Montessori Time Zone Studies & Giveaway

Today, I have decided to blog about something different from the Great Lessons. 

Noah (who is now 12 years), no longer attends a Montessori classroom. This is mostly due to our relocation to another country and my new focus on Montessori training and consultancy (instead of working in a classroom). 

My new work means I have more time at home with Noah which has been lovely. I have decided not to use structured homeschooling, so Noah is pretty much unschooled and just learns when he naturally does which is pretty much all the time. 

I am constantly shifting and organising my collection of Montessori Materials and Noah is always getting involved. It has been very interesting to see his excitement and interest in the Montessori materials he has worked with so often and mastered. 

Time Zone Map

Today he saw the time zone map which he worked with quite a while ago. He was immediately attracted to the tiny clocks and went straight to work with it. Somehow, this material has a different meaning to him as a 12 year old who now lives in a new time zone.

At the top of the map are blank boxes where Noah places the clocks. Since we live in the +8 time zone, he started there by placing the clock that represents the actual time.

He then filled in the other clocks, being mindful to use the red clocks in areas where it is day and black where it is night.

The next step is to cover the night areas with black strips. Noah didn't want to do this.

Instead, he moved onto working out the times in all of his favourite countries.

This time zone map is available to download here. 

Time Zone Map Giveaway

I am giving away one copy of this file for free on my facebook page.

Follow these three steps to enter the giveaway (make sure you leave a comment on FB so I can enter you into the giveaway):

1. Like The Learning Ark Montessori Materials Facebook page if you have not already.
2. Share the facebook page post on your page or group.
3. Leave a comment on the FB post to let me know where you have shared it.

I'll use a random number generator to select the winner on Wednesday the 14th of December at 5pm GMT.

Please make sure you leave a comment so I can enter you in the giveaway.

I am hoping to giveaway more materials in December so keep a look out for my upcoming posts.

Great Lesson 1 : Follow Up Ideas [Post 2]

The Montessori great lessons inspire further study in many different directions. Each lesson should be told every year. This allows for the elementary child to hear every story at least 6 times. After each lesson the child is free to follow which ever topic interests him/her. Naturally, over the 6 years the child would have had the chance to explore all the topics which follow on from the great lessons.

The list on this post is specifically related to follow up work/topics related to the first great lesson. I do not expect children to cover these topics in one year. Instead, I anticipate the child showing interest in all areas over the six year span. My shelves are set up with activities for each topic in order to ensure that children can show an interest in which ever topic interests them.

Here is a look at the set up of my shelves. Due to space I do not have every single material on display.

 Materials for study on volcanoes, galaxies, space, stars, moon, sun, earth, planets, rocks, geography impressionistic charts and science experiments to support first great lesson.

Materials for the study of atoms, molecules and elements.

I also have other materials on my geography shelf which is not pictured here. 

Here is a list of topic ideas which I use when setting up my shelves. Each year more ideas are added. I am intending to expand on these topics in individual posts.

1. Experiments on laws of the universe.
2. Volcanoes
3. Planets and solar system
4. Galaxies types
5. Moon phases
6. Parts of the sun
7. Earth
8. Stars
9. States of matter
10. Gravity experiments
11. Elements
12. Molecules
13. Rocks
14. Geography impressionistic charts

Free Downloads Updated

I have updated my download page and fixed any broken links.

Please find the latest verion of my downloads here. I will continue adding to this list as I post new material. Please let me know if a link is not working or if there is an error on a file. Feel free to download and use these files but link back to my blog when you share them. Do not copy or sell these files.

Language

Dotted alphabet for tracing

Capital and lower case letter matching - post

Beginning Letter Matching Cards

Mathematics

Practice with ten beads - Post

Checkerboard Cards - Post

Make A Clock

O'clock Three Part Cards

Large and Small Number Cards

Geometry

Congruent Similar and Equivalent - Post

Triangle Cards - Post

Science

Organ Cards - post

Animal Question Cards - Post

Sun Game - Post

Geography

Land Water and Air Cards - Post

Animals and transport for Land Water and Air - Post

Compass Rose - Post

Country, City and Flag Sheet - Post

Months of the Year 

Carbon Cycle Activities

Recently we have been working on activities to promote sustainable living. As part of this study the children calculated their carbon footprint. In order to fully understand the weight of their carbon footprint I created this carbon cycle chart.

 

The chart contains movable cards for each part of the carbon cycle. On the back is a description of that card and it's process.

 Once we laid out all the cards and I finished my presentation, the children were silent and their faces displayed the shock of realisation that their actions are destroying the earth. One child immediately pointed out that more carbon is being released into the atmosphere then is taken away. We discussed the side effects of excessive carbon in the atmosphere. The children left the lesson insisting that they must do something to improve the situation.

The carbon footprint worksheet was a great follow up. Each child filled out a form and all were disgusted by their results. I am sure they each went home and began thinking about switching off the lights and reusing plastic bottles.

You can buy the carbon cycle chart and cards from here.

You can download the free carbon footprint worksheet from here.

Geography Maps and First Giveaway

I have had this blog for years and I think it's about time I host my first giveaway. I'm excited to see how it turns out. Keep reading for details to enter.

I have worked really hard to make these map sets for my classroom and have just recently added them to my shop. For each continent the set includes a download for:

- A control map labelled with countries - A control map labelled with cities - A coloured unlabelled map that can be used with labels or pin maps - A black and white countries unlabelled map for children to fill in - A black and white cities unlabelled map for children to fill in - A black and white flag unlabelled map for children to fill in - Labels for countries and capital cities in large and small

Ideally the maps should be used with the puzzle maps and the child will use the control maps to label the puzzle maps. However I have also added a blank coloured map for the children to work with instead if puzzle maps are not available. The sets included labels for the countries [written in bold] and cities [written in lower case], these labels can be printed in large to be used with puzzle maps or small to be used with printed maps. The sets also include worksheets for the children to colour and label themselves. There is a worksheet for countries, cities and flags.

Here is a picture of the maps being used with small labels.

Here is a picture of the maps being used with pin maps that are also available at my shop.

The maps are colour coded according to the standard Montessori puzzle map colours, so when worked with together they match nicely. Each map is also outlined with the continent colours. The maps are available as a download for each set per continent, or a complete set of all maps for six continents. I have worked really hard to make these and the children love them!

Now for the giveaway....

I am giving away one complete PDF set of all the maps for all the continents.

That means you get a chance to win all the maps and worksheets mentioned above and the labels.

To enter the giveaway, simply make sure you are following my blog and leave a comment on this post.

If you would like more than one entry to the giveaway then..

-Sign up to my shops newsletter and leave a second comment [Sign up at the bottom of shops home page]

-Post about this giveaway on your blog and leave a link in the comment

Please note that winner will receive a email with the downloads for all the PDF files. You are welcome to enter wherever you are on the globe.

This giveaway will end on Sunday the 8th of May 2011 at 1.00pm GMT time. The winner will be selected by a random generator and I will publish a new post for the winner on Sunday.

Good luck!

Studying the Earth

This is the latest activity that I made for Little-N. With this activity he learnt about the different parts of the Earth.

To demonstrate this activity I made a globe from a plastic sphere container that came with Little-N's socks. I painted it from the inside, starting with the land and then covered it with blue for the ocean. I then made two holes at the north and south pole so that I can fit a skewer through it.

First I explained to Little-N that the earth spins but it doesn't just spin anyway, it spins on an axis. I explained that we can imagine this axis as a straight line going through the earth. We placed the skewer through the earth and Little-N span it towards the east. Next we covered the north pole and south pole.

I placed the skewer in foam so that it supports the Earth with a tilt and I explained to Little-N that the earth axis is tilted at 23.5 degrees. I then drew a line on the globe with a board pen at the equator and explained to Little-N that this is an imaginary line.We then looked at the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere.

Here are the cards that I made for Little-N to match. I have put them up for sale in my Lulu shop here.

On another day we revised the previous lessons and I went on to draw the lines of latitude and longitude on the globe. We also covered the major circles of latitude. This time I made the information cards differently, I wrote them as quiz cards so that Little-N had to use his understanding of this activity to match the cards.

Cards available here.

Land and water on a map

After working with the land and water globe this student went on to do a simple activity where he first colours the land with a brown wax crayon and then paints the water on top.

Land water and Air: Animals and transport

Transport by land water and air.

Animals from the land water and air.

After working with the land water and air activity I have created extension cards for the children to work with that focus on transportation and animals that are found in land water and air. I have uploaded the file so you can download them here.

Presentation of Day and Night

A picture taken while presenting day and night to Little-N.

Land Water and Air

I recently presented this activity to a new student, Little-N joined in he hasn't done this activity for years. I made the cards for this activity years ago and I am happy to share the cards with everyone, you can download them here. While searching for the cards I found a file that I wrote explaining the presentations for this activity. I have included the explanation of this activity below.

Presentation 1:

Materials:

-Tray

-Three jars colour coded (white(light blue)-air, blue-water, green-land)

-Spoon

-Jug

-Water

-Source of mud or sand

-A word card for each land water and air colour coded

Presentation:

Lay the materials on the tray as follows: land jar, spoon, water jar, jug and air jar.

Invite the child to work with you, introduce the activity and take it to a floor mat.

Remove the jars from the tray and place them on the mat in this order, Land, water and air.

Tell the child that the first jar (land) represents land and guide him/her to put some land in it (from the garden) using the spoon. Ask the child where we can find land on the earth.

Hold the second jar (water) and ask the child to get some water in the jug and pour in into the jar. Ask the child where we can find water on the earth.

Finally hold the third jar and ask the child to put some air in the jar. Show the child how to blow in the jar. Ask the child where we can find air on the earth.

Explain to the child that on the earth of three different things land, water and air.

Next help the child to match the word cards to the jars.

Presentation 2:

Materials:

-Tray

-Three jars colour coded (white(light blue)-air, blue-water, green-land)

-Spoon

-Jug

-Water

-Source of mud or sand

-Land water and air cards

-A word card for each land water and air colour coded

Presentation:

Follow the same presentation as above.

Insure the picture cards are shuffled, explain to the child that ‘I have some pictures or land, water and air’.

Show the child the first picture, ask him/her ‘ Is this picture of land water or air?’. Guide him/her to place it under the corresponding jar and label.

Do the same with the other picture cards.

Presentation 3:

Materials: Land water and air picture cards

Labels

Presentation:

Guide the child to read and place the labels across the top of the mat, in order land, water and air.

Ask the child to look at the pictures then place the cards under the corresponding labels.

Help the child to recognize the words on the labels by using the

three-period-lesson.

Pin Maps

I decided that it would be too expensive to buy the Montessori Pin maps and I could better spend the money on something un-makeable. So I made my own. I noticed a few other blogs that had home made pin maps, but not exactly what I wanted. I spent a long time making these files that include flags, countries and cities for each continent [except Antarctica]. You can make your own or take the easier route and buy them from here. It takes a very long time to cut everything out and put all the pins in, but its well worth it. Little-N said that these maps are much better than the wooden ones he used to use. I think it's something to do with the colour coded pins.