Animals of North America

Here is a simple lesson about animals of North America which is currently on our geography/science shelf.  After reading and cutting out each picture, the child glues them onto a piece of orange construction paper (orange to correspond with the Montessori colored globes and maps). We will save these to add to other pages with animals of other continents to make an "Animals of the World" booklet.

Animals of North America

A page in the making...

North America page completed.

Who Would Have Thought...?

We have a room full of children clamoring to scrub the floor.  Yes, you read that correctly - scrub the floor!

A while back, I had put together a Floor scrubbing activity for my kids at home to help me with the kitchen tiles (and to help me prepare for my Montessori training exams...).  You can read about it the post HERE from Spring, 2011.  At the time, I had always wanted to create a similar lesson for the students in my class but had been unable to do so because the finish on the wood floor of the classroom.  Fast forward a year and half  - and to a classroom with newly refinished floors as documented in THIS post.  Thanks to the new finish on the floor, we can see every single sticky, dirty, grimy spot in the classroom - I am secretly thrilled at this because now I have the perfect, real-life purpose for the Floor Scrubbing lesson in the classroom - and the kids are lining up to scrub, scrub, scrub!  Oh, the motor skills, the reading and writing preparation, and concentration that are being practiced...they have no idea! :-)

Floor Scrubbing materials.
Please read THIS POST to review the steps for this lesson.
Seriously, who can resist the flower scrubber?

Floor Scrubbing in action.

There is not enough time in the mornings to give a lesson to the of the children who would like one!!!  I have a feeling we will have a very clean floor...  :)

Sharing our Classroom

This week we had the pleasure of sharing our classroom with the children's parents.  The students eagerly anticipated the morning when a member from their family was invited to a School Visit Morning.  What delight it was to watch the kids share their classroom and show their favorite lessons and activities.  It was the perfect way to end our week before our week long vacation for Thanksgiving!

Practical Life:  Spooning pom poms.

Beginning sounds of words with the Moveable Alphabet.

Solid Cylinders:  Visual discrimination of size and preparation for writing (pincer grasp).

Reviewing teen numbers with the Teen Bead Hanger.

Pink Tower/Brown Stair exploration.

Geometric Demonstration Tray:  Shape recognition and writing practice through tracing.

First Box of Color Tablets.

Exploring size and dimension with the Knobless Cylinders.

Pink Tower practice.

Art Appreciation with Close-Up matching cards.

Constructive Triangles Box A

Making a pattern with numbers 1-100.

Learning about shades of color with the Third Color Tablet Box.

Finding some quiet with the Individual Silence Game.

Reviewing the Days of the Week and their abbreviations.

Addition with the Golden Beads.

A student drew their own Map of the World.

Lacing Frame practice.

Food we collected for the local shelter - this is a huge baseket and it is filled!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving break - Happy Thanksgiving!

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.

Sight Word ID Badges

I am a proponent of making concepts readily available at any given moment in my classroom.  Something I thought would be intriguing for the children is to have the adults in the classroom actually 'wear' a series of words:

'Sight Word ID Badges' 

I have an entire set of sight words - the picture shows only three.  The plan is to change the words periodically.  Throughout the week, perhaps the teachers will switch words every now and then so the children will have new opportunities to identify the words.  Later, the children may want to be the ones wearing the words - we will have to see how this idea of mine works...!

Surely this will pique the children's interest and awareness of words!  I look forward to observing their responses and watching them make connections with other materials in our classroom and beyond.

Weekly Roundup

A collection of pictures from this week:

Folding practice with the Folding Cloths lesson.

Tweezing ornamental corn - The children always love this so much!  I've already run out of corn...

Preparing apples is still a popular activity - We use this lesson as for Grace and Courtesy practice too!

Sounding out and writing words with the Moveable Alphabet.

Number writing practice with Sandpaper Numbers.

Lining up the Number Rods to begin a lesson.

Pink Tower usage has been very high!

A fun game with the Second Color Tablet Box - finding matching objects from the environment.

Cursive writing practice - uppercase letters.

Counting by tens with the Tens Boards and Beads.

Learning about odd and even numbers with the Cards and Counters.  Here, the child is able to slide the number four, indicating an even number.

More letter sound/symbol practice with 'a.'

Coloring the Canadian flag.

Writing practice with the Sandpaper Letters.

Tactile discrimination and preparation for writing with the Touch Boards.

Sound/No Sound lesson.

Practical Life:  Leather Polishing - read more about why these lessons are so important HERE.

More writing of words with the Moveable Alphabet.

Fun with words - Logical Adjective Game.

Lacing Frame practice.

Bow Tying Frame practice.

A Sensorial lesson with the Smelling Bottles.

Opening and Closing practice.

Solidifying math concepts with the Teen Bead Hanger.

Love this Pink Tower/Brown Stair work!

Language stamps for sound/symbol 'c.'

Dynamic Addition with the Stamp Game.

Fine motor development - threading craft leaves onto ribbon.

More Pink Tower/Brown Stair exploration.

Visual discrimination of size with Knobless Cylinders.

Days of the Week

"Thanksgiving" poem and poetry basket.