October Montessori

This month in Montessori:

(3-year-old and 5-year-old)

Ender's shelves for this month were partly focused on his interests and partly on the themes we had in our time together. Ender turned 5 this month.

ON TOP: the basket on the left holds his Awana materials. Ender is in Sparks this year, so we have a story to read and a verse to memorize each week. The container underneath that basket is the moveable alphabet, which we use daily in our time together, and the other basket on top holds library books that he can look through or read on his own that are on the same themes we are learning about together, this month his basket holds picture books about asia, trees, the human body, and some early readers. The black card file box holds our scripture memory verses.

Second Row: The green basket in cubby #1 holds a small yellow notebook and a few writing utensils. Ender writes all kinds of things in there, but lately he has been making tons of lists. Cubby #2 is a tray with a few addition flash cards in it and several math manipulatives. Ender works the card with the manipulatives. Since math is one of his favorite subjects, this tray is used almost every day and I have to change out the cards quite often. Cubby #3 holds a floor puzzle of the continents.

Third Row: Cubby #4 holds Ender's maze book. I originally planned to change this cubby out at least twice a week to be other puzzle type books he has enjoyed in the past, but after I made the first swap he asked me to always leave the maze book "at least for awhile". Cubby #5 has his Marvel superheroes folder where he stores his favorite artwork and a pad of paper for future contributions to the folder. Ender's favorite animals reside in cubby #6- currently 2 elephants and several dinosaurs.

The cubes in the bottom row hold lincoln logs, legos and a collection of hats, glasses, scarves, ties and other dress up stuff.

Ezra's shelves are just starting to include work from the Montessori 3-6 albums, but still involve some of his favorite toys. He is 3 years and 3 months.

ON TOP: A stack of puzzles and Ezra's book basket. His book basket includes a variety of picture books that we own and also from the library. I didn't follow a particular theme this month, but I did unintentionally  include a lot of classics: Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Katy No-Pocket (Sandpiper), Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, and a few Curious George titles.

Second Row: Inside Cubby #1 I placed a piece of paper on a clipboard and I drew a large square divided into 25 boxes. I also attached a sticker sheet. Ezra loves to peel the stickers and put them inside the boxes. It's a simple and inexpensive introduction to 1-to-1 correspondence. Cubby #2 holds Ezra's cutting basket. I fill his basket with a few small pieces of construction paper with straight lines drawn on them and a few small pieces with a square or triangle drawn on them. He can cut them out on the lines or he can choose a blank piece of paper to chop up as he pleases. Cubby #3 holds Ezra's magnetic alphabet. This is just a set of kitchen magnets I bought when Ender was small, and because they are contained in a metal pan all he has to do is turn the pan upside down for a quick magnetic surface. Currently he has the letters for his name plus a few other letters he knows in the box. We add letters as he learns what they are called or what sound they make.

Third Row: In cubby #4 you'll find the pink tower. Ezra started with this work this month and at first I only included the 5 biggest blocks. Now that he knows how to complete the work he progressed to having all of the blocks in his cubby. I also include a mat in that cubby to remind him that it is work to be done on the floor. Cubby #5 and #6 have changed out frequently this month. The picture above shows a shape puzzle and a block puzzle, but other work in the place of these cubes has included his maze book, a farm play set and buttoning work.

The cubes in the bottom row hold all his animals, the train set and the duplo blocks.