Still Working

I have had only six children in the classroom last month. It did change the dynamics for a bit. Once the children who were in attendance found their groove, they were back in their mode. Some children were out due to illness, other's had schedule changes which causes them to come after our Montessori Work Period. I thought I would share the photos I found on my camera. It is a shame that I don't have more to share because they have been WORKING.

                                Creating Jupiter....                                                                            

                                  Mars                

                       And Neptune.                                                    

                     Manipulating with our favorite numbers.                                                        

                               Revisiting the Number Rods.                                                  

 Reading and spelling with puzzles.

 Matching Movable Alphabet with Sandpaper letters.

             Metal Insets art.
                                                                             

              Making a letter booklet.                                                                        

                 Working with the Velcro dressing frame.

                    Cleaning up after herself.                                                              

Starting on Monday I will be doing daily reports of some of the works the children did. This will help me keep this journal updated. I really do enjoy going through this blog and seeing how much the children and I have grown. I am so sad about the last months of blogging over here. Well See Ya Tomorrow!!

Linking this post to Montessori Monday

Do It Yourself Sandbox

 Right now my attention is on preparing our outside environment. I am determined to do this at the lowest cost possible. Our first new edition is the Do It Yourself Sandbox.

 I purchased an umbrella for $15.00 at Big Lots. The little blue pool for five bucks at Family Dollar a year ago. I simply cut a hole in the middle of the pool so that the umbrella can have a place to stand. The umbrella provides two purposes. The first one is shade, the second reason to keep the rain out from destroying the sand.

The kiddos instantly gravitated to this new treasure. This inexpensive sandbox got those hands busy with some sensory fun and imaginations came alive.

Linking this to Montessori Monday hosted by Living Montessori Now.

Two For One: Learning How To Use Binoculars While Learning To Read

We are enjoying our beautiful days when they come. Learning can happen just as much as outdoors too!! The kids are curious as ever and now they have been introduced to bird watching, varieties of butterflies, and more airplanes flying high while getting a better view with BINOCULARS! To give them extra practice and to sneak some more phonics work in I created this work that is perfect for outdoors learning time.

 The supplies I used were a pair of good quality binoculars, index cards, and push pins. I used the push pins because it was easier to stay in place than using tape on the fence. Now after gathering the supplies choose the sounds or words you like the child(ren) to practice place them outside in the desired location.

 Next invite a child who would like to do this work. Not one child declined this activity when asked :)

 The point of interest is learning how to focus. Jessica needed a little help at first .

  Not too long after she focused right in on the sounds, and was screaming "I can see it", "I can see at"!! There you go a proud reader and a confident binocular user.                                                                           

Animals Of The World

I found this puzzle at a Home Goods store, snatched it up and everything has now been about Animals, Animals, Animals.

It is a 45 piece puzzle, with slots to inserts the animals in their correct location. A perfect work for those children who love the continent puzzle and want a higher challenge. The children here have worked with the felt continent map as well as placing the animal figurines where they can be found in our world. This work adds another level before getting into habitats.

We have another work on our shelves that is helping with visual discrimination. It also is another activity that is helping the children to really learn where all these animals are from. I downloaded it from Montessori Print Shop                               

 It is a picture to picture matching. For some who may be able to read it is great because it has the names of the animals right on it too.

 The download came with all seven continents and animals. I placed a library envelope on the back of each one to hold the pictures. I am glad I did this because most of the children are doing more than one continent at a time.

This is how it looks on the shelf. This work also came with blank maps where the child must place the picture on the map using their own wits, of course to help them out they can use the maps shown in the photo as a control chart.                                                                                                                    
                                             
Linking up to Montessori Monday!!                       

Sounds

To say that the children are in their sensitive period for language is a great understatement. For most they have been going through the sound boxes as quick as I can put them on the shelves. The alphabet box concept might work for us later once all begining sounds have been mastered by most. It was just difficult to keep sorting through for the ones who were looking for I Spy work. The boxes are grouped according to the group of sounds introduced. They like that it isn't so packed with letter works for a particular sound like our previous Sound Bins. One by one they line up waiting anxiously for their turn at the sound table with me.

Here is an example of a sound box.

After they have been introduced to the four sounds the objects go in the box for sorting. The children love bringing in objects that start with the chosen sound. The objects are placed in their individual sound basket.

Lil and Mr. E in the photo above are working with the R basket.

 

                                                                                                               

Lil's completed sound map. I wrote the words because she asked me to.

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.