a much loved art lesson

This art lesson is off the hook

in our classroom right now.

Seriously.

Everybody who's anybody
is busy making a mosaic during the work period.

If you're wondering how it's done,
just glue squares of foam
(construction paper would work, too)
onto a paper grid.
How simple is that?!
But it's fabulous -

because the child is improving
her fine motor skills
by using a paintbrush or a glue stick
(most choose the paintbrush method)
to stick a square
onto a paper grid.

Also, the child is developing his creativity
because he can make
whatever patterns he desires.
This lesson
could possibly be titled
Mosaic 101.

a spoonful of couscous...

If you haven't checked out The Wonder Years yet, you should. I love catching glimpses of this Montessori mama's home-based classroom. She's got a good thing
going on.

The inspiration for this measuring lesson came from her - check it out here.

The child spoons couscous

with different measuring spoons,

using a spreader to level off his scoops.
There is a small dish for each spoonful,
so the child is able to see the differences
in volume of the measuring spoons.

After the child has put a spoonful
of couscous in each smaller dish,
he pours it all back into the main dish.

Later on, I will introduce the language 1/4 teaspoon, 1/2 teaspoon, and 1 teaspoon.
These measuring spoons could also be used in math activities... children could discover how many 1/4 teaspoons would fill 1 teaspoon or something.

A control of error for this lesson would be to fill the main dish with just enough couscous to fill each measuring spoon. Right now, our measuring lesson doesn't have this control of error. It's sort of an experimental experience for the child. I think I like it that way!

a winter's day experiment

Two jars...
1 filled with snow,
1 filled with ice
We made observations...
"The jar is cold AND wet!"

We made predictions...
"I think the ice will melt first."

We watched the experiment unfold all morning long...

'and what was our ultimate discovery?

Even the purest, freshest-looking snow on the playground is still really, really dirty!
But, don't worry, this new information did not stop the children from feasting on it all afternoon...

because if snow in Montana is too dirty to eat,
then what's the world coming to, you know?

last call for the phonemic object swap!

Jo at a bit of this and a bit of that is organizing a phonemic objects swap! The deadline for signing up is January 14th... so get on it if you haven't already! Here's the gist of the swap:
**you must collect 2 sets of 10 tiny objects (2-10 cm) that begin with sounds from the alphabet
**each participant gets two swap partners, so that means everyone ends up with 20 objects

If this swap sounds like just the thing for you and your little one(s), check it out here.

I'm pretty much beyond excited about this swap. Tiny objects are so dang hard to find sometimes, especially if your goal is to find a few for each letter of the alphabet. Honestly, you can never have too many tiny objects handy to use in language games.

Jo has a great picture in her post of the sound pouches she made. It's really beautiful, and you can click on each letter to see what objects she has in each pouch. In my classroom, we have an alphabet box with a drawer for each letter of the alphabet. Each drawer contains tiny objects that start with that letter of the alphabet. This lesson provides great practice for sound/symbol association. Sometimes children take out one drawer and just look at the objects. Other times, they might take objects from two or three drawers, mix them up, and then sort them by sound. The children in my classroom are really into doing this right now, and they often choose to take out the corresponding sandpaper letters, too. If you don't have something like an alphabet box or sound pouches set up, and you want to make one, this swap would be a good place to start.

Also, tiny objects like these are great to use in "I spy" games, beginning sound games, blending games, and word building activities.

Children have a great love for teeny, tiny things, and we have a plethora of phonemic objects at my school. But, alas, they're all kind of the same... and the children have seen them over and over again. I'm hoping this swap will spice up a few of the lessons in my classroom! I think the children would be thrilled to open up a package of tiny treasures from somewhere else in the world... we could even look it up on the map!

And, hey, maybe you'll get to be my swap partner and I'll send you one of these teeny "h-hats" I've been knitting!

hello again!

Where has she been?
It's 2009, for crying out loud!

Geez!

ski day count: #11, #12, #13...









...#14, #15, #16

New Year's Eve
70's style













painting and reupholstering chairs

sanding, painting, and hanging molding

spray painting skulls
(Sorry, that sounds gross, but they look so hip in all the home decor mags... do they use real skulls, though? We do here in Montana.)

I'm so glad to be back! I've missed you all!
Montessori to come tomorrow, promise! :)