The last time we were able to squeeze in any Mother Goose Time was January 8th. Before I went back to work. I have to tell you, adjusting to working full time with three children is HARD. I do hope to write about that more in another post. And hopefully you won't mind if I am frank with my thoughts. I am not sure if many people talk about all the little hard things, and how much it really sucks.
But back to these precious memories. We got out the day on fossils where we dumped a bag of sand in a tray. The letter we are working on is L, which is great because it's brother's letter. I put the Ls in the sand and he used the paint brush to write L along side the hands-on letters.
So proud of his accomplishment. He really just started getting great at writing over night!
Next he tried his own letter, A is for Adam.
We had a little friend that I happened to be babysitting on this day and I gave her all the dinos and two containers to move the dinos from one to the other. She also opened and closed the lids and was happy for quite a long time.
By now I had the paper dino bones all cut out and I buried them in the sand on the tray. We talked about how paleontologists use brushes to uncover bones because the bones are fragile. Talk about some great vocabulary.
Piece by piece he found and slowly uncovered the bones.
Taking each one and placing it on the paper next to him.
Then he covered the paper in glue and we put the bones together like a puzzle. Next I had him pinch some of the sand from the tray and sprinkle it over the exposed glue on the paper.
He learned so many wonderful things on this day. Some great vocabulary. Practiced some spacial awareness by putting the puzzle of bones together and did some awesome writing practice. All while having a ton of fun!
Now that we have settled a little bit more into our routine, I really should, at the very least, pull out some Mother Goose Time every Saturday, just to spend some amazing one on one time with my little man.
Day 1 was all about Jaguars. I set the J is for Jaguar Make & Play craft up at the table for Adam. But later that day we had a whole bunch of kids over and it started to get kind of loud, so I asked if anyone wanted to make a Jaguar. Even though they were older kids, they were super excited and soon, it got a lot quieter in my house as they happily worked on their Jaguars.
I also got out the I Can Read book so that Adam and I can read through it all month long. He often hears me tell his brothers they have to do their reading and he LOVES having his own reading assignment.
Every new theme with Mother Goose Time means they get a new name tag and every month on the first day we write our names. I write Adam's name with a yellow marker and he traces over it. He was quick to finish his name this month so he decided to flip it over and try his hand at some free hand As.
The older boys were at the other end of the table doing an old fashioned spelling test. I put a divider up between them, dictated words for them to spell and then we graded it together after. They were both upset that they didn't get them all correct because that's what we are used to with homeschooling. I quickly explained to them that getting only one or two wrong is really good!! Mommy used to miss a lot more. This brought them a lot of relief.
The next lesson was called Circle Spots and the idea was to cover a large paper in circle's like the spots on a Jaguar. They recommend we cover a tables surface in large pieces of paper and then provide cups and other circle objects to trace. I grabbed what I had handy and used that old printer paper that's all attached in one long sheet. My husbands previous employer found a case of it in an old office storage area. Jackpot!
I was very nervous to present this activity to Adam. I knew he would like it and want to do it but I thought he might get really frustrated by the items sliding as he was tracing.
But here's the thing. He surprised me again and he was successfully able to hold the items in place as he traced. If he did have a little hiccup, he didn't get angry, just fixed it and kept going.
These are huge signs of development for Adam. The social and emotional development to shrug off frustration, and the physical ability to hold an item in place while tracing.
Observing Adam as he works through a project is called Authentic Assessment. I have observed Adam enough times doing various activities using a variety of skills that when he "surprises me", I am actually observing and assessing a leap in his skills and abilities. As a homeschool Mother in a state where no documentation of work is required for a preschooler I can do this assessing very informally. But if I were in a state that required documentation, Mother Goose Time would make it so easy!!
In fact, I could look at the developmental continuum under Self Concept and see that under 1.3 Identifies and manages feelings Adam would be right at Benchmark D "Recognizes personal feelings. Controls impulses with reminders." Although, this time, he didn't need a reminder and was able to control those emotions on his own. So maybe he's on his way to Benchmark E!!
Over the last few years I have been taping Adam's name tags to the back of our Circle Time display board. This is another fun way of assessing Adam's growth. And not to worry, if you don't know where to start with collecting work samples, Mother Goose Time will take you step by step through that as well.
But if you look closely, the name tags at the top have his name, written by me, and then scribbles all over the place. As they get towards the bottom you begin to see mostly his name with very few scribbles because he has started to trace directly over the lines. Except of course on the rainforest one. He seemed to have some fun drawing a few extra lines on that one, maybe they are vines in the jungle.
I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into a "day" with Mother Goose Time. We have incorporated it in so many avenues of our life. Whether it be neighbors coming over to play or serious Preschool learning and work for my little guy so he can be like his big brothers.
I love to use this blog to document Adam's learning adventures. I feel so blessed to have a record of all that he has done. But it's also fun to sit down and reflect. It was in this reflection that I realized these moments when Adam "surprises me" aren't surprises at all, but assessments in disguise. The only reason I am surprised is because it's a skill or ability Adam was not capable of before, but now he is! They are in fact observations of skills gained and growth made!
Before you get worried, this type of trap won't hurt anyone but it will expand their mind and abilities! **This post may contain affiliate links.
Sometimes it's hard to do an official "day" of Mother Goose Time lessons and activities. When that is the case I have a lot of fun setting up "toddler traps". I actually call mine "Adam Traps" because that is my intended target around here. He is my 3.5 almost 4 year old little man. So maybe, I should officially call him a preschooler, but I still struggle with not calling him baby Adam, so one step at a time please.
There are many names for what I call "Adam traps". Some call them Investigation Stations or Invitations to Play. It's a pretty simple concept, you set up an activity in a special location for the child to find and investigate on their own. This is good for my Adam who has always been very independent. When he happens upon an activity and he chooses to investigate it further you can just see him beaming with pride and he has a lot more commitment to the task when it was his decision.
Here is what you do. First you set out an activity at one of their spots or you set it up on the floor or somewhere that will catch their eye. Here is the first "trap" I set. I put out this Mother Goose Time math activity. We had done this once before so I knew he would know what to do. The objective is to have them roll the pocket cube and then put that many "clouds" (cotton balls) in the sky on the paper.
The second trap I set was at the table. I put his My Little Journal on the table with his name written in yellow. We have done this a few times now, so again, I knew that he would know what to do. I set the green marker next to the journal and he knows to trace his name. I also included colored pencils so he could draw a picture on the cover if he wanted to. You can also see his chocolate milk is sitting there and his favorite Wii controller. I figured he might just climb up to the table to look for those items and discover his journal and I would catch him in my trap.
It didn't take long until the first trap was successful. Caught him! I didn't want to scare away the toddler so I just took a quick picture from behind.
Here is a side by side.
A little while later I was able to get him to participate in the second trap. But I had to make it more enticing. I sat down at his spot and asked him to tell me his favorite weather. This was the journal prompt for the cover from Mother Goose Time. He said the sun and I asked him what he liked to do in the sun and I started to draw a stick figure drawing of Adam flying a toy airplane outside in the sun. He of course wanted to join in and then took it from there.
He wrote his name first.
Then he added his own touch to the cover photo.
The key is, I did not ask him if he wanted to participate because it's too easy for a toddler to say no. I just got him intrigued and because it was his decision he was totally invested. He did page after page in his journal. He wrote beautifully!
Big Cs and little Cs.
He did perfect #4s.
I love how these My Little Journals have the letter and then shapes or lines that, if practiced, will help in the formation of the letter.
On this page Adam drew his "heart beat" because we were at the hospital the weekend before because of a severe case of croup. They had him on a monitor and we watched his heart beat.
On the very last page Adam was determined to write his very own A, with out tracing. I gave him some step by step guidance through writing the letter on his own. "Line up, then down, then frog jump, and draw a line across." He did a few that looked more like a triangle and then nailed his very own and very first A!!
You can find your own "Toddler Traps" on Pinterest, there are thousands of ideas. Look for keywords of Invitation to Play, Investigation Stations, or Toddler Tray Play. Of course, you can make it super simple on yourself and order a box of Mother Goose Time where all the Pinterest ideas are brought to life with stellar graphics, great printing, and delivered right to your door. Not to mention the fact that they are guaranteed to be educational and easily adaptable to your child. It's up to you of course and your budget, but I promise you won't regret it if you do decide to buy a box. Either way, set a Toddler Trap for your little one, and see what happens!
