A bit of biology

I picked up a human body model at a carboot sale last week end for £2 and I thought it would make a fun and interesting activity for some of my older children. I get grossed when I see pictures of organs, or even think of the organs we have inside us, but I managed to pull myself together long enough to make some cards for the activity.

I made 4 part cards, 1: picture and word, 2:picture, 3:word 4:information card. The activity is done as follows.

1. The child lays out pack 1 of cards in a vertical row and the top of the mat.

2. The child finds the matching picture, then word and then reads the information card.

3. The child searches inside the body to find the organ that resembles it. This step is the fun bit, as not all pieces are visual when the body is complete. The child must first remove the lungs so as to find the heart and so on. Hopefully this will help the children remember where each body part is in our body.

4. The child goes to the next card on the vertical row and does step 2 and 3.

5. The final step is the child has to put all the organs back in the body and its harder than in looks. It took about 10mins for one of my 6year olds to put the body back together.

One of my 8 year olds did this activity, after she completed it, I asked her if she enjoyed it. She replied 'No, it made my stomach hurt!'. Nice to find someone who feels the same!!

You can download these cards here.

And I'm very sorry for not replying to some previous comments, I promise I'll do so soon.

May's Pictures

I have had such a busy month and still no internet connection at home!!

So much has been happening at school and the children have taken me on a long learning rollercoaster. Here are some photo's taken in May: 

Making geometric solids.

Working with addition chart A.

Drawing with pastels. This girl made some AMAZING pictures.

Little-Ns castle drawing/story. He often tells a story of how the knights fought the bad dragon, as he tells the story he draws his picture and includes all these tiny details.

Addition chart C.

Past and present verbs.

Addition on a number line: although this isn't an original Montessori material, I think its important for the children to learn how to use one.

Little-N and a caterpillar that we found, a few weeks later it turned into a big black moth . 

Using the grammar symbols with the farm.

A pattern made by an 8yr old with the pattern blocks.

Little-N dressed as a pirate and making costumes for his friends.

Practicing crochet.

After presenting the VERBS i give the children a story and ask them to highlight all the verbs they can find in red.

Working with the 5 bead chain. 

A few patterns made with constructive blue triangles.