Montessori Madness ~ Owl School

Posted on 19/04/2016 by Momma Jo

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Pixie LOVES owls, just like her Momma. This month, we have been working on Owl themed Preschool printables I have found online.

Pixie has loved the variety of goodies I have prepared for her. Her favourite, so far, being the mask. Go figure.
Owl School

The following printables have been used for this month’s work:
You’re a Whoot! with printables from Hey Mommy, Chocolate Milk

The following items are available as free downloads:
Thinking skills
Fill in with colors
Letter Recognition
Complete the patterns
Counting on owls
Maze
O is for Owl writing sheet
Circle the different item
Math skills
Prewriting practice

Owl Preschool Pack from LittleMonkeyPrintables
Owl School
Included in this download, you will find 17 activities:

memory game
shape matching
count and clip cards
coloring page
prewriting page
ten part puzzle
size sequencing
word builders
owl fact cards
finish the pattern page
owl magnet/dot page
two Bible verses
5 Little Owls poem
scissors skills
roll & graph activity
handwriting page (O,o)
circle the smallest

5 Little Owls Printable Puzzle from Growing in Pre K and K
Owl School
Printable Five Little Owls Number Sequencing Puzzle 1-5

Letter Tumble from PreKinders
Owl School
This owl letter tumble game can be used to practice matching uppercase to uppercase letters, lowercase to lowercase letters, or uppercase to lowercase letters.

OWL Numbers FREE from KidSparkz
Owl School
OWL Numbers FREE

This is a set of number cards with an owl theme, 0-10. Three cards for each number – the number, a ten-frame representation, and the number word. Use for recognition, sequence, memory games, hiding and finding games, and of course, matching.

from Making Learning Fun
Owl School
Have the children put the paper on a cookie sheet. Have the children complete the picture by putting a magnet in each circle. Some people use pompoms or bingo markers with them. This activity is designed to promote one to one correspondence and letter recognition.

Lacing Cards with Owls from Making Learning Fun
Owl School
Using a small hole punch, punch holes at the dots. Have the children lace yarn through the holes.

Owl Shape Craft from Making Learning Fun
Owl School
You can have the children glue them to dark blue construction paper as a reminder to the children that owls are nocturnal. You could also give the children construction paper scraps
and let the children add to seen. An alternative idea is to cut patterns for the owl pieces,
and have the children trace, cut and assemble.

O-owl writing sheet from Making Learning Fun
Owl School

Five Little Owls from DLTK
Owl School
by Leanne Guenther – it’s the same idea as all the other “Five Little ____” nursery rhymes (pumpkins, snowflakes, chickens, monkeys, etc) so it isn’t terribly original. They’re fairly simple to write but some of them start to be a bit repetitive (which is fine for preschoolers!) because there are only so many things that rhyme with four, three, two, one and none.

Owl Mask from First Palette
Owl School

Super cute printable owl craft (choose pink or blue) from Kids Activities Blog
Owl School
Let imagination run wild when creating owls – pull out the leftover craft supplies because owls may need feathers, pom poms or to be painted like a rainbow!

Printable Preschool Set: Owlette from Learn Create Love
Owl School
This set includes the following:

Which Owl Is Different – a 4 card set in which your child has to find and circle the owl that is different. You can use this sheet as a whole, or laminate, cut out each card, hole punch the corner, and stick a key ring through it to keep it as a card set.
How Many Owls? (3 pages) – A fun set of cards for your child to practice counting and writing numbers. I laminated, cut out, hole-punched, and stuck a key ring through our set.
Stacking Cards – Laminate and cut out, then have your child arrange in order from largest to smallest or vice versa… or, of course, stack! =)
Line Tracing – Help Owlette get to her friend by tracing the lines provided.

Owl Patterning from Rachel Lynn
Owl School
This a quick and cute patterning activity. It will require a keen eye by the kiddos since all of the pictures are owls. They will have to pay attention to details!

Montessori Madness ~ Valentine’s Day Preschool Trays

Posted on 08/02/2016 by Momma Jo

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Wow, its been quite some time since I’ve written of our Montessori adventures! Here is a sneak peak of Pixie’s Valentine’s Day Preschool TraysPreschool Trays this week.

I printed off two Preschool Packs from Over the Big Moon and A Teaching Mommy

I printed all the pages of both packs to keep Pixie occupied for the duration of the week, and possibly longer (totally dependent on her level of interest and how much work she wants to do at the time, of course) and popped into a file folder. I loved the cover of the Valentine’s day Pack from Over the Big Moon so much that I decided to use it on the cover of the file folder to make it easier for Pixie to identify. She will often grab a file folder with her previous themes and redo some of the activities.

Her trays today have the following printables available:

Valentine’s Day Spelling from Over the Big Moon. This particular activity requires Scrabble like tiles, we unfortunately don’t have any she can used (we have a collectors Scrabble set, so that’s a no go), so I just printed off two sets of the recommended tiles they suggested on the original file.

V is for Valentine Do-a-dot painting from Over the Big Moon. Pixie L.O.V.E.S. her dot painters and this page excited her to no end when she saw it come out of the printer.

What comes next worksheet from Over the Big Moon. I cut out the pictures for Pixie to glue onto the worksheet. I’ll be letting her cut them out from now on. Some scissor practice won’t hurt.

Letter Hh sorting from A Teaching Mommy. Here she sorts the capital from the lower case letters into the appropriate box.

In addition to the activities above, we’ll be using our new Spielgaben 4.0 set! (Post on all our Spielgaben fun coming soon!)

12 Months of Montessori Learning 2015 Post Round Up

Posted on 25/01/2016 by Momma Jo

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January: Practical Life

February: Geography
World - Control Maps, Masters and Labels

March: Language Arts

April: Botany

May: Sensorial

June: Zoology

July: Music
Fancy-Shaker-Eggs_thumb

August: Montessori Spaces

September: Mathematics

October: Biology

November: History

December: Fine Arts

12 Months of Montessori Learning ~ December: Fine Arts

Posted on 28/12/2015 by Momma Jo

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Montessori-Inspired Art Appreciation from Living Montessori Now

Montessori principles encourage parents to expose children to fine art from birth on. Dr. Montessori wanted parents and teachers to provide famous artists’ works hung at eye level for the child to learn a natural appreciation of art. A Montessori home or classroom is specially prepared to bring order and beauty into the child’s environment as well as give opportunities for children to enjoy their own individual art expression…

Free Downloads: Montessori Art Cards & Art Appreciation from Montessori on a Budget

Art cards are a staple of the Montessori classroom and art appreciation. You can make your own three-part art cards by printing out two sets of cards for matching, one set will need to be labeled, one set will need to be mute. Lastly, you need to make a set of labels for the mute cards. Below are my 10 recommended resources for art cards and art appreciation…

Art from Montessori School of Raleigh

Drawing Connections: Music Inspired Art from Playful Learning

As a musician and someone who deals in the visual arts, it’s not hard for me to draw a natural connection between music and art. Both deal in the same abstract qualities-texture, balance, form, design, harmony, line and emotion-albeit in very different ways. Both forms of expression seem to tap into the same space in the mind and can influence one another in a beautiful way when used together…

Exploring Great Artists :: complete art lesson plans from Nurture Store

Our Exploring Great Artists ebooks give you everything you need to create your own colorful units to study art at home or in your classroom. Each volume features a broad range of artists, creative art techniques, and interesting ideas for materials to explore…

13 Art and Math Projects for Kids from The Art Curator for Kids

It’s hard to teach art without connecting it with other disciplines, because art is always with us. It is everywhere! Check out these 13 art and math projects from awesome education bloggers! And, be sure to scroll down to the end of the post to find a list of books on the topic…

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12 Months of Montessori Learning Posts:
January: Practical Life
February: Geography
March: Language Arts
April: Botany
May: Sensorial
June: Zoology
July: Music
August: Montessori Spaces
September: Mathematics
October: Biology
November: History

12 Months of Montessori Learning ~ November: History

Posted on 30/11/2015 by Momma Jo

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Affordable History Resources for a Montessori Environment from Montessori on a Budget

In a nutshell, history is first introduced in a Montessori environment by using a time line: a long strip of paper or card stock that rolls across the floor. You then place arrows with the date, definition cards, and pictures on the time line…

History Materials from Montessori Materials

Here are a few Montessori History resources.

The History of The Fundamental Needs of Humans (Horizontal Series) from The Albanesi Educational Center

The History of The Fundamental Needs of Humans (2013 Edition – now sold LAMINATED) consists of 11 sets of material and includes 11 full-color control booklets. Each set includes six full color picture cards, six story cards, and 6 labels. Pictures and story cards measure 5.5″ x 5.5″. Each set is stored in custom-designed plastic pocket. The exercises correspond to the study of the six major historic periods of human development in Western Civilization: Prehistory, Egyptian, Greek, Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Modern Time. The Material Needs included are: Shelter, Clothing, Transportation (Land and Water), Nutrition, Physical Health, Defense, and Communication. The Spiritual Needs included are: Social Acceptance, Art, Religion and Philosophy. A custom made wooden Box for The History of The Fundamental Needs of Humans is available for purchase. The History of The Fundamental Needs of Humans (CME Notes) are available for purchase.

The History of The Fundamental Needs of Humans (Vertical Series) from The Albanesi Educational Center

Dr. Montessori’s study of the Fundamental Needs of Humans depicts how the most basic needs of humans were met in each major period of Western history. The HORIZONTAL STUDY of the Fundamental Needs of Humans focuses on HOW A PARTICULAR NEED WAS MET, such as shelter, in each of the six major periods of history. Students can easily observe the progression of human innovation throughout history. Dr. Montessori also developed an important variation on this material which she called the VERTICAL STUDY of the Fundamental Needs of Humans. In the Vertical Study, the focus of the exercises is on how the most basic needs were met in A PARTICULAR PERIOD OF HISTORY, such as in the Classical Age of Greece. Therefore, in the Vertical Study, the student observes the conditions of human life as experienced within each specific time frame. Prior to the development of this new Albanesi material, teachers who chose to present the Vertical Study of The Fundamental Needs of Humans had to sort, select, and remove Pictures & Story cards from each of the 11 basic sets of exercises and reorganize them in order to illustrate how the fundamental needs were met in each of the six time periods. The removal of cards made it difficult for other students to use the material for the Horizontal Study simultaneously. The efficiency and organization of the Montessori classroom is greatly enhanced when the new Vertical Study material is provided. This set for the Vertical study of the Fundamental Needs of Humans includes a total of six sets of exercises and six full-color Control Booklets: one exercise for each of the major periods of Western Civilization (Prehistory, Egyptian, Greek, Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Modern Time. Each individual set consists of eleven 5.5” x 5.5” color picture cards, eleven 5.5” x 5.5” story cards, and 11 labels for matching and matching Control Booklet. Each exercise is stored in colorful, custom-designed plastic pocket.

U.S. History – Advanced Elementary (2013 Edition) from The Albanesi Educational Center

U.S. History – Advanced Elementary (2013 Edition). This material is suitable for students ages 9-12+ (grades 5-8 and up). It consists of 71 digitally printed Picture Cards,* 71 Story Cards and 71 Labels to match. A vinyl Time Line is now included (T-101-USA). The picture cards begin with the migration of humans across the Bering Strait from Asia to North America and conclude with the Obama Presidency. Nine spiral-bound Control Booklets are also included. To isolate difficulty, students may focus on one set of pictures, stories and labels at a time. * 5.5″ x 5.5″ Light Box Compatible Pictures. Essential Coordinated Materials (Sold Separately).

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12 Months of Montessori Learning Posts:
January: Practical Life
February: Geography
March: Language Arts
April: Botany
May: Sensorial
June: Zoology
July: Music
Montessori Spaces
September: Mathematics
October: Biology

12 Months of Montessori Learning ~ October: Biology

Posted on 26/10/2015 by Momma Jo

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Biological Science
The interest in nature is a natural thing in every human being since the beginning of time. Language can be used as a pathway to the science of biology. Children have a great, natural interest in living things and biology is the study of living organisms, plants and animals. This is an area in which it is a pure joy in following the child’s natural interest. The child is naturally fascinated by “real and living things”.

There are two major areas of biology. The first is zoology, which is the scientific study of animals, their structure, physiology, classification, and distribution. The second is botany, which is the study of the classification of plants, their physiology, their structure, their ecology, distribution and economic importance.

In the Elementary class, the children will delve more deeply into these different groups and sub-groups of biology but for the Montessori Primary class, the child is only taught biology as in introduction and to have the awareness of the living organisms in our world.

The young child is taught the structure of plants and the distribution on a geographic level. The child always deals with the real object first, before moving to cards or to the abstract thing. Therefore, the directress should bring in as many different living things as possible. This allows for “real things” to be explored. A garden should ideally be part of every classroom. If not, the directress must make a special effort to bring in as much of nature as possible into the classroom.

All of these experiences are given on the oral level first. The information gained can be greatly enriched once the child is at the reading level.

Biology is a learning process for the directress as well. She will be guided each year by the child’s interests and must create material to follow these interests.

Source

This excerpt from “At Home in Nature: Biology in the Montessori Classroom” by Montessorian Sanford Jones shows teachers how to build a raised flower garden bed with their students. It also includes how to arrange “going out” experiences, implement the use of the Botany Cabinet, select plants and pets for the classroom, set up the “Time Line of Life shelves (Elementary), build an outdoor herb, prepare healthy foods at school and at home, conduct nature walks, recycle, and compost.

Montessori Biology — Birth to Age Twelve from Michael Olaf

Biology for 0-3, 3-6 and 6-12