🌐Earth Day is always celebrated on April 22. Although we pay tribute to this National Holiday by educating our children on the importance of conservation and caring for our environment, there is still so much that can be done in terms of reducing pollution, making sure we all live in... Read more →
Today, we are learning about polar regions of the Earth, also known as the Earth's ❄️frigid zones that surround Earth's geographical North and South Poles. These regions are very cold, covered by snow and polar ice caps: the northern resting on the Arctic Ocean and the southern on the continent... Read more →
Tactile sensory stimulation involves the sensation of touch and texture. Exposing children to sensory play helps them develop and refine the use of their senses. Most importantly, sensory bins provide hours of imaginative small world play, fostering creativity, independence, and concentration. Pretend play can also be a form of imitation... Read more →
While Adrian has been able to correctly identify the first sound of the word for a while now; only a few months before his fourth birthday, he started to be able to isolate the ending and the middle sound. To practice the middle sound identification, Julia made this DIY Reading... Read more →
In a Montessori "PBG" Language scheme (Pink-Blue-Green series approach), the child progresses very gradually as s/he is first introduced to three letter words in💗 PINK Series, then blends (/st/, /bl/, /pr/...) in 💙 BLUE Series, and finally digraphs (/sh/, /th/, /ch/, /oi/...) in 💚 GREEN series. If you think about... Read more →
Although Adrian knows his ABCs, "letter hunts" where he gets to walk around the house with a basket collecting objects that begin with a particular sounds are still one of his favorite activities. Today, we are exploring letter "S" before moving on to blends such as /st/sh/sr/ etc. "S" is... Read more →
Montessori Sandpaper letters are a traditional language material used to introduce a child to letters and their sounds, but with a twist: besides visual stimulation of perceiving the symbol (seeing the shape commonly agreed upon to represent a particular sound), a child is also able to sensorily feel the shape... Read more →
In a Montessori language curriculum, alphabet letters are not first presented to a child in an alphabetical order like A, B, C, D, etc. The idea is to introduce letters phonetically (the way they sound) rather than by their name. Phonetical grouping of certain consonants and vowels had proven to... Read more →
While most adults do not have a deep affection for bugs, children, on the other hand, spend hours in a backyard flipping over rocks and inspecting blades of grass in search of the coolest caterpillars and tiny crawlers. And little ones are smart to befriend bugs since without little creature... Read more →
We love process art and the opportunity for combining sensory movement with art. In process art, not the destination (the end 🖼product of art) is the principal focus, but rather the 🛣road the child takes- the "process" of the formation of art: such as gathering, sorting, matching, associating, patterning, and... Read more →
Today, we are learning about the water cycle by making a terrarium and simulating rain, while understanding a very basic concept of how clouds hold water. Did you know that the amount of water on Earth is finite and has been the same since the early formation of the Earth?... Read more →
Sensory play is extremely important for children, where they get to explore different mediums such as water, sand, play dough, rice, etc., while stimulating various senses, triggering neuron connectivity and learning through play in the process. Today, we are exploring shaving foam and hydrogels (water beads). We are using a... Read more →
Sandpaper Numbers (buy here) is a lesson that is in a math area but is a mixture between the Sensorial area in Montessori classroom and math. Sandpaper numbers are very easy to make at home: all you need is sandpaper, trace numbers, cut them out and glue on a cardstock.... Read more →
Today, we are experimenting with the concept of density of liquids, the properties of carbon dioxide gas and its reaction with hydrogels. So, how about making a water beads lava lamp powered by Alka-Seltzer? What you will need: 🔹colored water (we are using blue food coloring to simulate the ocean),... Read more →
Puzzles are an excellent tool for enhancing your child’s cognitive and mental development, by stimulating intellectual abilities such as critical reasoning through fine-motor manipulation. I encourage Adrian to complete at least one puzzle a day (at his level: 48-60 pieces does not take him⏳ long). Julia, on the other hand,... Read more →
We love sensory play, where a child explores different mediums such as sand, play dough, rice, beans, etc., while stimulating various senses, triggering neuron connectivity and learning through play in the process. So, what about making a Halloween inspired sensory orange slime! What you will need: paint (we are using... Read more →
We are continuing our BODY Anatomy unit study. Today, it is all about 💉blood! Recently, Adrian, after getting a scab, asked me: "What is blood made of?" 🤔The cells and particles that make up our blood are so minuscule! So I wanted to break the blood down into its components,... Read more →
We have a schedule and children love highlighting in it as they complete a particular lesson or an activity. It keeps me organized, and children have a clear weekly plan in front of them, which allows them to monitor their progress. I believe that good habits form a good character,... Read more →
We are continuing our BODY Anatomy Unit Study by exploring how the amazing body mechanism works. It can be hard for a child to conceptualize what goes on the inside when most of the process remains unseen while taking place on a very small scale. So I try to make... Read more →
We need to eat and drink in order to survive, but it is the taste and smell that make these essential everyday activities so enjoyable! A tongue, our taste detector, is a big muscle covered with more than 10,000 clusters of taste! Under a Tongue Taste Map theory, each cluster... Read more →