Busy, busy, busy!

Just thought I would post a quick update to what we have been up to lately. We are having a quiet Saturday today because we are being BLANKETED with snow. And it is 10' with a wind chill of -10 which if I understand correctly makes it feel like 0'. Therefore, I am NOT going out unless I have too!


So...anyway...back to that update.


In preschool we are working quite hard. The way Montessori works is that I present Josh with new material and then he may choose it at anytime during the 3 hour work time. The presented material (works) are left on the shelves.


So this week, among other things I am not remembering right now ;P, we worked on the following.


Culture: This month we are focusing on the Solar system and an intro to the continents. So we did many activities with those subjects including creating our own moon with a cardboard circle, bean and peas glued to it to make craters etc... then foil wrapped over the top and a flag toothpick stabbed in for a nice finish.









We also are working on making a moon book that involves Josh cutting, gluing, and counting.

He is beginning to identify the continents and learning the Continent song. (All using our new felt map.)

Lots more fun things including reading themed books and sorting 3 part cards.


Ooh, I almost forgot! He chose to use the fruit cards that were still on the shelf from a previous theme. He played a memory game with them and when he finished, I showed him how to play Snap, which is a game similar to War. We had a lot of fun with this and he really started to remember the names of the fruit by the end of the game!


Practical Life: I presented the zipping frame as well as encouraging him to zip his coat before we go out.

He also learned to use an eye dropper by dropping tiny colored water drops on the back of a suctiony soap holder. suctiony soap holder


He spooned rice!


And we finally got out the wooden nuts and bolts for him to work on twisting them on and off. kind of like this


Language Arts: Well, we read a ton of books, as usual. But the big news is he read his first Bob book. One of these

He has not tried it again but we are thrilled at this first step. He will do it again when he is ready. Now I just need to make sure I am ready with activities for him.


We also worked a bit on handwriting; letters and his name.


Maths: He made the number 59 when he chose to work on base 10 blocks. I was quite surprised but he only needed a bit of help with it. This is not a work he has chosen too often so I was just happy he did!


Sensorial: I think the only work he chose this week was the smelling jars, he just loves to match these. I really need to present some new activities to add to this shelf next week!

This is only a highlight but I think gives a pretty good overview of what we usually accomplish. He also is expected to help with things around the house. He is my main go to guy for help with recycling. He loves to empty the refundable cans tossing them in a bag to take back to the store. He also puts the rinsed recycling into the tub in the garage. Finally, he is beginning to help out feeding the cats by giving them a scoop of dry food while I get their other food ready. This is actually my attempt to get him to seem more appealing to the cats and help him to learn how to interact with them. A CONSTANT struggle right now!

Hope you had a nice week too!
Shannon