In a Montessori classroom you will see many activities happening simultaneously. The children work at their own pace and are introduced to new activities when they show readiness
Math: One-to-one correspondence – matching quantities and counting objects 1-10 in sequence.
Cards and counters are a work where the children practice counting 1-10 and associates’ symbol with quantity. This work is also used to show odd and even. Children learned; we call the ones that don’t have a partner an odd number. We call the ones that end in a pair even numbers.
The colored bead bars concretely represent the numbers from 1-9. These bead bars with their characteristic colors are used to learn countless math concepts from basic counting, to skip counting, to addition, to multiplication, and even to the squaring and cubing of numbers. The Teen board allows the child to see that all teen numbers comprise 1 ten (1 golden bead bar) and additional units (colored beads).
With The Fifty Board and The Hundred Board the child arranges numbered tiles from either 1-50 or 1-100 recognizing and sequencing numbers.
Skip counting using the color bead short chains is an introduction to number squared.
Addition is presented with a variety of materials.
Table top rods addition with combinations equaling ten.
Enjoying working on addition using dice and manipulatives.
Addition strips help children visualize addition facts and to count forward from a given number.
Language:
Listening for phonetic sounds, using objects to match their beginning sounds.
Working with the Movable alphabet completing the ending sound of words.
We have quite a few beginning readers. Building consonant – vowel – consonant word families.
Matching shapes.
The Triangle Box was presented. This box shows that an equilateral triangle (gray one) can be divided into other triangles. The children can compare the equilateral triangle with the others, and they are all exactly the same size and shape, or congruent.
Science: Vertebrates and nonvertebrate were introduced. The children know people are vertebrates because we have a backbone also referred to as the spine.
Having a chance to view a real x-ray of the neck portion of the spine.
Sorting cards of animals with and without vertebrates are available.
Our first intro to Biology is our study of fish. A fish is a Vertebrate that lives in water. The parts of the fish puzzle were presented. The direct aim of this work is to identify and learn vocabulary related to a specific concept.
Fish are able to filter oxygen out of the water through their gills. Fish are covered with scales. Fish have several different kinds of fins. The fins help the fish move in different directions and to keep its balance. Fish lay small soft eggs.
We did an experiment to show how a fish uses it gills to extract the oxygen out of the water. The coffee filter represents the gills and the coffee grounds represent oxygen.
Groundhogs Day activities:
Exploring shadows.
Labeling the parts of a groundhog.
Our non-nappers had a chance to predict whether or not the Groundhog would see its shadow. Most of the children predicted correctly. This year the famous groundhog Punxsutawney Phil did see his shadow - bundle up for a long winter