Thoughtful Thursday

Are there moments in your job where you have to take a deep breath and remind yourself that this too shall pass.  Working with little people can be overwhelming at times........especially when there are 20+ little ones and 2 adults and it seems like 19 of them are saying "Teacher......." simultaneously.  It can be tiring to continually remind them of  group time behavior.  It requires infinite patience when someone raises their hand to tell an unrelated "story" in response to a question posed.  However, these moments of craziness are few and far between, truly.  Most of your days together in the classroom are busy, productive, fun, and wonderful.  You laugh together, sing together, learn together and discover together.  And it is so purposeful and engaging that the time really flies.  Before you know it, it's time to go home. Think of the beautiful little gestures that are bestowed upon you so frequently and generously during your days at school.  Could anyone ask for a more fulfilling job?

Taken from My Montessori Journey

Workshop Wednesday

Farmer's Market

Enhance a harvest theme by inviting your young farmers to pretend they are running a farmer's market in your dramatic play area. Provide bushel baskets of plastic fruits and vegetables, a balance scale, a toy cash register, shopping baskets, and a supply of paper bags. Add some plaid shirts and bandanas for dress-up, along with empty purses and wallets. Model how to play the parts of the farmer selling her produce and the customer choosing and buying. Then have youngsters start harvesting the fun!

Taken from Mailbox Magazine

Transition Tuesday

CATCH A STAR 

Pretend to throw stars to children who are doing the correct thing. Children pretend to “catch the stars” and put them in their pocket. The other students will “catch on” and model that behavior.

Here’s a poem to say as you throw stars:

You’re just great.
You’re so fine.
Catch a star and let it shine!

Make & Take Monday

Homemade Rolling Pins

Gather a variety of clean, empty plastic water bottles and remove the labels. Half-fill each bottle with items such as colored sand, colored rice, or water and colored beads. Secure the caps with hot glue. Invite students to roll the bottles over play dough. Your children will quickly notice the interesting activity occurring inside the bottles.

Feature Friday

Today's feature is a product I saw in a classroom recently. The product is a Magnetic Maze by Melissa & Doug. This activity is great for young students who are working on fine motor skills and cognitive skills like counting, colors, etc. The example below is a Color Maze. The student moves the colored balls (better known as food) to the matching animals using the attached magnetic wand. Here's the task: "The animals are hungry and need to be fed. But they can only eat the food that matches their own color. Please feed the animals the food that match their own color. Use the wand to move the food to the animals' tummies." The tummies are round circles inside the animals with the correct color word printed inside. The activity is securely covered in a clear plastic so no colored balls can escape! But why do we love this activity so much? The food is moved by a magnetic wand that is held in the tripod position. This is a perfect example of  fine motor skills being used while working on cognitive skills. The tasks involved to complete this activity cross curriculums and that is efficient and smart teaching!

Thoughtful Thursday

Continuing with the thought from last week, ask yourself, "Am I an encourager or discourager?"
Do you say:

This                                                               
• “Why did you do that – you know better than that!”
• “Trees aren’t supposed to be purple – now go back and color it the right way.”
• “You are not going to get a star because you are not a good listener.”
• “I wish you would stop yelling – I am standing right next to you.”
• “You need to stop being a tattle tale.”

or

That
• “Let’s try that again only this time I am going to do it with you so we can both do it better.”
• “A purple tree would look lovely in my yard. I have never seen such a beautiful purple tree before.”
• “I just love it when you take the time to listen. It helps me be a better teacher.”
• “Oh my, my! Where did you put your quiet voice?”
• “Thank you for sharing your concern with me, I will be sure to think about it.”

Workshop Wednesday

Okay. I admit it. I am crazy about apples. But I could not pass up this small group idea.

Class Apple Trees

Tear off four sheets of white bulletin board paper and draw tree trunks and branches on them.  Let groups of children work on the trees.  One group paints the trunks, another paints the branches, one group sponges the blossoms, leaves, and apples.  Put them up and label them spring, summer, fall, and winter. Or you could assign a group to each season. Group 1 could paint the trunk, branches, leaves and blossoms for the spring tree, group 2 the summer tree, and so on. This becomes a great display and illustrates not only the seasons of an apple tree but the cooperative spirit of young children.