Catching Up and Earth Day Fun

I haven't been posting about school much lately, but we've been meeting faithfully and getting quite a lot accomplished.

Among the many Circle Time themes Miss K has introduced since my last post (cringe) - including Spring, community helpers, Palm Sunday, and Easter - Miss K's Circle Time theme for last week was the zoo. I used it as an opportunity to introduce all of the lessons I recently bought/printed out from Montessori for Everyone: Living vs. Non-Living, The Five Six Kingdoms, Plant vs. Animal, Vertebrate vs. Invertebrate, and the five categories of Vertebrates (amphibian, bird, fish, mammal, and reptile). We also took a class field trip to the zoo - a little crazy, considering we were visiting the National Zoo during high tourist season, but still very fun and memorable.

Miss K's Circle Time theme for this week was Earth Day. To celebrate, Miss K got each of the kids their very own terra cotta pot and packet of seeds (which they chose at random), and today they decorated their pots and planted their seeds.









Over the past many weeks, we've continued to read and enjoy My ABC Bible Verses. The verses and stories we've read:

T: "Thou shalt not steal." Exodus 20:15
U: "Unto Thee, O God, do we give thanks." Psalm 75:1
V: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me hath everlasting life." John 6:47
W: "We love Him because He first loved us." 1 John 4:19

I continue to be amazed at how easy it is for the kids to learn these Bible verses. At the end of each school day, we go through the alphabet and say the verses one by one, and even though we're all the way up to W, with only very little assistance, they can say each verse from memory!

A Clearer Picture

With kindergarten looming on the horizon for my oldest daughter, a (somewhat) clearer picture of next year has started to emerge. For various reasons, both Miss D and Miss K (and their respective children, of course) will not be returning next year. That leaves my family and Miss C's. If nothing else changes between now and then, this September we would have two adults and five kids ages 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1, or three kids in the Montessori room and two kids in the playroom, which sounds...totally doable.

Without Miss K to lesson plan and run Circle Time, I'm considering purchasing this curriculum. Has anyone out there tried it?

Still Here...

...and working harder than ever (and therefore not blogging much at all).

My oldest daughter will be five this September, and it's looking more and more likely that we'll homeschool for kindergarten (I'm touring a Montessori school next week, and if that's not a good fit, we'll probably homeschool). (I just re-read that last sentence - how's that for commitment? :)

The possibility of homeschooling has forced me to reexamine our current setup and has revealed many deficiencies, which I hope to blog about soon. In the meantime, I've been trying to finish up some outstanding projects and create some new ones.

I've finally finished making all of the word drawers from Laura at My Montessori Journey's system. I've had the three-letter word drawers out on the shelves since day one (drawers 1 - 16), but the four- and five-letter words with digraphs have been long overdue, and I've finally finished them. I have 60 word drawer compartments (two sets of drawers with 30 drawers each, like this), but there are only 38 sets of words in Laura's system. Rather than let those 22 drawers sit empty, I've decided to fill them with sight words (words that must be memorized because they cannot be sounded out phonetically). I'll upload those files as soon as I'm finished creating them (read an excellent post about introducing sight words here).

I have many, many other projects in the works, and I'll try to get a post up each time I finish something new.

I Heart Blog Awards

I recently received two different blog awards - thanks! :)

First, Gigi from Montessori Spanish and Amber from Hey, I'm Just the Nanny gave me the Lemons to Lemonade award:



Next, Basia at United Teaching gave me the I Heart Your Blog award:



The Lemons to Lemonade award is for bloggers "who have a good attitude or who show gratitude," and I'm passing it - and the I Heart Your Blog award - along to bloggers whose positive attitude always comes shining through in their posts:

Julie at Havin' Fun Yet
Xia at Grillos y Canarios
Hannah at Old Creek Montessori
Adventures in Montessori
Little Hands, Big Work
Amber at Adventures of a Rainbow Mama

Thanks very much to Gigi, Amber, and Basia for nominating me. If you're nominated, you can...

1. Put the logos on your blog or post.
2. Nominate other blogs that you enjoy.
3. Link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link this post to the person from whom you received your award.

Have You Read This Book?

I stumbled upon this post today at Starry Sky Ranch. Midway through the post, the author mentions a book called A Montessori Mother by Dorothy Canfield Fisher, which was written in 1912. It's out of print, but I was thrilled to find the book in its entirety (library card pockets and all) through Google Book Search.

After a quick perusal, I find I can't "put it down" (what's the equivalent expression when you're reading a book online?). The author gives very detailed descriptions of a day she spent in one of Maria Montessori's Casas, and I find it fascinating. I hope you enjoy it too!