the nuts and bolts of life...

What started out as a funny little glitch, soon mutated into a major computer malfunction... and I found myself going though serious blogging withdrawal! Anyway, 2 weeks and $200 later (!), I get to read what everyone else is up to again and post pictures of my Montessori life :) Kind of... my mother-in-law is staying at our house this week, so that's definitely been keeping me on my toes and off the computer!




Here are some pictures of two very real, useful lessons the children have been working on in the classroom. This first lesson is called "nuts and bolts" and is kind of a twist on the opening bottles lesson - literally! The child lines up all the bolts across the top of a felt, and then he figures out which nut will twist onto each bolt.







This next lesson is called "the little spill." The child pours a pitcher of packing peanuts onto the floor (I've used other materials like popcorn and noodles, but the peanuts are nice because they don't bounce all over the place.) The children get quite a thrill out of pouring something onto the floor on purpose!













Next, the child uses a broom to sweep the packing peanuts into the blue square on the floor. Blue squares (made out of blue tape) are always sweeping destinations in our classroom - I think they can be found in most Montessori classrooms. When presenting this lesson to the child, I always keep the broom in front of my body, and I make short, purposeful sweeps that I step along with. I don't know if that description makes sense, but this is different than the way I had always swept my floor at home... instead of pulling the broom toward yourself, you move with the broom and therefore have more coordination and control...






Anyway! The child uses a small brush to sweep the peanuts into the dustpan. Since they're not really trash, she uses her fingers to put the peanuts back into the pitcher.







Finally, for those of you who are interested, here's a picture of my new haircut:

The nuts and bolts of my life: a functional computer, good hair, and proper sweeping technique! :)