Apple Stamping

    " Slow and Steady Wins The Race"

                     

Everyday we are getting closer to achieving the goals of independence. I don't believe you can force "normalization" it is a process that you must only guide the children to achieve. Right now individual lessons are a hit or miss. I have faith in the children that one day they will take over ownership of the classroom.  There is one thing that is certain Apple Stamping rocks!!                           

Montessori Monday

We had a wonderful Montessori work week! All of the dhildren are still enjoying our daily rhythm. Our work period is still mostly made up of small groups, but it is to be expected for right now. I bet soon maybe I will be able to sit and observe and add more flavor to the childrens' liking. They are enjoying what is avaliable to them now and are even doing lots of extension lessons that some weren't interested in doing before.

                                           
                                        Practical Life

                                           Pouring beans

                                            Scooping beads

                                  Scrubbing carrots for vegetable soup

                                                                              
                                              Language
                                   
                                                Moveable Alphabet

                                                 Pin Punching

                                                  Coloring

                         
                    Sensorial/Math   
                         
                                                  Mystery Bag

                                 
                           Melissa & Doug Sequence Shape Sorter
                                                

                                          Color Tablets Box #2

                            
                               Tracing Number 2 Book
                                               

Proof! Multiage Groupings work. Happy is modeling what she has seen her peers do with the Blue Constructive Triangles. See? She even has the design cards turned over.

                              
                               Pink Tower/Brown Stairs extensions.
                                           

                                                                              
Now imagine the sound of children laughing and humming along while enjoying the days work. Yes it was a beautiful week. To see other children doing activities inspired by the Montessori Method please visit One Hook Wonder and Living Montessori Now for Montessori Monday.                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Sound? No Sound? Fall Sort Work

I put out a new sensorial work. Instead of using the classic easter egg version, I put a fall theme spin on it. I found the bell acorns on sale at Hobby Lobby. I just took out the little bell out of one of each pair. The children are really enjoying this new work.

                     Jessica enjoying the new work.

 I was really impressed with the response I received from the children about this work. I smiled plentiful while everyone who worked with this ask themselves "sound, no sound?" and placed the "acorns" in the correct sorting cup.                                                                                                                                                

Montessori Monday

We are cruising along during our work time. The kids have adjusted really well to the new classroom enviroment and staying busy. Here are a few pictures to prove it :)

                                                      Practical Life

                           Tonging leaves.

                          Using chopsticks to transfer birds.

                                                              Hammering.

                                   Squeezing water into a cup.

                        Learning how to carry a chair.

                                 Practicing how ro use scissors.

                         Working with open and close basket.

                     Stirring the play doh mixture.

Language      

Metal Insets.                                                

                           Sand tray with everyones' favorite letter.

    Practicing writing her name, and working with sandpaper "a" and sound basket.

Sensorial

Sorting Geometric Solids, Andrews' all time favorite work.                                                  

                               Cylinder block.

                                 Knobless cylinders.

Math

Practing one to one correspondence with miniature apples.                                                                         

 

           Number rods with Sandpaper numerals.             

To see other children doing activities inspired by the Montessori Method please visit Living Montessori Now  for Montessori Monday .                                                                                                                                                                                               

A Blog Shout Out: Inspired Montessori and Arts

This blog is like a hidden gem in the blogosphere. The woman behind this Montessori blog is truly amazing. Today she posted some videos of children in her classroom in action.  Go check out Inspired Montessori and Arts.  I bet you will leave Inspired!!

Signs Of Fall

As we are easing back into our montessori work time we are also taking advantage of what changes are happening around us outside. Instead of coloring inside the children looked for things outside to possibly draw on paper.

  They really liked making tree rubbings.

        Enjoying the sounds of outside while coloring.

   Picking up leaves and noticing that they are changing colors.

  Matching a crayon to an object of the enviroment.

 I really can see how much the children have grown. Our first nature walk of Fall last year was a lot of me pointing things out to the children. Not this time around they had their eyes wide open.

Note to Self: I don't remember having crayons and paper for the children to use last year on our walk . Ahh! The importance of  a  Prepared Enviroment.                                                            

Busy Hands !!

     Monday is Baking Day and we made..............

Play Doh. So much fun, a great work out for all those hand muscles.                                                                           

The Pink Tower Is Making A Come Back

 The Pink Tower was getting a bit lonely again. Fortunately some children noticed it was in a different place and had to work with it to rebuild it, to put it back in the spot they believed it belonged.:) While they kept putting the Pink Tower back together over and over ( yes I kept moving it back to its' newest spot), they realized they really enjoyed working with this material!!

                                                                            

The three children shown above form their own group at the beginning of the work period. One child gets the mat, one child gets the Pink Tower Cubes, and the other child begins the presentation.                                                                      
                                                                           

To see other children learning inspired by the Montessori Method please visit Living Montessori Now for Montessori Monday.                                                                   

Getting Our Rythym On With Little Acorn Learning Guide

How do we do Circle Time? I found the answer! Little Acorn Learning Monthly Nature-Based Guides for Childcare and Home. We just started this program this week. We officially start Circle Time before the work period and the children are staying focused and ready to plug away with their individual work. Everyone is wanting to participate!! We have a Rhythm that is just fantastic. Sorry no visual yet, I wanted to make sure it was going to be a good fit first so I'll have something put together to share for you very shortly. Mainly our Circle Time involves a morning verse, storytelling, fingerplays, and then a group activity. The activity depends on what day of the week it is. Monday is Baking Day, Tuesday is Painting, Wednesday is coloring, Thursday is crafting or playing a game, and Friday is Housework. Each day has a specific color, it is so much fun!  Right now during Circle Time we are not introducing the days of week, etc. We are learning the art of storytelling, weather watching and enjoying the fun we have together.

We started out our week with revealing the chalkboard drawing. We used the same drawing that was suggested in the guide.

           The drawing is covered when the children arrive on Monday.

 Then I choose a child to reveal the drawing at the opening of our circle time. The drawing shows the child the theme for the weeks' activities.

    Next we say our morning verse and blow out the candle

 Time to look out the window to see what todays' weather will be.

             This is one of the stories we read during our gathering.

 
We hunted these acorns as we were busy squirrels ourselves.

 The children also loved playing "Pass the Acorn" with this acorn that they thought was 'The Biggest Acorn" ever.

 After spending some years watching some children run the other way when I said it is time for circle time, I am impressed with this guide! Mine and the childrens' prayers have been answered.