Practical Life

The practical life "area" of the classroom is not really an area, so much as a term used to describe the activities done that reflect daily life. Some are specific exercises set up as preliminaries to more complex activities, and some are just incorporated into the daily life - such as setting up work, sweeping up messes, wiping spills, and getting one's own snack. 

Inserting toothpicks into a large shaker develops coordination and concentration, preparing students for longer sequences of activity. 

It feels good to take care of the plants in our indoor and outdoor environment - including washing the dust off the leaves.

Watering the plants outside is fun with a hose or a watering can. It can be rewarding to contribute to our community by caring for our surroundings!

Sewing buttons takes a lot of concentration and fine motor coordination. It also requires remembering a long sequence of steps - cutting thread, threading the needle, tying the knot, stitching the button.

Painting together means learning how to cooperate and listen to each other. 

Using the mallets to fill our patio with the soft tone of the xylophone.

Yoga is one way to take care of our bodies. Care of our bodies is a big part of practical life - washing one's own hands and face as needing, toileting independently, taking off and putting on one's own clothes, having a snack when one is hungry.

All kinds of washing works are on offer, and here some dinosaurs are getting a bath!

Hammering is a very popular activity. It builds strength and coordination and requires care to avoid hitting fingers with the hammer!

Polishing metal and mirrors is a satisfying activity and appeals to all ages of children. 

Arranging flowers means using a funnel  to carefully pour water. This requires concentration and self-control so that the water doesn't overflow!

Learning to unroll and roll up rugs is one of the first skills we learn in the primary Montessori classroom. Young children are often eager to help older children roll up neglected rugs! It is a way that they can contribute to the community.

Organizing boots by size, pattern, color - the opportunities are endless.

A lesson with the bow frame. This lesson often take 2 or 3 repeats, as tying a bow is fairly complicated. The color-coded ribbons help make sense of what is happening in the sequence.

Back to School! Shana Chadasha!

School has finally started again at Tree of Life Montessori! We started our week on a cold, wet Tuesday but by Friday the weather turned summery once again.
Here are some scenes from our first week back!

It's fun to try familiar materials in a new way on the first day!

Remembering how to use our tools.

Trying out some new language materials.

Play dough is a nice transition back to school!

Playing in the new outdoor spaces on a rainy day.

Scaling the tall new structure!

Trying out the water barrel.

Mixing in the sandbox

Metal insets strengthen the hand for writing, and they also make amazing designs!

Polishing all the cats in the nesting cat puzzle.

Observing a ladybug in the millet.

An afternoon excursion to the park was fun once the weather turned sunny! 

Digging in.

"Soup-making" is a popular outdoor activity.

Laying out leaves to make a pattern.

Getting ready to roll the hula-hoop!

Chag Shavuot Sameach!

Shavuot is a holiday that sometimes feels neglected; the variety of traditions and meanings make it feel a bit more disjointed than, say, Passover or Chanukah. Luckily for us, celebrating Shavuot means lots of fun activities and special treats to eat!

After mashing strawberries and mixing them with yogurt, we all helped make yogurt popsicles to share after lunch! It is traditional to eat dairy foods on Shavuot.

Enjoying our treats together outside.

We were lucky to find a large grain mill to grind some wheat! The grain mill is not too difficult to turn but it is still a gross motor workout for the children and requires some core strength. It does make very fine flour which we will bake into waffles this week.

Turning the wheel on the grain mill to make a "Mt. Hood" of flour.

We danced with our mini Torahs and sang to show our appreciation for the Torah and its wisdom!

As an added Shavuot surprise, we discovered that morning that the chrysalis had opened and a butterfly had emerged! It is a Cabbage White Butterfly.

Since we are not experts in the care of butterflies it was quickly decided that we should let it go. We opened the jar and watched with anticipation...

And away it flew! 

New work, New Life

The end of the year is coming, but life doesn't stop for young children. Every day is a new opportunity to learn, absorb, try something new. The children at Tree of Life are still getting regular lessons and are relishing the chance to try things they have seen all year!

Building for the first time with the brown stair, examining the varied dimensions, finding the ways the blocks fit together.

Making tiny bonfires for Lag B'Omer!

The Montessori Materials present mathematical concepts in concrete, sensorial ways, aiding children in making sense of the seemingly abstract world of numbers.

Counting spindles into the boxes reaffirms the child's understanding of quantity.

Giving children the tools not just to do an activity, but also the means to put it away independently, gives children confidence in caring for the school and themselves. Here a spatula is used to pry up shapes that have been hammered into a corkboard.

New outside movement games are always fun and popular! Hopscotch is a great way to enjoy some morning sunshine.

New seasonal scrubbing work - potatoes - inducing tongue-out concentration..

When children spontaneously take an activity off the shelf - perhaps one they have had a lesson on recently, perhaps one they haven't tried in a while - and then use it with satisfaction, you can be sure it is meeting a developmental need. Here the joy in comparing the size of the blocks, figuring out which would support which, and appreciating the aesthetic beauty of a well-balanced sculpture!

Outside our environment is always changing. We build structures for shade, grow fruits, vegetables, and flowers, and our water barrel fills following rain and empties when we use it all up. 

Finding mature snap peas becomes more challenging as the children eat them whenever they think of it! And teachers too!

Our potato plants are almost as tall as the children!

On Friday we found a caterpillar and put it in an insect habitat with some leaves from the plant it was eating. By Monday we no longer had a caterpillar, but a chrysalis! Models of the life cycle of a butterfly and labels for each stage help us understand this tiny creature's journey.

Outdoor materials inspire endless creation - such as building nests out of leaves, grass, and moss we found in our play yard.