Fun New Halloween Themed Montessori Math Work

For those of you who use Montessori inspired math beads, here is a fun Halloween themed math work for the month of October:
Instead of using the arrows for counting by 5's with the beads or bead chains, you can use tiny ghost erasers.
First, you will need a total of 20 ghost erasers.
These are available at the dollar section of Target, although you may find other Halloween themed erasers at other stores that would work just as well...
To prepare this work, do the following:
Take a black permanent marker and write the following numbers on the ghosts:
5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50,55,60,65,70,75,80,85,90,95,100.
Then, if you normally use a light colored rug for math work, swap it out for a dark colored one, such as navy blue or black.
This is so that the beads and the white ghosts show up nicely...
Then, explain to your child that instead of using bead chain arrows for counting, that they may choose to use the ghosts for counting by 5's and if they do that work and like using the little ghosts in place of the arrows, that you will make other sets of erasers for the other counting with the beads...
The child should roll out their mat...
Then, he or she should lay out either their 5's bead chains from the Bead Cabinet or else their 5's beads from the Decanomial Bead Box, depending on what beads you happen to have...
Then, next to the pile of beads or bead chains, the child should lay out the pile of ghosts so that all of the numbers written in marker are face up...they can be kept in random order if the child chooses, or else, the child could choose to place these ghosts in correct number order first...
Then, the child should proceed doing the counting by 5's work as he or she normally would do, except subbing in the tiny numbered ghosts for the bead chain arrows.
This work was a hit with both boys! 
If you feel so inclined, you can use other small erasers for additional counting.
The bats from Target work well for counting by 2's, as the bats have two wings...the boys loved this work as well!
I have added some photos of the boys doing the work with counting by 2's using the bats.
To use the bats as the fill-in for the bead chain arrows, buy the bat erasers from Target.
Then, in silver metallic marker, write all of the counting by 2's numbers onto the bats. For the purpose of this work, we just did up to 50:
2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20,22,24,26,28, 30,32,34,36, 38,40,42,44,46,48,50.
For this work, the boys added a felt tree and they decided to put the 2's green beads in the tree as the leaves...then, they added some gray pieces for a cave and put the bats in and around the cave and the tree.
Candy corns work well for counting by 3's, as the candy corns are like triangles, with three sides, plus they have three colors on them...
Pumpkin candies work well for counting by 10's...
This is the extent of what we have tried and have enjoyed, but you could certainly come up with more Halloween themed replacements for the bead chain arrows.

Well, here are some photos of the work with the ghosts filling in for the bead chain arrows for counting by 5's, as well as photos of the bats filling in for the bead chain arrows for counting by 2's.

We use the beads from our Decanomial Bead Box for counting

Blue beads for counting by 5's; ghosts filling in for bead chain arrows...

Close-up of little ghosts and beads...

One view of the beads and the ghosts...

Whole view of completed counting by 5's work using ghosts for bead chain arrows...

Big Bro set up the counting by 2's work for himself and for Little Bro.

Close-up of the bats filling in for the counting by 2's bead chain arrows.

Little Bro doing the counting by 2's work.

Do you have any Halloween themed works that you would like to share?
if you do, please feel free to provide a link in the comments section of this post.

I will be adding other Halloween themed activities over the course of the next few days, so be sure to pop back to see the others I will be adding...

Making Memories & Montessori Monday: Buttons, Buttons, Who's Gotta Button?

Peanut butter cup time...a memory and a Montessori tie - in!

Memories of Playing with Buttons:
When I was a little girl, we used to go to my grandparents' home and would get to play with the big jar of buttons she kept in her dining room hutch, which she referred to as "the buffet."
My grandmother, known affectionately as "Gramma Mickey" by her grandchildren, had a rather huge stash of buttons. It was a massive jar with a screw top lid.
She kept her buttons in one of the lower drawers of her buffet. Not something you would normally expect to find in a dining room hutch, but that is where they were kept.
Well, it was always like a treasure trove...truly one of my very favorite things to play with, as I would open up the buffet, carefully carry the over sized jar to the floor, unscrew the lid, and then, would put my hand into the jar and carefully and neatly start scooping out the buttons.
Would count them, sort them, think about where they had been prior to ending up in my Gramma Mickey's button jar, and then, would think of what the buttons would look neat if they were sewn onto, such as on a skirt, a shirt, or a sweater.
It was such a simple thing that kept us grandchildren entertained, but yet, was so fun for us...and not just for me, but for my cousins, who were a bit older.
My cousins had lived in Germany, as my uncle was in the US military...
They would spend time with my grandmother, a.k.a. Gramma Mickey, on and off, in between times spent overseas.
The one big difference though was that they did not seem to know the unwritten, unspoken rules about playing with these buttons, such as:
You have to ask if you may open the buffet to get them out...
You need to treat them with great care...
You may play with them on the floor...
You may take out handfuls at a time, but under no circumstances are you to just pour out the entire jar at one time.
You need to treat each and every button as if it were made of gold...
Then, when you are done, you are to put all of the buttons carefully back into the jar and very neatly place the jar back in the exact spot where you found it.
Under no circumstances are you to pocket the buttons for yourself, as they are for others to enjoy and for Gramma Mickey to use to sew onto clothes.
If Gramma Mickey has a button that you may have, she will give it to you...you don't ask for a button...
You just wait, play nicely, and she will come over and offer you one to take home...
Or she will let you pick out a few to go on something she is making for you...
I was maybe four or five but I knew these rules...
They were never expressly spoken to me, just demonstrated to me by Gramma Mickey.
My older cousins had bopped all over the globe, mostly in Germany, but then, they would pop back to Pennsylvania and stay there while my Uncle was in Vietnam.
His first tour was before I was born, and my one older cousin was actually born while he was over there...so he did not get to know his dad or bond with him until he was a toddler.
My uncle's second tour in Vietnam was when I was little.
I do not remember anything about it, except from what I have been told, but it impacted his children immensely, as when he went over for the second time, they were a bit older and the reality set in that they would not see him for years.

Having a dad off at war does not make for happy children...or confident children...
Well, back to playing with Gramma Mickey's buttons...
When my cousins would come over, they did not play by her unwritten rules...
They would spill the buttons all over the floor, throw them, pocket some, not put them back to where they were supposed to go in the buffet and so forth.
They were having fun, at least on the surface, but just made a huge mess.  And then, inevitably, they would get caught...caught making a mess, caught stuffing buttons into their pockets, caught not putting the jar back in its proper place or all of the above...
It really frustrated my grandmother.
She would generally mutter something half under her breath like "That is what happens when your dad is out of the picture...no discipline...no rules...no respect."
Sometimes, she would try to be a little more direct in trying to show them how to take care of the buttons, but sometimes, she would lose her patience and all of the buttons would be confiscated and the fun would be over...for a few days at least...
Flash forward to becoming a teacher...over the years, there were children who did not seem to know the underling rules of how something is supposed to be treated, whether it was how to treat a friend, how to use a material, or how to do a particular work. There were also children who acted act as they were frustrated about something tied in with their lives outside of the school day.

Photo used with permission.  Thank you, Lori. 
Copyrighted by  Lorimarsha, Refined Designs. Wear. Smile. Repeat. Eco-conscious Recycled Fashion
Reflections and how it relates to Montessori:
In the Montessori environment, there are more opportunities for children to learn from each other, but that does not always mean that a child will get it and do as they are supposed to...
As frustrating as it is, it is up to the adults in the situation to try to be patient and kind, as well as to redirect a child who is struggling with using a materials or treating a friend nicely.
My grandmother tried to be patient and tried to redirect them as she knew how, but it just seemed like an uphill battle with them. She had every right to be frustrated (it frustrated me and I was a preschooler!)
What did seem to work in the classroom with children who did not get it is when they were asked to demonstrate how to correctly do something, was to model and then, maybe have someone else model it yet again and again until they got it...maybe for several attempts at doing the work, a particular child might need to see the work done again and again, with different people demonstrating the work.
Also seems to help to have a child who is floundering to be encouraged to choose a work that they love and are proficient at doing so that they are made to feel more confident...
Kind of gently guided free choice...
Maybe if my grandmother would have been able to be more consistently patient or would have been able to sit with us and model step by step for them to follow...maybe that would have worked...not totally sure, but the thought has crossed my mind over the years when I have had students with difficult situations, including students living in a shelter, students with incarcerated parents, students with parents who travel overseas all or most of the time, students whose parents lived in different countries, as well as students with parents deployed in the theater in the US Military.
What is so nice about the Montessori environment is that it encourages older ones in the room to take on the role of being the model for the little ones...but it also works out that sometimes, little ones who get it can actually be helpful by working with an older one who does not seem to get it as well...
Montessori tie in:
Inspired works and work extensions using buttons

Photo used with permission. Thank you, Lori.  
Copyrighted by Lorimarsha, Refined Designs. Wear. Smile. Repeat. Eco-conscious Recycled Fashion
Practical Life:
Demonstrate how to button.
Introduce the button dressing frame to a young child.
Demonstrate how to sew a button on to a piece of cloth.
How to Sew a Button
To make it into a Montessori work, be sure to have all necessary items to sew a button onto cloth on a tray...A few pieces of cloth, thread, needle, scissors, tiny basket filled with buttons
Have a child string buttons onto a piece of yarn.
Have a child do a dry transfer work with buttons.
Try the work with a scoop, tongs, chopsticks, spoon, etc.
Have a work set up for a child to wash and dry plastic buttons. 
Sensorial:
Have a child sort the buttons to go with the color tablet boxes...

Use different sized buttons to make homemade sound cylinders.

Do as a work by making two of the exact same sound cylinder and have them match the two containers.
Math: 
Have works set up where a child can use the buttons to count, do patterns, etc.
Sorting, Counting Classifying Lesson 

Here, the buttons are being used with the Montessori wooden numbers.
Here are some lesson plans that correlate with the book, The Button Box by Margarette S. Reid. These lessons could be easily tweaked to work within a Montessori inspired home or a Montessori classroom...

Statistics Lesson
This lesson is by PBS.
Attributes
This lesson is from NCTM.  

Photo used with permission. Thank you, Lori. 

Copyrighted by Lorimarsha, Refined Designs. Wear. Smile. Repeat. Eco-conscious Recycled Fashion
Science:
Classify the buttons:
Magnetic  / nonmagnetic
Natural vs. man made materials
Culture:
Identify the region or the history of a particular button.

Classify buttons for particular holidays, such as pictured above, Christmas buttons. 
Language: 

Read The Button Box by Margarette S. Reid.

Use buttons as an extension with the grammar boxes
Use buttons with command cards
(Place the button in the basket...place the button behind the basket, etc. )
Art: 
Make a mobile with buttons hanging down from the mobile.

Make button imprints by pressing buttons into PlayDoh or clay.
Set up an art area to make a button multi-media collage or sculpture.
Have a variety of materials for a child to choose from to make a multi-media collage or sculpture.
Creative Writing:
Have a child select a button and then, write a story about where that button has been.
Perhaps it is a button that was on a uniform, or was part of a costume, or was on someone special's outfit. 

Photo used with permission. Thank you, Beau!
Photo copyrighted by Beau Bergman of  Down Under Antiques. 

All in all, buttons can be quite fun...just be sure to demonstrate for a child how to use the buttons properly and if for some reason, they are off task, very gently redirect them and model and have others model how to use them correctly.


Please be sure to check out:
Jennifer's Making Memories Monday link-ups,
Jody's Montessori Monday at Mommy Moment link-ups,
and Nicole's Montessori Monday link-ups.








Happy Monday, everyone!

Some of Our Work - Extensions Galore and Draw Write Now

Big Bro and Little Bro have both been very into building lately.
Ever since Big Bro and Little Bro tried out the extensions with the knobless cylinders and the pink tower and brown / broad stairs, they have been wanting to get these works out again to do additional extensions.

First, Big Bro wanted to rebuild the tower he had made a few days earlier using the mini pink tower and the broad stairs, only instead of starting with the broad stairs at the base, he wanted to try building it with the pink tower as the first piece.
He called this tower "Pink first, just to see what happens"...
Since the end pieces tended to fall off fairly easily, as they are so tiny, he then thought that perhaps if he alternated how he stacked them by twisting them that maybe that would help to make the tower more stable.

He referred to this tower as "Diamonds of Pink and Black"

Big Bro then made several other structures, including:
"The Ostrich"

"The Chichen Itza Boys" ("It's two boys playing with a little replica of the Mexican pyramid, Chichen Itza.")

"The Royal Black...an Arabian castle"

As Big Bro was working on his Pink Tower / Broad Stairs Extensions, at first, Big Bro enlisted the help of Little Bro to be his assistant. This way,  Big Bro was able to stay on the chair while he was building.
Little Bro loved being Big Bro's assistant for the two biggest towers.

Then, when Big Bro switched and did lower-to-the-ground extensions, Little Bro went back to the work he had selected, the knobless cylinders.
He started doing a variety of new extensions as well, first stacking up the red, green and yellow pieces into a tower, and then, adding a few blue pieces to the top.

Little Bro called his tower "B's Tower of Piza"

Big Bro took a few minutes out of his building to come check on Little Bro's progress. The two of them then briefly decided to create something together with the knobless cylinders, an extension they called "The Coral Reef".

Big Bro then went back to his pink tower and brown / broad stairs work and Little Bro went on to do some additional extensions..."Bubbles"

Treasure Hunt...X Marks the Spot"

He then got into trying other extensions...

Little Bro loved doing his take on extensions with the knobless cylinders.
He was completely absorbed in his work.

Big Bro finished out his work period by starting to do some pages from Draw Write Now.

Since Big Bro has expressed an interest in drawing and wanting to learn more about animals, he has started in with book eight, as it features animals of the desert, his current interest...he chose to do the pages about the coyotes and thorny lizards and had a great time learning how to draw the animals, as well as writing some facts about them.
All in all, it was a very busy day here.

 We wrapped things up by spending time at the pool and then, we came home and made some chocolate chip cookie dough...hopefully, we will do some baking tomorrow.

New Language Game for Circle Time - Goes with Montessori Noun & Verb Grammar Symbols

We came up with a game that works well if you do circle time...could also work as a game for family game time...my sons loved this game.

To play, you need:

A red ball, any sort of ball, but needs to be red  if you want it to go with the Montessori grammar symbol for verbs...

index cards and a black marker

On the cards, draw a black triangle to represent the black pyramid for the Montessori grammar symbol for noun...

For those who can write, have them write their name on the cards...for those who are still learning to write their names, have them draw themselves on their cards.

Sit in a circle and then explain how the game will work.
you could also use this time to review the idea of the grammar symbols for noun and verb...
If you have older ones who know about grammar symbols, then explain how the game ties in with that...
Then, explain that when the red ball (that represents the verbs) rolls to you, then you have to say your name (as the noun) and say the verb that you are going to do...
So, for example, the ball rolls to me and I would say Mommy hops...then I would get up and hop for a few seconds...then, I would sit back down and roll the ball to the next person, say Big Bro...Big Bro would say Big Bro twists and then, Big Bro would stand and twist and toll the ball to the next person, say Little Bro.
Then, Little Bro would say Little Bro jumps...and so on...
As each person say their name, they would hold up their noun card and show their noun card and then, stand and do the action.

To adapt this game for older children, have them find verbs in their reading. Then, have them write their verb words down on index cards.
Then, when they come to the circle, and the ball is rolled to them, they put all of their cards in a pile in a small basket in the middle of the circle...
When they roll the ball to a person, the person then has to select a card from the basket and do that action...ind of gives the game a bit of a mad libs effect if some of the verbs are funny.

This is a fun game and hopefully, your children will enjoy playing it.
In a classroom, would work best during circle time, but in the homeschool setting, you could do it either as part of the school time or else during the evening, as family time.
If parents play and add words from their reading, it makes it fun, as it increases the difficulty of the verbs used and also models that reading is great fro everyone, as if you have to go and get berbs from the books you are reading, it points out to your children that reading is something that everyone does, not just kids.

Hope that you will enjoy this game!

I have included some links to other websits and blogs about Grammar symbols, for those of you who might not know about these:

From Montessori for Everyone 

From Homemade Montessori


Here is a link to a Grammar Bingo game from AMC

Have a happy Wednesday!

Thank you to those of you who have posted nice comments this week. We have company in town so I am not writing as much, as we are doing the touristy things with our friends.

Big Bro Working Hard

Big Bro completing the binomial cube, one of his favorite works at the moment.
Using skittles...trying to come up with an extension of his own, after he had already correctly completed this work...
Here is his pink tower / brown stairs extension, after correctly doing the pink Tower and Brown Stairs work.

Big Bro has mostly been focusing on making his world biomes book...will post photos of his completed book soon.

These are just some of the other works he has been doing in addition to the biomes...

How About Doing P.E. and Science at the Park?

Well, we had a great day of school...back to a much more relaxed, wear what you want to wear kind of day.

We started our morning out at home and then, wrapped up our school day at the park.

For morning work, Little Bro wanted to "make his own work" by adding some puzzle pieces to the color tiles work. He was so proud of himself for coming up with the idea!
He took out the Montessori color tiles (Box 2) and matched them up with some colored puzzles that we have.
Of course, I had laid out the work a little differently, but he was very enthusiastic about trying it his way, so I decided to let him.
Although I fully acknowledge the importance of using materials (especially Montessori materials) properly, when using Montessori materials in the home, I feel that the environment lends itself to a little more open ended work.
As long as my children can demonstrate that they are capable of doing the work correctly, and as long as they use the materials respectfully, if they want to create their own work, I am fine with that.
The enthusiasm, creativity, and concentration they demonstrate outweighs the fact that they are doing something a little differently than the original work.

Big Bro chose to do some work with Bamboo tiles. He placed then in ascending and then, descending order, then, he made various patterns, and then, he used them to make masks and designs.

For Big Bro's second work, he and Little Bro both wanted to listen to some music and do some movement activities with it, so we played Breakfast with Mozart, one of the kids' favorites. Little Bro has so far chosen to get Beethoven's Moonlight, Breakfast with Mozart, and Pachebel.
Little Bro loves classical music! Big Bro prefers "Oldies but Goodies", which in his case means anything from when I was in high school:)
We play this game when we go to Target called "Find the Composer"...I give the boys the name of the composer and they select the corresponding CD. We stand and listen to the music selection.
It is a very fun game and they really seem to have learned a great deal from it...am thinking of making my own version of this for home, like a listening lotto game with different genres of music.
So, the boys danced and moved to the music, enjoying every second of it...then, Big Bro did his reading work while Little Bro had me read to him.
Little Bro was on a roll...he selected four picture books for me to read...
Big Bro also chose to work on a puzzle by Melissa and Doug that helps children to learn to tie their shoes. Big Bro got a kick out of it because when you remove the puzzle pieces, you can see the old socks in the shoes. Big Bro tried very hard to tie the shoelaces and did a pretty decent job with it. The puzzle is a little more challenging than the tying frame.

We then decided to head to the park for a combo. P.E. and science lesson...
Nothing better than nature studies in nature!
Now, originally, I had planned that we would go and collect various items around the park with different textures and make some prints with these...leaves, bark, acorns, twigs, even maybe some Spanish moss.

I want to make texture and color scavenger hunts something we do on a pretty regular basis.

Well, when we got to the park, plans changed, as there was a boy there who was with a summer camp program, as his school has not started yet... this 8 year old boy was absolutely amazing in his vast knowledge of lizards! He knew all about them, and better yet, he knew how to catch them! He must have caught at least sixteen lizards in the short time we were there at the park!!!
This kid worked at warp speed!
I have never seen anything like it...he then took Big Bro under his wing and showed him all that he knew about lizards...how to catch them, which ones bite the hardest, and as he said "how to tell a guy what kind of lizard it is."
He assisted Big Bro with catching four lizards. What a glorious day!
So, after dunking both of my kids with Purell and then, still rewashing hands in the bathroom, we left, as it started to thunder. We did grab some leaves, twigs, and bark and will do some rubbings soon though...

Little Bro: All Bright Eyed and Bushy Tailed at 4:30 a.m. Today

So, is it dinner yet???

I feel like it should be about time for dinner vs. lunch, as Little Bro got up at 4:30 a.m. today...FOR THE DAY!!!

He got up super early, as he really wanted to get to do the work that Big Bro had selected for his morning work (fraction skittles)...
Little Bro decided if he got up early and got going, he could do Big Bro's work before big Bro even got out of bed...and he was right...he did the skittles work and had it all back before Big Bro had even started to stir. I did not take photos of him doing Big Bro's work, as I did not want Big Bro to see that Little Bro had done this...

We have started to select our morning work the night before, so that the first work for the day is on the kitchen table, ready and waiting when we all wake up.
The boys start at the kitchen table and then, after eating breakfast, they progress into our playroom for the remaining work.

Now, I normally get up around this time every day, as Dear Hubby normally leaves for work early and our puppy has to go out with DH to do his duty...waking up when my hubby and the puppy are up is not as much of a challenge, as they are pretty quiet and do their own thing.

Little Bro was so excited to get cracking on his brother's work...he just beamed the whole time! He was so full of energy and so proud of himself that he got to big Bros work first.

After having a bit of fun with Big Bro's work, he then got right to his own work...he did the Pink Tower, then, the Broad / Brown Stairs, and then, a few of the extensions for these.

Little Bro then got out the spindles and did 0 to 9.

Then, he chose a new work, a wooden animal game called Who Lives Where? by Cadaco.
He just loved this work! I am sure that he will be bringing it off the shelves again and again!
I found it at a children's consignment store.
Pretty cool independent game, goes along nicely with what we have been doing, etc.
Following the game, Little Bro wanted to read with me. We read two books, which he loved.

Little Bro wrapped up his morning with matching 3D shapes to their cards.
He matched up both plastic and wooden shapes and then, sorted them back out before putting them away.

He finished off his morning by putting on a variety of costumes and playing with the dog.

All in all, a very productive morning...he is a very hardworking tike!