snow!

Yeeeeee haw!
Keep it coming!

reusable mazes!

I'd seen some maze lessons over at My Montessori Journey a few times, so I decided it was high time for us to give them a try! After the initial disappointment of not being able to bring them home, the children concluded they were a fab idea!

Here are the first ones I made.
I printed them from here and here.
Our printer is black and white,
so I cut off any pictures that were on the maze
and used stickers instead.
FYI, the caterpillar is trying to get to spring
and the ladybug is trying to get to the flowers.
After gluing them to construction paper,
I ran them through the laminator.
Reusable mazes! Hooray!

I set them up on a tray with
a dry erase marker and an eraser.
Of course, both were major points of interest!

When I demonstrated the lesson to the children,
I modeled tracing the maze with my finger first.
But, it was awesome for them
to be able to erase and start over!
Isn't it the worst when you make a wrong
turn with ink on a maze (or a crossword puzzle)?!

Here are a few more I made tonight.
Um, yeah, who wouldn't want to spend
their free time making mazes?

busy hands

I've received a few questions about when to teach what, so I thought I'd include some descriptions of the lessons in this week's busy hands post. Hope it makes some degree of sense! :)

transferring beads with tweezers

materials: dish for beads, beads, tweezers, soap saver (?) - can be found at dollar stores or here
purpose: coordination and control of movement, indirect prep for reading, writing, & math
age: the child in this photo is 4, but a 3-year-old with strong fine motor skills could do it, too
control of error: dropping the beads

counting to 100 on the 100 board

materials: board with 100 squares, squares labeled 1-100, muffin tin for storing number squares in sets of 10 - I think this lesson could be made at home, but check it out at Alison's here
purpose: to count to 100 with numerals (abstract), I usually present this lesson to children who have already been counting to 100 in a concrete way (for example, counting the 100 bead chain), this lesson also provides an opportunity for the child to see numeric patterns
age: the child in this picture is 5-years-old
control of error: the child uses the 100 board control to check her work

building useful words

materials: the moveable alphabet, a lined board (homemade)
purpose: the child practices building, reading, and writing high frequency words that are not pronounced phonemically (for example, is, has, the, are)
age: the child in this photo is 5-years-old
control of error: teacher or control card

counting stars 1-9

materials: Usually, we do this lesson with wooden numerals and 56 ever changing objects, but I noticed over at My Montessori Journey that sometimes she makes her cards to coordinate with her theme. I thought I'd give it a try, and it's been a huge hit! I painted the numbers with white paint on black construction paper. The stars are from Discount School Supply, here.
purpose: This lesson provides practice in the association of quantities and symbols 1-9. I present this lesson to children who are able to make 1-1 correspondence when counting, and have mastered the numeral rods, sandpaper numerals, and the spindle box. The child must be able to lay the numeral cards out in the correct sequence, and then count out the corresponding quantities of stars. This activity also requires organization!
age: the child in this photo is 4-years-old
control of error: too many stars left over (or not enough) in the end, in the photos, this lesson is being done on a table (happens here sometimes), but is much nicer on a rug with lots of room

experimenting with the pink tower
and the broad stair

materials: the pink tower and the broad stair
purpose: this is a lesson extension, children are able to discover similarities and differences between the two materials
age: the child in this photo is 4-years-old
control of error: none... maybe visual disharmony

metal insets

materials: metal insets - check them out at Nienhius here, paper cut in 5x5 inch squares, pencil holder, long, sharp colored pencils
purpose: This lesson is the first official writing lesson. The child must have the coordination and control to use a pencil to do this lesson. The metal insets have both an inset and a frame. The child learns to trace the frame first. When presenting the lesson, I carefully model picking up the pencil with my non-writing hand and positioning it in my writing hand. Also, the metal insets are supposed to mirror the shapes of the letters, so keep that in mind while you trace. :)
age: the child in this picture is 3-years-old
control of error: the frame may slip and the pencil may waver, resulting in visual disharmony of the outline

Metal insets are NOT an art lesson,

but they can still be beautiful!
Aren't these a riot?!

the alphabet story

2 friends telling the alphabet story

"Teach the alphabetic principle before you teach the alphabet.

Before beginning formal instruction in letter-sounds, show the child how to use her phonemic awareness to identify an alphabet letter by its sound when the letter is linked with an object or picture. Because the child now understands the alphabetic principle (that letters and speech sounds map onto each other), she is prepared to understand, identify, learn and remember the 26 alphabet letter-sounds."

-Randall Klein, reading specialist & Montessori teacher

I am a huge fan of Randall Klein, and his reading program. Our school's language curriculum is largely based on his materials and ideas. If you ever get a chance to listen to him speak, you'll leave feeling not only wiser, but truly inspired and ready to teach your child to read. The way he explains language development is straightforward, with an emphasis on quick, fun games you can play with your little one basically anywhere. Visit Randall here.

Here's how we tell the alphabet story:
**singing the letter sounds to the tune of "up on a housetop"

a-a-apple, b-b-bird, c-c-cat, d-d-door, e-e-elephant

f-f-fish, g-g-girl, h-h-house, i-i-igloo, j-j-jet, k-k-kite,

lll-lamp, m-m-moon, n-n-nest, o-o-octopus, p-p-pig

q-q-queen, rrr-rainbow, s-s-sun, t-t-turtle, u-u-umbrella

v-violin, w-w-watch, x-marks the spot, y-y-yo-yo so much fun

z-z-zebra he really can run, we just sang our alphabet song,

next time won't you sing along?

For continuity in the beginning, we always associate the same pictures/objects with the letters (for example, "a" is always an apple). As the child becomes more familiar with letters, it's second-nature to associate them with other things that begin with the same sounds.

preparing the little ones for their HGTV debut...

a new twist on painting at the easel...
a tray of paint &
a small roller brush

Simple, right(?!),
but what a huge hit!
... maybe because they'd watched
their parents paint like this at home,
or maybe because the roller did
such a fantastic job of filling
the entire page with paint...
whatever the reason,
the children were lining up
all morning to give it a try!

reading and eating

I've been thinking a lot about the prepared environment lately. In the Montessori classroom, we're always striving to create a space where the children can learn to become independent. Here's a glimpse of what goes through my head all day:
If I put this tray on that shelf, will they be able to lift it? Can they even see it?
The pink tower is chipped! How can I make it beautiful again?
Do child-sized snow shovels that aren't made of plastic and actually work exist?

I wanted to share a few snippets of our classroom environment with you. I have a few new ideas about incorporating language into the prepared environment - I'm imagining environmental print. I've gotten quite a few ideas from the write start. If you have any suggestions or opinions, do share!

Here's our snack set up:

Children can serve themselves a simple snack during the work period. They can eat at whatever time they choose, but only once. The snack is set on top of a low shelf. The bottom part of the shelf holds plates and cups (I need to find some glass cups - I like the ones Lisa uses!)

The children serve themselves the quantity that is on the card - they can either read the numeral or count the stars. As a control of error, there's just enough food for every child to eat once - if a child takes more than the quantity on the card, or eats twice, there won't be enough for everyone to have a snack.

When the children are finished,
they put their dirty dishes in this tub.

Okay, here's what I'm thinking:
**real glasses
**cloth napkins
**find a way for children to wash their own dishes (an independent pre-wash before they go in the dishwasher)

As for environmental print:
**a menu written on a white board
** table topics with pictures and print
**reading recipes off of cards

This is just a start! What do you do in your home/school?

a valentine adventure

Eeek! Another non-Montessori post! Please humor me... I'm procrastinating. I sat down at the computer with high hopes of working on some homework. Yikes! Real, official homework - who does that anymore?! Me, supposedly, but I would waaaaaaaay rather blog/facebook/etsy!

Anyway, here are some pics from my Valentine adventure with Hubs and Rosie:

we ate rainbow trout tacos here

spent the night in this
funky little love shack
(I'm not prissy, but I did keep my socks on.)

love

walked along the Yellowstone
(the longest undammed river
in the lower 48, btw)

Do you like my crazy lady outfit?
I think it's the zebra shades...

Oh! I'm still contemplating my 100th post giveaway... maybe a Montessori grab bag
or a complete lesson of some sort?
What would YOU be excited to win?

smooch!

Happy Valentine's Day!

love

according to preschoolers...

Love is making people laugh.
Love is taking care of people when they are sick.
Love is a dog.
Love is when you hug someone.
Love is something that makes
people feel happy and kind.
Love is if you live in the woods
you can give horses food.
Love is me.
Love is my mama.
Love rhymes with ruv and glove.
Love is always in your heart.


Couldn't have said
it better myself!
:)

rodent love

Any idea what this is???

I won't hold it against you for not knowing!
I forgot to take a "finished" pic,
so I'll just tell you...
2 mice smooching
awwww!

I saw this on make and takes
via the crafty crow
a week or two ago, and, as always,
I stewed about it for awhile,
imagining how to make it into a lesson
that a child could do independently.
So, here it is...

I prepped the lesson by folding paper
and drawing heart halves along the fold.
I also drew a line down the centers.
I actually only did this on 1
piece of paper - then I made copies!

The child cuts along the lines,
and ends up with 2 heart halves.
Also, the child in these
cutting pictures is only 3 years old.
Isn't his concentration lovely?! :)

Next, he applies glue with a paint brush.
I'm loving this method
not only because it requires fine motor control,
but because the child gets glue
where he wants it,
without squirting out the whole bottle.
YAY!

The ears are tiny hearts.
(I prepped these, too.)
The tails are pieces of pretty yarn.
The child draws the face on
with brand-spankin-new markers.

Oh, and if you were wondering, YES,
gak was a hit!!!

We made it this afternoon in groups of four. Each child had his or her own bowl, and I poured the Elmer's, coloring, and liquid starch. We made observations about the ingredients all being liquid. And, as we stirred, exclamations were made as the gak became solid.

It was a blast!

sweet and slimy

Remember how I'm taking a class? Of course you do, right? One of my assignments is to read 5 picture books a week, and to think of some activities to go with them. This book was so precious, I decided to share a little of my homework tonight!

Marylou is secretly in love with Herbie. Don't you love their names? She is too shy to approach him, so she leaves love poems written in slime around the garden instead. Herbie is intrigued, and he starts writing her poems back. In the end, they finally meet and fall in love. And, awww, they live happily ever after, too!

Activity #1

Marylou and Herbie's love poems rhyme, and, in my classroom, we just so happen to be totally into rhyming. We've been singing this goofy song a lot lately:

**Invite the child to think of 2 words that rhyme OR you can give them one word and they can come up with another word that rhymes (the words don't have to be real words).

a slug gives a hug
a slug gives a hug
hi ho the derry-o
a slug gives a hug

Activity #2

What's as slimy and as gooey as a slug? GAK! I found this homemade gak recipe at Polliwog's Cakewalk, which is quite a cool blog, btw. Anyway, I think I'm going to make it with the children next week, so I did a gak test run at home today.

Elmer's glue & liquid starch
use in equal parts (for example, 1 cup of each)

Mix the glue with a little food coloring first.

As soon as you add the liquid starch,
the mixture becomes really thick, gooey,
and incredible!

Also, this is my 100th post! WOW! Look for a little give-away sometime this week! :)

the quantity splitting box

I just have to show you this ingenious little

addition lesson I've been loving lately!
Prepare to be amazed...

First, the child counts how
many marbles are in the dish.
The quantity of marbles is up to you.

Next, he or she pours the marbles
onto the top of the box.
See that tab on the right side?

PULL!
The marbles drop to the next level,
and roll into the hole.

How many are on the green side?
How many are on the red side?
The red side plus the green side equals
the quantity of marbles that were in the dish!
The child can continue to pour the marbles
into the box to find out all the possible
addition combinations of that quantity.
Cool, huh?!

Almost as cool as these hubcaps
we found at the junkyard.
Maybe it's just me,
but I think they look lovely
hanging on a wall!
Find your own at the junkyard
for $2.50 each. :)

OH! Sidetracked! Sorry!
You can buy your own
Quantity Splitting Box here.
It's nearly $40, though. Yikes!
I have a feeling that some of you creative
mamas out there can create your own
clever variation of this game.
Please share if you do!