Bass Pro Field Trip

Really, it was a trip to get Papa a new fishing rod.  But, since it was technically a school day, we made it educational.  We took our local species cards and headed over to the fish tank.  At Bass Pro, you can see many of the local fish in their central tank.  So, we took out our cards and identified all the fish in the tank.  

It was not easy!  And, it was certainly helpful eating up time while Papa talked about rods to the sales guy, and talked, and talked....

Color: DIY Color Box

I've been trying not to buy Color Box 3 for ages.  I think the layout is SO PRETTY.  But since I couldn't justify it, I made a DIY version with paint samples from Walmart.  I'm not into taking big piles of free stuff from stores, but this time I made an exception, as I will likely laminate and maintain this collection, using it to choose paint over the next hundred years. 

I found that the biggest time investment is FINDING the shades in order.  It was a workout for my eyes!  I don't like the one that I can't cut off the name of the shade without making my card tiny, so I had to hand pick the colors individually.  (I think these are Better Homes and Gardens)  Then I went home and lopped off the name.

I *think* I have EIGHT of each color blue, red, yellow, green, orange, purple.  I have the browns and black but they don't have a place on my color wheel, so we put them to the side.

Since my kids are older, we mix all the cards.  They sort by color and then shade.

First we lay out the primary colors.

Then we add the secondary colors.

Full disclosure, my kids don't LOVE this activity like I do.  But after performing it a few times, I found them lining up all their markers, pencils, and crayons by color and shade and sorting them into containers.

Steriognostic/Math: Cuisenaire Chutes and Ladders

I LOVE this game. The kids quickly learn the cuisenaire values, get great sensory discernment, memorize their math facts, and learn to measure in centimeters with their hands!

It's just chutes and ladders.  The print out you see is from this free book.  You could also use a regular Chutes and Ladders board.

Instead of using a spinner, you draw rods out of the bag.  Yes, that IS a bag for crackers.  My pretty canvas bag hadn't come in the mail yet.

You may have to set a time limit on how long someone gets to root around in the bag looking for a "5" so they can go up the ladder, but I think it's worth it.

In order to master the game, there were several spontaneous "time outs" called by the short folks to line up all the rods by size and practice measuring with eyes closed.  They were worried that I wouldn't like that.  As Margaret Homfrey from Montessori World says, "You see the children doing intelligent things....and the teacher is very pleased."

Art Lessons: Inset Designs

Our Didax plastic insets from amazon are a favorite activity.  All you need is the insets, colored pencils, paper cut to size, and a hard surface.  

There are ten shapes in the series (see below.)

We use the series of lessons found at Montessori world. You can see our progression above.  

1.  One pink inset traced, colored with straight lines, picking up the pencil each time. 

2.  One shape rotated.  

3.  Trace the window, then trace the actual shape and see how close you can get.

4.  Use more than one shape.

5.  Make a symmetrical design and play with color.

6.  Move the stencil over the page evenly to fill the whole sheet.

But, of course, I just show them these lessons each time I set it out.  BUT,  I don't interrupt whatever they decide to do with it.

Motor Development: Little Chains and Links

This activity is popular from my nine year old all the way to the ten month old.  She can't do the links but LOVES playing with the finished product.  Little ghosty!

Materials:  6-1 foot lengths of cheap chain from Depot (~$.60 per foot), a pile of unused "quick links" from grampa's garage, caribeaners (optional)

This takes very little presentation.  The kids just run with it.  

Grading: Mini-Knobbed Cylinders

I would love to buy the giant knobless cylinders, but I can't justify the price yet.  Especially when my heart is set on a $128 mass kit.  And an $80 tessellation kit.

Anyway, these were $25 and get the point across. They are challenging enough to hold my nine-year-olds attention if you get them out all at once.  The four sets are as follows:

These are popular every time I get them out.  They aren't as sexy as the big ones, but we have a storage issue and the mini set doesn't take up much space.  

Motor Development: Table Lessons

Little Kid got bored doing his school work, so we took a break for some practical life lessons.

First, we went over the names of something nearby. 

Cord, plug, socket (or outlet), floor lamp, bulb, lampshade (none of my kids knew "lampshade."  Huh.), table, table legs, table leaf (WHAT?).  He didn't understand "table leaf" so...we learned how to table apart.   

  And put it back together. 

 And take it apart. And put it back together.  You know how it goes. 

After all that work, his muscles were all tuckered out.  So, we had a lazy susan lesson.  He'd been curious about this little gadget for ages.  We set up a tiny dish part and practiced using the lazy susan and our good manners.

Then, of course, since I'm an old waitress, I showed him how to "bus" the table.  Then he did it.....about ten times.  HA!

Teaching 1, 10, 100, 1000 with beads

Of all the materials I've tried from the land of Montessori, this particular bead material is my favorite.  I got it for $15 from Alison's Montessori.  It contains nine unit beads, nine ten bars, nine hundred squares, and one thousand cube.  They are connect nylon beads, not near the same quality as the individual bead sets, but they are sufficient for me.  They are far superior to the base ten sets at Amazon due to the weight of the material.  A typical thousand block in conventional base ten material is hollow and doesn't FEEL like 1000.

My favorite Montessori album is the one at http://www.montessoriworld.org/.  I love the simplicity of the outline.  Montessori has such interesting ideas that it's a tempting to proliferate material in her style and clutter up the curriculum.  Montessori World does not make this mistake.

Decimal quantities is taught directly after the numerals and quantities of 1-9 are mastered.

Exercise 1:  Introduce the quantities 1, 10, 100, 1000.  Encourage the child to feel the quantities and say their names, hand them to you or move them around the mat when the names are said, and finally identify them when presented alone.  What is this?  Hundred.

Exercise 2:  Once the quantities are mastered (without numerals), demonstrate going to the next hierarchy every time one passes nine. Ten units is actually one ten bar.  Ten ten bars are one hundred, and following until we get to the thousand block.  The is repeated on subsequent days until the child has mastered it.

Exercise 3:  Naming Quantities:  I call this "fetching."  Hand me two hundreds.  Good, put them back.  Now go find eight tens.  

Numerals are not introduced until these three lessons are mastered.

WTN Classified Cards Expansion Pack

My kids were really disappointed to not have EVERY species of bat, rat, mouse, and shrew, so here they are.

Grampa's Garage

Oh my, the bounty we plundered in my daddy's garage.  I haven't even gotten to some of it, but this is what we have out this week.  Fancy, huh?

Mama's Box of Magic Cards

Since I don't have a dedicated school room, I keep this magic box of cards to fuel my one-on-one time with the younger kids, and once in a while, the Bigs.

My very favorite is the science sequencing cards. In our school, sequencing is the BIG DEAL in kindergarten.  First this happened, then THIS happened, and FINALLY this happened.  I HEART using science for kindergarten sequencing.  No lame-o sequencing of teethbrushing.  I want to slip in some RICHNESS.  

I won't give you ever single specific link, but if you are willing to file through the freebies at each site, I can tell you where to get them: 

1.  FREE Cicada Life Cycle at Montessori Tidbits 

2.  FREE Butterfly Life-cycle from Montessori Mom

3. FREE Frog life-cycle from Montessori Mom

4.  FREE Moon cycle from Montessori Mom

5.  FREE Season cycle from Montessori for Everyone

6.  FREE Apple life-cycle from Montessori for Everyone

7. FREE  Pumpkin life-cycle from  Montessori for Everyone  followed by a baby dino life cycle from ???.

I also like sorting and go-together cards the are science-based.

1.  (not free) Carnivore, Omnivore, Herbivore cards from Montessori for Everyone

2.  (not free) Real life Geometric object sorting cards from Montessori for Everyone

3.  (not free) Patterns in Nature sorting cards from Montessori for Everyone

4.  FREE sorting and go-together cards from Montessori for Everyone and the left from a garage sale.

5.  FREE butterfly sorting and go-togethers from the classified cards at Beautiful Sun Montessori.  Not all of the butterflies have a pupa and larva to match, but ENOUGH do to make it worth your while.

My daughter LOVES them!

Alphabet Object Boxes

The boy uses these to sort beginning sounds.  He pulls the object out of the box and places it below the glued letter inside the lid.

Materials Needed:  Dollar Tree foam letters, Walmart $.94 pencil case, glue, paint pens, and a crapload of objects from Dollar tree, Michaels, Hobby Lobby and the like.  I tried to do six per sound.  Our book (100 Easy Lessons) does the phonics in this order 

1.  The "mesa" box.  I say it MAY-suh, but it should be MEE-suh.  Anyhoodle, it's M, long E, S, and short A.

M: milk, monster, moose, makeup, monkey (ignore alligator, he belongs in the last row--quality control stinks here)

long E:  equals, easel, evil, eagle, earrings

S:  star, stapler, scissors, spoon, sea horse, school house, snake, sewing machine

A:  ambulance, antelope, ant, astronaut, apple

2.  The "dirt" box:

D: disk, dish, daisy, dragonfly, dressform (something is missing.....hmmm.  Oh, it's a dinosaur.)

short I:  insect, infant, inchworm, igloo, iguana

R:  rock, rhino, ray, record, rice, ring

T:  turtle, takeout, tree, tiger, tractor, and a missing teapot (currently serving a fore mentioned dinosaur)

*The kids don't usually use these for what they are intended, but retrieving them from the correct box and returning them to said box is kind of like sorting, right?

3.  The "CONTH", which is now the CON box since I can't find a darn thing in the word that uses the second sound of TH.  This, that, them...not very object friendly.

C:  cow, cactus, cat, crown, cookie, camel

short O:  olive, ostrich, octopus (still working on this pile)

N:  needle, necklace, nail, nickel, nuts, nail polish