Fourth Of July Inspirations

I  seem to not always put on the shelves some works that go along with holidays. It always seems like the holiday is too far away then it just ends up coming so fast:) So I decided to get busy and put out a few works for Fourth Of July, by the way Flag Day is this week. While finally organizing my materials, I came across our school flag that got pushed aside for whatever reason. I decided to hang it up in our new school area.

                                            Our Sensory Bin.

                                      Sorting blue and red stars.

                           Sorting white, blue, and red stars.

 It is a Happy Monday morning here!! My childrens' last day of school was last Friday, look at what they are doing today.
                                             
                                                    Long division board.

 DJ loves workbooks!! He was a happy camper when I gave him this new cursive workbook. DJ is really not a worksheet type of learner, but he loves to measure his success by completing workbooks.

 Michelle reading the newspaper. This will be a part of an daily assignment, more on that later.

                                                               

American Symbols: Fort McHenry

 A while ago I purchased this very beginner workshop kit at Target. It was clearanced for $8.00. My first thought was this isn't real tools, but my toddlers would jump for joy to be able to use it. It came with a lot of plastic tools and wood foam that if giving a go at it they would at least have fun practicing the basic movements of sawing.

But when DJ found this in my hidden treasures area, he wanted to work with this very badly. I had him look through the project idea book to get some ideas. Then what do you know last Thursday his teacher sends home information about the last project of the school year! The second graders must write, draw, or Build an American Symbol. They have been learning about the Revolutionary War and the Civil War in class so DJ was confident when he said he wanted to build a fort. I asked him which fort, he seemed to be stumped by this question so I gave him a list of links that I found on the computer and sent him on a research mission to find some information about forts.

He loved the site Webrangers  here kids of all ages learn about national parks, monuments, and historic sites. Here is where he found his favorite fort, Fort McHenry. Now it is time to build.

DJ did the design and the construction all independently.

                               Using the screwdriver and hammer to build the frame.

The Constructive Triangles were used to aid him in making a five point star.

                        Adding star decorations.

                   Fort McHenry completed with the flag and army men.

    A new word for DJ was hinge. He loved making this moveable door.Some facts that DJ learned while doing some research on Fort McHenry:

• Fort McHenry is located in Baltimore, Maryland
• Fort McHenry is a star shaped fort
• Fort McHenry is named after James McHenry who became Secretary of War under President Washington
• Fort McHenry inspired the national anthem "The Star Spangled Banner" to be written.                                  

                                                                               
                                                             

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Meet Jonathan

Last week was definetly a child led work week. I was busy decluttering while the children were busy carrying on with their normal routine. They definetly are very close to normalization.To be honest with you all I believe I have been stopping the normalization process in many ways, more on that in another post that I would title " Trial and Error". 

Jonathan has been with us for about a month now, he loves watching the others doing work. I know when I call another child for a lesson Jonathan will ask if he can watch if he isn't working with the sensorial materials, or practical life works.

                                                Red Knobless Cylinders

                                       Scissor and glue work.

                 Brown Stairs ( copy work that he saw another child doing).

                           Sorting Geometric Solids by what slides and what rolls.

 Jonathan starts his day with the brightest of smiles, and will turn really grumpy if you say it is time to stop working. His parents said that Jonathan woke up on Saturday and got himself ready to come to school. He was sadly disappointed to find out that Saturday wasn't a school day for him.  He declared "Well then I need some paper and pencil so I can do my homework:) Gotta love him!! I am reallly,really cherishing the moments when Jonathan and I work together! This kid is a blast!!                                        

Junk!!

It all started with just moving a few things, now I am officially Spring Cleaning!! It actually feels great to finally declutter my home I have lived in for seven years now. Today is day 6 of decluttering. Tomorrow the painting will happen, and Saturday I will have professional carpet cleaners coming, I am really excited about this!! I really didn't think I was going to take a blog break, but I didn't realize I had so much junk! Speaking of we hope to have a garage sale on Sunday. My kids are already sorting out some items that they will donate to our Goodwill and things that they will sell. Which is leading to some wonderful discussions about economics and depreciation. Also I may be moving my preschooler/schoolage classroom to the second floor. I am really loving our space now that I have been dejunking. I will be back next week with some wonderful photos of the children working and some works in progress in relocating our new school space.

Butterfly, Butterfly Fly, Fly Away ( A Counting Poem)

Our caterpillars are now beautiful Painted Lady Butterflies two survivived the process of metamorphosis and are fluttering around in their house, and our classroom. I found a great counting poem on Spell Outloud she made a printable for free download from the Barney song Butterfly, Butterfly Fly, Fly Away. The children love this poem and the tune is so fantastic that they all quickly memorized it. The counting is awesome and they are noticing that they are taking away butterflies:) Also if anyone has any doubts that the Montessori Method does not allow pretend play, I think this poem with the poetry basket will change a few opinons. Of course you must take into consideration that the children have been actually observing the butterflies and learning a lot about these beautiful insects along the way.

                                          Our Poetry Basket
 
                             I use an easel to display the poem.

   A close up of the objects; A door, tree ,googly eyes and five butterflies.

Andrew working with our poetry work. He is reciting this poem by memory. The numbers he is able to recoginze that are on the printable and offers as a cue for him when he gets excited and forgets what number he is on.

Andrews' favorite part of the poem is singing Butterfly, Butterfly Fly, Fly away. Here he is acting this part out.

                               Putting away the last butterfly.

 The children have been enjoying holding the butterflies......

           And watching them flutter around the classroom.

                                                                     

The Pond

This month one of our units is about the pond. I am using the Mother Goose Time to supplement our learning experiences.  I love how they have made this theme a fun time for all ages.

         I put together this sensory bin for the toddlers.

 A popular work on the shelves this week is this freebie from Montessori Print Shop. The child cuts the strip that I have attached by a staple and then matches up the frog by the pictures and glues them in place.

   A take home book for the children to read and color. It tells about what things we can find at the pond.

This is the last page in the book where the child can draw what they can find at the pond. This book came with the kit from Mother Goose Time.

                                                        Our monthly spanish cards.

 We have enjoyed this counting book a lot. It really keeps the kids attention and it has them counting!! A very popular book this week among the kids. Again this book came with our kit.

If you are looking for more inspiration involving a pond theme I strongly urge you to pop over to Homeschool Creations Jolanthe just created another awesome preschool pack with the pond theme, and it is FREE!!