Early Literacy with Mother Goose Time

Linking Literacy Through Games

As a parent one thing I'm learning is not to stress when one of my kids does something or, more often, is not doing something yet. Some kids potty train at 1 others at 2 and beyond. Some of my friends claim to have potty trained their kids at 6 months! In resisting the temptation to compare we enjoy our kids and the phase that they are in now. The more I enjoy engaging with them, the faster they catch on and develop. In this way of peaceful teaching, kids grow well.
This is no less true with literacy. When I sit down with my 4-year-olds one can write his name, the other can't. One catches on to the concept of words and learns site words quickly the other seems more interested in the pictures and abstract concepts around the book then actually learning how to read a word or what sounds letters makes. It's tempting to not become frustrated. MGT gently guides us into learning and allows me to teach using fun games like this one to introduce the phonetic alphabet.

This game was simple and fun. The kids enjoyed using the spinner and it increased their interest in the letters. The pictures made the connection between the starting sound of each pictured object and it's letter. I love that we only focus on 3 letters each month so that the kids can really begin to work on recognizing them and picking them out.

Take Home Books

Another way the kids are becoming more excited about reading is through our monthly reading books. Each book focuses on 3 site words and the kids really take ownership of these books, packing them in the backpacks to read again at home for 'homework',

Group Craft With the Older Kids

Monday and Tuesday the older kids had no school so there were 6 kids of varying age groups to keep busy. As much as my grade 1 and 2's don't like to be caught doing 'preschool', they really do love doing group crafts with Mother Goose Time. On this day we made porcupine stick puppets. The older ones enjoyed making them and, as usual, the 4-year-olds love making them so that they can play with them. They took their puppets into the basement to make a burrow for them and spent a solid hour playing porcupines.... LOVE!

Disclosure: I receive Mother Goose Time Curriculum free of charge for educational purposes in return for posting my honest experiences using the curriculum. Photos of children featured on my blog for review of Mother Goose Time are used with signed consent of the child's parents. I welcome any questions or concerns.