More Games

 We had scooter boards, and resistance cushions, bean bag toss, balance beam work and sliding.  We tried to make this as much fun as we could this week.  The children also made medals and we will be handing those out next week at our closing ceremonies.  I am still hopeful for some snow so that we can get our last activity of snow shoeing in.  The weather hasn't been ideal for it.  GO, Canada GO!

Game On

 Olympic fever is in full swing at our school right now.  In fact we about to kick things into high gear this week!

Last week we had our children work on flags so they could represent a country.  That work will continue this week.  The children will get to wear their flag later this week when we do our version of the biathlon!


A couple of week ago, Melanie and I were at an all day work shop on Book making and extended art ideas.  It was a good workshop and we came away with some new ideas.  One of the ideas the presenter was expanding on was using all kinds of material to apply paint with.  Are her Centre, they used Large plungers.   I thought in the moment what a great idea that was and filed it away.  Later int he week i found myself at Canadian Tire for something completely different and happened upon small plungers.

Olympic Rings at the Art Table

The Light bulb went off and I bought two sets of five.  One for each campus but also lots for painting projects.  I thought they would be a brilliant way to make the olympic rings and I was right.  The children have enjoyed making their version of the olympic rings.  I especially love how unique each and everyone's version is.  We have the stamping set up at Quinpool Rd this week.  We will also be making our own medals for the closing Ceremonies at the end of this week.

 On Thursday I am sure your children came home and told you about all the puck shooting they did!
My husband has been working on making a rink in our back yard at Quinpool and we finally had a window to use it.  Plans are already underway for something bigger and more permanent for next season.  With the threat of rain for Friday, I pulled  the plug on other plans for the morning and we went off to Ardmore park to shoot pucks.  Each child had many turns and it was a fun morning.

Quinpool Ice

Shooting On the Net

 Truth be told, I am a hockey Mom and my husband has coached our children all the way through.  We were always worried about self esteem and coaches that yell alot.  There are a lot of things wrong with hockey for young people these days and so we always felt if one of us was on the bench it would be better.   My oldest is six feet tall at thirteen and will probably only play for another year or two.  Our youngest is eight and finding her feet and really enjoying learning about hockey.  Hockey is a great sport for girls and it has done wonders for our girl with confidence and self esteem.  Anyway, more great stuff coming this week.   Stay tuned!

Cork Street Ice

This Moment

{these moments} - A Friday ritual. Single photos - no words - capturing a moments from the week. Simple, special, extraordinary moments. Moments I want to pause, savor and remember.

~Ms. Michelle

Handmade in the Heart of Winter

 I have been wanting to make crackers for a long time with my children.  I needed to show the children that they didn't just come from a box or package.  It was a great practical life lesson to make and roll dough out and cut it up into cracker size.

I am not even entirely sure the children believed me when I said we were going to make crackers.

I must confess that I follow a few blogs, and two people I love to read and follow have made crackers and I only had to read one of the blogs to know it was about time I got on it myself.  Such a simple, quiet exercise and so very rewarding.

We had the children take turns rolling out the dough and we used a pizza cutter to cut it into cracker size pieces.  Next we used a fork to poke holes in our dough and brushed it with water.  Lastly, we sprinkled with a tiny bit if sea salt, cracked pepper and sesame seeds.  We baked in a hot oven and watch the dough puff up .

 You can check out this link for a how to on CRACKERS.  There are lots of recipes online and get creative with them.  Cheese crackers would be yummy and are my next planned batch.  But mostly, let your children help you make them.  It really is a lot of fun!

 It was all very exciting but not as exciting as tasting or having with our roasted squash soup that day!

Roasted Squash Soup

Prepare all the following ingredients and place in a roasting pan:

Heat oven to 400

3 or 4 Ribs Celery

3 Onions

3 or 4 Carrots peeled and chopped

1 or 2 Sweet potatoes Peeled and chopped

5 or 6 cloves garlic, chopped

2 lbs squash, chopped

Salt and pepper

Drizzle all with generous amount of Olive Oil to coat veggies and sprinkle with herbs de provence (that is the big secret)

Once vegetables are nicely roasted place in a stock pot with 8 to 12 or more cups of vegetable or chicken stock.  Sometimes less stock or more depending on how much you bulk out on the vegetables. 

Roasting the vegetables makes this soup especially yummy!

Simmer for about 30 minutes and puree with hand blender

1 Tbsp fresh parsley for serving. 

This Moment

A Friday ritual. photos - 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.

~Ms. Catriona

Time to Reflect

Solar system sensory bin

This is an opportunity for sensory and pretend play.

 This snowstorm has provided me with some time to reflect on what has been happening in our classroom since returning from the holiday break.  The children seem very eager to dive into activities and experiences that interest them.  Be it math, language or the solar system the children have been absorbed with their chosen activities.  It is fascinating to watch children identify what interests them and independently choose how to spend their time in the classroom.  Choosing how to spend your time is an important skill to learn and it involves trust.  The teachers and parents need to trust that the child knows what they want and need to learn and the child must trust him or herself to know what they want and need to learn. 

Maria Montessori called children “scientists” and that is exactly what they are.  They are actively figuring out how the world works and not just relying on us as parents and teachers to tell them.

~Ms. Melanie

The Addition Strip Board

For three days after having a presentation in this activity this child chose this activity and worked on it from the time he arrived until we gathered for circle and then he would pick it up again after we finished afternoon snack.

The Solar System

Many children in the classroom can tell you that the sun is a “Hot star made of fire” and that it takes the earth one whole year to go around the sun. One child is quite fascinated by the fact that “When Ms. Melanie was a little girl Pluto was still a planet!”

The Moveable alphabet

This child has spent a great deal of time building three letter phonetic words with the moveable alphabet.

Nothing like gathering around a “campfire” on a cold day.

Learning about Ted Harrison

As part of our work on the Arctic, we have been looking at and learning about Canadian artist Ted Harrison.  To know me is to know I have a soft spot for Canadian Art.  Many do not know this but, during my undergraduate time at Mount Saint Vincent University I did a directed study on 20th Century Canadian Landscape Artists.  

I love Canadian art and I love showing it to children and teaching them about the artists.  We work very hard at Maple Tree to balance the crafty side of things with lots of artful experiences for our children.  It truly boggles my mind when I see children not being exposed to such opportunities.   It really doesn't take any more time to show children what to do and to set up the space to provide that experience.

 Each and everyone of the paintings that came out of our Quinpool class this last week was unique and stunning.  They were all done on canvases.  In the grand scheme of things it really doesn't cost that much extra to make the proper materials available.  Although, if you asked my accountant she might disagree ;-)!  I have been know to spend a lot on art materials and it's just one of those things I am unwilling to compromise on.  Again, it's all about balance.  Remember all those egg cartons I wanted before Christmas?

 So, a few things are coming to me as I look at all these incredibly beautiful paintings.  We need to do more art and we need to have an Art Show!  Perhaps late Spring?  Thoughts?

 When Melanie and I came back from our Conference at Countryside Montessori School in Chicago this summer we knew we wanted to expand on our art activities and work presentations at Maple Tree. We observed so many work trays set up to introduce art to children that we had never considered before nor was it part of our learning as teachers back in the day.  It definitely left us feeling inspired though.

 After we came home I started searching out more on the internet about Montessori and Art for children and that is when I happened upon Julie Karlonas.  So, I quickly ordered Julie's art Manuals and Art Cards.  The Art Manuals are brilliantly done from a Montessori perspective and the presentation trays so tailored for young children.  Julie herself is a Montessori Teacher and an Artist.  Fortunately, I was able to connect with Julie directly over the phone and we had a long conversation about art for young children and how important it is.  Julie knew what I was saying and how passionate I was feeling about artful experiences for children.  We both agreed more opportunities need to be available to children and real materials need to be in our children's hands.

 As a Early Childhood Educator and parent, I feel it is important to encourage drawing, painting, sewing, felting and sculpting at home.  Our home is nearing (I hope) the end of its renovation and I am thinking about spaces to set up in our new kitchen and dinning area that house paints, charcoal, pencils, wool and clay.  I not only want to make this available for my youngest but my older boys as well.  Not only are the children connecting with their heart, head and hand but they are talking to me and as my boys get bigger I see how important that is.  When I am cooking or working on something often my girl is drawing or painting.  The kitchen/dining seems to be the heart of our home and the best place to set up this space for our family.  In a time when technology is so big and our children are so drawn to it, it's equally important to balance that out with quiet time at the table drawing, painting and sewing.  ~michelle

Maple Tree Montessori CLOSED today

Environment Canada has issued a blizzard warning for the Halifax region. In anticipation of deteriorating conditions, Maple Tree Montessori will be CLOSED today, Wednesday, January 22nd.

This Moment

A moment  from the week we want to pause and savour.  ~Ms. Catriona

Snowflakes

Happy 2014 Everyone!  I hope you are all well and you had a lovely rest with your children 

over the holidays.  I sure felt last week when I had to get moaning children up for school and it was soooo cold!

Speaking of cold we are looking at the Arctic this next little while at Quinpool while the children at Cork Study Space.  Melanie and I came to this agreement so that I didn't have to make double materials or split up any of our collections.  So we will be back and forth over the next little while on the blogging front between Space and the Arctic.


Last week, we made some beautiful borax snowflakes.   It was really fun to watch the reaction of the hot water and the borax and see the crystals form.  The borax snowflakes are something I have been wanting to do for a long time.  We may need to make them for our giving tree next year.  Wouldn't they be beautiful on that tree?  I found the idea for the Borax Snowflakes here.

They are super easy to make but it is becoming harder to find borax in the laundry isle at the grocery store these days.  I have been to three and have not been able to find it again.  I may have to ask the store to special order it in.  

This is our process.  Bend pipe cleaners into snowflake shapes and we used butcher twine to tie them around the middle and a pencil to support the string so it stayed centred and didn't get wet.  

 Once the crystals were formed I pored out the borax water and gently pried the snowflakes out from the jars.  Because they are made with pipe cleaners  it was super easy.  This was a great project and really it required very little.  ~m

Maple Tree Montessori will be CLOSED today, December 18th, due to the weather.

Elving

Pin Pushing Stars

 Snippets from the week.  So much making going on and feeling so much JOY in our classroom these days.

Painting Stars

Pinecone weaving

Stringing Popcorn garland

Star Light, Star Bright

 It is Crafty Crazy at the school right now.  I love how much fun this month is and how these small changes in our montessori environment inspire and excite everyone.  A while ago I asked for egg cartons.  I saw this beautiful art activity on a blog and I knew that I wanted to make them for our trees this year.  It was a ton of prep on my end last Sunday and after I made 27 I enlisted my son to finish things up for me.  The tutorial can be found HERE.

 So while we did prep these egg carton stars, the children did paint and add glitter.  Take a moment to notice how beautiful they are.  I love all the endless possibilities for making things with egg cartons.  It's one of the best craft materials!