Sorting 1 to 10: Birds

Counting Birds 1 to 10
The creative teachers at Cornerspring came up with this fun work for junior bird lovers.
Finding bird related items numbering one to ten, they created this clever counting work.
The children enjoy 'flying' the birds to their number groups, finding similarities and differences, discriminating between few and many. For young 3 year olds this work could be used as simply a sorting, counting them into number groups and placing them in a linear order can be introduced in later lessons. Enjoy!
~~MM

Making His Mark

Keeping up with a nine year old certainly is a tall order. Little One does his best and usually impresses us all. It's been a long week for children home sick with (yet another) a tummy bug and cough and fever...I refuse to call it The Flu (but it would seem to be). I hope all of you are healthy.

Here is a picture of Little One keeping up with big brother.

This photo reminded me of this quote:

"Time is not measured by clocks, but by moments."

PEACE
~~MM

Pizza Anyone?

Today's Art+Play was a PIZZA Party! I lead the children to circle singing, "Walk around the pizza, walk around the pizza, walk around the pizza, until you find your slice." [their 'slice' being their carpet square] Next we read the book The Pizza We Made and decorated our own group pizza. The art project followed with each child decorating their own pizza inside a real pizza box.
Materials:
personal pan pizza box from your favorite pizza place
the sauce: red paint mixed with school glue
the cheese: yellow paper shredded, red shredded paper for red onions
I also offered red and green paper for cutting into 'toppings'


This open ended art activity was fun and easy. The clean up was not involved (no brushes to wash). The children enjoyed being part of the cooking/creation process. If I had longer than one hour for this project I would have included the kids in the food preparation process more than I was able to.
In the Montessori classroom:
Food Preparation/nutrition/cooking is most effectively approached as part of or extension of the Practical Life curriculum and thus follows the same guidelines for preparation, set up and sequencing. Through the use of food prep activities, we can introduce the value of good nutrition, help the children gain control of the environment, increase practical life skills and nurture independence! Wow! Who knew so much could come from fixing a pizza?

Enjoy!
~~MM

A bear named "Pooh"

Little One has become very fond of Winnie the Pooh lately, when he hears an noise he doesn't know he says with a tilt of his head, "Pooh?" and because he is in the middle of a growth cycle he is often hungry asking, "May I have more?" with his two chubby hands tapping one another again and again in the baby sign for "More". To me he is becoming a Pooh Bear. And when I snapped this photo on Easter morning my first thought was, Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh!
Oh what a blustery day!

"You're the best bear in ALL the world," said Christopher Robin "Am I?" said Pooh hopefully. And then he brightened up suddenly."Anyhow," he said, "it is nearly luncheon time." So home they went for it.

~~Love to you and all your forest animals
MM

Upside down? BEAUTIFUL!

Sunset through the eyes of a teenager. I am continually being reminded to appreciate nature by my boys. I will admit I have been spending way too much time in doors lately. I am desperate for Spring to arrive and longing more and more for the warm breezes of summer to hurry up and replace these freezing winds. Today it is suppose to be 'warm' at 45 degrees. My sandals stare at me with anticipation. What's the weather like where you are?
Middle Man and Little One discovered just yesterday, the green tops of daffodils peeking through the patch of muddy snow I once remember as a flower garden. They called to me,
"Come see! Come see Mama! Spring!"
They shared with me, Hope and now I am hopeful. I really need to pay better attention, I walk by the 'flower garden' every day and I haven't noticed Spring coming, just the mud and ice mixture. It is true the child's eye can see far more than mine.

And so, I will try and remember Dr. Montessori's insightful and inspiring words:
"I live in heaven. My home is a sphere that turns around the sun. It is called Earth."
~~in peace
MM

Open House: Building a Nest

This weekend was our Annual Open House. I was smiling all day. I really enjoy meeting the future little (and big) people who may come to our school in the Fall.
"It's like building a nest." I said to my husband on the phone last night
(he is presently away on a trip).
"A nest?" he replied.
Even though I could not see his face I knew he was making a "what the?" expression.
"Yes, a nest." I repeated. "You know a piece of hay, a strand of yarn, a twig..."
Silence on the other end of the phone.
"I'm the mother bird..."I continued.
I paused.
"O k a y...." he said to me.
"Never mind." I said, feeling a bit silly because he wasn't getting it.
And then he said,
"I understand, you're the mother bird, your classroom environment is the nest?"
"Yes!" (Well, close enough) I was just so happy he was willing to follow along with yet another of my often flowery analogies.
The whole conversation reminded me of one I had with a parent of a child from my child care program years ago. He had asked me where my umbrella was. And I remember staring at him with a "what the?" look on my face until I politely said, "I'm sorry I don't have an umbrella."
and he said,
"No, you know, like Mary Poppins?"
"Oh!" I said, "yes, Mary Poppins.....no, wait, what?"
He smiled and said, "Never mind, have a nice night."

It was pick up time and he and his child left for home, I assisted others in their packing up and going and it wasn't until later that night that I finally 'got' what he was saying to me.
I reminded him of Mary Poppins; or he was trying to compliment me. And unfortunately at 5:30 on a Friday afternoon I had little to no sense of humor to pick up on his implication, clever and cute as it was....sometimes I fail to pick up on things.
And although I was very complimented by him comparing me to the ever impressive, practically perfect in ever way: Mary Poppins, as you know I am NOT Mary Poppins.
But wordy I am, so I will end this post by saying this:

When I use my Mary Poppins like imagination, I am a Mother bird and to me Open House is like finding the perfect tree. Meeting the children and their parents for the first time is like discovering the wonderful, colorful special materials for building the nest. And setting up the classroom is like pulling it all together, hopefully creating a comforting, safe, happy nest in which to nurture little ones...and their parents :)
Thank you for allowing me to be flowery. I hope this makes sense. It's not "a spoon full of sugar" but I think you get the idea.
PEACE
~~MM

Nurturing a Love of Language

Corn Meal tray & Sand Paper Letters

For success in language a child needs confidence that what she has to say is important, a desire to relate to others, real experience on which language is based, and the physical abilities necessary in reading and writing. There are several things we can do to help.
We can listen attentively and with eye contact, and speak to the child in a respectful tone. We can provide a stimulating environment, rich in sensorial experiences and in language--language is meaningless if it is not based on experience. We can set an example and model precise language in our everyday activities with the child. If we share good literature, in the form of rhymes, songs, poetry and stories we will greatly increase our children's love of language. ~~Michael Olaf

Listen ~~ Speak ~~ Model ~~ Share

Pictured here is a 3 year old boy sits exploring the corn meal tray. Together he and I had just finished taking turns tracing the sand paper letters in his name. When I introduced him to the corn meal tray, he was excited and then sat quietly for many moments feeling the corn meal and moving his fingers through it revealing the blue base of the box.
He chose this work again and again, day after day, until he was ready to move on.
I recently visited this boy's kindergarten classroom where he shared with me, what he calls "fancy writing". There on his paper were swirly cursive letters....spelling out his name.

PEACE~~MM

Let's Paint: Art + Play at Waterfalls Today

It's Thursday, Art+Play Day! I Love Thursday and feel the need to share the fun we had.
Today we read excerpts from the book: Shapes In Art. Then we painted with various shapes.
They came out beautifully and I am hopeful will make keen covers for little books (a future project). Here is 'Little One's' favorite painting tool, a wooden car!


I found all of the items around the house, in fact, 'Middle Man' and I looked for (and counted) shapes around the house while collecting these items. Did you know that there are 14 squares to count in just one of our windows? It's 'Shape Day' I guess.


It was a busy morning so not too many photos were taken sorry.
Thanks for reading!
~~MM

Crushing Egg Shells

I've been thinking about Julie from Are We Having Fun Yet? who recently asked about activities for little boys with allot of energy....first Julie, I don't know any other kind of little boy :) second I think I've got something he'll LOVE: A Mortar and Pestle!

Little people (boys and girls) between the ages of birth and 18 years, enjoy exercising something the experts refer to as "cause and effect". With my own Spirited little boy (Middle Man) I have always called it, "What will happen if?" "What will happen if...I sit in this mud puddle?" "What will happen if I feed the dog my casserole?" "What will happen if I touch this wet cement?"
You get the idea...
Anyway, most children enjoy finding their own answer to that question, the reaction to their action. And, it has been my experience, that spirited little boys enjoy MAKING something using ACTION (notice I did not say FORCE)...
Enter: The Mortar and Pestle
It's wooden, makes a great grinding sound (or banging sound) and with action, something new can be made from something familiar. Dry (pre-rinsed) egg shells become a fine sand like powder (to be used in art projects)...Cheerios become Cheerio powder (yummy when added to yogurt) peanuts become small peanut pieces (perfect for ice cream sundae toppings)...making a graham cracker crust? He's your man! Set him up with a box of graham crackers and look out.
My Little One tired of this quickly (he's not yet two) BUT when his big brother (9 yr. old Middle Man) got home from school, he went right to it, like a moth to a flame. "What's THIS?" He asked excitedly. "Can I try?" and there he sat, making big things smaller using action, for a good 25 -35 minutes.
Then later on when it was bed time, just after I turned out his light he said, "In the morning could I try making some more stuff with the mortar and pistol?" I quickly corrected him, "You mean 'pestal'?" "Oh, yeah, P E S T A L." he said with a smile on his face.
"Yes." I said and kissed him goodnight.
~~Have fun everyone.
PEACE
~~MM

Sidewalk Chalk (not limited to sidewalks)

Looking forward to days like this returning.
At Cornerspring Montessori we are fortunate to have only a small space that is asphalt, the rest of the play yard is grass, garden and some wood chips (wonderful climbing structures, slides, swings also) but the reason for this post is to share this photo.
Creative Expression! Many small hands worked together to create this masterpiece on a sunny afternoon. It made me smile when I saw it and so I share it with you.
The world is a child's canvas, it starts with yogurt on a high chair tray and bath tub soap suds leads to sidewalks and sliding glass doors....and eventually to a real canvas.

While walking into the grocery store this weekend 'Middle One' noticed that when the concert sidewalk was poured (however long ago) a leaf had gotten stuck in the cement. It's impression left behind for him to find. I, of course, have walked over the leaf's image many times for sure, never noticing it. "Isn't it beautiful?" he asked no-one in particular.

"It is the child who shows us the extraordinary in the ordinary."~~Jean Grasso Fitzpatrick

When I took this photo I remember one of the small artists asking me what I thought it was a picture of. I said I wasn't sure, that to me it was 'abstract'. Her response,
"It's NOT abstract Jennifer. It's ART".
Obviously.
~~MM
PS For those of you in other parts of the country/world with Spring, enjoy chalk today for me.