Lego
Puggle’s just made
“Look Mama! A lego five!”
It’s either that, or a zat gun…
The Genial Hearth
I’ve just put the kettle on, join me for a cuppa and a chat.Archive for Maths
This Week
(I’ll update the sidebars very soon!)
Language
Introduce phonograms ‘a’, ‘c’ (sandpaper letters and sand tray)
o mea Maria (Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary)
Amabo te (Please)
Frère Jacques
Viens! (Come)
English Studies
‘The Fairy Nurse‘ from The Lilac Fairy Book Andrew Lang
‘The Tinder-Box’ from The Complete Illustrated Stories Hans Christian Anderson
Narration: ‘The Wolf and the Kid‘, ‘The Tortoise and the Ducks‘ ‘The Young Crab and His Mother‘ from The Aesop for Children Ill. Milo Winter (at this stage I’m not going to focus particularly on narration:-) )
Recitation: Corner of the Street A. A. Milne from When We Were Very Young
Art and Music
Folksong: The Drinking Gourd
Composer: Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Work: Scheherazade
Artist: Leonardo da Vinci
Work: Ginevra de’ Benci
Music: Loud/Soft (The Kodály Method 1) Bye, Baby Bunting
Art: Watercolour
Brushwork and Watercolour paints(Art Ideas)
Planning for 2008
General stuff:-)
As I was happy with the structure of our year in 2007, we’ll stick with the same thing in 2008. I have made a decision about the term names. This year we’ll have Boronia, Dorothea and Edith terms. They’re two great-grandmothers and one great-great-grandmother, covering three of the four branches of our family tree. We’ll start the week beginning January 13th. I have plans for a Cornucopia (as I believe they do in Germany at the start of the school year) containing coloured pencils, some new glue and scissors, more sticky tape, counters, and any other bits of stationery type things I think of to include.
Language (Including Memorisation and Copywork)
I have definite plans in this area, but I’m hoping to be able to keep a grip on myself! I’m planning to begin using Writing Road to Reading
Otherwise, we’ll continue with Latin Nursery Rhymes (I have enough for two per Block!) and I’m going to add in some everyday Latin phrases (look, careful, listen, sit up etc.). We’ll start doing the same for French, so a nursery rhyme per fortnight, and everyday French phrases (I still need to sort out which comptines we’ll use).
For Memorisation, we’ll be using When We Were Very Young
We’ll begin Copywork properly this year. I’ll re-introduce the sandpaper letters when we do that phonogram, and I’ll also provide a Sand Tray for practice (still need to finish that). I also need to complete our ‘Metal’ Insets, which he can practice with. For these, he’ll use the ‘Lyra’ coloured pencils which are thick, triangular ones. Hopefully this will assist Puggle’s proper writing grip.
Maths
I’m basically intending a fairly Montessori style approach. I have a number of started Sensorial materials, (Pink Tower, Broad Stair, Square of Pythagoras), some completed (Red Rods, Geometric Solids—a Christmas gift, but still, ready to use), and plans to make some others Geometric Cabinet, Constructive Triangles, Binomial Cube, Trinomial Cube and Geometric Cards. I am similarly in progress with Maths materials, some complete (Number Rods, Sandpaper Numbers, Number Tablets and Number Cards), some almost complete (Spindle Box), and plans to make some of the rest.
My plan is to prepare the materials, present them as he seems ready, but just leave him to work with them as he sees fit. Obviously well also be talking about numbers as a normal part of our day (cooking, measuring and various number related books we read).
I also figured that my resolution to play more games can’t but help with maths:-)
English Studies
We’ll be reading all year from The Aesop for Children
We’ll also be reading a selection of stories over the year from The Lilac Fairy Book
Health and Phys. Ed
We’re continuing with our weekly swimming lessons. I thought I might try introducing some yoga (through cards that he can do himself, once I’ve shown them to him). We’re working on making the ‘back’yard more contained, and we’re digging a hole for the trampoline. When he’s out there he rarely stops moving:-) I would also like to work (again!) on establishing regular Nature Walks.
(At his age I’m not seriously planning things here… But in the future I’ll need to consider this Learning Area, so I’m noting it now.)
History and Geography
We’re basically going to stick with geography for now. Puggle is really aware of maps, so we’ll make use of the Picture Atlas we have, and he got a pretty good world map puzzle for Christmas. I have plans to make a few more, plus some land and water forms (more of those Montessori materials!) We also plan to acquire a globe.
Science
I intend (once again!) to work on including a weekly Nature walk. I’m not going to worry too much about it until the weather gets more pleasant (so, not until at least March), as I figure it’s one thing to maintain a habit when the weather drops off… but it’s much harder to establish it. We will do some more gardening. We’ll also begin observing the weather.
Aside from these, I’ve been working on various ‘Parts of Animal’ cards, and I’ll finish those, and I have plans for some of the Botany Cabinet stuff.
Art and Music
After my library find earlier this year, I was really excited to discover a copy of The Usborne Complete Book of Art Ideas
We’ll continue following the Ambleside Online Artist study schedule, so that means this year will be Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt van Rijn and Jan van Eyck.
When I was at my last school, I was good friends with the music teacher. She was a real Kodály afficienado. She lent me The Kodály Method I: Comprehensive Music Education
We’re also following the Ambleside Composer study schedule, so Boronia Term we’ll listen to Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Aelexander Borodin and Modest Mussorgsky. Dorothea Term will be George Frederic Handel, and Edith Term we’ll listen to works by Camille Saint-Saens and Hector Berlioz.
Technology and Enterprise
(This is probably my least consisdered area… bizarre given that it’s what I taught! I guess there are a couple of reasons for that. I just don’t think as an eary it’s as important as some of the others, but equally, I’m fairly confident of my ability to wing it for a while… no need to plan at all at this stage. I do have an idea of developing a woodwork curriculum for junior primary homeschooled kids… when we reach that stage, so a little way ahead of me for now:-) )
He got a toolbox for Christmas… so we’ll start some woodwork:-) And of course, more cooking:-)
(I could never be an unschooler! But maybe I should re-read my The Latin-Centered Curriculum
In the next week before we start, I have quite a bit of sorting still to do:-( Arranging equipment/books so that they’re accessible and making sure that we have all the bits (music, still need Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances, and the French comptines are proving challenging:-( ) we need. I also have a long list of materials I plan to make (or finish) in the first half of this year… I’m going to be quite busy:-)
Montessori Monday—Number Rods
Like the Red Rods, these sat partially done for some time.
I made them at the same time as the Red Rods. I hadn’t meant to, but when I went to get the wood I couldn’t get five and a half metres exactly, so I figured I might as well get enough for both sets at once—and it was certainly just as easy to do two sets at the same time:-)
These are exactly the same as the Red Rods aside from the paint job. I started by painting them all red.
Then it was just a matter of painting the ten centimetre blocks over in blue.
I think Puggle is actually about ready to start using these, but I’m glad I did both sets:-) I suspect I’d better get a move on with the accompanying number cards:-)
I’ll be using presentation information from here, as well as here and here.
Montessori Monday—Red Rods
I’ve had these sitting mostly done for a couple of weeks!
They’re a good example of a material to make, because they’re very easy:-)
I’m on a bit of a maths kick at the moment, with the materials I’m making. Even though technically these are a Sensorial material, they’re a precurser for the Number Rods, so I’m counting them as Maths in my making plans:-)
I started with 5.5 metres of 19mm x 19mm pine (actually I started with twice that… come back next week:-) ).
I measured lengths of 10cms, 20cms, 30cms, 40cms, 50cms, 60cms, 70cms, 80cms, 90cms and one metre. Then, using my father’s drop saw (after checking it was actually set to cut square!) I cut the pieces. A quick sand with the belt sander (I would have used the disc sander, but the rest wasn’t square:-( ), a rub over with abrasive paper, and they were ready to paint.
This is the point where they rested for some time!
I was undecided about what I’d use to paint them… in the end I just used poster paint. I’m starting to regret that already, as it does react to water. We’ll use them for now, but I will either need to put another finish on them (varnish? glue?) or repaint them with something that’s not water-soluble. The likelihood of them ending up in mouths at some point is quite high! But Puggle is keen to use them (he’s been watching them being made), so I’ll let him—just not when Bilby’s around:-)
Preschoolers and Money
I recently came across this article on kids and money. It’s an area about which we have yet to make any decisions, so I found it quite interesting. The writer included links to two moneyboxes that I thought were note-worthy.
Obviously, Paddington and I will need to have a chat about this. I’m wondering (for those who have children, or from your childhood) when do you start giving pocket money? Is it tied to anything (jobs, behaviour, something else)?
Montessori Monday, MMM progress—Sandpaper Numbers
They’re finished!
I selected a suitable font (Chalkboard, 250pt) and printed out my templates.
The other day I got my ’sandpaper’ (I went with 240 grit wet and dry, so that it is as near to black as possible) and I also got the cardboard to use as the backing.
I cut half a green sheet of card into ten 10.2mm by 12.7mm rectangles (it may seem like random measurements, but was what resulted from dividing the large sheets evenly). I did end up trimming all the boards. They are all now 100 mm wide and 125 mm high.
I ruled lines across the boards for the numbers to ’sit’ on (to help orientation, and also to model correct positioning), 25 mm from the bottom.
I traced the templates onto the ’sandpaper’ (remembering to reverse them, so that the textured side ends up on top!) and then cut them out.
I have positioned the numbers on the line and central. I decided to do this so that they will suit both right and left handed users.
I did the gluing in a single batch. I would lay each card out, select the number and check its position (so that I considered its slope for example). Then I turned the letter over and used PVA glue to dot along the back. I spread it carefully over the whole back of the letter, making sure that it wasn’t too thick. I then placed the number on the card as accurately as possible and patted it down with a tissue to collect any excess glue.
I finished by turning the number over onto the table, and weighting it down with a large book to ensure that the card and number didn’t curl away from each other. After they were allowed some time to dry (about 15 minutes I think, the glue wasn’t very thick) I collected them up and allowed them to stand between books on the shelf.
Now to make/find a suitable box to put them in:-)
ETA a link to Shu-Chen Jenny Yen’s Presentation information for the Sandpaper Numerals.
Montessori Links
Maths games done the Montessori way.
And here’s a free learning to read site.
Pop stick montessori
I’ve had this window open for ages, meaning to blog it.
Kristin posts (or has posted) a number of times about her use of montessori ideas with her children.
Picture book recommendation
This book (by Celeste Davidson Mannis and illustrated by Susan Kathleen Hartung) is very cool. Not only is it a counting book, but it’s in the form of haikus:-)
Definitely worth another look.
by A. A. Milne
by Andrew Lang
