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SeaStar
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| Posted: Aug 13 2007 at 9:03pm | IP Logged
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We used a mini grater from MServices to grate carrots today (no cheese at our house with Allergy Girl). Ds thought this was terrific.
DD strung beads following pattern cards I made. Well, she started following the pattern and then was just so excited she had to string every bead.
I brought out our continent map- that went nowhere. I don't know if I just caught them at a bad time or what- neither had any interest in it.
Finally I found a sorting game they both like... it's called All Mixed Up. I have a ziplock bag with 8 of several different items in it (8 pennies, 8 pom poms, eight little screw bolts, eight beans, etc). We pour it all out into a bowl, then the kids sort the items onto a piece of cardstock marked off into nine grids. It's a colorful mix, and they both like to sort it out.
Anyway- that was our day. How did the rest of you do?
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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Land O' Cotton
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| Posted: Aug 13 2007 at 9:29pm | IP Logged
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This morning we worked with the baster and transferring water. My dgs wanted to color the water, so I gave him a box of food colors and he had a color mixing lesson too! He worked with that for about 30 minutes, trying to equally distribute the water between the four little cups I gave him to use.
We also used the sand tray for writing letters, but I discovered that the surface of the tray was not slick enough to move the sand around. I'm trying to fix that, as he really enjoyed using the letter writing cards I made with the border from Dollar Tree.
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Vicki
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JoJo
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| Posted: Aug 14 2007 at 7:53am | IP Logged
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We've now joined Karen's class, and I've been inspired to do several new activities with my 3.5 yo boy (even amidst a lousy cold).
Today I tried to show him the pin pricking of geometric shapes - he liked tracing the shapes  , but rather than pricking the outline, he just wanted to stab the paper  . His older sister came along and joined in with vigour - she did a great job and remembered how she used to enjoy this at preschool. She also shed some light on how the stabbing was pretty normal (when I tried to show her brother how to gently prick the paper) - she said "mum that's how all the little kids did it!".
Yesterday we also tried threading spools with pattern cards, but he was not interested. So today I asked him if he'd like to do threading, and he said yes, but with our wooden geometric shapes cards (which were temporarily put away) - and then he kind of did his own kind of threading and weaving thing with it. And asked how to do a knot. It was interesting to watch.
Jo
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JoJo
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| Posted: Aug 14 2007 at 7:58am | IP Logged
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The other thing that I've done in the last two days was to prepare a tray for their morning tea - with a few pieces of fruit and vegies in a bowl, and the necessary cutting / peeling utentils (eg. apple and the new apple corer/cutter (from Ikea); piece of cucumber and a peeler; some mandarins for peeling etc). I put this into our pantry (the only place where it's low enough for the kids to reach, but out of baby's reach). When it's time for a morning snack they prepare it themselves. 
They both really enjoy this - and they seemed to squabble less than usual without me around.
I love your sorting idea Melinda - I've a little plastic muffin tin with 6 or compartments perfect for some sorting activity and I've been trying to think of what to use with it - this is inspiring.
Jo
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SeaStar
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| Posted: Aug 14 2007 at 8:36am | IP Logged
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I wish I could take the credit for All Mixed Up, but really a dear friend of mine from this board (Karen T) gave me a whole box of Montessori-ish type activities in ziploc bags that her dc have outgrown. That box has been like gold. I had lamented earlier on this board that my dc were not interested in sorting things- but they love All Mixed Up. I think it has a lot to do with just saying the name out loud 
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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: Aug 14 2007 at 9:20am | IP Logged
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Oh, you guys have been having some great fun this week already!! I think I've finally caught up on laundry and emails
Vicki, did you make your writig tray?? When I painted mine I sprayed it with some really nice Modge Podge type stuff to make it all shiny and to seal it, so the sand does slide pretty well. Let me know and I'll peek at the can (I think I have some left) and you could try that.
HTH!!
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Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
Sweetness and Light
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ALmom
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| Posted: Aug 17 2007 at 3:46pm | IP Logged
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Well, after my initial burst with some of the practical life stuff, lesson planning for my olders and working with the LD child took over - plus the A/C went out in the van during our DC trip to the funeral (pretty miserable in DC traffic dressed all in black). Then our dd developed shoulder problems, I had several eye doc visits to try and sort through my frustration with not seeing well - mostly being old so we were on the go - and trying to figure out how to transport people in vehicles without enough seatbelts (van in the shop but mom to the rescue - we borrowed her car and took 2 cars everywhere). Also our Botany cabinet came in with warped insets and between trying to straighten these out with a vice, sanding and using books and popsicle sticks to see if we could get them into some sort of useable condition - and then having to return other things to the other supplier who has been very good - but still it takes time to package up and send out), it has been a bit hectic and I have not introduced anything new for a long, long time.
Anyways, life and my own need for lots more time to prepare for this Montessori venture basically meant my poor dc were left with the basket for transferring pom poms, the baster, and the tongs in practical life. I did have a peg board with numbers - 5 has 5 holes in the bottom for red pegs and only connects with 4 on one side and 6 on another. It is sturdy, attractive and very, very visual and self correcting - so I introduced this. Well, for obvious reasons my 5 yo had lost interest in the Montessori room and most of my olders had not been terribly thrilled with the above options except the 6 yo who seemed very intent on the baster and tongs. Despite school "officially starting" at our house on Monday, my LD guest prompted me to get busy. One of the biggest things to help him is to get him to switch hands - well the list from his therapists looked like a Montessori practical life list. Gee whiz, I'm not being much help to anyone. Quickly, I scrounged together some stuff for a pouring presentation, a tweezers presentation and a spooning presentation. Everyone became enthused again. Just the idea of new things.
Now the hysterical part is that I really didn't think our almost 5 yo would take to the pouring exercise. He has been pouring milk from a gallon jug for years and doing it rather well - I mostly had in mind my LD guest. Well, my 5 yo proved me wrong. I have never seen him so intent at anything. He spent most of the rest of the day pouring beans back and forth and telling me how many times he did it without mistakes. Now I'm doing all this other stuff with the LD child and hadn't had much chance to observe, so I went in today just to see. I was amazed - he had pulled out the number cards and was counting how many times he did the exercise perfectly - He got up to 10 (which is as high as the cards I have set out), but even more fascinating, he docked himself every time he had a spill so he would count backwards. He started running back and forth to tell me where he was at. Now this may not be true Montessori in the strict sense and would probably be much better if I were in there observing all the time instead of him running into the kitchen to tell me it is 8 times now, oh no now I have only 7.
Ok, so what did the 10 yo do. He was working with the tweezers, said they were too easy, got smaller beads for him (they are so tiny I can barely see them) and these were too easy too. At some point there was a very brief pause in the pouring from 5 yo - ie it was returned to the shelf and the 10 yo had a chance. He was trying to pour with his eyes closed. He told me that this was pretty easy now as he learned to estimate where things were. Now if I had been in the room, I probably would have considered this improper use of materials - but I wasn't there and it does seem like his mind was usefully engaged and he was moving the wrist so ... I'm not saying a word, though I don't want him to tell the 5 yo. as he decided to try the same things too and was telling me how he was doing it with his eyes closed and one eye closed. I made some comment - but in the end the fact that he couldn't count up to as many successes that way took care of the problem.
I am anxious to get some lessons on how to do the pink tower and brown stairs as these have come in and are in good shape. We also have various insets - trying to decide tonight whether we are just going to have to return several of the botany ones and wait for replacements. We are waiting for knobbed cylinder first block (accidently got shipped 2 block 2s). I know my dc need some more sensorial stuff - and I really want to introduce the insets so I can get the olders off doing something to improve their handwriting. I just don't want to plunge in until I know what I'm supposed to be presenting and all that.
We seem to learn math more readily here as the writing just doesn't kick in and the geometric insets from MO were beautiful. I'm sure I need to order or make the 3 part cards for these before beginning.
Our 4 yo found the spooning too hard as he wants to hold the spoon with his fist and not the pencil grip so with him I know we are not ready to introduce any of the reading kit, though he is beginning to ask and point to words. I'm anxious for Karen's class to get past the language and to the sensorial or math. I guess I've just taught so many people how to read, I'm not all that worried - though we will use the kits when the time comes as they are really neat. We did similiar things just on our own and a bit more disorganized over the years. It is nice how the object boxes are put together, etc.
Hopefully we are back on track but I suspect this years Montessori will be in starts and fits as I wait to learn the presentations and find the time. I know we will continue with this long term and do more next year while just doing the best we can this year.
Janet
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Angel
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| Posted: Aug 17 2007 at 5:55pm | IP Logged
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My almost 2-yos have ditched the toddler cylinder blocks I just got from Alison's in favor of the real knobbed cylinders which I brought up for my 4 yo. One of the twins in particular spends a lot of time on this. He is also enjoying a knobbed geometric shapes puzzle, which seems a bit more difficult for his brother. His brother is sticking with the golf tees and clay -- sticking the tees in, then pulling them out and putting them away.
This week was really busy (again) and I haven't really managed to focus on any new presentations. I *have* been laminating 3 part cards, though. I have this weekend to get the room somewhat more in shape, basically. My mom will be here on Monday, and then I have pre-op testing on Tuesday, and the C-section scheduled for Weds. I'm just hoping I have enough that the kids can use independently to keep them busy for the 2 weeks I'll be recovering from surgery.
--Angela
Three Plus Two
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Meredith
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| Posted: Aug 17 2007 at 7:18pm | IP Logged
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I presented two of my new Pink Sound Bins to my 5yo, "c" and "m" cause he wanted to do more than one He LOVES them!! I'm so excited for him to learn this way 
Then he wanted to do the Hundred Chain with the arrows. After he had counted them all up and laid the arrows, he proclaimed, "I can do this whenever I want by myself" and of course I said, you sure can sweetheart
That was pretty much it for us this week. Fast and furiously trying to get things in order and finished!!
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Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
Sweetness and Light
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Land O' Cotton
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| Posted: Aug 17 2007 at 7:53pm | IP Logged
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Meredith wrote:
Vicki, did you make your writing tray?? When I painted mine I sprayed it with some really nice Modge Podge type stuff to make it all shiny and to seal it, so the sand does slide pretty well. Let me know and I'll peek at the can (I think I have some left) and you could try that.
HTH!! |
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Sorry, I forgot to reply here. I did make our writing tray with a tray from Hobby Lobby. After trying some polycrylic and sealant spray, I finally found the solution---clear contact paper! That seemed to really do the trick to give it that "slickness" that it needs to move the sand around.
Now, on to our presentations...
Today we did the Magnetic/Non-Magnetic tray with cards from Lori's free printables. That was a hit, and I can see doing that one again with some new items.
Another tray we tried was shell sorting which seemed to go over well. We also had a tray with money flash cards and a fruit-shaped coin purse filled with plastic coins. The cards were self-correcting, and he needed to place the correct amount of money by the card according to the amount shown on the card. My dgs suggested using some empty food packages with price stickers next time to make it more fun. We'll definitely try that!
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Vicki
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: Aug 17 2007 at 10:00pm | IP Logged
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Meredith wrote:
I presented two of my new Pink Sound Bins to my 5yo, "c" and "m" cause he wanted to do more than one He LOVES them!! I'm so excited for him to learn this way
Then he wanted to do the Hundred Chain with the arrows. After he had counted them all up and laid the arrows, he proclaimed, "I can do this whenever I want by myself" and of course I said, you sure can sweetheart
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That is so wonderful!
Oh, I am hoping for the same reaction from dd when we start next week!
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Land O' Cotton
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| Posted: Aug 17 2007 at 10:27pm | IP Logged
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I thought that was so sweet too! I'm waiting for that same reaction here too!
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Vicki
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: Presentations this week: Aug 13th
