The Dog and His Reflection...

On Tuesday our Mother Goose lesson was all about "The Dog and His Reflection."  This was a story that teaches us it is foolish to be greedy.  In this story the dog looks at his reflection in the water and thinks that he sees a dog with a bigger bone than him.  Without thinking first, he dives in the water to try and get the bigger bone.  In the end, the dog ends up losing the bone he had.  After discussing the definition of the word "reflection," we discussed a lot about what it means to be thankful and what it means to be greedy.

 These were the responses I got from the kids when I asked them to tell me a time they are or were thankful...

 We turned to our neighbor as we sang the song, "Thank You Very Much." (Sung to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell.")

 Next, we discussed what we share with others.  I passed around a real dog bone and asked the kids to explore touching and smelling it as we listened to a song on our CD.  When the song stopped the person who was holding the bone stood up and said one of the following statements...

"Thank you very much."

"I am thankful."

"I am grateful."

"Gracias." (Spanish word for thank you.)

 For our next project the kids worked on the letter A page in their journal.  We reviewed the letter A is for ants and anthill.  The kids made an anthill by drawing a large letter A.  They used ink pads to make fingerprint ants crawling up their letter A anthill.  Then they completed the sentence, "Ants carry..."  Most of the kids wrote "Ants carry food."

 The kids practiced writing the numbers 1-20 on dog bones in their math workbook...

 Mother Goose provided each child with these supplies to make a fun dog mask and bone.  The kids LOVE making projects that they can use for dramatic play!

 This was our book for the day.  It was another lesson on the importance of not being greedy.

 Just before nap the kids also played a Memory game with rhyming cards that they cut from their literacy workbook...

In the afternoon the kids watched a YouTube video of the story "The Dog and His Reflection" on my computer (follow this link).

I also set out our Lakeshore mirrors and discussion cards and encouraged the kids to explore looking at all the different reflections!

Lastly, I set out one the kids favorite games! 

The Hare and the Tortoise...

On Monday our Mother Goose lesson was on "The Hare and the Tortoise..."  This is a story that teaches us that slow and steady wins the race.

 These were the GENIUS responses I got from some of the kids during circle time when I asked the difficult question, "What should you do if something seems hard?"  This goes to show even grown-ups can learn from kids!  I love this...

 I played "The Hare and the Tortoise" on CD from our book of the month (provided from Mother Goose Time).

 The kids practiced speaking to each other slowly and then fast.  They mixed up the words "fast" with "loud," and needed to be reminded that we didn't need to shout.  Hee-hee!

 Then the kids acted out the song "If You're a Hare/Tortoise." (Sung to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It.")
If you're a hare and you know it quickly run...
If you're a tortoise and you know it slowly walk...

 For our next activity we discussed what animals we think move slowly and what animals move more quickly.  Then we played a game new board game together!  This was left out for the remainder of the day for everyone to have a turn with.  The object of the game was to get your story character from one side of the board to the other.  The kids rolled a cube that had plus and minus signs on it.

 Next, the kids colored a picture of their house and family slowly and steadily as we listened to slow classical music.  After this they turned their paper over, and drew the same thing very fast as we listened to a fast dance song.

 The kids shared their drawings with one another and quickly realized that slow and steady work (Tortoise) is so much better than quick and fast (Hare).

 Mother Goose supplied each child with new monthly journals.  I asked the kids to draw a picture on the cover of their journal and write their name.  They also traced the paths on the back of the journal (Hare and Tortoise race).

 We reviewed our shapes as the kids completed this page in their math workbook...

 I love when I catch friends helping friends!  Such sweetness!

 The kids also worked on beginning sounds in their literacy workbook...

 This was our story for the day.  It was an encouraging story about our journey in life!

In the afternoon I encouraged the kids to explore kicking balls around an oval shaped track we made with our cones and white rope.  I challenged the kids to kick the ball carefully around the path and try not to get it to knock over a cone or go inside the oval.  A few of the kids asked me to time how long it took for them to complete this task and then they did it a second time to try and beat their record.  I reminded the kids that slow and steady, like the Tortoise, can be faster than quick and foolish, like the Hare.