Our Adventures with Parts of A Flower (with links to freebies!)

First thing in the morning, we notice our bulb has finally flowered!!  Everybody gently touches it.  It is so beautiful, it was almost glittering with new flower sheen.  They were waiting for this day, because once it bloomed, I had promised to take out the Amaryllis puzzle and cursive parts cards.  They were full of anticipation!

A tiny finger points out the stamen

The first puzzle customer

Bean immediately traces the pieces and begins labeling the parts using the chart on the wall.  Links to that chart below.

Pumpkin builds the puzzle outside the frame of the puzzle (just like big sis did).

Parts of a Flower, cursive cards.

Bean poses for me, as she shows off her cursive reading skills.

Click here for free cards, control charts, and felt templates seen above.  



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Montessori, Taken Outside

I have been doing a lot of observing lately, trying to figure out what makes my three little girls who they are, to get a good picture of what they want from their time here at home. So far, it looks like a lot of sensorial, practical life, math, language, and nature.  

Our New England late Fall and Early Winter has been very mild, so we are spending amazing amounts of time outside. This is where I'm learning a lot from them.

The first thing I'm learning is this (and I should've known!):  they do not need play equipment.  Right before the twins were born, we moved to a new neighborhood, and as fast as the houses went up, play sets when up.  We joined in without thinking.  It barely gets touched, but here's what does......natural items.  They join together in an effort to move large piles of rocks, from one end of the yard to another.  They moved rocks yesterday for an hour straight, and them put them all back like good little Montessorians.  I kept myself busy outside, so they didn't rely on me for entertainment (I read a book).  I watched one of my three-year-olds  carry tiny pebbles inside clam shells, while the others were pretending to cook mud,- transfer them from one play dump truck to the other.  She pushed that little truck all around that day, long enough for me to finish a whole chapter.  Then, she decided to let them go down the slide.............at least they used the playset :)

My work now is to provide more natural items in our yard.  That should be easy, since we LOVE to collect things on nature walks!

Collecting, sorting, and transferring pebbles outside.  This is their spontaneous playing, nothing I made!

Nature's best tool, an old stick.

Pumpkin experiments with wheels on an incline.  "Bye, pebbles!"

Girls love trucks, too.  This one is carrying precious cargo, pebbles.




For more images of outdoor natural playscapes, see a Pinterest board I created called Outdoor Spaces.

Mom Bloggers Talk Montessori

This is very exciting!  Deb Chitwood and John Bowman have collected a bunch of ideas from Mom Bloggers for Montessori, and they included this blog!  Click the button for a free ebook!!

What a wonderful collection of Moms who love Montessori :)

Montessori Monday: Our Montessori Everyday

Sometimes I giggle about this blog, because we are so different:  we have a Montessori home, with Montessori Philosophy and Materials available 24/7 for traditionally schooled children.  So, the work we do is a little different than a Montessori School or a Homeschool.  We afterschool?  Is that a word?  I guess so!!  

Water Transferring with Eye Dropper, this is SO challenging.  Great for 5 year olds.

Pumpkin exploring some Pink Tower & Brown Stair Extensions

After baking, we used our mortar and pestle for crushing egg shells.  They LOVED this!

Crushing Eggs and Filling Muffin Tins with batter.

Bean comes home from a FULL DAY at K and still wants to work!  This is her sensitive period for writing, and reading.  She's taking full advantage of the movable alphabet.

Bean spelled all types of things, with objects and through her imagination.  After all that work, she still wanted to write it all down.

Bead Transferring by hand, sorting by color.  Perfect for Peanut, age 3.

I took Bean to a Waldorf Faire, where you could Hug A Bunny.  She spent the day there, this photo is hanging next to her bed.  She really fell in love with that bunny.  Between the bunny and the Gnome cave, we almost had a convert!  We left with a car full of fairy treats, covered in bunny fur.  

Bean with her 3 part matching cards for color words.  An extension of  the Color Boxes.

I'd like to link to Mommy Moment, where I've made two posts on Mondays.  Please visit!  Rainbow Name and A Look At Practical Life Through Pictures

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Montessori Monday: Picky Eater Giveaway & Our Work at Home

I have been reviewing book lately, and my most recent review was for Elizabeth Pantley, of the great No-Cry Solution parenting books.  She kindly sent me an extra copy to share with one of my blog readers.  Simply comment below and follow this blog on either Facebook, Twitter, or Google Friend Connect to enter.  Each daily comment will be counted in the random drawing, scheduled on Sunday, October 31 at 8pm.  The book is amazing, and it has some healthy recipes for children to create--- think Food Prep, Montessorians!  For more interest on the book, The No-Cry Picky Eater Solution, see my recent review here.

And onto my little ones...

This week was back to normal, back to health-  full of good work and constant art.  We have a variety of art materials available at any time, for any purpose.  It has become a place of retreat, our little den full of child treasures.  With a few rainy days, we found ourselves snuggling, reading a ton of books, and having some Montessori time.  

Bean is in Kindergarten for a full day, so many times it's just the twins and I until 3pm, and she'll work with us until dinnertime.  When she gets home, all she wants to do it write and color.  Her journal is her top pick!  

The girls are all settled into their school schedule, so our afternoons are becoming even more purposeful.   Sometimes it's just a nap, sometimes it comes as the fun pictured below.  

Peanut works with the Metal Insets, drawing lines from top to bottom.  

A wild little pose with her Yellow and Red Knobless Cylinders

Watercolors!

After our nature walk, the girls used some interesting leaves and pine needles to rub with crayons and paint over with watercolor.  Very seasonal and fun!

We have the best luck rubbing leaves (and sandpaper letters/sandpaper numerals) with Stockmar block crayons.  

The twins brought me marshmallows (pretend, we know they are mushrooms).

"My mushroom is so cute"


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Big Flower Arranging Day

Today we went to our local farm and picked our own flowers!  It was so hot, but very fun.  The girls got to choose their own flowers, straight from the Earth, to create their own arrangements.  Most of them were given to our neighbor for her birthday, but we did make one for our living room.  

Our Flower Arranging Activity on the shelf.  Tray, scissors, long and uncut fresh flowers.  Off to the side we have a collection of vases and vessels for arranging.  We picked so many today, some of our pouring vessels were used for flowers :)

This arrangement was made by Peanut, age 3.  It really cheers our living room up!

Be sure to check out our flower pressing activity, an extension on flower arranging, at Mommy Moment  

First Week in Summer

On the 21st, we celebrated the solstice by pushing back our bedtimes to reflect the daylight (and vacation). We took a walk around the sun that ended in June, to signify the change of seasons.  And, there was a celebration treat- child-made ice cream sundaes!

Bean is sorting objects into their initial sound pockets.  It was 'easy peasey' for her, but I think she likes to show her sisters what she knows.    Later, she gave them lessons with it.  She brought over the lowercase sandpaper letters for back up.  

Bean is in the middle of a writing explosion.  This time last year, I was teaching her to write her name and now she is interested in forming her letters "just so".  She is in the process of addressing her own birthday invitations!  She practices with the sand tray, sandpaper letters, chalkboards, and with pencil and paper.  Soon, she will be ready to learn to print on lines.  She is starting cursive with me this summer, her name is already mastered :)

I still can't believe it, I bought Bob Books.  Ick.  The stories are not so great, so we'll use it as just a practice in sounding out words in order.  Here she is reading to her little sisters, who are very forgiving when she needs to make up a more exciting story than what is written!  

Waiting for Wings

We are so very patient, waiting for our butterflies to emerge! The girls are into butterflies, and learning their names. Today outside, Bean yelled, "A swallowtail!"

Peanut and Pumpkin are gearing up for their Hungry Caterpillar Birthday Party. They love holding the models of the Butterfly Lifecycle. Our little friends hiding in their chrysalises have a new home, right at eye level for observation.

Any day now........tick tock.....

Chrysalis!

I really do love this process as much as they do!

My First Waldorf Swap

I made a regional nature/treasure baskets for the swap at One Hook Wonder. It's like a Wampanoag nature postcard, collected at the beach. I hope the recipients have fun making beadwork, pinch pots, and holding real wampum!