Beautiful

The pictures from this week remind me how important it is to step back, observe, and reflect.  Our group has made such tremendous progress since the beginning of the school year.  I have to remind myself that all but four of my students are new to the classroom!  I am so glad I have these photos that show such beautiful work happening everyday (because sometimes it's easy to forget)!

Exploring shapes with the Constructive Triangles.

Reading and ordering the Days of the Week.

Matching the Smelling Bottles by their aroma.

Beginning sounds with objects and Sandpaper Letters.

Phrases and sentences with the Moveable Alphabet.

Writing practice.

Phonogram work.

Reading the 'October' poem with a friend.

Carefully lining up the edges of the Pink Tower cubes...

…and using the smallest cube to measure the spaces.

Using the smallest Brown Stair prism to measure the others.

A bit of exploration of pattern and shape with the Brown Stair.

Developing concepts of odd and even numbers with the Cards and Counters math activity.

Exploring size and dimension with Knobless Cylinders.

Using a gluestick to create a collage.

Name puzzles and tracing.

Langauge development:  Vocabulary Cards

Language development:  Matching animal cards.

Reading and writing practice with CVC word booklets.

Addition with Number Rods - here the student is recording work using number stamps.

Number writing practice.

Matching colors with the Second Color Tablet Box.

Three-part continent cards.

Organizing work, practicing coordination and concentration, and attention to detail with the Leather Polishing work.  I just love the attention this student is giving to wrapping his two fingers with the polish cloth.

Setting up materials for Washing the Table.

A major point of interest with the Table Washing activity is moving the chairs and placing them back afterwards.

Encoding words with the Moveable Alphabet.

Labeling odd and even numbers with the Cards and Counters math lesson.

Exploring concepts of time with the Seasons Timeline.

Seasonal art activity - we made these pumpkins with potato stamps!

Tracing the line in the Folding lesson...

…then carefully folding to match the corners and edges.

Tracing the various sizes of circles from the Geometric Cabinet.

Writing numbers on an unlined chalkboard.

Learning the names of the continents with the Puzzle Map of the World.

Math Concepts: Collaborative Art

During these first months of school, we have used the color red in our Practical Life shelves as a cross- curricular connection to the Montessori math material called the Short Bead Stair.  The number one is represented by the color red.  We thought we would invite the children to create a collaborative art project with the red, number one theme using a method inspired by a lesson found at Fairy Dust Teaching.  The project took a few days to complete and we plan to make one for each of the corresponding colors of the Short Bead Stair throughout the school year.

The first day, children used three shades of red to cover the canvas.

We encouraged them to have the colors touch each other and overlap.  

The next day, we added red gems, beads, and paper cuttings which had been saved from our Practical Life paper cutting activity.  The children filled a cup with these items, mixed glue and red paint, and poured it over the canvas.  What fun!

After the glue dried, we could see such interesting texture and color formations.

The last day, we added glitter with regular glue.  I am not a huge glitter fan, but must admit that this added a great quality to the project.

Number One:  Short Bead Stair 

Short Week and Conferences

It has been a couple of weeks since the last 'collection of photos' post - the first week was shorted due to a holiday and the this past week we had parent-teacher conferences.  Also, one day I dropped by camera and somehow lost all the pictures I took that day!  As a result, it seems I have way fewer pictures than usual.  In any case, wonderful work is happening in the classroom:

Adding color to our autumn leaf print activity.

Matching printed letters to cursive letters.

Practicing fine motor control while making an autumn-themed garland - placing craft leaves on to ribbon.

Counting, number symbol recognition, and understanding zero with the Spindle Boxes.

Independent work with the Article Box.

Buttoning practice.

Writing practice with the Sandpaper Numbers.

Experiencing smooth and rough textures with the Touch Boards.

Pre-reading: Finding the picture that is different.

Exploring pictures from the Continent Folders for South America.

Color mixing fun!

Refining the skill of using tongs to transfer.

Listening for sound with one of the Montessori Bells.

Metal Inset writing practice - two shapes and two colors.

Short Bead Hanger - reviewing numbers 1-9 and their corresponding colors.

Feeling the difference in weight of each quantity with the Spindle Boxes lesson - here the child has tied the quantities together for further exploration and understanding of quantity.

Concentrating to roll the mat "just right."  We enjoy practicing with the mat in particular because the children can use the lines as guides in keeping the mat straight while rolling - great practice!

Exploring size and dimension with the Pink Tower.

Using the smallest Red Rod to measure the differences of length between each rod.

Completing a Name Puzzle.

Linear counting with the Tens Board and Beads.

Numbers 11-19 with the Teen Bead Hanger.

Writing phrases with the Moveable Alphabet.

Letter writing practices with Sandpaper Letters.

Geography:  Sorting the Land, Air, and Water cards.