Thought I'd like to share a classroom organising idea. The children at school have been sewing a lot recently, so I've had to buy some more supplies. After a few children get into the thread drawer it looks a bit like this, which isn't neat enough for a Montessori classroom. 

Organising the threads was a project we did one morning. A girl mentioned that her mom has a little box with pieces of plastic that each thread is wound on. So we got a big piece of thick card and cut strips of it as long as the drawer and about 3 cm wide.  We cut small triangles out on each end as above.

All the children wanted to join in the winding, it was a very social activity. Once all the threads were wound on their card pieces we put them back in the drawers and they looked as neat as could be.

Just Moved!

I'm sorry for not posting for so long. I just moved houses again and have been very busy getting things organised. I also have no Internet at my new home.

School has been great, we have a new 8 year old girl who joined 2 weeks ago. She was homeschooled for 1.5 years and attended a primary school for 2 years before that. She was once diagnosed as a selective mute, but now speaks all the time, well at least at our school she does. Having a child who never attended a Montessori school means I had to take her through some early materials, like the golden beads. So far she has been enjoying all the activities, even if she has already mastered the concepts on paper. She is very artistic and has great life skills, I taught her to knit in 5 mins and to crochet in a matter of seconds. Where possible, I'll be giving her the opportunity to present craft activities to other children. It's been very interesting watching her work with the materials and comparing her actions to that of the old Montessori children, so far we can definitely say that the Montessori children are more independent in their learning and are more creative in terms of literature and imagination. I'll keep you all posted on her progress into Montessori.

End of year production

My brain can't seem to come up with any good ideas for the end of year production day. My children have to sing, read a poem or act out a play and I just don't feel we have anything that's suitable.

 The theme for the whole school is supposed to be peace but I can do something different if its good enough. Do any of you parents, teachers or homeschooling mums have any good ideas? What is it that you find appealing in your children's parties? Anything you tried out that worked/or didn't work?

Thanks!

Little-N just turned 5

Little-Ns special request for his Birthday was no party or sun walk at school. All he wanted was loads of Lego gifts.

5 years, not the best picture but says a lot about who he is!

I'm finding it hard to believe he's so old now!

A few pics from April

Measuring in feet.

Little-N measuring in feet

Little-Ns spaceship.  This was taken on his Birthday, he didn't want a party,  just gifts. So now Little-N is 5.

Little-N in the garden, now that he's 5 he wont stop climbing and doing dangerous things [Which I'm loving BTW].

Living, non-living and once living Venn diagram.

Understanding the relationships between the squares in the Decanomial Square activity.

Building the Decanomial Square

Using a Microscope to examine a dead wasp we found on the window sill.

Students embroidery

Food chain activity

Peace Game

Grammar presentation

Building the short bead stair pyramid.

The grammar files that I posted about last week are no longer on eBay as I just found out that its against eBay policies to sell digital delievered materials. So I have move the file to Lulu  [thanks to the idea given to me by Jo].