My Montessori Journey

Shape Pattern Work

The work I'm posting about is no longer on our shelves, but I realized I hadn't written about it yet.  This year is the first time I've put it out, so you won't find it in the archives either.  Below you can see how I had it set up on my stationary shelf. 

From left:  a basket of various colors of construction paper, a basket with strips of plain white cardstock, a basket with a gluestick, a basket with the pattern cards, a tray with three shape punches, and in the center of the green placemat, a Punch-Aid.

 

To do this work, the child selects a pattern card.  (I made these by punching the shapes from black construction paper, gluing them into various patterns, and laminating the cards.)  Then they choose a color (or two colors) of construction paper and use the Punch-Aid and punches to punch out the shapes they need.  For the card shown below, they would punch 4 squares and 2 circles.  Next, they get a strip of white cardstock and glue the shapes to it, following the pattern on the card.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a "finished" photo, but I am pretty sure you get the idea!!  This was a very popular activity during the two weeks I had it out.  If you have seasonal punches, this would be fun to put out with various seasonal variations.

 

Shamrock Counting (a bit late!!)

Wow! I am sincerely sorry that I haven't posted in so long.  Parent-teacher conferences and two fundraising events are now behind me.  (Not to mention plenty of events involving my family.) I vow to get back to doing regular posts.  To be honest, sometimes I am just too tired at night to feel motivated to write blog posts.  Or I'm folding laundry, straightening up the house, surfing the internet and reading OTHER people's blogs (!), reading, etc.  You know, just living life and relaxing.  BUT.......I do enjoy blogging, so here I am, back at it again!

I know I'm posting this activity late since we did it for St. Patrick's Day.  However, the idea of this work could be easily adapted to any season or holiday, or just used any old time to reinforce number concepts.  That's why I decided to go ahead and post it even though it's late.

Below you can see how I had this work set up on the shelf.  I kept it out on the math shelf for a few weeks.  The left basket held "grid" papers and my punching tool.  The right basket held pieces of green construction paper along with a little basket with a glue stick and a teeny shamrock punch.  There was also a little gluing mat (just a vinyl placemat cut into a small piece) tucked in there.

 

The photo below shows a close-up of the grid papers.  I don't have a source for this.  I found the grid in a file cabinet in my office.  It actually went to 10, but I adapted it to just go to 5.

 

This whole activity was inspired by my discovery of the small shamrock punch when I was looking in a cupboard in my storage area. So fun to find new materials to inspire new activities!

 

To do this activity the child punched out shamrocks and glued them in place according to the number at the beginning of each row. 

 

This photo shows a completed grid.  Even my youngest students were able to independently complete this activity using the Punch Aid.  (NOTE:  A parent bought my punch-aid at a garage sale.  THIS LINK has something very similar.  I don't think the one I have is manufactured anymore.)  This would be easy to adapt using any seasonal punches you have on hand.  I am thinking of making something similar for Easter using a little chick or duck punch.  Flowers for spring would be fun too!

 

Hanging Bead Stair Variation

A popular math material in my classroom is this Hanging Bead Stair from Alison's Montessori.  My assistant, Miss Michelle, came up with a fun variation of this activity that I wanted to share today.  Once a child has mastered the basic activity (hanging the bead stair in ascending order and correctly sequencing the number tiles), she hangs the beads in random order on the hooks and has the child match the number tiles as shown.  They LOVE this variation and I am so glad she came up with it because I don't know if I would have thought to do it!!  Great job, Miss Michelle!!

 

 

Turkey Math Game

I put this little turkey math game out every November and it is always a popular game to play with a friend.  So simple to make too.  I just used turkey stickers and stuck them onto a square of brown paper in a grid pattern.  I added little red triangles to the corners to fancy it up and laminated the two game boards.  To make a die, I used a wooden block and wrote the numbers 1, 2, or 3 on the faces.  With only 9 turkeys I didn't want to go above 3 or the game would end very quickly!  To play each child takes a game board.  They take turns rolling the die and "feeding" the corresponding number of turkeys a kernel of corn.  The first player to cover their turkeys on an exact roll is the "winner".  This would be a quick and easy game to make and take to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving.  Your little one would have a blast playing it with some of the adult relatives they don't get to see very often.

 

 

Sort and Count with Nuts

This sorting activity with nuts has been popular in my classroom.  I have it on my Practical Life shelves, but it also incorporates math concepts.  It is a perfect fall activity and also incorporates natural materials and ties in with our recent study of trees.

I placed several nuts into a small basket and added it to a tray which also holds a pair of tongs, a small basket of number cards and a divided wooden bowl.

 

To do this work the child first uses the tongs to sort the nuts into the various compartments of the wooden bowl.  Then they count how many of each kind of nut and place the corresponding numeral with the matching set of nuts.  The final step is to have a teacher check their work before they put it away.

 

Sequencing Numbers to One Hundred

I have noticed that my older students really love to be able to make something to take home with them.  I think they like the tangible evidence of their learning.  And it certainly helps their parents see what work they are doing in the classroom.  So I am always trying to create activities that are purposeful, require skill practice, and also result in a take-home project. 

My newest such activity on the math shelf is this number sequencing work.  I had some grid papers in my file cabinet (they appear to be hand-drawn, so I can't give you a link.........CLICK HERE to print something very similar to what I used) and decided to use them to make this work.  Taking one grid per "decade" I wrote the numbers for that decade in random order, making numerous number "strips" on a sheet.  (My grid paper was 10 across and 8 down.  It wouldn't matter how many rows up and down you have as long as you have 10 across.)  Then I copied each decade sheet on a different color of copy paper. 

To put the work on the shelf, I cut apart the strips and placed them into a basket along with some wider pieces of blue construction paper, and a basket with scissors, glue stick and gluing mat.  You can see the basket below.

 

This photo shows the grid papers for 1-10 (red) and 11-20 (orange).  Obviously they have not been cut apart yet, but this way you can see what I was trying to describe above.

 

To do this work, the child takes a blank blue strip of construction paper and a decade strip.  They cut apart the numbers and sequence them in order, gluing them down from left to right.  When they finish one decade, another blue strip is stapled on and they cut apart the next series of numbers and so on until they reach one hundred.  This work can take several days to complete, which makes it all the more exciting when they are finally able to bring it home.  I roll these up and paper clip them to store them until the children bring them home. 

 

I developed a parent note to send home with this work when it's completed.  The note gives parents some ideas about activities to do with their child to extend their math concepts using the number strip.  You are welcome to download this idea sheet using the link below.

Download Ideas for Using Your number strip

Apple Number Sequencing

This little math activity has been out since the beginning of the school year and I just realized I hadn't posted about it.  I did something similar last year with leaves.  In the basket shown below are 3 inch by 18 inch strips of blue construction paper, little baggies of numbered apples, a small gluing mat and some glue sticks. 

To do this work the child takes a baggie of apples, a blue strip, the gluing mat and a glue stick.  They lay out the apples in numerical order and have a teacher or older student check their work.  Once it is checked they can glue the apples onto the paper. 

Below is a finished strip.  NOTE:  I would have done 1-10 but the apple punch I had was so big that only 8 would fit on the paper..........and I didn't want to tape more paper to the end. 

 

Eggs and baskets

I put together a cute and fun little counting activity recently.  It is perfect to go with our birds theme as well as to tie-in with Easter.  I printed off a set of chicken counting cards from Kidssoup.  I found a set of colorful teeny tiny woven baskets at Hobby Lobby and found some little glittered eggs there as well.  I set it all up on the tray as shown here.

To do this work, the child lays out the chicken cards in numerical order along the top of a rug.  Then s/he gives each chicken a basket.  Finally, s/he counts the corrent number of eggs into the baskets.  The tiny baskets have been a major point of interest for the children.  I put out many variations of counting activities and this one has definitely been one of the most popular.

 

Although this photo came out dark it shows how one of my students has set up the work.

 

Pot of Gold Game

A little game that has been getting a lot of play time in my classroom is the "Pot of Gold" game.  I posted about it last year and you can CLICK HERE to read that post.  This is a really fun game for two friends to play.  It promotes turn-taking and counting concepts.  It would be very easy to make for your little ones in the classroom or at home.........just in time for St. Patrick's Day next week.

Mitten Counting

This is a new counting activity that I put together.  I have done similar ones, but this particular format is completely new for my classroom.  Below you can see that I set up a tray with a white sorting tray with 4 compartments (you could just use small bowls or cups), a bowl of foam mittens, and a basket with place card holders, each holding a number card.  I bought the place card holders at either a thrift store or garage sale, I can't remember which.  

To do this work the child places the cards into the 4 compartments as shown, leaving the number cards attached.

Then they count mittens into each compartment to correspond to the number on the card.  The built-in control of error is that there are exactly enough mittens to correctly complete the work.  I am planning to add a pair of tweezers to use for transferring the mittens.  Below you can see the "3" compartment with 3 little mittens inside.