On the Radio

I thought I share one of my best moments of 2013. I know it's a bit late for such a theme, but I needed to remind myself of all of the positive things that has happened to us over the past year. Here's the link! Now you can attach a voice to my writing. Ha!

An Update and Sewing Class

I am easing back into this space, bare with me!

We are getting a remodel done on our house, it starts on Thursday! I am soooo excited!! We won't be doing the remodeling so I am sure it will turn out fine :) I am hoping that we will be back home for the Big Girl's 16th Birthday Celebration, February 7th. Michelle wants to invite two of her friends for a sleep over and having a new room makeover is just timely. We Miss Home!!!! My parents are just amazingly supportive, in fact I may not remember how to cook. LOL.

Also we have been busy relocating to a new space for the Studio. I am still decorating, rearranging and I will be sure to share pictures as soon as I get it done. We are still doing business as usual while we pull it all together. I thought I share some pics of Sewing Class today.

We had a Vet Clinic brought in by DJ to fix his stuff animals. He loves purposeful work!!

                                                                             

The Kindergartner started sewing his Valentines today.

                                                                     

                                                                               

And the girls made some hats and scarves.

                                                                                 

Thank you for reading!

Make Your Own Small Bead Frame or Abacus

During our Creative Math class today we made an Abacus, but not until I told the Story of Numbers. It was amazing! The kids just started building numbers. One way that they were able to remember what each number represented  was by choosing the color of their choice. It worked! I love it when I am able to understand a Montessori Material  so well that I can offer a twist to it for children who may be new to Montessori Education. I highly recommend this Math Project as a work choice at home or at school.

                                                                         

To make the Abacus you will need

• An assortment of colored beads. Each Abacus will need 4 different colors(40 beads)
• Coffee Stirrers
• Pipe cleaners
• Sharpies to label the numbers 1,10,100, 1000
• Plastic Corrugated Sheet. I brought our as a Blank Yard Sale Sign at Home Depot.

I found the inspiration for this project at Classroom DIY, you can also find instructions there that will be able to guide you to make the same model as the Montessori Small Bead Frame, or you can follow the instructions for a traditional Abacus.

                                                                        

                                                                         

                                                                            

For those of you that may not know what the Montessori Small Bead Frame looks like I included the photo above.

The Story of Numbers was awesome and for a minute I thought maybe I had something on my face, because the children's attention was so focused and they were watching every word coming out of my mouth.

Here's to a many of great math lessons! I think they caught the Math Bug!!

                                                                         

I am linking this post to Montessori Monday.