color sorting

I got this idea for a new sorting lesson from My Montessori Journey. It's a slightly more challenging variation of regular "sorting." The children love it!

First, the child opens the little container - similar to those often found in his or her lunchbox. Inside the container are red, green, and blue (4 of each) wooden pegs. The child selects a peg and places it in the glass with the corresponding color band. The glasses are shot glasses, and the bands are just red, green, and blue pieces of tape.

When I present this lesson, as with most practical life lessons, I don't say much to the child. I name the lesson, and ask the child to repeat it. The purpose of this lesson is fine motor skill, sequence, and visual discrimination - not vocabulary! If the child names the colors, I take note, but I haven't been using this lesson to teach the language "red, green, blue." I feel that the Montessori color tablets are more appropriate materials to introduce children to color names. I tend to assume that most children know their colors, but I'm always surprised to discover otherwise! :)

Overall, this color sorting lesson was easy to set up, and it provided a much needed variation to an already well-loved lesson!

Tomorrow is our official "change of theme" set-up day, so I'll be sure to post more photos of new lessons soon!

sunflower season...

As October approaches, it's time to switch things up a bit around the classroom. One new lesson on the practical life shelves this week is a sunflower seed tweezers transfer lesson. Last week, we asked parents to donate sunflowers from their yards to the school. The sunflowers have to be fairly dried out for this to work.

Children use the tweezers to pull individual seeds from the sunflower and transfer them to a dish. Eventually, we will roast the seeds under the broiler and eat them as a snack. Using tweezers takes quite a lot of fine motor strength and precision, but it's very satisfying work for the children!

Here's a sunflower song that can also be played on the bells - not sure if I got the notes right :)

sunflower, sunflower
do-re-mi do-re-me

yellow and brown
do-re mi fa

you are the prettiest
do re mi do-re-mi

flower around
do-re mi-fa

tall, straight
ti la

full of grace
so fa mi

I love the smile
do re mi do

On your bright
re mi fa

yellow face
so-la ti

getting fit on friday afternoon

Last night, R and I and our usual crew of merry men went to the Emerson to watch this year's TGR (Teton Gravity Research) ski film, Under the Influence. It was pretty good - some excitement inducing footage, as-well-as some so-so footage. Overall, though, the whole experience gave me some major pangs of old-ladyhood. The crowd consisted mainly of loud, rowdy, college kids, dressed in costumes, standing up on the seats,yelling, chugging beer, etc. As for us, we had all worked an 8-hour day, wanted to enjoy a film from our seats, and were not drunk. Maybe we're getting too old for the 9:30 showings of ski films... anyway, to my credit, I was wearing fairly cool clothes, I drank a can of PBR, and I enjoyed the quiet satisfaction of knowing I too had skied my ass off in all that Jackson powder that was playing on the screen.

Here's the trailer for Under the Influence:


The film did leave me feeling inspired about the upcomming ski season. R and I both bought our Bridger passes this morning. It also reminded me that I seriously need to get myself in shape, especially since I plan on being queen of the ridge this year. JK! :)

Hence, I decided to take Rosie on a run this afternoon.

We ran on a dirt road just out of town with great views of Elephanthead Mountain.

R and I and aforementioned merry men skied Elephant head last spring. This picture is from then, not today.

Rosie enjoys scavenging for things to eat - living, dead, or otherwise.

I walked up this hill. Actually, after the first hill, most of the run was a walk. This was mainly due to the fact that all I had consumed so far was Ramen noodles, brownies, and endless cups of coffee.

Mud puddles are always quite satisfying to Rosie.

I forced her to cuddle with me - ha!

Rosie hates public displays of affection.

It was a good show of wildlife, considering it is hunting season. I thought this antelope was especially handsome. Blurry, but handsome. :)

This picture of buck mule deer is really blurry because I was so breathless, I couldn't hold the camera steady. I guess most of my pictures are blurry for this reason.

My goal was to get to this ranch road. This is the road that leads to the Forest Service access to Elephanthead. The man who owns this ranch and the property the road runs through is an extremely cranky, ornery codger. When we did the ski trip last spring, we mistakenly parked by the access, on his property. After arriving home, we realized that he'd keyed our friend's truck while we were out skiing. I'm glad Rosie and I didn't see him today because he probably wouldn't think twice about shooting at Rosie, or at me, for that matter! I probably would have ran a lot faster!

introducing Mrs. L...

First of all, I want to apologize for being off the blog for so long. Between frantic wedding planning, getting married, becoming a new wife, teaching, commuting, and basic living, I've barely had a moment to spare! Things are finally starting to calm down around here...

I thought I'd post some pics from the wedding and the party we threw the following evening. The wedding was sort of like Carrie Bradshaw's Sex in the City wedding, but Montana style - yes, I'm wearing Wranglers. The party was a fun, slightly freezing gathering of friends - possibly one of the hippest events to have occurred Livingston. Enjoy!

Rosie is going crazy for a walk - I'll post more party pictures later! :)