Busy little hands

Today we had a very amazing morning in the Montessori classroom considering it was only the second day of school this year for most of the 21 children.  I was really surprised how settled, focused and engaged they were during our work period.  AND............I was able to take some photos to document some of what's been going on.  You will see some little hands and feet in the photos........so cute!

This is a new Practical Life work I put out after the first day of school.  On the first day I had put out water pouring.  I didn't snap a photo, but it was just two little glass pitchers on a tray with a sponge to wipe up spills.  I learned my lesson the "hard" way as I watched several children use the sponge to soak up all the water in pitcher instead of pouring the water.  This is totally my fault...........I shouldn't have put out a water activity without demonstrating it first.  So.......after Day 1, the water was removed (only until after Labor Day), and I replaced the water in the pitchers with beans.  I also put out the rice scooping activity pictured above.  It's hard to tell, but the rice is in a little silver "bathtub".  The children have really enjoyed this work (and we've been vacuuming up lots of rice :0) ).

Several children have done my Math in a Bag work.  So I'm glad I put this out right away.  For more details about this activity, see this post.

Metal inset work...........this particular little person traced several shapes and we stapled them into a booklet.

Practical Life scooping activity.............this one has been very popular.

Two little friends worked very hard for quite a while on their cutting work.  In general, everyone is loving the cutting work.  Lots of little baggies of snippings going home each day.

Today several children worked on these bead stair coloring papers.  I purchased these as a download from Montessori for Everyone.  There are several variations in the download set including both colored versions and black and white versions.

A maze made using the Red Rods.  After constructing this, the children may take off their shoes and "walk" the maze.

Here a little friend is working so hard on her pin-punching.  To complete a whole apple, punching all the way around, takes tremendous concentration for the little ones not to mention good fine motor and eye-hand coordination.  When the shapes are punched out, the children may just take them as is, glue them on a background, or punch a hole in the top and place on yarn for a necklace or hanging decoration.

Little hands doing the necklace work.  This particular little guy concentrated very hard and strung noodles and straws the entire length of his string. 

I couldn't resist taking a photo of some little feet and legs all stretched out during our "rest" time on the line.  When we return from recess, we wash hands, then lie down on the line with lights off and soft music playing.  This helps everyone relax before our group snack.  When everyone is finished washing hands and lying down (I lie down on the line with them), Miss T or Miss Ann has us take a deep breath, then she counts to 10.  We all sit up and sing our snack song.  Then we have a fun, healthy snack together!

Well, I hope you've enjoyed our little photo gallery.  This is just a little tiny glimpse of all the busy learning going on in our classroom.

Comments

[Lori]

What fantastic ideas, and I love the pictures! The kids in your class are very lucky!

[amber]

Love the pics, thanks for sharing! I 'm glad to hear your year is starting off good.

[Michelle]

The pictures give us such a nice peek into your classroom without invading the children's privacy. Kudos on all of your hard work.
I ordered from Montessori Services or Mont. n such (don't remember now) the bead bar stamps. My kids LOVE them and I'm able to make my own bead bar coloring pages.
Keep up the great work!

[Lindart]

Love the photos! I'll take some for you today, my classroom is almost finished!

[maya]

i let my daughter play with water/beans/rice regularly and she always surprises me with the many ways she finds to make a mess! :)

i'm wondering - how young do you let your students cut with scissors and use the hole puncher? 3? my daughter will be 3 in october and doesn't seem nearly ready yet. i know she would love doing the activities (she keeps saying, "when i get older, i'll get my own scissors!") but it makes me nervous.

[Anna]

Math(s) (sorry, I'm english!) in a bag! Fab.... here I go to make some for the elementary class. It'll work for anything - genius!!

[Ines]

I was wondering if you always do group snack or is that special because it's the beginning of the year?? I do group at the beginning then it's individual. Great pictures & I hope to have better pics since we bought a new camera.

[Jennie]

I just wanted to commend you on such a wonderful blog - it is so informative and inspirational, and I'm so grateful that you have "invited" us into your school. Gotta run - gotta go set up that cutting activity right now!