New Mother Goose Time Displays for 2014

I have my displays up in my dining room area because that's just where we have space.  They are also close to where we do school that way, which is usually done at the table or the counter.

It's kind of a tight space so I can't get a really good wide shot of everything with out some dining room chairs in the way.  But it gives you the idea here.  This year I placed the displays in order of most used.  I put the calendar and weather in a location that is the easiest to get to. 

You can see the MGT boxes of curriculum sitting on the floor there, they don't stay there, just there as I am setting up.  

Last year we had this little pocket for our color ribbons.  Since it got tugged on a lot, it started to tear.  So I got a new set and I laminated the second one before I put it up.  It still folded up just fine.  I decided to do the same with the weather basket and the flower pot from this year.  Both are designed to be wall pockets that have things put in and out frequently and I wanted them to survive well.  So I laminated them and then folded them and then stapled them to the wall.  I also laminated the weather cards and the word and letter flowers.

I have a little tray on the table under the calendar.  I have all the weather cards stored on it and each morning I am trying to get in the routine of popping out the calendar piece, putting the sticky tack on the back and setting it on the tray.  My hope is that each morning at breakfast we do circle time.  Calendar and weather and what ever rhyme they provide us with, as well as the discussion question. The last few morning I have just asked who wanted to do what and had them hop down from the table real quick to do there job. 

I also have the ipod sitting there which I have all the Mother Goose Time music on.  I will get it set to the Circle Time song and have one of the kids press play.  I keep having a hard time with where to play the music at my house and decided it's just fine simply playing from the ipod speakers.  That way the music can be on the go right along with us. 

I had thought about laminating the alphabet chart as well, so the kids could freely explore it with out it getting too beat up.  But I thought, even though it would fold, the flaps would stick straight out instead of hanging down to cover the image underneath.  It turns out, even with out lamination, they stick out pretty far.  So I may pull these off and laminate them if they seem to be getting worn. 

I also placed the alphabet chart tucked away a bit here and right by the desk.  I am going to put Lachlan's name tag on the desk just like at school and designate it as his Kindergarten desk.  I am hoping to encourage him to sit there and work on his workbooks there.  It should help having the letters right next to him.  I am going to keep the alphabet chart from last year up on the end of the counter because it has come in so handy in many situations where we were talking or working on projects in the living room.

I am really excited about this new alphabet chart.  It's very interactive.  I do have a 5 month old right now though, so that means at some point this school year I will have a walking little one who wants to get into everything.  That's the only reason I wanted to tuck this away a little bit.  These little flaps will be very enticing to him.  If I had a group of older children, these would be out front and center for them to explore.