Montessori Monday

Our Montessori work week last week was a lot of fun. I did only a few new presentations and that helped the children to become more absorbed with their work at hand. They were very happy!! I don't really know what the deal was or is with my camera. Some pictures are blurred. I still wanted to share them with you because I didn't get many photos of the kids.

                                          Practical Life

Cheese slicing with play doh. Practicing pincer grasp with pennies and coin bank. Mortar/Pestle work with beans. Walking the line blindfolded.

   
                                                                    Language

Metal Insets. Sandpaper letter with sand tracing.  Matching word to object with zodiworks.

Mathematics

Working with number puzzles and small number rods.

Zoology

Sequencing the butterfly lifecycle. Comparing ladybug life cycle to butterfly lifecycle.

Sensorial

 

Pink tower and Brown Stair extensions.  Cylinder blocks with mastery!!

 I am very happy to see most of the students working in all areas. This week I have geography presentations to  introduce to some.  To see other children learning using the montessori method pop over to One Hook Wonder and Mommy Moment.

                                          

Exploring Nature

The kids wanted to go on a nature hunt. We packed up our tools to begin our discovery.  I noticed that they have a high interest in trees, flowers,and leaves.They had their butterfly net, bug catching equipment, when the butterflies appeared they just watched and smiled . They didn't want to try to catch them, I asked them why?  They both agreed that they wanted the butterflies to be happy flying, not in the net. They were really intrigued about how the branches were growing on the tree above.

DJ is tyring to catch some snails with the fish net. No luck, but did get some snail shells.

Ken found a tree that had a lot of sap inside.

Having fun with tree branches,and smelling the roses.

 With the nature objects that they collected we made solar prints. Notice the cars,  DJ insisted that they be part of our nature study.

They also did a experiment and  planted grass seeds for a bottle garden. We really don't know how this will turn out. The kids said "if we water it, and  it gets sunlight, and air the grass seeds should grow". I guess I'll have to wait to find out.   To see other science projects or experiments that other children are doing visit Adventures In Mommydom  for Science Sunday.

From Caterpillar To Pupa

Our caterpillars have now developed into the Pupa stage. The children have kept a close watch on them since their arrival. It has been fascinating to see how they have been comparing their observations to their findings in books.  Here are pictures of some of the activities that they worked on this week.

Matching Butterflies.

Drawing observations of the change to Pupa ,once they were placed in the butterfly house.

 Sequencing a story from a ebook by Evan Moor titled "Egg, Caterpillar, Butterfly". This was a color, cut, glue activity.

Working with "Parts Of The Butterfly" cards.

The parts of the butterfly sparked a lot of interest. They wanted to know more about the proboscis ( it is like a long tongue or drinking straw coming from the  head). So we talked about how the butterfly eats and what they eat . They did this project and had a lot of fun with their proboscis.

Salve!

 This week we have been  learning our Latin Greeting Words. The children love the music and it has been a great routine for the end of the day circle time. Words we learned so far are;

1. salve- hello
2. vale- goodbye
3. discipuli- students
4. magister/magistra-teacher

   When the children enter or leave our school they have been addressing me as magistra, or their friends as discipuli. Teaching the greetings allowed me to present a grace and courtesy lesson. They learned how to shake each others hands when greeting using eye contact.  I can see how guiding the children  through our Latin  curriculum can lead to big things in music, language development, and grammar.

The Pick Of The Day!!

 All I had to do was show the children how to set it up. All I said was "Slow" so that the water would stay in the bin. I spent  $4.00 at Target dollar spot. The children poured and poured.  I had to resupply our water source several times. Here are some pictures. Now I am setting up nametags for children to use to show that they are waiting to work with this and  hopefully they will learn to do this with other works. I  Love It!!!

The Prepared Enviroment

   All of the children left early today, early for me is about five o'clock. I usually work much later. When the last child left I followed them to the door to lock it, and begin carrying on with other business upstairs. After about a hour of  hearing almost silence, I called  for "DJ" to see what he was doing. Sometimes silence isn't a good thing for too long when kids are in the house (lol).  He was answering from the basement. I went back down because I knew there were things that I should finish up before tomorrow. This is what he was doing, copying the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". When I picked up my camera to take a picture. He said "Wait let me do Friday". I am very excited about how the "prepared enviroment"  is guiding my children. I must say that education has always been very important to my husband and I. Now my children come home from school and ask me "What are we going to learn new today"!

Toddler Tuesday

 Last week our toddler group were explorers on a hunt to find interesting things to get their hands on. They allowed me to introduce new works to them. They sat and watched my movement. I learned through them that yes, less talk during presentations keeps a busy toddler focused.

"Jamesha" working with  classified cards(school).

Andrew and "Dre" spooning.

"Jessica" pouring buttons.

"Dre" decided his new job was to clean stairs. He went for the broom and dust pan I have for older children, ditched the tray broom work and went for the real deal. Yeah, I better get to mopping those stairs!! Pardon the mess.

"Kay" matching cookies by color and shape.

 I have to say that they had a very good work cycle week. They helped me learn a few more things. Unfortunately I don't have enough pictures to show all of their great works. Now I am heading over to One Hook Wonder to see what other toddlers have been doing. Thanks for stopping by!!

Montessori Monday

 The kids were very specific on the works that they wanted to worked with. Their repetiveness of the work allowed them to gain confidence, like of the work, and build concentration.

"Lil" working with pouring water, and pencil sharpening. "Lil" has been with me for two months now. She is now completing work cycles. Her favorite area right now is practical life.

"Z" working with polishing leaves, blue knobless cylinders, matching sight words from ladybugs to leaves.

"Tie-Tie" actually spent most of his time working with "Zodiworks" a language activity, he says "I love Sam". "Sam" is the title of book #1. He also worked with the binomial cube, here he is doing the "Binomial Cube Parade". As always he is dusting our shelves. This prompted rearranging of materials, he clued me in on things that needed to be in order for our "prepared enviroment".


The work was very calm. I could look at them and tell that they were relishing in their work. They stayed busy, but most importantly they found works that matched their skills, and a bit challenging at the same time. To see what others are doing with their children using the montessori method pop over to One Hook Wonder.