Fun with Water

Today Miss K continued her Circle Time lesson on pumpkins. She reviewed a pumpkin's lifecycle and sang this song with the kids (to the tune of Ten Little Indians):

Seed, flower, growth, and harvest,
Seed, flower, growth, and harvest,
Seed, flower, growth, and harvest,
that's how a pumpkin grows.

She also showed the kids a book she had made explaining the different stages of a pumpkin's life, and then she showed them pictures of different lifecycle stages, which the kids put in order. And although no one ended up using it today, I made a beautiful 3-part card series on the lifecycle of a pumpkin that Lori at Montessori for Everyone made available for download for free (thanks!)

When Independent Work started, Miss D's son immediately asked to do his Sound Book, which was the final thing he needed to do to finish the previous day's Daily Plan. He finished that up, and then we made a new plan for his day: water transfer with a medicine dropper, bead sequencing, metal insets, and the hundred board. He got to work right away:



I was very glad that we had started using the nameplate/placeholder system the day before, because the water transfer activity was very popular (it's the first time I've been brave enough to use water in the classroom - it went well!). For her day, my daughter picked water transfer, a number-matching puzzle, a horse puzzle, bead sequencing, a picture/sentence matching game that I downloaded for free from Montessori for Everyone, a syllable counting activity that I downloaded from Laura at My Montessori Journey, and the sandpaper numerals and sand (cornmeal) tray.

Picture-sentence matching:



Sandpaper numerals:



The syllable counting activity didn't really hold my daughter's attention, but Miss K's daughter loved it...



...and of course the water activity was a big hit...



...with everyone in the classroom:



Miss D's son really seemed to enjoy the metal insets...



...and he got to 20 with the hundred board before it was time to put everything away. He set it aside to finish tomorrow.

Miss D led Music Time, and she included lots of pumpkin songs and incorporated movement and tambourines, shakers, and rhythm sticks.

We finished up with the "H" verse and story from My ABC Bible Verses: "Honor your father and your mother."