Our time has been very spontaneous around here!  They say, "I want to work."  And off we go!!  This may be my longest post this year! The tots are loving matching these days.  This work is really for big sis (thus the appeal) for initial sounds, but we find a good purpose for picture to picture matching.  I love watching them work together. I took this photo while playing I Spy with Bean.  She likes playing this in the car, too!  Makes the trip to ballet a little more purposeful!   Pictured here, we did this for the initial sounds /h/, /r/, and /m/.  Below is the lesson, from my album.  I Spy With My Little Eye Area General~  Language Specific~  Oral/Auditory Development Materials 3 little objects Container Aims Direct~  To enjoy the sounds of our language.  To become aware that words are composed of sounds.  To listen for the sounds in words. Indirect~  To hear the component sounds of words ...

I have been reading a ton of Reggio books lately, and my favorite idea for my home is showing the child's art in a beautiful way.  It is helping with the refrigerator clutter, too!  The first photo's frames are from IKEA, and there is no glass!  The second photo shows an art hanger from Land of Nod.  They love their art gallery!!!

I just love this. I'm always on the hunt for inexpensive, quality toys and materials. Teaching and mothering, I don't always have the time to make everything from scratch.  The girls all went right to this. This Etsy shop is Waldorf based, the items are lovely.  I asked for an extra bowl for Montessori Transferring. Here is the link; Blackbeary Mountain

We are opting for some hokey holiday art!  Hey, we live in Massachusetts not far from where the Pilgrims had the first thanksgiving.  We HAVE to make hand turkeys, right? The girls got a huge kick out of painting on their own hands, and it was so fun to get messy!  We worked right on the kitchen floor for easy clean up.  The photos tell the story....

This is the remainder of the insets I purchased from Discount School Supply . I saw that they came in three sizes and put them together for this sorting work for sensorial. She is sorting the color, the shape, and the size. The labels read: Small, Medium, Large. Red, yellow, blue. More labels with the shape's name will come out later on. When laid out, it was so beautiful. She liked how long it was, showing that it was even longer than her body in this photo. Here is the link to my original post with Metal Insets :)

I had some alone time with my twin tots this weekend, and we had some serious fun!!  We must have 20 paintings while I was making dinner Saturday.  Here is what the set up looked like, and how Sarah created.

One of my favorite things within Montessori is the built in control of error.  For my little tots, it's most prevalent now in Practical Life.  They adore anything involving water, as all little ones do, so the pull towards water pouring is strong.  The control of error for water pouring is water on the tray (or in the picture here, on the floor, on the sleeves, on the table).  The key here is to teach the lesson carefully. Also, keep in mind that exploration happens and spills are okay and need to be handled with love, care, and kindness.  Teaching the child how to handle their own messes effectively is one of the main aims of practical life. From my album.............. NAME OF ACTIVITY:  WATER POURING AREA General:       Practical Life Specific:        Physical Skills- Pouring MATERIALS:   Tray   2 glass pitchers of equal size   Colored water (on left, filled ¼ way)   Litt...

We are still using our sandpaper letters, but to keep it interesting we are adding some extensions.  As a busy Mom of 3 and teacher of 40, it's easiest for me to post pictures.  The chalkboard is left over from a Handwriting Without Tears Training, she uses a small cut sponge to make the M disappear.  Sandpaper Letter (or Number) rubbing is a common extension on this material.  I simply peeled the paper off of a crayon and let her rub it over the letter.  Later, we brainstormed words with the M sound.  Please feel free to ask any questions, as sharing is what this is all about :)

Well, that solves the extra pompom issue. Peanut, age 2,  jumped up and down when she finally got all of the pompoms on the left.  She has chosen this every day since I made it.

Tonight we made paper bag puppets out of a bunch of craft items that we only have a few left. It is time to clean out the art boxes! This helped, but we are overcome by pompom balls. Any ideas are welcome! Linked to:  http://www.childhood101.com/search/label/We%20Play

We found this outside, flying I'm the air!!  She recognized the type of seed and its travel from her book, The Wonders Of Nature.  It's always wonderful when literature links up with life. Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.8