The "Cycle" Bin

One of our guiding principles is that we will practice sustainable living. My older littles are great at throwing trash into their bathroom sized lidded step on trash bin near the art center. One of my nightly duties is to go through their little trash bin and sort out the recycl-able items.

One night, I had a profound moment of realization with regard to the littles "trash bin". Number 1 ... almost everything in it was a recycle worthy item. Number 2 ... My littles can sort. We sort toys, we play sorting games, so why I am building in this extra step and robbing them of a valuable life lesson? The next day, I popped our little recycle bin (made of old rolled up magazines) on the floor next to their trash bin and carefully discussed what went where. They ROCKED it!! I was super proud.

Then about 20 minutes later, in came my little crawler carefully and happily unsorting the recycling. Ooops ... no lid on the bin! My solution. I purchased two brackets at the hardware store and mounted the recycle bin just above our full size trash can in the kitchen. It's high enough to be out of reach for the super little and just in reach of the bigger littles. Perfect! They love recycling and proudly announce when they have an item that need to go to the "cycle bin"

Planning Vs. Prep Time

I am knee deep in activity restructuring and planning for the fall season of sprout school. We have joined a "Tot School" co-op and I want to be sure that I align our weekly group class initiatives with the other work I am doing at home. I am excited for the adventure and to be connected with local moms on the same track.

While the tot school is providing a "curriculum" of suggested play based learning activities, I am super committed to not leaving behind my Montessori, art and ASL initiatives. I'm excited to learn that some of the other tot schoolers are striving for a montessori approach as well. I was right to have confidence in the co-op moms putting the guide together the first 4 weeks are out and they are good fun activities. Many that we have done or do regularly and sourced from some of our favorite blogs! Hooray!! :)

My first surprise is that I think my approach may differ more than I initially anticipated to the most of the moms in the co-op. Ultimately, I don't think the differences will make a huge impact on our experience. But it's exciting to me to be exposed to so many different approaches. I think the diversity will only make the group stronger.

One of the areas that I have noticed the most diversity is how each family approaches planning and prep time. Here is how I manage both ...

Planning Time Vs. Prepping Time

Planning Time:
When I say knee deep in planning time. It's on paper and on the computer. I am using my planner printable to pop the concepts and ideas we are going to be working on into a structured plan. I am reviewing my Signing Time, Montessori at Home, Young at Art and favorite blogs and other resources. I am making a list of all the things we will need. It is one of the only times I believe I truly plan without input from my little ones.

Prep Time:
I consider prep time a big part of learning time. For that reason, I include my littles in almost all layers of prep time for activities. For example, once I have the list of supplies we need we grab our magnifying glass and go on a scavenger hunt for the supplies we need. If my little ones aren't into helping I don't force the issue. But thus far ... they almost never, barring illness, aren't into helping. If we need "play doh" for an activity they help me make it. Prep time is full of practical skill and confidence building opportunity. Yes, it can be a bit messy. But I have found that it also helps to build excitement about the activity.

I don't think or I should say I hope there isn't a right or wrong method. Just a right method for each family and learning style :) What is your method for prepping learning activities for or with your little?

Sprout School Opening!!

This is our new "high-top table time table" Thankfully the big kids are big enough to climb up to the high top table where the supplies that tend to pose safety risks for the littlest can find safe refuge.  The bigger kids love it and are frequently choosing the spot for artwork and puzzle play.  

Last week we officially began our Sprout School year.  I love the "opening" of sprout school.  It's so much fun to sort through the learning closet and set up our table time environments and supplies.  This year my excitement is a bit amplified because we have joined a "tot school co-op".  One of the primary reasons I wanted to open myself up to the co-op experience was the opportunity to have focused weekly co-op days.  I am so excited to join up with other families working on similar skill sets.  However, the co-op doesn't officially start for a few more weeks. Regardless, I decided to begin at my same old start time right along with our local public schools.

When the co-op officially begins I will have to re-sort some things a bit to accommodate the curriculum, which I haven't yet seen.  One of the great things about the co-op is that they are providing the accompanying curriculum.  I am convinced that the Chief Moms in Charge will do a great job.  Which is why I am calm as a cucumber about waiting so close to start time to see the curriculum.  None-the-less I am not abandoning my Montessori at Home curriculum.  I love it too much!! Plus, I am confident we will be able to fold it in nicely.

One thing that I have learned on the implementation side of curriculum planning is that you have flexibility to adapt and cater learning objectives to suite your specific needs.  From a practical skill, Language, and Cultural perspective I have my calendar pretty well set through November.  I will be posting those initiatives ... and their inevitable modifications on the sprout school page starting September 1st.  Also, much to my delight, I have received a couple of requests for the planner pages I created for last year.  I plan to upload them to the printables section of the blog later this weekend.  I will be sure to update this post with the link to the documents.  I'm so glad some of you found the pages helpful!  Happy Opening of School!!   

Hello to a New Year ...

The beginning of the school year always feels as notable to me as the begining of the calendar year. It's a great time to clean out that supply closet, get rid of the supplies you don't need to make way for the supplies you will need.  While in the midst of all this re-organizing I decided it was also a great time to make some "new year resolutions". 

1. Join a Homeschooling Community: I already have this in the works.  We have joined a community that's school year hasn't quite begun.  But I'm excited that it intends to host weekly group classes! Here is hoping it's as awesome as I believe it will be!
2. I will keep up with my supply closet:  My supply closet seems to begin the year ready for it's close up.  But somewhere around week 6 it looks like a sick puppy limping along.
3. Be more consistant with table time.  So far while my intentions have been great table time happens at all times of the day.  This year I am committing to a morning table time and 4:30 table time.  Here is hoping a can make it stick!

I am so ready to get this party started!  Monday ... here we come!!!

Table Time

Table time is one of the cornerstones of our tot school day. In a typical day, I plan to have 1 hour of structured table time. I do not always hold table time in one lump some of time. It is far more likely that I will plan either (2) 30 minute sessions or (2) 15minutes and (1) 30 minute session. During table time, I am specifically working to call the littles' attention to a specific activity, game or lesson.

The Parameters
I set specific parameters around table time to increase the challenge. One of the primary parameters is you must stay at the table. This does not mean sitting in a chair. It has been my experience that comfort is key to unlocking my littles' attention span. If you feel like sitting in a chair, sitting on the ground or standing … do so. The focus is engaging the littles in the activity not controlling how they approach the activity.

The Table
"Table Time" is really a concept more than an actual table. We have a couple of locations we use for Table Time. Sometimes it is at our large activity table. Other times it is at the children's art table. Another great spot for "table time" is on a large blanket outside. Table could also easily happen in a sandbox, at a sensory table, or sitting around sensory bin.

The Unintended Lesson

I have been wanting to make this post for a while no; but the truth is, life has just plain old ordinary gotten the best of me.  In the middle of last week on a sunny morning I woke up feeling ready for my day.  I was super excited to take the littles to one of thier favorites, a gymnastics playdate.  The morning was moving smoothly and seemed as ordinary as could be.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  We were in an accident on our way to the gym.  Thankfully, no one was hurt.  The car didn't fair so well, but it could have been much worse.  As I pulled to the side of the road, I busied myself calling the troops (i.e. the police, insurance, family, and the friends we were supposed to meet at the gym).

One of my friends without taking a breath said, "Where are you? We'll be right there!"  And their she came, complete with her Mini-Van and toddlers.  I thought I was just fine, but as soon as she hopped out of her mom-mobile and hugged me ... I melted.  I have never needed a hug so badly in my life.  Being in an accident is stressful.  I knew this.  But I had never experienced an accident with the precious cargo that is our children in the back.  She immediately, started sharing her back seat toys with my littles, and got busy transfering thier car seats into her mini-van.  Then tossed her day out the window and spent the entire day playing at our house and helping me wrap up all the arrangements for getting my car repaired.

After a shockingly fun day and a late nap.  I decided we could surely get in our 30 minutes of table time before dinner time.  The littles had a blast we worked on our pattern block skills, threading, and letter shapes.  Then in keeping with the three part lesson. I asked the children what we learned today.  After a long pause my son looked up at me and said, "friends are GREAT!"  Indeed they are.

So there you have it the unintended lesson, that totally rocks!  No prep or planning required.  All you need is an  amazing friend!

Sending a super big hug of thanksgiving for our super friends!

May's Sprout Goals

Our May Sprout Goals surround the theme Zoo and Farm Animals.  We are so lucky to be surrounded by great local farms and we have a fantastic city zoo.  We are planning a tour of farms this month and at least one trip to our local zoo.

Letter Recognition
Our focus letters this month are: F-X-B-Z-O.  We will be working on fingerspelling our favorite practice sentence.  "There is a fox in a box at the zoo"
Math Discovery:
This month we are going to focus on sorting and counting activities.  In particular, focusing on the concept of two.  We are going to continue integrating pattern play. 

Science Exploration:
This month we are going to dive into sorting and classifying: Identifying types of animals, groups of animals, and more.

Practical Skill Building:
This months we will be braiding, lacing, and tying. 
The Arts:
This month we are going to emphasize Sculpture Art.  We will be working with air dry clay and recycled materials.  We will also be learning the musical note C. 

If It's Broken: Don't Fix it!

No, that's not a typo. I have learned that sometimes if it is broken not fixing it can be a great way to reinforce the importance of taking proper care of toys and such.  When I started integrating montessori/reggio environments into our reasonably small home I was terrified!  Why? Because I have dumpers, scatterers, and all over the floorers.  If you have one or two in your home ... you know exactly what I mean.  My then toddlers and now preschoolers love to dump bins and buckets out to explore them.  They hop quickly from one thing to another and don't always put things back.  So the thought of total access totally terrified me. 

Then, I decided that I would try a few stations.  If things got broken or left out instead of replacing them.  I would leave those spaces empty and place those items on a shelf in a closet for 3 days.  Much to my surprise the technique worked relatively quickly.  Of coarse, these lessons are on going and we are far from 100% accuracy.  However, by enlarge we are doing great!  Especially in areas like the art center.

All Twisted Up

One of our April goals in practical skill buildng is to work on our pouring and twisting abilities.  So of coarse, I thought of PRETZELS!  This activity was a big hit with the littles and while our our final product was no where near as well proportioned as the ones you get in the mall they were still pretty darn delicious. Not to metion it had way more value than I originally thought.

Practical
The kitchen always provides a wealth of opportunities to practice practical skills.  During this project the littles where able to pour and mix dry and wet ingredients.  We were also able to practice our twisting when rolling out the pretzels. My littles favorite part was making the "leller U" just before we twisted the shape!


Sensorial
We decided to knead half of our batch by little hands and half by stand mixer. Primarily, because if something went funky with one batch or the other (i.e. it didn't rise) we would have a back up.  Happily, both batches rose beautifully! 

Math
In order to get the right length role to twists the little need to measure the dough.  I have this wonderful mat I purchased so long ago I don't know remember the store name.  The kiddos had to measure to 4 inches for little pretzels and 8 for larger ones.  They loved it!

Science
Yeast, Water, Bicarbonate ... Oh MY!  This recipe called for yeast and bicorbanate of soda both provided fun opportunities to put on our observation hats.  We loved listening and watching  the yeast disolve into the luke warm water.  After it was incorporated into the dough and we had done all of our twisting it was time for the bicarbonate wash.  While the kiddos where not able touch the hot water needed to make the bicarbonate wash for the pretzels.  They were very well able to squeel with delight as it fizzed and bubbled!

Check out our pretzel recipe here: WN's Knead a Pretzel Post

"Practically Perfect in Every way"

Lately, Mary Poppins has been floating, umbrella in hand, into my head.   I can still remember as a child reading the book and watching the Disney movie over and over again.  It was funny, thrilling, heart-warming, and inspiring.  One of my favorite parts of the film "Mary Poppins" is when Mary stretches out the tape measure to find herself "Practically Perfect in Every way".  Indeed she was, always perfect with a beautiful voice, perfectly done hair, a mysterious white apron that never got dirty, calm tone, the right answer and the well timed lesson for children and adults alike.  For goodness sake, she even made popping in and out of a chimney look effortless.  While it was one of my favorite movie moments it was also one of the most terrifying to me.  Even at a very tender age, I can remember feeling a tinge of fear thinking about where I might measure up.

A few nights ago I had one of those realizations that left me certain the tape measure would find me far short of perfect! While everyone else in my house was fast asleep, I was reading through my Montessori Home School Resource Guide and I had a horrifying realization.  My bins are all wrong!  The activity bins.  The way I chose to organize the bins just doesn't fit very well with the approach.  So in the middle of the night, I began to plot how to correct my misstep.  All I needed was a hammer, some nails, and a few more hours in the night to get things back in shape before the morning.  The morning light found me half finished with my activity center redesign.  I was able to get things squared away by the end of breakfast.  Now, we just had a few errands to run and then we would head home for our Sprout School activity time, lunch and nap.  

I loaded one sleepy sprout, one laughing sprout, and one crying sprout into the car to knock out our morning errands.  The line at the bank was phenomenally long.  Happily, the littles were awesome and we had fun counting the people and finding all the colors and words we knew hanging around the room.  Then a "quick" trip to the farmers market turned into a long trip to the farmers market.  We had a wonderful conversation with an organic grower in our area .. but while I was speaking with her my precious littles started scarfing her blueberries.  I mean an OBSCENE number of blueberries mushed on hands and faces.  My son looked up at her and said Yummy, DELICIOUS!  I was embarrassed, apologized and of coarse offered to pay for the extra items eaten or damaged.  She laughed and said if she could have a picture of their blueberry filled faces for her table she would call it even. SOLD!  By the time we arrived home we were already @ lunchtime.  So sadly Sprout School and my "perfectly" redesigned bins would have to wait until after nap.  We had a great lunch, fun conversation, good food, but I was feeling like I totally failed and my head was reeling with the list of to dos during nap time: put away the pile of laundry in the family room, clean the dishes from lunch, clean the bathroom and so on. 

Then it happened, as I tucked my son into bed for nap time he grabbed my neck, then looked deeply into my eyes and said "Great Work, Mom!"  I almost cried.  Not because he had no idea what he had missed this morning ... but because I had almost missed how Great this morning really was.  Today, I learned that, that tape measure will most likely never find me "Practically Perfect in every way" but it has found me "Imperfect but blessed in every way" ... and I can honestly say, I'm good with that!  :) 

P.S. Sprout School time did eventually happen ... but.... I still haven't gotten to the laundry.  Sorry, Mary! :) 

Where are we going Valcano!

This activity provided lots of laughs while we learned about weather and practice some of our practical skill building.  My son recently watched an episode of Dora the Explorer while at my parents house about going to, of all things, a Volcano. As a result, he started running around the house singing her little catchy song ..."Where are we going .. VOLCANO!" So I started thinking about doing a classic baking soda volcano. But, I worried that the small opening of a soda bottle and the resulting force of the eruptions be to much for my 2 and under crowd to effectively do the project on thier own. Then I saw this post from the The Artful Parent. She used a mason jar instead of soda bottle. I was inspired!! Here is our adaptation ...

First, we made our favorite play-doh recipe:

1 cup salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons oil

Yes, I let them do it all the measuring hehe and the pouring as you can see.:)

Next time, I'm thinking of making mud-dough!

April's Sprout Goals

When I adopted a tot school approach to learning in my home, I decided to organize myself by month, by week, then by day.  This is my monthly goal and objective sheet.  April is such a wonderfully rich month to lesson plan.  We celebrate Easter, Earth Day and we can get out into our garden … assuming the weeds don't eat us alive! 

Letter Recognition
Our focus letters this month are: E-A-R-T-H.  Heheh .. I'll give you three guesses why?   You guessed it they spell earth and we are going to be doing a lot of Earth centric reading.  Not to mention this moth we also celebrate Easters, hunt Eggs, and so on.

Math Discovery:
Patterns, Patterns and More Patterns.  This month we are going to be working nearly every day on some form of pattern play.  In addition we will be continuing to work on skip counting.  (primarily because the little ones LOVE it)

Science Exploration:
Out to the garden we go!!  It's time for us to plant our tomatoes, squash and bell peppers. 

Practical Skill Building:
This month we are working on digging, twisting and pouring.  We are also working on buckles and ties.

The Arts:
This month we are diving into water colors.  We will also be learning the musical note E. 

For my Littlest Sprout:
This month is all about texture.  He is stepping into a new phase of food exploration.  His sensory  bins will be all about bumpy and smooth!

Ready or not here we come!!

Practical Life

Teaching "Practical Life" skills can be extremely fun and rewarding.  When you plan to demonstrate practical life skills, you are teaching useful, functional skills that increase independence and self reliance.  From my perspective this is a huge Win/Win.  While it is a simple concept  … in practice, it can be a bit more daunting then you might anticipate.  Why? Because if you are following the Montessori approach one of the primary tenants of Practical Life exercises is that they must be real or as close to real as you can reasonably get.  Which means you are using "familiar materials" that are potentially perishable AND breakable.  Eeeek … a real bowl, a real container of oats, a real carton of milk!  Sounds silly but with the cost of milk per gallon … all of the sudden that old adage, "don't cry over spilt milk" seems a bit more daunting. 

In the Montessori method there are four skill building areas when demonstrating practical life skills.

Preliminary Skill Building: This application is all about the basic movements of life: carrying, pouring, scooping, folding and the like. 

Applied Skill Building:  This application is founded in caring for oneself and ones environment.  Examples of applied skill building are: brushing ones hair, washing hands, sweeping, putting away toys, cleaning the table.

Grace & Courtesy Skill Building: To quote the line from one of our favorite Signing Time Songs, "Please, Thank You, Sorry helps everyone feel good."  This application focusing on helping children know how to properly interact with society. the children work on the interactions of people to people.

Control of Movement Skill Building: This is one of the most fun for us.  In this application you focus on refining those motor skills.  (i.e. balancing on a balance beam, pinning the tail on the donkey, playing a toss and catch game)

Check out these great Montessori Practical Life Links:

Montessori @ Home

Montessori Primary Guide

Sensorial Play

Sensorial Play is one of those key educational words that I became familiar with as a Sign Language teacher for babies and toddlers.  While the heading sounds a bit inflated it is actually a very practical way to teach a myriad of concepts and skills to children and adults.  Essentially, sensorial play is the process of teaching through the senses. 

There are so many great ways to incorporate sensory play through out your day!  You can create fun sensorial bins, play sensorial games, and plan sensorial activities.  Perhaps, the simplest and most effective thing you can do is to become aware of your own senses through out the day and communicate with your little one about them.  For example on a walk with your little one you could comment on the beautiful sound of a bird singing, the tickle of a breeze in the air, the heat of the summer sun.    

Check out some of my favorite sensory play inspiration sites:

Counting Coconuts: Sensorial Tubs
Play Activities: Sensorial Play

Outdoor Exploration

Going outside with my littles is a top priority on my daily to do list.  It always takes my breath away the way they light up and let lose during outdoor playtime.  It doesn't really matter what we are doing or where we are.  Toddler + (Dirt or Sand) + Sunshine = Good Times.  Not only is the physically activity and vitamin D great fro their health, but it's also a great place to get the sillies out.  The diversity of experience and ever changing "nature" of the great outdoors keeps my littles intrigued and exploring!

Science

Science is just plain fun.  Experiments are awesome and encourage inquisitive young minds.  For the purposes of my monthly planning, Science is a broad topic.  Some of the topics I include under the Science header in my planning are: Weather, nature, biology, nutrition, and classifications.

Check out some of my favorite Scientific Discovery Inspiration Sites.

Weather Wiz Kids
First School: Science
Parenting Toddlers: Child Science Experiments

Language

Language is a broad topic that covers a lot of  subject matter.  Some of the topics I include in our "Language" lesson plans are oral & sign language, letter recognition, reading comprehension, writing, and story telling. 

In our language lesson plans I strive to create fun experiences and environments that encourage a love of language that will last a lifetime.  We use a whole body learning methods to integrate the spoken written and signed word. 

Letter Recognition & Finger Spelling

We are a signing family.  What does that have to do with letter recognition?  Simple.  Fingerspelling!  Our littles began developing their finger spelling ability as babies.  Long before they developed the fine motor skill to finger spell themselves they were clearly demonstrating an understanding of finger spelled words, like "glue".  For families who choose to use true American Sign Language in their homes to supplement oral communication, fingerspelling can be a bonus to early literacy efforts.  Teaching your child the manual alphabet in ASL literally puts the power of letter recognition in the palm of your hand and theirs.    

Math

One of Maria Montessori's quotes that influence me the most with regarding math is "a mathematical mind is a mind which is built up with exactity".  Heavily influenced by Pascal, she expressed the belief that in the early stages of mathematical exposure must focus on finding identity, similarity, differences, and patterns.  As a result, we use sensorial tools to help expose our littles to order and sequence.  In addition we also use more traditional count and number recognition games and tasks.  

The Arts

When I think of "The Arts" my mind heads in the direction of paint, sculpture, dance, and music.  Art is exciting, intense, personal, emotional, collaborative, creative, inspiring, and wonderful.  It is regardless of medium not flat.  Therefore, in my mind, it's critical not to limit my littles art exposure to  paint, crayons,  play-doh, simple tunes and rhymes.  While all of those things can be wonderful.  Exposing my littles to the Arts is about tapping into that awe inspiring raw emotional self that is who they are … in this moment.  Pablo Picasso's quote above is one of my favorites and rings so true to this mama's ears.   

Arts Vs. Crafts

I love doing both Arts and Crafts with my little ones.  From this mom's perspective both have wonderful, but distinctly different value.  I am frequently disappointed when test driving learning programs, materials and such that present them only as one thing, "Arts & Crafts".  I find it equally disturbing when programs only focus on one or the other.  I think it's important to find time for both.  For us, Craft Time is a great time to reinforce learning objectives and practice following directions.  Art Time is time to follow our bliss, create, and learn how to respect and appreciate our art materials.  I absolutely love the book Young & Art by Susan Striker. It is full of great ideas for opening your littles up to creating and appreciating art.  At our house we have an art center that is set up for independent art activities.  The littles have open access to create art whenever the mood strikes.  When it's craft time we typically work at our activity table. 

How do you approach Arts & Crafts with your littles?