A Different Kind Of Day: Montessori Monday

Everything about today felt a bit weird. I have a wireless printer so I decided to print off some materials while I was cruising on the internet last night. The printables were some math work I wanted the kids to do with pattern blocks. When I began my day I discovered I have a printer issue. Really nothing new, but for the life of me I couldn't get the printer issue to leave my mind. The day was mostly prepared anyway, anything I wanted laminated was done and shelved. But honestly I can't explain it, just a different day.

DJ spent all of the morning digging for rocks in the backyard. This was something that I just accepted, but again I had a vision of other plans. Can I say it was a different day? Have you ever had one of those days,when everything is really going o.k. but you have a feeling you can't describe? He worked in his Doodling Dinosaur journal and that inspired him to get a very old T-Shirt and decorate it with all things dinosaurs. DJ also worked with a set of prehistoric animal cards from Montessori for Everyone.

They did enjoy our new Godly Play work The Good Shepherd. I really enjoyed storytelling this story. Both of them enjoy the props and are waiting already for the next one. This time I don't think I'll wait so long in between the stories.

Ken is becoming a researcher with passion about her subject. In the pictures above she has narrowed down some of new research that has come from learning about Africa by using a timeline. Today it was about the ship Amistad that carried African Slaves to Cuba and then their was a revolt and later many, many legal cases regarding the fate of the slaves who did survive this journey. She traced the passage that the ship took. We read the Case of Amistad and I left out the finding that the Supreme Court ruled so off she went to find the results on her own. What a happy camper she was when she found out that through fundraising the men were able to return to their homeland.

I downloaded The Story Of Geometry from Montessori for Everyone. They loved, loved the story and especially the rope becoming a triangle, and then a rectangle. DJ reread the story again by himself, and completed the activity again, and again!

Their highlight was building a pyramid with project blocks using a glue gun. They are not near finished yet, I hope that this work will also create some good discussions involving geometry.

To see other children doing activities inspired by the Montessori Method please visit http://www.livingmontessorinow.com for Montessori Monday.

Our Africa Continent Box

With Kens' strong interest in Africa right now I figured it was time to put together the Africa Continent Box. All of the printables are from http://www.montessoriforeveryone.com/. I only included the Africa Flags from A-E. Plant three part cards, and Animal three part cards for now. I also have Montessori Print Shops' Africa geography folder and three part cards, I will be using them to add or change cards out to keep the learning going, and the vocabulary growing.

It was Kens' idea to use a suitcase style for the box. She is pleased with how it turned out, and asked if she could sleep with it:) It was a fun experience to put this together and now I am excited to put together the rest of the continent boxes.

The books are full of beautifully illustrated pictures, and packed with information. Again these won't remain permanently in the box, I love rotating materials.

Maps of Africa and Egypt.

I love that the photos come with nice detailed sentences. It is sure to ignite some more research.

Africa plants three part cards all of the cards that came in the kit are included in the pouch.

Africa animals three part cards I included all of the animals that came with the kit.

Africa flags three part cards.

Black eyed peas that are used to make soup. Sand to represent the Sahara Desert.

African mask, and an art piece representing a woman in Africa.

A tomb. I forgot to take a picture of the mummy that is inside.

A pyramid. It has writing in hieroglyphics on the outside, so I added the key so Ken can decode the message.

A bag of African animals from the Safari Toob.

A reususable sticker activity to reinforce animal habitats.

A bag of Egyptian objects from the Safari Toob. I love the toobs that include information about the objects, helps the researcher get a jumpstart, and a mom like me that may not know the names of all the objects:)

Well that is what is inside the Africa Continent box. I am looking forward to a great week watching Ken soak up all this information on Africa and see what she may even add to the box. To see other children doing activities inspired by the Montessori Method please visit http://www.livingmontessorinow.com/ for Montessori Monday. I am also joining in at the History and Geography Meme hosted by All Things Beautiful here is the link http://homeschooljournal-bergblog.blogspot.com/

I Wonder.......

Introducing Godly Play to my children has had a tremendous effect on what they are choosing to do for work. It is a common thing for them to say " I wonder.." before choosing a work off the shelf. The Creation Story was a good story to introduce them to at first. Now they are researching to see what great wonders God has created.


Ken has literally been diggin in to know more about Africa and the Ancient Civilization of Egypt.

Here are some objects of places and things that she gathered from our already owned materials to find more information about.

The Africa book is filled with tons of activities that she is able to do on her own. King Tut is a book that she hasn't been able to put down.

This is a book that I found ages ago for two bucks at the teacher store. It has really thought out questions that will help her on her research journey and stay focused at the same time.

A page from the book.

Along with the other materials she will be using Evan Moor Egypt History Pocket. The first pocket introduces Egypt with activities involving making a time line, learning about the Nile River, and geography.

I printed this work from http://www.montessoriforeveryone.com/, it comes with a timeline activity as well. A map of Egypt and three part cards with explanations of the photos.

This is a photo of couple of the cards. Ken was surprised to see a cat in this collection. Which led to more questions she will be finding out.

DJ has been learning about Dinosaurs for longer than I can remember. This is a great opportunity for him to be able to learn as much about them without any interruptions. The afterschooling thing was not consistent and it depended on a lot of factors that day. Summer is the time that he always enjoys being outside. He is so happy to be able to spend all of his time learning about something he is very interested in.

A paper model from an activity in the above book.

He has been spending some time on the computer recording facts about different dinosaurs.

Learning the parts of the Tyrannosaurus Rex, while building this puzzle model.

DJ has tons of Dinosaur related books. At any given time he opens one and begins copywork from a page or two.

He spent some of his Christmas money on this science kit and book Friday.

With this activity he learned how fossils are formed by reading some of the companion book, sequencing the events, and matching the sentence to the picture.

Also he learned that a mold fossil isnt really a fossil.

Now he knows what a cast fossil is!

He is real excited about learning about trace fossils. I set this up with some objects so that he can make as many as he would like. I used the seed starter thingie so they can dry, and maybe he won't make them too big so he won't run out of the clay too fast.

To see other children doing activities inspired by the Montessori Method please visit http://www.livingmontessorinow.com/ for Montessori Monday.

What We Have Been Up To: Montessori Monday

On Friday we had planned to go to the Planterium, but unfortunately it was cancelled due to the weather, we didn't find out until we went there:(  We got snow!! We live in Michigan and in my opinion it wasn't that much snow, but we were piggy backing on a another schools' trip so that is what happens sometimes. Ken and DJ still did some work on Friday morning and also over the weekend.

They were happy to start their new Life Of Fred math books, they really like these books and it keeps them interested in many topics.

 DJ is determined to put this hand together. He starts all over everytime, because when he is done working he takes it apart to put it away on the shelf correctly:)

     Working with the World Flag Map Puzzle.

 DJ is all about multiplication again and begin making his own chart complete with a fact and the answer!!

  I put together some work, just because I wanted to they are still working on things that are already avaliable to them.
               Putting words in abc order then recording the work(DJ)

 Ken is all about finding out the truth behind the facts, and becoming very interested in writing articles, especially regarding advertisements. I thought this would be up her alley,it is learning about the different sections in the newspaper. I found this on teachers pay teachers.

 A couple of photos of the work. It is 33 pages of stuff I know she will enjoy writing about.

 It also came with a Bingo game that she will help her learn some terminolgy.

 This week we also will be reading Dr. Matin Luther King Jr's " I Have A Dream Speech in its' entirety, and to go along with it they will write their own speech. Sorry I can not link back to the person who created this template, because I can't find the blog any more:(

I put this activity together to go along with Kens' reading book Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech. In the story there is a lady who is blind. Ken had several questions about how someone lives with this disability. The book has several fun activities that can help her learn to read braille. I also set up the tray with the pin puncher and some cardstock for her to make her own braille cards with raised dots.

 To add some flavor to DJ's new love for multiplication I put together a couple of trays that came from a packet called Multiplication Situations found at teachers pay teachers.   

He will create multiplication number pictures using the templates that in the tray, based on the book If You Give A Cat A Cupcake. I know this is going to be a hit, because he got excited and read the book and made a cat while I was preparing the work.                                                                                                          

                                                                                   

Making multiplicaton bead bracelets, and then recording the groups, the mutiplication fact, and the answer.                                                    

                                                                            

 To see others inspired by the Montessori Method please visit Livivng Montessori Now for Montessori Monday.