Last month, I made an object/picture matching lesson where the children made
jack-o-lantern faces on a felt board. It went over HUGE in my classroom! I really wanted to make another one with turkeys for Thanksgiving... but I couldn't think of a good way to make the cards. The cards I had made last time were sort of construction paper collages. That was easy for jack-o-lanterns, but turkeys? It seemed like too daunting of a project. Just when I was about to throw in the towel, I saw that Melissa at
Chasing Cheerios had come up with the perfect solution: wallet-sized photos!
I set my turkey up on the felt board and took pictures of him with different combinations of feathers, eyes, wattles, etc. His feet, head, and beak are sewn on, so that part never changes. Then, I got the photos developed in the wallet-size and laminated them. I'm slightly disappointed with my laminating - it's really foggy. The photos are a little dark, so the funky laminating doesn't help. Does anyone know what makes that happen?
Here's how I have everything set up in the basket - cards and corresponding felt shapes. I sewed sequins on the eyes, hat, and some of the feathers just to add a little turkey-pizazz. :)
This is how I will present the lesson to the children. I'll set up the turkey and all its possible accessories. Then, I will choose a card and put together a matching turkey.
This last turkey is kind of a side-note. Lately, I've been slightly obsessed with why the Pink Tower is pink. Does anyone know why that is? I know it's not pink in all schools; some are natural wood. But, why can't you buy a Green Tower or a Blue Tower? When Maria Montessori was alive, her ideas and methods were always changing and evolving. She would totally switch things up in her lectures, just so people wouldn't become consumed with the belief that her materials and methods always had to be a certain way. I mean, you should always make sure that the work you provide for the child is meaningful and that your movements are purposeful, but does a tower of cubes
have to be
pink? Sometimes I wonder if boys would work with the Pink Tower more if it weren't pink. But, then I think, why should that matter? Anyway, point being, I feel bad about knocking pink all the time, so I made some very glam, pink feathers for the turkey. :) Sorry for the crazy rant!
Last month, I made an object/picture matching lesson where the children made jack-o-lantern faces on a felt board. It went over HUGE in my classroom! I really wanted to make another one with turkeys for Thanksgiving... but I couldn't think of a good way to make the cards. The cards I had made last time were sort of construction paper collages. That was easy for jack-o-lanterns, but turkeys? It seemed like too daunting of a project. Just when I was about to throw in the towel, I saw that Melissa at Chasing Cheerios had come up with the perfect solution: wallet-sized photos!
I set my turkey up on the felt board and took pictures of him with different combinations of feathers, eyes, wattles, etc. His feet, head, and beak are sewn on, so that part never changes. Then, I got the photos developed in the wallet-size and laminated them. I'm slightly disappointed with my laminating - it's really foggy. The photos are a little dark, so the funky laminating doesn't help. Does anyone know what makes that happen?
Here's how I have everything set up in the basket - cards and corresponding felt shapes. I sewed sequins on the eyes, hat, and some of the feathers just to add a little turkey-pizazz. :)
This is how I will present the lesson to the children. I'll set up the turkey and all its possible accessories. Then, I will choose a card and put together a matching turkey.
This last turkey is kind of a side-note. Lately, I've been slightly obsessed with why the Pink Tower is pink. Does anyone know why that is? I know it's not pink in all schools; some are natural wood. But, why can't you buy a Green Tower or a Blue Tower? When Maria Montessori was alive, her ideas and methods were always changing and evolving. She would totally switch things up in her lectures, just so people wouldn't become consumed with the belief that her materials and methods always had to be a certain way. I mean, you should always make sure that the work you provide for the child is meaningful and that your movements are purposeful, but does a tower of cubes have to be pink? Sometimes I wonder if boys would work with the Pink Tower more if it weren't pink. But, then I think, why should that matter? Anyway, point being, I feel bad about knocking pink all the time, so I made some very glam, pink feathers for the turkey. :) Sorry for the crazy rant!
Love it! And again thanks for the insperation from the post below this, I am going to add you to my roll, if that's ok :0)
ReplyDeleteI don't know why the pink tower is pink but I do know it can make a difference. We started this term with a natural wood one. We thought it would good to have it different to the one the kids were used to at nursery - make them feel they were at big school and things were the same but different! However, they completely ignored it and the broad stair. Over here in England the youngest children at school should be still usung thse materials and getting a lot out of them. When we asked them why they weren't using the pink tower they said "We haven't got one!" So I bought one that appeared on the shelf over the weekend and suddenly - massive amounts of PT/BS work. It's been a revalation! aybe there is something inherently right about pink! I think, actually it just didn't show up the difference between the PT/BS and therefore the rationale for using it wasn't there.
ReplyDeleteDoes that make sense?!
I often wonder the same thing about Montessori materials in general, so many people seem to treat it more like a cult where the activities and materials seem so rigid, when they are just one way to help a child to a certain goal. I like it better when people interpret things more loosely, especially since it means you are more likely to repurpose the materials around you and buy less junk you don't really need.
ReplyDelete