Rolling right along
Aug 23rd, 2007 by lapazfarm
Our first week is almost at an end at things are still going very well.
Our morning read aloud is Winnie the Pooh and we are enjoying that very much. The Montessori items are a big hit. I really like how we are able to work together in geography, covering the same material, but at different levels. Right now Superboy and JBug are both working with the map of the hemispheres.
Here Superboy has taken the control map from the geometry cabinet and tacked it to a corkboard to use as a pin map. He has his labels and is sticking pins through them to make little flags and then pinning them to the map. He already has all of these down and is ready to move on to the next map. I’d rather we stuck together, so I am giving him additional suggestions for activities to do at the hemisphere level. Tomorrow he will be creating a world biomes map and beginning research on any biome he chooses.
Meanwhile JBug has colored the continents on her map to match the puzzle map. She is able to identify (point to) each of the continents now as I call out the name, and is now working on being able to name the continents as I point to them. After coloring the map she diligently copied the names of each continent onto her map, using the name labels as her guide for copywork. Tomorrow, like Superboy she will also look at world biomes by matching animals to their correct biomes.
Having two children so far apart in ages does present a challenge in working together, and it doesn’t always work out as planned. But I have found it also makes our days so much more fun!
I love how they are working on the same subject at different
levels. Great maps!
We had an impromptu geography ‘presentation’ at around 9:30 the other night. I had bought some of those animals in tubes when we made a trip to the craft store. They have those neat little spinning globes on the top. DS,4, was asking which continent was which. Then he asked to look at the big globe. I brought it down off the top shelf, dusted it off, and we informally went through the different continents and the fact that the blue parts are the oceans. He remembered that the brown continent was where the Wiggles are from (LOL) and I told him the name.
I left the globe down on the floor in that new little Montessori nook so the kids will be able to explore it at will. Yesterday, when a little friend (5) was over, he taught her that “the brown one is Australia, where the Wiggles are from.” Bravo! Then he repeated,
“Australia. Australia.” Not that I remember presenting it that way, but funny how he did it that way to teach his friend.
How fun this all is!
Awesosme! We’re doing Geopgraphy today, I’m going to attempt it for all four children/levels, of course the littlest guy is going to have the globe most of the time, and the toob animals, lol. Are you using hat pins or regular sewing pins for the pin maps? JBug must be so happy to work with such beautiful materials with her mama and big brother:) Have super weekend!
I love being able to see how you are doing the multi-age thing! I am working out how to do this with my bunch. I’m glad your first week has gone so well!