Sorry for the delay in posts...

... it seems my laptop has bit the dust! Remember a couple of months ago, when I was having issues with the battery, so I had to resort to the power cord? Well, the power cord, no matter which way I tape it so that it stays still and in its port, is no longer booting up the computer and the soft keys at the top of the keyboard are acting like it is in sleep mode for a few seconds, without actually booting it up. (Whew, that was a little technical...)

Anyways... I'm afraid I've lost pictures, digital scrapbooking pages, and a number of files that I had made/collected for Aikman.

What really stinks is that I was only a few pages short of finishing a scrapbook for Aikman that contained scanned images of all of his preschool artwork, that way I didn't need to keep the originals anymore. So, I may have lost several of these precious artworks permanently! *sigh, sniff, sniff*

Here's to hoping that a repair person can correct the problem...

Math Monday -- following the math lead

Two weeks ago, I posted about how Aikman came to me, asking about adding numbers. Since that time, he's been more inquisitive, and "discovered" on his own several sets of addition tables. For instance, below, you will see where he discovered the 9 facts.



Here you see him using the "Math-U-See" blocks and the addition facts that he discovered...

- 6(purple) + 3(pink)

- 3(pink) + 3(pink) + 3(pink)

- the 9 block (light green)

- 8(brown) + 1(green)

- 7(cream) + 2(orange)

- 5(blue) + 4(yellow)

(For those who prefer the Montessori golden bead materials, this is similar to using the colored bead bars for addition.)

... and of course, this then lead to a little symmetry play...

... not the intended purpose of the materials, but truly fun!

I'm linking up to Montessori Monday and Math Box.

The progression of handwriting in the Montessori environment -- part 4

One of aspects that I have enjoyed reading about Karen Tyler's album is that much of the language materials overlap. Such is the case today, with the sound booklets, which match up with the typical Montessori language materials.

(I am continuing my "stages" numbering from previous posts... If you are just now joining us as we talk about teaching handwriting in a Montessori manner, please go back and read posts 1, 2, and 3.)

Aikman writing in a booklet

Stage 7: Sound booklets

The sound booklets are little books that the child puts together. The cover of the booklet is the letter, and inside the booklet are photos of objects that start with that letter. This stage is a combination of the sound patterns from stage 5 with images to be colored, possibly from other language activities that the child may be completing. The child traces the sandpaper letter, and then uses a crayon to trace the letter template, so that it may end up with a rainbow style, as stated in the previous post. Then, the child can color the pictures within the sound booklet to complete the activity.

There is a similar post on My Montessori Journey's blog, with some great pictures of her sound booklets (these are in the language area, so they are not for coloring).

If you do not currently have sound booklets made for your child, you can go to this link to print off materials to make booklets. For each letter, click on the worksheet for the images to color/cut/paste, and then on the link for the minibook for the pages. Another set of booklets can be made from the images here.

If you just need images in general for sound booklets (color), you can get some from Montessori Print Shop, or from Tired Need Sleep here.

Stage 8: Dotted letters and numbers

Many non-Montessori teachers often begin with handwriting by using dotted or dashed letters/numbers for tracing. However, per Karen's album, tracing does not occur until stage 8. As a Montessorian, I truly respect this, as many children are given worksheets that involve tracing the alphabet, but they were not taught the proper formation of the letters. As a result,the child is merely "drawing" on the paper, rather than actually "writing." (Please don't get me wrong... my son was given these same worksheets in preschool, and at the time, I "admired" how hard he tried tracing these letters; however, I now realize that there was no hand control, no formation of the letters; merely just tracing over random dashes.)

If your child has done the pre-cursor work for learning how to write (ie practiced correctly forming the letters with sandpaper letters, sand tray, and some variation of the sound patterns/booklets), then there are a number of resources online that you can download to practice tracing the letters. I would recommend that each page be a different letter/number, rather than combining the practice of the entire alphabet... at least until the child has achieved mastery of all of the letters/numbers.

Also, I noticed that Karen's materials contained an image at the top, followed by only ONE line of letters/numbers to trace (no more than 6). For instance, if the child is working on the letter a, then only an apple would be at the top of the page (hers' allowed for the child to color it once complete); or, in the case of the numerals, that number of items would be at the top of the page (ie, for numeral 8, there would be 8 bears). This may also be considered when looking at the following resources.

Here are a few of them:

DTLK-Teach

First-school -- link to the left is for alphabet; number ones can be found here at this site

Activity village

Boggle's world (probably my favorite set to print)

Kids Learning Station -- watch out ads pop up!

KidZone -- numbers

I've gotten behind on my States posts, so I will be posting a "Trekking Across the States" post tomorrow. Likewise, Montessori/Math Box Mondays will be the following day. Therefore, I will continue with the handwriting posts on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, we will look at Karen's "squared paper" activities (with a FREE download!), as well as additional ways to practice writing, before the child actually starts writing on lined paper.

Please note: Karen Tyler has not asked me to post anything about her albums; I am merely doing so, as I see a need in the online community to present and discuss handwriting in a Montessori fashion. I am not being compensated by Karen, and I am expressing my honest opinion about her albums, and am attempting to present the materials to the best of my ability so that others who desire to know more about the Montessori method may have a clear idea of how to do so.

If you are interested in learning more about the Montessori method, and would like to contact Karen about her next upcoming online course in June, please feel free to contact her at karen@amontessorimarketplace. Her classes are quite affordable, and are homeschool-friendly. Cost of the course is $10/month for the 2 year program, $20/month for the 1 year program. If you pay up front, the course is discounted to $150 total, and you will receive the entire collection of albums and training materials immediately.... believe me, this is an invaluable resource!

The progression of handwriting in the Montessori environment -- part 3

If you are just joining me on this adventure of a Montessori approach to handwriting, please go back and read the first two posts: post 1 and post 2.

photo credit: Special Connection Homeschool

For the past year, we've been using "Letters and Numbers for Me," Handwriting Without Tears' (HWT) Kindergarten handwriting curriculum. Even though Aikman is only 4, this has been EXTREMELY beneficial to his handwriting! I cannot tell you enough how his handwriting has went from pathetic to amazingly good (considering his age). See for yourself....

These pictures were taken a few weeks ago. As you can see, his uppercase letter formation is very good, but his lowercase formation needs a little more work. (We'll talk more about how we transitioned from HWT lines to traditional lined paper in a few days....)

The HWT method includes a slate board, chalk bits, small piece of cloth, wooden patterns, workbook, and a teacher's manual. The program primarily uses catchy sayings to help the kids to remember how to create the letters. Also, when the child is being taught how to create the shape of the letter, the "wet, dry, try" method is used. This blog does a great job of explaining how the chalkboard works using "wet, dry, try."

With a little research, I have found that a number of Montessori schools are also implementing this program. One of my favorite blogs, My Montessori Journey, actually shows us in one of her posts how she uses HWT in her classroom. Please check out her post here, as she demonstrates exactly how it is set up on her shelves.

Likewise, a number of homeschoolers and bloggers also are using HWT. Here's a list of a few bloggers that I follow that use HWT (some are Montessori blogs, while others are not -- links are directly to their blog, and not a post about HWT):
The Homeschool Den
Day by Day in Our World
Gray Family Circus
Our Worldwide Classroom
Work and Play, Day By Day
Adventures in Mama-land

Walking By the Way

Homeschool Creations

If this isn't enough information that this program works, here's a link to a little 5 year old girl who was born with a major physical/learning disability, and within a few months went from not being able to write ANY letters to being able to write the letters in her name.

For regular readers of my blog, you know that I am extremely thrifty, and actually found the "Letters and Numbers for Me" book at our local Teacher's Center, where they were offering it for $1! However, none of the other resources came with it. Even though I seriously contemplated it, we didn't purchase the recommended chalkboard or wooden pieces -- not even the teacher's manual. Instead, I made my own "wooden pieces" out of magnetic felt (also a clearance find at Joann's, which I haven't found anywhere else since!). For the patterns, I used the ones that Tired, Need Sleep made.

How we used this program:

Three times a week, we would work on a different letter of the alphabet -- first uppercase, followed by numbers 0-9, and then lowercase letters. I would have him look at the images in the workbook, and then build the letter out of the magnetic felt pieces on the fridge. I would demonstrate to him how to properly trace the felt letter (which he enjoyed MUCH better than the sandpaper letters). Here's Aikman on "m" day, upon realizing that the letter m looks similar to bunny ears...

Then we would pull out a dry erase board, and I would demonstrate how to write the letter. He would erase the letter with his finger, which left behind a faint trace of where the letter was. Then, he would write over top of where I had just written the letter.... this isn't quite the "wet, dry, try" method, but it was close! Next, we would practice writing the letter several times on the board, until I felt comfortable that he could master writing it independently, all the while, encouraging him. Finally, I would let him see the worksheet, and let him decide if he'd felt comfortable enough to do it. Here he is this fall, working on the letter G.

Tomorrow, I will be featuring my usual Fabulous Finds Friday post, but I will be returning back to handwriting with Karen Tyler's album to discuss the sound booklets, dotted letters, and the squared paper on Saturday.

***My hubby is the best! He just helped me to recover this post, since Blogger ate it yesterday with its "maintenance update."

The progression of handwriting in the Montessori environment -- part 2

Yesterday, I talked about how so much of the Montessori environment prepares the child for writing -- with the indirect learning occurring with the traditional Montessori materials, the use of the metal insets, and Karen Tyler's use of "design shape dots" (aka tracing shapes).

Today, I'm going to continue discussing the use of the sandpaper letters, cornmeal tray, as well as Karen's "sound patterns." If you missed yesterday's post, you can read it here.

(I'm continuing from the same numbering of stages as yesterday.... so stages 1-3 are in the previous post.)

photo credit: Montessori Toys

Stage 4: Sandpaper letters

Karen mention the sandpaper letters in the main language album, and not specifically in the writing portion of the album; however I want to mention it here, as the child should have been presented with each of the sandpaper letters and numbers before this point, while the child is working with the other language materials. If this is the case, then the child should be extremely familiar with how to say the sound and trace each letter. (Note: for those not familiar with the sandpaper letters, the child does not learn the name of the letter. For instance, the letter "r" is presented as its sound "rrrrrr" and not the name of the letter "arrr".) Since I am specifically talking about handwriting, the child will have repeatedly traced the letters, and should know how to trace each letter without hesitation before moving forward.

I love the photo on this page, showing the child tracing the sandpaper letter.

If you need to purchase a set of sandpaper letters, you can get a set from one of the many Montessori suppliers, a handmade set here on Etsy, or this "tactile" set on Amazon by Carson Dellarosa. We actually chose to use the Lauri crepe rubber letters, as Aikman DID NOT enjoy touching the sandpaper on the sandpaper letters.

Stage 5: Sound patterns

In Karen's language album, her next step is to have the child make a booklet of "sound patterns," around age 3.5+. This was entirely new to me, and something that I wish I would have done for Aikman, as it is a wonderfully fun step between tracing the sandpaper letters and actually "writing" the letters.

In her presentation, the child gathers a sandpaper letter, a matching template of that letter (outline of that letter), 2 bowls, and 8 crayons. The items are laid out horizontally, in this order: bowl of crayons, empty bowl, sandpaper letter, pattern/template of the letter, with the template placed in front of the child. The child traces the sandpaper letter. Then the child picks up one crayon, traces the pattern/template, says the sound of the letter, and then places the crayon into the empty bowl. The child continues to trace the pattern with a different crayon until all of the crayons are used.

The interest, of course, is that the letter ends up being rainbow colored.

Karen's course includes a copy of these patterns/templates. I would assume it is best to have the same template as your sandpaper letters. However, if you would like a set that does not match, you can use the templates found here. (You will need to cut them so that they are individual pieces, and not one large sheet.) This is a set of playdoh mats that can also be cut up to use as the sound patterns.

Stage 6: Sand/cornmeal tray

To continue practicing writing letters with the hand, the next activity uses a small tray filled with a thin layer of sand or cornmeal. The child first traces the sandpaper letter, followed by writing it in the sand/cornmeal. When complete, the child gently shakes the tray to erase the letter.

This is actually a very popular activity on many blogs. Besides using sand/cornmeal, another extension of this activity is to use paint in a ziploc bag, shaving cream, or water.

You can see the sand tray in action on One Hook Wonder's blog (8th picture down), on The Learning Ark, and on Montessori MOMents, while Simply Montessori mentions other variations here.

Tomorrow, I'll be discussing the handwriting curriculum that several montessori schools use -- Handwriting without Tears -- and ideas on how to make it work in a "child-directed" learning environment.

Please note: Karen Tyler has not asked me to post anything about her albums; I am merely doing so, as I see a need in the online community to present and discuss this topic. I am not being compensated by Karen, and I am expressing my honest opinion about her albums, and am attempting to present the materials to the best of my ability so that others who desire to know more about the Montessori method may have a clear idea of how to do so.

If you are interested in learning more about the Montessori method, and would like to contact Karen about her next upcoming online course in June, please feel free to contact her at karen@amontessorimarketplace. Her classes are quite affordable, and are homeschool-friendly. Cost of the course is $10/month for the 2 year program, $20/month for the 1 year program. If you pay up front, the course is discounted to $150 total, and you will receive the entire collection of albums and training materials immediately.... believe me, this is an invaluable resource!

The progression of handwriting in the Montessori environment -- part 1

I am currently taking Karen Tyler's Worldwide Montessori Online training course, and this week, we are talking about the handwriting portion of the language album. Since discovering this fact, I have been SO excited about learning how to correctly present handwriting to Aikman. You see, for the past few months, Aikman has been in a sensitive period for writing, and honestly, I've been winging what to do with him, as I honestly have seen VERY little online about what to do about handwriting in a Montessori environment... until now! So, for the remainder of this week (and possibly part of next week), I plan on sharing how Karen Tyler's albums progress through handwriting.

Aikman tonging -- age 3.5 and scooping -- age 4.5

Stage 1: Preparing for handwriting
So, where does handwriting begin in a Montessori setting? VERY early... Many of the initial exercises that are created for the child reinforce hand control and movement needed for writing with a pencil. For instance, many of the practical life skills are taught to move from left to right -- a precursor to writing and reading. Likewise, pincer muscles and hand control needed for writing are also addressed using practical life items such as push pins, tongs, tweezers, and eye droppers. The knobbed cylinders are also a favorite work at this stage, which also reinforces the pincer grasp.

Stage 2: The Metal Insets

The first true taste of writing occurs around age 3-3.5, when the child is presented with the metal insets. InfoMontessori has a nice video explaining the basic steps when presenting this material, which can be found here. Another nice description can be found here. Once the basic presentation has been mastered, the child can then explore other extensions, including drawing horizontal or vertical lines (precursor to coloring in a large area), tracing the frame with two different colored pencils, rotating the frame to make a new design, etc. A lovely extension of using them while the child is blindfolded is found here.

Honestly, we do not personally own the metal insets. It is definitely one of the materials that I wanted for Aikman when I first "discovered" Montessori nearly a year and a half ago. However, the price was a little more than we could afford. Instead, we use tracing books, stencils, and these scrapbooking cutting templates.

Many people have made their own insets.... like here, here, and here. If you would like to make your own insets, here's MontessoriMaterial's free templates for the insets.

Stage 3: Design Shape Dots
This stage is not one that I had immediately thought of, in the progression of the writing. In general, Karen Tyler's term of "design shape dots" is similar to tracing shapes with either dashed or dotted lines. Her specific examples included shapes that spiraled inward, similar to the design above, but with dashed lines. As she notes, similar shape designs can be made using the metal insets, by tracing along the frame making dots, rather than a continuous line.

When Aikman started handwriting, we traced a number of shapes and objects found on printables online... found here, here, and here. Makinglearningfun has a number of tracing pages. Carisa and Jolanthe's preschool packs include tracing pages. Confessions of a Homeschooler has themed tracing pages for each letter of the alphabet (you will have to search through each post to find the tracing pages, or you can click on specific letter at the top of the page). Musings of Me also has themed packs that include tracing pages.

Coming up tomorrow... I will be discussing the sandpaper letters connection to writing, the cornmeal tray, and sound patterns (something new to me). Join me tomorrow, as we will soon be talking about more formal "handwriting" work, and how this is laid out in a Montessori manner.

Please note: Karen Tyler has not asked me to post anything about her albums; I am merely doing so, as I see a need in the online community to present and discuss this topic. I am not being compensated by Karen, and I am expressing my honest opinion about her albums, and am attempting to present the materials to the best of my ability so that others who desire to know more about the Montessori method may have a clear idea of how to do so.

If you are interested in learning more about the Montessori method, and would like to contact Karen about her next upcoming online course in June, please feel free to contact her at karen@amontessorimarketplace. Her classes are quite affordable, and are homeschool-friendly. Cost of the course is $10/month for the 2 year program, $20/month for the 1 year program. If you pay up front, the course is discounted to $150 total, and you will receive the entire collection of albums and training materials immediately.... believe me, this is an invaluable resource!

Math Monday -- make your own game

Aikman LOVES to play games -- like this math teen game and this letter recognition game.

However, one night, he asked me if he could play this game that he had made...

The rule of this game was to roll a die, and then the number that you get is the number you go to on the chart. To win, you must make you way up and down the columns until you get to the 0 block. However, I don't think he realized that the number 0 is absent on a die (as well as 7 and 8).

We did play following his rules for about 5 minutes, and the he decided it was time to lead a new adventure with his power rangers...

My thoughts: he enjoys games more than I realized; this was a great initial game for him to create... just not yet thoroughly thought-out.

Then again, he IS only four, and definitely following his own lead for creativity! :-)

I'm linking up to Montessori Monday and Math Box.

Math-U-See meets Montessori math

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that my son naturally gets math.

We've worked with exchanging values for a while (ie exchanging ten units for a "ten bar" or exchanging ten "ten bars" for a hundred square), and then one day, he asked me what happened when you add 2 sets of numbers together.

So, I began by presenting single digit addition to my son.... WAY too boring for him. We moved on to double and triple digit numbers -- much more of his liking.

For those of you who are not familiar with Montessori, please understand that this is NOT "memorizing facts" that he is regurgitating. Instead, he is manipulating blocks to determine an answer. This is known as concretely exploring addition, which, I feel, leads to a better understanding of "number sense" -- a very hard skill to learn.

To add to the self-selection of this activity, I allowed him to select the numbers from our hundred number tiles. He would then lay out the blocks, combine the values, and then determine the resulting number.

Here it is a little more pictorally... From our hundred number tiles, he selected 78 and 51. He then laid out the blocks to represent 78 (7 blue "ten bars" and 8 green units) and 51.

He then combined the blocks together, and then counted each set of blocks. If a set of blocks was over ten, he would excitedly exchange them from our "block bank" and get the next larger unit. This was the case with the "ten bars" -- 7 "ten bars" + 5 "ten bars" was more than 10, so he exchanged 10 of the "ten bars" for a red hundred square.

Finally, he would find the number cards that corresponded with that number, and combine them together. Even though it is not shown above, he did result with 129, once the number cards were combined together to form one number.

Finally, MANY people have asked me why I use Math-U-See blocks rather than the traditional Montessori golden bead materials. Well, it's quite simple.... my son had NO interest in the beads. We own a large selection (but not quite all) of the golden bead materials, and it actually averted his interest for math. So, I sought to find another manipulative to use that would simulate the same idea, but would stay semi-true to the Montessori method.... and the Math-U-See blocks were what we found. There are a few aspects that I truly miss about the beads -- the lack of a representation of 1000 (or larger values) and the weight of the beads, which allowed the child to physically feel the difference in weight between 100 beads and 10 beads (a wonderful greater than/less than lesson!).

I'm linking up to Montessori Monday and Math Box.