There is still a ton of stuff in the Mother Goose Time box that I have not told you about yet. In fact, I have only covered Circle Time!
The next bag is the Teacher Tool Bag, and its pretty interesting.
The first thing it has is a gathering list, which tells you everything you need to provide for the month. Honestly to look at the list it looks like this is much less "all-inclusive" than it is. The list is LOOOONG! Upon closer inspection you notice that the vast majority of the items are either basics like tape, glue and crayons, food items, or things you already have around the house.
There is also the theme web, which I described in the first post, a poster of all the skills the children will be working on, and on what day (this is a seriously exhaustive list!), a planning journal, a teacher guide and MANIPULATIVES! This month I got jingle bell counters, a die, and shape builders.
The planning journal includes an overview of the month, what activities are done on which days (honestly I probably won't follow it exactly this month because of Christmas), a project overview with pictures, a activity grid for each week, weekly planner pages for the teacher, a skills and goals list, and a record of skills development. That is something really wonderful about Mother Goose Time, each activity is linked to a skill, and at the bottom of the activity instructions in the teacher guide is an assess question to help you know how well your children are doing in that area so you know what to focus on.
Since we are talking about the teacher guide already, I am going to tell you all about this useful tool. It starts with an overview of the month, including a mini theme web and the basic concepts you are teaching this month (letters, numbers, etc.), then there are some pages about how to use the planning journal, read an activity, facilitate Circle Time, set up Investigation Stations, and how to do the assessments. It also has journal prompts because the children get to do a journal every month.
After the introductory pages you move into the daily guide. These are the detailed plans of each day. They are very complete. It starts with the learning objectives for the week and space to record what the children say and learn about the topic of the week. The daily pages have all the instructions for Circle Time, including what questions to ask and what songs to sing. Then you have four activities, with step-by-step instructions, supply list, and assessment questions. Some activities also have ways to simplify or challenge the activity for children that need it.
At the back of the books are the lyrics to the new songs from the theme CD, the Development Continuum (for the assessment) and note pages.
One disappointment is that there is a reading list that has a book (some fiction, some non-fiction) for each day's theme, but it appears to be available only online. It would be nice to get it in the teacher guide. Online they also have daily coloring pages, which I have printed out, but might not end up using with SO many other things to do!
The only things left to talk about are the daily bags and the celebration kit, so check back tomorrow for more!
What's In the Box? Part One
What's In the Box? Part Two
What's In the Box? Part Four
*As a Blog Ambassador I receive free curriculum in exchange for sharing all the awesomeness with my blog readers. This curriculum is great and I am not just saying that because I got it for free!*
The next bag is the Teacher Tool Bag, and its pretty interesting.
The first thing it has is a gathering list, which tells you everything you need to provide for the month. Honestly to look at the list it looks like this is much less "all-inclusive" than it is. The list is LOOOONG! Upon closer inspection you notice that the vast majority of the items are either basics like tape, glue and crayons, food items, or things you already have around the house.
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| December's Teacher Toolbag |
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| Monthly Overview in the Planning Journal |
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| Weekly Guide in the Planning Journal |
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| A Daily Plan in the Teacher's Guide |
At the back of the books are the lyrics to the new songs from the theme CD, the Development Continuum (for the assessment) and note pages.
One disappointment is that there is a reading list that has a book (some fiction, some non-fiction) for each day's theme, but it appears to be available only online. It would be nice to get it in the teacher guide. Online they also have daily coloring pages, which I have printed out, but might not end up using with SO many other things to do!
The only things left to talk about are the daily bags and the celebration kit, so check back tomorrow for more!
What's In the Box? Part One
What's In the Box? Part Two
What's In the Box? Part Four
*As a Blog Ambassador I receive free curriculum in exchange for sharing all the awesomeness with my blog readers. This curriculum is great and I am not just saying that because I got it for free!*
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