animals in hibernation

Wow! Winter is practically over and I'm just getting around to writing this post!!

In our school we change over our room each month- we change the materials based on our theme and the season. For the month of Feb. we did Valentine's Day and Animals in Winter/Hibernation. This month we're doing the Red Tailed Hawk and St. Patrick's Day (and we're also celebrating Father's Day- since we're not in school when it's the REAL Father's Day). I'm hoping to post March's theme in the month of March- but I can't make any promises ;-)

So, last month, this is what we did for "animals in hibernation"...

Black bear handprints

Animals Hibernating matching cards:

This is a work that I made because.... frankly- I didn't have ANYTHING on animals in hibernation! I found pictures of animals on the Internet and then a picture of that animal in hibernation. I then wrote up a little snippet of information so that when presenting this work I can read it to the child.

 

(I apologize for the glare!)

Footprints of Animals in Winter:

This is a work that my school had- but I beefed it up a bit. Originally it was just pictures of the animal footprints- but I thought adding a second set of cards with the actual picture of that animal will make this work more stimulating and more educational. Below is a picture of a booklet that the children can make after they match the animal with the footprint.

And last, but not least a song that we sung in circle (which I heard many times during the day- the children loved it so much they sung it ALL the time!)

Time For Hibernation

(Frere Jacques tune)

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping,
Big black bear, big black bear?
Time for hibernation.
What is your location?
In a log, in a lair.

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping,

Hanging bat, hanging bat?
Time for hibernation.
What is your location?
In a cave is where I'm at.

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping,
Garter snake, garter snake?
Time for hibernation.
What is your location?
In the mud, in a lake.

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping,
Toad and frog, toad and frog?
Time for hibernation.
What is your location?
In a pond, near a log.

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping,
dormouse mouse, dormouse mouse?
Time for hibernation.
What is your location?
in a field, near a house.

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping,
Turtle friend, turtle friend?
Time for hibernation.
What is your location?
In the stream, till winter's end!

enjoy <3

this thing called life...

Busy, busy, busy...

I can't seem to keep up with all that I want to do! And... I don't even have kids yet or a house to take care of. I don't understand how some people do it....

I was talking with my Mom today- complaining about how hectic things have been lately and she told me "Life is busy, that's just how it is"

 so...I'm going to have to learn how to prioritize what is important and learn how to let go of what isn't

A small recap of what I've been doing...

• celebrating my birthday (which is usually a week long celebration- however this year was leap year- so I got to celebrate on the actual day!)
• taking care of my sweet Lincoln who had 3 visits to the vet all due to an eye infection that was tricky to diagnose
• sewing some treasures for a baby shower
• making my favorite nephew something special for his 2nd birthday
• keeping up with my 20 kids @ school
• piano lessons (in 2nd month of classes and loving them!)
• and.... still looking for a house :)

Hope to catch up with all that's been going on in the classroom later this week.

<3

Valentine's Day: montessori style

So better late then never...

here's how we're celebrating Valentine's Day in the classroom...

Practical Life shelf (left to right, top to bottom) tonging heart erasers, sorting colored hearts, transferring glass hearts, eye-dropper work, spooning sequins, pouring-pitcher to cup (with pink sand!), cutting veggies

sewing heart valentines!

 cutting out hearts- the child traces the line with scissors and opens it up for surprise!

 heart pattern matching (I made this in power point- just copy and paste the hearts and add different colors/borders/textures- make 2 copies- cut one set out and laminate)

(heart bracelet: paper heart punch outs, red pipe cleaners, puncher and pad.  Pick out 6 hearts, punch hole in center and lace onto pipe cleaner)

heart dot painting: cut out heart on card stock, laminate and re-cut out heart- makes an instant, customized stencil!

 draw-your-own penguin (not Valentine's Day related- but oh so cute!)

<3 enjoy

settling in...temporarily

So we've made the move and things have started to settle down. Everything went smoothly, we had beautiful weather, and the best thing- we had enough room for all of our stuff!! Downsizing from a single family home with 1300+ sqft to a 2 BR 900 sqft apartment was a bit scary and I was doubting that all of our things were going to fit! One BR is stocked FULL of boxes and randoms- literally floor to ceiling! (I'd show you a picture- but it is NOT a pretty sight and every time I open that door I get a waft of anxiety) I'd say we only unpacked 1/5 of our stuff. The other 4/5 is packed and stacked in our "storage room". I was pretty stingy when packing up our 'open now boxes' and wish I would have kept out a few more things- I have to run the dishwasher often so that we have enough dishes and I'm really missing my aero-latte!



As for our aparment- it is actually quite cute! We weren't looking for something long term so we didn't really have many requirements- but I'm pretty satisfied with our choice. The living room is a nice size and it has adorable pale yellow walls with thick crown molding. There is also a big window ledge in the front room that is perfect for my plant collection.

The bathroom and kitchen are tiny but Steve and I are learning how to dosey do around eachother when trying to fill up our mugs and get out the door in the morning. And we are learning how to deal with the kitties waking us up at the crack of dawn wanting to play!!!! I feel bad that they don't have a whole lot of space to run around when feeling friskie- but I just have to remind myself that this is only temporary! So far no luck on the house hunting end- but I think come March more things will pop up on the market (fingers crossed)

Hope you had a wonderful weekend <3

Oh and here's a little sneak peak at a new adventure I'm pursuing...

the mitten: a sequence story

So I must admit that this is not my idea, nor do I have it in my classroom! (although next year I will)
I love walking around my school and peaking inside every one's room to see what they're up to and I happened to stumble upon this great idea in my friends classroom.

It's a sequencing work that goes along with the children's book The Mitten by: Alvin Tresselt. (there is also one written by Jan Brett)

What you'll need:

You can introduce this work in a small group....read each page and then act it out using the objects...

The first page introduces the boy as he walks through the forest gathering wood- you can then take the little boy and gather the twigs onto his sled...

Oops the boy dropped his mitten...

"Now, how a boy could do this on the coldest day of winter I'll never know, but that's the way my grandfather tells the story."

It goes through a sequence where a variety of forest animals come across this cozy mitten and squeeze their way in...

(as the book progresses- add each animal to the mitten as it's introduced)

and just when you think there is no more room...

""No room! No Room!" cried the animals even before the bear had a chance to speak.

"Nonsense!" said the bear. "There's always room for one more."

And without so much as a please or thank you, he began crawling into the mitten.

He put his paw in first, and the mitten creaked and groaned.

He put his other paw in, and one of the seams popped.

Then he took a deep breath and pushed himself in."

and last but not least- one tiny little cricket... and RIP- the mitten explodes!

 

The animals get thrown about in the snow and all that remains are the bits and pieces of the boys mitten...

....the boy realizes he lost his mitten, but by the time he comes back for it...it's too late!

"And my grandfather says he never did know what really happened to his mitten."

It's an adorable story and an even more adorable work! It's amazing to watch the children actually act out the whole story- in correct sequence :-)

have a wonderful week <3

*hanky holders*

Hi all! Just wanted to share with you a little project we've been working on in the classroom. I got the idea from a fellow Montessori teacher at my school and thought it was a great project for cold and flu season! Sewing "hanky holders" - a cute way of saying tissue holders!

All you need is felt, craft thread, scissors, a needle, and tissues!

Pictured above is how I presented this work on the shelf (there is 1 for each child in the class). It was a lot of prep work- but the outcome was so cute and the children really loved it- which makes it all worth it! (they carry them around in their pockets- always prepared for a runny nose)

I cut rectangles of felt out with pinking shears and then a small heart (for their initials)...

Folded and ironed the ends to meet in the middle...

Embroidered their initials on the small hearts and glued them on to each felt rectangle...

Then to make it a more independent work, I dotted along the edges to show where the stitches needed to be.

And the final look- complete with tissues and all!

It's amazing how well the children can sew! Some of the little ones surprised me- able to thread their own needle! I also took this opportunity to teach the Kindergartners how to tie a knot in the end of their thread- they were so proud when they finally did it :-) 

Since this sewing project was such a success- stand by for our Valentines Day project...

<3 have a great week! 



and then...

So... the snow fairies were looking over me and a few days after my winter post- it SNOWED!! It was on a Saturday...and it's all melted already...but I'll take it! It was a nice backdrop to our day stuck inside finishing up the rest of our packing! Yes, we're still packing because we still haven't moved. This will be our 4th time moving so it's safe to say we're kind of "moving pro's", but this time around was a little more crazy. We were supposed to move at the end of December, but some things fell through and we got to stay in our rental house for another month. Then we thought we were going to move into an apartment for 3 months while we looked for a house (our first home!!) but then...a week later... we put an offer in on a house that we fell in love with and it was accepted. Yay! We were first time home buyers... for a day that is. Because then... we rescinded our offer due to some unexpected things wrong with the house that we weren't prepared to deal with. SO... now we're moving into a short term lease apartment closer to both of our jobs (with Steve moving locations he was driving an hour and a half  and I was driving an hour- each way!) Official move out date is this Saturday :-)

I'm excited to have a normal 20 min commute and I'm excited for things to slow down a bit so I can start posting regularly again...but I'm not excited to live in a 900 sq ft apartment...Yikes!

Enjoy the rest of your week! (fingers crossed for more snow...on a weekday that is!)