The Work Plan

Zoology Puzzles While Observing A Live Animal

2012-02-15T08:54:00.000-08:00

The preschoolers were so excited to observe a real parakeet, the next thing I noticed is that they had started working with the zoology puzzles.

Happy Valentines' Day!!

2012-02-14T16:00:00.000-08:00

Special days on the calendar allows for a little bit of a good surprise in the daily schedule. The children still worked today but we had extra fun doing group activities.

They enjoyed tearing napkins and then gluing it to what would be their big envelope for their special cards from their friends.

Some enjoyed decorating their very own Valentines. When morning snack was offered they jumped for joy to receive their most favorite snack strawberry yogurt with strawberries.

They displayed a real sign of appreciation for their valentines. Everyone made sure they said Happy Valentines to each other.

After rest time we played many rounds of bingo. Today was fun and simple just the way we like it. Happy Valentines Day! I hope your day turned out sweet:)

Confessions and Suggestions

2012-02-13T08:48:00.000-08:00

It is Monday and normally I have a post to share to link to Montessori Monday at Living Montessori Now. Not today because I did not take a single picture of the children working last week. I have not put out any new work. The children still Have been working hard! It is time for me to focus much more on what the purpose of this blog is about. I admit I have given more attention to my homeschool blog, which has made it more difficult for me to blog here everyday as well. The goal of this blog is to share my observations of children while working with them. Along the way I have added in elements such as what types of works I have on the shelf, etc. I want to share, and I want to connect with those who share the same interest. I have found myself blogging at times just to blog. I don't want to do this, and I think I owe you all more. I was hoping to get some suggestions from you all about what you like to see more of here. Would you like the post to be about a certain activity? Do you like the Montessori Monday post when I have the work that was captured on camera for the week? I would love if you left a comment about any suggestions you have!

World Pin Map

2012-02-07T09:58:00.000-08:00

I love the montessori style pin maps! My children work with them all of the time. It is a material that definetly helps them to be able to learn the names of the countries and locate them better. You know what else I love ? I love FREE montessori materials. I snagged this work from Montessori Print Shop here is the link http://www.montessoriprintshop.com/. The map that is avaliable with the pin labels is black and white, but you can purchase a colored one if you like or just color it so it can still be totally FREE. Here is how it looks when the work is completed.

Besides that it is FREE, the best thing that I like about the labels is the color coding and the picture of the continent right on the back of the label.

We definetly needed some geography inspired work around here. THANK YOU MONTESSORI PRINT SHOP!! We really do appreciate this:)

Linking this post to Geography/History meme hosted by All Things Beautiful at http://homeschooljournal-bergblog.blogspot.com

Montessori Monday

2012-02-06T08:34:00.000-08:00

The week went by so fast for us. The children mostly repeated the same activities throughout the week. I love when they repeat the activities! It allows mastery of the materials and it shows me that they are enjoying themselves. The horse puzzle.

Matching sandpaper letters to name card. Later in the week Jessica went on to spell her name correctly.

Transferring sand using a measuring cup. This work is still a hit among the children.

Stringing beads.

Pin punching a heart. Lils' most favorite activity right now.

Andrew revisited the Geometric Solids.

Color box #2 is completed because Jessica favorite color is pink.

Lil was introduced to the Teen Boards two weeks ago. Now this work brings her much pleasure and it is a work that she will do at least once a day.

Mr. E has found he likes a new number the #1. For the longest he would only work with the sandpaper number 3. Mr.E enjoyed completing the #1 booklet.

Counting the number rods. Jessica is not too far away for using this work with the number cards.

Knobbed Cylinder blocks.

Working on stamping the letter "Bb" and working with sound picture cards.

I am looking forward to another great week with this group. They have built themselves a strong community as well. There are a lot of birthdays coming up and everyone has invited each other to the parties. I also love how they have made friendships between parents happen.

To see other children doing activities inspired by the Montessori Method please visit http://www.livingmontessorinow.com/ for Montessori Monday.

Behind The Scenes

2012-02-02T19:27:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to share a side effect of having everything at a childs' height. Eli went to put his work away and ended up face to face with the drying rack that just so happened to have a freshly painted piece of work on it. Needless to say I then became a hair shampooer. Now imagine me wrestling with a I don't want to get my hair washed two year old (halfway kidding:) I caution you to take a look at your enviroment before setting up the drying rack area. Life is Fun! Happy Friday!!

Making Valentines

2012-02-02T08:10:00.000-08:00

Pin punching is a work that the children here have slowly but surely grown to love to do.

I have observed that when the chld uses the stylus their pencil grip forms effortlessly.

The tearing of the paper captures their attention and watching them focus is so exciting!

When it is a object of interest they go on to making the work their very own.

This heart is now a Valentine made for momma:)

If You Give A Montessori Child .......

2012-01-30T16:26:00.000-08:00

Bouncy Balls They will want to transfer them, and then if you you let them transfer them .... They will want to count them, and then if you let them count them.....

They will want to sort them, and then if you let them sort them....

They will want to put them all back, and if you let them put them all back....

Then they are going to want to do it again!! This post was inspired by reading a post over at Confessions Of A Montessori Mom Blog. It was titled You Know You Have A Montessori Child When... Heres' the link if you want to go have a good laugh http://montessoriconfessions.blogspot.com/2012/01/you-know-you-have-montessori-child-when.html. It was a fun read to me. In the end I got to thinking about some characteristics that Montessori children may have and then today during the work period I observed it. Wonderful moments!!

Easy Peasy Valentines' Work: Montessori Monday

2012-01-29T17:28:00.000-08:00

I am expecting two new three year old students this week! A lot of my children are ready for new lessons with the traditional Montessori materials. So my plan was simple add some valentine related work, and activities that my oldest children may be able to show the new students how to do. Roll-Count-Color this work is from http://meandmarielearning.com. The dice is in the cup with the markers. I haven't had an activity using dice in a long time. The children are going to love this.

Sorting hearts by color.

Using the pincer grasp to place the balls in the heart. I thought this was a good one to entice the newbies to want to join in the work period.

Dry pouring using a meauring spoon. This will be a new work for all. I particularly had Lil in mind who has been working with the Fraction Skittles. They'll all love seeing the sand take form of a heart.

Valentines' Card Making Tray. The point of interest is using the tape dispenser. They will use their name cards to aid in writing their friends' names.

The front and back of the cards.

The stickers they may use to decorate the cards with.

Stringing beads to make a bracelet.

Play doh. The point of interest is using a fondant roller with a handle.

To see other children inspired by the Montessori Method please visit http://www.livingmontessorinow.com for Montessori Monday.

Making Old Work New

2012-01-26T06:05:00.000-08:00

Some works are just favorites among the children no matter the mastery level that they have accomplished while working with the material. To maintain the same focused attention that they first met with the work I just simply change the vessels, and voila it is brand new work again. They all enjoy being able to paint freely. I enjoy changing the type of paint brush they use. They learn new vocabulary and a new skill. The creative outlet is taking to another level, and their art work becomes a beautiful piece of work as well. Eventually we will get to adding two different mediums at a time, maybe more, I bet this will be impressive to them and me as well.

The sponge squeezing work is permanent on my shelves. It has become a wonderful outlet for children to return to just when they think they have been challenged enough in other areas of the classroom during the day. It brings them great satisfaction that this is something that they are skilled to do, and gives them inspiration to give another work a try that has offered more challenge that they may not be ready for at that time.

I found the bowls and the sponge at Target for $3.00 and the assortment of 5 brushes were $1.99 at Micheals.

Montessori Monday

2012-01-22T16:15:00.000-08:00

We had a shorter week, but still it was a busy one! Everyone was in peaceful spirits as we did plenty of activities celebrating Dr. Kings' life. Wet pouring using two cups.

Collaging Kids Around The World.

Independently painting.

Sequencing the sizes of the Pink Tower, and matching them to the picture.

Working with the Buckle Dressing Frame.

Sorting pictures that begin with sounds m,l,k.

Begining sewing.

Making pattern with symbols associated with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

To see other children doing activities inspired by the Montessori Method please visit http://www.livingmontessorinow.com/ for Montessori Monday.

Good Choices: Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day 4

2012-01-20T05:34:00.000-08:00

Welcome! Thank you for joining us as we celebrated the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Today I want to share with you some work that was avaliable to the children on the shelf for independent work. I am so thankful to Donna the author of http://www.peacelovelearning.blogspot.com/ for putting together this great resource pack that the children have learned so much from. Good Choices Sort. The children sort the pictures of examples of what would make Martin happy or sad. The illustrations on Martins' faces helped the children to be successful at this work. Also a recording sheet was avaliable which involved cutting and gluing. Sorting M,L,K, Sounds. This work was the most favorite among the children. They learned about the initials in their own names. So many learning possibilities with this work! Another recording sheet for the kids who love to cut and glue. Counting Friends. Matching the number to the friends on the card. They especially like using the number stamps to complete the recording sheet.

Ordering Sentences. They would glue the sentence in order, glue it on to a sheet of construction paper, and finish the sentence by drawing or writing, a real big hit.

Not all children did the recording sheets, but all of them did put their best foot forward with trying all of the activities. A wonderful theme this was for us. The children learned so much about Dr. King while having so much fun. The best thing about our celebration is that the children learned that they are peacemakers too!! Thank you for joining in our celebrations. Don't forget to come back Monday to see what else the children have been busy doing all week. Linking this post to the Preschool Corner hosted by http://www.homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com/.

We Have Dreams!! Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day 3

2012-01-19T08:40:00.000-08:00

Today we worked on making a class book about our dreams!! This will be the cover of our book. The children wanted to illustrate their work, which I kinda figured they would:) So I set up the collage tray of children around around the world, they really enjoyed doing this! Below is an example of one of the pictures. "I have a dream that my sister and me will always be bestfriends." The class book isn't complete because I will like to type out the sentences and then paste it to their work.

Here is the collage tray, using the brush to glue was also a point of interest of the collage tray.

I look forward to making more class books with the children. They were happy to be authoring a book! This exercise allowed them to understand that they are peacemakers like Dr.King and can have big words, and dreams as well. This idea was inspired by Donna the wonderful person who put together the cover of the book, she writes at http://www.peacelovelearning.blogspot.com. Don't forget to come back tomorrow as I share with you a round up of activities that were on the shelf as we celebrated this great man of peace Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Martins' Dreams And Patterns: Celebrating Dr. King Day 2

2012-01-18T08:48:00.000-08:00

We read about Martins' Dream. The kids were happy to color the book that I printed so that they could take it home. Below are examples of pictures in both of the books.

These picture cards were used for retelling the story and one child even sequenced the cards according to the book.

Our pattern cards were picked for work a lot as well. They enjoyed the objects and they associated them with Dr. King:)

Also a recording sheet was avaliable for anyone who was interested in using glue and scissors:)

Simple activities that helped to answer the question What was Dr. Martin Luther King Jrs' dream? A huge Thank You to Donna the author of http://www.peacelovelearning.blogspot.com/ for putting this work together. Please join us back tomorrow for day three of celebrating the life of Dr. King.

Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr: Day1

2012-01-17T09:27:00.000-08:00

Welcome! We are celebrating the life of a wonderful peacemaker who helped change history Dr. Martin Luther King Jr!! Dr. King used non-violence to stop violence, and to help stop segregation mostly in the South. He practiced this non-violent method after studying Ghandi. This practice helped change America into a more postive peaceful place for all of us! I found a wonderful packet of activities involving math and literacy. I wanted to do all the activities that we could, therefore we have MLK week. I found this packet that is availiable on teachers pay teachers website at the blog http://peacelovelearning.blogspot.com/ Today the children learned about who this great person was, and what did he look like. We found these answers during our read aloud time. We read the book Martin's Big Words. The pictures are beautifull illustrated. It is a great picture book, we had a lovely time doing a picture walk through the book. It seemed like a long story at first, but when its' a good book it has the ability to keep the preschoolers. attention until the end.

On the shelf today I had precut templates for the children to create a picture of Dr. King by following the pictures on the "How To Make Martin" sheet.

They really did enjoy this activity and it wasn't long before lunch time, that our community was feeling and sounding like examples of peace. Everyone used great examples of words of peace just like Dr.King. No coaching, the book was enough to start our day off on the right foot.

Now the children know what this wonderful peacemaker Dr. Martin Luther King Jr looked like.

Thank you for stopping by and seeing how we are keeping Dr. Martin Luther King Jrs' Dream alive. Don't forget to come back tomorrow for some more fun learning about the man behind the dream.

Another Great Week: Montessori Monday

2012-01-15T20:46:00.000-08:00

Right now we are doing a lot more independent work which is requiring me to give more lessons! I still have children who love to touch the camera and take some photos for me, if they are not too busy themselves. Here are some great shots of them working:)

Sorting "a' family words.

Making patterns and labeling them.

Knobbed cylinder block.

Matching the bead stairs to the number.

Working with Pink Tower and Brown Stairs making with designs.

Color box #1

Color box #2

Fraction Skittles

Sorting Living and Non Living photos

I had two really great lesson responses that I was able to capture on camera! Maddux asked for a lesson on Living and Non living so we worked together and sorted the objects. When we were done he got out the farm, and showed me the animals were eating the trees and said their living:)

My other favorite response, Mr. E didn't give up, he was trying so hard to slip the loop in the hole and then...

He did it!! What a beautiful smile. Mr. E went on to work with the Button dressing frame.

Making a snowflake color wheel.

The children will not be in attendance this Monday, but please come and join us as we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jrs' Dream. I will be sharing the activity we do everyday starting Tuesday, during our Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Week.

To see others inspired by the Montessori Method please visit Living Montessori Now.

Snowflake Color Wheel

2012-01-13T03:49:00.000-08:00

I found this cool idea by Sarah Ryder on Teachers Pay Teachers. I thought it was just the right thing for the kiddos. It has been long overdue for me to introduce new vocabulary to the children who have already mastered color box#1 , so I was super excited and inspired to put together this work Montessori Style.

With this work they will learn that the colors in color box #1 are primary. Here is the Primary Color Wheel that I will be using with the work. I purchased this from Montessori Print Shop, it came with the blackline masters that are also a part of this work along with three other color wheels.

Here are the materials needed to complete this work. The snowflakes can be found on teachers pay teachers.

This is how it looks when finished.

This is how I set it up on the shelf. The child will first color the snowflakes, if they wish they can use the wheel I provided as the guide, but the control of error are the markers I have provided. Then they use the scissor basket to cut out their snowflakes. Next they return the scissor basket and get a copy of the wheel(the copies are behind the master color wheel), the glue stick, and a table mat. Finally they glue and make their finished product. There are a lot of steps but they are able to do it:)

This activity suits the kids interest they love coloring, gluing and cutting. Next up color mixing! I already have plans to use our snowflake puncher to create the secondary color wheel. I think they are going to love this!!

Linking this post to the Preschool Corner hosted by Homeschool Creations.

Accomplishments!!

2012-01-11T16:43:00.000-08:00

Lil mastered all begining letter sounds, she demonstrated this while using the moveable alphabet. Lil also put the letters in their proper place after the letters fell out of the box.

Mr. E did wet pouring without spilling a drop!

Andrew stayed focused on the Velcro dressing frame and finished the work from start to finish.

Jessica was pouring beans for awhile. One of her friends asked if she wanted to work with the pink tower and brown stairs, she replied "not right now I am doing some easy work" :) She didn't miss a beat, and stayed focused! It is true for her that this work comes easy for her, it is because the work has always been avaliable for her to choose from, her repeated work has paid off.

Montessori Monday

2012-01-08T18:36:00.000-08:00

More than half of the children were still on vacation last week. It did make everything so down a bit. It is all good though, because the children who did show up came to work!! Take a look.

To see others inspired by the Montessori Method please visit Living Montessori Now.

The Big Hit: Transferring Water With A Baster

2012-01-04T14:29:00.000-08:00

One new work that has definetly been getting a work out is our transferring water with a baster tray. I love the look of concentration it has brought upon the faces. This activity is a winner!

What's On The Shelves? Montessori Monday

2012-01-02T19:01:00.000-08:00

We had a lot of Christmas related works on the shelves, so it was time for me to change it up a bit.

Counting Winter Cards from Montessori Print Shop.

Making patterns and also labeling what kind of pattern it is.

Making a numberline with snowflakes.

Winter collage tray

Our favorite work to change is the puncher, the kids love to see what new picture they will be punching out.

Folding paper. I found this around in my supplies, I couldn't get anyone interested in folding napkins. I hope this brings interest to someone.

Pouring beans.

Spooning winter objects.

Sorting at words. Looking for the middle, and ending sounds. This work is from the We Love Hot Chocolate packet avaliable on teacherspayteachers from the inspired apple

Winter language cards from Montessori Print Shop

Making animal tracks.

Linking to Montessori Monday hosted by Living Montessori Now . I am also linking to the Preschool Corner hosted by Homeschool Creations and The Friday Linky party at Living Life Intentionally.

My Favorite Childrens' Movie

2011-12-31T07:34:00.000-08:00

My kids and I were reflecting back on our good and bad times of 2011. It led to some great conversation and I can really say that my family has grown a lot in 2011. We have learned to accept responsibility, and become resilent when bad times come our way. My kids say that much hasn't changed in my favorites department. I agree I am just one of those people that once I like something it is hard to beat. My favorite childrens' movie of all times is Horton Hears A Who. I just love Horton, he is who I sometimes look up to, and find great words of encouragement. Dr.Seuss gave Horton many great qualities that I would love to be able to say I share with him.

A persons' a person, no matter how small- Dr. Seuss Horton Hears A Who

The many things that Horton says just rings so true to me. So yes Horton Hears A Who is still my favorite childrens' movie in 2011. Have A Happy New Year!! Be Kind, Be Safe, Be Responsible.

Oh My! Look How You Have Grown!!

2011-12-29T18:11:00.000-08:00

Do you remember Eli when he was first presented with how to use a brush to groom his hair?

Look at him now! Cleaning up after using the cornmeal tray to trace Sandpaper Numerals:)

When I was observing him working with the cornmeal I was saying to myself "Oh boy, does anybody else see this mess of cornmeal". I was secretly hoping that one of the children would come to the rescue and begin to clean it up . As soon as he put his work away, he went straight to the broom and dustpan. Eli didn't miss one spot! This is huge, the power of a multi-age learning enviroment.

Something New Because We're Winners!!

2011-12-28T07:31:00.000-08:00

In December I won a giveaway from Joyful Learner! I was very excited because it was the first giveaway I ever won. It is pictures of children from around the world. Joyful Learner and her daughter K did some wonderful activities with this manipulative.

Here is a photo of the set, plenty of duplicates to create a variety of works.

I plan on using these for counting and addition work. I have a child who knows the meaning of the plus sign, and the equal sign. Lil will love this, probably just as much as sorting our children of the world on the World Map.

For the older children they'll use this to help with spelling. It helps to add some fun to spelling names that don't always follow the rules.

Thank you Joyful Learner! We always love winning and learning!!

Wow!!

2011-12-27T05:09:00.000-08:00

Do you see what I see? I see all my pictures are warning signs. I can't fix it, it happened on both my blogs!! Help please!! If you know what I could do to fix this problem, could you please leave me a comment:)