Purple Violet Vinegar

One our teachers knows a lot about wildflowers and recently took us on an outdoor expedition to find various types.  What fun we had!  Wild purple violets grow prolifically just beyond our playground and we were sure to gather a few extra for this project.

Use just the heads of the purple violets...

…and add some white vinegar.

Look at the color after sitting overnight!

This is what was left after straining the violets.

Solids - Hard As Rocks

Here is another engaging science lesson recently introduced the children.  This lesson is part of our ongoing studies of states of matter and can be found in the book shown in the the link.

The materials set up at a table:  Instruction card, tray with various rocks, small jar containing a large nail, work mat.

Ready for exploration and observation!  

Front

Back

Sweet and simple, yet opens the eyes of the child to further investigate, understand, and appreciate the world around him.  

States of Matter

I have been utilizing the following manual, available from Montessori Services, for developing meaningful science lessons and discussions in the classroom.  I appreciate how the book breaks down concepts in an easy-to-follow manner and gives ideas of how to best plan and demonstrate science lessons.  Most of all, the activities presented in the book are meaningful to the children and engage students in exploring and analyzing the world around them.

Most recently, we have been been learning about solids, liquids, and gases and the children were introduced to a new lesson for the science shelf.  I will share with my readers that part of the reason for the success of this activity had to do with the amount of excitement and drama with which the subject was introduced.  In other words, I wanted my students to be excited about this work, so I was sure to be extra excited (and dramatic) while showing it to them!  After all, part of the success of any lesson is the enthusiasm shown by the teacher.  I think it worked because we have many children investigating throughout the classroom and even during other, separate lessons classifying matter as solids, liquids, or gasses.  "This block is a solid."  "My water is a liquid and it is in the shape of the glass it is in."  "I am breathing air.  It is a gas."

The lesson on a tray:  Labels for solid, liquid, and gas; jars filled with different forms of matter.

The materials sorted by matter under the labels.

Color-coded sticker dots for control of error on the backs of labels and bottoms of jars.  

I am looking forward to extending this learning with additional activities such as sorting items gathered from around the classroom or making booklets with pictures and labels. 

Science: Floating Letter 'S' Experiment

There is still much talk in our classroom about primary colors and color mixing.  This is a topic that the children have been learning about since the beginning of the school year.  In addition to the various art activities having to do with color-mixing, I thought my students might really enjoy the following science experiment (retrieved from HERE):

Science experiment set up at a table.
On the leaf tray:  small, white pitcher; jar with crayons and pencil; decorative box with Skittles (yes, the candy); a stack of recording/observation sheets (see below).

...Skittles inside the box.

Floating 'S' recording sheet, available HERE.

First, the child fills the small pitcher with water and pours it into the bowl.  Then, three skittles are placed into the water.  Next, the child waits and observes what happens...

Very soon after the Skittles are placed in the water, their colors begin to spread out, swirl, and blend together.  Wow, what a show of colors!  By the end, the small letter 'S' on each Skittle appears to be floating as the color has diluted into the water.  As one can imagine, this is quite exciting for the children. 

Lastly, the child records his/her observations on the recording sheet. 

Do I even need to mention how much the children LOVE this lesson?  Surprisingly, they have not even tried eating the Skittles!   When I demonstrated the activity at circle time, I showed how to clean up the lesson as well (the Skittles go in the trash can and the bowl is cleaned at the sink).

One of my favorite parts of the activity is the opportunity it creates for each child to be still and watch with awe and wonder as the colors begin to spread and blend together.  It also has the children using new vocabulary as they discuss among themselves:  "I have a hypothesis that the colors will mix," and "Let me record my observations!"  

"We Hurry Joyfully to School"

We are ready to welcome the children on the first day of school next Tuesday.  Our classroom awaits the sounds and movement of eager hands exploring learning materials!    Here are a few peeks at some Practical Life exercises waiting to greet the children:

Spooning colored rice.

Spooning/Sorting beads.

Transferring pom-poms.

Tweezing beads and sorting by color.

Wet Transfer exercises.

Paper cutting practice.

Like the above Practical Life exercises, the theme of our art lessons will be primary colors.  I'll be sure to post more about the art activities once they are in active use in the classroom.

This year, our group has a majority of returning students and we are looking forward to helping our new students feel comfortable in their new classroom.  I am also curious to see where our learning will take us this year.  Since most of the children were with us last year, I have a feeling we will continue our continent exploration.  Last year we covered North America, Europe, and Asia which leaves Africa, South America, Antarctica, and Australia for this year.

I also have ideas for various science explorations inspired by a wonderful book given to me last year by one of my students:

This year, Kindergarten students will begin maintaing daily Work Plans and weekly Self-Evaluations.  Kindergarteners will also have opportunities for afternoon Writer's Workshop sessions and take part in our new Junior Great Books program.

Any effective Montessori program encourages ongoing practice of Grace and Courtesy skills and our classroom is no different!  Most of all, I look forward to the continuous cultivation within each child a strong sense of self and belonging in our classroom community.

Last week, I attended a Maine Montessori Association workshop at North Yarmouth Academy (NYA), Yarmouth, ME.  NYA is getting ready to launch a new Early Childhood and Elementary Montessori program and I had the opportunity to tour their new facility.  While there, I was struck by a set of beautiful vintage posters displayed in one of the Primary classrooms.  Each poster highlighted a different country and included an uplifting and motivational thought about education, kindness to others, or gratitude.  I will share with you one in particular as we approach our first days of school:

Here we go!

Sink or Float?

The children have been captivated by the following simple experiment.  When I demonstrated the activity at circle time, they clapped with delight throughout the lesson!

Our Sink or Float science lesson:  labeled tray, bowl with various items to test; clear bowl of water; small towel.

Testing the objects and placing them in the labeled circles.

Living/Non-Living

The following is an extension activity based on our Living/Non-Living science lesson on the shelf.  It allows students to practice classifying objects and reading the word while promoting fine-motor and cut/paste skills:

Copies of Living/Non-Living items - This paper was given to me last fall by the kind teachers at Kennebec Montessori School who gave me a copy when I visited during a workshop; green construction paper folded in half.

The completed activity.

This lesson has been in active use since it was introduced last week.  It has been a joy watching the children complete the process and hear them exclaim, "I did it!" when they have finished.  

Magnets and Water

The children have enjoyed our Magnetic/Non-Magnetic activity for some time and I knew they would be intrigued by a new way to explore magnetism.  I asked the children, "Do you think magnets will work in water?"  After some discussion, I showed them the following tray:

Tray with small bowl for magnetic shapes; tall vase with water, empty bowl; magnetic wand; next to this is a smaller tray with a towel.

To complete the activity, the child places one to three magnetic shapes into the vase.  Next, they use the wand to retrieve the shapes from the outside of the vase and transfer them to the other bowl.  Lastly, the items are dried and readied for the next person.

Here, the child is taking the magnetic shape out of the vase using the wand.

As you might imagine, this has lesson has been in perpetual use and has been the source of numerous follow-up questions.  The children are loving their experiments with these materials and I'm looking forward to watching them make more discoveries!

Animal Tracks Matching

One set of materials which I received in the treasure trove of goods documented in THIS post from last summer, is this intriguing animal tracks matching activity.  It not only goes well with our recent introduction of Animals of North America lesson but also allows for number recognition and reading practice!

Animal Tracks Matching activity.  Each animal track is labeled with a number and corresponding animal name.  The box contains the matching sections to be matched to the chart.

Here, the child is creating the matches next to the control chart.  Other children may wish to place the matches directly onto the control chart (on top of the matches).

The completed lesson.

Wow - lots of concentration and attention to detail here!  I hope I have timed this lesson's introduction to the classroom to coincide with some more snowfall...  We will enjoy looking for tracks in the snow - so let's hope for some more soon! :)

Flower Fun

One day last week, my son came to me and said, "Mom, you have to do this with your kids at school!"

With determination, he taped it up on our morning message board for all of the children to see, along with a message to, "Have fun!"  Well, how could I not do it?  Once the children saw it, they all wanted to complete this experiment.   We ended up using white carnations as they were more easily available.  If we do this again, however, I will be sure to get the roses because it was a challenge slicing the stems of the carnations...  In any case, here is our modified version (which has produced no less enthusiasm!) :)

Colored water and carnations.

Some children drew their observations on the first day...

On the second day, we were greeted with this!  Blue seemed to have worked the best, while green was hardly visible.  This did not seem to bother anyone - they were so excited...

This is an example of a student's 'after' drawing. 

Nature Shelf Corner

What does one do with an awkward corner of the classroom?  Strategically place a beautiful shelf, and create a nature corner, of course! 

Our newly created nature shelf corner.

I've had a slight design problem ever since moving into our current space over four year ago and am so happy to have finally found a solution - sometimes, just like at home, all it takes is a little time (well, four and half years to be exact) to find out what works well in a space.  Up until this point, this corner has housed our heater, something which needs lots of space around it without any blockages.  For this reason, I always hesitated to place anything around it and instead, always had a large potted plant to fill in the space.  Well, after four years, I've had it with replacing large plants!  They never did well in this corner and I'd end up replacing it at least twice a year.  The smaller plant arrangement should fare much better here now that the heater's airflow in not directly in it's path.  The top of the heater is now home to the giant pine cone, feathers, and birch bark specimen seen in the photo above.

Finally, we have the perfect place to showcase these treasures from nature!  Some of these items have been in my storage closet (so sad, I know!) because I really had no where to put them in the classroom where they would get the attention they deserve.  Also, the kids are frequently finding special items and wanting to bring them into the classroom and I am excited that we can highlight their finds in our new nature shelf corner!  And, with Earth Day activities and lessons in use around the classroom, what better time of year to start our designated indoor nature space?!

As a side note:  I find it remarkable how everything in my classroom has a story behind it - a history so to speak...  This is a shelf which I bought secondhand many, many years ago when I was still in high school!  Funny how it has found itself in my classroom...  Also, a number of the items - the feathers, wasp's nest, sea urchin, lobster claw... are objects my own sons have found during their outdoor excursions.  I so appreciate that they want these things on the nature shelf for my students to enjoy and I love that my boys are part of my classroom even though they are not physically there during the school days.  Come to think of it, I think I could write a book about how each item in my classroom was acquired...!

Montessori Monday Link-Up

Winter Nature Walk: Part Two - Ice Collages

Upon return from our winter excursion, I set up a table in the classroom for the children to make ice collages.  The filled baskets from the nature walk were placed in the middle of a table and each child began placing items in a pie tin.  Next, we poured water into the tin and placed a loop of twine to hang the collage once it freezes.  Then, we placed them right outside of our door to let them freeze overnight.  Of all nights, however, the temperature remained above freezing!  The cold front which moved in the following day put smiles on our faces - we knew that this meant freezing temps...and successful ice collages!

Assembling the bits of nature from our winter nature walk into pie tins for ice collages.

Arranging the objects in water.  A loop of tied twine was used to create a hanger.

Here they are all lined up outside our door, waiting to freeze...

And the big reveal...



So pretty...



...in the trees around our play area...

The sight of such loveliness brought all of us much joy!!! 

Montessori Monday Link-Up