On The Move

We're learning all about places we go and the machines that get us there with Mother Goose Time theme "On The Go" this month. All while flexing our muscles and moving our bodies in activities that incorporate movement, music, literacy, and math. Let's face it, preschoolers are in constant motion anyways, why not harness that energy for some active learning fun??!!

Week one starts with roads and traffic signs. We have two red tape lines on the floor left over from Sports Day practice in October, which the kids like to "drive" on, pretend to walk tight rope, or play follow the leader during large group time. We played a really fun game with the orange "construction sign" game cube, in which I would toss the cube and either call out the action, or someone would look at the word and read it, and everyone would do what it said. The cube kept landing on "jump" and "hop on one foot" multiple times, so someone decided to see how high they could count while jumping. The whole class joined in and they counted all the way up to 50 before they started to fatigue and fall over. (then pretend to nap on the floor)

I don't have lunch duty this year because I teach another class, so I never get to go to the park with my littles for recess. Since we were talking about traffic signs, I took them out after morning meeting for a little walk down the street to the crosswalk where they go to the park. We observed signs along the way, and other safety measures and talked about what they meant. We also had a discussion about how signs and traffic lights are different in America and Japan. It was a great active learning experience for both teacher and students! 

We brought it back inside for centers and they set up a mini "neighborhood" with our new MGT traffic sign manipulatives. They added cars later, but had fun just moving the sign around to different areas on the rug.

They really like dancing to the Boogie Woogie song (track 1 - On The Go CD), I think it's largely due to the fact that they think "boogie" is such a funny word! The Wheels On The Bus version that is on the same CD is also a favorite. There is definitely no shortage of ways to keep these guys groovin' and movin' with "On The Go!"