our bug detectives

Oscar and Francisco were particularly interested in our new scorpion and green beetle encased in glass.

Oscar is channeling his inner scorpion!

s-t-r-e-t-c-h

We often do some sort of physical activity - yoga, dancing, or sometimes they just want to do work on their somersault skills!

Here are some more photos from the first two weeks of school.  The children are allowed to choose activities that interest them and it is clear how focused and engaged they are when they are doing something that they enjoy.

arts and crafts

 Occasionally we all do a craft together.  I focus on experimenting with different media - so process, not product.  Although they often come up with some fantastic results.  Elsa looks extremely proud of her mirror-image painting.

hands-on experience

Weston and Elsa are using the geometric solids - a cylinder, triangular prism, cone, cube, rectangular prism, triangular-based pyramid, square-based pyramid, sphere, ellipsoid and ovoid.  Initially the children are encouraged to get familiar with the shapes and try to identify these shapes in everyday life.  I later give the language for 3 shapes at a time.  Weston is pointing to the sphere.

following the child's interest

Francisco is matching the colour tablets.  Like many of the Montessori activities this appeals to children's desire for order and their love of matching.

Weston is doing 'classified cards'.  We have a variety of different categories - types of flowers, food, sports, animals and, of course, vehicles! The purpose of the cards is to enlarge and enrich vocabulary and also to pique their interest in their environment beyond school.

Lucy and I are playing a sound game.  After lining up the animals I wrote the first letter of each animal and helped her match the sound to the animal.

pink tower

The children are building the pink tower which consists of 10 wooden cubes that increase in size from 1cm to 10cm.

This activity helps children develop their discrimination of size.  It also develops coordination of movement and fine motor skills.

helping hands

Elsa was having difficulty with the nuts and bolts so she asked Weston for help.  I love that he pulled up a chair like I do, and sat right beside her.

an introduction

The above photos demonstrate how I introduce a new activity to a child.  I sit to the child's right so they can easily see my hand movements. 

I am showing Francisco 'boxes and bottles' and Oscar 'nuts and bolts'.  Both of these activities are great at developing fine motor skills, specifically the tripod grip required for proper pencil grip.

Once I have shown an activity to the child they are free to repeat the activity as many times as they want and then return it to the shelf.  Now they can use this activity whenever they wish.