Toddler Tuesday February 22, 2011

Bitty Bug is 25 months old

I don’t have much of a commentary for Toddler Tuesday because I just wrote it all on my Montessori Monday blog post.

But, I do need some help from the techy people out there…  To get the link-up posted, I use the Inlinkz website.  They have two different formats–one for self-hosted blogs and one for wordpress hosted blogs…mine is a self-hosted blog, *but* the format for that doesn’t seem to be working.  I can’t get the linkup to show up directly in the blog post.  I have to end up using the wordpress hosted format, and I don’t really like that.  So, does anyone know how to get it to show up?  It has something to do with the JavaScript settings, but as far as I can tell, those are working correctly?

Now, back to Toddler Tuesday…

Musings of Me had a fantastic Valentine's Day unit posted on her site, and as part of the unit, there was this lovely color mat. So, I found some of our foam stickers that matched the colors of the heart, and had Bug match colors. She did *very* well matching her colors! She could also name every single one of them!

 (For this unit, visit Musings of Me at http://thoughtsofme.blogspot.com !)

Also from Musings of Me's Valentine's Day unit...matching hearts by size. Bug also did really well with this too...and named the hearts "mama", "big girl", and "baby". LOL!

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From 1+1+1=1, this lovebug matching game. Bug really enjoyed this work. It was a little challenging because she had to look at the details for some of them (like the heart shaped bug), but she was able to match all of them. It was really fun watching her put one in the wrong place (based on a similar detail) and then towards the end, realizing that it wasn't right and changing it all by herself!

 (For this printout, visit http://1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com !)

Looking at a book on mixing colors

Riding her plasma car in the driveway. Bug *loves loves loves* her plasma car (she rides on it like a riding toy and not like the plasma car is supposed to be ridden like, but she really loves it!). It's her go-to activity every time she gets to play outside.

If you did any Toddler learning activities with your tot this week, feel free to link up here! 🙂

Toddler Tuesday February 15, 2011

 

Bitty Bug is 25 months old

For those who are linking up to Toddler Tuesday for the first time or who haven’t visited my blog before, welcome!  Feel free to comment, ask questions, and join in the conversation! 🙂

Like Monkey, Bitty Bug got out of her routine of having good work times in the school room.  Obviously, it wasn’t such a big deal to have  her not be down there–the only reason she is in the school room is because Monkey’s down there.  However, towards the end of the week, she was really getting into the work set out on the shelves. 

One of the biggest things we’re working with is trying to get Monkey to put her things back on the shelf.  If it was up to her, she’d just toss everything on the floor when she was done.  Clearly, that’s not such a grand plan. 😉   So, a lot of my time is spent going back behind Monkey and assisting her in learning how to clean up her work space and put her items back on the shelf.  I’d like to think we were making progress with that, but alas, I’m not sure we are.  In time, in time….  But in the mean time, there is a whole lot of me down on my knees (not to beg… LOL!  Just so I can be at her eye level), guiding her hands and modeling the appropriate conclusion to each activity.

When I wasn’t following behind the human tornado (and I mean that as lovingly as possible…), I did manage to snap a few pictures!

Using the dusting mitts to clean off the top of the shelves (while she doesn't like to put her work back on the shelves, she sure does like dusting!)

Bug really liked the seashell matching game. She wasn't really able to match up the pictures just yet, but she did love exploring all of the different shells and starfish.

As always, Bug *loves* to be a one man band!

Bug also liked this fishing puzzle. And much to my surprise, she was very good at putting the pieces back into the puzzle, even though there was no obvious guide, other than shape. I was really impressed at her work with the puzzle!

Her favorite work is still the beach sand box. She loves using the tongs to get the animals and the spoon to scoop the sand.

Working with the counting beads again. She's getting really good at sorting the colors and counting the beads!

Another sorting and color work. This one was a bit tricky for her because she had to line each shape up with the pegs. She eventually got all except the triangles on right!

If you did any learning activities with your toddler this week, please add the direct link to your post when linking up to Toddler Tuesday!

Montessori Monday February 14, 2011

Monkey is 4 years old

This week, it seems like Monkey finally got back into the homeschooling routine.  She’s been a bit reluctant to come down to the schoolroom and work for the past couple weeks…we’re not sure why.  I think it’s just been a bit of a hard transition off the holidays, and then Jedi was home from school a couple days because of bad weather.  But she’s back in the swing of things this week!

Here is a review of some of the things she’s done…

A little Valentine's Day twist to the handwriting work. I have her name card out, some paper, a pencil, and added a little Valentine's Day mailbox

Working on the sandpaper letters and beginning sounds for M,A,S,O,T, and C

Using tongs to move the eggs from the basket to the pan

We're working on number recognition and counting a lot this week as well.

Doing more counting, this time with the bead bars

The bead bars and control card

matching the shape to the card

I found these cool little dusting mits awhile back, and I put them on the practical life shelf for Bug and Monkey to use

Shell matching

Tot School Tuesday January 12, 2011

Bitty Bug is 23.5 months old

I can’t believe this is my last Tot School post of Bug’s 1 year old year…she’ll be 2 years old later this week!  I can hardly believe it’s true (already!  Her last year of Tot School starts in a couple days…wow…).  It seems like just yesterday, she was a tiny little baby, born a month early, and struggling to even stay awake.  Now, she rarely sleeps, and she’s always running around exploring!

Here are some of the things Bug’s been working on this past week!

Bug loves these little puzzles--they're really great for traveling with, and they are just perfect for little hands! Bug loves to name all of the animals as she's putting the pieces in as well.

Working with her sequencing beads. She's getting really good at matching the colors!

Spooning the little glass stones

Working with one of the little puzzles I found in T@rget's dollar aisle

These are cute little figurines--they're called Friendship Club. Inside of the globe are a bunch of small figures representing people from every continent.

I found these figurines for the culture boxes, but Bug decided she wanted to match them to the figures on the back of the package.

Working with the animal puzzle. This puzzle was a lot harder than it looks...I'm really surprised that there was no good control of error that would help little ones be successful at this. I ended up taking a permenant marker and tracing the outline of all the pieces onto the tray to sort of help her out a bit.

Toddler Tuesday, plus a Child of God Advent activity December 14, 2010

 

Bitty Bug is 23 months old

As I started writing this blog post, I realized that a  month from today, my little Bitty Bug will be a great big 2 year old.  It’s hard to believe!  Well, I guess it’s just hard to believe it’s already been 2 years since she was born…it’s not really all that hard to believe that she’ll be entering the famous “2’s” stage.  She’s been a spunky, curious child with a fierce independent streak and a cute smile she uses to get herself out of trouble on a daily hourly basis.  She started out as the quiet baby who never cried…it’s hard to believe that it’s almost 2 years since we started to wonder how she would fit in to our wild crazy house because she was always so calm and quiet.  Turns out she was just spending her time observing and taking it all in because now she is the perfect fit! 

I don’t think I’ve ever found a more curious child either.  She notices *everything* and she can spend a long time just looking at a tiny bean or pebble or shell she finds…feeling it, looking at the shape and colors, and yes, sometimes even giving it a little lick. 😉  We constantly have to bring out new things for her to explore because she craves it.  She is a fun one to teach!

In addition to the regular Montessori work, I’m also posting a picture of Bug doing an advent activity (I didn’t get many pictures of them working with the advent stuff this week, so I didn’t want to forget to post the one I managed to get a picture of!)

Here is Bug looking at all of the winter matching cards

She found a match!

She also did a fantastic job with sorting seeds. Although she also wanted to sit there and hold each individual seed in her hand. 😉

Working with her new latch board. She really loved playing peekaboo with the animals behind each door! Obviously some of the latches were really difficult for her, but she did seem to understand a couple of the more basic ones.

Using little tongs to transfer yellow yarn (hay) into the toilet paper roll manger.

Then, when the manger was filled with hay, she put the little clothespin Jesus in it.

Beautiful little Bitty Bug ready for grandma and grandpa to come over for a Christmas gathering

Except less than an hour later, Little Miss fell asleep waiting for them. Isn't she just so sweet....

Montessori Monday December 13, 2010

Jedi is 7 years 0 months old, Monkey is 3 years 10 months old, Bitty Bug is 22.5 months old

Last week was one of those incredibly busy weeks, as those early weeks in December tend to be.  We had holiday visitors over this weekend, Tang Soo Do belt testing for Jedi and me (Monkey is doing her belt testing on Wednesday), and some sharp winter weather has hit Ohio hard. 

Jedi was home from school today because of the winter weather (you might remember that Jedi isn’t homeschooled at this current point, as it is not the best arrangement for him.  Sometime in the future he might be though!  He does attend an awesome Montessori school though).  So, Jedi decided he wanted to come join us today, even though the work is geared towards preschool and toddler…he took the work and made his own extensions though!  It’s nice when he’s home and decides to work with the girls because he gives the unique experience of the only person in the house who has actually completed the first three year cycle of Montessori work!

Here are some pictures from this past week:

Jedi working with the Lake and Island landform trays

With one of the continent boxes

Monkey also decided to work with the continent boxes

Transferring foam snowflakes with tongs

Monkey and Bug sorting seeds (I have sunflower and pumpkin seeds, mung beans, and white beans on the tray)

Using the winter matching cards

Musings of Me has this darling large gingerbread figure on her site, and I printed it, cut it out, laminated it, and punched holes around the perimeter of it to make a Christmas lacing work. Here's the link to her whole gingerbread curriculum: http://thoughtsofesme.blogspot.com/2010/11/gingerbread.html

This is another wonderful work from Musings of Me--Christmas shapes! Monkey would take a card that had a Christmas object on it, and then use various shapes to replicate the picture.

Can you tell I've been busy with my printer and laminator this week? I also downloaded Musings of Me's holiday patterning cards. Monkey still has a bit of a hard time with patterns, but she really enjoys trying them.

And the gingerbread counting work (can you guess where I got it from? I think here is a good place to say THANK YOU to Musings of Me for putting up an awesome free gingerbread themed Montessori unit! Monkey worked with it a ton this week (and Jedi's currently lacing the large gingerbread as I'm typing this!)

Using the Melissa & Doug bead sequencing set. I really really like this work. It makes Monkey think, a lot--especially since there is no set pattern. She really has to look at the card and concentrate on finding the right shape and color.