Father's Day Project

 I am sure if you asked the teachers they would say this has been one of the busiest weeks ever!  Between globe projects and making bbq sauce for   father's day it was so busy!

In honour of Father's Day we made bbq sauce with our children at both campuses.  It really is a simple thing to do and the children were super excited to do the mixing and making.

There was lots of talk about what Dad would be putting on the bbq to cook for dinner and who in the family likes bbq sauce and who doesn't.  I love the conversation that happens when the children are "doing".  I love to just listen.

 Bar-B-Que Sauce Montessori Style

1/2 Cup Ketchup

2 TBS Honey

2TBS Worcestershire Sauce

1TBS Cider Vinegar

1 Dash Hot Pepper Sauce

1 tsp Garlic Powder

1/4 tsp Mustard Powder

1/4 tsp Sea Salt

1/2 tsp of our Secret Ingredient?????

Place all ingredients in a pot and bring to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes and pour into jars.  Keeps in the refrigerator for two weeks.  

No gift is complete without a hand made card.  Our children made their cards at the Art Table this week.

Dandelion thumb print cards that are just Dandy!

Happy Father's Day!

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.

Refreshing little drinks

 It's Rhubarb time.   We've had a fair bit show up in our refreshment basket this week.  What to do with it all?  Last week soulemama made some yummy grown up drinks with Rhubarb syrup.

The recipe for the Rhubarb syrup is here.  It is super easy to make and wow, what a delicious drink.  I thought it would have some bitterness or an after taste but not at all!  Note**we had the virgin option at the school and it was super refreshing after playground.  A little bit of syrup goes a long way and you will want ice and sparkling water.  The children loved this treat yesterday.

All you need to do is add Rhubarb, sugar and water to a pot.  Exact measurements are in the recipe link above.  Bring to a simmer and turn off the heat and let steep.  You will want to make sure the sugar has dissolved.  When it has cooled, strain it into a bowl and store it in a mason jar in your fridge.  It's ready to go for a special treat.  It is especially lovely as a grown up drink with some gin and fresh mint!  Oh, it feels like Summer this week for sure!

 

The Working Morning

Some snippets from the day Yesterday at Cork Street.

The Hundred Board

Board Stair / Pink Tower Extension Work

Three Bead Chain

Play dough and Conversation

Water Colour, such a beautiful painting!

Sand Play

Building

A System for Saving...

I promised a client I would sharing my system for saving my children's school work.  It's nothing crazy but it sure works well and makes me less crazy.  It's especially nice when all the paper coming home is organized and the special items saved.  

I've purchased a filing box from staples with hanging files and tabbed the files by year including my daughters Montessori preschool years.  

Let me be clear.  I am super selective about what we save and I purge a lot!  You can't keep everything.  When something special comes home from school we hang it up in the house to enjoy it and then if I'm keeping it, it gets filed into the box under the current year in her art file.  Over the years I have found this a great place to put school pictures, swimming badges, report cards and anything that tells her story.  

Don't get me wrong, we frame many things or turn them into note cards or wrapping paper.  I also love looking at the  evolution of all of her work.  It's amazing just how far my girl has come since her preschool days! 

It's a simple system.  It really doesn't need to be more complicated.  I hope it helps.   ~m

Traveling the World in Song

We have been traveling the world in music class lately!  We have been singing songs and playing musical games from many different countries, including Greece, Russia, and Africa, and singing in many languages, including Swahili, Iroquoi and French.  This week we listened to a recording of water drums from Ghana. It was great watching the children’s faces as they tried to figure out what they were hearing: drums, water, splashing, waves?
I explained that a water drum is a special type of drum meant to be played in the water.  We imagined what it would be like to make such cool sounds.  While stressing that you could never take a regular drum into the bathtub, I did  say that, with mom or dad’s permission, you could maybe take an empty container or bucket in and see what sounds you could make.  They were such good listeners and so enthusiastic about these drum sounds.  You may fully blame me for any large puddles on your bathroom floor due to water drum playing!
Miss Susannë

Holding a Yoga Pose

Crow

Downward Dog

Dancer

Nobel Prize Laureate and Man of Montessori

Nobel Prize Laureate Gabriel Garcia Maérquez 

Making Children Sensitive to the Beauties of the World

Nobel Prize Laureate García Márquez, an early Montessori child in Colombia, died on April 17. In 2002, he published his autobiography Vivir Para Contarla. It deals with the years from his childhood—he was born in 1927—until the 1950s. The book includes a short passage on his time in a Montessori school.

From Living to Tell the Tale, Chapter 2 The consolation was that during this time the Montessori school had opened in Cataca, and its teachers stimulated the five senses by means of practical exercises, and taught singing. With the talent and beauty of the director, Rosa Elena Fergusson, studying was something

as marvellous as the joy of being alive. I learned to appreciate my sense of smell, whose power of nostalgic evocation is overwhelming. And taste, which I refined to the point where I have had drinks that taste of window, old bread that tastes of trunk, infusions that taste of Mass. In theory it is difficult to comprehend subjective pleasures, but those who have experienced them will understand right away. I do not believe there is a method better than the Montessorian for making children sensitive to the beauties of the world and awakening their curiosity regarding the secrets of life.

Oh for the love of Blueberry

Blueberry came to visit us today.  It has been in the works for a while.  Blueberry belongs to one of our families and he came to meet our children today at both campuses. 

The children we so excited and surprised to see blueberry.   Each child was given an opportunity to come up to pat blueberry and rub his cheeks.  The children also had a chance to ask some question about blueberry.  

 Having blueberry come see us today reminded me of Freckle and the chicks and that I have wool carders on my shelf to pull out.  It is a great chance to explain where our yarn comes from and how it gets spun into a ball.  Thanks Julie!  We sure do love Blueberry!  ~m

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. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Measuring Up

We have been spending a great deal of time in our classroom skip counting with the bead chains.  As you can see in the picture "E" is doing work that is even bigger than he is!

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. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Artist in Residence

Hi there,  this is my friend and he is an artist.  He works from one of our campuses and lately he is tirelessly drawing with his medium of choice, Markers.   We watched as he spent 45 minutes creating his masterpiece.   We like to offer different kinds of material to draw with and paint is available on the other side.  We have also discovered that by having a floating easel rather then one attached to a wall somewhere we are able to provide more inspiring spaces to create from where the light is different.  So brilliant, such use of color and look at those lines!  ~m

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.

~Happy Mothers Day to all Moms~

MAPLE TREE CLOSED TODAY WEDNESDAY MARCH 26th

Due to the impending weather, Maple Tree Montessori will be closed today.
Thank you~ Michelle

Different Kinds of Families

For the past two months in music class we have been learning about the different families of instruments found in the orchestra.
We began with the percussion family - any instrument which is shaken or struck to produce the sound.  We have shaken shakers, jingled bells, tapped triangles and drums.  We have listened to many examples of music and the children are amazing at picking out which type of instrument they can hear.  Then we moved on to the wind family.  We played recorders, whistles and harmonicas, and discussed the quiet wind instruments (woodwinds like flutes and clarinets) and loud ones (trumpets and tubas).  I am always so impressed when your children can distinguish between a recording of a trumpet and a flute - they are very good listeners!!
Lastly we have been learning about the string family -ukuleles, violins, cellos, guitars.  My favourite part of this unit is the song in which the students choose the an instrument they would like to play when they get bigger.  What an orchestra we would have - filled with violins, pianos, guitars, flutes, recorders, cymbals and double basses!  ~Ms. Susanne

The Big Finish

 This week we finished off the last of our Olympics activities.  The children enjoyed scooter board racing at Quinpool both as a team effort and independently.  It was received with tons of enthusiasm.

We also, enjoyed snowshoeing!  I've been waiting for the right amount of snow and sadly we could have used more but we made it work anyway.  At Quinpool we did more of a relay with the snow shoeing handing off a ball and racing through the trees at the Playground.

 The Trail Shop has children's snowshoes and right now they are 30% off.  I personally loved how they fit and they were super easy to slide on over a child's boot.  The children really enjoyed using them.  It definitely felt different to wear them and make big foot prints in the snow!

Mini Hockey Rink at an independent work station

 At Cork Street, the children raced in the snowshoes and used a ball to hit a target.  Once they threw the ball they had to run back in the snowshoes to the next child waiting in line.

The final activity this week was the presentation of medals.  This past couple of weeks we had the children press out their medal in air hardening clay.  We had they clay ready to go in small balls. The children pressed them out using the bottom of a glass and then used a pencil to make their number.  After the medals were dry the children painted them with gold, silver and bronze washable paint.  The last thing we did was apply a pretty ribbon.  The children really enjoyed having their medal placed around their neck.  I must say, given how challenging the weather can be here to coordinate outside activities, we still managed to do the things we wanted and i have to say this was one of my favourite  theme based work sessions.

~Ms. Michelle