Our Week

We spent a lot of time doing work outside on our deck this past week to take advantage of the sunshine. Here are photos of some of the work happening inside and outside the classroom lately.

Variation of the numerals and counters materials for 1:1 correspondence 

Practicing coordination and grace and courtesy for Mother's Day Tea

Transferring tiny eggs from a nest using tweezers

making a hanging bead stair 

addition with the decimal (base 10) system materials, also known as the golden beads

working with the positive snake game

Researching the definitions of the parts of a caterpillar

addition with the number rods

making a diagram for the parts of an insect

push pinning a triangle traced from the triangle metal inset, a writing preparation material

examining a blue jay feather in the nature basket

decorating invitation for Mother's Day Tea

Spring Practical Life

The daffodils bloomed in Maine this week and provided inspiration for the practical life area. 

pouring from one cup to another

transferring eggs from a nest using tweezers

scooping eggs into a basket

transferring water droplets with a pipet

pouring pom pom balls from one cup to two cups

stacking nesting boxes

pinning flowers to a line

hanging up seed packet print fabric using cloths pins 

Eggcellent

 Today we made egg salad for snack. I love food preparation work because there are so many skills practiced together. Like the other practical life works, food preparation work aims to build independence, coordination, concentration, and order. The work is set up with the materials carefully prepared for a child to independently follow a sequence of steps that require coordination of movement and concentration on the task. Food preparation work also extends into the language and mathematics curriculums. 

Each day the quantity and names of ingredients for snack are written on the snack board. A visual cue is also drawn, so if a child can't read the word he/she can "read" the numeral and the visual cue instead. I also often include recipe cards. I use the "Cookin' Cards"  by Montessori Services. Each card has one step to the recipe, both written and simply illustrated. I also make my own recipe cards based on the style of the "Cookin' Cards".

Two trays were set up on the snack shelf and the materials for each step were arranged on the trays from left to right. The first tray (pictured below) contained a cutting board, an egg cup, and a bowl for the shell. The second tray (pictured above) contained a container of lite mayonnaise, a scoop for measuring the mayonnaise, and a bowl for mixing.

First a child got an egg from the carton. Then he cracked the shell and peeled off the shell.  

Next the child chopped the egg (not pictured). This friend decided to do further chopping with the spoon after deciding that the pieces were too big once he put them in the mixing bowl. 

Then the child mixes in a scoop of mayonnaise.

Finally, the egg salad is ready to enjoy! Each child then put the egg salad on his/her plate and used crackers to scoop up the egg salad or made little egg salad sandwiches. 

Making orange juice

This week as most of us recover from colds, fresh squeezed orange juice packed with Vitamin C was on the menu for snack. 

Before making orange juice the children have been working in the Practical Life area building concentration, coordination, independence, and order. They have been introduced to work in the Practical Life area that has prepared them for making orange juice including twisting jars, squeezing a baster to transfer water, and squeezing and rolling play do. Food preparation exercises introduce the value of good nutrition, help the child gain control of his/her environment, teach life skills, and with all other areas of the curriculum; "help me to do it for myself." 

Connecting science and cultural units to the practical life area

"I climbed up the apple tree
 All the apples fell on me
 Apple pudding
 Apple pie
 That was very good
 Oh my!"

The last few weeks we have been studying apples. We sang apples songs, talked about the parts of apples, and learned about Johnny Appleseed. Most of our cultural and science units are carried throughout all curriculum areas. While we were studying apples, the practical life area of the classroom had beautiful apple bowls, apples for scooping, and apples for stirring. Here's a glimpse of the the practical life shelves.

There are three practical life shelves. The shelf pictured  to the left is for pouring, scooping, and squeezing activities. The next shelf pictured below is for twisting activities, sewing and threading, and care of self. The third shelf is for care of the environment; sweeping, plant watering, window washing, etc. (sorry no photo).

The practical life materials aid in the development of coordination, concentration, independence, and order. As with all areas of the curriculum, the materials are carefully prepared to isolate a particular skill, be attractive, complete, and allow a child to work independently.

The materials are arranged on the shelves from left to right and top to bottom by order of the sequence of skills.
                                                                                 A favorite work was using an apple hole punch
to make a "bushel" of tiny construction paper apples to take home. We do love to collect
things! And though we don't realize it we are
also strengthening our hands and developing our fine motor skills in the process.

pom pom squeezing

Another favorite work was using putting pom pom "apples" into individual apple shapes in an apple ice cube tray. This work helps to practice using a pincer grip for writing, while building concentration and a sense of order. One of the tenants of the Montessori philosophy is repetition. Repetition is very important in developing fine motor coordination.

Using the apple cutter with play-do helped us to get ready for food
                                                         preparation with apples. We have already practiced rolling a ball   during prior play-do lessons. After rolling a ball of play-do, a child carefully centers the apple cutter over the play-do and presses down to create perfect "apple" slices.

apple cutter with play-do 

apples with cinnamon recipe

Sitting with a friend; enjoying conversation and the apples with cinnamon that they prepared