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Monday, February 1, 2010

Montessori Monday

"The adult aught never to mold the child after himself, but should leave him alone and work always from the deepest comprehension of the child himself."
~ Maria Montessori

Practical Life:Pouring macaroni.

Spooning Mung beans.

Transferring pom-poms into an ice tray using a strawberry huller. James really liked this work and completed it many times.

Cutting paper continues to be a challenge. James simply has little to no interest in it.

Open and close work - always a favorite, so I keep this out nearly every week. I change the objects, however. And I always put a little "surprise" (shells, stones, buttons) inside of each object.

Whisking eggs for our chocolate muffins and sorting grapes for a snack. James has been independent for quite some time now when it comes to retrieving and making his own snacks. I keep a shelf on the inside of the fridge just for his healthy snacks. His bowls, cups, spoons, etc. are kept low in a cupboard so he can help himself. We've recently had to implement one little rule - he must ask permission to open the fridge door. We've had several... "situations" occur that made us think this a wise decision. (picture: 3am snacking, a thawing fridge, and several once bitten apples decorating the kitchen.) Oh and this:
sneaky little chocolate lover! :)

Sensorial:Lo and behold the Pink Tower was used this week! James came up with his own extension and I must say I was really impressed with it! Oh and on a funny side note, I recently received a Montessori materials catalog in the mail and on the cover is a photo of the Pink Tower. James saw it and said, "Oh it's a beautiful Pink Tower!". :)

Grace & Courtesy:
James' kind and considerate personality has been really shining through lately. He's taken to calling everything "sweet" or "cute". The other day he said to Paul, "Dada, you're so sweet!". :) He's also really into saying things are either "beautiful" or "delicious". It's wonderful to hear him using big words like that. And now he's also saying "thank you" as a reflex every time he receives something - we are SO pleased about this!

Other activities: I've been meaning to do the magnetic vs. non-magnetic lesson for quite a while now. Even though James didn't separate the items, he really enjoyed using the magnet to see which items would stick and which wouldn't.

I recently rearranged James' reading area. The 'after' picture is on the right. We like this so much better and I've noticed James reading on his own more often.

Click the button to the left for more Montessori fun! And, check out my Tot School post to see what else we did this past week.



16 comments:

  1. Love the activities you and James did this week. The spooning looks like so much fun! Yay for playing with the pink tower.

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  2. Going out on a really big limb here, but I am a righty that can only cut with my left hand! My mom was the wise one who figured that out and finally I was successful. I think they were going to fail me from preschool because I could not cut. From pictures, it looks like he is a righty as well, but you never know. Or maybe he simply isn't interested yet....I am pretty sure Sophie is a lefty, but my husband and I are both right handed so we shall see.

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  3. Narrowing down the choices on the reading shelf is a great idea! We have the magnet activity on our list to do soon, I like the way you layed yours out. Too funny about the pink tower!

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  4. Great activities Mari-Ann - thanks for sharing your lovely ideas with us :-)

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  5. For the cutting, you might try having him snip beads from the mardi gras-type necklaces; Short Pants always enjoys that, and it seems to be easier than cutting paper. Just an idea!

    Love the new book area too - we've sorted out a lot of our books lately as well and it really seems to encourage more reading around here too!

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  6. What fantastic ideas!
    You've got a great blog, AND a beautiful son!
    I'm going to add your button to my blog!
    Linda

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  7. This is great so glad you stopped by. My daughter goes to a Montessori school and we love it!

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  8. My little one has just started "reading" to herself independently too!! It's so cute when I catch her sitting on the floor of her bedroom prattling away, makng up stories to match the pictures! She's very inventive!! :o)

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  9. I love your practical life activities and James eating the chocolate is so funny!!

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  10. So Glad your back my "bloggy" friend!!. So great activities!! (like always!!) you know that I have the same situation with my princess, she's 3 1/2 and she don't show any interest on cutting paper!!! nothing, I bring her a Kitty's scissors (her favorite)!!, pinks, yellows, blues, you name it... but nothing!!. Anyway, love your activites!!!

    Big Hugs from Puerto Rico!!!!

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  11. I love the look of his bookshelf - it's very inviting. What did you do with all the books? And do you have a rotation plan? I'd love to do the same thing, but I just know I wouldn't rotate them on a regular basis, or M would want every book but the ones displayed (he has every single item he owns memorized). I love hearing how other moms rotate things and make it work.

    The picture of him whisking the egg is so cute and so grown up! Good for him - he is obviously thriving with your montessori environment!

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  12. We have a half thawing fridge problem here sometimes as well!
    Love your magnet activity, and will definitely have to steal that one from you!
    So glad to hear that James is taking an interest in the Pink Tower! :)

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  13. What wonderful activities! I LOVE the magnetic/non-magnetic work. I've been wanting to try it with Maddie but haven't set it up. I really like how you used the plate. Such great uses for things!!

    And, I totally had to laugh out loud about the 3am snacking or thawing fridge! Ha! Maddie also MUST ask before accessing any snacks because my little hoarder was slowly building a granola bar and raisins stash in the dollhouse kitchen in her bedroom. :)

    Gosh, I can NOT figure out how to have my email available... Any advice? But, here's my email:
    MsJill81 (at) hotmail (dot) com

    Talk to you soon!
    -Jill

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  14. I did the same thing with our books a couple of weeks ago. It is wonderful. I took pictures of it but have not had a chance to blog about it yet.

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  15. I am giggling about that little chocolate face! You are brave, I have to admit I do anything I can to keep my kids OUT of our refrigerator!! Great job, you are so inspiring.

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  16. great post! I first taught Eden to cut using playdough. I would roll it like a snake and let her cut it into pieces. She loved it especially when the big kids had paper to cut.. she now uses the scissors as good as they do (sometimes even better).

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Cheers, Mari-Ann :)