Montessori Monday

I decided to start doing a review of our Montessori lessons from the previous week every Monday.  Last week we were out of the house many days during lesson time, so we didn't do as many lessons as normal.  I did buy another set of shelving, so I'm able to set out more lessons at a time plus keep our "standards" such as the knobbed cylinders, pink tower, etc. out all of the time as well.  I've tried to divide them into shelves for practical life, sensorial, etc.  We didn't get to all of these last week, so some of them you'll see in use next week as well:

 

 

Short Pants LOVED the new Africa continent box.  We spent loads of time looking at the pictures and talking about Africa.  (he was very worried that the huts didn't look sturdy enough; he was afraid that "camels will come and blow them down." heehee):

 

 

One of the first things he said was, "Penguins don't live in Africa!"  He was very shocked to learn that they do, indeed.  We had a great time talking about the different eco-systems in Africa, and even divided the African animals into the appropriate environments.  Many thanks to Katie for sending us a picture of a meerkat; Short Pants was so excited!   We also watched several tribal dancing videos on You-Tube.  Short Pants was quite taken with these, and we actually spent time on two different afternoons watching them.  I love that he is so fascinated and open to other cultures.  We'll be doing some more lessons on Africa in the coming week as well.

Oh, and if you haven't seen this wonderful children's atlas book from Usborne, do check it out.  I had bought it earlier in the summer and stashed it away to save back for Christmas.   Well, my resolve broke, and Short Pants spent literally hours looking through this wonderful book last week.

Short Pants was also very happy to begin working with the knobless cylinders last week.  We got out the yellow box, which he was able to do quite easily, so looks like we might be moving through these pretty soon!  The knobless cylinders are good for size discrimination (the different colored sets compare different things) and fine motor skills:

  

 

He also worked for a short time drawing letters in cornmeal:

A surprise hit was bead patterning.  I know I saw the idea on someone's blog, but now I can't remember which one!  I strung beads on pipecleaners in different patterns then encouraged him to make matching ones.  He really liked this lesson and worked for quite awhile at it:

 

 

Short Pants also had fun spooning colored rice through a funnel:

 

And pouring it back into the bowl:

 

See you next Monday with more Montessori lessons!

Comments

[Rebecca]

I'm really enjoying your montessori posts- its very helpful for me to see others' setups. When my not quite 3yr old DD started drawing letter A's with sidewalk chalk without any instruction, I knew a purely Waldorf approach wasn't going to work for her and we've been incorporating more and more Montessori activities into our day.

Looking forward to more Montessori Mondays!

[My Boys Teacher]

Thanks you for sharing this nice post :)

Your learning space looks great, very bright and inviting. We haven't "started" yet for Fall (potty training to tackle this week first) and your post really inspired me. I'm even more excited to get going after reading it.

[One hook wonder]

I think it's great that you're taking your daughter's lead in this! I've noticed that you haven't updated your blog in some time - hope all is well and you're just busy enjoying your summer. :)

[One hook wonder]

Thank you! I hope you know how much inspiration I get from your blog as well. Good luck with the potty training!