What's In the Box? - At The Pond - Mother Goose Time

Next month we are going to be learning all about things that you can find at a pond!  Since we got the School Bus Box from Mother Goose Time early this month, I thought I would do an incredibly in-depth preview.  Unfortunately, a lot of my pictures are not nearly as nice as I had hoped, but hopefully it is still helpful!

This first picture is everything that is in the Teacher Tool Bag.  You can see the Gathering List, the skills chart, the Planning Journal, the Teacher Guide, our new CD with electric pop music "Dancing at the Pond", the theme web, a shape stamp and of course, our MANIPULATIVES: Duck Counters and a magnifying glass.

In this picture you can see what comes in the Circle Time Bag for At the Pond.  You can see the theme poster, the letter/picture/vocabulary cards and posters, the cookie cutters and color ribbons, Circle Time songs, and the calendar with calendar pieces (in an ABCD pattern).

The Celebration Kit this month is for St. Patrick's Day and includes a guide, supplies for games and art, and invitations.

Something new in the last couple of months is that some of the bulkier materials are packaged in a separate bag so they don't get smashed.  I really like this, it makes my bags sit a lot nicer in the box.

So it turns out that ponds are disgusting, and most things at a pond are things that gross me out.  Starting with turtles.  This is the Day One bag, and it includes counting cards, a Family Newsletter for those that are preschool instructors, the nametags, turtle eggs for a game, and the parts to make a cute little turtle.

Because turtles are not gross enough, Day Two is all about snakes.  You can see the Invitation to Create, and the supplies (straws, beads, and pipe cleaners) to create with, as well as the looking glasses to use with the theme poster.

Tadpoles are a little less yucky.  In our Day Three bag, we have some character trait feathers, supplies for our Make and Play project, a pattern card (ABCD) and My Little Journal for the month.

Ugh.  Another yucky creature: Frogs.  You can't see them, because they are under the Make and Play instructions, but there are little jumping frogs to use to play the lily pad game.

Finally, a creature that doesn't make me want to run away when I see it!  Ducks!  Our Invitation to Create and art supplies are included in this bag, plus some number cards to put in our Pocket Cube, for a game.

For week two, we are taking a break from yucky things, and focusing on plant life at a pond.  Day one is Submerged Pond Plants.  We have a recipe card, and TWO games to play.  The little game is actually a take home game that would be really fun for children in a preschool to be able to show their families.

I don't know if there are any other kind of bog plants, but it seems to be Cattail Day!  There are supplies for the Invitation to Create, as well as puzzle, and our monthly storybook.  Little Guy and I watch A LOT of Andy Griffith (like an episode or two a day) and they sing a song about Crawdads (which are also called Crawfish).  I wanted to show Little Guy what a crawdad looks like, but our encyclopedia doesn't have a picture, and I pretty much refuse to show him things on the computer.  Interactive screen time is a big no-no for children in our house.  So I was REALLY excited when I saw that this book has a picture of a crawdad!

Emergent Pond Plants are the topic for Day Eight.  The Lily Pad cards are to play an Uno like game, and you can also see the supplies for the Water Lilies Invitation to Create, and the Around the Lily Pad participation story.

Day Nine is floating pond plants.  There is a science card to do an experiment, and sand and rocks to make your own pond!

Our plant week ends with Algae.  The green sheet is actually diamond foam shapes, to use on the pattern sheets.  There are also supplies for the Invitation to Create!

I am not going to bother saying how gross the next week is.  It is all about bugs, so it speaks for itself.  *shudder*

For Dragonfly day, we have supplies to make a dragonfly, and story sequence cards.

Mosquitoes!  We have a participation story, a rhyme time poster, a "P" for some sort of activity, and a cute little take home set. 

I think we called these bugs water skimmers, isn't it funny how different places have different names for the same thing, even if it is the same language?  This bag has supplies for an Invitation to Create and a game.

On Mayfly day, we will make a mayfly, play Would You Rather?, and learn new words with an "I Can Read" book!

Backswimmer day has instructions and supplies for an Invitation to Create.

Week four has a few more creatures that make me want to scream, cry, or run away.

On Snail day, we will play a phonics game and create a snail trail.

I am pretty sure we will be singing The Crawdad Song even more than usual on Crawfish day.  In between singing we will be making crawfish clappers, write postcards and use our math story cards.

In case you don't know The Crawdad Song, here is a clip.

Apparently Little Guy was excited about Lizard day because he is pointing at something.  We have stuff to do our Invitation to Create, and our vocabulary cards.

Thankfully, there are no alligators in our ponds.  Or in our state unless we are at the zoo, and even then they might be crocodiles.  Apparently that isn't so in other areas.  We have a storytelling set to go along with our storybook, an Invitation to Create and a game about asking for help.  Which is a necessary skill when there are alligators at the pond.

To finish up our month "At the Pond" we are going to learn about fish.  There is a fun Make and Play activity, cards to put in the pocket cube to play a game and some supplies to do the portfolio for assessment.  We don't really do that part, but it would be very useful in a preschool setting.

Well, there you have it!  Everything that came in our Curriculum Kit this month.  There are so many fun activities we are going to be doing this month, that even though most of the creatures are things I consider somewhere in the range of yucky to terrifying, I am really looking forward to starting it.  I love the different themes, going from something fun and kind of silly like Nursery Rhymes, to a science heavy theme like At the Pond is great, I love the variety, and I know that Little Guy does too.

If there is anything you want to see better pictures of, or have questions about, please feel free to ask!

I receive Mother Goose Time curriculum free of charge in exchange for sharing our pictures and experiences!  All opinions are my own (or sometimes my son's).