F is for Fox

A to Zoo Animals with Mother Goose Time

F is for Fox

You've probably noticed that we've jumped around on the order of this unit quite a bit. It's been fun and we finally got to the day about foxes.

I remembered that I had a kids origami set with various animals by Djeco and one of the animals was a fox. In the guidebook it suggests reading the Aesop's Fable, The Fox and the Grapes. I figured they would pair together nicely.

So, Mr A and I got to folding the fox by following the instructions and using the pre-printed folding lines. He did very well following my instruction.

After our foxes were done, I read the fable while the boys acted out the story with the small bunch of grapes and origami foxes.
We learned that you shouldn't give up just because something is hard. Try again or try something new to figure out your problem. Getting mad and giving up does not solve any problem.

The boys love the storytelling sets, mostly for the cut outs. We combined a few separate activities into one, since I knew doing them separately would not work very well for the boys. The first was the storytelling set with the poster and cutouts, the second was the Story Starters and animal cubes. You were supposed to roll the two cubes and pick a story starter to tell a short story about the two animals that were rolled on the cubes. But, the boys rolled the cubes to add an animal to the poster and find a place for it to live. I chose a story starter and tried to get to the boys to answer. We didn't get very far with the stories.

The otter was laughing because he was being ticked by the bird.

The hippo was very tired from walking instead of swimming.

When the boys were over playing this game, Mr A wanted to take the animal cutouts outside. His favorite thing to do is hide them in the yard for someone to find. So, they played that for awhile.

Mr A lost interest in the MGT craft that was provided for the day. He said that it was something that they had already made and didn't want to do it. He's an interesting fellow. But, we did make a similar craft last year sometime... a letter F cutout that you turn into a fox by adding a tail or ears etc. I just think its funny that Mr A easily loses interest if its something he has already done or learned about.
We've been struggling with a few of the days this month because the animals have been repeats from other units... Dolphin, Elephant, Camel and several more. We've done them and Mr A was bored with it. The activities have been hit or miss. Oh well.
July's Art Studio should sure be fun... it's a lot different than anything we've done before.

M is for Moose

A to Zoo Animals with Mother Goose Time

M is for Moose

I don't usually focus too much on one activity that we did. Instead, I just do an overview of what we did for the day while highlighting things. But, this was a fun math lesson from Mother Goose Time.

Moose Math. It consisted of a number cards, mini popsicle sticks, and a sheet with a moose missing his antlers.

Each boy picked a number card and put it on the blank space. Then added that many of sticks to their side of the antlers.

Mr Z could tell me which side had more sticks. With Mr A I tried to work on greater than, less than, or equal to. We talked a little bit about how the "alligator mouth" eats the larger number and how the equation is read after you determine which way the sign goes. Mr A was also hoping that there were more number cards than just 6 but I forgot to make some of our own.

This was a great activity for both boys. It was simple enough for Mr Z but could be extended to something more advanced for Mr A. I was impressed... because normally I don't do very well at accommodating the learning levels of both boys.
What a fun little game to practice math.

I love this picture of Mr Z pretending to be a moose. We were making up our own song about a moose and the sound the letter M makes. It was fun to watch and listen to Mr Z as he danced around like a moose singing the tune we made up.

Happy Learning with whatever you are working on.

Shedding Skin Science

A to Zoo Animals with Mother Goose Time

R is for Rattlesnake

I normally don't write about these much, but the science cards are so fun from MGT. They are simple experiments to get the kids introduced to science and connected to the topic in a different way. Most of the time, I usually don't have all the components of the experiment, or I am involved and don't many, if any, pictures.

The cards are broken down into 6 steps with easy instructions and pictures. Usually Mr A can figure out what to do just by the photos.

We discussed a little bit about why a snake sheds its skin. Mr A said it was because the snake grows too big for its skin and needs a new one. We talked about what a snake would use to get the skin off since it doesn't have any hands. Mr A suggested the sunshine because the heat would get it off. I mentioned things like logs, rocks or bushes and Mr A wasn't convinced those would be good options because those would hurt.
For the experiment:
Glue was squirted onto the boys' hands and spread thinly over the palm.

 We used the box fan to help the glue dry faster.

Then they peeled off the dried glue, trying to get big pieces. The boys spent close to 30 minutes, quietly peeling glue off of their hands. I thought to myself that this would be a good calming activity when they're acting all crazy or need a time-out.

I tried to ask questions like "Do you think this is how it feels for a snake to shed his skin? ... Shedding skin takes a long doesn't it?" They were rather occupied and only shook their heads. They kept comparing the piles of dried glue they collected from their hands to see who had more.

Mr Z liked peeling glue off of his hands so much that he wanted to do it the next day too.
A simple experiment to see "shedding skin" in action was a hit. I remember doing it in school when I was bored. Sometimes, the things you did in elementary school as a kid are the best learning experiences for your little ones.
MGT science for the win.

Sometimes You Need A Break

A to Zoo Animals with Mother Goose Time

T is for Tiger

The other day, I asked Mr A what animal he wanted to learn about. The response I got was, "I'm not ready for that question." I tried to explain that we didn't have to do anything right away, but that I just wanted to get things prepared. He reluctantly picked out Tigers from the the MGT daily discovery bags because he saw that it had a craft inside.

I looked through the guidebook and found the idea of making a collage. So, I figured that would be a hit since it was an additional craft. I gathered different colored scrapbook papers, in a range of tiger colors, for them to cut up however they wished and to glue onto a piece of construction paper. In the guidebook it suggested to use different old wrapping papers or tissue, but I didn't have any of that. After I gathered all of the materials, I called over the boys. I guess that was a mistake and it was too early for any type of learning discussion or activity.

A whole lot of whining ensued and fits over little things from both of them. Mr A only cut a few strips and Mr Z didn't want to do any cutting. He just wanted to glue and only got 3 shapes onto his paper before deciding this activity was not what he wanted to be doing.

So, I called it quits and sent the boys on their way to play how they wished. I guess I didn't listen very well when Mr A implied that he really didn't want to do anything for awhile. Sometimes you just need a break from anything structured.

The boys went the whole without doing anything MGT related... until almost bedtime. Mr A realized that they didn't do the Tiger Mask craft that he had originally wanted to do. So, we gathered up the materials provided from MGT and some crayons & markers and got to it.

For a few minutes the boys got distracted by tearing paper off of crayons. Looks of concentration on kids is so amusing. Focus shows on all parts of their little faces and it makes me happy.

 Mr Z scribbled all over his mask... with his tongue sticking out for more concentration and focus. (His daddy does it too. LOL)

 Mr A was insistent that I didn't look at his mask until he said I could. So I tried hard not to see it while I took a picture of his. He was trying to make his look the one on the instructional sheet.

 Mr Z finished his and was a tiger for a little while before sitting down to look at the pictures of the book, Leo the Late Bloomer.

 Mr Z needed to capture a picture of me and my tiger too.

Mr A finally finished and was satisfied with his. I had little tigers scampering about the house before bedtime.

I do give the boys so much time to be kids and play and imagine and be outside without any structured time. I'm grateful that they are allowed to be kids. I guess some days I do get a little selfish and want to get lessons done and I get too stubborn about it. I should have listened in the morning that they just wanted to play for awhile. I pushed them to do a craft when they weren't ready for it and it did not go well. That's my fault. They usually tell me when they are ready to be productive. I should listen better. We needed a break, I guess. That's okay. We ended up getting one craft done out of 6 activities from the guidebook. Some days that's just how it goes.

Vulture vs Urchin

A to Zoo Animals with Mother Goose Time

V is for Vulture and U is for Urchin

As you may have noticed, we are not doing this month's curriculum in alphabetical order. Mr A likes to pick what animal he wants to learn about. I think that it gives him a sense of control and sparks more interest in the lessons. Because why should I prep a lesson and spend tons of time getting things together, if he doesn't even care about it. Well, I mean, sometimes I choose... but not very often. My favorite conversations with the boys is when I don't have anything in particular planned and one of them starts by asking, "What are we learning about today Mom?"

Now, I'm sure by now you know that MGT sends some pretty awesome things in each month's box. Since the theme is zoo animals, we got more animal figurines to use for various activities. These are always the boys' favorite. However, these animals are a softer plastic/rubber and are a little bit flimsy. They get frustrated when they won't stand up properly or the tails eventually get pulled off. But, those things don't actually make them love the figurines any less. Mr A and Mr Z will play and play with all of these shape counters/manipulatives/figurines... whatever you want to call them.

The boys started off by playing with these and sorted by color and animal type. They put them "into families" as they like to call it. It usually works out great with the colors that they are made in for when they like to divide them up... Mr A gets yellow and blue while Mr Z gets the green and red. It rarely differs from that. Luckily, they have pretty much settled when new shapes are sent in the box.

For the rest of the activities and discussions today, it was like pulling teeth. Mr A would say he wanted to do something then completely change his mind and go do something else. When I finally gave up trying to "do MGT", they were ready to sit and do some things.
So... we talked about the differences of the urchin and vulture by looking at our zookeeper animal cards. We noticed that they are pretty much opposite animal types. One living in water, the other in the sky/on land. One having (maybe) soft feathers, the other sharp pokey spikes.
 Then they sat nicely and painted a letter U paper, provided by MGT with a porcupine ball. I was surprised that they both actually used the porcupine ball the entire time. Both boys normally ask for a paint brush or something that is easier to hold.

 Mr Z likes to add lots of color right away.

 Then mixes it all together to make brown.

 Of course, swirling the paint all together in his bowl is a must too... so he gets even more brown.

 Mr A said, "My U is getting really sea urchin style with of these spikes," after he filled up his letter.

 Once a month, MGT also sends a postcard in the box somewhere. After talking about different animals that live at the zoo, they colored a picture on the front. Mr Z drew some kind of rainbow I guess. Mr A copied his favorite animal toy, Little Howler, and called it a coyote snow fox on his postcard. Mr A also dictated what message to write on the back and who to send them too

Some days are just a pain to try to do lessons and activities. This was one of those days. But, finally, it came together and we were able to do a few things. Even if we only get one or two activities done, I still feel accomplished or better that we did something productive.

G is for G-G-Gorilla

A to Zoo Animals with Mother Goose Time

At about 5pm last night, Mr A mentioned that we hadn't done any activities. So, I told him to go pick an animal picture from the Zookeeper booklet that he wanted to do. He picked gorilla. While they ate dinner and had a bath, I gathered a few things and looked over the MGT lesson. We ended up only doing two things since it was already getting late. But, I'm happy he was eager to do something from the lessons since they were busy just playing all day.

One of the extra things (manipulatives) that came in the month's curriculum were alphabet tiles. They remind me of plastic scrabble letter tiles. We used them for Mr Z to match the letter on the Gorilla Letter Search Card. Mr A liked to give him the letter and help Mr Z find the letter if he was taking too long himself. We went over the sound the letter and the name. 

Mr A did a great impression of a gorilla. He walked on his fisted hands, pounded his chest and made several grunting noises around the house.

The Gorilla Mask craft.

This is what the instructional sheets look like. It has a focus question, explore/play idea and instructions on how to do the craft. Mr A likes making his look like the picture. I tried to tell him that the comb that was included in the materials was to paint a textured hair look, but he had already decided that he was going to glue his comb onto the head of his mask... because that is how it looks in the picture.

We talked a little bit about gorilla's grooming each other. They thought it was gross that they had bugs that may need to get picked off and sometimes eaten after one is found.

Mr Z decided he wanted to use his favorite color paint to use the comb... after he had brushed his own hair for a few minutes with the comb.

Mr A just wanted to color his with marker. He left a space on the gorilla's forehead, where he had traced the comb, to glue it on when he was finished coloring.

Mr Z painted away with his comb, flicking his wrist to try to get a different texture. He ended up just getting too much paint in one spot and couldn't really make the hair-like lines.

It looks like Mr Z's gorilla got into a battle with the red paint... and of course, he needed to glue the comb to the forehead too like his brother did.

Mr A was proud of the ears, nose and mouth he colored on the face.