Category: Practical Life

Coins and Presidents

Coins and Presidents

Just a quickie, but I wanted to share a couple of thoughts and ideas with you…

Talk with the children about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. This is a good time to also talk about money and have a Penny Polishing work in Practical Life. Lemon juice and salt work great to make pennies shine!

We read about coins and some of the presidents that can be found on them. We also looked at which president is found on the dollar bill. The children can choose to make a coin booklet.

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Children Working

Children Working

Sometimes i like to go around the room and explore with the children what works on the shelf they chose. Of course, not everyone can do the lesson work from Circle Time, so it is important to have the shelves filled with works that reinforce those areas of the classroom like Geography, Botany, Math, Language, Practical Life, etc. It is amazing how, in the Montessori environment, the children are given these opportunities and they are allowed to explore to their hearts content. Many from traditional schools don’t understand this methodology because they are not used to relinquishing their perceived control over the childs progress. However, for us, we see that this allows them to blossom within the controlled environment of works we provide. One student may have interest for only a half-hour, while another may take an entire day, and return to it the next day. The child is 100% engaged and retains the lessons learned. I love it!

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Classroom Activities

Classroom Activities

Every month is filled with many activities. While one child might be working on the activity of the Morning Circle lesson, others find their interest on the shelves in many different forms. It is always good to have your activity trays neatly organized and available. I like shelving that allows the children easy access so they can see the activities, and I organize them according to their category.

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Color Mixing

Color Mixing

The youngest children often come to school knowing the names of many colors or very few. Montessori color boxes are used to introduce colors to the children. A variety of activities and songs are also a fun way to help children learn colors. Hap Palmer and Frank Leto both have great songs about colors, which can be easily be found online.

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