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! 

Animal of Europe and Animal Sorting

A variation of a lesson on the Geography/Science shelves is this Animals of Europe activity which is similar to the Animals of North America lesson found HERE.

Animals of Europe

This is the second in the series of cards from the seven continents.  I thought it would be interesting for the children to be able to sort pictures from the two continents we have covered thus far - North America and Europe.  I simply prepared the cards used to make the booklet pages (cut and paste activity) on a tray for the children to read and sort:

Continent labels and cards prepared on a tray.

The completed activity.

It is my plan to add additional cards with animals from other continents as we study the continents throughout the remainder of the year.

"Peace Is In Our Hands"

We've tried to remain very conscious of these words while working together in our classroom this week.  The Kindness Wreath is filling up and our Gratitude Jar remains a focal point of the classroom.  Here are some pictures of activities to share:

Glass Polishing

Feeling differences in temperature with the Thermic Tablets.

Matching scents with the Smelling Bottles.

Writing practice.

Drawing a picture for Story Writing.

Painting

Primary and secondary color matching with the Color Tablet Box 2.

Letter sound/symbol stamping work.

More writing with the Moveable Alphabet.

Learning to cross-stitch.

'Peaceful' words.

Enjoying the rock painting activity.

Trinomial Cube

Exploring shades of color with the Third Color Tablet Box.

Writing practice at the easel.

Some additions to our classroom reading selections...

...and guiding words for all of us.

Match It Back!

One essential component of a Montessori environment is the replacement of materials once a child has finished an activity.  Putting away one's materials is the last part of the child's work cycle throughout the Montessori work period.  For some of the children in my class, I've noticed that while they are putting the materials back on the shelf, they might not necessarily end up in the same spot.  This presents a challenge in the classroom because others might not be able to later locate a specific lesson.  In my classroom this is particularly evident with the lessons of Practical Life.  To bring more awareness to the replacement of materials in their proper spots in the classroom, I made up a simple game to play at circle time called, 'Match It Back."  It is so simple, but the children have responded well to it.

'Match It Back' set up on the rug.

Once the children are all gathered around the circle, we placed three small mats on the rug.  Then, I placed one item on each mat, making sure that the items I chose were familiar to all of the children.  Next, I called one child by name to pick up an item (I named each item - a great language reinforcer too!) and sit back down with it.  When three children had been called and had retrieved their item, I invited all the children to chant, "One, two three, match it back!"  At this point the three children walk to place their item exactly where they found it.  Once everything is back in place, I switch the placements and the game is repeated until everyone who wants a turn has one.

We used these items the first time we played this game, but it can easily be adapted to create more of a challenge.  For example, I plan to use items from a similar group such as three different Color Tablets or Geometric Solids - the possibilities are endless.  Also, the game can be played with more than three mats for added memory work.