On The Shelf: A Picture Diary of Montessori Work In Our Classroom

Moons and bunnies...

2012-01-26T11:09:00.002-05:00

In honor of Chinese New Year's we are beginning to study the moon and soon the planets!

With this material, children follow the guide above and color in the phases of the moon.

This material has large moons with all the phases. The control of error is on the back to make sure the child has the moons in order. With this work, the children learn the concepts of waxing and waning moons.

Some of you have met our bunny, Snowbell. She loves her new home and has made a second home under our pink tower!

This material has a few steps to follow: trace, rip tissue paper and crumble up, and glue. Children need to take their time to fill up the whole bunny outline with tissue paper.

Rabbit 3 part cards. We have been exploring different rabbit breeds. This material shows only 8 rabbits, but we know there are MANY more. We used to have a Flemish Giant named Bumpkins. RIP Bumpkins.

What is YOUR favorite color?

2012-01-09T12:36:00.005-05:00

Winter is a great time to bring color into the classroom...

Primary color work. Children of all ages enjoy this matching and tracing work.

Secondary colors.

The colorful guide helps children explore color mixing with transparent color wands.

What do you get when you mix....?

Fall Activities

2011-10-21T13:04:00.008-04:00

Namaste loves the season FALL! There are so many fun things to do when leaves start falling and pumpkins turn orange!

Pumpkin washing station! Children develop concentration, coordination, independence, and order with this multi-step work.

Choose a leaf from our leaf box. You can color it, cut it, and hang it on our bulletin board.

Fall theme cutting strips make learning to cut a fun activity.

Our sensory table is full of comfort food (not cooked, of course). Lentils, orzo, and split peas! Oh my! Can you find the hidden apples and leaves?

Use tweezers to pull out sunflower seeds from the sunflowers from our garden!

Pushpin a jack-o-lantern. Or a plain old pumpkin. You choose!

Journey Into The Elementary Years

2011-03-05T09:17:00.005-05:00

Journey into the Elementary Years : an informational presentation on Wednesday, March 16th, 7pm-9pm

Come discuss the unique developmental needs of children betwen the ages of 5 and 9.

Gain practical information about how to prepare them for the transition to an elementary program and support them in that program--public or private.
...
Discuss how to best support their learning and growth at home.

Learn about the choices for elementary education available in this area, including Namaste's new Elementary Level Classroom.

Please call the school if you would like more information or have any questions 607-272-0515

A Pizza Party for Snack and Other Fun Stuff

2011-02-17T19:06:00.001-05:00

A few random pictures of work I found on my camera today, just thought I'd share.

SIGHT WORD BINGO

HOME-MADE VALENTINES

MAKE YOUR OWN PIZZA FOR A SNACK

Signs of Spring: Tapping the Maple Trees

2011-02-17T12:30:00.000-05:00

Cold Nights + Warm Days = Sweet Maple Sap Flowing

Exploring Color

2011-01-26T14:55:00.000-05:00

The primary colors are red, yellow, and blue....

The secondary colors are green, orange, and purple....

We explore combinations with colored cellophane and plastic color paddles...

Exploring color mixing with eye droppers of food coloring, paper towels, and "recipe" cards...

Making secondary colors from primary colors....

Making a rainbow around the circle...

Using the light board to explore color mixing...

More Holiday Crafts and Fun

2010-12-20T05:57:00.001-05:00

Decorating an orange with cloves...

Use large push pin tomake a hole in the skin of the orange.

Push clove into orange.

Cover orange completely with cloves and hang with a ribbon as a fragrent ornament.

Making a beaded tree...

Bubble making...
An eye dropper, a small container of dish soap, a piture for water, a bowl for mixing, a whisk, and a towel for clean up.

Mandala Work...other ideas

2010-12-03T11:26:00.001-05:00

Mandala is the Sanskrit word for circle. A mandaal can be any of various geometric designs symbolizing the universe. Mandalas are often used as an aide for focus and meditation.

As part of our classroom's study of the cultures of Asia the children are learning about Mandalas. Here are just a few art projects they have worked on which incorporate a mandala theme...

These are mandalas made from triangle cut from magazine pictures and glued onto a circle...

Here are a few photocopied images for coloring and inspriation...

Here is a fabric madala (see earlier tuttorial post)...

Some mandalas can be made just by gluing different shapes and colors together...

Mandalas....

2010-12-03T10:59:00.000-05:00

Handwashing Work

2010-11-29T19:31:00.002-05:00

Some of the most popular Toddler activities this week...

2010-11-01T21:23:00.000-04:00

Making Prayer Flags To Promote Peace, Compassion, Strength, and Wisdom

2010-10-24T20:54:00.000-04:00

The primary classroom has been studying the continent of Asia and recently learned about Tibet. They have been making Tibetan prayer flags to hang around the classroom and in their homes. Traditionally, prayer flags are used to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom. A prayer flag is a colorful panel or rectangular cloth often strung along mountain ridges and peaks high in the Himalayas to bless the surrounding countryside. Blue symbolizes sky and space, white symbolizes air, red symbolizes fire, green symbolizes water, and yellow symbolizes earth.

Capturing the Colors of Autumn

2010-10-24T20:47:00.000-04:00

Leaf printing activity: collect leaves, coat with fabric paint, press onto shirt or other fabric, blot off excess paint, enjoy.

Celebrating the Change of Season With Autumn Themed Work

2010-10-04T22:21:00.001-04:00

Taking a moment to remember to breathe, the pinwheel helps with focus.

Colorful corn kernels picked by little fingers or tweezers.

Pouring, scooping, and tonging with containers reflecting the beautiful colors of autumn.

Cutting and collage work.

Science activities including a study of leaves and turtles.

This is an easy activity to make: Just color copy a variety of leaves and laminate the actual leaf to match to the picture.

Other science activities include a study of magnets.

Can magnets work through water? Magnetic fsihing.

Counting objects 1 through 5.

Counting fish 1 through 10.

Dried Apple Slices for Snack....Yum

2010-10-04T21:42:00.000-04:00

Pinwheels for Peace Art Installation--Happy Peace Day World!!!

2010-09-20T22:35:00.001-04:00

Here is the first part of our art installation, Pinwheels for Peace, in front our our local library.

Tomorrow we will be setting up a similar installation in front of our school.

Even Nature knows it's Peace Day. I found this broken stone, just as you see it here, right outside of our campsite this weekend in the Catskill Mountains (New York State).

Pinwheels for Peace

2010-09-17T12:59:00.000-04:00

Our primary classroom is making "Pinwheels for Peace" in celebration of International Peace Day on Septemebr 21, 2010.

How To Make Beautiful Wire Wrapped Stone Pendants

2010-05-24T21:05:00.003-04:00

Simply cut a 2 foot piece of wire, make a "rabbit ear" loop, place the loop at the top of the stone and wrap until you use all of the wire.

TIP: Rough stones are easier to wrap than polished stones.

I found these child sized wire cutters and long nosed pliers at our local craft store. How perfect.

Some popular works on our shelves in the primary room right now...

2010-05-18T20:18:00.007-04:00

Air, Land, Water work...a classic Water color painting with a masking tape resist: first make a design with masking tape on water color paper, paint over tape onto paper, let painting dry, and remove tape to reveal design.

Marble painting: place three drops of each color of paint onto paper in tray, spoon marble into tray, tilt tray to roll marble through the paint, marble will leave a trail of paint to create an abstract design, remove painting and hang to dry, clean tray and marble, return to shelf.

Using a scale to weigh miniature vegetables has been very popular; A simple transfer work for our youngest students while our older fives and sixes are working on estimation, weight, addition, and more.

An extension for the hundred board (my Mom's idea, thanks Mom!). I cut 10 small 1/2" slits on each side of a piece of cardboard (recycled), the child wraps yard around the cardboard to create a 10x10 grid, and fills in each square with a number to create their own hundred board.

Tying small pieces of yarn on a mesh grid to create a small rug...

Sewing a button onto a thin netting fabric (tulle)--great for seeing through to the other side and watching the needle as it moves through.

Sewing buttons onto felt hearts and then stitching two hearts together to make a small pillow.

Clouds In Our Classroom

2010-05-15T13:33:00.003-04:00

It's so much fun to lay on the grass in our play yard at school and watch the clouds float by.
This was the inspiration for a whole unit on clouds.

Types of clouds identification and classifying.

Cloud push pin work.

Cloud books from our local library...

Some more cloud work in our practical life area. The sewing a cloud pillow was off the shelf being used when I snapped this photo.

Painting clouds with a clothespin and cotton ball. Excellent fine motor practice.

Painting clouds with a "dot painter". Great for Toddlers and younger threes, although the older children enjoy the work as well.

Spring Practical Life Activities

2010-05-09T23:45:00.007-04:00

I apologize for not posting in a while, sometimes my life as director, teacher, mother, wife, friend, educational consultant/speaker, artist, and writer (not necessarily in order of importance) gets a little out of balance and things, like this blog, slip through the cracks. Thanks for being so supportive and patient with my posts.

I thought I'd start back this month with some basic Practical Life activities on our shelves now for children ages 2 years old through 6 years old.

Here's some of what's on our shelves right now (a little out of order because the blog up-loader had a mind of it's own this evening):

Using a plunge-type measuring device to transfer water: Using a baster to transfer water:

Using a funnel to transfer water:

Simple spooning, one-to-one:

Spooning and sorting:

Advanced exploration of color mixing (follows a series of lessons on basic color mixing): Tonging stones between containers:

Cute little bunny containers used to hold sand for scooping:

Soap grating for making our own laundry detergent:

Penny polishing (we used baking soda and water as a polish):

Using a strainer to strain glass stones from water into a bowl:

Pouring water through a saltshaker tops (makes a cool sprinkling sound) into a pitcher. child must unscrew top to pour water back in...pouring and twisting, two skills in one activity:

More challenging one-to-two pouring activity with clear containers and syrup pitcher:

One-to-two pouring activity with opaque containers:

Simple one-to-one pouring with clear containers:

Seed Balls

2010-03-19T20:45:00.002-04:00

Today we made seed balls!

It's a technique for planting in abandoned places, and often inhospitable land, that was developed in Japan by Masanobu Fukuoka, a pioneer in natural farming. And its fun.

1 part seeds, 3 parts compost, 5 parts clay. Mix in a little water to make the consistancy of play dough. Roll into small balls and let dry in the sun. Then the fun part....5,4,3,2,1...throw!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103129515

It's Maple Syrup Time

2010-03-13T09:54:00.003-05:00

Here in the Northeastern part of the United States the days are becoming warmer and at night the temperatures still fall below freezing. These are ideal conditions to collect rising sap from sugar maple trees. We are very blessed to have six large sugar maple trees in front of our school. Each year we tap the trees, collect the sap and boil it down into maple syrup. It is a wonderful expereince for our students as we include our maple syrup project in lessons on science, practical life, history, nutrition, language, math and more.

History of Bread: Field Trip to the Flour Mill

2010-02-25T15:01:00.002-05:00

Yesterday our class took a field trip to a local flour mill. Farmer Ground Flour grinds local organic grain into flours that are sold regionally. It is really exciting to learn about where our food comes from. The children were excited and inspired.

Fingerprints --are you a whorl, arch, or loop?

2010-02-23T12:52:00.004-05:00

We've been studying the human body all month. After learning about our skin, we decided to make fingerprints. Here's the activity:

Pencil, paper, clear tape and your fingers (or toes!).

Rub a dark spot of pencil graphite onto a piece of paper. We used scraps of card stock for additional durability.

Rub your finger over the graphite.

Place clear tape onto your finger (sticky side touching graphite).

Place tape onto white paper to see fingerprint.

Now it's time to study and classify your print. Now this is real police work!
http://www.ridgesandfurrows.homestead.com/fingerprint_patterns.html

Analyzing fingerprints may be a little bit challenging for our younger friends.

Here's a great pattern observation introduction game for toddlers and younger preschool children.

Copy Me Game

A simple game fun for all ages. One player creates a pattern the other copies it. wonderful for building visual-perceptual and fine motor skills for reading and writing.

History of Bread: Lesson 1- Grinding the Wheat

2010-02-23T11:41:00.003-05:00

And the Little Red Hen asked, "Who will help me grind the wheat?"

Wow, no wonder why it was so hard for Red Hen to find help, this is hard work!

Here are some locally grown, organic wheat berries bought in the bulk food section of our grocery store. Try smelling them, feeling them, tasting them, chewing them....I wonder who thought of grinding them? Who discovered flour? All great questions to ponder with your children.
The set up is simple: a spice grinder, a spoon, one container with wheat berries, and one container for the ground flour.

The History Of Bread: Lesson 2 Wheat Crackers

2010-02-15T12:40:00.007-05:00

Our class has been studying the history of bread. After grinding wheat berries to make our own flour, we began experimenting with a basic wheat cracker recipe. After mastering the basic recipe we allowed the children to experiment by substituting different ingredients. We kept a careful recipe log and notes on each substitution. The children were incredibly insightful and creative. We tested about ten different variations.

The activity was set up as an individual choice for one child at a time. The crackers were baked in a toaster oven(supervised by a teacher).

Basic Wheat Crackers

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup of cracked wheat
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp of water

Mix dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients. Knead dough until smooth and consistent in texture. Additional flour or liquid can be added to obtain the right consistency. Roll dough to approximately 1/8 inch thickness. Cut cracker shapes with small cookie cutters. Bake on a cookie sheet for approximately 5 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until crackers are lightly browned and crisp. Cool and enjoy.

Recipe makes 25-30 one inch crackers.

Namaste's Favorite Wheat Crackers

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup of cracked wheat
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbsp of butter
2 tbsp of maple syrup
1 tbsp of fresh squeezed orange juice
2 tbsp of orange zest

The Fruits of Our Labor....Our Maple Syrup Store

2009-07-08T23:43:00.004-04:00

Just had to share and follow up on our earlier posts. This spring we tapped the six maple trees that live in the front yard of our school (check out previous entries). After weeks of watching, waiting, boiling, and filtering we bottled our precious syrup. The children designed signage and bottle labels. They researched market prices and calculated our production costs. After much discussion we set a product price and planned for our sale. We used the bead materials to add totals and calculate change. We set up tables just outside our classroom doors and sold to families as they arrived to pick up at the end of the day. Everyone in our class has definitely caught the entrepreneurial bug!

Spelling, sorting, and mapping...just a few new activities that are popular right now

2009-07-08T23:18:00.004-04:00

I found a big bag of letter beads on sale at the craft store and I am trying to find creative uses for them. Here's a simple language work where children build words by sliding the letter beads onto a piece of pipe cleaner. It's sort of a variation on the movable alphabet, matching, and a fine motor beading activity. We have some first year students moving up from our toddler room this summer. Here is a simple sorting activity with dinosaur counters. They can be sorted by color or type of dinosaur.

This sorting activity is a little more challenging. Children place the objects on the chart sorting by color and type of vehicle. We have it out in our math area but it could just as easily find a home in the practical life area or language area.

Here's a simple map drawn on card stock, some command cards (recycled plastic pill containers), and some counter vehicles. Lot's of fun and incorporates so many different skills.

A Taste of Summer

2009-07-08T22:58:00.005-04:00

It been a cold, wet start to summer here in upstate New York. The gardens are flourishing becuase of the rain and despite the coolness it's beginning to taste like summer (even if we are still wearing sweatshirts!).

Here is a simple green bean food prep activity. Children cut the ends of the beans off and compost them; they slice the beans into smaller pieces and skewer them with a tooth pick before serving to their classmates.

Nothing sings summer like watermelon. Here is a watermelon balling activity. Children scoop balls of the melon, insert a toothpick, and serve to their classmates. Yum.

A Passion For Wildflowers...

2009-06-13T18:06:00.002-04:00

Our children are discovering wildflowers on walks around our school property, through the nearby fields and up by the pond.

We incorporated this passion for wildflowers inot a variety of works throughout our classroom. Flower arranging in the practical life area, still life drawing in the art area, identification of wildflowers and wildflower bingo in the language area, parts of a flower and leaf identification in the science area, plus lots of books to do our research.

Inspired by Andy Goldsworthy

2009-05-10T20:13:00.004-04:00

Our class continues to enthusiastically study artist Andy Goldsworthy.

Casey, one of our primary classroom teachers put together this simple but wonderful work on our shelf. A dish bin filled with three bowls -- one bowl of green colored stones, one bowl of black, white and gray stones, one bowl of small twigs and a blue work mat. With these simple supplies our children create thier own sculptures.

This sun-like sculpture was created by one of our five year old students.

Here are two students working cooperatively on a sculpture.

Check out our previous post on April 5th for more Andy Goldsworthy inspired activities.

Back from Break ...

2009-04-19T15:31:00.006-04:00

I spent most of our spring vacation as unplugged as possible. I am slowly easing back into a regular routine. Here are some activity pictures snapped just before break.

Collage materials with the last remnants of winter...

Plurals:

Phenomes and spelling work.

The sound /n/ is typically spelled in two ways n or kn.

The drawer is filled with samples of words with the sound /n/ spelled both ways.

No and Know, Not and Knot, Now and Knit, etc.

So far I've put out:

SOUND --SPELLED

/n/ --n or kn

/c/ --k, c, or ck

/f/-- f or ph

/sh/ --sh, ti, ci

/g/ or /j/-- g

/n/ or /ng/ --ng

A Moment To Relax

2009-04-06T20:36:00.003-04:00

This year we have quite a few children in our classroom with special sensory needs. We recently put a basket of massage tools out on our shelves and presented the tools with a very brief introductory lesson. What a hit! All of the children love taking a break from their work to sit quietly on a mat for a moment of relaxation. I've also been spotted on occasion using this material to work out some stressful kinks in my neck after a long day of paperwork or paying bills.

Thank You

2009-04-06T19:36:00.004-04:00

As some of you know, I am still new to the blogging world. I can't even put into words how blessed and empowered I feel when I able able to connect with fellow Montessorians around the world. Thank you for your support, your inspiration, and your patience. I so easily loose track of time when reading some of my favorite blogs and then, when my husband makes me turn off the computer and go to bed, I can't sleep because I'm so inspired by what I've read. On those days when my "bucket" feels empty I turn to fellow bloggers for perspective and to be refilled with hope, passion, and commitment for this Montessori journey I am on, we are on. Thank you for walking beside me for a little way on this path.

A special thank you to Montessori Mum for the Kreativ blogger award.

It's incredibly powerful to be connected to so many creative Montessorians around the world.

I am passing on this award to the following blogs who inspire me along my journey:

Montessori Mama

Sew Liberated

Maya Made

My Montessori Journey

The Moveable Alphabet

Namaste,

Bridgid

Inch by Inch, Row by Row, Come and Watch Our Garden Grow

2009-04-05T10:47:00.008-04:00

Wow, March certainly came in like a lion for us, roaring in more ways than just weather. For the last few weeks our children and teachers have been struggling with bouts of colds and viruses making it hard for me to find time to post to our blog. Fortunately March left like a lamb and hopefully left us all strong and healthy.

We welcomed April with the groundbreaking of our new school garden. How exciting!

Our ultimate goal is to connect children with the earth creating a 'seed to plate experience'. Since we are a year round Montessori School we can enjoy our garden throughout it's most productive time through the summer. More details on the garden will be posted on a separate blog soon.

In the classroom we are preparing work related to the season and our garden.

We have garden themed three part cards, matching, and science activities.

Just a personal note on making activities: Technology is wonderful. Downloading images, printing, and lamination are tools that were not available when I first started teaching so I really appreciated having these resources available to me now when I make my own materials. That said, I feel very strongly about balancing modern computer created plastic coated materials with hand made materials. There is a texture, a quality, a depth, and an energy to a hand made material that cannot be captured in something mass produced. I realize a card that is not laminated may only last one season, but that is part of the beauty of a hand made material. I also allow the children watch me make the materials. It includes them in the process and helps them value the effort that is invested in making an activity.

Here are two activities I recently put out on our shelves. The first is the life cycle of a pumpkin, a three part card activity I downloaded. The second activity is the parts of a seed sequencing work that I hand painted with acrylics on a parchment-like card stock. FYI the hand painted cards only took about 20 minutes to make and the printed cards took about the same amount of time to print and laminate.

Here is our seed sprouting experiment. We have eight trays. Each with a different combination of seed, soil, water, and light (we choose to keep air as a constant for this experiment).

As an art history and cultural studies unit we are studying the work of Andy Goldsworthy. We have photographs of his work, matching cards, and sequencing cards. We have been making our own sculptures using natural found materials from the grounds around our school. We will also be taking a field trip to visit Cornell's Lab of Ornithology's Sapsucker Woods. Andy Goldsworthy created a sculpture in the woods.

Our language area has been quite popular since we refreshed our initial sound activities with new objects and pictures.

I am always searching for interesting and appealing objects for the more challenging sounds like Q, U, Y, X, Z. Any suggestions?

Our metal inset area has also been quite popular.

TIP: I found these shoe storage racks work great as shelves for the insets. They are the perfect size and height. I think they are sold in home improvement stores as part of closet storage systems.

Land Forms

2009-03-09T21:19:00.003-04:00

Our children are fascinated by geography. They really enjoy learning the terminology of land forms...lake, island, gulf, peninsula, strait, isthmus, cape, bay.

I used oven baked clay to shape the land forms in small bread pans.

A vinyl mat for work, laminated cards for labels, a pitcher for water, eye dropper of blue food coloring to color water, a sponge and rag for clean up.

A Couple Of Quick Art Projects For Spring

2009-03-09T21:00:00.004-04:00

Tracing, cutting, gluing...Butterfly Puppets! Gluing circles on a line to make an inchworm...

Bought some photo coasters on sale and used impressionist stickers to make a matching work...

Updating The Practical Life Area For Spring

2009-03-09T20:33:00.004-04:00

Embroidery...Sewing with yarn on mesh...

Clipping small clothespins on small buckets...

Cracking pistachios for snack...

Egg matching and sorting...

Sorting and opening a jar with lid...

Tonging...

Smaller tonging...

Spooning...

Flower arranging...

Maple Moon

2009-03-09T20:16:00.003-04:00

The full moon on March 10th is know as the Maple Moon.

We are lucky enough to have six beautiful sugar maple trees in the front of our school who generously share their sap with us each year. When the nights are still very cool and the days are warm the sap flows freely and sweetly.

The children love collecting the "sweet water" and together we boil it down into a rich syrup. The older children have researched the business of syrup making. They have designed labels for our bottles, determined the pricing, and will market their product this spring.

More Moons...

2009-02-21T18:34:00.004-05:00

We made a larger version of our moon work to hang in our classroom. The "moons" are made from the cardboard packaging from precooked pizza crusts from our grocery store. The oil left from the bread on the cardboard made a crater-like effect for a more realistic moon. The blue shadows were made from left over wallpaper. The children enjoy laying on the floor staring up at the moons or reflecting from our breathing room loft with a great view of the moons.

A family in our school gave us this calendar. The calendar comes in four sheets and is broken up by seasons. The stars, cycles of the moon, and ecological highlights of the seasons are emphasized along with marking for traditional days and months. The calendars are beautiful. I think every Montessori classroom should have one.

Since my picture really doesn't do it justice check out their website at http://www.ecocalendar.info/

Happy Lunar New Year!

2009-02-21T00:35:00.006-05:00

Here are some pictures from our Lunar New Year celebration. The children made the dragon head from a cardboard box, tissue paper, and found objects (the eyes are detergent bottle tops and dog show ribbons!). The body is a table cloth.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Here are some more Lunar new Year themed cutting works out in our art area...

For the year of the ox a great printable from http://secret-agent-josephine.com/blog/year-of-the-ox-cut-out/

A simple three dimensional star. Just draw two stars of the same size. I made a template and ran off a bunch on my printer. I find cardstock works best. After cutting out the outline of the stars, make one cut from the valley between two points to the center of the star. Do the same for the second star. Join the stars at the place where you made the cuts by sliding them together.

Phases Of The Moon Work

2009-01-27T19:51:00.001-05:00

Origami Follow Up

2009-01-27T19:39:00.002-05:00

I just had to share these adorable little creatures some of the children made from their origami creations. When given the tools and the freedom, a child's creativity never ceases to amaze me.

Dragon Puppets

2009-01-27T19:20:00.004-05:00

As the children eagerly and patiently work on the "Big Dragon" project getting ready for our Dragon Dance New Year's Celebration we have been making little dragons of scrap craft foam, cardboard, and paper. I was trying to find a use for all our little scraps and whipped this work up on the fly as our class seems to be a bit dragon crazed. I made a 3 part pattern from a piece of cardboard box, added two holes and some brass tacks ot make the dragon move, and added sequins (everything is better with sparkles).

Lunar New Year Lantern Making Activity

2009-01-27T13:38:00.004-05:00

Laterns are a traditional Chinese New Year decoration hung to chase away bad luck energy. Our children have been decorating our classroom with these simple latern decorations. The folding and scissor cutting strengthen small motor skills too!

Origami Cat and Mouse

2009-01-20T13:35:00.006-05:00

I find that the two dimensional images in an origami book can be quite challenging for young children. So to simplify the instructions I make each step from a separate piece of paper and mount it on card stock. I bind the cards with a ring clip to make it easy to flip. Here are two example we currently have out on our shelves. The mouse (or hamster) which is fairly simple and the cat which is very simple.

Some Early Language Building Activities

2008-12-21T07:48:00.002-05:00

These activities are great for older Toddlers and young three year olds.

Five Green and Specckled Frogs

Sing the song and count the frogs. This is both a language and math activity.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Children can retell the story using matching cue cards. Great for sequencing, memorization, order, and practicing colors.

Sequencing Cards

What comes first, next, and last. Simple, fun sequencing cards.

Picture Matching

Using two packs of stickers and some leftover card stock matching games can be made in any theme. Horses are very popular in our classroom right now.

Farm Object Matching

2 sets of craft store animals -excellent for matching and vocabulary building

Quick and Easy Sensorial Activities

2008-12-17T20:45:00.004-05:00

Textured fabric matching activity to be completed using a blindfold.

Smell matching activity using three pairs of identical salt and pepper shakers lined with construction paper and filled with cotton balls scented with essential oils.

Making a Countdown Tree

2008-12-03T12:17:00.004-05:00

Here is a simple project to countdown the days to the new year (and/or the Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Christmas). Change the date by sliding the counting strip through the tree. I choose to leave my tree plain so as not to influence the children's creativity on how they decorate theirs.

Take a scrap of heavyweight paper (like construction paper or card stock) or a piece of scrap wall paper, fold in half and trace a half of tree onto the paper. Cut out the tree and fold in half in the other direction (top to bottom) and in the center make two small one inch cuts about a half inch apart.
Create a long strip of paper with 31 one inch squares and have the child write one number in each square counting from 1 to 31. I just cut three 1 x 11 inch inch strips from a scrap piece of card stock and taped them together.

Feed the strip through the slits cut in the tree and tape the strip into a circle. Set the correct date and start your countdown.

You can add a different decoration to the tree each day.

Build Your Own Child Size Work Tabe

2008-12-03T11:12:00.002-05:00

When designing a space for children (classroom or home) it is important to offer a variety of work spaces and surfaces on which to work. I always incorporate

counters and tables to work on at a standing height
tables and chairs scaled to the child's size -- a chair size of 8" for toddlers, 10" for smaller preschoolers and 12" for taller preschoolers
mats for floor work -- fabric, bamboo, and vinyl in different sizes depending on the activity
low tables in a variety of heights and sizes

Here is a simple low table I made for our classroom. The table pictured is 24 inches square and 18 inches high. I have found that this is a great size for one or two preschoolers to work comfortably kneeling or sitting on the floor. It's actually quite simple to make. I made three in an afternoon!

For the table top I used a piece of scrap furniture grade plywood we had left in our barn. You could use any size scrap you may have available or purchase a piece of plywood at a home improvement center for under $10. You usually can find smaller pre-cut pieces of plywood at the end of the isle that has unfinished wood shelving and boards.

Tip: You can also purchase solid wood, pre-cut and shaped table tops in a variety of sizes (circle, oval, square, rectangle) at your home improvement center. The solid wood tops are a little more expensive $15-$30 but look beautiful when stained and finished.

I rounded the corners with a jig saw and sanded the top and edges with a finish sander. If you don't have a jig saw, you can just leave the corners square and sand them well.

The hardware for the legs and the legs themselves were purchased at a home improvement store. The leg hardware can be straight leg or angled leg and is under $2 per leg. The legs come in a variety of sizes, designs, and materials and cost between $2 and $10 each. All legs are fitted with a threaded end to fit into the leg hardware. I used an 18", colonial style, hardwood leg and angled leg hardware.

Just attach the hardware to the back of your table top and screw your leg into the hole.

I finished the table with a few light coats of polyurethane applied in a well ventilated area.

These tables are favorite work spaces for me as well as the children.

Quick and Easy Holiday Crafts

2008-12-03T10:45:00.003-05:00

Last January I purchased a large bag of white, green and red pipe cleaners for pennies (found on the craft store discount rack). Casey, one of our teacher's at Namaste, discovered the bag when searching through our teacher's supply closet and came up with simple and fun holiday craft ideas.

Candy Cane Work

Simple directions: Twist a red and white pipe cleaner together and bend into a candy cane shape.

The children were so excited about this work they pretended they were working in a candy cane factory. They made so many candy canes they decided to open a candy cane store for parents and visitors to the school.

Pipe Cleaner Wreath

From a scrap of cardboard (we used cracker boxes) cut an O shaped piece of cardboard about 3 inched in diameter. We pre-cut these shapes for the children because cutting out the middle of the O's was a bit tricky.

Wrap green pipe cleaners around the cardboard O. Three or four should cover it.

Glue a red bow on the top.

Add a ribbon loop to hang the wreath as an ornament or glue a magnet on the back to stick it on something metal.

Food Preparation

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It is an empowering experience to prepare and eat your own food. Food preparation activities incorporate life skills and self care, strengthen ability to follow multi-step directions, develop fine motor skills, social skills, and good manners. Always make sure children wash hands thouroughly before beginning to work.

Peanut Cracking Work. A yummy snack while practicing the fine motor skill of twisting a nut cracker. Shells are stored in small bowl and emptied into the compost at the end of the activity.

Orange Juice Squeezing Work. Requires fine and large motor skills as well as the coordinated movement of pressing and twisting. Container of freshly squeezed juice is poured into a glass in our snack area for drinking, skins are composted, and tools are washed by the child and set up for the next person when finished.

Banana Slicing Work. The child peels and slices the banana into small disks. Toothpicks are then inserted into each slice for serving to friends. Child carries the prepared slices around the classroom and politely offers and serves the snack to friends hors d'ouerves style. "Would you like a banana?"

Toast and Butter Work. Child toasts bread in a toaster, removes hot bread with plastic tongs, butters the slice on a snack plate, cleans work area for the next child, and sits down to eat toast.

Breathing Room

2008-11-21T04:42:00.005-05:00

We started Namaste Montessori School in our home in 2004 and in the summer of 2007 moved the school out of our home into our new space. The building we purchased and renovated was basically a pole barn (metal walls and ceilings, poured concrete floors, etc) that had been used for commercial and manufacturing purposes. I'll weave the story of our school's journey into this blog as I continue to post and label it under classroom design.

Our students helped to design our new classroom space and were involved in many of the decisions we made including color, floor coverings, and playground design. One of the top items on their classroom wish list was a "Breathing Room". This is a quiet place in the classroom where one person may go to find a little space, meditate, and reflect. Some Montessori classrooms call this area a peace corner.

Our Breathing Room is actually a simple loft framed from 2x4s and plywood. The top and sides of the loft are four feet by eight feet. The railing is made from left over spindles from one of my Dad's construction jobs. We have doors and a dry erase board on the shorter end of the structure. We use the underneath part of the loft as a closet space for storing our rest mats, blankets, and sheets.

The top of the loft is carpeted. I painted the side of the loft with a mural. For those of you that love math, the mural proportions are based on the golden rectangle and the leaves represent the occurrence of the Fibonacci sequence in nature.

I believe lofts in classrooms provide children an opportunity to view the classroom from a different perspective. Although the loft area is still quite open and visable from all areas of the classroom the height creates a different experience of space and a sense of separation from the main classroom. Located in the corner, the walls and low ceiling create a sense of calmness and security. The textured red wall, green carpet, and yellow ceiling/walls create feeling of comforting earthy warmth in the space.

In the loft area we have activities that encourage reflection. On one low table we have a pile of stones (found outside on our grounds) and a set of laughing Buddhas (purchased at a Chinese import/dollar store). Children may build and arrange these items carefully exploring balance, beauty, and nature.On the wall we have a finger labyrinth designed by some of the children.

TIP: We made this labyrinth from a simple pine table top purchased at a home improvement store. After sketching the design we used a router to carve out the path. Next we finishing the project with some leftover paint and mounted it to the wall.

We also have a zen painting board. This is a board of coated rice paper mounted on black mat board. When children brush water over the paper a deep black stroke appears. The water slowly evaporates, and the stroke diappears.

In the area we also have a small bowl with two crystals on satin ribbon. Children may hold the crystals to remind them to bring love and balance into thier bodies.

Next to the crystals we have a framed print of our weekly affirmation. This week's affirmation is gratitude and we practive by saying "I bring gratitude into my heart". Our affirmations are based on a wonderful program called Angel Bear Yoga. I'll post more on this later but I also have a link on the side bar (Of Interest/Favorite Books) if you want to explore further.

Continents Globe

2008-11-21T03:43:00.005-05:00

In the geography area of our classroom we have a map of the continents of the world, six individual continent maps, and a map of the United States.

TIP: To make an affordable Globe of the Continents purchase an out of date globe at a thrift store ( I picked mine up for a dollar) and paint over the exisiting maps. I choose to paint our globe with a high quality oil based artist paint for color and durability, but you could use whatever paints you have on hand. If you use a water based acrylic I recommend applying a clear polyurethene finish coat for durability. Remeber to make sure the colors you choose to paint your globe match the colors on your continent map.

A Land and Water Globe (sandpaper globe) can be made in a similar way. First paint the oceans blue and the continents brown. Let paint dry thouroughly. Next apply glue to the brown continent areas and dust areas with brown sand (sand will only stick where you have applied glue so make sure you apply thouroughly). Let dry and top coat with a clear polyurethene for durability.

We are currently studying the continent of North America. Some of our older children (4 and 5 year olds) decided to make thier own map of North America. Using materials we already had available in our environment they created this beautiful and dimensional map. They used clay to build the mountain ranges, sandpaper for the deserts, cotton balls for the artic region, hay for the grassland, rolled tissue paper for the temperate forests, and celephane for the oceans. They finished by adding labels and animals.

Here is a simple science sorting activity for children to explore the concepts of living and non-living.

Here is a science and geography activity where children can classify animals by the primary environment where they exist-air, land, or water. One jelly jar contains soil for land, one contains blue colored water, and the last is empty containing only air. We have had some interesting conversations about animals that may live in two of the environments such a a frog that can live in the water and on land. I always let the child choose the classification for animals that can be placed in more than one category.

Cutting, Collage, and Craft

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Many practical life and art activities share the same skills. The art shelves in our classroom are near the practical life area.

We have an art supply shelf that is always stocked with basic supplies including: crayons, markers, colored pencils, scissors, stapler, scotch tape, masking tape, twine, a selection of hole punches, hand and electric pencil sharpeners, glue, a selection of stencils, paper (colored, white, and recycled), cardboard, envelopes and rulers. We also have a painting easel, playdough, and watercolor paints available. All of these materials are available for open ended creative use.

Cutting Activity:

This is a simple activity to introduce the skill of using scissors and practice cutting on a line. After children cut the strip of paper on the lines the scraps are placed in the small bucket. When the activity is finished the scraps can be used for collage work or composted.

Collage Activity:

This activity uses the dried corn from a practical life tweezing activity to make collage art.

Potpourri Sachet Activity:

Dried flowers, seed pods, and grasses collected on our nature walks are scented with a few drops of essential oil then wrapped in toile and secured with a pipe cleaner.

Stringing and Sewing Work

2008-11-15T17:46:00.000-05:00

Stringing large wooden beads and practicing sewing cards are wonderful ways to prepare for more advanced sewing activities.

Necklace Making:

This is just a simple braclet or necklace making work using hemp cord and pony beads from a craft store.

Puppet Making:

This puppet sewing activity includes two pieces of felt puppet shapes with holes punched evenly around the edge, a pre-threaded darning needle with yarn, and eyes & scraps of fabric to be glued on for adornement. We have a supply box on the shelf where the activity is kept so that after a child completes the activity they can restock the tray with supplies for the next person.

This button sewing activity is a little more challenging than the puppet making because there are no pre-punched holes and an embroidery hoop is introduced as a tool. A box with supplies is kept next to the activity for restocking the supplies.

Liquid Transfer Activities

2008-11-15T17:34:00.000-05:00

A simple one to one pouring activity. A small sponge is placed in each tray to clean up any drips or spills.

One to one transfer is made more challenging with the use of a baster for transfer.

Opaque containers with tops.

Here the containers are of very different sizes and a funnel makes pouring a little more challenging.

When introducing this type of work always start with clear containers, colored water, and one to one transfer and progress to more challenging opaque containers, clear water, and one to many containers.

TIP: Coloring water with food coloring emphasizes he level of water in each container. Colored water spills are also easier to spot on the table or floor for clean up.

Dry Transfer Activities

2008-11-15T17:24:00.000-05:00

Here are some dry transfer activites we currently have out on our shelves. We rotate these activities quite frequently changing shapes and sizes of containers and tools.

Opaque containers are typically more challenging than clear containers.

One to one transfer is easier than transfering from one container to two or more containers.

TIP: Yard sales and thrift stores are wonderful places to find unique, affordable containers.

A Series of Tonging and Tweezing Work

2008-11-15T17:01:00.000-05:00

Tonging and tweezing transfer activities help to stregthen the fine motor muscles in the hand and the "pincher" grasp a child needs in order to hold a pencil properly for handwriting.

This tweezing activity also allows children to sort beads by color and shape. The six compartment ceramic tray is just a tea light candle holder from the dollar store.

In this activity children can use "practice chopsticks" to sort colored pasta into bowls.

This activity uses small scissor tweezers to pull corn kernals from a dried cob of corn. We then grind the kernals for corn meal or use whole kernals for collage work in the art area.

TIP: I always ask my friends to think of our classroom when they clean out thier kitchen drawers. Many people have utensils and containers they rarely use but are ideal for making work in the classroom.

Sensory Table

2008-11-15T16:50:00.000-05:00

We currently have our sensory table filled with brown rice, sea shells, and a collection of containers for scooping & pouring.

TIP: An affordable way to make a sensory table at home is too purchase a utility bin from a home improvement store. They are almost exactly the same size as the sensory table bins you can find from a school supply catalog but are a fraction of the price. The bins are typically found in the tile and/or cement supply areas for mixing concrete. You can place it directly on the floor or raise it up off the ground with a frame made from PVC piping.

Silver Polishing

2008-11-15T16:33:00.000-05:00

Polishing a silver teapot. A multi-step activity where a child uses a Q-tip and polish (a paste of baking soda and water) to clean a small area of a tarnished teapot. After rubbing the tarnish off the pot with the paste, the child then rubs the area with a soft towel until polished. Dirty tools are discarded into a small bowl on the left side of the tray. These steps can be completed many times in sequence as the child works on all areas of the teapot. When finished with this work the child discards waste into the compost bin and restocks the supplies to ready the work for the next child.

This is a wonderful activity to develop fine motor skills in the hand and to practice following multi step directions.

A Sequence of Practical Life Work Focusing on Twisting

2008-11-15T16:03:00.000-05:00

Using a Screwdriver Work

(we actually have three different boards, with different size bolts and drivers) Matching Nuts and Bolts Work

One

Matching Nuts and Bolts Work

Two