Meeting the Learners Needs

Its been a hard week here. We have each come down with some sort of a 24 hour stomach bug, its been cold and hard to get out of bed, and lets not forget about the excitement of the holidays and winding down the end of the year. Everyone is just a little off. My son has thrown a tantrum every morning this week and while we have done some school this week we have taken it slow and skipped a few days. After I post this I will probably grab some coffee and cuddle with my kids in the big bean bag chair and watch a movie. Nothing wrong with ending the year snuggly, warm and relaxed.

This week with our Mother Goose Time curriculum we learned about winter living. We did day 16 which was lumberjack and day 17 which was log cabin. We also went back and did the sewing mittens activity from week three that we skipped. I like to keep the activities that we don't get to so we can get them out later and do them on a day that we don't have anything to do or just need a little extra. With all the rain we get here it is nice to have something to pull out on the weekend to do if we can't get outside. Also, sometimes I leave them to do in the evening when I am at work.

The nice thing about Mother Goose Time is that even though we only did a couple days this week I still feel good knowing that we still were working on skills and learning fun things. The teacher guide tells you what skills are being worked on for each week and it then breaks it down by each day and tells you what skills are being taught for each activity. It is very easy to read what the lesson objective is and what skill is being worked on. I love having all that planned out for me and I know that I am not missing anything.  

 Each week in the teacher guide has a summary of what the week has included. It tells you each days theme and then lists the skills that will be worked on and tells you what the student should know by the end of the week.

After the weeks intro you will find the daily lesson plans. Here is an example of the Logs activity from day 17 which was about log cabins. Each activity lists supplies needed. This tells you what is included already and tells you what you will need to supply on your own. Then it gives you discussion ideas and tells you how to do the activity. It will also list at the top what skills the activity is addressing. Here you will see that this invitation to create activity will be working on fine motor skills and self concept skills.

Another thing that is included in the monthly supplies is this skills chart that tells you all the skills your preschooler needs to know and what days they are used. This gives you a bigger picture of what they are learning. You can see here that the fine motor skill 5.1 in the Logs activity is teaching them to control small movements. You can then go across the row and see what other days there will be practice in controlling small movements. This is great if you know there are certain skills your child needs work on. You can look ahead and see what they will be doing.









I happen to know that my son needs practice on his fine motor skills so I look ahead to see which activities address this and make sure to schedule those in and spend extra time.

On Tuesday we made Kandinsky Trees With our invitation to create activity. I set out all the supplies and let him create. He was really interested in mixing the colors and seeing what happens when they mix. He used the cups as stampers to make circles and even used his finger to paint some dots. This was one of the activities that he got to practice using fine motor skills.

 

We also did the Stacking Logs activity. He used the included nesting cups and building mat to recreate different ways to stack the cups. He had a little trouble with this because the color of our cups was different then the cups pictured on the mat. He really had to try out different sizes to get it to stack the same as the picture. Even though it was a little harder and he got frustrated I think it was good that he had to work it out and he got to see that he could do it,

On Wednesday we did day 17 Log Cabins, and worked more on our fine motor skills by doing the log activity and going back to our mitten sewing. He did great with the lacing but it took a lot of concentration.

We also did the Edible Cabin activity. He had a very hard time with this and decided that he didn't want to do it. Once he decides that he can't do something it is very hard to change his mind. I tried telling him that he didn't have to make anything that could stand. I told him he could just cover the cracker with the sunbutter and pretzels but nope, he wasn't having it. He did look at his sisters and she told him about what she did. He didn't even want to eat any of it.

He did end up making a paper log cabin with some craft sticks though. He does not have a lot of patience for things that take a lot of time or planning on his part. Which is another thing we are working on. He lacks confidence in his skills and thinks that he cant do anything that requires him to think things through. Also if a project looks to large he wont do it either. I have to break things up for him and talk him though the thinking process. Mother Goose Time addresses this for us by offering ideas to simplify the activity as well as gives discussion prompts which help him to think about things differently.   

This month of Winter in the Woods is coming to an end and we have learned so much and had a lot of fun. Next months theme is Baby Animals! I think the kids are really going to enjoy next months theme and I can probably fit in some zoology and life science for my second grader. Seems like a trip to the zoo would be appropriate as well.  

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