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saintanneshs
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| Posted: June 23 2007 at 3:10pm | IP Logged
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am just thinking out loud here...didn't know if it might be of use to anyone 
In my planning for this fall I've decided to set up our new learning space with shelves for each of the different learning areas. I have small sets of shelves all around our basement floor (not touching one another) for the different subject areas. Math is over by the window, History and Geography are in the 1st corner (maps beneath the 2nd window), the Nature and Science shelves are beneath the 3rd window. Sensorial, Practical Life and Art are around the next corner. Religion is beside the fireplace. Music is across the room on the adjacent wall and Language is next to the couch. I did all of this because we'll 1. have the space and 2. my dss and dd "play" (learn  ) on so many different levels that I couldn't figure out what I'd need to have out and what I'd need to put away time schedule-wise without a trial run and I figured it can't hurt to have the shelves even if they get "renamed" for other purposes in the long run. So...there are my "zones!" 
Now I couldn't figure out how the kids were going to keep from being overwhelmed by where things are supposed to go at first. I think the "training discussions" on previous threads will help with this. Also, I thought that the fact that I'm only pulling out tray items one at a time for each presentation would help reasonably limit what was available (as opposed to setting everything out at once and watching them spin in circles trying to do everything all at once ) On the other hand, I didn't want any of the kids to be waiting around for a turn because there are 5 kids and I've only had time for 3 presentations!  So I think I'll put out a few things in the beginning (just to let them get used to the "feel" of the materials and then after that, just one new thing each time there's a presentation... what do you think?
In the meantime I decided that painting my trays one color for each zone would help the kids remember which tray went where. I think this is especially going to help when it comes to Geometry and its materials which up until now have been on our "Math" shelves and will be switching over to the Sensorial shelves. This is true for The Clock presentations (formerly on Math shelves, now on "History" shelves)...too much thought going into this, I know, but I like for my kids to organize things themselves. I'm not big on picking up after them (especially if they can do it for themselves...who isn't right?! ) So I've spray-painted 26 trays that I bought on sale (50% off) at ACMoore yesterday; 2-4 trays for each subject area since I didn't know how many trays I'd need for presentations (since it depends on the child's level of interest it could be 1 tray or 4 trays, right??). After the craft store I picked up an array of lovely shades of spray paint (you should've seen the cashier's face when I hauled all that spray paint up to the counter ...Math trays are a plum purple, Art trays are deep red, Practical Life a sunflower yellow, Sensorial a burnt orange, Language a country blue, Science/Nature a leafy green, History a pale green, Geography a cloudy blue, and Music a pinky mauve. I'm planning to print out and laminate a same-colored label for each learning area (my "control" ) and I figure that if the toddler has a dumping marathon when I'm not looking, at least I'll know which shelves the trays came from !
So now that my trays are colored, and I'm heading off to make some of my bead materials, I thought I'd share one more thing I did yesterday that might not be strictly Montessori but was definitely "montessori-inspired" ...
Since the Montessori Grammar Presentations involve the use of a farm and farm materials and I'm absolutely farmed-out (as in tired of everything farm-related...so many boys on a farm= John Deere and all toys farm-related all around you ALL the time ) I wanted to use something else besides a farm. AND...I have only one girl who needs a few girly influences, I think (translates "I want"), I decided to teach Grammar with a Montessori Dollhouse instead. We couldn't afford the dollhouse, but I let the boys choose dollhouse furniture and accessories at AC Moore (also on sale!!) and they LOVED it! Dh was less than happy about the whole thing but the boys picked out a kitchen and diningroom with their choices of miniature food and pots and pans, a cradle and twin babies, a dog & dogbed, flowers, etc, etc. They can't wait to learn "grammar" since I told them that they couldn't play with these toys until Mommy got the classroom set up and we began our grammar study. I'll have to make my own grammar word lists, but it'll be totally worth it for me to have a break from all the farm gear.
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Kristine
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SeaStar
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| Posted: June 23 2007 at 3:24pm | IP Logged
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I love all your ideas! You are so creative. You have some lucky kids!
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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Meredith
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| Posted: June 23 2007 at 3:38pm | IP Logged
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Kristine, ditto what Melinda said!!
What an absolutely inspiring and beautiful way you have set up your learning room!! Want to send me some Pics of your trays and I'll upload them here??? I am SO thrilled about your Montessori inspired grammar with your doll house finds, it'll be superb! And I have three little boys who would love to come visit your John-Deere infused home
Way to go and thanks so much for sharing, you HAVE been wonderfully busy 
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Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: June 23 2007 at 3:50pm | IP Logged
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Kristine, that sounds fabulous! I absolutely love the color-coded trays idea! I think it will really foster independence in your children to know where things go without always having to ask! Wonderful!
The doll house is also a great idea! And I don't see why it wouldn't work just as well as a farm.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Katie
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| Posted: June 23 2007 at 5:21pm | IP Logged
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It all sounds lovely.....the colours you named made me want to rush out and decorate! This house is white, white, white....but it keeps the mosquitoes at bay.
How was that for a run-on sentence? Maybe I should come over for grammar lessons too?
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Mother of 5 in South America. No 6 due in April.
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Theresa
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| Posted: June 23 2007 at 5:31pm | IP Logged
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Love the color coded tray idea!
I have so much desire to set things up but first I need to do some decluttering (well not some, major). I am just so tired. If I didn't know that I couldn't get pregnant I would think that I am.
I have a tired body and tired mind. Just keeping up on the day to day runnings of this house have me so worn out lately.
I did watch a very old movie that I ILL. It was Montessori in the Home and there were some fun things that I am going to try putting together over the next week. I also ILL Montessori on a Budget (I think that is the title) so I want to start reading through that too.
So much to do.
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Theresa
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SeaStar
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| Posted: June 23 2007 at 6:46pm | IP Logged
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Can I ask what kind of trays you used? Are they all uniform? Plastic, wood?
I really like the idea of having things uniform- that would help keep me (and the dc) organized.
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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AndreaG
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| Posted: June 23 2007 at 8:46pm | IP Logged
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Wow, thanks for the great description of your environment- I'd love to see pictures. I think that color coded zones are precisely what is done in montessori schools. And I definitely remember reading (I believe in Montessori in the Classroom) that when starting a new montessori class all the montessori materials are packed in the closet to be brought out gradually, so they start with some traditional preschool toys (blocks, lacing toys, puzzles, etc) for the kids to use until they have had some presentations and started to normalize.
Thanks for sharing!
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Andrea
GrayFamilyCircus
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sjbacb
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| Posted: June 23 2007 at 8:56pm | IP Logged
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Love love love the color coded tray idea! Might have to lovingly borrow that wonderfully useful suggestion.
Shannon ( another Mommy who is NOT going to teach her child that she will clean up his things for him! )
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 23 2007 at 9:13pm | IP Logged
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Wow that sounds just incredible - I'm a little jealous with all that room you have!! Seriously, the color coded zones sound really fantastic!
And I am so inspired by your dollhouse idea. I haven't given up on the farm yet, because I found one that seems nice (and cheap) from Amazon, but there's no reason I can't go shopping in the kid's rooms first! Thanks for the idea!
You're room is going to be so awesome!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
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saintanneshs
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| Posted: June 23 2007 at 10:19pm | IP Logged
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Thanks everyone.
I'd be happy to share photos (it's times like these that I REALLY wish I had a blog site...but oh my goodness, I can't imagine having one more "project" to keep track of...I don't know how you blogging moms do it, but boy am I grateful for the sneak-peeks into your classrooms!! ) Meredith, I'll send you some photos if you'll tell me how! (I don't know how or where to send them. ) And do you want photos before I'm all the way finished? I'm hoping to finish before the middle of July (maybe even sooner) and then I can share pics of our room with everything together, if you want.
And Melinda, I bought 10 of my trays on sale at ACMoore (I cleaned them out) and then the rest at Michael's (cleaned them out too ). They're of the cheap, unfinished wood kind that aren't super, super sturdy, but that was okay with me. I think they'll hold up just fine for our purposes and I wanted to spend my $$ on other Montessori manipulatives rather than on my system of organization. (Wish I didn't have to choose, but what can you do? I can replace a 2.99 tray quicker than $32.00-worth of red and blue number rods, kwim?!) The spray paint colors came from WalMart and 1 can will cover 4 trays (2 coats apiece and a few touch-ups) minus the very bottom of each tray (I purposely skipped the bottom because I didn't want the colors to rub off onto the shelves over time).
I ran back to craft store before mass tonight and picked up the last few things I need to get cracking on. One thing I found were cute little unfinished wooden $5.99 mini-dressers (with 5 pull-out drawers on each one) that I'm thinking of turning into our pink and blue "dressers" (versus "boxes" which when individually priced were more than double the total price of the dressers). I've got a left-over can of stain and some acrylic paint and polyurethane...
AND, for anyone interested in the dollhouse idea, Michael's also has $1.00 unfinished wooden dollhouse furniture cabinets over in the same section as mentioned above. I bought three different types of dollhouse hutches to finish off the kitchen & diningroom sets that I bought that were on sale and ready-made. I'm thinking that some stain, acrylic paint and a little polyurethane will dress them up just fine. Oh, and I also found an unfinished wooden dollhouse frame that would work great for a setting for the furniture. It was 29.99 (and with this week's 40% off coupon wouldn't be too bad) but I didn't get it. I'm trying to force myself to have a little self-control over the whole dollhouse idea. And besides I'm really holding out for the beautiful, fully-finished real-deal dollhouses for dd one day...a Mom can dream can't she??
As a side note, you should see my grass outside...it's a good thing we're out here in the country and don't have any neighbors to complain...we have a rainbow-colored lawn!!
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Kristine
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: June 23 2007 at 11:56pm | IP Logged
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Kristine, that all sounds fabulous.
I just wanted to mention that one way to share photos without having to have a blog is to get a photobucket or flickr account, or a boxnet account (new one for me) where you can share photos and other files as well. All of these are free and easy and a great way for us to share!
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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saintanneshs
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| Posted: June 24 2007 at 12:03am | IP Logged
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lapazfarm wrote:
Kristine, that all sounds fabulous.
I just wanted to mention that one way to share photos without having to have a blog is to get a photobucket or flickr account, or a boxnet account (new one for me) where you can share photos and other files as well. All of these are free and easy and a great way for us to share! |
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Thanks, Theresa!
A few questions:
1. Does it cost?
2. Where do I go to get an account?
3. Will they give me all the directions I'll need for posting photos?
4. Is there space to type/explain what the photos are?
I so need to learn this digital photo sharing stuff!!
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Kristine
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: I’ve painted my trays! and...
