My Montessori Journey

What we've been up to

It's been a few weeks since I've published a photo gallery due to our computer being down and life's general busyness.  So...........here's a collection of photos from the past few weeks so you can see what we've been doing.

 

Bead bouquet

 

Water transfer

 

Magic Shapes structure

 

Completed valentine maze

 

Open and close activity with silk boxes........I can't find a source for these...sorry!

 

Marble transfer with tongs.  Several of you have asked about the rubber mat.  Here are some similar ones from Montessori-N-Such.

 

Bead tweezing

 

Water transfer with eye dropper

 

Sorry for blurry photo!  This child has moved onto the phonogram work.  He is doing the word drawer for /ee/ in the above photo.

 

This shows his phonogram booklet open to the /ee/ page. 

 

Two students working on the United States puzzle map using the control chart.

 

Pink tower and brown stair

 

Hanging bead frame

A few new PL activities

A few new Practical Life activities are on the shelf this week.  Below is a tonging activity with green marbles.  We've had something like this out before.  To make it more challenging this time, I put the marbles into a deeper jar (usually I just put them into a shallow bowl).  This requires more dexterity with the tongs and deeper concentration.  This has been a popular activity with both my first and second year students this week.

 

 

The next activity is a total "Miss Laura" experiment, much like the recent rainbow making activity.  Luckily, it's been a success.  I've had variations of flower arranging out most of the year.  For March I decided to fill a little glass jar with glass marbles and add a small tray (actually intended to hold sweet corn) with feathers.  The children simply insert the feathers into the marbles and place the "vase" somewhere in our classroom to decorate.  They are LOVING this.  I'm surprised, actually, because I feared it would gather dust on the shelf. 

 

New and Improved Rainbow-Making work

In my last post I wrote about my Make-a-Rainbow activity.  Almost immediately after I put it out I thought of another thing to add to it to make it more interesting as well as a better fine-motor activity for the children.  Today between my morning and afternoon session I made the changes I wanted to. 

First, I cut the pipe cleaners I had been using into shorter pieces.  I also cut the florist foam piece in half again.  I had noticed after observing students working with this activity that the full-length pipe-cleaners easily became bent thus creating a lop-sided and bumpy rainbow.  In addition to those changes, I added a bowl with pony beads:  10 beads of each of the 6 colors.  Now the children will poke one end of the pipe cleaner into the foam, thread the 10 corresponding colored beads onto it, and then bend it into an arch and poke the other end into the foam, creating one color band of the rainbow.  The rainbow pictured below was completed by one of my afternoon students just this afternoon.  I forgot to take a photo of how the activity is set up on the tray so I'll try to explain.  The small white bowl holds the colored beads and the clear plastic box holds the pipe cleaners once they are removed from the foam.

 

 

I like this variation much better.  It requires more concentration and focus and helps the children refine their fine motor control and increase their attention.

Let's Make a Rainbow

This weekend I pulled together several new activities for my Practical Life area that I'll be posting about over the next few days.  I decided to go ahead and put out several March/St. Patrick's Day activities now since I'll change to Easter-themed things right after St. Patrick's Day.  The activity I'm posting about is my own original idea, I think.  I've never seen it anywhere else. 

 

Here is the activity set up on a tray.  I cut a long rectangle of florist foam in half and used one piece for this work.  The basket holds 6 pipe cleaners in the following colors:  red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.

 

To make a rainbow, the child inserts one end of the pipecleaner into one side of the foam block, then bends it to insert the other end into the opposite side, repeating the process until all the pipecleaners are in the foam.

I wasn't sure how well-received this activity would be since it is one of my "experiments"; however, today the children in my morning class flocked to it. 

Art in the Montessori classroom: Process vs. Project

I had an email from a reader asking me my philosophy about including art "projects" in my Montessori classroom.  I felt it was a good question, so I decided to respond in a post so everyone who reads this blog could read my thoughts on this.  I understand that not everyone will agree with me, and that's okay.  Since I received the question I've been formulating my thoughts.  Hopefully, I can communicate them clearly here.

First of all, Montessori training programs and most developmentally appropriate early childhood training classes emphasize the PROCESS of creating art versus the PRODUCT.  This means that children should be encouraged to explore and experiment with a variety of art mediums without being made to feel that they should complete a specific project that looks a certain way.  That is why most Montessori classrooms have an art shelf which has materials available on a daily basis that allow children to practice cutting, crayoning, gluing, threading, etc.  In my classroom, the materials on this shelf are used EVERY DAY.  One important difference in how the art shelf is presented in a Montessori classroom as opposed to a traditional preschool classroom is that all children have access to it at all times and they may freely choose which skills to practice at any given time.  In a more traditional setting, art materials may be out only at certain times and/or their use may be more directed by the adults than by the children themselves.  I will go on the record now to confirm my complete support of emphasizing the art process over the finished product.  I whole-heartedly agree with that philosophy.

With that said, I DO also believe in providing my students opportunities to complete art projects or crafts.  And I don't feel that this conflicts with the philosophy in the previous paragraph.  Here's why.  First, when art projects are presented, they are presented as an option.  There is no pressure or even direct encouragement from adults in the classroom for children to complete the art projects.  You will never see a bulletin board in my school with 20 identical art projects hanging on it.  We do have an art wire where children's work is displayed at their request.  If a child brings me a piece that they've created, I usually ask them if they would like me to keep it myself or hang it on the art wire.  Usually, they just want me to keep it.  Second, the projects are set up to be completed independently by individual children which is in keeping with the Montessori philosophy.  In a traditional setting, all children (or small groups of children) might be directed to sit down at the same time to complete a project under the supervision of an adult.  In my classroom, all students are given a presentation on the project as a group.  Then, during the work period, they may freely choose to complete the project, or not!  Third, I believe that art projects are in keeping with the Montessori philosophy of having children do things that they will do in REAL LIFE.  In real life people do make things to decorate their environment as well as complete pieces of art just for the sake of creating something.  Fourth, I very carefully choose the projects that I put out and try to avoid putting things out that result in "cookie cutter" art.  Most of my projects require children to combine several skills within a project and to follow a series of steps.  And almost without exception, the finished projects are rarely identical either to another child's piece or to my model piece.  They always put their own creative stamp on their work. 

One more reason I have for putting out art projects is the sense of accomplishment that children feel when they have completed something.  Many or most young children rarely have opportunities outside of school to make something completely by themselves using a variety of materials and multiple steps.  In the home setting, they may have access to art materials and be able to make their own creations.  That is WONDERFUL!!!  However, it is still very empowering for a little one to be able to independently go to a shelf, carry all the needed supplies to a table on their own, sit down and follow multiple steps using several fine motor skills and have something beautiful that they have created when they are finished.

So there you have it.  I welcome any and all comments to this post.  I think it is fascinating and insightful to hear what other moms and teachers are thinking and doing out there. 

What's coming up next month?

I had a reader recently leave me a comment telling me how much she is enjoying the blog.  (I get many of those comments and appreciate each one so much, by the way!)  She did point out, however, that since I post as I put new things out, she is usually getting the seasonal ideas too late to get them prepared and ready.  I totally understand!  I wrote back and told her that I would try to put together a post with a few seasonal things I'm working on for March.  I will include some links here to help you, and don't be surprised if some of my March posts are about the actual activities once they are ready and on the shelf.  So.........no photos in this post, just a list of what things are "in progress".

I have this St. Patrick's Day maze printed off.  I still need to mat it on green construction paper and laminate it before it goes on the shelf.

I also have this maze printed and ready to mat and laminate.

I am planning to make up some blank shamrock counting books and I'll set it up with letter stamps for stamping the number word and a shamrock stamp for stamping the quantity.

I have printed off this pattern worksheet which I will cut apart, mat on construction paper, and laminate to turn it into an activity that can be used by many children.

I have printed off this rainbow page which I will probably copy on cardstock and have the children paint using the Do-A-Dot markers. 

I am going to do some variation of the shamrock stamping game from PreKinders. Scroll down in the link and you'll find what I'm talking about.  I haven't decided how I am going to do this yet, but I like the idea.  She has lots of free printables on her site, by the way.

I also printed two rainbow activities from Kidssoup.  They are membership only activities, so I can't link to them.  One is a color-by-letter rainbow.  The other is a rainbow that I will print and laminate so the children can form it using translucent color chips.

There will be more seasonal things, of course, but hopefully that will give you some ideas in case you want to get started making some activities for March right now! 

Heart Art

I had this activity prepared prior to Valentine's Day; however, I decided to wait and put it out after Valentine's.  We have 3 days off this week due to President's Day on Monday.  We have Tuesday and Wednesday off because we follow the local school district's schedule and they have two in-service days.  So, I thought it would be fun for the children to have a new "heart art" project out when they returned from a break.

 

Here is how I have the work set up on my stationary shelf.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE that shelf.  Thanks so much to my friend, Tammie, for gifting it to me last summer.  We have used it ALL YEAR!  Below I will show the different components of this project.

 

Here you can see the basket with white hearts (copied onto white cardstock and roughly cut out), a jar with a pencil for writing the student's name on the back, a holder with scissors, and another basket for the scraps once the child cuts out the heart.  So......the steps for this project are:  get a heart, write your name on the back with the pencil, cut the heart out, and place the paper scraps into the basket.

 

Here you can see a placemat, a basket of dot markers, and a basket with a hole puncher and lengths of red yarn.  The next steps in the project are...........place the cut heart onto the mat, use dot markers to paint the entire heart, punch a hole in the heart, string a piece of yarn through the hole and tie it (or have a teacher tie it) and hang it on our hanging rack to dry.

 

Here is the "clean-up" tray.  It has a dampened sponge and a basket with a dry washcloth.  After the child has hung up their completed heart to dry, they return and wipe any paint residue off the mat with the damp sponge and then wipe the mat dry with the cloth.  I added the clean-up step after observing my sons trying out the work.  The paint markers leave smudges behind that I didn't want to get onto the next child's project.

 

Here are the hearts my two guys did as samples. 

Valentine Water Transfer

Here is another activity that I had set up in my Practical Life area earlier this month.  I had bought the glass hearts at a garage sale last summer for about 50 cents.  They fit together like a box, but when I bought them, I knew I would pull them out to set up a transfer activity in February.  That's why it's so good to always keep your eyes open for things like this, even out of season.  You never know what treasures you'll find!!  I decided to set this up on a stationary table instead of on a tray.  The hearts are pretty heavy, and I was concerned about breakage during the transfer.  I have had several things broken this year when they are accidentally dropped on the floor, and that's part of life in a Montessori environment.  However, since I felt the break potential was high for this in particular, I set it up so it wouldn't need to be carried.  As you can see from the photo, I filled one heart with red colored water.  I added a placemat, eye dropper, and sponge for wiping up spills.  The children enjoyed using the dropper to transfer the water from one heart to the other.

 

 

Marble Painted Valentine Sacks

I thought I would go ahead and post a photo of what we did for our Valentine sacks in my classroom last week.  I had a bunch of white paper bags and decided to let the children marble paint one side of them with valentine colors.  They turned out very pretty.  I didn't take a photo of how I set it up for them to do, however, just a photo of the finished bags hanging on our drying rack.  However, we used a process very similar to what we did for our spider web paintings back in October.  This time, I just used three colors and three marbles instead of only one.  The children used these bags to take home the valentines given to them by their classmates. 

 

Valentine's Math Activities

I know Valentine's Day has passed, but I was unable to post these last week so I'm sharing them now.  These activities will remain on my shelves the rest of this month, so it may not be too late after all to share them with you.  Below you can see my Valentine's variation of the counting game we've had out all year.  It simply consists of two playing boards, each with 16 heart stickers, a die marked with 1, 2, or 3, and a little pail of heart erasers.

 

To play the game, two children take turns rolling the die and placing the corresponding number of erasers on their board.  They see who can fill the board first.  This is a nice game for two children who want to work together.  And it's so easy to make up gameboards for every season and holiday.

 

Below you can see a close-up gameboard with 3 heart erasers on it.

 

Since my penguin maze activity has been so popular, I found another one to put out on the math shelves for February.  I printed this one from Print Activities and matted it on pink construction paper and laminated it.  This one is only for my students with higher number concepts as it requires starting with one and following the numbers in order through 100.  My students have really been drawn to it, however, so I am thinking about making some similar mazes that are easier for my younger students. Below you can see the work on the tray.  In addition to the laminated maze, I placed a little metal bucket with a dry-erase marker and piece of felt for erasing with the work.

 

This photo shows a close-up of how you get started on the maze.

 

And below is a maze completed by one of my second-year students.