Monday, June 11, 2012

Montessori Monday


Here are some of the school things we did last week.  I had ordered a ton of new materials from a few online retailers and those materials arrived last week! So there was a lot of action in the school room!

Some renewed interest in the knobless cylinders

Working on the first box of the newly ordered Constructive Triangles
Other than the above D also worked on our new set of Baric and Thermic Tablets.

Dynamic Subtraction using the Stamp Game
We are continuing our work using the Stamp Game.  Currently D is working on dynamic subtraction.  We mastered Addition and Multiplication, both static and dynamic previously.  D is having a little trouble understanding the exchanging concept using the stamps, so we often use the golden beads and king of work out how to break up the higher category to exchange in getting the lower category.  We are getting there with a lot of practice.

Addition Strip Board using the home made board and store bought strips!
D was so ready for this and with our new order in, we finally started work on the addition strip board!  We've started filling in our Addition Tables.  We are using D's Math Notebook (that has squares) to record the tables.  Other than these, we are slowly working on memorizing the Skip Counting Facts.  Last week D worked on the 4's.  We have the 2's, 5's and 10's memorized already.  I also introduced Fractions using our new(!) fraction insets over the weekend.

I finally got a map stand and map cabinet!  So, we had a lot of map action last week.  I need to make labels, a lot of them, ASAP!!!

Here are a couple of shots of my 2 year old in the school room.

Color Box 1

Stringing wooden spools using pipe cleaner

We ended the week by creating some henna tattoos!  I made one Mermaid theme and another Egyptian princess theme.



Hope you all had a wonderful week too!  Hop over to Montessori Monday to check out other Montessori inspired works!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Montessori Monday - Recap of last week

We weren't really motivated to get into the schoolroom last week after the long weekend, so we began with a nature hike.  Things picked up slowly from there.  We got to discuss plants and read some botany booklets and did some of the botany puzzles.  

On subsequent days we did get into the school room and began our routine works.

In Math, we worked quite a bit on the Stamp Game.  We covered Addition and Multiplication both static and dynamic.  D loves it when she creates her own problems for these!

Stamp game
 We are very fortunate to have a friendly homeschooling neighbor!  They were cleaning out and gave us these addition and subtraction worksheets.  You can clip on a blank sheet and work on solving the problems on the front.  Once you are finished, you just flip the worksheet and check your answers.

Front, where you solve problems
Back, where you verify answers
D likes these and I like these because D is ready for the Memorization work using the Strip Board and I am still waiting for it to arrive!  I ordered it two weeks back and hopefully we should get it this week.

In Language D worked on writing a few nouns each in the Person, Place, Thing and Idea category.  She loves writing right now and I am capitalizing on that!



D worked on the reading folders one day and started to write the "ay" sound words after reading the little booklet.  She gave up after writing this page!


We are also slowly working on Compound words.  I am using these Compound Word Puzzles that I purchased from Oriental Trading.  They are not great quality, but they get the job done.



I put out 5 at a time.  Once D assembles the words she copies it down in her Language Book.


We also worked on a few pages of Copy Work.


Of course M needs to copy whatever D does!


I found M one day working on the mystery bag while I was presenting some work to D.  She basically uses this like a puzzle, but she is pretty good at it!  After she is done, she picks it up and says - "Bye! See you tomorrow!" and walks away with the bag!


We did read a ton of books and also spent a lot of time outside enjoying the good weather.  Hop on over to read other Montessori Monday posts!

Friday, June 1, 2012

We are on Facebook Now...

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Nature Hike

We are very fortunate to live in a sub that has beautiful woods!  Here are some of the clicks from our hike earlier this week!


We spotted a lot of wild mushrooms and discussed how they are plants and also why not to touch these wild things!

We saw this young deer sitting just a few feet into one of our trails

We spotted this and many other colorful butterflies!

In Science this week we were working on Botany and this tree was a great example to discuss the parts of the tree with roots that were visible!

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Our work last week


Sorry for the really late update, but here we all are still recovering from a round of sickness!  I thought I should post about our work last week as we did really have a very productive week, in spite of spending a lot of time outside.

We worked on the hundred board, stamp game and short bead chains...




In language we worked on Sorting common and proper nouns...


We also worked on quite a bit of copy work and compound words.

D picked "Alaska's Animal Babies" to read one day from our library and that led to a lot of exploration in our North America Box.


The Musk Ox Fur was extremely soft!

We looked at an adult Bald Eagle to see the differences between that and its chick.


We also learnt about Sea and River Otters and read "Otter on his own" book.
We took the day off on Friday, because I was so exhausted from being sick.  But still we worked on Counting Coins and read a ton of books!  The girls also busied themselves by cleaning our patio doors (we have 2 sets), both inside and outside in preparation for the long weekend!

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Montessori Items Sale

I just came across a 50% off liquidation sale @ http://www.calibermontessori.com.  A few items are out of stock, but I think this is a steal compared to many online stores.  I've ordered from this supplier before and the quality is not bad.  So far the only item I've had to return was the Trinomial Cube as the product arrived with chipped paint.  The other thing is that they've doubled their shipping rates now that they are offering 50% off, so be wary of that.  I just placed a bulk order of items like geography maps and the geometric cabinet!  I also did a price comparison for the items I bought with some other online retailers and in spite of paying a lot of shipping, it still worked out to be almost 40% cheaper.  Till date I've always received items exactly 7 days since I placed orders on their website.  Their customer service is not always prompt, but once you get a hold of them they work with you.  Also, with this deal there are NO Returns or Exchanges!  Good luck and happy shopping!

*** Just so you know, I am in no way affiliated with Caliber Montessori nor do I receive any reward or compensation for spreading the word about their sale! I just wanted to pass on this deal information to my readers!  ***

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

My 2 year old in the Class Room

Though all my recent posts have been about D(5), M(2)'s Montessori style learning has not been neglected! What has been is taking pictures and posting about those!  Since I have to be fully present while she is at work, it is very difficult for me to photograph while she works! Another thing is that my camera distracts her and she wants to be the one behind the lens!  So here are some rare pictures that I managed to take while she was in action.  

The bottom shelves are for M

Here she is matching the Jungle Animals to the pictures in her favorite book

Here she is spooning pom-poms

Here are the close-up pictures of her trays.

knobbed puzzle

Jungle Animals

matching farm animals

Color Box1

Clothespins

Ikea toolbox

Vegetable Cutting

Spooning Pom-Poms & One-one correspondence

Snap Button Frame

Pouring tiny wooden spools