A Field Guide

It is always interesting to observe the children and see how they connect the materials. I placed a Field Guide in our butterfly observatory.

 Mumble used the field guide to identify the butterflies on the puzzle. Awesome!!

    This tent has been the perfect space to observe, and become closer to nature.

  No matter how many times they witness the life cycle of the butterfly they always learn more and so do I.

Linking up to Montessori Monday.                                                                             

Water Play

                                                                                           

Beginnings Of A Backyard Nature Study

Every year the children and I do a mini unit on Butterflies. This year will be no exception, instead we are taking the study outside and using our tent as the learning space. Having the space limit of the tent has also helped me to not over do it, and allow the children to make observations on their own. I have plenty of ideas, but this time I am going to hold back a bit.

     
In the tent we have....
                                                         

                                                   our butterfly larvae          
                                                                   

                                                               butterfly life cycle model

                                                                           a puzzle

                                                                   book basket

Trust me it is very hard to contain myself and not scream out a list of activities that I think they will would be interested in. The children have shown me that they will ask for what they need to keep their interest alive. They have already requested some paper to sketch the caterpillars. Also they have asked me "What kind of butterfly will the caterpillars turn into?"  

Linking up to Montessori Monday.                                                                                               

One Child Can Make A DIfference

I am very blessed to have just a small group of children during our Summer Session. It has allowed us to take as many field trips that we would like. This week the children nominated as "Park Hopping Week". We will visit new to us parks and on Friday we will use all the data that we collected and make some fun graphs with the information.

Today we visited a familiar park just so the children would have a good comparison for the rest of the parks. While we were there one of the children commented on how there was too much garbage around and began to pick it up.

 Dre's  positive attitude became contagious. Everybody who was at the park joined  in!!

 We finished up our field trip with some ice cream. Perfect Day!!                                                                                  

For The Untrained

Yes, it bothers me at times that I am an untrained Montessori Guide. I certainly plan to be certified one day, hopefully soon. In the meantime I still do the best I can to implement the Montessori Philosophy. Looking forward to Fall brings me much excitement, especially since I will have a whole new crop of kids that will also start their first Montessori experiences. It gets me nervous and excited at the same time. I have been planning away using this guide by Gina Newcomb available at New Child Montessori. I think this is just perfect for the untrained still learning how to observe the child.

 I love how everything is laid out for you. It isn't exactly following a particular child but it allows you to introduce and expose. The sequencing of lessons are completely understandable and it makes material making so much fun. It even has a book list suggestions for each week, poems,songs, finger plays, art and theme activities. For a busy person like myself this is a necessary tool. I enjoy following the child and this guide in no way limits that. Using this I will be able to add in other concepts in the classroom that I have been wanting to do, but just didn't have the time. It does ensure that I am giving them the best introduction to the Montessori Method that I can untrained. I have plans to share what materials I have made for each week of this guide. First week is Our Peaceful Classroom.

On another note. I went garage sale hunting today, the first for me this season. I found this lot of legos for a mere five bucks.      
                                                             

                                                                           
I think the kiddos are going to appreciate these on Monday. I can't wait to see what they are going to build!!

                                                                           

We have been......

Popping bubbles.

 Swinging from a tree.

  Playing with animals at the water table.

 Chasing butterflies.

 Weeding.

                   Coloring.                                                        

Montessori Monday: Summer Session

Last week our temps were in the hundreds.Hot!! We used our time wisely and when were weren't involved in water activities, we did what we know best WORK.   

 Moveable alphabet work with the Pink Language series.

 Sizing the rectangles in the Rectangle drawer of the Geometry Cabinet.

 Making designs using the Pink Tower and Brown Stairs.

                                                                       Color box #2

                      United States Map Puzzle.

                                                            Creative Writing.

                          Enjoyed a trip to the zoo.

                                                     Tie Dying

                              Making Sun prints.

Linking up to Montessori Monday.