The last day of our Ocean Commotion unit...

Thursday was a very fun day for us!  We celebrated a birthday, and we ended our MGT Ocean Commotion unit.  We started the morning working in our monthly scrapbooks.  The kids like these books a lot.  They like reminiscing what they learned about, and looking forward to what they will learn next.  Each page shows a summary of what we learned about (Letters: W, O, & X, Number: 8, Shape: Triangle, and Color: Blue).

Look who turned 5 today!!!!

Look who lost another tooth last night!!!!

N was excited to see we are going to learn about gardening during the month of May.

Mother Goose planned a day all about aquariums.  We discussed what an aquarium is, and I encouraged each of the kids to visit one soon!  We described it as an underwater zoo!

Mother Goose provided us with this fish aquarium resource.  I gave it to the kids to play with.  As they played we discussed what sea animals are safe to be near other sea animals.  I explained that some animals cannot be near others, because they could fight or be eaten.  We compared this to the different animal exhibits we see at the zoo.  For example, a lion is never with the monkeys.  I could tell this was food for thought for the kids.  They really pondered this because they never really considered why the animals are all separated from each other.

Mother Goose also provided us with a new Ocean Matching game....

After our scrapbooks and circle time, I set up stations around the classroom.  I set out a lot of the fun learning supplies that Mother Goose provided for us this month.  The kids were so excited to make their own choice of what they wanted to do and explore the materials again.  It was fun for them and also relaxing for me.  I could just sit back and let them play!

Our first station was our sensory table filled with sea animals from a couple of Safari Ltd. Toobs.  We imagined it was an aquarium!

I created a book with all of our daily topic posters in a 3-ring binder.  The kids could look through the pages and reminisce about all the things we learned about throughout the month.

I placed our letter cards in our ABC book.  I also set out our word puzzles with our word puzzle book (full of all the word puzzles from previous months).  I placed a container of our hands-on letters next to this station for the kids to use while they explored building words.

I set out our book of the month (provided by MGT), and our storyboard pieces on our magnet board...

I set out our submarine math activity...

This was our pattern card (shrimp, fish, dolphin, dolphin, repeat)...

Our tangrams, picture cards, and kinetic sand...

Our monthly board game...

Our seahorse puzzle, and a few other underwater themed puzzles...

I also put our octopus counting game, letter cards, and magnetic Bingo chips on our light table again...

After the kids were done playing in our learning stations, we headed outside.  It was beautiful!  It is tradition that we order pizza for our birthday parties.  We were lucky to have a warm sunny day so we could eat outside!

This was our book for the day!  It was a perfect book for introducing what an aquarium is!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to this special 5 year old!!!  He loved the ocean themed (Finding Nemo) cake I surprised him with!

I made a video of a few of the kids exploring one of our stations today (our letter book, and word puzzle station).  There is a lot going on in the video, but I think it is pretty cool to watch.  The two boys in the video are reading our alphabet book.  The older boy is reading to the younger boy.  I love to see older kids teaching younger kids.  It proves that a group of multiple ages can be very beneficial.
The girl in the video is building words with the word puzzles.  You can hear her say, "Box!" in the video.  She clearly remembered when we built the word "box" with the "bo_" word puzzle.  She pulls the letter K from the letter bin, and first says it is an X, but then corrects herself and says it is a K.  I just love seeing her build words in her own way.  She is my youngest child in our group, but she is clearly soaking up everything we are learning, like a sponge!
 The two girls in the background are planning out a Frozen themed birthday party.  They are pretending they are Elsa and Anna. :)  I hope you enjoy!

VIDEO LINK HERE

Submarines...

On Wednesday we learned about submarines!

 During circle time I took out the fish from our "Shipwreck" board game.  I had the kids sort the fish by color...

 Then a few volunteers completed a pattern with the fish.  I left these out for everyone to explore with throughout the day.

Mother Goose provided the following supplies for our submarine porthole craft...

 The kids first explored framing different objects in the room with their paper plate...

 I demonstrated how to complete a submarine window collage, but I also encouraged the kids to complete their project any way they desired.  I encouraged their creativity, by allowing them to choose the supplies they wanted.  The kids took a lot of time on this project.  You could tell they took their project very seriously! Ha!

 Cutting the cellophane paper took some serious time and dedication.  I was impressed!

 I set out paint dobbers, but also allowed for paint, markers, and/or crayons.  All of the kids chose paint dobbers though.  They love using these!

We thought the paint dobber marks looked like the bolts on a porthole!

For our next activity, I asked the kids how they think people in a submarine can see above water?  They didn't have the answer to this, but this question prompted a lot more AWESOME questions...

- How do we get in a submarine?

- How does a submarine get in the water?

- Is it wet in the submarine?

- Do we have to hold our breath when we are in the submarine?

- Does the submarine park at a dock, like a boat?

I am SO IMPRESSED!  I wouldn't have even thought to teach these things.  It just goes to show that a child's natural curiosity is their GREATEST learning tool!  They don't need to know the answer to every question, but asking questions is a LIFE SKILL that will take them much farther than we think! 

I explained that a submarine has a tool called a periscope that sticks out above the water.  It has a system of mirrors inside of it that allows people in the submarine to see above water.  We took out mirrors, our telescope, and a periscope.  We compared a telescope to a periscope.  I also encouraged the kids to look at things behind them in the mirror.

 I took down our circle time display boards, and encouraged the kids to look for letters, shapes, numbers, etc. by facing away from the boards and looking into the mirror.  The kids got a big kick out of this!  They we so amazed that they could see something behind them!

 We also explored with our new periscope!

I took out a new math game provided by Mother Goose Time.  The kids had to move the strip to reveal a number in the window of the submarine.  They counted out that many Bingo chips and placed them on the circles.  They counted the empty circle spaces to see how many more they needed to get to 8.  They chose a number card to complete the math equation.

 This took a bit of time and exploration, but I believe that most of the kids really understood the concept. 

Next, I set out a few learning stations...

First, I filled our sensory table with our Lakeshore magnetic letters and fishing poles.  I also provided a small, medium, and large water bottle.  I encouraged the kids to explore with the bottles.  When they filled the bottles with water, the bottles sank to the bottom like a submarine.  When the bottles were empty, they floated on top of the water like a boat!

 

 I also set out our Lakeshore Geoboards (rubber band boards). 

 Lastly, I set out a treasure chest counting folder game...

Later on, the kids worked on basic subtraction and addition problems in their math workbook. 

 They also cut and pasted submarines according to positional words and directions given in their literacy workbook...

 On the back of their page, they colored a picture of something they would like to see outside of a submarine porthole.

These were our books for the day...

 I also set out our Octonaut toys!!!!

 The kids loved playing with the submarine!