Montessori Momski Tot School-Feb. 24

This week in Montessori Momski Tot School we focused on the following:

The color: RED
The letter: Ll
Theme:  Valentine's Day
Practical Life:  Plant care

Practical Life
We started the week by planting some strawberry seeds in a little pot (found in Target's $1 section).  I also introduced the two herb plants (cilantro and rosemary) I bought to go along with this "plant care" lesson.  Bug has really enjoyed watering them daily and reminded me everyday after the first.  I don't think he gets the concept that the seeds we planted will grow into a plant but he will learn as our seeds take root and grow.  That's the beauty of learning.

Plant care lesson using a strawberry seed planter.

We also spent time doing a water transfer activity with a sponge and a lacing activity.  The sponge activity has gone over very well and Bug enjoys pulling it out randomly.  One of our issues is that he isn't keen on cleaning up his mess as he goes (and truth be told, I'd rather wait until he's done to do so but I am trying to teach him the Montessori way) so we've had to put away the activity a few times.  The lacing activity has not gone well... Bug wants to lace just any hole rather than in the pattern so we will try again later.



Water transfer activity.



Sensory
We revisited our Valentine's sensory bin several times this week.  On several occasions, I have found it in the middle of the floor of the toy room after I've been MIA (mommy-time) for a bit.  So Bug is sneaking into the "under construction" learning area specifically to play with some of his Montessori oriented toys over his non-learning toys.  For the most part he puts everything back in the bin but I need to work on reinforcing respect for the Montessori resources.

Bug and Peanut playing with their sensory bins.

Last week I showed Bug these nifty heart shaped ice cube trays (found in Target's $1 bins) and modeled sorting red and pink goodies from his sensory bin.  Much to my surprise, he's been doing it without prompting since.  He has even started using a pair of salad tongs to move the red pompoms.  It's kind of cute, he pulls the pompoms out of the bin, puts them on the floor then puts one in the tongs grasp with his free hand and transfers it to the trays.  In the above photo, Bug was sharing his red ice cube tray with Peanut who found it a satisfying teething toy.



Color learning.


I introduced some colored wood figures to help teach Bug colors.  We started with only the blue, red and green figures and I followed the three step lesson.  Bug seemed to get the hang of it but toward the end he was getting silly so we packed up it up to end on a good note.

Lastly, I included an activity that we would use play doh to make the letter Ll but many tantrums ensued over me asking Bug to roll the medium himself.  He kept insisting that I do it for him even though I was modeling it.  I gave up and put it away for another time.

Language

This week's letter is Ll.  I used some of Tot School printables from 1+1+1=1 over two days.  I introduced this weeks' letter by 1) showing Bug a colored page of L's and a leaf 2) making and repeating the sound 3) identifying and tracing the letter, and 4) naming/ identifying (three step lesson) items that start with the Ll sound. Those items were a plastic lion, fresh lemon, The first day we 1) colored a leaf and L's on one page, 2) drew lines from the big L to the little l on another, 3) glued red pompoms in the shape of L's on a third and 4) attempted the leaf shape and sequence puzzles.  I was really surprised how responsive Bug was to these activities and I think he was disappointed when I didn't pull out another activity but I had none prepared as I didn't expect this.

Mathematics

This week we worked on counting from 0-3 using a printout and representative hearts.  Bug was interested in matching the plastic hearts up with the printout but when I followed up with the three part lesson, Bug seems indifferent but I will keep trying.

Lesson Plans

I really think have a weekly lesson plan will help me.  Carisa of 1+1+1=1 has great assesment and planning sheets on her Tot School page.  I like them but plan to tweak them to accommidate my Montessori-esk style of Tot School.  I also have a great "Do it All" Mom Planner that I found on clearance at Target that has spots for me to jot notes/ planning along with our social/ playdate engagements.  This will help me stay on track and motivated.

My assessment and planning forms are available below.

Practical Life Assessment
Number Assessment
Letter Assessment
Lesson Plan

Make-shift Tot School-Feb. 15

As we are still living out of boxes and not all of my newly acquired (and unprepared) materials are readily accessible.  I made a big deal this week about asking for Bug's help to set up some of his practical life materials.  Hopefully it will create excitement to use them... he's already tried out the brush and dust pan.

In this photo, Bug tried out his brush and dust pan while Peanut watches from behind.  Bug's practical life cleaning bin is in the forefront of the photo.  It includes a spray bottle for window cleanings, a microfiber cloth, and duster.  I will be adding more as he gets a hang of these items.

The Valentine's Day sensory bin has been a hit.  Bug's played with it a few times.  The first few times he just searched out the little sticky hearts with arms and legs.  We did have a little bobble with his wanting to dump out all of the tissue paper but one "toy time-out" helped him realize that we treat our activities with care.  He graduated to sorting some of his finds into ice cube trays by color.  I will keep this bin around till the end of the month to see what else he wants to do with it.

The Valentine's bin includes the following:

-Large red poms

-Small glittery red poms

-Sticky, stretchy pink hearts with arms and legs

-Hard, pink tinted plastic hearts

-Red felt hearts

-Shredded red tissue paper (medium)

-Pink and red heart bucket (metal)

-Plastic red measuring cups



Making a New Home

It has been a busy few days... we got the keys to our new rental home and have started unpacking in our new home.  With everything going on (cleaning, unpacking, locating our stuff in unlabeled boxes, etc.) not much organized learning is happening.  But the "as-it-happens" learning is filling our world. 

Bug has been working hard to help us unpack in the most unreasonable manner possible but he is having a ball at it.  He is also becoming quite the little helper when it comes to finding Peanuts' paci and diapers.  Not to mention, we are learning to put toys away when we are done with them.  It can be a struggle but I see this as preparing him for his new time with our Montessori focused toys/ activities.

Peanut is growing and learning by leaps and bounds.  She is alert to everything I am presenting her with.  She is starting to figure out the Ball Game I purchased from Alison's Montessori.  It took about a week after I first introduced her to this activity for her to move beyond investigating just the ball.  She's moved on to investigating the box and has accidentally dropped the ball into it a few times but she hasn't married the two together yet.  It is so amazing watching her learn.

As part of the "moving in,"  I have been seriously considering where and how I am going to create a separate learning and play space.  Learning space being our combo Montessori/Traditional classroom and play space being our area of useless toys that we have acquired and Bug can't live without.

This space is a formal dining room to the back of the formal living room.  The rooms gets great natural light from the large side and back windows.  The side window would work awesome for a nature area as it overlooks a bush/tree that seems to be visited often by birds and butterflies.  It also gets enough light to accommodate a plant.  The only downside is that the room has unobstructed openings to the formal living room and kitchen, which harbor distractions.  To deal with this, I am going to attempt to hang curtains from the ceiling to partition the "learning" space.



This photo shows the Family room where we will have our "play" space.  There are great cabinets along the wall and bookcases where we can organize and stash the toys when Bug is not playing with them. 

There is also a kitchen island just out of the forefront of this picture.  It does not have a bar overhang so I plan to put a stand-alone kitchen cabinet and wash table against it for Bug's kid-sized dishes.

I have a lot to do to get our "environment" ready but I am ready and I can tell that Bug is as well. Hopefully moving in will be swift and relatively painless.