Making Memories and Malaguzzi Monday: Gramma Mickey's Chair Pockets

This week, my post is about some wonderful memories of my grandmother and some handmade items she helped me to design and make for my classroom way back when I was a first year teacher.
Sorry, no true Montessori tie-ins for this week, although if you use Montessori in your homeschools or small in-home programs and you are looking for an idea to help you to store materials in a small space, hopefully, you will enjoy this post.
There is a Malaguzzi tie-in, though, so if you are wondering more about Reggio Emilia and Malaguzzi, please continue reading...
If you like to sew, then this could be the perfect project for you, as I never got a patent for these...but if you would ever make some like what I made with my grandmother, I would love to see how yours turn out and if you would be so kind as to give a nice shout out to Gramma Mickey and to me, that would be all that I would want.


My maternal grandmother, affectionately referred to by all of her grandchildren as "Gramma Mickey", was a wonderful knitter, seamstress (way, way back before those who like to sew became known as sewists...since she was old school, I will say seamstress), and all around artsy-crafts-y sort of grandma.
Over the years, she made many wonderful things...from mittens attached with strings so we wouldn't lose them in the snow to purses that converted into doll beds made out of Ivory dish soap bottles...from cool ceramic roosters to water color paintings of the different seasons.
She was a very versatile artisan and generally, a fun grandma.

Am pretty sure that if Gramma Mickey and Loris Malaguzzi would have ever been in the same room, they would have had many ideas to discuss and share, as two of the metaphors commonly associated with Malaguzzi and his philosophy of early childhood would have resonated to a degree with my grandmother, namely:
 ...the educative process as the tossing of a ball back and forth between child and teacher, an exchange in which both players are equal and in which they cooperate equally in the play and development of ideas. *
and
...teacher and child embarking together on a journey downriver, rather than standing on opposite banks watching the river flow.*
 * To read more about Loris Malaguzzi, please visit this link where I found these Malaguzzi metaphors...


During my first school year, I came home for Christmas from where I was teaching in Virginia to my family's home in Pennsylvania. 
My grandmother lived in the same hometown as my family, so we spent much of our time together over my break.
Told my grandmother how I wanted to have some pockets to go over the backs of my classroom chairs like the teacher next to me had, only instead of just having cute pockets that would be for decorative purposes to make the room look more neat with matching colored seats, I wanted mine to be functional.
Wanted to somehow integrate the idea of a pencil pouch into the chair pocket.
So, Gramma Mickey asked me what sorts of materials I was envisioning that could go in these pockets and said that ideally, would like a space for glue, child sized scissors, markers, colored pencils, crayons, and a journal. 

Also said that it would be nice to be able to have a little space to place a tiny mouse, as I used little mice as gentle reminders to the children that they needed to work quietly "like a little mouse".

Some of Our "Work Quietly as a Little Mouse" Mice

So, we began to come up with a design for my chair pockets. 
Mind you, we did not have much time, as I was only home for a couple of weeks over break...
Plus, my grandmother was in her eighties, had advanced rheumatoid arthritis, and had cataracts...
In addition, I wasn't 100% certain as to the measurements of the child sized chairs in my classroom...It was all by what I could tell my grandmother by comparison...
Went something like "Well, the chairs are wide enough for a small child, but not wide enough for an adult to sit on them comfortably, maybe as wide as a book bag, as I have seen kids rest their book bags on the chairs."
Despite these challenges, we plodded through and within a few days, I had some fabulous chair pockets to take back to Virginia with me at the end of my break.
First, she asked me about the material that the teacher next to me had used for her chair pockets. Jenny, the teacher next to me, had used lightweight, bright cotton and although they really made her room look cute and inviting, they were not holding up all that well and she had to make replacements often. 
My grandmother suggested that we use something that would be both durable and stain resistant, plus that would feel soft against a child's hands and backs, as they were to make the seats more comfortable for the children, too.
We came up with the idea of using heavy denim. 
Together, we went out and got the heaviest, most durable bolts of denim we could find.
Then, my grandmother asked me to get the approximate dimensions of each type of box that would need to fit in the chair pockets. She did not need the actual measurement in inches, but rather, we went and got the actual boxes and then, just eyeballed each one to make sure that everything would fit.
Gramma Mickey whipped up a paper template for the chair pockets using pages of her Sunday newspaper. 
Then, we got right to work. 
Her design was awesome and efficient, as part of the beauty of the chair pocket design was its simplicity...
We folded out big pieces of denim, then, flipped part of the denim piece back on itself.
The piece that flipped back on itself created a nice, big pocket that was perfect to hold a folder and journal. There was even ample room in this pocket to hold a show and tell item, which was a bonus...
Onto the one pocket piece, she then affixed the pouch piece that held the smaller supplies on the outside. 
And voila! 
Nice looking, but also very practical and durable chair pockets!

How long have these lasted? 
Well, let's just say a very long time...nearly twenty years and counting!!!
They have been used by a countless number of my students, as well as my sons and their friends when they come to our home. 
The little "please work quietly" mice have also held up equally as well...


This week, I am starting to do a Reggio Emilia inspired book study where we will read a lovely book called The Language of Art: Inquiry-Based Studio Practices in Early Childhood Settings by Ann Pelo. 

Here is a link to this wonderful book.
This is such a cool book. It goes over how to set up a studio, as well as how to explore texture, color, and 3D media with children. It also highlights how to do representational drawing and painting with children. Having a child do a self portrait is a powerful learning tool, as it gets them to examine themselves and to share how they view themselves.
The book also discusses how a "Culture of Inquiry" grows through art, as well as how to use art media to "grow long-term investigations."
Just love when art is used as a tool for higher order thinking in young children, so this book and its concepts are right up my alley, as it is something we already strive for here at Sunrise Learning Lab.



Different people from our book study group have been toying with the idea of how to set up a studio in a small space and that is what made me reflect upon my chair pockets. 
Ideally, in a very large space where you have ample space to store art materials or school supplies communally, it could work well to store them together in bins or baskets like you do either in a traditional art class or a Montessori classroom. 
In an art room, typically you would have the room to have big bins filled with paint brushes, watercolors, pastels, crayons, and glue.  
In a Montessori 3-6 room, typically you would have a shelf dedicated to nice little pencil holders for all of your colored pencils, as well as your metal insets and paper.
However, when you are in a smaller setting where you only have a few students and maybe your work space has to also double for your dinner table, or your play room seating, then these chair pockets can really be a wonderful solution for you and your family. If you have a small in-home educational program of some sort, or if you do art camps or Scouts out of your home, these would be great for you as well...

This week, we are going to do a Lego Summer Camp.

Little Bro's Lego Doggie, Made with a Little Help from Dear Daddy

Big Bro's Lego Star Wars Ship

Little Bro's Lego Ostrich and Trainer

The chair pockets are once again proving to be invaluable, as all of their little Lego creations fit nicely into the chair pockets, too. The pockets have proven to be versatile over the years, as I have used them when doing writers' workshops, art camps, as well as for their originally intended use in the classroom.
Although the rest of our neighbors who attend public school started back to school today, we are not officially starting until after Labor Day weekend. 
We are having a much later start because of a few different reasons, namely:

• Want to have more time to get into The Language of Art and really have time to reflect upon how doing more of a studio approach this year is going to impact our day-to-day...

• Want to have time to have Big Bro and Little Bro transition from our current routine into our new one...we are still going to do the Montessori inspired work period in the morning, but this year, the day will extend much longer into the afternoon. Our afternoons will be more of a mix than last year, as we are doing co-op classes with a couple different co-ops, plus, we are adding in studio days and lab days, so it is more varied and longer in length than last year's schedule. 

• Want to have time so that if we feel like adding an end of summer road trip into the mix, we will be able to do that as well, whether it ends up being a day trip or a few days...

So, not much to share related to Montessori this week, as it is more of a summer camp week.
But, if your family likes all things Lego, please pop by later in the week, as I will have some nice Lego pdfs to share.
Happy Monday!
 This post is linked to Making Memories Monday Links at Adventures in McQuill-land.

 

Making Memories, Montessori (& Malaguzzi) Monday: Summer Camp

Peanut butter cup time...Montessori and Malaguzzi tie-ins and hopefully, some happy memories in the making...
Today, Little Bro and Big Bro are going to their first ever summer camp! Yippie!***
(***At least, we are hoping for Yippie!)

Montessori and Malaguzzi tie-ins:
During this past school year, the boys studied insects, life cycles, and animals and their habitats during our mornings doing a variety of Montessori inspired works related to these...
In the afternoons, they did many hands-on projects that were more Malaguzzi (Reggio Emilia) inspired...
Big Bro did a huge project on the desert, they took art lessons and did several themed projects.
When their art teacher, Miss L, put a list of camps together and one of the themes was Eric Carle Camp, it just seemed like it would be a hit for both boys, so I first asked them if they would like to go (and they both said Yes!!!) and then, I signed them up to attend...

Now that the day is here (today), here is how things stand...
Hopefully, wonderful memories in the making...
Little Bro is very excited and happy about it...
He is so pumped, and is wondering all kinds of things...
I hope they have a pool!
I hope that I get to play...
But then, he added...
Well, I don't know...what do you do at summer camp?
Do we sing camp fire songs?
Do we build a fire?
Do we sleep under a tent?
Are we going to have marshmallows? I love marshmallows!!!
Obviously, his idea of summer camp is more like going to a real campgrounds...
Big Bro, is he happy / excited / looking forward to it?
Not as much...anxious, worried, concerned, analytical? Yes, these words are fitting for him for today...
Big Bro sometimes gets a little nervous / shy before he tries something new.
He had said recently that "It might be awesome", as he likes his art teacher who is running the camp, but this morning, he is nervous about how it will be with the other kids.
He wonders if they will like him, if he will have anything to talk about with them, if they will like the same things that he likes, and if they will want to be his friends.
He also wants to know:
"How much stuff we will have to do, if we get a choice of what to do, and how long it will be..."
So, this morning, while the boys were doing their morning work, I have also had to fill them in about what the summer camp they are attending is (hopefully) going to be like, but this is just my best guess, as truthfully, I never attended summer camp, so this is only my perception of what it could be like...
Reminiscent of when I tried to explain the concept of playgroup to Big Bro a few years back...I never had been in a playgroup as a kid, so
I only knew what I had seen and read about playgroups...
Told them how their art teacher, Miss L, is going to now be doing the job of camp director...
Shared again about how the camp is going to have a theme of Eric Carle books.

We got out every Eric Carle Book we own (and we have quite a few) and then, we talked about the books and what they are about and then, maybe what could be some of the things that they could be learning about from the camp...
So, the boys said,  "Insects, birthdays, and animals...right, mom"?
Told them that from what Miss L told me, they are on the right track...
But that is about it, as I really don't know first-hand what camp is like...
Had to clear up Little Bro's notion of summer camp, and had to calm Big Bro's fears about even going...so it has been quite the morning... 
Memories...
When I was a little girl, I always dreamed of going to camp like my cousins did, but it just never happened...
My family did other fun summer things together, but not camp.
My cousins went to camp for much of their summer break, as my uncle (their father) had died very suddenly of a heart attack at the young of age of 40, leaving behind his wife and six children.
My cousins went to camp every summer, so for most of my growing up, I thought that summer camp was something that you did if your parents needed some time without children.
Since there were six children in my family, I always thought that my mom could have used some time away from us to get a break like my aunt had when my cousins went to camp, and that camp would have been perfect for all of us cousins to do together, as all of the girl cousins could have gone to one camp and all of the boys cousins could have gone to another, but this was not what happened.
They went to camp and we stayed home with my mom and on weekends, my dad, doing fun summer things like swimming, golfing, riding bikes, and going places like the beach...
Probably should have called my cousins to ask them about what summer camp was like, but their camp was a residential camp where kids stayed for several weeks.
The boys' camp is just a day camp.
Am hoping that it similar to how things are when she does her art lessons.
But then again, if it is a little different, that will be fun, too.
I like Miss L, have a great deal of respect for her as a person and an artist  / atelierista, so am pretty confident that it is going to be a blast. Just hard to put something into words for your child other than to tell them that it is going to be a fun time and that they will learn new things.
Malaguzzi:
The Reggio Emilia approach is based upon the belief that the relationships which are built between the child and the educator, between the child and the world, and between the child and other children are essential to the process of learning. The relationship between the child and the teacher should not be one based on unequal power or status, but rather one in which the child is carefully listened to and respected.
To read more: Understanding the Reggio Approach - Children, Approach, Reggio, Emilia, Child, Which, Education, and Parents
Montessori:
Maria Montessori was once quoted as saying:

Whoever touches the life of the child touches the most sensitive point of a whole which has roots in the most distant past and climbs toward the infinite future.

Thanks to Montessori Community School for this cool quote...

Dear Hubby and I feel that their camp director and former art teacher, Miss L, respects our sons and knows her stuff, so we know the boys are in good hands and we are hoping that it will be a wonderful week for them...


Update: 
The boys had a fabulous first day at camp!!!
Big Bro had this to say...
Camp was awesome! It was so cool, in that we got to play the Eric Carle ABC Board Game. Actually, we got to make the caterpillar today and we started to make the collage for the butterfly. The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a good book, as it is very entertaining, plus, it is the first book that he made for kids, at least from what I saw and learned today...
Little Bro said, I liked painting and then, painting more in the box. We looked at The Little Cloud and The Very Hungry Caterpillar and they were fine and I had fun.
As for me...
Had some time to myself and got to do some planning for this coming year, which was nice...
Hung out at Starbucks, but really looked forward to going to pick up the boys as it grew closer to the end of camp time.
Can only imagine what it will be like when the boys go off to college, as I felt a little lost without them with me today...
Luckily, we have about 12 more years til that happens!!!
Thanks, Miss L, for a cool first day of camp.
Thanks Eric Carle, for creating such neat books for children. You have inspired so many over the years.
Here is the link to: Eric Carle's blog.
The Official Eric Carle Website, The Caterpillar Exchange, a bulletin chalk full of lesson ideas to tie in with his books
Here is a link to some additional Eric Carle pages...


Please be sure to visit Nicole at One Hook Wonder,
Jody at Mommy Moment, 
and 
Jennifer at Adventures in McQuill-Land .
They get some great link ups, too, so be sure to check the link ups out as well.



 

Happy Monday!

Making Memories, Montessori (& Malaguzzi) Monday: Our Family Bedtime Routine

Peanut butter cup time...memories in the making, with Montessori and Malaguzzi tie-ins, too...
Bedtime is almost always a nice time for our family, as generally, when it is time to go to bed, we have all had a busy day and are ready to wind down, relax, and get some zzz's...
Hopefully, the way that we do our night time routine will continue to create pleasant memories for Big Bro and Little Bro.
Am really going to miss when they are too old to tuck in and have a nightly ritual like the routine we have now, so I try to remember to cherish every moment.
Sometimes, it seems like it was just yesterday when they were tiny infants and would nurse with me as they were falling to sleep.
Every once in a while, it is hard to believe how fast they have grown.
But the neat thing is that as they have grown, our night time routine has changed a little, too.
It has actually gotten more elaborate, but it really seems to work for them for now, as it gives us some lovely time as a family to unwind and decompress from our busy days, so even though our current routine is a little longer than what it used to be, this is where we are at...at this moment in their development.

Making Memories
Before bath time, both boys go in and pick out their first morning work for the next day.
During the school year, they generally do more Montessori works in the morning and then, do more play based activities in the afternoon.
During the summer, they may choose a Montessori work, or else they may choose to start with something that is more play based, such as playing on our lanai in their clubhouse.
In summertime, if they want to eat their breakfast outside on our lanai, they are most welcome to do so...we consider summer to be our summer camp time, so it is a much more loosely structured sort of morning...
The boys place their selections either on the table in our kitchen or else our floor in our adjoining family room. They are then all set for the next day.
After selecting their morning activities, they start getting ready for bed.
Generally, the boys take a bath,  put their jammies on, and brush their teeth, and then, we do the rest of our nighttime routine in Big Bro's room.

The boys round up their favorite night time things, namely their blankies and their stuffed animal friends. They get all settled and then, we read a book or two...
We're all on Big Bro's bed as we are listening to the stories.
Many times, Dear Hubby will read. We all love when Daddy reads, as I have already read with them at different times throughout the day. Having Daddy involved in reading the bedtime stories pulls him into what the boys' current interests are, as generally, the stories are reflective of their interests.

Little Bro and Big Bro take turns selecting the book or books that we read together.
As we are reading, we take time out if the boys want to talk or ask questions related to the book(s). We try to get Little Bro to understand that if he wants to share something that does not relate to the story we are reading, that he is most welcome to do so after we wrap up the book.
Big Bro likes this. He is a very matter-of-fact sort of kid and likes to stick with the book or the theme of the book. Big Bro has had to learn to be more patient with some of the randomness of Little Bro's conversations during story time...but Little Bro is starting to have a longer attention span and more focus on the book at hand...
We then kind of recap our favorite part of the day or something that we wanted to share before saying prayers.
Malaguzzi
For those who may be unfamiliar with Loris Malaguzzi, he is considered to be the founding father of the Reggio Emilia Approach to early childhood. He helped an Italian community to bring together an excellent early childhood program that was also very respectful of children, and to some extent,  followed their interests similarly to Maria Montessori's philosophy...
One of my favorite Malaguzzi quotes comes into play regarding listening to your child
(This quote appeared as part of his obituary, written by Wolfgang Achtner, that ran in the Independent shortly after Malaguzzi's death in 1994.)...
(Adults need...) a willingness to question all your own abilities, your knowledge, to become humble. Only then will you be able to listen to the child, to set off on a common search, to educate each other together.
Sometimes, the questions that Big Bro and Little Bro ask or the insight that they have really takes us aback as Dear Hubby and I are listening to what the boys share at bedtime...introspective and  contemplative, more so than if we would have tried to point out everything to them about the topic...as adults, we need to be humble and truly listen to what a child shares with us.
Bedtime in our home happens to be one of the best sharing times, so Dear Hubby and I have to always be ready to really listen to our sons...
Most recently, Big Bro has been sharing his thoughts on the oil spill. He does not focus on whom should be blamed for the spill, but rather, on ways to fix the problem, how the spill area should be cleaned. He asked why "everyone is focusing on capping the spill if the oil is trying so hard to come out"? and "Why doesn't someone design a machine or tool that works with the oil wanting to come out...some sort of big vacuum invention that will just speed the oil trying to escape, but forcing it to go to where we want it to go rather than all over the place"???
He really wants to create an invention to do just this sort of thing...
 
Little Bro, who is way more into the comedic side of life, has gotten into saying goodnight to himself...he says goodnight to all of us and then, he says goodnight to himself, along with some sort of positive affirmation about his day went. Can honestly say that I never gave much thought to trying to solve the world's problems with new inventions or reflecting upon my day and saying self affirmations like the boys do when I was little.

Then, after bedtime story time, we do the the newest addition to our night time routine, after the boys turn off the room lights...our nightly shadow puppet show!
Daddy and Mommy are the audience and Big Bro and Little Bro are the puppeteers.
Recently, when we replaced the night light in Big Bro's room, the boys realized that the light helped to create a perfect shadow puppet stage.
Both boys love, love, love to do nightly shadow puppet shows!
They dance, make shadow puppet animals, and pretend to be famous people.
Little Bro loves the fact that he can "be so, so, so big" with his shadow.
Sometimes, we also talk about the glow-in-the-dark Solar System stickers on Big Bro's ceiling.
Almost always, at this time, Little Bro will tell us how he would love to go visit either the moon or Neptune. He has always been enamored with both the moon and Neptune. He pretends to blast off to the moon while he does his shadow puppetry.
This is one of the reasons I am so excited about doing the light table swap items, as the shadow puppets  and other light table items we make for the swap are going to be huge hits with the boys...
not just during the day, but at night, too...

As a family, we then say our prayers.
Our prayers are partly traditional and partly ones that we have created as a family to give our thanks to God for a nice day and for our families and friends. 
Then, we sing a few songs. Some are religious and some are not...just some of the boys' favorites.
We give each other goodnight kisses, say our I love you's to each other, and then, sometimes, Little Bro and Big Bro get silly saying things like "Goodnight, Silly Pickle...or "Goodnight Cheeseburger." Pickles and cheeseburgers are exceptionally funny to both boys, especially to Little Bro at bedtime.

Then, the boys like for us to stay there with them for a few minutes until they are settled. Little Bro adores having his feet rubbed as he is trying to fall asleep.
Big Bro just likes to have us snuggle with him for a couple extra minutes, and then, he's all set to fall fast asleep.
Lately, Little Bro has liked cuddling in Big Bro's room at night.
He had a Montessori style floor bed, but has really moved beyond that, for the most part.
At some point, we are going to probably have to get him a big boy bed that is off the floor, but the arrangement at the moment seems to be working well for the boys, so we will wait and see.

Montessori
As far as the Montessori tie-in, sometimes, when I think of Maria Montessori, I actually feel sad for her to think that she had a son whom she never would have had been able to snuggle with and to have a bedtime routine with, as she had to essentially have him adopted out by a family in the countryside.
She gave the field of education and child development so much, but as far as getting to have a family night time routine, she would have never ever have gotten to experience this first hand.

I had been a live-in nanny while in graduate school and then, shortly after grad school.
While working as a nanny, helped with everything during the day and even helped with things like getting them ready for bed, but I was not the one to do the bedtime routine of reading them stories, listening to their thoughts about their day, or tucking them in at night.
If, for some reason, I was the one to put them to bed, we would still read a story and say "sweet dreams and goodnight", but it wasn't quite as snuggly as it is when it is your own child or children, even though I loved the little ones I cared for...just not the same sort of drawn out bedtime as with my own children, though.
In both cases, the night time routine was largely still something that their own parents did at night.
Had really felt like I was ready to be a mom when I was working in the capacity as a nanny...thought that I had pretty much experienced everything that a mom would experience with respect to raising children, but I was so wrong...it is so different when it is your own child...when you are the parent versus the nanny or classroom guide or teacher.
Montessori's concept of a floor beds make sense and we did use them at different times since the boys were born, but not exclusively. She would have never known the experience of a family bed, or of little brothers who like to sometimes sleep all snuggled together but other times, like to either snuggle in with mom and dad or else be by themselves and have room to spread out in the bed. 
Both boys had floor beds and we did use them, but we also have had our time spent doing the "Family Bed" thing while I was nursing, as well as a kind of morphed bed on their own - family bed arrangement that we currently have.

Have not found much in the way of writing about whether or not Loris Malaguzzi had any children. Know that he was married, but even in his obituary, it did not mention if he was survived by any of his own children...
So, the same would apply for whatever Loris Malaguzzi might have stated with respect to bedtime and children, as if he did not have any of his own children, it would be only as an observer that he could comment about this subject.

Have a great deal of admiration and respect for both Maria Montessori and Loris Malaguzzi, and in so many instances, find that my personal vision of raising my children seems to mirror what they espoused, but then, I also have to trust myself in my decisions with regard to my own children.
In the area of night time routines, from what I can gather from my research, neither one had personal experience with putting their own little ones into bed for the night.

So, as far as deciding whether to do a family bed, floor bed, or a combination of these, as well as the type of  bedtime routine for my own children is something that Dear Hubby and I had to work out for our boys, as our family experience is so vastly different than from ones through an institutional / child care setting.
It helps to know, understand, and appreciate various educational philosophies, but ultimately, it is up to the individual parent or parents to decide what works best for their family, such as what is working very well for our family bedtime routine.
Speaking of bedtime routines, if you would like a copy of an activity we have about bedtime called Time For Bed, you are most welcome to have it.
The activity consists of a sheet that has a drawing showing a bedtime scene and then, a page of word cards featuring words that go with the Time for Bed theme.

These sheets work well as a Montessori style shelf work, if you make two copies of the words sheet, and one copy of the illustration sheet...then, glue to card stock if you wish...you may also want to laminate your sheets. Ours are laminated.
With the word card sheets, I cut one of the two sheets into individual words.
Then, the boys match the little word cards to the themed words sheet.
You can also do this activity as a seek and find, where they have to find the individual word cards in the illustration.
For those who may prefer a bit more of a play based approach, the cards also work well if you want to do a scavenger hunt and have your children find some of the bedtime items.
If you have a child who is reluctant to get ready for bed, this can be a nice transitional activity before going to bed.
You could also use some of the word cards as labels if you wish to have labels around your home for your child. If your child is just starting to learn English, or if your child is just starting to learn to dress him or herself, you might find these labels to be helpful, as they show both the item and the word.
These cards are also excellent for children who are on the autism spectrum, as you can use them as sequencing / schedule cards and lay out what will come next in their bedtime routine. 
If you would like these pdfs, please either leave me a comment with your email addy or else, email me at cmbmomof2@yahoo.com and I will send them to you.

Please be sure to check out Jody's Montessori Monday post and link ups today.
She has a neat video clip and post about truly following the child.



 Nicole at One Hook Wonder is taking a break from doing lessons with her children to enjoy the last few weeks of summer, but is still graciously hosting the Montessori Monday link ups from others on her blog., so please be sure to pop by her blog to see the link ups.




Jennifer from Adventures in McQuill-Land has a nice post about scouting memories.


Happy Monday!

Making Memories Monday & Montessori Monday: Summer Food and Fun!

Peanut Butter Cup Time...A memory and a Montessori tie - in!

(The Montessori tie-in is a bit of a stretch this week, but the recipe is Italian, so homage to Dr. Montessori's country of origin!)

When I was little, summers were always kicked off with a school-wide picnic day spent at Waldameer.

Waldameer, which is German for "Woods by the Sea", is situated right by Presque Isle State Park in Erie, Pennsylvania, my hometown. At the time, it was a picnic grounds and amusement park...it has grown into a much larger entity and now boasts fancier, more modern rides and a water park, but back in the day, it was pretty simple.

Here is a link to Waldameer and its interesting park history.

Waldameer is One of the 10 Oldest Parks in the USA.
Waldameer was and to some extent still is an old fashioned style amusement park, complete with two kind of  haunted house attractions  Pirate's Cove and the Wacky shack, as well as a real wooden roller coaster.
It also had bumper cars called Dodgem's, a water ride / flume run called Old Mill, and several twirly rides, including the Paratrooper, the Spider, the Scrambler, and the Tilt-a-Whirl... these rides made me a little queasy, but we rode them anyhow...

You did not pay for the whole day there...instead, you paid by the ride.

This was a much better set up for our family, as my mom did not go on the rides so she did not have to pay. She would watch us go on the rides and would stay with my much younger brothers while the older kids in my family (including myself) would go on the rides. 
My younger brother rode on some of the kiddie rides but were too young to ride on the bigger rides, so they stayed close to my mom and walked around by either the picnic grounds or else the arcade.
My dad did not go with us to this picnic, as it was always held on a weekday, when most dads were at work...so the entire picnic was pretty much staffed by moms, maybe with a few dadss who took the day off to help set things up for the picnic.

For school picnics at Waldameer, they always served food in tents.
The food almost always included two main food items:

Ox Roast, which is not made of ox but of roast beef and spices. Everyone would eat this sloppy but delicious roast beef on a bun, but you actually needed a bowl because otherwise, you would drop it, due to its sheer massive size and juiciness.
Smith's Hot dogs. Smith's Hot dogs are a local specialty and they are still quite popular today for picnics.
Anyone from Erie, Pennsylvania would most likely associate the smell of Smith's Hot Dogs and the Ox Roast as summer smells.

Alongside the hot dogs and Ox Roast, they would serve Troyer Farms Chips, locally grown potato chips that were just great, as well as pototo salad, baked beans, and watermelon.
We also got to have "pop" (aka soda for the rest of the world), mainly cans of Coca Cola all wrapped up in tin foil to help keep it cold. 


Once the picnic was over, then it meant the start of summer.
Then, the rest of the summer was pretty much spent at the pool.
Our family lived close enough to the pool that we could either ride our bikes or walk to the pool.
Generally, my sister, my one brother, and I would ride our bikes to the pool. 
In the mornings, we had swim team practice.
we would swim until I felt like I could pass out and then, just before doing so, they would blow the whistle and practice had come to an end.

Then, after practice, we would have lunch, usually at the pool and then, we would stay and swim for the remainder of the day. Sometimes, we would get food from the snack bar, but most days, my mom would pack lunch for all of us.
My mom would usually come down to the pool with my three younger brothers. She had so much to lug in with her...three little tots, plus a play pen and pools toys, along with our lunches that she would usually pack for us.
For the most part, it was a great way to spend our days.

Well, wouldn't you know it, lo and behold, Dear Hubby spent his summer days in a pretty similar fashion? 

He would wrap up his school year and then, would head to his neighborhood pool. He spent many hours at the pool, but also managed to find time to add baseball and a
family vacation with his grandparents to the beaches of Maryland to his summer routine. 

While I was in Erie, Pennsylvania, spending time at the pool and stocking up on Smith's Hot Dogs and Ox Roast sandwiches, Dear Hubby and his family were enjoying Italian Beef sandwiches and Nathan's Hot Dogs...and doing laps at the pool, too.

A while back when we were sharing our respective childhood memories of summertime, we discovered the similarities to our summers.

We also found out the Ox Roast and Italian Beef are pretty much the same thing!

Well, there is not too much of a Montessori tie-in today, except that Dr. Maria Montessori was originally from Italy and who knows, maybe she enjoyed some of these great sandwiches during her summers, too...

Here is our combined version for what I call Ox Roast and what Dear Hubby calls Italian Beef:, in case you would like to make some:

In a crockpot set to low, add the following:
4 or 5 pounds of very rare roast beef from the deli.
2 packages of Lipton Beefy Onion soup mix.
1 can beef stock
1 can beef broth
"Juice" (really the water) from 1 large jar of Pepperoncini peppers (you know, the light green kind of pepper that you get with a pizza in Erie)
You can add one or two peppers too, but this is optional

Now, since Dear Hubby is originally from Chicago and they serve up something very similar to ox roast called Italian Beef, he prefers adding one or two pepperoncini peppers and a few roasted red peppers.
I prefer to go lighter on the pepper flavor and use mostly the water from the jar to give it a little kick, but not too much of one...but I have to admit...the addition of the roasted red peppers is awesome!!!
1 - 2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1  - 2 teaspoons oregano
( Again, Dear Hubby goes more for the oregano...with this, I say a little less is more...)

Let it slow cook all day so that all of the flavors are absorbed into the meat.

Season with ground pepper to taste...should not need any salt to be added, unless you used low sodium broth or stock.

Have not found any bread that resembles the marble rye my mom always served the sandwiches on, so we do the Chicago thing and serve it on a nice kaiser roll...

Dear Hubby also adds a few slices of provolone to his, but I skip this step...

So, there you have it...a dinner idea, a memory, a stretch of a Montessori tie-in, and a recipe that is worth trying...

Plus, if you ever go to Erie Pennsylvania in the summer, be sure to check out Waldameer, the beaches of Presque Isle, some real Ox Raost and literally, the best hot dogs ever made by Smith's Provisions!

Yummy!


Enjoy!!!


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!

Making Memories Monday & Montessori Monday: Real Tools Please, Mommy!

Peanut Butter Cup Time...
A Memory and a Montessori Tie  - In:

As a child, I was never into using tools all that much.
In fact, as a Brownie and then, during my very brief stint as a Girl Scout, I never tried to go for the badges that involved using anything related to woodworking  or construction.
Cannot recall ever using a hammer, wrench, saw, or drill as a child.

In this photo, Left to right...
One of my brothers (Jim), me, my sister (Jennifer), my dad and my mom.

To the best of my knowledge, my sister, Jenn, also did not get into any of these kinds of projects either, as woodworking and building things were not things that girls we knew spent their time doing...we tended to play with dolls, play house, do arts and crafts, and help bake with my mom.

However, woodworking and construction projects were plentiful for my brothers...

Some of my brothers really enjoyed using hand tools for various projects, especially my brother, Kevin. He is one of four of my brothers...as a small child, he was and now today, he still is the most handy of all six of us. 

In this photo: My brother, Kevin.
Here, he is digging a hole at the beach and having fun playing in it.

Kevin has loved to work with tools from the time he was very little.
He also has loved to take things apart.
One day, when Kevin was supposed to be napping, he got up and took the intercom system that was in his bedroom apart, luckily without shocking himself!
This was a pretty big deal, as it was an intercom system that ran throughout our entire home.
Try as my dad did to find someone to fix it, I am not sure if it ever worked as well as prior to being tinkered with by Kevin.

Below is a nice, child sized set of real tools in a toolbox.  It is more colorful, more child sized, and more up-to-date than what my brother had, but it gives you the idea of what he always wanted for his birthday or for Christmas...
This particular set is available through Constructive Playthings...



Kevin loved to build things, whether it was a Pinewood Derby car, a birdhouse, or a playhouse.
From the very beginning of his fascination with using tools and either building things or taking them apart, he never wanted plastic play tools.When Christmas time would roll around, he would ask for real tools and real toolboxes instead of toys.
Sometimes, friends and family agreed and got him the real tools and other times, he would get play sets from various well-intended friends and family who knew that he loved to work with tools. 

Flash forward to 2003, when Dear Hubby and I found out that we were expecting...
We called our friends and family to tell them our exciting news. 
One of the first things that my brother, Kevin, mentioned to me, along with his words of congrats, was that to "please be sure to buy your son-to-be real tools instead of plastic ones."
He explained that real tools are so much better to use.

For Big Bro's second Christmas present, he got an awesome present...a real child sized wooden work bench complete with child sized tools. He loved it!
 Big Bro used it and even made a little birdhouse with the kit.
He thoroughly enjoyed using his tools in his workbench.

When we moved to Florida, the family who we purchased our home from had a son just a bit older than Little Bro. They mentioned to us that their son had outgrown his super deluxe workbench and tools. They very graciously left it in what was to become Little Bro's closet for us, as they thought that we could use it.

So, we donated the wooden one that we had had in Virginia and were happy that not only would it be less to pack up for Florida, but that there would be a newer, bigger, better one waiting in its place at our new home.

So, when we arrived and started to unpack our things in our new home, we took the boys in to see the nice "gifts" that the family had left for us.
We opened the closet door...it was bigger and more super deluxe than what we had in Virginia, only one problem...all of the tools were oversized, big chunky plastic ones.

Well, it has sat in Little Bro's closet, more or less untouched since we moved in...it really is a "cute looking" set, just not a functional, fully working one.

Occasionally, he will go in and play in his closet and does something with the tools more as noise makers or as a part of a costume he is putting together for himself...but they are not working tools.

Luckily, the bench itself has some good use left in it...all we have to do is to swap out the plastic play tools and replace them with some nice, child sized real tools.

Montessori tie - in:
Dr. Maria Montessori was very much in favor of having children use real life, child sized tools instead of big, plastic play ones. In addition to using real child sized tools to do woodworking or other handy sorts of projects as part of practical life, children can also use the tools for sorting, classifying, and language works.

Nataša over at Leptir has different sized wrenches with a control of error chart for her children to sort by size.

Jenn from Never Just a Housewife posted a message to a Yahoo Workbox group about using nuts and bolts as a combination language activity where you buy the largest sized nuts and bolts and then, you write lower case letters on the nut and upper case letters on the bolt.
Thought it was a cool idea, so I contacted her to see if she would mind if I shared her idea with you.
The link to her blog has some other resources for working with young children.

Nicole From One Hook Wonder did a post in the winter about her sons spending time with their daddy and using tools. They have an amazing set up for their sons to use tools along side their Daddy...really nice!

If you would want to get some woodworking tools for your children, or woodworking books, they have a wonderful selection of both tools and woodworking project books at For Small Hands. 


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 (almost) Monday, everyone!

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!