August 21, 2013

Princess Theme School

Stephanie Homeschooling, Montessori Work Day, Trays 4 Comments

So…if you have popped by here lately, you may have noticed a million changed happening all day! 🙂 I am still trying to figure this web design thing out and once I do it will be great! However, we are not there yet! So please bear with me! I am trying to keep all the basics in place to make this easy. But if you have something that you would like me to include, please let me know! Since you are the visiting and navigating, you should have a say!

Now on to more fun things! my little sister is three and this year my mom is starting some theme work for her each month! So I of course thought that I could help out! You who have been following along with me for a while knows that I love to make Montessori inspired themed trays of work! So I brought out a theme set we did a couple of years ago and I added some fun elements to it! So I thought I would share the tray with you in case you have a little girl who would love some of this fun too! I was able to use some printables and create some work that still holds true to the Montessori principles. The Printable kit is free from 1+1+1=1! Here is what we have on the shelf!

Princess Play dough
(Purple and sparkly with these cookies cutters I had)!

Cards and Counters

Reading and Matching

Color by number

Pouring in a Goblet

Princess and Not Princess Sorting

Princess Three part Cards
(These are more reading practice then educational. We used them for memory match too)

Finish the Pattern

Scrubbing Glass Slipper

Spooning Fairy Dust

Transferring Crowns
(These were vintage glass decorations that were my grandma’s. Aren’t they fun?)

So this is how I was able to combine some Montessori fun with the convenience of a printable. With printing things out and making them a tray work to be chosen when the child want, you are able to preserve the essence of the Montessori work. There are a lot of other ideas on my Princess Theme School Pintrest Board. So do any of you use printables in your homeschool? Do you use them with Montessori work? I would love to hear how you work with your preschoolers! Happy Schooling!

June 18, 2013

Ocean Theme Fun!

Stephanie Montessori Monday, Montessori Work Day, Trays, Uncategorized 8 Comments

Well summer is in full swing and full of fun! However, I get the feeling that my girls are needing a bit of nudge to starting finding some creative work and maybe a bit of learning too! Since we are planning on going to the Ocean this summer, I thought that making some ocean themed work would be fun! So a basket of books on the stairs, new art materials, some magic school bus movies on the computer, and some trays of ocean fun are now gracing the shelves of the school room. We are not really having school time, but I am hoping to read a book or two each day, and ask some questions to hopefully inspire some more learning! If not, there is plenty to create amazing ocean things! Now I know that you are dying for me to show you what we have so you can do it yourself, so here is what we have out for our ocean theme!

Nature Tray with Ocean Items (Some of these are from our dear friends over at Mi Escuelita Montessori)

Cards and Counters with Shells

DIY Landforms with Rocks

Sand Tray

Learning the Ocean Names and Location

Sifting Shells

Shell Matching

Shell Scrubbing

Ocean Matching Game

Matching Animals to the research book

Ocean Origami Kit

Now again, I really don’t think that we are going to be “doing” regular school work. It is summer though and summer is about playing and having fun! But, if my plans work, we can play with our learning! Now, if you want to see more amazing Montessori based by, be sure that you Montessori Monday! We are linking up there this week! I am also linking up over at Link & Learn!

April 16, 2013

Montessori Monday~ Botany Trays and A GIVEAWAY!

Stephanie Blog Sponsors, giveaway, Trays 27 Comments

Happy Monday everyone! Today I have some new trays to share with you, and a review of the adorable crumbing set from Montessori Services! As you know, I have had a really hard finding some new trays for Pup. She has not really been that interested in any practical life work. But when I saw this adorable crumbing set, I knew it would be a hit! Montessori Service was kind enough to send one to me so I could show it to you in action, and action it will see! I placed it on a tray for right now, but I know we will be using this to sweep up after playdough (you know those little dried up bits), to sweep cracker crumbs, and to sweep…well a million things! 🙂 The little set is made with a such care and perfection! The little broom is wooden with soft bristles, and the pan is metal with a wooden handle. It is really pretty and so useful! Plus, Montessori Services is the only place that carries this set! Believe me, I have searched and searched! Pup really loved it! Even Bunny wanted in on a chance to use this pretty little set!

I also thought that you would love to see a few more trays that are a spring/ botany theme! Some of them I made today, and some are older ones! My girls love to have things match what they are learning about!

Art Challenge: Make a Leaf

Tracing Leaves

Flowing arranging

Spooning

Pouring

Sensory Bin

Rain Water

(The child shakes the salt shaker of water into the pitcher, then pour it back)

The work would be SO much better and prettier with the Montessori Services broom and pan! 🙂

It is just the perfect size for little hands! Now I know that you want one too! Well the lovely people at Montessori Services have so generously offered one of my amazing readers a $25 gift card! The entry form is below, so be sure to enter! You can get the crumbing set and something else with that! They have it all! Every practical life things to make millions of trays, pre made trays for those without time, books, rugs, child sized tools for everywhere, and even elementary work! Heck, just stop by and get a little something tot help kick the spring burnout! The prices are great. Good Luck! Be sure to stop back tomorrow for another giveaway!

*Disclaimer: I was given the crumbing set to give my honest review. I am also an affiliate of Montessori Service, so any order you place here, will give me a tiny percentage of your order! Thanks in advance for supporting us here with your order! It helps a ton! Happy Schooling!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

February 28, 2013

Cheetahs Everywhere!

Stephanie Homeschooling, Montessori Work Day, projects, Trays 0 Comments

Work this week has been really hard to get good work time in due to appointments and stuff like that. Have you ever had a week like that? Well we did get a few things done though. I think that the most notable work that has been done is on Pup’s Cheetah work has been going strong. Pup’s Cheetah work has just captured her heart. She has made so many things this week and really wanted read and play with cheetahs. She painted the sculpture she made last week. She painted a board like the grasslands of Africa for her toy cheetah to play on. We read and re-read book after book, and we finally got the movie she wanted to watch about Cheetahs. But we have also done some other things too! We played go fetch with cards and counters and she also built the binomial cube without the box! To support her study, I made some new tray for her that are sort of cheetah like! Here is what we have going on! 🙂

Pouring Water

(Ok, not really cheetah like, but fun!)

Wood Piece Transfer

Cheetah Playdough

Sewing a Button

(I think Bunny will like this too)

Scrubbing a Cheetah

(and Zebra and Elephant….you get the idea! I made a few African animal dirty so it was more fun!)

She loved the scrubbing!

She worked really hard to make a cheetah out of felt. She did it all herself and was really proud of it! She has it hanging on her bulletin board!

She did great with this! She is really understanding her numbers! Bunny thinks its no fair that she has all the fun math! I think it maybe the pretty pink hearts!

She has made quite a few playdough cheetahs too. I love that they have eyes and mouths! She is holding here by the tail since it wouldnt stand.

So there you have a project in full swing! My plan for tomorrow is to read some more cheetah books and to get Bunny interested in some new work! I hope your work week is going well! Happy Schooling!

February 5, 2013

Montessori Monday~ Valentine’s Trays

Stephanie Montessori Monday, Montessori Work Day, Trays 7 Comments

Well I managed to put together some fun Valentine’s theme trays for the girls this weekend! I wanted so badly to make some pretty transferring trays and a pink pouring work, but Pup is SO over all of that. She will not choose any of those things, so I guess making them is a waste. 🙁 Too bad because I love them! However, I think I was able to make some pretty trays while still keeping it interesting for them! Do you want to see what we are doing this month? Here is what we have out on the shelves!

Heart Matching

Valentine Playdough

The gems are here so she can decorate the hearts!

She has definitely been moving forward in the maths and here are her heart counters. My guess is that we can soon add the cards add counters to her work time. Pup has been doing a really great job with this and did this without any mistakes!

Braiding

Tracing Hearts of different sizes.

Punching Hearts

The girls got right to work today with all the new fun! Pup tried everything and Bunny wanted to learn to braid right away. So I sat there and helped her. It took her a LONG time to finally get it and boy was she proud that she got it!

Pup wanted to do the number work. She did it three times and loved it! It is so good to see her so excited about learning!

Another thing that I got for Pup today is a rhyming box. She loves it! Word games are something she is loving right now! We play them every night before bed!

Bunny and I have also started All About Spelling today and I am excited about it! If you want to find more Montessori fun, stop over at Montessori Monday! Stop back tomorrow for the next Cooking With Books Series! Its going to be Pink! 😉 Happy Schooling!

January 7, 2013

Montessori Monday~ Snow Trays!

Stephanie Geography, Homeschooling, Learning with Play, Montessori Monday, Montessori Work Day, new skills, Trays 6 Comments

Well as promised I have officially made us some winter trays! The girls love them, even Bunny! I seriously love theme planning but I had thought that my life would be easier if I stuck to only traditional Montessori trays instead of changing them out all the time. It would be easier, but not nearly as much fun! So we are back to planning new trays monthly or so! So, I know that you are dying to see what I have made up! My goal was to try and find new and interesting exercises since Pup has mastered so many of the primary Practical Life presentations (that is a hazard of starting early and have a big sister to watch all the time). Here is what is on our shelves this month!

Ice Sorting

Whole Hand Transfer

Dropping Snowflakes into a vase

Snowflake Matching

(From My Montessori Journey)

Glitter Snow Dough

Shoveling Snow

As you can see we are all set for winter, but we are not just stopping there! I also have plans to start talking about the seasons of the year with the girls this week! Bunny has been learning about the earth and its tilt, so this will follow up nicely to it! Plus Pup is interested too! I will be using the presentations from my Elemetary Albums for Bunny and adapting them for Pup to hear too! If you want another great resource for this work in the elementary (and older primary), you can visit Waseca Biome Study. They have an amazing presentation as well and its free!

Finally I have some of the Montessori For Everyone work out as well! The one we did today is a seasonal clothing sort! This was a little tricky for Pup, but I think that if I take out the spring and fall sets, and just sort winter and summer for a start, it will be easier! They also have a matching game for each season, and that’s all free material! Be sure to check it out! Do you need more amazing Montessori fun? Check out Montessori Monday for TONS of links to great Montessori work! I am linking up there too! Happy Schooling Everyone!