Guess the lesson-rounding up cattle

We are not doing formal lessons this week for reasons you can find in my post May Calendar. However, as any Montessorian may know, you can't turn off inspiration or stop seeing opportunities to introduce a lesson. So, from a recent trip to Wilson's 5 & dime I picked up this little cow bell (among other things). Any ideas as to what I'm using it for now?

Well, I have to admit that I am a bit of a yeller at my house. Not the angry kind of yelling but the "hey leave your sister alone," "time for dinner," "don't make me come back there," kind of yelling. Usually while I'm cooking dinner and can't leave what is on the stove. This is not montessori style at all and I admit it is my downfall so don't start doing this if you are trying to start montessori methods at your home.

Anyway, all that yelling is hard on my throat and my voice and, since I sing in our choir at church, it is not helpful that I do this to myself. So the cow bell is to round up my cattle (my girls).

After I got it home I explained to each of them that I will ring the bell and when they hear it they have to stop whatever they are doing and come straight to me. This way there is no yelling and they are face to face with me so I can tell them what I need.

Then we played a game. They went in another room, I rang the bell, they came running. They got high fives for following directions and they thought it was great. Then I hid in areas throughout the house and they had to find me by sound alone. After that they got to ring the bell and send me running. We had a good time.

This may not seem like much of a Montessori lesson, but when you think about what is involved it really is a sensorial lesson because they are developing and refining their auditory sense by listening for a sound, responding to a sound and following a sound.

Don't you just love how you can turn almost anything into a lesson?

Weekly highlights--4/27

From my previous post you can probably guess that none of us really wanted to do lessons this week. Especially since I watched the other two babies Monday. That just kind of threw our whole week off. But we did manage to get a little done this week.

Monday Delores hopped up at the counter and said "can I do lessons?" Like I'm really going to deny her the opportunity to do lessons on her own. I had placed the miniature knobbed cylinders and our language boxes on the counter to prevent baby fingers from losing and/or tearing up the materials in this picture.


And here's some practical life experience as she spreads butter on bread.


Tuesday, I lost my voice. All I could get out was a whisper. This made it very interesting. I didn't want to try to round up the girls for lessons in the living room so I just took the lessons to them. It actually worked out okay that I couldn't speak. I find myself talking too much when I'm trying to present something anyway so this made it very easy to just say what I need to and that was that. They also had to listen very carefully and pay very close attention to catch what I was saying. Almost a win-win situation, except that it was extremely aggravating. But I got to experience what it is like for mute people for 2 days.

Open and closing boxes from Hobby Lobby intended for Lydia.


Our "F," beginning sounds basket and alphabet puzzle by Melissa & Doug. Each time they learn a new sound they get another puzzle piece and slowly fill it up. It gets them excited every time they get to put a new piece in the puzzle and they revisit the sounds they have already learned.

Wednesday I decided we were all too sick to have our Freeday and go anywhere so we had a short lesson period.

Trying out our new sound bottles. I'm not 100% happy with them though so I'll do a separate post on those when I've modified them a bit.



Working on "F," worksheets.

They were more interested by the new porch being built on our neighbor's house than doing lessons though.


Thursday, was a repeat of Wednesday.



Except that we found a dead baby bird outside and we spent a lot of time discussing and mourning and looking at the poor bird.



Today I needed to get out of the house so I took the girls to the library for story time and we've just been taking it easy. That's really all there was to this week.

Weekly highlights--4/20

As I look back through my pictures from this week I noticed a sprinkling of activities I didn't get to write about earlier this week, so I'm going to backtrack a little before I move onto our lessons from Friday.

First lets start with respect. Montessori is not just all lessons and circle time. It is also about Grace & Courtesy, which begins with the respect of the parent or instructor. The number 1 rule is do not interrupt a concentrating child. It is disrespectful and also the number 1 mistake parents make with their children. No matter how bad you want that picture or want to step in to help when they are struggling it is better to leave well enough alone and let them work through whatever they are doing. If they need help, they'll ask for it. This is an important milestone to gaining their independence. If I accidentally interrupt Delores to come to a meal because I don't realize she is in the middle of something she will tell me or Josh "I'm concentrating," and we apologize and leave her be. She shows up 10 to 15 minutes later, but no harm is done other than her food getting a little cold. This is why you don't see as many pictures of Lydia as you do Delores. She is more easily distracted by my phone and will leave her activity the second she sees my phone.


Of course it is equally important for the children to respect each other and their things.

Here Lydia is watching Delores do her lesson quietly without touching. If she touches she must leave Delores and do something else. She can try again once she has completed another activity. This takes a lot of practice and self control from a two year old.

Next we have some beginning sound work. We've been working on the sounds of the "b," "c," and "d," for about 6 weeks now. Last week Delores started recognize and pointing out the letters in text so I set up this activity.

She has to match the object's beginning sound with the letter. Then she went on a scavenger hunt to find objects that beginning with those letters. She brings them back to the mat and matches the object with its beginning sound. Here she is finding a cup. "Cup starts with the letter 'c.'"


Now onto our activities from Friday. Last August I made and tried introducing the miniature number rods to Delores and she just couldn't grasp the concept.

The child has to place the rods in order from longest to shortest and then they learn what rod represents what number which is the first step to sandpaper numbers and numerical beads. Delores has been showing some interesting in reading numbers so I knew it was time to give it a try again so we could move onto the sandpaper numbers so she could formally learn the name for each number. This time she did beautifully. Again, it's all about working in that window of opportunity.


In this picture she discovered the smallest block is the same size as the space between each rod.


Here she doing the 2nd part of the 3 period lesson "Can you point to number 4?"


Mixed up

"Can you show me 2?"

We worked all the way up to 9.

"Can you put 9 on your head?" We only did three at a time but she breezed through them. Each time you master one or two or three at a time you mix the previous ones back in to make sure they haven't forgotten the rest. After we were done with 9 she said she was tired and we put them away. I have no doubt we will be moving onto sandpaper numbers next month.

Lydia enjoyed the frobel bag. The frobel bag is an opaque bag with objects inside that the child already knows the names of. Many sources suggest using geometric solids (3D shapes) in the frobel bag, but I decided toys would be a better fit since she doesn't know the names of the geo solids yet. The child puts their hand in the bag, feels around and then guesses what is in the bag all without looking in the bag and then pulls out the object. The purpose of this sensorial activity is to refine the stereognostic sense, which is the ability to determine the shape and weight of an object by touching or lifting it. After the child has had some practice with this activity you can work up to 10 different objects. Three is a good start for any two year old though.


"Minnie Mouse!"

Here Delores is taking a turn giving the lesson. In a Montessori classroom it is not uncommon for an older child to give a lesson to a younger child. It reinforces the lessons in the older child and promotes his independence. The instructor is to try and fade into the background as much as possible while the children carry on in their world and form their own community.


"Yay sissy!"

So we had another successful week despite an under the weather child. When I look back it really does amaze me at how far they have come and how much they've learned in just 3 months. I can't wait to see what is left to come.

Weight discrimination

I know what you're thinking. That this is going to be a post about me teaching my girls to discriminate someone based on their weight (unless you are a montessorian, then you know better). Sorry to bust your bubble, but no. Weight discrimination refers to teaching a child to be able to tell the difference between objects that weigh only 10 grams different from each other simply by using their fingertips. All while doing this blindfolded.

Could you do this? Believe me, it is not as easy as it sounds. In fact, when I was preparing this lesson I got the tablets mixed up and couldn't tell by looking at and weighing them which one was supposed to be the heaviest and which was supposed to be the lightest.

This lesson is achieved by using the Baric tablets

Three different types of wood, all different colors, varying in 10 grams from one another. Each box contains 6-8 tablets for matching. That's right, not only do they have to measure weight with their fingertips blindfolded, they also have to match up and sort through 18-24 different tablets.

So what's the point? Well, let's go back to that question earlier. Could you do this? The point is to introduce the idea that everything has a different weight. This lesson also shows that even though the tablets are the same size they don't weigh the same. And as always in a sensorial lesson it is also to refine their senses that helps them better absorb their world around them. In this case that sense is the baric sense.

I realized Delores was ready for this lesson when she was working with the locks and keys I set out for Lydia and she casually mentioned "this one is heavier."


Lydia working with the locks and keys this past Monday.

That's all it takes. It is important to work in that window of opportunity for the child so I wasn't going to waste any time. I found an informative blog post at Rhythm of the Home and headed to Lowes after a failed trip to Home Depot. Two weeks later I had these made and out on the shelves.

Just a quick note though, if you are using the link above she doesn't tell you what wood is supposed to be light, medium and heavy weights. In my experience I found the poplar to be the lightest and the oak to be the heaviest. The aspen was supposed to be the medium weight but it felt the same as the poplar. The type of aspen our Lowes carried was not them same as she used. So when picking out your wood weigh them yourself and trust your instincts. I didn't and I'm going back for pine this weekend. You can also refer to this Wood density website to give you a better idea of what woods are heavier and lighter.

Now back to the lesson. During the first presentation the child only works with the heaviest and the lightest tablets. After they have mastered that then you move on to the medium and heaviest, then lightest and medium and then finally all three. So here is Delores doing brilliantly (if I do say so myself) with the light and heavy baric tablets.


Weighing, no blindfold


Matching, no blindfold


Weighing and matching, blindfolded.

We both enjoyed this lesson. I don't know if every child is like this, but she always does well when there is a blindfold involved. This amazes me because most adults are so out of tune with their senses it would be hard for them to do this with their eyes open. I know I couldn't.

Winning the Race

This week was what I call a slow and steady week. Each day it didn't seem like we accomplished very much but at the end of the week when I reflect on all we did it really was a productive week.

So here are a few things we did this week:

Lydia learning the difference between smooth and rough with two different grades of sandpaper. (Sensorial)


Delores practicing her small button frame (Practical life)


Spooning black eyed peas (Practical life)


Hopping on the line with a bucket (Circle time)


Grading shades of Red. She was very excited that after working with the color box 1 and 2, pink finally made an appearance. (Sensorial)


Setting a table for casual dinner. (Practical life)


Checking her work with a template I intended to use for Lydia, but she never got around to doing it



Using the triangle inset. (Pre-writing/art)



Washing and drying the chalkboard. (Practical life)
She said she loved doing this. Personally I never saw the fun in doing these practical life activities but kids get a kick out of it. I guess because to adults it is work but to children they are helping do grown up things like clean.

Those days when it seems like we get a lot of work done are nice but in the end it is more important to let them work at their own pace.

Our Easter Activity Day

At the end of every month I make a calendar for lessons or activities I would like to get accomplished for the upcoming month. It may change a lot depending on what the girls are interested in, what did or didn't work or the interruption of short notice appointments. I'm not a very spur-of-the-moment kind or person, which I am trying to change, so the calendar helps me to see a map of what they will be learning as well as what I need to buy in advance to make the lessons. Yes, I do make most of their lessons, but that is another post for another day.

So anyway, I've found the best place to find holiday themed activities is on Pinterest. Here are some things we did last Friday in celebration of Easter.

This first is a counting game. The object is the roll the die, which only has ones and twos on the side, and the child gets the corresponding number of Easter themed erasers. The first to count out 10 wins the game.

Checking out my homemade die.


Playing the easter themed counting game.


Lining up the easter erasers.

After Lydia won the game, Delores just wanted to line them all up and count them.

Counting the easter easers

After they had changed clothes, made their beds, brush their teeth and combed their hair they came back for trays I'd put out on the shelf the night before.


Tonging poms into an egg tray. I was tempted to use jelly beans, but this was the first time Delores had used any kind of tongs so I used the poms instead. It's a good thing too because she tried to tong a jelly bean and it was too hard and she became frustrated. Always trust your gut.


Using a "B is for Bunny," template I snagged from here: Making Learning Fun . I don't particularly care for templates but I thought it was cute and it was a holiday and we have been working on our "B" sounds in our beginning sound basket so I caved.

Switch!



And just for the heck of it, practicing the padlocks and keys.


After the mats were put away I set out the egg dying stuff. There was a lot of practical life and sensorial activities involve in this. For instance spooning the eggs into the colored water. Mixing primaries to make secondary colors. Washing the eggs. Straining the eggs. Drying the eggs. The intense look of concentration on their faces told it all.

Dying eggs



Peeling eggs


Washing peeled eggs. Like all toddlers Lydia loves to play in water. When I asked if she would like to wash the eggs her eyes lit up. Just one of the many things that keep me on the montessori path.

With the peeled eggs I took one and cut it in half for each of them to try for snack with a little salt. Lydia made it very known that she did not like it and Delores just liked the egg whites. With the remaining two I made egg salad which Lydia loved and Delores hated (oddly enough).

After naps they got to "trace" Easter themed clip art onto our back door. They didn't really trace but they had fun so, oh well. You may have seen on other websites that people use things like foam or shoe polish or window paint. All of that stuff has to scraped off with a razor blade. We used dry erase markers. They scribble, the rub it off if they want to do it again and it is easy clean up.


Easter themed window "tracing" pictures.

We had a great productive, fun filled day that I'm sure we will probably be repeating for years to come.