This week we added a color wheel lesson that was very popular! Using a laminated template as a guide, the children drop a series of colored water dots onto their appropriate places. Each circle has a place for four drops of water. Then using a stir stick, they combine the four dots.
Next, the child can make a print of their work using an absorbent paper towel to cover the water drops like this:
The result is color wheel of primary and secondary colors!
Our classroom is on the (very) small size at just over 500 square feet. When we created the addition to our home to include a preschool classroom, I had not even heard of Montessori! Over the years, I have tried a variety of things to maximize the space, but I always need to rotate materials which is not the best. Now that I have received training in all of the core curriculum areas, I see just how small our little classroom is! Although we have all been managing, I had “that moment” last week when YS was attempting to remove the North America puzzle map from the shelf and had to contort his little body in a variety of ways just to get it from the shelf to his mat! Poor thing! I decided to enlist my family’s help, and my son agreed to move out of his bedroom which is directly across from our classroom! Now, we leave our classroom door open and I removed the door from my son’s bedroom to create a larger classroom. This has allowed me to move math and language into that room, and in the larger room I was able to expand PL and sensorial, add the bells, a botany shelf, the landforms, an animal study shelf, and a cultural shelf!! The transformation has been amazing and I want to share the new setup with you!
Peeking through the cubby area into the new area:
Entering the new space:
A look at the langauge shelves (english and hebrew):
A look into the math shelves:
A look into the main classroom:
Here is a look into the newly improved main classroom space:
The view from the front door: Sensorial:
Sensorial continued:
A look into the Practical Life area:
Art shelf:
Looking over the art shelf into the Geography area:
Our North America shelf, ready for the new materials that are being laminated and gathered!
Landforms: Metal inset shelf: Library area:
Botany Shelf (our bunny is resting on the bottom shelf because I let him out to hop around after school):
Looking across the room standing at the botany shelf:
Looking across the room toward the library from the front entrance:
Making a bird craft set up on a table, with the hamster cage on the shelf above (bells are in the background):
The bells (major scale only at this point) with the rabbit cage:
The shelf of tools is under the hamster cage and the hammering log is visible in the lower left:
The animal study shelf, which is just building up. We have started with birds, but amphibians and fish are coming soon!
All in all, I am so pleased with the set up! The children have responded so positively, and it feels like a much larger space. Right now the class is made up of young threes and fours which is why I chose to place math and language in the smaller room. I anticipate that we might have a different set up in the future as the needs of the children shift. Can’t wait to hear your feedback!
We introduced the Montessori bells this week! I needed to do quite a big re-arrange of the room to make room for this work and I will post pictures of the new layout soon!
We had our first lesson which was to put on the gloves, carefully select a bell and bring it to the “bell table”, and then strike the bell with the mallet. We listened until the sound faded away, and I watched with delight as the children emulated my careful listening by bending their heads near to the bell while listening!
This little guy (2yrs 8mos) is demonstrating wonderful control with the bells for such a small one!
Here is the area where I placed the bells. Right now I only put out the major scale bells and controls. I have enough space to put out the entire set, but that will come later!
