Bannack!

If you ever find yourself in Montana, you have to visit Bannack. It's pretty much the best ghost town ever - in my opinion. Virginia City (the Hollywood of ghost towns) is okay, but Bannack is the real deal.

You can pretty much poke around wherever you want.

Some of the houses look like this inside...


and some are a little less funky.


Can't you just imagine the gold miners and the outlaws and the soiled doves???

OH!!! I LOVE ghost towns!

If only I was born in 1882 instead of 1982...

sigh...

cure for spring fever part 2

When life gives you lemons... make lemonade!
Life had given us inclement weather those last few days of school, so making lemonade seemed like the perfect plan. As you can probably imagine, it was a HUGE hit!

Materials:
*1-2 lemons
*cuttingboard
*pumpkin carver (for cutting lemon)
*juicer
*bowl for waste
*pitcher
*tiny spoon for removing seeds
*large spoon for stirring
*sugar (1/4 cupish)
*cups for serving
*cloth and sponge (for clean-up)

First, the child cuts the lemon in half. Eeek! Is that a knife?!?! No, it's a pumpkin carver! It's probably still semi-dangerous, but the child was shown how to use the carver correctly and safely. If you could see the concentration on his face, you would know he took the responsibility quite seriously. :)

Squeeze! Squeeze! Squeeze!

The child spoons out the seeds.

He pours the juice into the pitcher. Then, he adds the sugar, and tops it off with water. The line on the side of the pitcher (made from tape) shows him where to stop.

Finally, he stirs it up. Tiny feet begin to appear in the background. Everyone wants a taste!

This child is an obliging chef (bartender?).

He pours a glass for everyone, and they swarm in like bees to honey!

*If you're getting tired of looking at my dark, unfocused, grainy, sad photos - fear not! A new camera is on its way! I can't even begin to express how excited I am! Yay! Good pictures! Finally!

cure for spring fever part I

First of all, let me just say that school's out for the summer!!! Yee haw!!!!!

Whew! OK! I did manage to take some pictures of lessons during the last few days of school, although spring fever was running at an all-time high! Even though the energy level in my classroom was through the roof, the children still found concentration in lessons like plant polishing...


The materials laid out from left to right:
*Q-tips
*Plant polish (we used diluted neem oil)
*small dish for polish
*waste container for used Q-tips
*damp sponge in a dish
*dusting cloth

The child wraps the dusting cloth around her first two fingers by folding over the left side, then the right side...

and finally folding down the top. Pretty fancy, huh?!

Wiping off the dusty leaves is satisfying work. The dustier the better! The child knows how fragile the leaves are - she's being very careful!

Next, she squeezes a few drops of polish into the small dish.

She uses a Q-tip to gently apply the polish to the leaf. I'm not sure if neem oil is the best stuff for plant polishing, but it sure does make the leaves shine! The child puts the used Q-tip in the waste container. When she's all done polishing (the child can polish as many leaves as she'd like), she empties the waste container in the trash, puts the dusty polishing cloth in the laundry basket, and wipes the polish dish clean with the sponge.

You're probably thinking, Ooooo... what a strict teacher! Keeping her students cooped-up inside when they're nearly dying of spring fever! Actually, FYI, it was cold and rainy and sometimes even snowy outside. Can you believe it?

Lucky the green dog

Don't you just love him? Lucky is quite possibly the most precious two-legged dog ever. (In my opinion!) The idea for this lesson came from Kathy Barbro's blog, Art Projects for Kids - check her out if you haven't already! Even though many of the projects seem to be designed for older artists, they can easily be tweaked for little ones as well.

Cut, paste, draw! I'm loving this lesson because it's creative, and it requires skills like fine motor control, visual discrimination, and spacial awareness. Plus, the children had a blast cutting up old magazines! Woof!

I've missed you!!!!!!!!!!

Has it really been over 3 months? Really? YIKES! Well, I'm back! And I must admit, I feel both excited AND shy about writing this post. No juicy reasons for my absence (no, I'm not preggers), just a very broken computer, slightly broken camera, and the normal events of day-to-day life.

School is almost over for the summer, but I'm sure I'll still find some Montessori treats to share. I'll probably also post about the humble tasks of my daily summer living, which will include gardening, sleeping in, skiing, and drinking mojitos.

What I really want to do is catch up on what all of YOU have been up to. I feel so out of the loop! And even though I haven't been reading or writing, you've been in my thoughts. I've missed you!

FYI, these photos were taken by my new friend Maddie on a ski adventure we took last weekend.

And yes, there I am, working on an awesome tan line.

Until next time! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx