This Week at Maple Tree

 There is so much great work happening in the classrooms right now.  I am grateful for the pictures the staff are sending me and their notes about the working days as I am recovering from surgery.  Four more weeks, and I am counting the days until I am back in the classroom!  For now, I am happy to focus on other aspects of my work like our new website which I am working on in my down time.  More about that in the next couple of weeks.  I am also enjoying some time to read.  I never seem to get to read and I have a long list of articles, blogs and books I want to get through.  Some for work, and some for personal enjoyment.   Anyway enough about me, here are some snippets from both campuses this week.

Color sorting with glass beads and Binomial Cube work
The Binomial Cube is one of those incredible Montessori materials that introduces early math concepts to the child.   Like all other Montessori Materials it is presented when the child is in a Sensitive period for this work.  The cube is composed of 8 wooden blocks which fit together in a binomial pattern, representing the cube of two numbers, (a + b), or tens plus units.  All the blocks fit into a natural wood box.
Each box contains colour coded blocks;

One red cube a³, One blue cube b³
Three red and black blocks “a²b”
Three blue and black blocks “ab²”
The algebraic expression represented is :
(a + b)³ = (a + b)(a + b)(a + b) = a³+3a²b+3ab²+b³  

Of Course the child does not  get into the complex math problem with the Binomial Cube until much later with Elementary Math.  But it is definitely implied in the way that it is presented to the child as a complex puzzle.  Have you ever noticed how some children are really good at complex puzzles?  It's food for thought!

Short Bead Stair 

  More Math work with the short Bead Stair.  This child is practicing building the short Bead Stair and as an extension she is coloring a math sheet with the sort bead stair in the correct order.  In Math each Bead Chain is represented in a different color.  If you ask me is just makes perfect sense.  Everything in Montessori makes perfect sense and is so well thought out.  Maria Montessori was a truly brilliant woman!

Extensions Exploring Board Stair and Pink Tower

Teen Bead Hanger

 This week at Cork Street the children have extended their art work with more plasticine at the art table.  I understand they are making beautiful fall trees.  They are really beautiful and you know how I feel about clay in the hands of a child.  It is nothing short of brilliant from a sensory experience to an artful experience.

My friend here is really advanced with his language work and he is working with the Phonetic Farm.  Grammar symbols have been introduced and he is building his sentences using, articles, nouns, adjectives and verbs.  How wonderful is that!

More Short Bead Stair work.