The River

Bubbles Boats & Floats: a new unit with Mother Goose Time

This month we are headed to the water and learning all things that go along with it. Conservation, states of water, things that live in the water, what you can do with water, the water cycle and so much more. My boys love water, so this should be an exciting unit.

We got a late start with the beginning of the month. I was sick last week so we didn't get to go a few field trips to end the Bees & Butterflies unit with a bang. Then this week, the husband and I went on vacation for a few days. I did leave the first three days of lessons with the boys so they could, maybe, do some MGT with the grandparents... but of course that didn't happen. So now we are back to filling our days with activities, crafts and lessons.

Day 1 of Bubbles Boats & Floats starts with the River. This was one of those topics for me, that I thought "River? Really? What am I going to do with the River?" But, turns out it wasn't so hard or boring. The river is an amazing place and while doing extra research, found lots of things that Mr A would find interesting too. The Teacher Guide has great activities, but I like to expand the factual information for Mr A.

Using the colored Fish Cards from the Daily Discovery Bag, I set up some blue blankets like a river. First they were just narrowly folded on the ground.I spread out the Fish Cards, but then decided that the river needed a waterfall, so we moved it to the chair and pretended our river started in the mountains. Mr Z used the Shape Link manipulatives to match the color to the fish.

Mr A found our Geography Terms poster and turned the blue river at the bottom of the waterfall into a lake. And that's where the fish lived. He also started to make a dam out of blocks at the bottom of the lake to keep the water from spilling everywhere.

We talked about the uses of a river and what can be found in the river while setting things up and playing. Mr A came up with fish and broken rusty chains that were in the river water. We decided that rivers were used for animal habitats, drinking water, farming and food and making energy.

We found the bear block and talked about how bears live near the water and fish. The salmon swim up the river and jump up the waterfall while the bear stands on a rock and tries to grab the fish with his mouth.

Lots of other animals live in the water too... alligators, salamanders, frogs, snakes, pink dolphins or sharks depending on where the river is located. Mr A is pretending to be a shark, apparently a bottom dweller that doesn't move much.

Mr A found another blanket that had fish, plants and coral on the back. He decided to add the blanket to the corner of the lake. The water emptied from the lake and continued into the ocean where there was a coral reef. Mr A added "rocks" to the top of the waterfall to slow the flow of the river at the top and rocks to the lake so the animals that lived near the river could go fishing easier.

The fish cards were moved to the bottom of the river to the coral reef so that all the fish could live together.

Mr A also spread the Shape Links around the reef to represent pollution and the broken rusty chains. Mr Z moved the colored links to their matching fish.

I don't know why, but I'm always amazed at how one activity can change and evolve so much. A simple blanket river turned into a river that started in the mountains, formed a waterfall that emptied into a lake, which leaked through a swamp (of block plants) forming another river that emptied into the ocean with a coral reef all while the animals migrated to follow the fish to the top of the river by the waterfall and back down to the reef.

During the playtime, we had discussions of what a habitat is and what animals live there, why the river is important to animals and humans, what can be done with river water, geography and formation of the river, color matching... one 20 minute playtime with blankets and blocks turned into a great lesson about rivers.

This was just the first activity!

The Queen and Her Babies

Mother Goose Time provides great lesson plans in the Teacher Guide that are simple to follow. I love that I can just follow the guide exactly, or expand on the activities if needed. Many of the lessons are guided by the adult at first, but usually led by child in the end. Its amazing how the activities transform from what is written on paper to what actually occurs.

Anyway, here is what my book usually likes on a daily basis when I prep the night before. Since, I usually do the prep the night before, I don't have all the materials on-hand. So I make notes what I can substitute. I highlight the focus questions and the 'Explain' portions of factual information, it helps me remember. Then, I add activities that I come up with on my own or ideas I've seen on the internet somewhere in the Notes section. Sometimes we get to everything, sometimes we don't. Sometimes, I carry over things we didn't get done from the previous day(s). But, no matter what we do for that day... its always fun.

I don't know what it is about laundry baskets and boxes, but the boys go nuts over them. They play all sorts of things with them. It makes me wonder why they have so many actual toys.

Anyway, today we used laundry baskets and boxes as the cells of the honeycomb. I thought I had enough different sizes that there would be a few that were too small for the boys. Mr Z could fit in them all. I was planning on playing a game of 'Do I Fit?' and see if the boys were too big or small for the different honeycomb cells. They were pretending to be bees and having a great time jumping from cell to cell.

We took a break from the honeycomb cells to make our Bee Headband. Mr A made sure that I was going to be the queen bee since I'm the mom. All of the materials for the headband were included for the boys in the daily packet: chenille stems for the antennae, pompom for the top of the antennae, black paper for the stinger & other designs, and yellow paper strips for the headband.
Mr A worked hard to get his headband just right. He wrapped the pompom in the chenille stem, colored a large stripe on the yellow headband and measured his own head and stapled the ends so his band would fit.

I helped Mr Z glue on his stripes for his bee hat. He likes to tell me where to put the glue and he puts the paper in its place.
They both look pretty cute as little bees. Even our puppy Sabre had a turn with a headband; she did not enjoy it very much.

While making my Queen Bee Headband, we realized that my head was too big for the paper headband. My solution was to just tuck the chenille stems into my hair. It worked for a little while.
I asked Mr A what the queen bee's job was. His reply... to lay the eggs.

The boys buzzed around the house like little bees while flapping their arms and making sounds. Mr A was sure to mention that our whole house was actually a hive, so they'd be safe and could go wherever they needed to. (While crafting we talked about the bee development cycle and even when the babies get wings, they still have to stay close to the hive so they don't get hurt.)
They collected all sorts of yellow and orange things, placed them on the couch and then gathered them up again. The yellow items were pollen. They took the pollen to the honeycomb cells so that it could be made into honey.

While Mr A was hunting for yellow things to use as pollen, he found my cotton headband in my room. He came back excited that he had found a solution to make my antennae work better and not just stick in my hair. What a great problem solver he is.

One of the suggested activities in the teacher guide was to use different sized pompom to sort with tweezers. 15 small pompom were supposed to represent baby bees and when found, place them into the honeycomb cells or egg carton. I did not have pompoms, but I did remember I had these mini erasers: bees, butterflies, dragonflies and ladybugs. They worked just fine.
Mr Z kind of did whatever he wanted and tried to hoard them all in his hands after using the tweezers for 2 minutes. I tried to get him to place them on the number card to count with me, but he wasn't having to do with any of that.

Mr A did a great job of sorting the different insects into the egg carton though.

Mr A took the insect erasers outside. Apparently, the bees and butterflies liked me for a little bit. But then they all flew away to gather for an insect meeting on the ground in the shade. I wasn't allowed to know what the meeting was about.

I'm glad I get to be the Queen Bee to these little baby bees. They drive be batty, but it is so fun to watch them learn, grow and be kids.

The Chrysalis and Dramatic Play

Bees and Butterflies from Mother Goose Time does not disappoint. We started the month with week 3 this time around and it was a wise decision. The boys have been loving it. This week, each day has been about one stage in the metamorphosis process. Today was about the chrysalis.

We started by watching a few videos on the computer. This one , one here, and this last one. The boys were fascinated.

Last night as I looked over the lessons in the Teacher Guide book, I thought to myself, 'It would be awesome to make a cocoon with a butterfly inside somehow. Butterfly in a balloon chrysalis or something.' So, this morning while the boys were watching a show and eating breakfast, I shoved a butterfly figure in a balloon, blew it up slightly and painted it green. The paint didn't stay on the latex very well. But, I hung them outside in the trees and after the boys were dressed, we headed outside to play Where's The Chrysalis?. Of course they found them pretty quickly and used a toothpick to pop them open. What excitement it was to discover a butterfly inside.

Mr A needed another chrysalis. Bigger this time and more butterflies inside. They hid them around the yard for themselves and said things like, Oh my look at this chrysalis... I wonder what this is... Mom, look what I found. Its a chrysalis with butterflies.

The boys have been playing butterflies all day long and in many different ways. They used the old silk flowers to catch and feed the butterflies (bought on Amazon) their nectar.

Mr A set up all the silk flowers in the small bushes in the front yard. Then they both found a flower for each butterfly to land on.

After taking a quiet time break for a little while after lunch. The boys were ready to go outside again. Mr A came to me with parachute and movement flags and said ... We need to use these things to be wrapped up like a caterpillar in a cocoon, then fly away like a butterfly.  And we have to do it outside. Since he had such a plan for the items he gathered, I couldn't say no. Especially because it was about butterflies.

Mr A wrapped up Mr Z in the parachute to look like a caterpillar.

Then Mr Z had to stand and get wrapped again to be inside the chrysalis.

Finally, he was able to emerge from the parachute chrysalis and fly away like a beautiful butterfly.

As they both flew around the yard, they stopped to drink nectar from various things, like the chairs.

The boys stood still with their wings down to rest.

Then of course, they were off again. They continued to change their game. They made traps with the chairs and took turns catching each other. They raced to see which butterfly was faster.

Today consisted of mostly dramatic play revolving around the butterfly and its life cycle. It was pretty awesome. I'm so happy this subject is being so well received.

Surprised Bunnies

We started the morning with blocks. Mr Z had dragged them out of the toy room. Mr A helped Mr Z make this house. Then they lined up the school bus counters from MGT in and around the house they built.

Our new focus letter for the month is P. So, I threw some magnetic letters in a bin with popcorn kernels. The boys dug around for letters for quite some time and Mr A found the letter P. He flipped it around and noticed that it could also be the lowercase letter B.
He is getting better at his letter identification and the sounds they make. I'll be honest it was stressing me out that he has no interest in Language Arts and learning the phonetics of the alphabet. But, then I decided that he has plenty of time! He'll learn it eventually and it doesn't need to be forced upon him at this point. I'm okay with letting him have more fun playing, doing crafts and working with numbers. Interest in letters will come... in the meantime, I ask simple questions like "What letter is that?" or "What sound does it make?" Now his curiosity comes naturally. He sounds words out to pick out the first letter he hears. Its becoming more frequent although, he still prefers other subjects. He wonders and questions on his own, especially while driving in the car. (That's where he has the most time to think about things because there's nothing else to really do. There and in the bathroom... If your child likes company that is. I've learned so much about Mr A from just having conversations with him in the car and the bathroom. Take time to listen when they really want to know something or just talk to you.)
Anway, I've decided to let him take the lead on the Language Arts subject. If I force this subject, he will not enjoy it... ever.

The tractor helped dig out the letters and deliver them to the sight word cards from MGT.

Mr A made his Clown Shaker craft in the evening. He says his favorite part was just putting the beans inside of the plates and stapling it together. That made me laugh. He got lots of glue stuck on his fingers this time around. I showed him what I used to do all the time at school and at home when I was a kid... put a thin layer of glue on my finger tips and let it dry then peel it off. I made a perfect glue fingerprint. Mr A thought it was fantastic and made his own. It was nice to have him sitting in silence waiting for his glue to dry. Then he sat in silent concentration while peeling it all off. I added that it did feel a little funny pulling the glue off. I imagined it would feel something like a reptile shedding its skin. Mr A agreed.

Nailed it. I love his super huge clown mouth. I guess its a clown with a lion mane.

So, the one activity we did from Mother Goose Time that I didn't get any pictures of, was a dramatic play game. I was actually busy participating and playing with the boys. This was one activity I wish I had gotten some kind of picture or video, but I'm glad that I didn't because we were having so much fun together.
We were given two different cubes from MGT. One with the picture and word of different animals and the other had pictures and words of feelings. We rolled both at the same time. Mr A rolled 'mad' and 'cat' first. He didn't really know what to do at first. So I made the noise of what I think a mad cat sounds like while making a scratching motion with my hands. The boys mimicked what I had done. They thought it was hilarious. So we kept rolling the Dramatic Cube Dice for different combinations: sleepy snake, mad dog, scared fish. My favorite was the 'surprised bunny'. We crouched down low like a bunny, then sprang into the air and hopped to the other side of the room. The boys hopped all around the house. Animals can have different emotions too and sometimes. What fun!