Harold and the Purple Crayon

In the last week our weather has limited us to either staying put in the classroom or walks around the neighbourhood due to the wicked windchill, ice and treacherous conditions at playground making it just not safe.

So what to do?

One of these days I pulled out Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson and I invited a group of children to stay back and listen to the story and draw. I started first by just reading the story and then I pulled out some really big paper and gave each child a big space, paper and a purple crayon. The idea was to have them draw their version of the story. Wow, I can't even begin to tell you how amazing that experience was.

The children were completely into the experience and the story and I have posted some picture of the the exercise.

Sometimes it is the simple things like good old paper and crayons that make for the most fun and imaginative play and the biggest adventure!

Juice eh?

One of the best bits of work that I like to put out is making orange juice. It is especially welcome during this time of year when the oranges and head colds are plentiful. It is so rewarding not only to me the observer but it is very rewarding to the child who masters making his/her own glass of juice.

This is a great treat and even something you could set up at home. Our tray is set up with a small drinking glass, a bowl of clementines, small wet sponge and a glass reamer set into a glass bowl. It is lovely to watch a child take this out and make a glass of juice. It is especially fun to see how they notice that there is magically juice in the cup and then there is that look to the teacher (do you think I should taste it) and they do and well, then we are filling the bowl all morning long with fresh oranges! Not only are the children making their own glass of juice but they must wash and dry all the pieces on the tray and place it back to the shelf as they would have found it so that the next child may come and enjoy this work. It takes a good 20 minutes or more for this work to be complete and placed back to the shelf for the next child. Hmmmmmm making juice and washing dishes- Sounds like a dream come true.

We have had this out for two weeks now and it will be leaving the practical life shelf soon. I encourage you to keep a small bowl of clementines on a shelf in your fridge that your child can access along with all the other parts to enjoy a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. Maybe this could be a new Saturday morning ritual while someone else is making the pancakes!

Thinking of Spring?

Today at the end of playground a child, actually my child came to me with these branches and said, lets have an experiment with them. I said what do you have in mind?

My girl suggested that we take them back to the school and put them in water and see what happens.

I thought this was a wonderful way to leave the playground especially since it was so hard getting to the playground with my girl today! Perhaps I am having mama guilt today and I needed to see, feel and embrace the beauty in this moment. It is not easy having your daughter in your preschool and being her teacher is even more challenging. So even with our push/pull struggles, when she came to me with these branches it warmed me on this very cold day in a way I cannot put into words.

So now I am thinking of Spring and the possibilities of our garden and how I will connect not only with my daughter but all the children. Hope you were able to enjoy the day today!

Sink or Float

Sorry I feel like we only just got back into our groove at the school and yet I feel like it has been way too long since I last posted some work.

Ms. Wendy is a great source of advice and ideas and she came to school one morning with this work ready to go. The work consists of a tray with a large clear bowl of water and a small bowl of objects. The child is encouraged to see what sinks to the bottom and what floats on top. We have watched many children come to this work over and over again. I am convinced that any water related work is way more fun than anything else we have. You can see that this little girl is carefully testing out her theories on sinking and floating.

We have some more fantastic stuff coming. I've been working over time putting new stuff and projects together as we head into our winter studies. Stay tuned!

m

Holiday Spirit

Thank you so much to our Maple Tree Families! Nothing puts me in the holiday Spirit more than making our annual trip to the Parker Street Food Bank to deliver our specially picked and packed handmade food sacks.

Thank you for embracing this project year after year and for helping me teach the children the importance of giving. From our house to yours we wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Peace,

Michelle

mmmmmmm Gingerbread

The last two days have certainly been action packed. We have made 105 gingerbread cookies. That is 35 x 3. That makes for a whole lotta baking. I am frankly baked out now for a few days. I have to say though that we enjoyed the time at the round table mixing cookie dough up and cutting cookies out and watching while they baked. After they cooled we organized some cookie painting and a sprinkle station for extra decoration. We also had a Maple Tree Alumni with us today who among other things over saw many parts of the Cookie Project especially the Sprinkle station. We will be doing another round of painting and sprinkling again tomorrow to ensure everyone has cookies to take home. I've included our recipe for Gingerbread below.

Gingerbread

Dry Ingredients

3 cups Flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 Tbs ground ginger

13/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Beat on Medium speed until well blended:

1/2 c butter softened

3/4 brown sugar

1 large egg

Next add:

1/2 cup molasses

2 tsp vanilla

Mix dry ingredients into the wet and you may have to use your hands to mix it all up. It is best to let the dough rest for a day in the fridge. The flavors are more intensified.

Cookie Paint

Icing Sugar and food Coloring

Tiny bit of water to make it paint like

All the sprinkles you can handle

The classroom smelled amazing today and yesterday and we had christmas music going and it just felt like home. Happy Baking!

Music is Magical

Tonight I picked up my daughter late from the school. I usually leave early in the day with her but the last few days she has asked to stay longer to play. Today I left and went to walk my dog and came back around 5 pm. When I walked into the school I was blown away by how very quiet it was. Ms. Melanie was very quietly mopping the floor and three children, mine included were playing pretend violins that they had made from sticks and connectors. In the background Vivaldi's winter was playing. I can not put into words how utterly beautiful that was to happen upon and so I sat and watched and Ms. Melanie continued to mop. It was so beautiful it made me tearful. I felt sad when I was discovered and it was over.

A Tree to Trim

Ok this is an idea I found online and I loved it so much that I went right out and got one for our classroom. I so love how gentle the children are placing the ornaments on this wire tree. It is a new piece of work that requires time and patience. You can't rush with this or you will get tangled up. I watched today as many children gathered around this table and watched and waited for a turn. It is very exciting both for me and the children when new work goes out.

Today was one of those days where I just put out tons of new work. Mostly art based as we are winding down for our Christmas break and the children are sensing the excitement in the air. All these extra activities have been making for some very quiet and absorb working time. From spooning jingle bells to threading wool to make wreaths to making more snowflakes there is a lot of merriment going on.

Smells Wonderful

In the last two weeks we have had this work out on the practical life shelf. It works perfectly with clementines. Large oranges are to hard for small hands to push cloves into. It was even hard for me to do. As you can see this child is studding a clementine with whole cloves and it will get hung on our giving tree and then go home with the child that made it. This is a great activity and it smells so good. Try it at home. It will make for some very quiet time. It is interesting as always to me that the child can become so consumed and quiet with this work for such a long time.

When I am Sick

This week we have been getting a lot of questions about sending your child to school when they are sick. This information is covered off in the Maple Tree Parent Policy manual that everyone gets with their enrollment package when they start at the school. I know that not many people read it as there is a lot of paper that goes out in that package and it is overwhelming to read everything.

The rule of thumb on sickness at Maple Tree is that your child must be 24 hours symptom free of fever, vomiting and diarrhea. We will administer medicine such as antibiotics (ear infection, or other virus requiring antibiotics). We will never give children's Tylenol or Ibuprofen. If your child requires either of these then they should stay at home until they feel better and are up to the task of the day at school. If your child has anything contagious then your family doctor will advise and you will advise us. Pink Eye requires a day and a dose of medicine before a child may return to school. I realize that this creates challenges for many parents where both Mom and Dad work but this is really important. If we ever found ourselves with a situation that three teachers were out sick in one day I would have to cancel school as we would not be able to meet ratio. Our best defense against getting sick is to ensure that children that are sick stay home until they are symptom free. Also, I would ask that you please call the school to notify us if your child is out for the day we do need to track this information for public heath especially in the event that we have an out break of some kind. It also takes a teacher away from the classroom to have to make those calls. I hope this helps clarify things.

Michelle

The Maple Tree Giving Tree

For as long as Maple Tree has been around we have had a giving tree during the holidays. The tree is something we build in the classroom with the children and then we decorate it during our December month at school. During this time we make grocery lists with the children by having them cut up flyers and glue pictures on card stock this is their list for shopping. I also arrange for some durable and ecological bags from our local environment store and I send them home with a note attached for parents. This is really meant as a shopping experience for the child. The parents are to take their child to the grocery store and allow them to choose the items for the bag. The children are invited and encouraged to decorate the bag before hand. When all the gift bags are in by the last day of school my family delivers them to the Parker Street Food Bank and we have lunch. It has become our family tradition and my children have come to really look forward to it. It is amazing to me how humbled my ten year old is when we walk into the food bank and it is empty and people are thanking us over and over again. Every year he tells me that he is glad we do this and that maybe next year we could do more. Food is such a simple and basic need and sometimes I think we forget how much others need it. I hope you are able to find a way to give back with your family this holiday season. Thank you to our parents for supporting this project so much!

Singing in the Rain...the Fall...the Winter...the Spring...

For the past few weeks in music we have been singing about the weather - sun, rain, clouds, thunder, wind and soon, snow. We have been listening to the music of Vivaldi (Summer and winter from the Four Seasons) and Debussy (Voiles, Le fille aux cheveux de lin). In the Vivaldi the children learned to pick out the background "raindrops" which are much softer than the violin solo. We had a magical moment one morning, as the children laid on their backs, closed their eyes and imagined Debussy's clouds floating by.

Although we have moved on in music class from our "New Friends and Old Friends" unit, it is never too late to sing about our friends. Here are the words to a song your child may be singing at home:

Make new friends, but keep the old.

One is silver and the other, gold

Susannë

Let it Snow

I am sorry I've been away for a few weeks! There is so much going on this time of the year and things are super busy both at home and in the classroom. Not to worry though I've got some great stuff coming your way so stay tuned!

The other day a friend gave us a massive amount of paper (enough for a year or more) and in the pile was some newsprint. Newsprint is great because you can do so many things with it. It is really perfect for folding and cutting out snowflakes and that is just what we did. I started as a bit of an experiment to see if I could make a super sized snowflake and it worked out beautifully. The next thing I know I have a full circle of little friends around me and everyone wants to cut paper. What a lovely time we had! So watch out because there is snowflake cutting out on the shelf and I am sure lots coming your way at home. This is great work as it takes a lot of strength to cut through so many layers of paper. Happy Cutting.

m

Sounds Like Reading To Me

I wanted to breakdown how we teach the children their phonetic sounds and introduce the sandpaper letters. I did this this at our most recent parent / teacher night at the school but I know some parents were not able to come and so I thought it would be a good idea to post it for those who missed it.

Last summer Ms. Wendy and I revamped the entire language section as it was in need of it after eight years. One of the things that I have always struggled with as a Montessori teacher is that I personally find the sandpaper letters boring. Yes, can you hardly believe I am saying that!

Perhaps it is because I have presented them so many times since I first started teaching. Anyway, I suggested we come up with a new and exciting way to introduce them and expand on the idea of presenting the sounds. I know all to well how important the experience of touching is with this work and so we have expanded on this for the children by adding sound baskets with tiny objects to place with the corresponding sound.

The first picture shows the phonetic sound being presented to the child using the index finger and middle finger for touch. The teacher will

touch the letter and follow it as you would when you are printing the letter. This is helpful and very important especially when a child is learning how to hold their pencil and print their letters. The second photo shows the sandpaper letter and then a rubbing of the letter in the child's sound book. We have all our children keep sound books so that we may review their sounds with them until they have mastered it. Only when the sound has been mastered do we move on to the next sounds.We present three sounds at a time and the sound

baskets have the same sounds with objects for matching. This is particularly enticing as many children are keen to get into the tiny objects which in the past only accompanied pink three letter phonetic sound boxes. We try and have two or three object for each sound. We have found this to be very successful in our classroom. If you find your child asking what a sign says while you are driving or you hear them sounding out the letters it is probably because of the sandpaper letters.

Calligraphy Work

In our Maple Tree Montessori classroom this week we have started offering very simple calligraphy for the children. We have take a chinese character for example, mountain and broken it down into its strokes. We have then displayed the strokes in sequence so that the children can write their own form of the character using a special calligraphy brush and a water color hue of their choice. The children seem to enjoy this activity. The Chinese characters we are employing are an ideogram, a written symbol that represents an idea or object directly rather than a particular word or speech sound. Many of the simpler ideograms often resemble simple pictures of the object they represent.

A Study in Art

The last couple of weeks we have been looking at Van Gogh's fourteen Sunflowers. We talked about Vincent Van Gogh and showed some of his art to the children. The first week we had a vase of large sunflowers set up with some pastels and card stock so that the children could draw and rub their pictures. The next week we had a directed painting exercise set up at the easel with just four paint colors and an example of the painting done by a teacher. The day I made the painting it was so very funny. The children were packed in tight to me at the easel so much so that I had to ask for arm space. The demand to make a painting was so great you would think that we never allowed painting at mt. What struck me about the exercise is that the children were so very keen to replicate the painting in their own way and they had questions about why I was using green the way I was and what would I use the brown for and how could I make my petals with out my paint running down my paper? So many question and it was truly delightful to answer all of these questions and to offer advice and guidance with the project. I remember one child becoming upset that the brown center was muddying up the yellow petals. I said that it made the picture more beautiful and that it was nice to see it like that and perhaps we could imagine that the sunflowers had been in a shower of rain. I have tried to showcase these paintings in the coat area and I have not rolled them up to send home I just can't bring myself to bend them. Please find them by the art file and take them home. They would make beautiful note cards for Christmas if you had them copied.

The Art of Fine Dining

I thought I would send this out so you understand why your child may want to help set the table for dinner. Or perhaps they want to know where the table cloth and napkins are kept? The children at mt know where all our table setting items are kept and they will be on a regular basis setting the tables for lunch. Some children have be doing it for a while now but all children will be getting a turn. I have held off because I wanted to establish the routine of the morning ending and our circle time plus we have had the addition of music with Ms. Susanne and I would never disturb that. Now that everyone is comfortable we will have regular table setting as part of our daily routine again.

Recently we discussed the importance of Order at book club and why children crave and need it. I suggested that some may want to set up their kitchen to make it more accessible to their child and have them help with the process of getting ready for the evening meal. Moving things to lower cupboards and having your child set the table for dinner or help with the washing of vegetables or dishes (i know water every where but you will have a really clean floor after you and your child mop it up). Children have a natural desire to help and feel a sense of accomplishment. So nurture and allow it. It may just turn your dinner time into a really lovely new ritual. When my son was small we use to eat by candle light and with that came very soft voices and lots of talking about our day during dinner. We always had napkins and some times place mats instead of table cloths and flowers. We all looked forward to that time every day. Now we have another ritual of sharing a pot of peppermint tea every evening before bed and we talk about our day. I need to dig out the candles and get back to my old ways for dinner though and you should too!

Recently I found children's sized stainless steel cutlery. I didn't even know it existed and that it could be purchased fairly inexpensively. The cutlery was purchased at Stokes and they also carry it at Cuisina Moderna (just ask for it) it really does make a difference in your child's hands and it is important to know how to use a knife and cut your own food. The table cloths and napkins were made by me and another mom at the school from recycled thrift store sheets. We did try candles but it made for some tricky moments with long hair! I am sure you can well imagine so we just go with the flower arrangement Ms. Wendy makes with the children. Bon Appetit!

Ikebana

The children have been making Ikebana (Japanese flower arrangements) again this week. They have been using small glass dishes with kenzans inside (frogs) for holding the flowers. The children have been making the arrangements with forsythia greenery and purple pompoms and maroon daises. In Japanese flower arranging, the two main branches represent heaven, the longer upright branch and earth, the shorter, lower branch. Shin or heaven stands for vision or aspiration, sense of direction or where we would like to be going. Hikae or earth represents solidity and practicality. The human element, Soe represented by the flowers, points to how human beings can join the ideas of heaven and earth together.

The children seem to really enjoy making these arrangements and have definite ideas about how their arrangements should look. They like to talk about how things grow. Someone mentioned that we need water in the dishes so that the greens can grow. This was followed by mention of how big trees also need water. A young lady of four then mentioned that she had seen a raccoon by a big tree the evening before. The children express delight at the beautiful flowers and choose the colors of the flowers carefully. They often mention that they want their Moms and Dads to see their arrangements. Please take a look at the children’s floral efforts the next time you drop off or pick up your child.

Cape Breton Oatcakes

I find myself baking a crazy amount tonight. Tomorrow we will have home made roasted squash soup with warm rolls and ginger cookies for dessert. The children love their dessert and it is such a great way to get them to eat their lunch. I feel like Monty Hall many days when some one asks me if I am ready to make a deal. I am sure you are all familiar with the phrase, "how many bites do I need to take I can have a cookie"? Ms. D is the softie on the dessert and when I don't have the energy I let her serve up the dessert. In addition to the soup and cookies I've made a batch of oat cakes for afternoon snack. typically I would make these in the classroom with the children but I am trying to free myself up to do other fun stuff and so my kitchen smells amazing. The poor boys in my house have been warned not to touch. Often we get asked by the children for the recipe for many things that we make. Once a little girl asked for our recipe for cinnamon toast as she was having her second or third helping. I can remember feeling so happy that we made something someone loved. Of course we explained that it was really just toast , butter (lots of it) and cinnamon sugar. It was a very sweet moment. Another recipe we get asked a lot for is the Oat cakes and so here it is:

2 c Flour

2 c Oatmeal

1 c Brown sugar packed

2 tsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp all spice

small grating of nutmeg

1 c Shortening or Lard (I used shortening)

1/2 c or more ice cold water

Bake at 350 15 minutes or until lightly browned

Sift all the dry ingredients together and add in the shortening with your hands until the mixture is crumbly. Next add the ice water in small amounts until it all comes together in a ball. Flatten into a rectangle about 1 inch or 1/2 inch thick. I always cut mine into triangles. I think I have a thing about triangles because a triangle is always the first metal inset I choose to present to a child. Enjoy the oatcakes and make sure to make them with your child.

Thankfulness Tree

Ok so How I wish I could say this was my idea but it wasn't. I happened upon it in my search for some fall art activities. But I really love the idea and I knew we could use it as another teaching moment in the classroom. What does it mean to be Thankful? Have you ever asked your child what they are thankful or grateful for? We have talked a lot about it this past week as we approach Thanksgiving. Ms. W and I thought it would be a great idea to have our own Thankfulness Tree. The idea being we would sit with each child and talk about what it means to be thankful and and encourage them to write that down on a leaf and share it. The older children were encouraged to cut out their own leaf and do their own writing and we did the writing for the younger children. We will send the leaves home in the art files next week after Thanksgiving. If you have a moment at drop off or pick up please check out some of the responses they are so sweet and delightful. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! m

How does an Apple Grow?

This week has just been off the rails busy! Maybe I am trying to get too much done with the children, I'm not sure. I wanted to post this much earlier but I haven't found any time at my computer this week. For the last two weeks we have been talking about everything apple related. We've been cooking with our student teacher Miss "J". We made apple Crisp for snack one afternoon last week and there has been an endless amount of talk about picking apples and spending time with our families.

I took this opportunity to make up some new work for the older children on the life cycle of an apple. Many children were encouraged to make an apple book of their own and take it home to read to their parents or siblings. What was lovely about this work is that it brought out great conversations about family time and life itself and how things grow. I really enjoyed my time at this table with your children. hmmmm....maybe I will have to set up something pumpkin related next!

Felt Fun

This past Friday I was having a fun day with my little girl and we ended up at the fabric store. It is funny to me that she can be so happy in and content looking at fabric and notions with me. For me it was about my next project which has actually grown into four more projects by the time I was ready to go home. I started off wanting fabric to make pjs for the monkeys in my house for Christmas and well lets just say I spent my weekend sewing and cutting.

It is funny to me how much joy I get out of creating something new for the classroom and so I was up at 6 am Saturday morning cutting felt and playing with my latest creation for mt. A felt board is an easy thing to make and use as a teaching tool. A very good friend made one for the teachers at mt last year for Christmas and some stories as well. We have all enjoyed using them and I was thinking that a small version might be nice for the shelf with seasonal and timely with some of the new work that is evolving at the school.

If you want to make a felt board all you have to do is buy a painters canvas and cover the top with tacky glue and hot glue the sides down. I kept mine face down on my dining room table for the night until it was dry and you need to pull the felt tight so your board doesn't have nay wrinkles. Then you are free to create anything or story you want for it. We will use it for apple counting and I've made a pumpkin vine and life cycle, jack-o-lantern, and I couldn't resist the tree. Feel free to check it out when you come. I am sure it will be our new popular piece of work over the next little while. Oh and if you were wondering....I did make two because my girl HAD to have her own and after all she did hang with me for a long time at the fabric store. Happy Felting!

Soups On

So this week I made a pot of soup that we ran out of at lunch! I had so many children saying how good it was and then I had parents asking me for the recipe. So here it is and yes it is green!

Zucchini Vichyssoise

A good splash of Olive oil in your stock pot

1 or 2 cooking onions chopped

A bunch of leeks trimmed (white and pale green parts only)and washed

6 potatoes peeled and chopped

5 or 6 zucchinis washed and chopped (leave the peel on)

Lots of chicken or vegetable stock (I never measure fill 3/4 of pot)

salt and pepper

Saute onions and leeks,until soft and starting to brown and salt and pepper.

Add zucchini and potatoes, stir to coat the vegetables.

Add stock and simmer until vegetables are soft.

Use your hand blender to process soup. It will never taste like mine because I am always adding things like this week I used some Kale and fresh green onions. It really depends on what needs to be used up in the fridge. I hate to waste anything.

Happy Cooking, m