Getting Ready

 We are full on now that we are officially into December tomorrow.  That means in addition to all the usual Montessori work we do, we have tweaked things a tiny bit to keep things exciting and interesting for our children.  That means that we have prepped all our special art activities for the giving Tree and added some lovely little spaces of interest also.

winter Nature Scene with handmade carollers 

In the Past I have built our tree for the classroom and I am still planning to do that at our Cork Street Classroom but I happened upon this lovely small tree at the Seaport Market and it just screamed take me home.  It is the absolute perfect tree for our smaller Quinpool Campus and really I don't actually need to build two trees right?!

 With all the windy wet weather we've been having, I've been collecting branches.  I want so much to bring the out doors in this year.

I want our classroom space to feel special and have a magical quality to it.  We have a loan branch arranged above our practical life shelf and I used modge podge on it and sprinkled it with fake snow.  It is simply stunning especially with the pinecones that have been dipped in bees wax and glittered.  So the merriment has begun.  I am hoping I won't feel over loaded on Christmas in the next three weeks. I think we have just enough to change it all up and keep things exciting for the next three weeks!

Glass Balls waiting for paint.  

Clothes Peg Work for Finer Motor.  The leaves we hand made by me and were reused from our wool apple sorting work from September.  I found the sweetest poinsettia clothes pegs for counting and clipping on to the leaves.  

Jingle Bell Transferring work with wooden tongs.  Just challenging enough!

This Moment

{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

This Moment

{this moment}

. . . . . . . .

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Waxing about Bees Wax

 Some times I get the strangest gifts.  A couple of months ago I bumped into a friend at the Farmers Market.  My friend,  said he had some bees wax he thought I might be crafty enough to do something with it.  Not knowing anything about bees wax really other than I love the smell of it,  I said sure why not!  It's funny how things work out.  Anyway,  I carted in two of the five buckets of bees wax I had been given and I melted the wax down slowly.  It took a long time and you need to do it in a double boiler so you don't burn the wax.  My wax was super dark and I thought I had heated it too high but then I discoverd that once it started to cool it was that beautiful golden color.

 So we dipped tiny pinecones in the bees wax and used super fine glitter  to embellish the pine cones.   They are so beautiful.

We were super careful with the hot wax.  It was tricky to use in that it does start to cool down very quickly.

I think if I were to do this again I would set up a hot water bath in the crock pot so the wax never got a change to cool down.  After I had about five or six children dip pine cones I had to reheat the wax up.

 So this morning as I was walking to work I picked up a tree branch on Kline Street and carried it to the school.  Such funny looks a got!  But I just couldn't leave the branch as it was so perfect and beautiful.  I wasn't sure what I would do with it but I knew I needed it.  It really is funny how things come together.  I had no idea that I was going to use that branch today to hold all those beautiful pine cones.

Bees wax as I was melting it

before I started to melt it

I started to strain the wax in this cheese cloth but I soon abandoned that as it became really difficult and I knew we were not pouring it into moulds so it was ok that I had bit of wood in it.  For me the simpler the better.   Also, I used bought an old pot from the thrift store to use for this project.  you wouldn't want to use a good one.

So much work, so little time...

Water Play and Pouring

Puzzling

Parts of the Seed

Parts of the Fish

Color Sorting

Opening and Closing Basket

Marble Work

Leaf Stamping

This Moment

{this moment}

{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

So In-Love with Sewing Right Now

I am really loving the hand sewing that has been happening in the classroom the last few weeks.  It is such a fun and rewarding thing to do not only for me, but the children.  Their finished product is so beautiful and they are so proud of themselves when they are done.

It's no secret that I love to sew but I haven't had any time for that in my personal life for a long time now.  So sitting with my little friends and taking that time is really fill me up and taking care of that need for me right now.

Below you will see a small clip of one of my friends sewing.  What is extraordinary about this clip is that she pulled her wool off the needle by accident but she didn't ask me to fix it for her she did it herself!  I was video taping her so I could show her mom some of her stitching work but then this happened and I got to see it for myself.  Anyway, isn't it great when children know how to sew?  I once had a young boy come to school one morning with a hole in his sock and e told his mom at the door not to worry he could sew it up himself right after he had some refreshment!  ~m