Great Site!

I came across this blog today, everything on there is very creative! I will definitely be making this Ladybug Math work this spring! 

  http://countingcoconuts.blogspot.com/2011/04/ladybug-math.html

Parts of a Flower

Labeling parts of a Flower. I cut this out of felt, which was purchased from Micheals for .29 cents a piece.

I have the children build the scene and then label each part. Control of error is a picture of it completed.

We are studying our christian holiday, Christmas now :)

 I found this Christmas tree and bulbs at Target. I put it on the shelf as a 'Dressing the Christmas Tree' activity. The children LOVE this work. One child told me that she felt like mommy :)

I made this Christmas tree activity from felt pieces. This is just a making a Christmas tree, the children enjoy this. For all my activities I have taken pictures and placed them on the tray as the control of error.

Making a wreath, this is pretty simple. I also made it out of felt. I purchased the felt at Micheals for twenty-nine cents each and I had plenty left over.

I found this on the internet and now I don't remember where :( . We are going to make this in class today with our left over pumpkins! I found one that survived and I remembered that I saw this picture over a month again. I'm excited to see how it works out for us! The instructions I remember are: cut the top off, take out most of the insides but leaving a few seeds, place potting soil inside and water. After a few weeks the seeds will start to show and then you have a pumpkin patch. What a great idea!

Hanukkah

We like to take the month of December to learn about how other cultures celebrate the holidays. This week we are learning about the Jewish holiday, Hanukkah.  Hanukkah really begins on December 20th and ends at sunset on December 28th. Here are a few different things we are doing already in class:


Ms. Robin made the activity of creating the Star of David. We used a triangle from old set of metal insets, she traced it the right way then turned it upside down. The children love being ale to use this work. 

Here are the books we read at line time. Ms. Robin was also able to find a few movies on Hanukkah from the library. 

This is an old Menorah we have had for years, I believe we were able to find it at Target. The candles are a little sad looking but it was still a hit at the line presentation! We will be lighting a candle each day, as we learn about Hanukkah.

This is a table Ms. Robin set up for the children to use during work time, so that they can explore the items we presented at line. 

A Menorah activity on the shelf.

You will need a color sheet of a Menorah*, glitter for the flame, paint brush, a sponge, small pieces of tissue paper, and watered down glue or Sta-Flo (liquid starch).
 

 To find color page of anything, just google "menorah color page" and click on images and you will be surprised what you will find to use!

I will post more as we do our curriculum. Here is a helpful website: 

http://www.chabad.org/kids/article_cdo/aid/354748/jewish/Chanukah.htm

Practical Life Holiday Work

I tried to use seasonal colors around our classroom. Here are a few things we did for the Practical Life area.

Dry pouring with pom-poms, I found these at Targets dollar section. Cups are from Michaels from last year.

Spooning Christmas bulbs (Target dollar section) The red bowls are from the Dollar Tree.

This is small tonging. Ms. Sunshine found this Snowman that was a Tic-Tac-Toe game that we made into tonging.

Large Tonging with Christmas bows and buckets from Target.

Montessorians

 Holidays Activities

I have this little dish drying rack at Wal-Mart for around $6.00 dollars. The ribbon at Target in their dollar section. The children LOVE this lacing work and the best part is you can just switch out the ribbon to change it up!

I made this work last week and it works great for whole season! I used card stock, a black sharpe, and lamination to cover it. I went to Michaels and found the snowflakes for $2.00 dollars. This works like cards and counter work.

This is a craft that one of our teacher came up with and the children loved it!  We have it on the shelf and allow the children to make it on their own.

This is something I made as a child and I thought that the children could do it as craft. I have googly eyes in one baby food jar, little noses in the other, and I place washable paint in the small paint bottle. I used card stock to put a black dot, two wonderfully drawn eyes :), and a brown square on for a control sheet. I have the children place the paint on  the square so they know how much to measure out.

This is making a bracelet, I do allow the children to take them home.

 This is the control sheet for the bracelets, this way the children know how many bells and pipe cleaners, they are allowed to use.

Someone told me about this craft a long time ago. they are to take the two pipe cleaners and twist them together to make a Candy Cane. I also allow them to take these home.

I found this wreath at Michaels in a package for under $3.00 dollars, The ribbon and bulbs in Targets dollar section. The bulbs were originally for flower arrangements but  I cut them down to use for this.

This is just a wrapping the wreath activity, the children really love using this work. It is created out of a piece of cardboard and a piece of thick wired ribbon.

This week I have been working on this project. I used metal insets to create different winter pictures. I will then put them on a different colored backgrounds and laminate them. These will be booklets (second picture) showing the child how to create their own picture. I will have each of these in a basket next to the metal inset table. I created the same project for Easter eggs and the children went crazy of them, so I know these will be a huge hit when I'm done!  

More to follow.....