Layers of the Earth

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging lately I'm too busy I can't even find time to eat! Doing a degree and working with primary children is so difficult. If you've emailed me and I haven't replied plse forgive me, I'll try to do so soon. Here is something we recently did in my class.

Last week I made this earth model. I first saw this presentation done when I was living in Egypt and attended a science session at a Montessori centre run by an 80 year old American woman who trained many many years ago. I wanted to make it perfectly, so I matched the layers inside to the cards I downloaded from Cultivating Dhrama, I then covered the coloured ball in a layer of blue. I cut out continents and stuck them on [except for Antarctica which one child pointed out]. The children were so excited as I walked around the classroom carrying 'THE WORLD' in my hands. Then to their amazement I cut it! Yes I cut my work of art :( and we talked about the different layers inside the earth and how they were formed. This was a follow up lesson to the first great lesson.


The layers of the Earth shown inside the model. The children loved it and so did I.
This is how I have the activity set up on a tray. Not perfect I know but it was what I could find in a rush.
Little-N and his friend working with the earth model, globe and layers of the earth cards. Some of the children went on to make project books about the earth. Another child drew an amazing picture using pastels.

I noticed that Monressori en el hogar recently did a similar activity, it's always lovely to see what other bloggers do.

Snow Decorations

We still have snow outside!!! A new term has started and all the children are excited about the lovely change of weather. This week we started off by decorating our classroom with snowflakes and stars.

Above is a beautiful paper snowflake hanging in our door way. It's very easy to make, there is a tutorial for it here.

The children made loads of paper snowflakes. Each one came out different even if they tried to make them the same. They really enjoyed it and our windows look lovely :)

Kittens

Knitting projects

The recent snow and cold weather has triggered off my knitting addiction. For some reason knitting seems to have a 'warming' effect on me even before I wear the finished projects. So here's what I've been knitting:

Wrist warmers for a friend at school following this free pattern. Very easy and straight forward to make. The only problem I encountered was that each one was a different colour. I didn't realise that the yarn I used had a long colour repeat. So i ended up knitting four and I will give the two best ones to my friend and keep the rest.

A purple scarf made from my favourite yarn that had been lurking in my drawers for 3 years. I already have a pair of wrist warmers made from this yarn and I have a purple coat that matches. So all I really need now is a perfect purple scarf and I'll be feeling very happy with myself. I used this lace scarf pattern which is very simple and straight forward. Perfect for knitting on the train or when watching TV.

And of course a project for Little-N, mini wrist warmers to match a hat of his. I made it in about 20mins and he loves them :)

Annabel has kittens

Annabel [my cat] had four kittens on Thursday :) it was an amazing and exciting experience and I was there to share it with her and help her through the labour. Little-N was hovering around and kept asking 'Is there another one yet?'. He is soo excited and wants to hold and carry them, but I've explained that it's better he doesn't touch them just yet.

He described the newborn kittens as SPLAT cats because they couldn't stand and had their legs stick out from the sides. The above picture was taken immediately after birth. I was amazed at how Annabel knew exactly what to do, what a change form the pedigree Persians we used to have that needed a midwife to help with the deliveries.
This picture was taken the next day. Annabel is hugging her kittens. SO cute!

Here all the kittens were trying to feed. I'm a bit worried about the black kitten, it seems to get pushed out of the way.

A few cupcakes to celebrate!

This picture was taken today and again Annabel is hugging her kittens. How cute! They've already grown since yesterday!!! I'm a bit worried that the cold will effect them, it snowed for two days and its freezing! I've put a hot water bottle in their box for extra warmth but they don't seem to go on it.

Practising Spelling

Little-N has been practising his spelling words. He is finding sight words quite challenging. So I came up with a practice activity.

In my classroom I have 6 sets of sight words that cover all the 100 most common words. At first the boxes are only used for recognition of the words and I teach new words using the 3-period-lesson. Little-N successfully recognised all words by the end of the last school year. Once a child has completed a few boxes we begin to learning the spellings for these words. The practice activity goes as follows.

The child takes the moveable alphabet and a box of sight words to a mat. The child takes out one sight word. Reads it and then places it upside down on the mat. The child then builds the word from memory using the moveable. Once the child has built the word, they turn over the word card to check if they have used the right spelling. If the spelling is correct the child takes another word and begins to spell that. If the spelling is incorrect the child changes the letters on the mat to the correct spelling. Then the child can move onto the next word.

This activity really really helps with spelling and can be done with any words that the child is finding difficult. Having the word cards on the mat gives the child a sense of security and reduces the chances of failure. The child is gradually beginning to hold words in his memory. Eventually when the child's memory has increased, he can place the words on a mat across the classroom and build it with the moveable alphabet on another mat further away. This way the child will have to keep the spelling in his memory for a longer period.Does anyone else have any activities that help with learning irregular spellings?

Cup Cakes and biscuits

Lately I've been spending more time baking. I think I'm addicted to decorating cup cakes and I'm looking for any excuse to make some. Here are a few pictures of my recent creations.

I made these cup cakes as a surprise for the 40th birthday of a teacher at school. As you can see the theme was pink and white. I wanted to come up with a variety of designs [as I try to have more fun]. The centre cupcakes are piped with coloured butter cream. The stars are cut out from fondant and letters piped on. Everyone loved the rose design. Apparently they DID taste as nice as they looked. Yum yum

I was experimenting with cookie cutters and techniques when making these biscuits. Each one was decorated differently.
I think the hearts look super cute.
This heart is made with a puzzle cookie cutter. Its so cool. We had to fiddle a bit to get the pieces fitting together.

These are a few more butter cream cup cakes.

A whole box of them going for a delivery.

I made lots of fondant flowers and added a little edible pearl for detail. I'll be storing them in a box and using them when needed.
And finally a chocolate cake that I helped my sister make. We covered it in butter cream and then decorated it with fondant pieces. I'm really getting into this cake decorating thing. There are a few cake decorating courses on near me and as soon as a find the time I'll enrol on one. The best thing about my baking addiction is I take everything to school and share it with the staff. That way I don't have to do all the eating and I make loads of friends!