A Great Month At The Pond

We had a lot of fun learning about ponds this month with our Mother Goose Time curriculum. We learned so much about the different plants, animals, and insects that live in and around ponds. We also took pond walks and saw first hand some of the things we had learned about. To wrap up this month we collected work that we were proud of to put in our portfolios. This is just a folder that I put some work samples in each month so we can keep track of favorite art projects that we want to keep but have nowhere to keep them, and also so we have a way to look back and see how much we have grown from the beginning of the year. I need to find a better way to store this, but for now the folder works.

First we gathered all of our coloring sheets that we did every morning. The kids like to color them while I read the days suggested story and then at the end of the month we put them in order and staple them together to make a book. It's fun because it gives us a way to look back on the month and remember everything we have learned. It's a perfect way to say goodbye to the month before starting something new.

Then we go through our work and select favorites. I usually write little notes on the back of my sons work. I will write if something was easy, difficult, if he was engaged, bored, in a good mood or not, and sometimes a note about what it was supposed to be if you can't tell. I will add the date that it was completed and the title of what it was. This gives me a way to look back and see how he is doing and what frame of mind he was in.

I usually try to keep his journal for the month, name tags, some art projects, and some of the worksheets. We will also be adding the more math and literacy workbook pages to his portfolio as well. This just gives a good sample of the work he completed for the month. I really like to add a few of the invitation to create projects with a note about them because these really show his personality and creativity.

After we worked on our portfolios we made the Touch Pond activity from day 20. It was the perfect way to end the day. I didn't have hair gel like it suggested using, but I did have the ingredients to make my own gel. The activity in the teacher guide had instructions on making your own. I really wanted them to be able to make their little sensory ponds so we attempted to make our own gel. I will be honest here, it worked, but was a little irritating to make. the recipe calls for 2 1/4 cups boiling water and 1/2 cup of cornstarch. I mixed it all together and it created a gel but it was really lumpy. I ended up using a strainer and stirring it through the strainer to make it smoother. This worked very well. So as long as you are prepared to do this extra step the gel should work out perfectly.

We put the fish sequins that were included inside the bags, then I had some small pebbles that we added, then next some teal glitter was thrown in to act as algae and we had ourselves a portable pond!. I used some packing tape and sealed ALL the edges just to be safe. They loved this project and have been smooshing the fish around all day. I was inspired to make some more gel after this! Mostly because I happen to have a whole 16oz container of cornstarch sitting in my cupboard. I needed 2 tablespoons of cornstarch recently for a recipe I was making and the store I went to was sold out of the small containers so I had to buy the huge one. But now I can make a gel bag to practice writing letters in. I made one more batch of gel and colored it orange at the request of my son and then poured the cooled gel into a freezer bag and sealed all those edges with packing tape also. I can't wait to use our new bag for writing practice next month when we learn all about Birds and Eggs.  

*Mother Goose Time has generously provided our curriculum to us in exchange for our stories and honest opinions*