Learning in the early childhood years should be rich and deep. That is why we chose a curriculum that uses themes and focuses on 7 main learning domain and 33 school-readiness skills. Mother Goose Time provides us with 4 beautiful teacher guides and the learning activities that go along with it each month. This post features the math activities. You will see how they make the connection to the theme of Family and Pets. Teacher Tip: Go through the daily bags the night before. My afternoon assistant, Mrs. Grady sets up the art project for the next day. I go through the entire day in the Teacher Guide and prepare the learning games. I have already indicated which of the games and activities will be used in our skill time sessions. A note about skill time: We divide our class into 2 groups who work with the same teacher each day. For example, my group may work on a literacy activity and Mrs. Plamondon's group may work on a math activity in the morning. In the afternoon, I reverse the activities with Mrs. Grady. This is how we share the materials in the same day or lesson bag. The first game shown is Feed the Bird which was played on the day we explored Pet Birds. A child rolls the die, identifies the number, then uses the tweezers to "feed" the baby bird the correct amount of yarn worms. Skill focused on: following directions, numeral identification, counting using one-to-one correspondence and hand-eye coordination. Mrs. Grady's group: Pet Bingo was a great intro into a group game. There are many skills involved in this game: following directions, comprehension, listening skills, eye-hand coordination and good sportsmanship. I am teaching the children to congratulate the winner. (Yes, we keep score!) The winner is allowed a healthy amount of pride in their accomplishment and the losers work through their feelings of disappointment as they congratulate the winner. Story Problems using the manipulatives that were included in this month's curriculum box. Pattern Cards were included in this month's kit also. It is a simple ab pattern which I also demonstrated using Unifix cubes. The activities shown were just a few of the math experiences from the theme, Family and Pets. Children were able to manipulate objects as they work to understand basic math concepts. Learning was rich and deep as it connected to our theme, yet did not involve a "worksheet." I tell my parents at the beginning of the school year that a lot of learning is done at school and not all of it is evident on a piece of paper that is sent home. The projects shown here are great examples of that. I hope you found a little inspiration here today!
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AuthorSheila Anderson has over 25 years experience in the Early Childhood Field and still loves going to "school" everyday. Archives
January 2022
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