Twas the week before Thanksgiving...

…and all through the class, the students were working and having a blast! :-)

Language activity:  Matching cards of baby animals.

Reading and acting out our "Thanksgiving" poem.

Working with the Cards and Counters math lesson.

Exploring polygons with the Constructive Triangles.

An extension of the Cards and Counters lesson - tracing the number and coloring the quantity. 

Building the Pink Tower.

Counting quantity with the Number Rods.

Writing practice with Sandpaper Numbers.

Puzzle Map of the World

After completing the Puzzle of the Turtle, this student was inspired to trace its outline on a paper and write a story to go along with it.

Careful pin pushing work.

Here, the child has decided to copy the months of the year from our class calendar.

Exploring the Power of Two cube.

Matching rectangles from the Geometric Cabinet.

Constructing and teen numbers with quantity and symbol:  Teen Beads and Boards.

Visual discrimination of size using the Brown Stair.

Two Weeks and a Vacation!

The following photos have been collected over the course of the last two weeks.  Recently, I have been taking more time recording my observations (and taking notes) rather than taking photographs.  For this reason, there generally fewer pictures to share.  In any case, I do enjoy documenting classroom activity through photos and they provide a valuable corresponding resource for my observation notes.

In other news, our school is not in session during the week of Thanksgiving.  As I am typing this, it is occurring to me that I never got a picture of the students reciting our "Thanksgiving" poem using the poetry basket which they children have very much enjoyed.  Also, our school took part in a food drive for a local shelter as well as collected toys for Boston Children's Hospital toy drive.  This has been a wonderful source of meaningful conversation with the children about giving and gratitude as we approach the holiday season.  Many thanks to my staff for organizing these community service projects!

And now, onto a much needed break…  Happy Thanksgiving!

Lining up the red and green Knobless Cylinders and comparing their heights.

Working sensorially with the Binomial Cube. 

Refining handwriting skills with the Metal Insets using a more advanced approach - two shapes and two colors.

Exploring shapes with the second box of Constructive Triangles (blue).  Here, the child is sliding the triangles to create new shapes.

Reading cards (CVC words) from our Reading Drawers.

Using grammar symbols with the preposition lesson.

Practicing ending sounds of words with the Language Step Board.

Dynamic Addition with the Stamp game.

Tactile discrimination and writing preparation with the Touch Boards.

Animals of Africa:  Reading and writing with the Object Tray.

Exploring shades of color with the  Third Color Tablet Box.

Number writing practice.

Memorization of addition facts with the Addition Strip Board.

Writing practice with the Sandpaper Letters.

Using picture cards to write CVC words with the Moveable Alphabet.

Using number labels (on table) to make teen beads on the Teen Bead Hanger.

Division with the Division Board.  Here the student has set of the divisor (4) on the board and and counted the dividend (32) into the bowl.  Now the beads are distributed equally among the four skittle.

Reading: Practicing blending sounds with the Vowel Tree.

Painting at the easel.

An extension lesson with the Cards and Counters - tracing the number and coloring the counters.   This activity can be found HERE.

Using the Puzzle Map of the World and learning the names of the continents.

Writing the words from the Reading Drawers.

Using a damper to stop the sound while playing a bell.

An addition lesson with the golden beads and decimal system cards.

Tracing shapes with the Geometric Demonstration Tray.

Sounding out and writing words with the Moveable Alphabet.

Practicing sight words with the Small Moveable Alphabet.

Feeling varying weights with the Baric Tablets.

Beginning reading practice with the Mac and Tab series.

Pink Tower/Brown Stair - so fun!

A sign of what has been and what will  come….!

Thanksgiving Mosaic

This week, we have hosted parents in our classroom for a Parent Visit morning.  This is an opportunity for parents to have a first hand look at the activities and lessons in which their children participate at school.  Since this has occurred right before our Thanksgiving break, we thought it would be fitting for the kids to give a small gift of thanks to their parents when they leave after their visit.  The children were so proud to give this small token to their visitor! :)

Mosaic materials on the Art shelf:  oak tag paper cut into fourths with holes at the top for stringing a ribbon;  two press and glue bottles; an assortment of beans and seeds, two muffin tins for collecting chosen beans/seeds; two art mats underneath tins.

Thanksgiving mosaic.

An Attitude of Gratitude

I try my hardest to instill a sense of gratitude within my students as they navigate  their world.  This is a concept that is present in our classroom all the time and not just during Thanksgiving!  One of the first songs we learn together as a class is one of gratitude:

Gratitude Song

(tune: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)

Thank you, thank you very much

For everything that I can touch.

Thanks for all of nature's food,

And for when I'm feeling good.

Thank you, thank you very much

For my family, friends, and such!

I share the following photos from this week with my own sense of gratitude for the opportunity to work with such a talented, intelligent, and unique group of children!  Thank YOU, my students and their parents, my readers and followers of this blog, and mostly my dear family for giving me their understanding and encouragement while I set out to do what I love each and everyday!  :)


Understanding Geography concepts with the Land and Water Forms:  Peninsula and Gulf



This child has combined the Sound Box objects with the Sandpaper Letters, allowing him to make meaningful connections to the letter sound and symbol.  While I typically do not present this as a formal lesson to my students, I encourage this association if it is child-initiated.



Three-Part Cards of the Continents.  Here, the child is in the process of making his own set of cards, an idea he came up with completely on his own! :)



And here is the the self-made material after one and half morning sessions of hard work!



Elements of the Earth:  Land, Air, and Water
(Click on caption above to read more about it.)



Art Appreciation with Child-Sized Masterpieces: Matching identical paintings.



Writing words with the Moveable Alphabet.



Using our November poetry basket to read and dramatize our 'Thanksgiving' poem.



Practicing the preliminary Practical Life exercise of Sponging, this month with the help of leaf bowls!  :)

Refinement of the thermic sense with the Thermic Tablets.

Learning the countries of South America with the Puzzle Map.  This child came to school with a book about Pink River Dolphins of the Amazon.  So, we got out the map and later...

...wrote about them with the Moveable Alphabet:  'Pink river dolphins.  Their ears are inside their heads.  They live in the Amazon river.'

Fun sensorial work with the Smelling Bottles.
(Click on the caption above to learn more.)

Seasonal Practical Life:  Tonging Acorns

Grading and pairing the Touch Tablets from 'rough' to 'smoothest.'  This exercise is not only beneficial for training the tactile sense, but also in preparing the hand for writing by practicing lightness of touch.

Practicing threading a needle.
(Click caption to read more.)



Preparing our 'Thanksgiving Gratitude Snack'.
(Click on caption if you missed that post!)

 I'll be taking a little break from blogging during our vacation, but am looking forward to sharing with you all that I have planned for December upon my return.  Wishing you all a wonderful time with your families and a very Happy Thanksgiving!