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Fun with Sleds

With Christmas coming in just a few short days we decided to take it easy this week. We did lots of cookie baking, present wrapping, and movie watching. For my daughters school work this week we mostly focused on learning about different Christmas traditions from different countries. We then made an ornament to help us remember what we learned for each country. It made for a very fun and meaningful Christmas tree this year. The only part of our normal routine that we continued was our Mother Goose Time. The great thing about this program is how flexible it is. I love that I can really get into a week or even just a day and do everything that is listed in the teacher guide, or I can pick and choose what we do to make it an easy fun day. I liked that even though we weren't really doing a lot of school this week Mother Goose Time helped to make it feel like there was still some structure to the day. We continued our morning routine of calendar, weather, song and a story which helped get us going in the morning. Then we followed up with either a fun game or art activity that was supplied in the daily bags.

This week was all about winter gear. The daily themes were mittens, snowshoes, sled, coat, and hat and scarf. My sons favorite day this week was day 13, the sled day. They had so much fun that we ended up doing all the activities for this day. We started off with the invitation to create which had all the supplies for them to make their own sled. My daughter painted hers but my son was in such a hurry to get sledding that he had me help him tie the twine on the sled and then he grabbed a doll and started searching the house for things to make a sledding hill out of. He found a box which worked alright but he wanted it to be a longer ride and the box was so small. He looked around to see what else he could use and decided the kids table might work. At this point his sister was finished decorating her sled so she helped him fold up the legs of the table and set up a larger hill. This new hill worked a lot better. They each spent a long time pulling the animal up the hill and then watching the animal sled down. This was a great exercise in problem solving together to make something better. I liked that it had them working together so nicely. I think the collaboration helped them to play so nicely with each other. They were both mutually invested in the project. I feel like there has been a lot of bickering between them lately so I like the projects that bring them together. He did end up decorating his sled after getting the initial excitement of building a ramp out of the way first.



Next we did the push and pull activity from the teacher guide which had them exploring forces and motion and working on gross motor skills. In this activity they pushed each other around in a laundry basket. We did this on the carpet and on the wood entry way. Then we talked about what was easier and discussed why we thought the wood floor was easier. Then I got a blanket and I had them pull each other around on the carpet and the wood floor again. We noticed that it was still easier to pull on the wood floor. We also noticed that it was easier to pull each other then it was to push.

The last activity that we did for sled day was the timber sled activity. This activity included storytelling pieces that go along with the months included story book. I love the storytelling sets! I put each months in a Ziploc bag and put them by our box of manipulatives. They both like going over to the bags and picking out stories to retell. My daughter enjoys using multiple storytelling sets and making longer more elaborate stories using multiple characters from different sets.


For the Timber story I read the book while they acted out what was happening in the story while I read. After the story was over we turned on the Lumberjack song from the months included music CD and I let them play with the story pieces.




Another fun thing we've been using this week is the Santa's Workshop celebration kit. Each month comes with a bonus celebration kit which is nice because it is usually seasonally themed and gives us something fun to add to the month. We have done the Santa's beard game several times already. This game had them matching the number on the stocking card to a spot on Santa's beard and placing a cotton ball on it. During this game I noticed that my son had trouble telling the difference between the 6 and 9. I think that if we continue playing this game all week like we have been he will probably work that out especially if I make sure he has the opportunity to work with those numbers. I think I will have him help either myself or his sister find the 6 or 9 if we draw that stocking card.





I am waiting until tomorrow, which is Christmas Eve to do the Twas the Night Before Christmas storytelling set. We are also going to make the Santa spoon puppet and the Reindeer snack. I am hoping that this will help us get through the excitement of the day before Christmas.


To conclude the week we went to a sports store and bought them a sled. We were planning on getting them one anyway but it was perfect timing that we just became sled experts this week. Now we just need enough snow to use it. We are planning on taking a drive next month to use the sleds if we don't get enough here first.

Merry Christmas Everyone!




*Mother Goose Time has generously provided me with our curriculum in exchange for my shared experiences and honest opinions* 
  

Comments

  1. Corrine where are story telling book sets available? What a wonderful week. I don't know how you keep them on track. The moment daddy is on vacation all Aiden wants to do is play video games 😑 Merry Christmas

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    Replies
    1. The story telling sets that I have come in the months box. You could probably find something similar at Lakeshore. I've seen felt board sets that go along with popular stories and fairy tales. When daddy has a day off we usually don't do school. He was off the Friday before Christmas and the Monday after and nothing got done. I try not to stress about it. I save what we don't do for extra projects and we move on. I pick and choose what we use to meet our needs. Its hard to do everything especially with two grade levels. Plus Preston is very difficult lately.

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