Montessori Period 1: Part 2

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**BTW, continuing from yesterday; I found an alternative to the cylinder blocks!! This very smart mom discovered that she could use rollers to mimic the cylinder blocks! Yeah!

Continuing from yesterday's post...

Color Tablets: This helps the child perceive colors, including differences in hues and intensities. It also indirectly helps prepare for visual arts. These are so easy to make, I feel it is really unnecessary to buy them. I especially like this moms homemade color tablets. Simply go to a home improvement store, get some paint chips (2 of each color). I've also heard of using embroidery threat wound around a flat spool. For Box 1, start with 3 matching pairs of red, yellow, and blue. You place the tablets in a random arrangement on a mat. Select one tablet and place it near the front of the mat. Simply match. Say something like "These 2 tablets are the same color." Go through all. Then allow the child to try. Box 2/3 really shouldn't be introduced until period 2, but I feel box two is pretty easy and most will move on from it quickly. Box 2 should be eleven pairs of red, yellow, blue, green, orange, purple, pink, brown, white, grey, and black. Box 3 has 9 sets of 7 tablets each. Each set shows seven different intensities of one hue. For box 3, take one of the sets and put them in random arrangement. Select the darkest of the 7 tablets. Find the next lighter and so on. Continue until all 7 are completed. Then allow the child a chance to try. There are additional exercises using the color tablets that I'll cover in the future. (Note the pic below is not set up correctly).

Presentation tray of the Geometric Cabinet: This tool is to help develop visual/tactile perception. Also preparing for writing, function of the symbols, preparation for math, learning shape names, and etc. Drawer 1 has ellipse, oval, curvilinear triangle, quatrefoil; Drawer 2 has equilateral triangle, right angle isosceles triangle, obtuse angle isosceles triangle, acute angle isosceles triangle, right angle scalene triangle, obtuse angle scalene triangle. Drawer 3 has rhombus, parallelogram, trapezoid, trapezium. Drawer 4 has square and 5 successively narrower rectangles. Drawer 5 has pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, octagon, nonagon, decagon. Drawer 6 has circle and 5 successively smaller circles. There are 3 sets of white Geometric Cabinet cards for every shape in the cabinet. I found a good tutorial for making the cabinet at this site. Basically you need two pieces of yellow craft foam (A4 size), 1 dark blue craft foam (A4 size), 6 brass paper fasteners, PVA glue, and the template links which I'll post below. The Geometric Cabinet Inset Templates are from jmjpublishing here. Here are the other templates: solid, thick outline, and thin outline. Basically you do the following:

Print out the templates for each tray you are making. Just worry about cutting out the shape part. Arrange on a piece of yellow foam that is laying horizontally. Trace around with a pencil. With a sharp small knife cut out the shapes (Keep the cut out shapes for 3 part cards). Take blue foam (horizontal also) and put the yellow cut out section on top. Carefully trace the shapes. Cut out the shapes. Flip the cut out foam and add glue. Glue to the other piece of yellow foam. Let it dry. Now with your fasteners, push through the blue shapes. These are your knobs. This sure does beat $300 doesn't it? Basically, here is how you do the activity-

A stack of form cards are laid upside down, in random order. A card is turned over. The child traces the shape with a finger. The child then walks over to the cabinet. The correct shape is located. The shape is placed on the card. The process is repeated…

Sensitizing the Fingers: This should always be done before working with touch boards.

Basically the fingertips of the writing hand is placed in and soaked into water for a bit. They are dried off with a towel.

Touch Boards/Rough and Smooth Board:Board 1: Simply put a square of cardboard onto some foam or other smooth type material. When showing your child, stroke and say rough or smooth on the appropriate areas. Board 2: Cut strips of 5 different grades of sandpaper. Put them on another sheet of the smooth paper, equal distance apart. Trace all strips with fingers from top to bottom. Invite child to feel the board. Say rough and smooth in the appropriate areas.

Geometric Solids: There are 9 shapes: rectangular prism, triangular prism, cube, cone, pyramid, cylinder, sphere, ovoid, and ellipsoid. Some of these shapes can be found on your house to START talking about them but for the actual exercises it is probably best to go ahead and buy a set. Napkin rings can be used for the bases. The first part is just basically feeling the different solids. Next, you might work on naming the different solids. You can have children look for similar in their environment, blindfold and identify by name, use in a mystery bag, categorize (those that have a point, those that roll, and etc.), There are many more activities. Also there are cards that can go with this project. I found some foam geometric solids here for $28.00; I would love the wood, but it just isn't in my budget so this will work great for now. Also here are some natural wood ones for $21 that could be painted blue, napkin rings could be used for stands, and you could download the cards. They cards are also available there for $5.00.

Music, Letters, Animals, Insets, Balloons, and More

MEGAPHONE:

The first thing we did was to make a megaphone. This is a very simple project with a big payoff for your little ones. Simply trace a large circle on poster board. Cut the circle out and then cut it in half, making two half circles. Roll one half circle together at the straight edge to make a cone shape. Seal it with tape and then cut the small end off for the mouth. It's almost guaranteed your little one will have fun playing with it.

PLAYDOUGH B'S:

Our letter of the week was B. Was practiced making play dough B's.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom:

We printed off this Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Tree, colored it, and then made our magnetic alphabet letters climb the tree. We still have a few more activities we want to complete in this theme. This is the theme over at TinyTots, be sure to check out her blog for more activities.

Act Like Animals:

We had fun acting like different animals. Here my daughter is pretending to be a turtle and kitty cat.

Porcupine Play Dough

For this project the little one just makes a ball and then sticks objects in the round play dough. It is supposed to be tooth picks but I couldn't find any, so we used crayons instead.

Montessori Style Geometric "Metal" Insets Kinda/Sort:

Okay, before strict Montessori mommies cringe, this is not exactly, okay not even really close to the proper Montessori Metal Insets. So, I'm going to start by telling you about the correct insets and then our style we did. The correct has

Ten geometrical shapes in metal or plastic. The frames are in one color and the inset shapes are in another. The squares of colored paper are cut to fit the frames exactly. Colored pencils in a box of 48+ colors should be provided. The teacher places the frame exactly over the square of paper, showing the child that no paper can be seen around the edge of the frame. Next, the teacher draws around the shape. She then removes the shape and lets the child see the drawn shape. Next, she uses a different colored pencil and fills in the drawing with light parallel lines from side to side. takes one pencil and draws around the shape. She removes the frame and lets the child look at the drawn shape. She changes for the second pencil. She fills in a small part of the drawing with light straight parallel lines that go exactly from one side of the drawing to the other.Then, the child is allowed. Here is a pic of how the real ones look- Our version was really a very quick and non precise attempt. We've been sick this week. For the square I used a little frame that I have and popped out the glass. I think it works good. The oval is one of those magnets where the inside can be removed. We also did a triangle out of cardboard. We didn't use colored pencils because I forgot. Can anyone tell me why you must used colored pencils? For proper insets here is a good place to download the shapes and cut out of cardboard.

Bubble Wrap Dance:

Next, we laid out some bubble wrap and simply danced on it. I took this time to introduce different types of music and discover her likes/dislikes. Her favorite types of music were Jazz and Fiesta Mexico-style music. (She also had fun playing with a flashlight during this time).

Practical Life: Washing Dishes

She always enjoys washing dishes...I really hope this hobby continues, lol!

Painting the Letter B:

I gave her a wooden letter B and let her paint it. We are decorating all the letters of the alphabet to go up in her room. This one isn't being painted yellow and black, as in a bumble bee. The letter A was done in green with red apples.

Balloon Fun:

Lots and lots of fun with a balloon. (Note: Almost everyone knows to watch their children carefully but just in case I want to remind everyone that children can die if they swallow balloons).

We were sick most of the week so didn't come near to meeting our curriculum goals for the week, but at least it makes next weeks planning easier!

Back to Little Ones School. FINALLY!

Recently I read a blog where the mom explained that she just lays the school items out on the floor. This really brought me a little calmness. I just love Montessori but have difficulty in keeping everything on shelves.  Also, I try to keep her play and learning materials separate and just do not have the room for more shelves for her learning activities. Anyway, since keeping her learning items in a bin that is this spread out on the floor, it has been easier for me. Also, in the past I’ve spent so much time on lesson plans; Today, I just spread out some items and let my daughter choose what she wanted to play with and when (more like Montessori anyhow).  This was a great success! I have had her learning items on shelves that she could get any time she wanted but I think seeing them all the time made her less eager to use them. I think this is actually another plus for the bin method. They are not always accessible and therefore when offered to her, she is more likely to be interested. Interested she was! At her own desire, she had “school” for several hours today.  Here are just some of the things she did…

On the 1+1+1=1 blog I read about making a matching activity from bottle caps.  I couldn’t remember exactly how I was supposed to do the activity but this worked for us.  So many blogs I go to, the activities are perfect! I’ve never been neat at projects but I try! So mine isn’t too pretty, but my 2 year old still likes it. 

Coloring is a huge part of our days at my home.  She definitely spends more time drawing or coloring than any other activity. She adores art!

 

She placed with her foam shape set. A long time ago I shared this with you all. The concept is simple-just cut out large shapes from foam or cardstock. Then cut out small shapes that match the large shapes. Your little one then places the little shapes onto the larger ones. My daughter has always enjoyed this though she mastered it many, many months ago. Sometimes we are always trying to challenge our children but I think it is also good to keep projects that they are able to do well to boost their confidence.

She played with another old classic. It is simply a print out of a hot air balloon with shapes. There are little cut out shapes to match on the balloon. It seems she was into matching shapes today.

She enjoyed playing with her paint card activity. We do it a little different than the true Montessori style. My daughter simply puts all the different shades of the same color together.  If you think your children would like this-simply get the paint cards at Walmart or a hardware store, cut them apart, and then show them how they are different shades of the same color. 

She spent a lot of time playing with her alphabet magnets today…

In a WONDERFUL book that I’ll be writing about very soon (How to Raise An Amazing Child the Montessori Way) I got the idea to make a table setting placemat for Zhana.  I simply traced around the items and then covered it with contact paper.  She likes to help set the table already and this will help her out even more. My mom always made setting the table one of her children’s first responsibilities and I plan to as well. My daughter loves to set the table and put away dishes. 

This next part wasn’t exactly “school” but I think imagination is very, very important plus this is an opportunity to show you all her little kitchen that I just love. It is the Step 2 Custom Kitchen. I knew I wanted to get her a little kitchen for Christmas and spent a long time looking at different ones. I loved the wooden kitchens out there but didn’t have $400 in my budget for a play kitchen! This one has turned out to be just perfect. It has a fridge, oven, microwave, sink, lots of drawers, plate rack, and even a little window. Oh, and the burner makes different noises for boiling and frying. She loves it so much! This was her favorite Christmas present.

See the little table and chairs. These were handcrafted for me when I was a little girl, some 27 years ago! My mom had these through my childhood and eight grandchildren before I brought them to my little girl to play with. It means a lot to me to watch her play with something I remember playing with as a child.  My mom saved SO many of my childhood items. 

I know some of you have been missing the reviews. After taking a break after the Christmas rush, I will be having one for a really great product coming in a couple of days. 

Bye all and have a great day!

Theme of the Week: Teaching toddlers Shapes

Inspired by Teaching Tiny-Tots, this weeks theme is shapes. We had a lot of fun and did several activities with shapes. Here is what we have done today... Arts and Crafts:
*Shape Collage: - Cut out various sizes of different shapes for your child to use to create a collage. *Magazine Search: Leaf through a magazine, cutting out images that have 2-D shapes in them (ie. stove=square, fridge=rectange, roof=triangle, etc.) Divide paper into shape sections divided by lines and have the child place the picture in the appropriate area. *Shape Train: Have your children cut two circles, one triangle, one large square, and one rectangle from the paper. They can then add the circles to the bottom of the square and the rectangle standing up on top of the square and the triangle pointy end to the square.*Square Friend: Have your children cut out two- 1" white square (eyes), One-1" brown square (nose), a 2" red square (mouth), and Two - 2" blue squares (feet) Also provide them with four long yellow strips for arms and legs (have children fold back and forth to make legs zigzag). Finally, give them a 9" square body and have them put it together. They can use paint to personalize their friend.
*Build a House: Give child a large square for the house, give a triangle for a roof, 2 small squares for windows, rectangle for a do

or, small circle for a doorknob, and a circle for a sun.
*Shape collage pizza: Students will trace a circle on brown or yellow construction paper and cut it out. Students color the "sauce" with red crayon leaving the edge of the "crust" showing. Students will cut out thin white rectangles for cheese and glue and overlap them on the pizza. Pepperoni slices are red circles, mushrooms are brown semi-circles, sausages are brown ovals, olives are black circles, green peppers are triangles, pineapple are yellow squares, etc.

*Square picture frame: Make it by gluing four popsicle sticks together and painting. Have each child draw his picture in the square box.
*Make caterpillar pictures from circles.

*RECTANGLE STAINED GLASS: cut clear contact paper to fit the frame area (black construction paper cut into a rectangle frame). Take off the cover so you can stick the contact paper on one side of the frame. Now have your child stick tissue paper over the sticky part till all covered. Now you are ready to hang in the window (you can protect your tissue paper by putting another piece of contact paper over to completely seal the tissue paper!).
*Circle Prints: put paint in a dish so your child can press circle items in it to make circle prints! *Make a panda face: Make it entirely out of circles. Cut one large white circle about the size of a paper plate. Cut out black circles for 2 ears, black circles that go around eyes, and a small circle for a nose. Cut out two white circles for eyes and two tiny black circles for pupils. Add a smile and you are all done.*Shape Mobiles Need: cardboard and paper shapes, crayons, scissors, yarn, tape, hole puncher.Cut yarn into strings. Knot one end of each piece of string and tape the other to make a needle. Children can punch holes in the shapes and string them for hanging.Children may wish to use the cardboard cutouts to trace more shapes.
Games/Activities:
*Put wooden shapes in a bag and have the child try to guess the shape by feeling them.
*Go on a shape scavenger hunt
*Play I-spy shapes: draw and cut out shapes on to poster board (make them big) and color them. Apply glue around the edges of the shapes and sprinkle with glitter and let dry. Now you can play ISPY or use them for textrue shape tracing with fingers.
*Make shapes out of playdoh.

*LACING: Cut shapes out of poster and punch it with holes. Attach yarn to the shape but tying a knot and then the child can lace up.
*Shape Twister: Put shapes on construction paper and attach them to the floor so that they can not move. Pull shapes out of a bucket and have your children put their foot, their hand, etc on it.
*Musical Shapes: Tape Different shapes onto the floor. Have your children step from shape to shape as you play music plays. When the music stops have the children stop and yell out what shape they are standing on.
*Shape Cards: Draw different shapes on cardboard cards (for older children make the shapes different sizes and colors). Have your children try to match the cards by shape or color.
*Shape Throw: Divide a piece of poster board into eight sections (heart, square, circle, triangle, diamond, rectangle, oval, star). Have your children throw a beanbag at the poster board. Have them tell you what shape the beanbag landed on.
Food:
*Make a shape based lunch. For example-
Circles: M&Ms, Oreos, pancakesSquares: crackersRectangles: Graham crackers, sugar wafers, ice cream sandwichesTriangles: Doritos, taco chips
Oval: Ritz crackers
Sphere: cheese balls
Cube: caramels or cheese squares
Cylinders: marshmallows
Cones: Bugles or ice cream cones
Printables:
http://www.dltk-teach.com/shapes/poster/index.htm has really cute shape buddies to color.
http://www.dltk-teach.com/shapes/crafts-buddies.htm has really cute shape friends to make.
http://www.kidzone.ws/prek_wrksht/shapes.htm has traceable worksheets.
www.first-school.ws/theme/shapes_preschool_printables.htm has some fun printables Shape Songs:
Round is a Pancake
Round is a pancake,Round is a plum,Round is a doughnut,Round is a drum.Round is a puppy,Curled up on a rug.Round are the spots,On a wee ladybug.Look all around,On the ground, in the air,You will find round things everywhere!
Circle Song
(to the tune of: "If You're Happy and You Know It")
A circle is a shape that goes round.A circle is a shape that goes round.A circle is a shape that goes round,And round and round.A circle is a shape that goes round.
Tiptoe slowly on the circle and go round.Tiptoe slowly on the circle and go round.Tiptoe slowly on the circle,And go round and round and round.Tiptoe slowly on the circle and go round.
Make A Circle (to the tune of "Pop Goes the Weasel")
Round and round on the paper I go,What fun to go around like so,What have I made, do you know?I made a circle!
Make A Square(to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star")
From the bottom to the top,Straight across and then you stop,Straight down to the bottom again,Across and stop where you began,If the lines are the same size,Then a square is you surprise.
Make a Triangle(to the tune of "Three Blind Mice")
One, two, three; one, two, threeDo you see? Do you see?Up the hill and to the top,Down the hill--and then you stop,Straight across; tell me what have you got?A triangle--a triangle!
Make A Rectangle(to the tune of "The Eensy, Weensy Spider")
A long line at the bottom,A long line at the top,A short line to connect each side,A rectangle you've got!A short line at the bottomA short line at the topA long line to connect each sideA rectangle you've got!
Shape Song
(to the tune of: "The Farmer in the Dell")
A circle's like a ball,A circle's like a ball,Round and roundIt never stops.A circle's like a ball!
A square is like a box,A square is like a box,It has four sides,They are the same.A square is like a box!
A triangle has 3 sides,A triangle has 3 sides,Up the mountain,Down, and back.A triangle has 3 sides!
A rectangle has 4 sides,A rectangle has 4 sides,Two are long, andTwo are short.A rectangle has 4 sides!
Shapes
(to the tune of: "Frere Jacques")
This is a square. This is a square.How can you tell? How can you tell?It has four sides,All the same size.It's a square. It's a square.
This is a circle. This is circle.How can you tell? How can you tell?It goes round and round,No end can be found.It's a circle. It's a circle.
This is a triangle. This is a triangle.How can you tell? How can you tell?It only has three sides,That join to make three points.It's a triangle. It's a triangle.
This is a rectangle. This is a rectangle.How can you tell? How can you tell?It has two short sides,And it has two long sides.It's a rectangle. It's a rectangle.