Chasing Cheerios
Friday, April 8, 2011
Learning Her Letters
I put the E(1) sandpaper letter on E(1)'s Montessori shelf. She enjoys tracing it with her finger. I was so surprised a few days ago when she picked the letter up from her shelf and said "e!" She's proud of her e!
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Puddle Jumpers
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We've had a lot of rain lately, so I told the girls to put on their boots and we went out to jump in puddles! This isn't something we do often (I actually can't remember the last time we did this), and the girls were THRILLED! We went out to jump in puddles twice in one week, and it was thrilling each time.
Reading Charlotte Mason's book (Charlotte Mason's Home Education in Modern English (Charlotte Mason Series Paraphrase)
) has inspired me to be more open to activities such as this, and I'm so glad because these are the moments that the girls and I will always remember.
We've had a lot of rain lately, so I told the girls to put on their boots and we went out to jump in puddles! This isn't something we do often (I actually can't remember the last time we did this), and the girls were THRILLED! We went out to jump in puddles twice in one week, and it was thrilling each time.
Reading Charlotte Mason's book (Charlotte Mason's Home Education in Modern English (Charlotte Mason Series Paraphrase)
) has inspired me to be more open to activities such as this, and I'm so glad because these are the moments that the girls and I will always remember.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
I Spy Bag with Beans and Animals
I made an "I Spy" bag for E(1) for our recent road trip. I used a zippered pouch (pencil case) that I filled with mixed beans, plastic farm animals (from the Target dollar spot), plastic babies, and plastic cats. I attached some pictures of the farm animals to the bag with a ring.
I covered the zipper with packing tape, so that E wouldn't unzip the bag. She was determined to remove the tape the first time she saw the bag, but she's lost interest in trying to remove and just enjoys the bag now.
She is currently going through a phase where she thinks "hineys" are hilarous, and she loves to find the babies' hineys. She also loves to count to 2, and you can hear that in the video as well. Today, when we were looking in the bag, we could only see the babies' faces, and she insisted that I help her find their hineys! Funny girl!
I covered the zipper with packing tape, so that E wouldn't unzip the bag. She was determined to remove the tape the first time she saw the bag, but she's lost interest in trying to remove and just enjoys the bag now.
She is currently going through a phase where she thinks "hineys" are hilarous, and she loves to find the babies' hineys. She also loves to count to 2, and you can hear that in the video as well. Today, when we were looking in the bag, we could only see the babies' faces, and she insisted that I help her find their hineys! Funny girl!
Monday, April 4, 2011
We LOVE Inchimals!!!
The girls' grandparents gave them a set of Fat Brain Toys Inchimals
for Christmas, and we LOVE them!
Here is some information on Inchimals from the Timberdoodle website (LOVE that site!)...
Features 12 Wooden Inchimals Blocks
Dry Erase Marker
100 Puzzles in a Spiral-bound Erasable Book
More Ways to Explore With Inchimals...
Sequence the Inchimal blocks from the shortest to the longest.
Practice counting & learn about numbers as you explore the individual segments, numbers and dots on each Inchimal block
Learn addition and subtraction concepts!
Discuss the animals pictured on the Inchimal blocks and their relative heights/lengths.
Use Inchimals as puppets to invite creative thinking, dialogue, and dramatic play
Stand the Inchimals blocks side by side or stack them neatly on top of one another to promote fine motor control
Introduce vocabulary related to measurement (shorter, taller, longer, height, length, distance, perimeter)
Designed to be used at home, in the classroom or on the go!
Manufacturer's Information
Manufacturer: Fat Brain Toys
Made In: China
Mfg Item #: FA038-1
Recommended Age: 3+
And here is how we like to play with them...
First, we lined the inchimals up from shortest to longest. O(4) pointed out that they look like stairs, and the girls marched around the room and pretended to climb the inchimal stairs.
The girls gathered toys, and we measured them using the Fat Brain Toys Inchimals. We guessed how long they would be before measuring them. We've also had fun measuring our feet, hands, furniture, etc.
O and I took turns making addition problems with the Fat Brain Toys Inchimals. We made and solved 2 digit and 3 digit problems.
O loved writing out the math problems that she created and solved.
We then opened the book to solve some of the problems there.
Here are some other pages from the book.
Fat Brain Toys Inchimals are another product that I really wish I'd had at least 2 years ago (the other one is Montessori at Home). They make learning math SO much fun! I highly recommend them, and we are so appreciative to O and E's grandparents for gifting them with this wonderful resource!
Links to Amazon are affiliate links. Thank you for supporting this blog by buying through the links. Links to Timberdoodle are not affiliate links. Timberdoodle is a wonderful site full of great educational products. If you have not taken a look, you should! I just requested the new catalog, and I can't wait until it gets here!
for Christmas, and we LOVE them!Here is some information on Inchimals from the Timberdoodle website (LOVE that site!)...
Features 12 Wooden Inchimals Blocks
Dry Erase Marker
100 Puzzles in a Spiral-bound Erasable Book
More Ways to Explore With Inchimals...
Sequence the Inchimal blocks from the shortest to the longest.
Practice counting & learn about numbers as you explore the individual segments, numbers and dots on each Inchimal block
Learn addition and subtraction concepts!
Discuss the animals pictured on the Inchimal blocks and their relative heights/lengths.
Use Inchimals as puppets to invite creative thinking, dialogue, and dramatic play
Stand the Inchimals blocks side by side or stack them neatly on top of one another to promote fine motor control
Introduce vocabulary related to measurement (shorter, taller, longer, height, length, distance, perimeter)
Designed to be used at home, in the classroom or on the go!
Manufacturer's Information
Manufacturer: Fat Brain Toys
Made In: China
Mfg Item #: FA038-1
Recommended Age: 3+
And here is how we like to play with them...
First, we lined the inchimals up from shortest to longest. O(4) pointed out that they look like stairs, and the girls marched around the room and pretended to climb the inchimal stairs.
The girls gathered toys, and we measured them using the Fat Brain Toys Inchimals
. We guessed how long they would be before measuring them. We've also had fun measuring our feet, hands, furniture, etc. 
O and I took turns making addition problems with the Fat Brain Toys Inchimals
. We made and solved 2 digit and 3 digit problems. 
O loved writing out the math problems that she created and solved.
We then opened the book to solve some of the problems there.
Here are some other pages from the book.
Fat Brain Toys Inchimals
are another product that I really wish I'd had at least 2 years ago (the other one is Montessori at Home). They make learning math SO much fun! I highly recommend them, and we are so appreciative to O and E's grandparents for gifting them with this wonderful resource!Links to Amazon are affiliate links. Thank you for supporting this blog by buying through the links. Links to Timberdoodle are not affiliate links. Timberdoodle is a wonderful site full of great educational products. If you have not taken a look, you should! I just requested the new catalog, and I can't wait until it gets here!
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Half Birthday Celebration
We had E(1)'s half birthday celebration last month! For her celebration, we made Cheerio treats with m & m's. They are delicious and fun to make. E was eating the m & m's as fast as she could :) O(4) choreographed a recital, and O and E danced for us in celebration of E's half birthday. What fun!
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Addition
O(4) was very proud of this addition sheet she completed at school a few weeks ago. She said she used the beads to make and solve these math problems. She LOVES math!!!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Montessori At Home by John Bowman
John Bowman sent me a copy of his book Montessori at Home a few months ago, and I LOVE it! It is exactly what I was looking for more than 3 years ago when I first started implementing the Montessori method with O (4). If I'd had this book then, I doubt I would have even started a blog!
If you look at the top of the book, you can see that I have marked many pages. This book is full of great activities that I'd like to do with my girls. Many of the ideas and activities come from blogs, so you may have seen them before. However, it's nice to have them organized and in a book instead of on a computer screen.
I really love that many of the activities are included in the book. The materials are printed on cardstock at the back of the book, so all you have to do is cut them out, and you are ready to work!
Here is a little more about John Bowman (copied from the website)...
"John Bowman’s most rewarding and fun career was over a decade spent as a Montessori Pre-Primary Teacher and Center Director. He started three new Montessori programs; and was the first Director of the Garfield Montessori School in Denver, CO. His goal now is to inspire parents to do early learning activities at home with their children and show them how."
If you are just getting started with the Montessori Method at home, this book is really all you need. I could have saved so much time and money if he'd only written it 3 years ago!!! One of the most helpful sections in the book is a list of Montessori materials that you should buy for your home along with directions for materials that you can make.
I am in no way affiliated with the author or book. I received a free copy of the book, liked it, and decided to write this unbiased review. I hope you will take a moment to browse the website and learn more about this wonderful resource.
If you look at the top of the book, you can see that I have marked many pages. This book is full of great activities that I'd like to do with my girls. Many of the ideas and activities come from blogs, so you may have seen them before. However, it's nice to have them organized and in a book instead of on a computer screen.
I really love that many of the activities are included in the book. The materials are printed on cardstock at the back of the book, so all you have to do is cut them out, and you are ready to work!
Here is a little more about John Bowman (copied from the website)...
"John Bowman’s most rewarding and fun career was over a decade spent as a Montessori Pre-Primary Teacher and Center Director. He started three new Montessori programs; and was the first Director of the Garfield Montessori School in Denver, CO. His goal now is to inspire parents to do early learning activities at home with their children and show them how."
If you are just getting started with the Montessori Method at home, this book is really all you need. I could have saved so much time and money if he'd only written it 3 years ago!!! One of the most helpful sections in the book is a list of Montessori materials that you should buy for your home along with directions for materials that you can make.
I am in no way affiliated with the author or book. I received a free copy of the book, liked it, and decided to write this unbiased review. I hope you will take a moment to browse the website and learn more about this wonderful resource.
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