The Anticipation

Our days have been filled with much anticipation - we have been counting the days until the 100th Day of School, and this coming Monday is the day.  The children are giddy with excitement as we are marking the occasion with a pajama day and special crafts.  Adding the to air of excitement is not only the upcomingValentine's Day celebration next week, but also the 'epic' snowstorm headed our way... And did I mention we also hosted moms and dads on two mornings for Parent Visit days?  Needless to say, there's been a lot to anticipate!  Some photos from this week:

Painting:  Controlling the Brush

History, calendar, and reading:  Days of the Week

Pink Tower/Brown Stair exploration...

...which turned in to this.  "Look, I made a Kindness Heart!"

Feeling differences in weight:  Baric Tablets.

Sorting animals by continent:  North America/Europe

Months of the Year

Map of Europe:  Tracing puzzle pieces and labeling the countries.

Teen Beads and Boards.

Handwriting practice with the Metal Insets.

Cards and Counters

Counting the beads of the Short Beads Stair...

...putting them in order and then coloring the beads.

Language:  Opposites

Writing preparation with the Botany Cabinet.

Sorting art cards by artist.

Learning to tell time by the hour.

"It's the same flag!"

Setting up the matryoshka dolls just right!

Filling our Hearts

The following art idea came to me as I observed the children during the Tape Resist Snowflake lesson.  It occurred to me that they could benefit from refining their brushstrokes while painting to promote lightness of touch and attention to detail.  We have also been talking a lot about kindness, showing others how much we care, and ways of cultivating peace in the classroom and beyond.  So I decided to put together a lesson which combines these two elements:

Painting:  Controlling Brushstroke
"Filling our Hearts"
(I took the picture with the materials on a table, but they are actually set up on a shelf).

Ready to fill the hearts with paint.  During the presentation, I emphasized the importance of being aware of how lightly the brush touches the paper.  The child uses one brush for each color and carefully fills in  the hearts.

The activity in progress.

All filled up!

The children have been very attentive to their brushstrokes and paying close attention to their movement during the process.  And what perfect timing for Valentine's Day coming up!

Here they are in our hallway along with the 'Kindness Hearts.'

Balance and Precision

You will understand the title of this post after viewing these photos from our week together.  :)

"This wooden spoon feels heavier than this doll," using artifacts from the Continent Box for Europe.  

Exploring size and dimension with the Knobless Cylinders.

Using all six tablets from the first two boxes of the Baric Tablets.

Fun with the Addition Snake Game.

Patterns with the Pink Tower and Brown Stair.

"Three is lighter than six!" using knowledge from the lesson with the Baric Tablets.

A combination of the Conjunction and the Preposition lessons with the Language Farm.

Addition practice with the Stamp Game.

Listening for Sound/No Sound.

A new way to check the work during the Addition Snake Game which provides preparation for multiplication.

Animals of Europe and North America.

Practice with teen numbers using the Teen Bead Hanger and coloring, tracing and writing the numbers.

Walking on the Line holding a flag.

Number writing practice.

Matching circles from the Geometric Cabinet to their cards.

Writing practice on the chalkboard with the 'Wet, Dry, Try' method.

Matching the flag of the United Kingdom to a double decker bus (with an identical flag) from our European Continent Box.

Number symbol and quantity with the Decimal System Cards and Golden Beads.

Filling water to the line.

Writing practice.

Counting the decimal system with the Golden Beads.

Beginning sound/symbol work.

Metal Insets - development of the hand for writing:  Three shapes and three colors.

Water transfer with small dropper.

Throughout the week,  have been making 'Kindness Hearts' which are similar to our the Beaded Snowflake activity from last month.  Here, the children have finished the following sentences:  I show kindness when.... I feel peaceful when...

Balance and precision - what a great way to summarize the week!