know anyone who would have one.  Don't think I do.  That's when MINET fiber popped into my head.  I knew they had some because I have seen them working around town.  I also knew that they were a local company with roots in this community and we have always had great experiences with them.  So I sent them an instant message through Facebook.  I figured I didn't need to tie up the phone lines with this request, but if someone happens to see our message for help and wants to lend a hand, then great!

The next thing I know I get a message back asking for our address, then they let me know they would send a tech out AND there happened to be one in the neighborhood.  Not even 10 minutes later he was here and rescuing Lachlan's beloved kite.

I really couldn't stop laughing.  It was such a fun and special moment.  I am just so thankful for our wonderful community and it warms my heart when we humans help each other.  I would even bet, that when this gentleman got the call to save a kite and make a little boys day, it brought a smile to his face.  He seemed happy to help.

Once the kite was finally safe and back on the ground we asked for a picture with the kite rescuer - our hero.

Everyone wanted to be in the picture with him, so they crowded around.  The sad part is, I didn't even ask him his name!  Thank you, to whoever you are and to MINET for saving the day!

Thanks to you, the kite got it's chance to fly once more!

Tadpoles At the Pond

It was tadpole day with Mother Goose Time and we asked a lot of questions.  I paid extra attention to the answers I was given as we worked through all the discussion questions.

We started with "How is a tadpole like a frog?  How is it different from a frog?"  I had already handed out the craft for the day, so it took me a while to get an answer on this one.  But finally I was told that tadpoles don't have legs and frogs do but that tadpoles have tails and frogs don't.

 Peter made a rainbow tadpole but was a bit sad that he somehow left out yellow.

I cut apart the pattern set and thought I would try it with Adam this month.  Instead of having him continue the pattern, I had him match the pattern.

 So he matched the bottom picture to the top picture on the pattern strip.

 From there I had him continue the pattern.  I put the frog eggs down after the frog and asked him what came next while pointing to the first picture of frog eggs in the pattern.  He was able to figure it out and he grabbed the tadpole picture and put it in place.  So we continued and finished another full set of the pattern.

 At this point Peter had his Tadpole Dancer done and then I asked the discussion question.  "How can you move your hand through the air?"

Then Mother Goose Time had us ask, "What do you think happens if you wave your hands back and forth quickly in the water?"  I added "Is it harder or easier?"  This is where Lachlan gave me an awesome answer, "It's harder because the water pushes against you."  Then I explained that it's called resistance.  And now we have covered physics.

Lachlan decided he would make a Tadpole Dancer after all and tested it out making shapes in the air.

Next we got out our My Little Journals and I decorated our covers.  First I showed them how to color their finger tip with a marker, then press it to the paper to make a finger print dot, then add a tail to make it look like a tadpole. Here is Lachlan's which has three tadpoles swimming towards the surface towards their Mom.

Peter did the back of the journal first, which had a little maze.

 Then he got to work on his journal cover.

 He had to tell me all about his picture, sadly I was multitasking and didn't really listen to all the details.  Come on Tracy!!

I believe, he drew the full life cycle of a frog.  Oh and something about tadpoles jumping, which is what the arrow is for.

Now everyone was getting anxious to get outside and ride bikes.  The sun was out and I thought it was a good idea.  So I completed the Closing Time section on the go.  I talked with Peter about what he thought might be fun and might be scary about being a tadpole.  He didn't seem to be able to think of what would be fun, so I answered.  Living in the water would be fun!  He said the scary part would be "all the predators."

 I played the "I'm Sorry" song on my phone.

Then I asked what he thought a tadpole might say to another tadpole if they bumped into each other.  We talked about how we should say I am sorry if we accidentally hurt someone.  Then I asked what he should say if some one says I am sorry.  His response "it's okay."  That is the typical response of course but I coached him by saying you can also say "I forgive you."  We talked about how it feels good to be forgiven when we make mistakes.

Lachlan was already out the door riding bikes, but Peter and I had this chat as we were getting ready to head out.  I punched out three of the "Forgiving Feathers" and handed one to Peter.  Then off we went outside. The Tadpole Dancer came out with us and made for a perfect kitty toy.

I have said it a thousand times, but I love the discussion questions and all the conversations they start.  If I could give a parent of a toddler or preschooler any advice, it would be this, ask more questions and wait and really listen to their answers.  You will not regret it!  Getting a glimpse inside their mind is priceless!  They are capable of so much more than we realize.