Arrgh! Pirate Camp: Fun, Matey!

Big Bro and Little Bro have spent this week at Pirate Camp. They have had a blast!

Every afternoon, their art instructor, Ms. Laurie, has held Pirate Camp at her home.

Then, throughout the week, here in our home, they have worked on their pirate lapbooks.
We have reviewed the oceans of the world, the compass rose, direction words, and land forms as we have had fun along the way!

Thanks to Ami Brainerd. She created some nice printables as part of a neat pirate lapbook at Homeschool Share. Her pages added greatly to the boys' understanding of pirates.
To go along with the lapbook printables she made, we used the book, Tough Boris by Mem Fox.
This book is a neat but sad book, as the pirate's beloved pet parrot dies.
Great book to discuss feelings though...

We have also been reading some other neat pirate themed books, too, including one about real pirates by DK Eye Wonder  - Pirate and then, Pirates Past Dark, a Magic Tree House book by Mary Pope Osborne.

Also, I have added a pirate themed Widget on the right side of my blog page in case you want to see and / or purchase any of the resources we have been using or plan to use with our pirate study...

All in all, a great week!

Tomorrow, we have been invited to get together with friends from our homeschool co-op to have lunch at a new organic pizza place and then, following lunch, we will wrap up pirate-y fun at their home.

Also, in addition to Ami Brainerd's pirate lapbook, Homeschool Share features another neat pirate themed lapbook by Jimmie from Jimmie's Collage. Her lapbook goes along with the book, Pirate Diary: The Journal of Jake Carpenter by Richard Platt.

We have not completed any of the activities from this lapbook yet, but since the whole pirate theme has been such a hit, think it will be fun to do some of these activities next week. I just love all of the wonderful activities that Jimmie does with her daughter, Sprite, so cannot wait to dig into her pirate lapbook deeper and to locate this interesting book!


Well, hope that all of you have enjoyed your week as much as we have enjoyed ours here!

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.

 

A Big Thank You & Robot Camp

For the first time, Sunrise Learning Lab has a readership of over 1000 people / 1000 unique visits, not including all of the visits I have to do to update the blog or to read comments, etc. in less than one month,  

so a VERY  BIG THANKS to all of you who either follow or subscribe to my blog, as well as to the others who pop by to see what we are doing here in the Sunshine State!

As a thanks, I have a free download*** of one of the robot themed activities we did this week... 

ROBOT THEMED TEMPLATES

***Please leave a comment and your email and I will email you this pdf for you to use for classroom or homeschool use.

These can be used for a variety of work, including:

Domino Math Game:

Child places a domino in the center of the robot and then, has to do the math adding the dots on the domino...

Stamping Activity: 

Child can stamp his or her name in the center space on the robot.

Letter / Sound Identification:

Make two sets of the robot templates. On one set, you can place a particular letter sound or phonogram and then, on the other you can have picutres of something that contains the letter sound or phonogram...

Upper Case / Lower Case Matching Activity:

Make several copies of the robots template and write the lower case letters on one set and the upper case letters on the other...Then, have your child match these.

Robot Command Cards:

Write an action word for your child to do on each robot, such as jump. spin, hop, wave, etc. 

This week, we have been in summer camp mode...robot camp!

Yesterday, our dear friends had us over to do a homeschool day all about robots...everyone, including moms, had a blast! Our friends really went out of their way to make the day a wonderful one...we are so looking forward to getting together with them every Wednesday for the school year, too. The boys made bristlebots from a neat kit. Then, they did all sorts of great hands on activities that Ms. T made for all of the boys...
It has been a fun and busy week, as in addition to robot summer camp, our homeschool co-op open houses and registrations have also been this week.

Here are Big Bro's thoughts about robot week:

Our favorite day was Wednesday, as we went over to do a whole special robot day with our friends. We made robots out of toothbrush tops, small motors, and wires. We designed our own robots and wrote about them. We did robot races through mazes...and did robot sumo wrestling! Plus, we had pizza and got to play! And they had a trampoline! and it rained and we played while it rained because it was not thundering and lightning like it usually does! It was awesome!

Here are Little Bro's thoughts about the week:

We played with the Nerf, we got to hear and watch about robots and have pizza. We made robots and was playing around with them. We got to draw robots and then, we also got to play. 
We got to jump and jump on "the trampolino" 
It was so fun...everything was great these days and with our friends.

Be sure to check out the other Weekly Wrap Up Links at Weird,Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Kinda Wacky Wednesday!

Well, our day started out pretty much as it always does every day...

The boys woke up, helped get out their breakfast, and started in doing their first morning work that they had selected for themselves last night.

They got busy, stayed focused, and did their Montessori work.

Then, they decided to make the most of Little Bro's bedroom that is still set up as an additional playroom, as we switched beds around when we had company over Independence Day and have yet to totally put Little Bro's room back to being a bedroom, floor bed and all...
The boys have decided that a plain mattress without any sheets and a few floor mats makes a great indoor version of a slip and slide.

Made me smile, as it reminded me of my brothers and my sister who did something similar (but their version was much more daring)...
When my parents were out of town and we were left with either my grandmother or else another babysitter, my brothers would take cot mattresses and use them to slide down our stairwell with them!
Crazy and unsafe, but it was so awesome...that is until someone occasionally would end up slamming into the wall...I have to admit that even on a few occasions, my sister and I got suckered into sliding down the stairs on a cot mattress. Scary but fun all rolled in one.

Very glad that we do not have stairs, as am sure that Big Bro and Little Bro would want to do the same sort of thing!
Well, the boys did their version of indoor slip and slide and had a ball...

Then, for some reason, they talked me into giving it a go!
What a sight, let me tell you! I have spared you from seeing photos of me doing this, as it would not be a pretty site to see me slipping and sliding...
I am not a skinny mini like when I was younger...and I am not a spring chicken, either, but for some reason, I decided to kind of go along with their idea and very gently "slid" on their indoor slip and slide!

They loved it!!!

They were almost in shock that I did it, and then, that I actually did it twice...

Wow!

Both boys really wanted me to do it again and again...but to that, I had to say, "No", as all of a sudden, I had visions of colliding with the wall, then, having to go to the ER and tell them what I had done.

So, reality check...

Two runs on their indoor slip and slide...just great!
Felt like a kid again!

Wacky fun!

We then tried to go out and about but the humidity and the heat index were making it feel even warmer than the 96 degrees F that was registering in my minivan. We love to spend time outdoors, and I was actually hoping to do a post about the outdoor challenge, as so many kids stay inside for much of their summer...and being outside is normally one of our favorite places to be! We all love playing outside, getting fresh air...but we like fresh air, not stifling...

So, we headed down the road, half hoping that we would get some burst of coolness but that obviously did not happen...

Well, what did happen was that we passed a sign that  a restaurant was having a Free Pie Wednesday! Yippie! Free Pie! The boys (and Mommy, too) love this restaurant's chocolate pie, so we were pumped. So, we headed in, got a bite to eat for lunch, and then, moved on to getting some homemade pie.

They had some weird sort of rule as to the pies included in the free pie selections, so the boys could only get either a fruit pie or else Boston Cream pie as the free pie.

But then, after we had ordered and had decided that we would settle for free Boston Cream slices, a mom and her son, who was probably about eleven, came in and he was so disappointed, really pouting and angry that their chocolate pie was not included that  the mom was going to leave and take him to Wendy's. The waiter told the mom that if she were to order soup and salad, that her son could get the free pie of his choice, plus he would still give them each a free piece! So they got three free slices, one of which was the chocolate pie my kids were drooling over!
So, I guess pouting and threatening to leave pays, as that boy got what he wanted and then some, and my boys had to settle for something they did not want. But, I tried to use it as a teachable moment and tried to remind them that we needed to be thankful for all that we have and the fact that we were still going to get some free pie, even if it was not what we had originally hoped that we would be getting...

Well, then our waiter came over and told my sons that they could not have their pie unless they finished everything on their plates.
He also told them that they had to keep their feet firmly planted on the floor or else he would not give them any pie. He was trying to be funny, but said it in such a serious, firm tone that Big Bro and Little Bro almost looked scared.
Big Bro and Little Bro are in the 25th percentile in height (a.k.a. kinda short like their parents) and neither have feet that touch the floor when sitting in a booth.
The waiter thought that he was just so hilarious, but to me, he almost bordered on creepy...

Finally, the boys got their pie, but it just was not fun being there anymore, so we got the pie slices to go and ended up coming back home.

So then, the wait in the checkout line began...
Little Bro wanted to know who the email that I was reading was from as we were standing in line, waiting to pay for our meal. So I told him who it was from..."Mommy's Continents Swap Friend."
Then, Big Bro wanted to know what she had said and I told him that she had said that she was at the zoo with her child.

Big Bro and Little Bro both thought that a trip to the zoo sounded like a fabulous plan!

They liked the idea so much that when we got home, they got out our bins of zoo animals, along with our cute play mat that our friend, Jody, got for us, and then, some blocks and they went to it. They built a huge zoo that spanned much of the floor between our family room and kitchen.
Here are some scenes of their zoo...they had such a ball building it and playing with it all afternoon.

All in all, not your typical day, a little on the wacky side, but it all turned out to be a very nice day!

Making Memories & Montessori Monday - Our Version of Summer Camp

Peanut butter cup time...this time, our version of summer camp (including some Montessori inspired works), plus some memories in the making...

We are having such an awesome summer! 

Memories in the making, to be sure...

Such fun times with some wonderful friends who came to visit us for a week, as we packed in Disney, the Florida Aquarium, Clearwater Beach...

We also had fun shopping, playing at the pools, parks, and water parks in our area, and going out to eat, plus some fun hanging out, playing at our home, and just kicking back and relaxing a bit, too....

This past week, we had to take it down a notch and get back into our more regular summer groove...namely,  doing our version of "summer camp."

Our summer camp is basically a looser version of our school year.

(Pictured above: bead stair hanger work, counting 0-20 work.)

Both boys still select their work the night before, and they still get started as they normally would during our school year.

(Pictured: sorting shapes work, patterning work, rhyming work with language objects,  counting bead stair extension with frog counters, Draw Write Now Frog art and copywork, dart frogs sorting work and dart frog book, block tower work, sound cylinders work, CVC words with language objects and movable alphabet work)

The main difference is that in addition to our Montessori inspired works, there are more non-Montessori materials such as board games, card games, extra art projects, etc. than we normally have during the school year.

Plus, there is some additional free play time added into the mix, to play outside and to catch and / or observe all of the little critters in our neighborhood, along with some down time to watch a family movie, to do some cooking projects, and to just hang out and relax...

 For us, our summer camp schedule is a much more loose, go with the flow sort of schedule...

We get out and enjoy the sunshine when we can and then, we hang out and relax when either the weather is too hot or humid, or it is a downpour.

Sinus and ear infections have kept creeping back into our summer, so that has necessitated some time to just chill out, as there have been days when we have not felt up to par.

When you feel dizzy, your face, ears, and head feel like they are going to burst, and your sinuses and ears are so full that your teeth hurt, putting in a nice family friendly movie is not all bad...

It actually can be quite calming and relaxing, although we do not do that during the school year. 

(Pictured: Little Bro's art project, cool bilingual English - Spanish card game called Green Alligators, having fun in the sun at the beach, Big Bro and Little Bro eating Popsicle treats, Boys trying to pull out King Arthur's Sword at Disney's Magic Kingdom, having fun splashing at the park in the water fountains, checking out the hot air balloons that fly over our home almost daily each morning, Big Bro and Little Bro catching lizards and frogs, as well as watching a grasshopper and an alligator swimming by at a nearby pond.)

We are enjoying our summer, so much so that the happy times will shine through more than remembering the sinus and ear troubles we have had lately. Ear tubes may make their way back in to the scene, but we know that those aren't all bad, as they worked like charms for both boys the last time around, so if it comes to that again, well, BRING IT ON...

But really, when we think back to this summer, we will remember the times spent doing things we love, not times we had to spend laying on the sofa and watching movies.

Well, happy Monday and happy summer to everyone!

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.












 Please also be sure to check out my last post about a light table items swap! 

Even if you don't have a light table, if you have a decent light source such as a large window that gets plenty of sun during the day, you could use the items for displaying in your window.