This month Mother Goose Time is helping us review all the wonderful things we learned this year including the alphabet with A to Zoo Animals! We’re looking forward to learning about animals (A-E), taking care of animals (F-K), habitats of animals (L-R), and sounds of animals (S-Z). Click here to see all the monthly themes for January – August 2016. The new themes for 2016-2017 have also been announced!!! Which ones excite you and your kids most?
Daily Child Projects
“A to Zoo Animals” is jam packed with wonderful craft projects. We’ll be making a gorilla mask, assembling an “Animals A-Z Book”, building a rattlesnake model, and crafting a moose headband! A quick pictorial overview of the crafts included in this month is shown below. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook to see the finished projects 🙂
Calendar and Daily Activities
Mud play with a hippopotamus, creating an ibis nest, and making moose muffins are just a few of the fun activities we are looking forward to this month. The included story of the month is “A to Z Animals,” by Michael Kania. We also have a whole new list of suggested books and outdoor and free play ideas. We’ll be sure to share some of our favorites on Facebook and Instagram!
Manipulatives
Each month comes with thematic manipulatives. This month, animal counters and letter tiles are included. These manipulatives are used in several of the Mother Goose Time activities and we are most looking forward to using them for discovering where in the world different animals live and going on a hunt for “Q” in our quail hunt.
Concepts
We will also be focusing on the following concepts:
- Color – review
- Shape – basic shapes
- Friendship Trait – helpful
- Pattern – AABBCC
- Letters – A-Z
- Sight Words – for, my, make
- Numbers – 19 and 20
Music
The month’s musical selections are inspired by the alphabet. We’ll be listening and dancing to “D is for Dolphin” and “R is for Rattlesnake.” We’ll be moving and grooving through the entire alphabet!
Spanish
Mother Goose Time always includes at least one Spanish activity to encourage second language acquisition skills. There are also flash cards available in online member resources that encourage the incorporation of Spanish vocabulary while engaging in the varied daily activities. The coloring sheets, also available online, provide the Spanish word for several additional thematic objects. This month they include tiger, sheep, and helpful.
Global Friends
Three different global friends have arrived each month of the past year that encourage the children to use and more fully understand the world map that Mother Goose Time provided when we first started using the curriculum. This month we are reviewing all of the continents and learning about where different animals we encounter in the zoo would live if they were in the wild.
Celebration Kit
This month also includes a celebration kit focusing on Father’s Day. We’ll be creating an “I’m Hooked on Daddy” card, playing a put the tie on Daddy game, and acting out one of our favorite rhymes, “Five Little Fishes”using our included story pieces. There is also a “fishing for a snack” recipe and a fish toss game.
We will also be learning about “Noah and the Ark” with “God Asks Me to Listen,” from Experience God (Christian curriculum add-on) and dancing to the music from our “Dancing With A to Zoo Animals” program from Dance ‘n Beats (dance and fitness program). The toddler is always included thanks to the Little Goose Program (toddler supplement). We hope you’ll join us on our adventures as we learn all about “A to Zoo Animals!”
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As a blog ambassador for Mother Goose Time, I am happy to share preschool curriculum ideas, activities, and crafts with my readers. Mother Goose Time provides our family the opportunity to use their curriculum free of charge in exchange for honest and authentic stories based on our personal experience. 
