It's circle time!

Circle has been part of our routine ever since we opened up. This is a very special moment for the children and its a time for them when they can express themselves, learn, express their feelings and ideas and gain confidence as they do so.

Learning about work ethics and cooperation

The last 2 weeks have been very busy and of course, as we have many newcomers, we have to help the children settle down into a routine, learn the rules and get used to their environment.

New beginnings...

God, it has been so long since I last posted on this blog! But here I am, and I promise there will be much more regular updates from now on. Things have changed a little bit in preschool.

Pebbles for numeracy and literacy

This year, I have tried to follow the Reggio Emilia principles  to enhance my children's learning . Now, there is no text book as you know and it is sometimes hard to figure out which way is the best. However, from what I have learnt so far, I understand that the materials I use are extremely important. This year, I have tried to select very carefully each materials I use for their potential to enhance learning and discovery.

Wasting our time and our enthusisam...

Right.. I guess this post is going to be another one of my rants!
Last April, I started a course entitled "Literacy and Numeracy in early years".. I didn't need the qualification to meet the new qualifications requirements. I just did it to maybe improve my teaching methods and for the benefits of the children in my care.

Catching up - part 2

Here are a few more photos:

Catching up - part 1

Here are a few photos to show you what've have been up to these past few weeks: 

I am back!

Hi everybody! I am sorry for being absent from this blog for so long! I have a lot of catching up to do!

But first things first... I wanted to acknowledge that the picture I have borrowed for my blog is a picture taken by a good friend of mine, Karen, who holds a lovely blog (Little Acorns). Karen works with preschool and kindergarten children and brings a little bit of magic to their world each day. She is very good at wood crafting and has created many faith-like scenes for the children, using felt and wooden peg people. I wish I could do this and add a bit more magic to our small world shelves! If you would like to see a bit more of her work, please read this post and this one too.

Small world play ideas

I wrote a little bit before on the value of Small World play (SWP) last August. SWP is imaginative play where children are provided with a small world for them to use as a canvas to transfer their thought, their ideas and their experiences.

Our new sensory table

I have been using sensory bins from time to time. But this year, I wanted to have a more permanent feature in our classroom and I have been begging my husband for months for a DIY sensory table.

Winter activities on our shelves...

I nearly forgot to show you all about the bits and pieces kids have been doing in the classroom in relation to our winter theme. It hasn't stopped! I usually find January quite long, bleak and monotonous. But January 2014 has been different so far!

Ice Ice baby

As part of our winter study, I wanted the children to think and learn about ice, snow etc.. It sounds so "obvious" to us but little ones haven't all experimented the effects of low temperature.

Maping the world with our animals

In our classroom, we have collected many “continent boxes” over the years. We use them as an addition to our traditional Montessori folders. We have been lucky enough to swap items with many friends across the world and in each box, we have little collection of plastic animals. It just occurred to me one day as we were learning about the continents, that I could gather all these animals and use them in conjunction with a large floor world map. The children have been studying the continents for quite some time, they are now quite familiar with their names and shapes and colours. The idea is for the children to explore the map of the world, and in particular the countries of origin where the animals come from. I am working on a felt map to use but this is a slow process as I am not great at sewing! In the meantime, we are using the Montessori world map.  I use 7 little boxes colour-coded according to the continents on the Montessori world map.  Each little box contains plastic animals from each continent. As you can see below, I simply used plastic washing soap liquid dispensers to store the animals. I had boxes but they were either too big or too small, while some were made out of wood, wicker or plastic.  I wanted something a bit more uniform but I didn't want to go and spend too much money. I suddenly realised that I had been "collecting" theses dispensers in my utility, so...voila!

How does it work? I  invite a child to work with me and I point first at the colour code on each box. I ask the child to match the colour to the corresponding map and ask them to remind me of the name of the continent. The child works with one box/one continent at a time.

 

When he is finished, the child must tidy up, one continent at a time, placing the animals in the right tub.

 

The aim of the activity is to look at the countries of origin of many animals the children are familiar with, thanks to their interaction with our continent boxes. The exercise requires the child to isolate maps, to identify them on the world map, giving him/her a sensorial impression of the positions, shapes and sizes of each continent. This activity is a great revision of the continent and their names, as well as a good introduction to the animal kingdom. It also helps some of the younger kid with colour recognition. And though the activity is presented and played on a one-to-one basis, it proves to be a great team work as  all kids LOVE to use the animals that way and talk about them. So not only this activity links zoology and geography but it also helps children to expand their vocabulary and engages them to converse and think.

 

I just need to add more animals to represent marine zoology and I am lacking animals for South America and Asia. In the  progress!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Facebook connection

I have added a Follow our Facebook Page button .. I am not sure if it is going to work or not. Technology and I are not always best friends! If it is not working, just click right here and you will go directly to our Facebook Page. Please like and share! Thank you.

Celebrating winter .. a winter unit study

We are back to school tomorrow morning and this month, winter is going to be at the centre of our studies.. I have changed the cover of our blog (I have borrowed a picture from Bending Birches. If you haven't visited this blog, please do. Great Waldorf blog with lots and lots of ideas and beautiful spaces). I love the picture and it is SO appropriate right now.

 

So follow us within the next few weeks to find out about our curricular activities....

 

Working hard

Here are a few pictures of what the children were up to the few weeks leading to xmas...


a bit of pre-writing....

 

 

 

A bit of maths ...

Montessori Cards & Counters

Montessori spindle box

Shapes

introduction to halves, quarters and thirds

 

Sensorial activities....


Waldorf tower.. using the circle first on their own, sorting them out by size

then using the rectangles alone, sorting them by length

 

all together now

 

 

more soring exercises by colour and shape

shape and colour again while developing fine motor skills

associating colour to matching picture

 

Developing fine motor skills with the Practical Life exercises...

 

jigsaws are great for little fingers but also develop problem solving skills, concentration, hand eye coordination etc..

as you can see, we are using the Montessori teen beads for the sole purpose of refining fine motor skills (no number, no counting). the hooking up movement is a great exercise for little ones ....