It’s Time to Enter the May Montessori Drawing

Congratulations to our AMC AMC April Montessori winners - Kim D from West Palm Beach FL, Susan A from from Maryville MO and L Nascimeneto of Honolulu, HI.

It’s time now to enter the April drawing.

Celebrate American Montessori Consulting’s 20th Anniversary throughout 2008! Each month, you will have a chance to win wonderful prizes donated by many of the organizations listed in the online resource directory -
http://www.amonco.org/directory.html One first place winner and one second place winner will be awarded prizes every month. This month a special third place winner will also be announced. To see the list of prizes visit www.amonco.org

Entering every month is quick and simple. Just scroll down to Zoo-phonics where you will see the form, type in your name and e-mail address, and click on the ’submit your entry’ button. It’s that easy!

Heidi

http://www.amonco.org

Make Your Own Books with Your Preschooler

Hopefully, you have had an opportunity to read The Sensitive Period for Language and you have been working with your infant and toddler to develop a love of reading. You can now continue the joy of reading with your preschooler. Easily and quickly adapt some of the ideas I used to create your own reading books for small children. The animal and nature themes of the books mentioned on http://www.amonco.org/fall_sup1.html and http://www.amonco.org/fall_sup1.html web pages are especially appealing to young children.

Look through your photo albums or scrapbooks for additional ideas. Vacations, family celebrations and graduations are possible themes you can use. Tell a story using the pictures from some of these events. Then, present one or two short sentences using monosyllable and polysyllable words per page to tell the story. Use the templates found at the web pages above as your guide.

A couple of years ago, I enrolled in two photography classes offered at a local recreation center and was amazed with how many adults brought to class really good pictures taken by their children. Digital cameras and camera phones have allowed for flexibility and the convenience of picture taking for many members of the family.

Whenever possible, create short story images using the pictures that your children take, and involve your child in the actual story telling. Children really do love doing these “hands-on” activities. By using construction paper, glue and their vivid imaginations, your children will have become involved in some meaningful integrated lessons.

For complete instructions on how to fuse phonics, reading and book making visit http://www.amonco.org and click on the How to Make a Book located in the navy blue column.

It’s Time to Enter the April Montessori Drawing

Congratulations to our AMC March Montessori winners - Nancy Earnest, Teacher, Chebeague Island School, Chebeague Island, ME and Ruthe Ann Walsh of Jackson, NJ

It’s time now to enter the April drawing.

Celebrate American Montessori Consulting’s 20th Anniversary throughout 2008! Each month, you will have a chance to win wonderful prizes donated by many of the organizations listed in the online resource directory -
http://www.amonco.org/directory.html One first place winner and one second place winner will be awarded prizes every month. This month a special third place winner will also be announced. To see the list of prizes visit www.amonco.org

Entering every month is quick and simple. Just scroll down to Zoo-phonics where you will see the form, type in your name and e-mail address, and click on the ’submit your entry’ button. It’s that easy!

Heidi

http://www.amonco.org

New Spring/Summer Creative Montessori Lesson Planning Ideas

GEOGRAPHY

Cindy Wiggers agrees that students remember better when action is involved. She has put together a set of free, easy to construct activities that your children can do to learn the states and capitals. Visit Learning States and Capitals Click on the other links and thoroughly explore the site. You will soon see why many school and home educators frequently visit Geography Matters.

SELF DISCOVERY

Rae Peterson offers some interesting lesson planning ideas in her Who Am I? What Makes Me Tick? free online lesson packet. Rae commented:

The following suggestions are a jumping off place for a myriad of lesson plans around the question, “Who Am I?

You can tailor the ideas to fit your special situation: elementary age through adult learner and the areas of art, social studies, writing, science lessons.

Visit Who Am I? Lesson Plan Ideas for details. For additional free interdisciplinary lesson plans also see the Creative Process Links for Learning Index

PHONICS/BEGINNING READING

Richard from the LORD Company recently shared the following:

LORD Company has several free downloads for coloring and writing exercises. Our most comprehensive free download is a “Simple Reading Book” series of four each. This series is based on parables and uses an approach to “Sight Word” reading using the Montessori “Three Period Lesson” to insure success for the early reader.

Assembly instructions and coaching tips are included with the download and children may color the books as they discover they can read. The books are large print and graded in difficulty to help build a reading vocabulary for the child. It would be best if these books are presented to children after a good base of phonics work (see LE-620 for 180 phonetic word cards at www.lordequip.com but for children that may be having trouble with reading for whatever reason, these books with a little coaching will help the child to be successful in reading.

DISCOVER YOUR CHILD’S LEARNING STYLE

Mariaemma Willis shares some invaluable advice in her LEARNING DISABILITIES OR LEARNING STYLES? article. Click here to read LEARNING DISABILITIES OR LEARNING STYLES? her article. Mariaemma’s book Discover Your Child’s Learning Style is one of the April Montessori prizes. Click here to learn more about the April Montessori drawing. Visit http://learningsuccesscoach.com to locate additional information about Mariaemma’s other books, workshops and services/

DANCE AND THE BENEFITS OF MOVEMENT IN THE CLASSROOM

Gari Stein, Founder and Director of Music for Little Folks has authored a most insightful article entitled What? Me, Teach Dance?”:How to fearlessly incorporate dance into your classroom. This well organized article will appeal to seasoned and novices alke. Yes, even those who are experienced dance instructors will glean new information from this article. Visit Little Folks Music - What? Me, Teach Dance? for additional information.

CHILDREN’S BIOGRAPHIES - THE YOUNG PATRIOT SERIES

Florrie Kitchler recently shared the following:

Lesson plans, webquests and sample chapters for The Young Patriots Series titles are always available for download at no charge. Visit www.patriapress.com for more information and hook kids on history!

A Patria Press book entitled Lew Wallace Boy Writer is one of the April Montessori prizes. Click here to learn more about the April Montessori drawing.

LESSON PLANS FOR UPCOMING HURRICANE SEASON

Michelle, from Treasure Box Press, wrote:

The 2007 hurricane season has been busy and destructive. Hurricane Katrina left
thousands of people without homes and jobs. The United States and the world came together to help with food, clothing, shelter and psychological support. The following lesson and activity was created to help us understand how such a devastating storm surge forms and the need to prepare for it in the event of future hurricanes.

Click here to obtain the free Understanding Storm Surges lesson plan

Sam’s Science Adventure (What’s the Matter?) Level 2: Grades 3rd through 6th) Kit from Treasure Box Press is one of the April Montessori prizes. Click here to enter the April Montessori drawing.

HEALTH, NUTRITION AND COOKING

Shari Tallon tackles a myriad of health related issues that we face each day when we prepare our meals, dine out or do our grocery shopping. Click here for more details about all of the free related information. Plus to learn more about Cooks in the Classroom visit http://www.musicresources.org/n.htm

HOW TO MAKE A FLANNEL BOARD

Visit Fun Activities For Kids - How to Make a Flannel Board to discover how you can make your own flannel board. Visit
Fun Activities for Kids to discover additional free activities for children.

FREE GARDENING NEWSLETTERS

Below, is just a sampling of the free archived newsletters available from Garden Artisans.


January 2004 - House Plant Survival

February 2004 - Plant Dormancy - a brief respite

March 2004 - Bird Psychology

April 2004 - The Hummers are Coming!

June 2004 - Companion Planting

July 2004 - Perennial Geraniums

January 2003 - Planning an Outdoor Wedding

February 2003 - February Cleanup - Pruning Tips

April 2003 - Shade Gardening

May 2003 - Creating Walls of Color and Ceilings of Scent for your Outside Rooms

June 2003 - Daylilies - A Wonderful Addition to any Garden!

August 2003 - Creating the Desired Mood for your Outdoor Rooms

September 2003 - Remembering the Wildlife in our Fall Cleanup

October 2003 - Planting Bulbs for Spring and Summer Color

November 2003 - Collecting Seeds - Great Fall Fun!

January 2002 - Planning an Herb Garden

February 2002 - Create a Spectacular Floral Display

March 2002 - Germinating Seeds & Seedling Care

April 2002 - Butterfly Gardening

June 2002 - What Mulch Can Do For

Visit this spectacular site for all of your gardening needs. Be sure to sign up for the free newsletter by visiting http://www.gardenartisans.us

Enter to win a free Painted Ladies Butterflies of North America Nature Guide by visiting AMC Directory Scroll down until you see the entry form.

FREE ART LESSON PLANS

Locate four pages of fun drawing and reading activities for children by clicking here!! Locate additional free art lesson plans and resources from Visual Manna by visiting Free Lessons

Click here for a chance to win the Artsy Animals Learn to Read book

TAKE TIME TO SMELL THE ROSES

Marty Layne shares her experiences of springtime in Victoria, B.C. in a blog entry. By reading this entry, you will discover the essence of springtime.

Please http://www.martylayne.com for additional year round lesson planning information.

Stop, look around, and enjoy this special season.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Heidi
http://www.amonco.org

Montessorians - Get Ready for Some Brand New Lessons and Ideas

Within the next three days, I will be posting some new lesson plans and ideas. Be sure to bookmark this web page, and check back frequently. Stay tuned..

Heidi
http://www.amonco.org

The Sensitive Period for the Acquisition of Language

The sensitive periods represent critical points of a child’s development. The sensitive period for language occurs from birth to about age six. It is at this time that the child learns the primary language spoken in the home. He also has the ability to learn and fluently speak other languages.

Children are fascinated by sounds around them. In fact, the infant intently watches the human face, focusing on the mouth of the person speaking. As Montessori indicated, the infant needs to be in close proximity to people to study their interactions and conversations. Placing a child off in a distant room where he only hears bits and pieces of a conversation is a great disservice, as the child fails to hear complete sentences or thoughts.

The infant is delighted with the rhythm of the human voice and is fascinated with the sounds of the spoken word. Because the child is in the sensitive period of the absorbent mind, we need to focus our attention on taking full adantage of this developmental period in thet child’s life. I highly recommend that you borrow Maria Montessori’s The Absorbent Mind from your library to learn more about how you can help your infant benefit from this crucial sensitive period.

Take time to read aloud to your child. Sing songs, recite poetry and read stories. Although the child hears other noises and sounds, the child selectively only reproduces the human voice. During this sensitive period for learning language single sounds become fixed in the child’s subconscious. When learning English, he first absorbs consonants, and then syllables. Next, words are fixed; however, the child can’t readily comprehend the meaning of the words he is hearing. The ‘inner teacher’ within the child helps him to later grasp the meaning and grammar of the English language. We must remember that anguage acquisition has a natural timetable which can’t be accelerated by an adult’s prodding or interference.

Montessori was quick to illustrate that if an adult goes to a foreign country and attempts to learn a foreign language, he will find it most difficult. This is because the adult no longer possesses the sensitive period of language. So, what are some of the things you can do to help your child fully benefit from the sensitive period of language? Read Montessori’s
The Absorbent Mind and The Secret of Childhood books. These books will provide you with a solid foundation of what you need to know.

Montessori at Home: A Complete Guide to Teaching Your Preschooler at Home Using the Montessori Method and Modern Montessori at Home: A Creative Teaching Guide for Parents of Children Six through Nine Years of Age will also be helpful as these books provide complete language lesson planning information and provide instruction on how to set up the prepared environment.

Visit the Fall/Winter 1998 Newsletter to receive some free material for presenting lessons in French. Many of these lessons and templates can be used to present lessons in English, Spanish, Italian, and German as well.

Heidi
http://www.amonco.org

Practice ‘Walking the Line’ Montessori Style

Montessorians always set aside plenty of time to rehearse whatever will be presented to the child. Are you spending time practicing what you present? If not, you should. I remember how I would practice walking the line and was amazed with what I discovered.

Initially, I walked the line as the child would, putting one foot in front of the other, toe to heel, on a line made of masking tape or chalk. I imagined a young child outstretching his arms to help him balance as he proceeded walking the line.

I then walked carrying a pile of books on my head. I immediately noticed that I was more aware of my posture and balance in general. I had to walk with a slow, careful stride so as not to drop any of the books. I repeated the exercise a few times and noticed that with each successive try, I felt more relaxed and balanced.

Then, I attempted to walk to music. This initially proved to be a bit more difficult. As I concentrated on walking carefully, toe to heel, in time to the music, I was once again more aware of how I was balancing myself. Balancing the books on top of my head seemed cumbersome at first. After practicing a few times, my body acclimated, and I became more relaxed. This exercise, mentioned in detail in Montessori at Home: A Complete Guide to Teaching Your Preschooler at Home Using the Montessori Method is one of the exercises used to help children orient themselves in time and space and is a prequisitie to some of Maria Montessori’s language presentations.

Heidi

http://www.amonco.org

Home-grown “Fast Food for Busy Families”

Talented Sara Ambarian is someone who can take something like home-grown sprouts and make mouth watering mahi mahi filets. In the article, Home-grown “Fast Food” for Busy Families, Sara shares how busy families can easily and conveniently add home grown sprouts to their food repertoire. Sara shares how the family can become interested in growing different varieties, and how these sprouts add flavor and texture to various salads, sandwiches, etc.

Sara embraces the philosophy of providing integrated lessons in gardening and cooking for children and teens, to help them become more environmentally aware, nutritionally informed and consumer savvy.

Sara mentions experiments you can easily set up at home, giving you the opportunity to determine if sprouting is something your family might enjoy. Sara also provides helpful tips about what to look for when buying sprouting seeds, and then walks you through the planting and nurturing process. A scrumptious recipe with an illustrative picture is included. If the picture doesn’t motivate you to try sprouting, I don’t know what will!!

To discover how sprouting can be easily used in Montessori practical life cooking and gardening lesson presentations, Montessori teachers will want to read this article as well.

To read this article, please visit
http://www.amonco.org . Look under Notable and Notable and click on the Home-grown “Fast Food for Busy Families” hyperlink. To learn more about Sara Ambarian please visit
http://home.netcom.com/~symbios/wedding.html

Enjoy!

Heidi

Springtime Celebrations Lesson Planning

Visit Springtime Celebrations to access the following lesson plans:

• Fun Felt Newsletter Article Loaded with Free Butterfly Lesson Planning Ideas

• Fun Felt - Science Theme Lesson Planning with Felt

• Free Birdhouse Plans and Patterns

• Free Gardening Tips amd More

• Free Information Source - Seashells for Classified Reading Exercises

• Free Lesson Planning Butterfly Links

• Garden Artisans - Newsletters, Projects and More

• Garden Forever for Gardeners of All Ages and Abilities

• Spring Gardening with Children - Make a Tepee (Free Instructions)

• Wildflowers - Free Lesson Planning Ideas

Springtime Art Activities

• Free Making Art from Seashells Activity

• Free Seashell Painting

• Paper Mache Pinata

• Celebrating Cinco de Mayo at The Holiday Zone

• Lesson Plan - Subtopic - Cinco de Mayo

• A Unit Study Lesson Plan About Mexico in Spanish

• More Interdisciplinary Lesson Planning ~ Spanish Lessons and Cinco de Mayo

• Cinco de Mayo ~ Excellent Background Information

• Cinco de Mayo Recipes

• Free Mother’s Day History and Activities

• History of Memorial Day

• Memorial Day

• Free Father’s Day Projects

• Free Easter History and Activities

• Free Passover Ideas

• AMC Montessori Spring Hands-On Newsletter Part I

• AMC Montessori Spring Hands-On Newsletter Part II

• AMC Montessori Spring Hands-On Newsletter Part III

• AMC Montessori Spring Hands-On Newsletter Part IV

• AMC Montessori Spring Hands-On Newsletter Part V

• AMC Montessori Spring Hands-On Newsletter Part VI

• AMC Montessori Spring Hands-On Newsletter Part VII

• AMC Montessori Spring Hands-On Newsletter Part VIII

• AMC Montessori Spring Hands-On Newsletter Part IX

Happy Springtime!

Heidi

http://www.amonco.org

The Thrill of Making and Flying Your Own Kites

One day, last June, I took a stroll down Main Street in Seal Beach, California. After spending a relaxing day there, I decided to devote an article to helping you get the most out of your Seal Beach vacation experience. Yes, if you are planning to take a vacation to Southern California this summer, The Art and Science of Kite Flying article http://www.amonco.org, is a “must” read. Museums, art galleries, kite flying, hobby stores, eateries, and more are just a few of the things that await you in a town that has managed to keep its quaintness intact.

No, you won’t find a commercial shopping mall or an amusement park. Rather, you will find a relaxing environment - complete with chirping birds, beautiful flora and families happily chattering while walking down the boulevard hand in hand. Highlights of what to do and see while in Seal Beach are featured in this article. However, the true magic doesn’t begin until you have ambled down near the pier. The article focuses on the annual Seal Beach Kite Festival, the Up Up and Away Shop and the Up Up and Away Kite Club.

By reading the article, you will learn more about the magnificent annual festival and monthly kite club meetings. You will also discover how you can make and fly a customized kite in your neck of the woods, plus learn tips about which kites to buy.Take advantage of obtaining this knowledge from the experts that I interviewed. Visit http://www.amonco.org and click on The Art and Science of Kite Flying (Original 2007 Article)

Enjoy

Heidi
Visit http://www.amonco.org today!