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?