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Tulips with their heads bowed down in prayer.
A four year old student doing flower arranging work using one of the tulips above.
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Math work is a constant in my classroom.
Multiplication with the stamp game.
Division with the stamp game.
She is checking her Dot Game answer (the paper in front of her) by doing the same equation with the large bead frame (someone else was using the small bead frame).
The student below was so excited that I gave her an addition problem that included numbers in the millions.
She went to work and had the correct answer just a few minutes later.
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Introduction to addition via the cards and bead material.
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The Money Exchange Game
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Blindfolded work
Doing the binomial cube with a blindfold on.
The mystery bag with objects.
The mystery bag with coins.
Identifying coins while wearing a blindfold.
Blindfold work with the fabrics.
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Shoe polishing work.
Metal polishing work.
Learning to use an eyedropper work.
My youngest student carefully dissecting a tulip.
Fetching and pairing chopsticks, which were purchased during the head of our school's recent trip to China.
Such focused work with the knobless cylinders.
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Expression / Art / Visual Literacy
I cut out images from magazines and then simply used a small piece of each image for this project. I glued the small pieces onto large white paper. I then invited my students to pick one of those and to complete the picture. I did this work with seniors at The Bridge and had the same wonderful results. This work is about bringing work to a conclusion, completing a composition and it is an introductory to visual literacy - narrative construction via pictorial compositions.
The above picture was done by a six year old. The one below was done by a four year old.
The student that completed the eagle image is a frequent user of the bird watching basket.
The last example (below) of this work was done by a three year old.
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Land form work / illustrations.
Introduction to the layers/ strata of the Earth
Expression and response to multiple lessons on land forms and the geometric solids.
A three year old's lake / island work (below).
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Understanding wind / breath as a force via catamaran constructions and races.
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The moveable alphabet and phonetic word / sentence construction.
Her first lesson with the moveable alphabet. We are replacing the print moveable alphabet with the cursive one for the next school year. Cursive sandpaper letters are already out and on the shelf next to the print ones. Both will remain until I give lessons which will reveal that each set represents the same sounds and are in fact the same letters - such as the lessons one gives to show the relationship between the continent map and the globe.
I love his Jackson Pollock-like movements around the canvas/work rug on which he is piecing together his composition of words.
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The geometry of birds.
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Snack outdoors on the front playground.
He was describing to me how narrow he wanted the tip of his sand mountain to be.
Sitting next to these two, I heard the girl in the green coat and yellow boots say, "Hello worm." Then the other, older child, came and scooped up the worm, turned and placed it in the soil behind her.
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Yoga / Walking on the line with the bell / Games -
Indoor Recess
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Yoga - Meditation
Walking on the line with the bell.
Indoor recess.
Musical chairs.
Of course, I played too.
Beauty - Wonderment
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Geometry - Fractions - The Cosmic Universe
"And so..." he explained to me.
Below - Clay hemispheres.
Fractions inverted to create a dome.
Where fractions, geometry and the metal insets meet.
"You do know that the top of this is a sphere?" she asked me.
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The children preparing Friday's community lunch.
The children serving their fellow students.
It's was all good...so very good!
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The Upstairs Classroom.
Toad Hill Montessori School
The month of April was a busy month. So much more work was done then shown above, but this is a good sampling of that work. May will be an exciting time here at Toad Hill, as will June.
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Me on the front stoop giving one of my students a little hug time.
