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lapazfarm
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| Posted: June 18 2009 at 8:11pm | IP Logged
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I have decided it is time to present the grammar materials to dd. I've researched my options (buying pre-printed cards, printing from MM, and making my own) and I've decided the most straightforward way for me is to just hand write the cards on colored card stock.
But I'm wondering about the boxes and trays, specifically the ones like these
Has anyone made them satisfactorily? If so,can you share how?
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Theresa
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 18 2009 at 10:19pm | IP Logged
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You had me intrigued, Theresa! Those grammar boxes have had me stumped for awhile. I can't figure out how to make them.
I found this idea which incorporates a gigantic 60 drawer utility cabinet...GIGANTIC!
Here is a good picture of the boxes again. You can see the sloped compartments.
Then I found this great article by Lori at Montessori For Everyone. Freedom:
Lori wrote:
I’m not a big fan of the wooden grammar boxes. They are expensive, and to my mind, not essential for grammar studies. The ones from Nienhuis don’t list the words in the correct order for English grammar. I called Nienhuis once to ask why some of the boxes have such strange word order, and they were unable to tell me. If anyone knows, please share!
I feel that great results can be achieved by using the grammar cards alone, as mentioned below. If you do have the grammar boxes, you would use the grammar cards with them to form sentences. |
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The whole article is helpful. I don't think I'm gonna dump a lot of time into trying to figure out these boxes! 
I'm considering a couple of options...
**a photo box from Michaels - with large dividers I'm thinking I can contain the 8 "boxes" of work in envelopes maybe?
**some index card boxes (a piece of color coded cardstock could be taped to the outside to indicate which "box" it is) with dividers. I'm just not sure how this will work out for the longer strips - I could always fold them.
You could do this 2 ways - using sharpies in the appropriate colors on white cardstock or using colored cardstock. The problem is that brown cardstock and black writing will be difficult to read. Same with navy blue. I'm thinking of making mine on white cardstock with sharpies or printing from Montessori Materials.
I'm all ears for other ideas! Anybody else done this?
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Jen Mackintosh
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: June 18 2009 at 10:40pm | IP Logged
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Hmmm. maybe I'm getting this wrong, but I thought the order of the words in the boxes was simply the order of presentation of the part of speech, not the order they would be used in a sentence. There isn't any way you could have them in order according to usage because sentence structure varies.(And the color of the box simply indicates which new part of speech is the focus for the lesson.)
That being said, I'm not a fan of all the wooden boxes. For storage I will simply use coupon organizers.But during use, I do see the advantage of having some sort of tray that holds the cards in separate compartments and also upright so the child can tab through them to find the word she wants to use. I just want one tray, though, not a dozen of them. I don't have a problem with just leaving empty slots for parts of speech we have not covered yet.
For the cards I bought some pastel colored half-size index cards (in yellow, blue, orange, pink and green) and will write on them in black sharpie, adding cut card stock for the colors I don't have (red, purple) I'll use white with black sharpie for nouns.
Rather than using the neinhuis color scheme I am going with the color scheme of the grammar solids/shapes. Makes more sense to me. So my articles will be blue, not brown.
And the only reason that I am not using the printables from MM (they are nice) is that printer ink is so expensive and I have tons of sharpies.
I am going to put some thought into the working tray and get back with you with ideas for that soon.
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Theresa
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vmalott
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| Posted: June 19 2009 at 8:08am | IP Logged
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lapazfarm wrote:
| For storage I will simply use coupon organizers. <snip> I am going to put some thought into the working tray and get back with you with ideas for that soon. |
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I printed my cards from MM long ago, before the cost of printer ink (and laminating film) was a big financial concern for me.  Like you, I have them stored in those accordion coupon organizers and they have been neatly tucked away in a cute little basket, unused! 
I've been waiting for the right time/personality to use these cards. My olders just kind of picked up grammar informally or just weren't the right personality for this kind of hands on work. My 8yods is *perfect* for this, though, and I think he's the right age. I may consider having his 6yo brother join us. My 3 youngest school-aged kids really enjoy working with the pink cards/objects, so this seems like a good next step. I'll be looking for your ideas for a presentation box.
Valerie
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 19 2009 at 8:55am | IP Logged
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lapazfarm wrote:
| Hmmm. maybe I'm getting this wrong, but I thought the order of the words in the boxes was simply the order of presentation of the part of speech, not the order they would be used in a sentence. There isn't any way you could have them in order according to usage because sentence structure varies.(And the color of the box simply indicates which new part of speech is the focus for the lesson.) |
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Yes, I believe this is correct. I'm sorry if I implied otherwise! I'm still trying to figure out some of these presentations myself! Just thinking this through right now is helping me a great deal! Containing all the cards in an accordion style coupon organizer is definitely a great idea!
lapazfarm wrote:
| I am going to put some thought into the working tray and get back with you with ideas for that soon. |
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Good! I'll be anxiously waiting to see what you figure out.
You're right - one tray that can be used for all the parts of speech would be a good thing for them to access the cards they are working on. I wonder if a wooden tray with handles with some simple square/rectangular paper boxes from Michaels set on the tray would work? My last trip I remember seeing some very inexpensive small wooden boxes that I think might hold this size card nicely - it would be worth a check. It would be easy enough to make a paper wedge with cardstock and tape so that the cards tip up nicely for easy grabbing...at least it seems like that would work. This way, you can set out however many paper boxes of parts of speech you've covered at a time on the wooden tray - you wouldn't need to have them all out at once.
Is that how you see it, Theresa?
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Jen Mackintosh
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| Posted: June 19 2009 at 8:58am | IP Logged
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Adding to say that you could place a piece of colored felt on the bottom of the tray if you wanted to indicate the part of speech lesson that way. This could easily be changed out as you move through the parts of speech.
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Jen Mackintosh
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: June 19 2009 at 9:27am | IP Logged
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Mackfam wrote:
| Adding to say that you could place a piece of colored felt on the bottom of the tray if you wanted to indicate the part of speech lesson that way. This could easily be changed out as you move through the parts of speech. |
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Brilliant!
I was thinking along the lines of little individual business card holders on a tray, but little boxes with cardstock wedges would work well, too. Probably better.
Need more coffee to get creative juices flowing. Then I need to hit Office Depot to see what I can find. Unfortunately there's no Michael's down here.
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Maryan
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| Posted: June 20 2009 at 9:16pm | IP Logged
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Interesting ideas!
I made my cards from colored cardstock and white prismacolor pencil (I used black ink on the red cards or lighter colored cards). I also used a white fine tip marker that I found at AC Moore too.
I put contact paper on one side to give permanence, but left one side bare for the feel of paper and it was cheaper.
I haven't done presentations with sentence strips yet -- I bought various trays/business organizers and balsa wood to glue on wood trays....but just never got that far.
We mostly just use the cards so far.
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CatholicMommy
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| Posted: June 22 2009 at 1:32pm | IP Logged
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Only a second and haven't read all of the above... we started the grammar boxes this morning in elementary training... Hopefully I'll have more ideas in the very near future (math is this afternoon though...).
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CatholicMommy
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| Posted: June 24 2009 at 12:57pm | IP Logged
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Just some ideas:
For the boxes: they are used for the presnetation itself not neccessarily for storage (there are filler boxes for storage which organize the different types of cards - for example one grammar box might have 7 filler boxes, but not every child needs to work with every one - just until they get the hang of it - and for variety).
I would think that for most of the grammar boxes, in a home environment, you could use a regular rectangular box of proper dimensions, and do as someone suggested above with having colored felt or colored cardstock taped to the bottom to indicate location. The sloped edges are "nice" but not necessary - put a small cardboard strip across the bottom of the large section to hold the cards in place and tilt the box up a little bit....
For writing the cards: get a white sharpie or a paint marker (ie Elmer's brand has them) - to write on the darker colored cardstock. The material will be a lot nicer than trying to use the appropriate font on white cardstock. Paper is cheaper and can be laminated cheaply with a home laminator, or I've colored the background of white cardstock too.....
If I get my camera working, I want to take pictures of all the materials here so I have a better idea of what is what (just looking at companies' websites is not helping me!). I'll post information on my blog and let everyone know....
As we're going through all the presentations, I'm already developing two documents - one for the training and one for what I'm actually going to do at home!
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: June 27 2009 at 7:17pm | IP Logged
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Got it done!
Yippee!
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Theresa
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missionfamily
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| Posted: June 27 2009 at 9:27pm | IP Logged
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It's beautiful Theresa...another thing to add to my list to get done before August!
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CatholicMommy
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| Posted: June 27 2009 at 9:47pm | IP Logged
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Wow! That is beautiful!
In case anyone is wondering about the difference in the colors in the grammar boxes and the symbols material except for the noun and verb (I've been asked 5 times in other places just in the last 24 hours!) - the different color scheme allows for the child to focus on the part of speech, rather than just matching the colors they already know. In the home, I'm with the thinking that it won't matter quite so much, because the parent is more involved with the children than in a Montessori school of 30-35 children.
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 27 2009 at 9:59pm | IP Logged
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Hey!!! That came out great, Theresa!!!!  Thanks for sharing!
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Topic: Montessori grammar materials
