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.