Preschool Graduation-MTG

Preschool graduation usually looks something like this....

The children sing some songs that they have learned throughout the year.

Do a finger play or two and of course recite the Pledge of Allegiance .

After the short program they do the exciting walk to get there diplomas.

This year, however, the weather didn't co operate.  We got rained out.

Not only was there lots of rain but it was only 50 degrees outside.

I had rented a pavilion at a park incase of rain. But it was so cold that

I knew we would have crying, miserable children, instead of happy, outgoing ones.

What to do...clean my house and have everyone squish in.  Maybe try to get the church.

Or reschedule for another day, hoping for sun.

I finally decided to just cancel it-for the first time in 10 years.  I was kind of sad to do it because the children had worked so hard on the program.

I decided to make a personal trip to each child's house and deliver their graduation present and certificate.

All of the kids were at home, except for one.  It was fun seeing the confused looks on their face. What is Miss Traci doing at my house?

They quickly got over it when I gave them their gift and had them sing a few songs for their parents.

This years gift was a cute autograph dog. I wrote a personal note one each child's dog and signed it.

They also got a helium balloon, 'cause who doesn't like balloons, right.

Sometimes just don't go as planned but we have to work around them anyways.

I could have freaked out or even said, "We're doing it anyways-in the cold".

But this turned out to be fun for myself and the children.

Have fun in kindergarten next year and work hard.

Thanks Mother Goose Time for helping us have an amazing year.

Mother Goose Time

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Sing, Shout and Dance about-MGT

Music and movement are an important part of preschool and learning. 

Here are a few reasons why music is important...

 Music is a language, and children are oriented toward learning language.

 Music evokes movement, and children delight in and require movement for their development and growth.

 Music engages the brain while stimulating neural pathways associated with such higher forms of intelligence as abstract thinking, empathy, and mathematics.

 Music's melodic and rhythmic patterns provide exercise for the brain and help develop memory. Who among us learned the ABC's without the ABC song Music is perfectly designed for training children's listening skills.

 Good listening skills and school achievement go hand in hand. Developmentally appropriate music activities involve the whole child-the child's desire for language, the body's urge to move, the brain's attention to patterns, the ear's lead in initiating communication, the voice's response to sounds.


A simple way to add music and movement is to give each child a long piece of ribbon.

Turn on a familiar song and have them sing and dance to it.  Ask them how can they make their ribbon move to the bet and see what happens.

Circle time is a great time to introduce new songs and finger plays.

Here the lids are learning a song about a carrot.

After we go over the words, we sing.

MotherGoose Time also has a fun music and movement video called Dancing Beats.

I love to use it during the winter months when it is cold outside.

The way the children learn new song, new beats and get some wiggles out.

Mother Goose Time

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Dramatic Play is an important part of learning-MGT

Dramatic play 

is a safe way for children to explore ideas, try out new roles, build friendships and to express a range of emotions. 

1. Dramatic play can be defined as a type of play where children accept and assign roles, and then act them out. It is a time when they break through the walls of reality, pretend to be someone or something different from themselves, and dramatize situations and actions to go along with the roles they have chosen to play.

 This month we have been learning about things that grow in a garden. 

 We discussed plants that we eat, such as carrots, celery, peas, beans, lettuce and more. 

 For dramatic, play the children played restaurant in the cooking area. The children took turns being the chef, taking orders and being the customers. They explored the idea of picking food from the (pretend) garden and cooking it. I love how they discussed how the food should be prepared and served. They used their manners when talking to each other.  They helped solve problems that arose. Such as, who was going to cook next and I don't have money to buy food.

As a teacher, I love to listen and watch the children play different roles. I learn how problems are solved in each of the children homes, how parent's speak to their children and much more.

Mother Goose Time

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In the Garden-Seeds-MGT

May is all about things in a garden!

This months letters, numbers, color and shape are....

Shape -Diamond, color-pink, Numbers 9 and 19, Letters Y,R,F.

Sight words- like, little & said

We then talked about todays topic...Seeds

What do you need to grow a garden? Dirt, water or rain, sun and of course Seeds.

Where do seeds come from?

We explored where seeds come from....

 Cut and apple in many pieces and found a seed.

Sad, I know. But there was only one seed inside this apple.

If you plant an apple seed, what do you get?  

Group response....apples.

Yes, you do get apples but first the seed grows into a tree.

Group response...oh ya. 

I then cut a tomato into slices and we found all of the seeds inside of it.

If you plant a tomato seed what does it grow into?

A tomato plant.

I guess if you ask the right question, I get the right answer.

We ate these for snack.  Most children passed on the tomatoes. But all of them were happy to eat the apple.

For one of our learning centers I gave the children a small circle rug to use as a garden, tangrams for seeds and bunnies for the garden.

This is what these 4 came up with.  Bunnies eating seeds.   I heard them talking about what kind of pattern they should make. They took turns placing shapes and bunnies in the garden.

I love how they worked together and got their littles minds solving problems at the same time.

They also discussed what kinds of seeds they were planting and what the bunnies where eating.

 I read the story Jack and the Beanstalk to the children. This is a Mother Goose version and the giant doesn't try to hurt or eat jack.

We talked about why Jack's mother would be upset with him for giving the cow away for seeds. And how the magic seeds grew very fast. Real plants don't grow that fast.  One child told us that giants Don't wear shoes.

I like how the story ended happy and focused on the importance of seeds and gardens.

They children worked on their bilingual books today.

The older children had time to work in their journals .

They practiced writing the letter Y and creating a garden.

I love listening to the things they talk to each other about while writing.

I'm going to grow a very huge garden when I get big.

I want to grow a huge beanstalk so I can see a real giant.

I think there will be bunnies in my garden.

At least I know they listened to what we talked about today.

Mother Goose Time

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The letter X and sharks-MGT

The last day of preschool for the month is a busy one.

We went over everything that we have talked about this month.
The letters,numbers, color and shape.

We focused on the letter 'X' today.

I put short pieces of yarn in our small sequence blocks and had the children find them and then make a letter 'x' out of the yarn! It was a hit.

We then talked about Sharks and how they have hundreds of sharp teeth. This helps them catch other fish to eat for their lunch and other meals.

I asked the children if they thought sharks skin was soft or rough.

It looks soft and smooth but it is rough and scratchy.

We colored shark fins and then glued black sand on them to make them rough and scratchy.

The children's favorite and I have to admit mine also, was when the children performed the little theatre-A story of a diver.

Each child Picked a prop to go with the sea animal they were going to be in the play.

Our diver had googles, of course.

The whale had cool sunglasses.

The manatee had a pinwheel.

The Eel had a scarf and of course the sharks had fins.

The short story...

The diver dives into the ocean and sees a whale, manatee, and an eel while he is diving. Each animal is doing something-like hiding.  When the school of sharks come everyone swims away fast.

The diver just barely makes it back onto the boat in time.

We colored and glued our bilingual books today.

The book talks about some of the sea animals we learned about.

I left the books on attached to the sheets today to see if they were easier to keep track of this way.

And they were.

I usually give each child one page at a time and then staple them together when they are done. But it seems that some one ends up coloring someone else 's or we some how have a lost page we have to hunt for.

This new way worked out great! So, for now on...this is the way I will do it.

Learning with Mother Goose Time is so much fun. It keeps us all learning new things (yes, even me).

Playing new games, and learning a little Spanish along with a little sign language.

I love the hands on curriculum that keeps us busy and learning through play.

Mother Goose Time

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