My booty

Ha! I bet that title caught your attention. Before I decided to use that title for this post I checked Wikipedia to be sure I wasn't totally out of line with my intended meaning for the word "booty." I was reassured to find that one definition of "booty" is, in fact, "treasure". More specifically, it refers to nautical treasure. So I am using it a teeny bit out of context. Another meaning (and most likely the one that first popped into YOUR head) is......."the American slang for buttocks." Rest assured that there will be none of THOSE types of booty photos in this post. I just wanted to check back in and let you know I'm still here. I also wanted to show off the booty that I found at the local thrift store today.

At times I am really happy that I live in a small rural town. One thing that makes me feel that way is my local thrift shop. I was talking to the owner's mother about a month ago (this is a woman in her 80s who has known me since I was a little girl) and told her I was looking for buttons. It turns out that she owned and ran a fabric store in the same location back in the day and has a ton of leftover buttons. She offered to bring them down to the shop for me to look through. I usually go there on Fridays while my oldest son is taking his piano lesson, but for various reasons I hadn't gotten over there for several weeks. Yesterday my friend, Amber, went there and told me they had a bag of buttons they were saving for me. That is small town service at its finest. So today I headed over there to check out the merchandise and pick up the buttons. The next two photos show the huge Ziploc bag full of buttons and a close-up. They wouldn't take any money for the buttons so they were FREE!! I am planning to use some to make some button rings. I'll post those when I get them done. Otherwise, I just like having them on hand for various projects. I am probably going to sort them by colors because the idea of that just really appeals to me. Plus it's super-fun to mess around with buttons.





I also picked up an ice-cube tray with little tiny compartments. This will soon find a spot on the Practical Life shelves of my Montessori preschool classroom. My friend, Amber, bought one of these yesterday and I was excited to find an identical one for only $0.50. I also picked up the little bunny basket (also for my classroom) and the rabbit cookie cutters (again, for my classroom). Total score!!



Since I go to that shop a LOT, I've had my eye on this pair of matching..........I'm not sure, they look like the teacups you find in a Chinese restaurant. So I bought them today. They will be used in my classroom for a pouring or spooning activity. They are just the right size for little hands and are nice and sturdy.



I also bought a skein of brown yarn for only $1. I am planning to use it to make yarn nests with the boys to decorate for Easter/spring. However, I don't have any white glue in the house, so I'll have to get some before we can do that project. I'm excited to do a project with my boys.........we haven't done anything in a LONG time. I really hate how hectic life gets sometimes, but whaddaya gonna do? Anyway, it's good to be back posting here..........hopefully I'll have more to show soon.

All about the big boy

I have been writing a lot about my littlest boy lately. So tonight I am dedicating a post to my older son. He is 7 1/2 and attends a private Montessori elementary school. He is really an amazing child. He has an incredible mind and is always coming up with self-initiated projects to do at home. He never ceases to astound us with his thinking. Over the past few days, he has been working on setting up his own Montessori school in his bedroom. The photo below shows the sign on his door which tells the hours the school is open as well as what ages are allowed to attend. In case you can't read it well in the photo, the school is open to ages 3-adult (anyone). He put the anyone in the parentheses. I love it!



The first area of the classroom that he developed is the "language" area. He has a list posted on the wall which tells what "works" (that is what Montessori activities are referred to in the classroom) are available in the language area. Below that list are some of the activities he developed. He cut out and labelled his own pockets to contain the cards for the activity. Additionally, he has made worksheets to go with the various activities and skills. Below you can see the "Antonyms & Synonyms" pocket, the "Suffixes & Prefixes" pocket, and the "Compound Words" pocket, along with some other materials he developed. My husband and I have both been invited to have lessons and complete work in his classroom. It is so fun to see how he is reflecting on and extending the learning he is experiencing at school.






All the language material pictured in this post was completed last night (Wednesday). I wrote a whole post on my other blog about another language activity he developed after school today. If you are interested, click over there to read about it. I explain a little more about Montessori education in that post. The photo below shows him stretched out on the floor working hard on developing his materials for the "math" area of his classroom. I am so proud of him and what a creative spirit he has. I hope that I can always do my best to nuture his many talents..........he is truly a treasure!!

Rhyming mittens

Another activity on our home learning shelf this month is rhyming pictures. I printed this from Kidssoup. To display it on the shelf, I used a divided wooden box from one of our Melissa & Doug toys. I think it originally had sewing cards in it. I hate to thrown these boxes out; however, I usually don't end up storing the activity in them unless they have a lid. This one was perfect for this activity.



I placed the mitten cards on one side with mini clothespins on the other.



To do this activity, lay out all the mittens for one "hand", if that makes sense. Then have your child name all the pictures on those mittens. Next, take a mitten from your "other hand" stack and match it to the mitten with its rhyming picture.



You can use the mini clothespins to clip the matching mittens together.

Snowflake counting cards

Here is another activity on our home learning shelf this month. I printed out the snowflake counting cards from Activity Village (for free!).



I placed them in a wooden bowl along with number tiles I "borrowed" from another activity we had. You could easily make your own number cards to match the snowflake cards.



To do this activity, first have your child lay out the number cards/tiles in order. Only use the ones s/he can recognize easily. Then have them count the snowflakes and match them to the correct number.



Here's a close-up view.

Snowman Alphabet activity

This post will show one of the activities I've put together for our home learning shelf this month. To be honest, since getting back to school this week, the boys haven't done anything on their shelf. However, I did take the time tonight to show this work to my 3 1/2 year old, and he enjoyed doing it with me. I'm not sure he'll choose to do it more on his own at home. So I may move it into my classroom. That way he'll still be able to do it, but more children will have access to it as well.



This is how I have it set up on our home learning shelf. The basket has 26 wooden uppercase alphabet letters. My dad made these for the boys when my oldest son was little. They are AWESOME and we are SOOOOO lucky to have them. There are also two felt pouches; one contains some snowman alphabet cards I printed from Kidssoup. The other holds initial sound picture cards that I printed from Making Learning Fun. I used some felt and rick-rack to make the little pouches. Let me know if you are interested in doing some, and I'll try to post a tutorial. They were VERY easy.



This photo shows the pouch with the snowman alphabet cards.



The basket of wooden letters.



First, I had my son lay out all the snowman letter cards in order on the rug. He had to make three rows. Then he matched the wooden letters to the ones on the cards as shown here.



This pouch holds the initial sound picture cards.



Here you can see the initial sound cards matched with the corresponding letters.



Here you can see the activity "in action" as my little boy worked on it.

Snowflake Count and Clip Cards

This is a great little seasonal counting activity I found at Making Learning Fun. You can head over there yourself and print out your own for FREE! Gotta love that! The great thing is that you can print out cards for the quantities your child is ready for all the way from 0-19. I printed out 4-12 for my 3 1/2 year old to do at home. He's done this activity once so far. I am thinking of taking it to my Montessori preschool classroom. Since he attends class there, he will still be able to do it, but then all my other students would have access to it as well.



Here is how I have it set up on our learning shelf at home. I found the little basket and wooden box at my favorite local thrift store. I seriously need to stay away from that place, but it draws me like a magnet.




Here you can see a better view of the cards. I am using the little wooden box to hold the clothespins.



To do this activity, the child counts the snowflakes on the card. Very good for practicing one-to-one correspondence.



Then they attach the clothespin over the number that represents the quantity. Great for strengthening finger muscles AND for practicing number recognition.

I had my cards laminated at a local teacher supply store. Then I used a permanent marker to make a dot on the back so the child can self-correct.

Our new learning shelf

I am excited to show off our new learning shelf. As I mentioned before, it's funny that I've never done anything like this at home before. I do try to provide lots of learning experiences and opportunities for my boys at home, but this is the first time I've actually set up something just for that purpose. This shelf is in a new location now.......it is set up on a little "stage" area we have in the corner of our computer room. This room is located right off our other main living area which is a kitchen/dining/living room combo area. This is also the spot where our Christmas tree is every year. My oldest son immediately commented on how the new location of the shelf would interfere with our tree placement. I assured him that our shelf could easily be relocated during the holidays next year. Anyway..........I'm really happy with how it turned out.
It's just been up for about 24 hours and the boys have each already selected things to do from it.



On the top shelf are two books that I'm planning to read to/with the boys this month. I have already printed off all the lapbooking materials for each book from Homeschoolshare. When we get started on those, I'll be sure to post more details. One thing I want to point out about this shelf is that I have WAY more activities on it than I would place on any shelf in my Montessori classroom. I think this is fine for the home setting since only two children will be using the activities. In a classroom setting with 20+ children using materials from many shelves, it helps to have fewer activities per shelf. This helps the children remember where they got the activity and where to return it.



Here you can see the books we'll kind of focus on the next few weeks. I am VERY open about how we do this. In other words, I'm not going to be really uptight about WHEN we read them, or whether or not we do any or all the activities. I just want to enjoy some special book experiences with the boys. That's all.



Here you can see the other activities I've placed on the shelves. I'm going to keep you in suspense about the specific activities for now and will be posting more about them over the next week or so.



I took this photo to show that we do have one Montessori-type rug for doing activities on the floor. I'm not going to be really hung-up on that either in our home setting. However, both boys are used to it from their respective Montessori classrooms, so I'm guessing it will be used some. Last night my older son used it when giving his little brother a "lesson" about one the the activities. It was very sweet to watch.

Advent Activity--Day 16--Montessori Elementary Program

Our Advent activity for Day 16 was attending my oldest son's Montessori Elementary Program. I wrote about it a little bit in the post just prior to this one. It was a really great evening. My parents went along with us which was nice. My big boy did a fantastic job reading his report on the jawless fish. He was not nervous at all about standing up and using the microphone in front of an audience, and he read his part flawlessly. We were very proud of him! It is amazing the things he is learning in the private Montessori school he attends. His program was called "A Ride Through the Eras" and it showcased what his class has been learning about the different eras of life on earth. He and his classmates truly have a much better understanding of this than any adult I know, including myself!! The older Elementary 2 class presented a program about "The Amazing Cell". Each child dressed as a part of a human body cell and presented information. Their costumes were really great and, again, their understanding of the subject matter was amazing. My husband teaches human physiology to college students and I seriously doubt they could have done better than those fourth and fifth graders at conveying the information. If you have stumbled onto this blog randomly and are interested in learning more about Montessori education, head over to my other blog, My Montessori Journey, where you can learn more about the Montessori method of education. Tonight we will be doing a fun Advent activity that I'll post about in the morning. Have a great day!!