Taking A Break

Well it is time for me to take a break from this place. I will still be taking photos of the children in action as well of the activities that I prepare for them. So if you stick around I 'll still have things to share in the future. I am loving documenting my own kids homeschooling journey and well having two blogs just isn't working out for my busy schedule right now. If your interested you can pop over to my other blog We Don't Need No Education or check out my Pinterest Boards. Thank you for reading!!

Moon Rocks and Telescopes

This week we did two simple crafts that came with out supplemental curriculum kit. Nothing really fancy , unless you were actually taking part in the awesome conversations that were taking place among friends.

Twelve astronauts have walked on the moon and collected many rock and soil samples.

A telescope is a long tube with lenses on the ends that help you see things that are too far away to see with your own eyes.                                                                            
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                             

Montessori Monday

We had a lot of fun learning last week. It was short but sweet:)

Absorbing that indeed the sun is a star while working with playdoh.

Got a sensorial feel that a cloud is indeed a collection of water droplets.

Made silly snacks and found out that we can find shapes of the moon and planets if we are looking for it.

Totally loved pouring blue water that reminded us that the Earth is made up of mostly water. To be exact we know that 71.11% of Earth is water.

Someone found out that they really enjoy flower arranging.

We were blessed with Mumble spending his Spring Break with us. Oh how I love the Montessori Method!! Mumble still loves working with the materials, and helping others:)

They loved sharing their fears, and love for the Easter Bunny. To see other children doing activities inspired by the Montessori Method please visit Living Montessori Now for Montessori Monday.

Circle Time and Focus Boards

For the first time in about two and half years I have a group of children that are really looking forward to Circle Time! Actually they were the same children I tried this with in September and it still wasn't a go. Now WE ARE READY!! You asked what made me try it again? Can I be honest Circle Time and I had a great love affair before I started learning about the Montessori Method. Then I did something wrong! I am only sharing this in hopes to help someone else out there discovering Montessori as well. I tried to imitate what I read on other blogs, it was a confusing thing to do circle time, or not to do circle time. Anyway I have come to the opinion that there cannot be Montessori Classrooms that is set up the same all over the world, because the group of children are not the same. Eureka!! See I am almost there. So I have a group of children who love learning new songs, love finding and discussing the letter of the week, and want to rock out and have jam sessions in the morning. Call it a cultural thing, whatever it is, this is what is true here. We play two great music with movement songs that get these children bodies moving and learning great song lyrics. Then we move on to calendar, weather, topic discussion and end our time with a go along craft. It is awesome! Then I dismiss each child with a transitional fingerplay and they are off to Montessori Work Period.

This is how it looks on the wall to the right of the room. Please excuse the lighting it is very poor. I could only take it with the light on.

This is the where we do our daily calendar work. We add on the dates as they arrive and take note of the patterns that are on the date cards. Make weather observations and discuss what to wear for that day.

Here is one of the focus boards. It has a our letters of the month. I am still following the Montessori way to teach reading and writing. To incorporate our letters of the month we will have Show and Tell days where the children will bring in a item that starts with the sound of the week, and from there they will have activities surrounding the letter. This idea I saw on the blog Inspired Montessori and Arts at Dundee Montessori. I know the kids well enough to say that they are going to enjoy this way of focusing on sounds as a group and also they love to have Show and Tell days with a purpose. Also this is where our daily weather is recorded. .

Here is the discussion Topic Poster of the day. It was what the light prevented you from seeing. We discuss stars, and what they are made up of . I save any Montessori related works for small group, and one on one lessons.

Here is our board that has our poem of the month, theme poster. One of the numbers of the month. This week was our first week incorporating this new circle time, so I haven't done anything on this board with them yet. For the numbers of the month we will have a collection of number jars, with different objects counting to the focus numbers on the shelves. As a group we just practice counting to 17 and identify what 1,7 and 17 look like.

They really enjoyed making a star wand. They used glue and glitter to write their first initial of their names. Doing the craft together has worked out and our CircleTime last about thirty minutes, but it's packed with a lot of fun!!

I also print out the topic poster for coloring sheets for the day, this idea has been well received by the kids.

Flashlight Fascinations

The kids have thoroughly enjoyed the new putting a flashlight together work. Everytime they got that baby to turn on it was all smiles.

      The flashlight that they are using only requires one battery, I thought this would help them to be successful..                                                              

New On The Shelves

It has been a long time since I added anything new to our shelves, and let me tell you it was a blessing in disquise. The children choices began to grow and so this led to interesting things across our subject areas. They have practiced and mastered and now I can honestly say that this is going to be our normal. They enjoy new works, but they really loved to see those works live on the shelves longer. In fact last time I changed out works one of the children asked me what happened to his favorite work. This time around I asked each child individually what work they still wanted to work with on the shelves so this wouldn't happen again.

Putting together a flashlight.

Pencil sharpening.

Pouring blue water, they never tire of pouring I changed the vessel and added some color.

Dry pouring sand, again I just changed the vessel and the color.

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Color your own sticker to make a space scene on the provided construction paper.

These are the same as the sticker designs without the sticker backing. What they will do is choose one book that will belong to them, glue on a design on a blank page in the book and then write about it.

Flower arranging. They will use the sand as a vase filler. The vase filler I plan to change out whenever it needs to be, as well as new types of flowers.

Our game of the month. The goal is to get to the moon. They will use the spinner to determine what their next move will be. What I like about this game it involves shapes, counting, and prereading skills. I have made this a two player game. This game came with our Mother Goose Time curriculum.

Shadow matching. There is more that I plan to share that I think deserves a post of it's own as our Space theme unfolds. Come back tomorrow and check out our new Calendar and Focus Boards set up. To see more inspired Montessori activities pop over to Living Montessori Now for Montessori Monday.