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Showing posts with label Fall themes. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

Montessori-Inspired Fall Activities Using Free Printables

By Deb Chitwood from Living Montessori Now

Fall activities are lots of fun to prepare for welcoming in the new season. So I have a new unit with free fall printables and Montessori-inspired fall activities! You'll also find a fall-themed newsletter subscriber freebie at LivingMontessoriNow.com!

Montessori-Inspired Fall Activities Using Free Printables

You'll find many activities for preschoolers through first graders throughout the year along with presentation ideas in my previous posts at PreK + K Sharing. You'll also find ideas for using free printables to create activity trays here: How to Use Printables to Create Montessori-Inspired Activities.

At Living Montessori Now, I have a post with resource links of Free Printables for Montessori Homeschools and Preschools.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links (at no cost to you).

Montessori Shelves with Fall Themed Activities

You’ll find Montessori-inspired fall numbers, letters, and and more (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber) Go to my Free Fall Printables and Montessori-Inspired Fall Activities post at Living Montessori Now for the free printables and activity ideas you see on the shelf and collage above!

Free Montessori-Inspired Fall Pack

Montessori-Inspired Fall Pack for DIY Cards and Counters, Number or Letter Matching, Number or Letter Basket, Bead Bar Work, Hands-on Math Operations, Number or Letter Salt/Sand Writing Tray, Letter Tracing, DIY Movable Alphabet, and Creative Writing (subscriber freebie, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password – or check your inbox if you’re already a subscriber).

More Montessori-Inspired Fall Activities

If you'd like ideas for calendar-based themes throughout September, see my September Themed Activities for Kids .

Be sure to go to my Free Fall Printables and Montessori-Inspired Fall Activities post at Living Montessori Now for lots of free printables and activity ideas!

I hope you find these helpful!

Deb Chitwood is a certified Montessori teacher with a master’s degree in Early

Childhood Studies from Sheffield Hallam University in Sheffield, England. Deb taught in Montessori schools in Iowa and Arizona before becoming owner/director/teacher of her own Montessori school in South Dakota. Later, she homeschooled her two children through high school. Deb is now a Montessori writer who lives in San Diego with her husband of 45 years (and lives in the city where her kids, kids-in-law, and grandkids live). She blogs at Living Montessori Now.

Friday, September 15, 2017

Montessori-Inspired Owl Unit Using Free Printables

By Deb Chitwood from Living Montessori Now

I'm in love with owl activities for fall. My 3¾-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, is now, too! I just put out the new activities for our owl theme, and they've been an instant hit.

At Living Montessori Now, I have a long list of free owl printables. The free printables include my latest subscriber freebie (a Montessori-inspired owl pack, which even has an "ow" phonogram page. Here, I'm sharing ideas for using free owl printables to create Montessori-inspired activities.

You'll find many activities for preschoolers through first graders throughout the year along with presentation ideas in my previous posts at PreK + K Sharing. You'll also find ideas for using free printables to create activity trays here: How to Use Printables to Create Montessori-Inspired Activities.

At Living Montessori Now, I have a post with resource links of Free Printables for Montessori Homeschools and Preschools.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links (at no cost to you).

Montessori Shelves with Owl-Themed Activities

Montessori Shelves with Owl-Themed Activities

My shelves with owl-themed activities include a free great horned owl culture card designed by The Montessori Company. You’ll also find Montessori-inspired owl numbers, letters, spinners, and more (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber)

I have a number of owl books, both nonfiction and fiction, for our owl unit. We always enjoy the National Geographic Readers, such as this month's Owls. There's also a large amount of easily understandable information in Owls by Gail Gibbons. I have some fiction books featuring owls in our book baskets.

Free Printables: Owl Poems and Songs from Owl Babies Lesson Plans and Lapbook at Homeschool Share and Owls Rhyme Song from KidSparkz. I placed these on a wooden tabletop easel on the shelf.

You could mix your owl-themed activities among your shelves according to curriculum area. Or you could have a special owl area something like the one pictured. My shelves this month have a mixture of skill levels. Many of the activities can be adapted for a variety of levels.

If you’re a homeschooler, just choose the activities that work for your child’s interests and ability levels. If you don’t have room for all the activities you’d like to do, simply rotate them.

Great Horned Owl Culture Card (on Shelf with Owl Books)

Great Horned Owl Culture Card with National Geographic Kids Owls Book

I'm happy to share with you this awesome hand-painted great horned owl culture card from The Montessori Company. You can use it on your shelves to introduce an owl unit. I’m hosting the free printable as an instant download at Living Montessori Now. You can always access the free great horned owl culture card here.

The description says: “The Great Horned Owl is a bird of prey known as a raptor. It flies silently and only hunts at night.”

Owl Color Matching and Spanish Color Names

Owl Color Matching and Spanish Color Names Basket

Free Printable: Owl Color Matching by Exceptional Kinders at Teachers Pay Teachers
Free Printable: Color Matching Cards from Montessori Print Shop
Free Printable: Spanish Color Matching Cards from Homeschool Creations.

I put the cards in a small willow basket.

Laminated Montessori Print Shop color matching cards are all that are needed for color box 1 and 2 for a homeschool or many preschools. You really don't need to purchase Montessori color tablets, especially for home use. You can find presentations for introducing Montessori color tablets in my DIY Color Tablets post at Living Montessori Now.

It's great to have at least one Spanish activity out. National Hispanic Heritage Month started today, which is another good reason to focus on helping children learn to speak some Spanish.

Owl Color Matching and Spanish Color Names

This activity can be used for a variety of levels. Young children can work on learning both the English and Spanish color names, while older children can work on learning the Spanish color names if they don't already know them.

Owl Opposites Game

Free Printable: Owl Opposites from 1+1+1=1

This is a super-simple activity to prepare. The cartoon characters are obviously not realistic, Montessori-style images. They're just silly, though, and my granddaughter loved them.

I made a game where we went through each card, saying, for example, "Light and heavy are opposites." Then I had Zoey do a scavenger hunt (such as bringing me something light and something heavy) or performing the actions on a card (such as moving slow and then moving fast). Zoey laughed a lot during the game and wanted to repeat it as soon as we were finished.

Letter G Object Basket

Free Printables: Great horned owl card in manuscript, D'Nealian, or Cursive for Letter G Object Basket (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber)

It might seem odd to emphasize /g/ when owls are the theme. I didn't want to use the short or long /o/ sound for owl, so I instead used /g/ for great horned owl and then had a separate activity for the "ow" phonogram. In my /g/ basket, I had a sandpaper letter g, goose (Loosy the Canadian goose Beanie Baby), glass, golf club, golden bead, gorilla, and guitar.

Owl and "ow" Phonogram Sand Tray

Free Printables: "ow" owl font cards (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber)

For the tray, I used the wooden tray from the Melissa & Doug Lace and Trace Shapes. You can use whatever tray or container work best for you, though. I often color salt with food coloring, but this time I just used some sand and a twig from a tree for the writing instrument. For interest, I added the snowy owl from the Safari Ltd. Exotic Birds TOOB.

I have a post and video on how to introduce words starting with phonograms, even with very young children.

Counting and Stringing Owls Game

Free Printables: Owl Numbers and Owl Spinner (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber)

For this activity, I used Multicraft tray and a Bambu condiment cup to hold 10 Owl Antique Silver Tibetan Style Charms Pendants (surprisingly inexpensive), and a pipe cleaner for the owls to make the necklace.

Counting and Stringing Owls to Make a Pipe Cleaner Necklace

Zoey just laid out the number cards in order and then spun the spinner. First she got 5, then 9, and then 10. She didn't want to stop until all the owls were on her necklace. She loved the necklace and wore it until it was time to go home. Then she wanted to take it home. She was finally persuaded to keep it at Grandma's house to do again!

Owl Number Mazes

Free Printable: Owl Themed Number Mazes by Grace n Giggles at Teachers Pay Teachers

This was another simple activity to prepare. I used a Multicraft tray and a Bambu condiment cup to hold the number of small glass gems needed to complete the maze. I like that the maze doesn't just have a simple maze. It requires some problem solving. There are also a number of different mazes: 1-10, 1-20, 1-30, counting to 50 by 2s, and counting to 100 by 5s.

I had Zoey place a gem on each number she used in the maze.

Owl Name Recognition and Building, Reading Activity, or Spelling Activity

Proud of Her Owl-Themed First and Last Name Work

Free Printable: Owl Customizable Name Plates by Pigtails and Pollywogs at Teachers Pay Teachers
Free Printable: Owl Letter Match by Jennifer Hier at Teachers Pay Teachers for Name Writing

I love the owl customizable name plates because they're so versatile. You could use it for introducing a child's first name. Zoey is comfortable with her first name, so I included first and last name. For older children, you could individualize reading or spelling words for them to focus on.

More Free Owl Printables

Go to my post at Living Montessori Now for links to free owl printables from around the blogosphere: Montessori-Inspired Owl Unit with Free Printables and Activities. And be sure to subscribe to my email list if you'd like to get an exclusive free printable each month (plus two more awesome freebies right away): Free Printables.

Don't miss my earlier owl post here at PreK + K Sharing: Montessori-Inspired Owl Activities Using Free Printables.

Helpful Animal Classification Posts

If you'd like to focus on manners with children, please check out my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to Teach Grace and Courtesy! It's written for anyone who'd like to feel comfortable teaching manners to children ages 2-12. I'm also one of the coauthors of the book Learn with Play – 150+ Activities for Year-round Fun & Learning!

Happy fall!

Deb Chitwood is a certified Montessori teacher with a master’s degree in Early Childhood Studies from Sheffield Hallam University in Sheffield, England. Deb taught in Montessori schools in Iowa and Arizona before becoming owner/director/teacher of her own Montessori school in South Dakota. Later, she homeschooled her two children through high school. Deb is now a Montessori writer who lives in San Diego with her husband of 42 years (and lives in the city where her kids, kids-in-law, and 3-year-old granddaughter live). She blogs at Living Montessori Now.

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Pumpkins, Wind and More October Music!

Where is Miss Carole of Macaroni Soup today? I’m in Los Gatos, CA at the annual Children’s Music Network Conference – singing and dancing with people who make music with and for children!

Yes, I’m in my “Happy Place!”

PLUS for the past two months every spare minute has been devoted to making a new recording! “WELCOME!” will be released in early December! Look at the “Macaroni Soup Singers” for this year – they were adorable plus plus!

What does that mean for this month’s blog? Well – I’m asking you to take a look back at some October offerings from the past 5 years that I’ve been contributing here on PreK and K Sharing!

OCTOBER 2015– “Pumpkins!”

OCTOBER 2014- “Windy Songs from the Windy City!”

OCTOBER 2013- “Blow the Wind!”

~~OCTOBER 2012 - “Making BOO Fun!”~~ sorry - this one seems to have disappeared! Talk about "BOO!"

…and one of my most-read blogs: “Creating an Obstacle Course” Make a slightly spooky, wonderfully fun course of challenges that children will enjoy over and over!

Now – back to my own singing and dancing! For more information about The Children’s Music Network you can email me or go to www.cmnonline.org It’s a fantastic organization for teachers, musicians, librarians, parents – heck, anyone who makes music with kids of all ages!

Yours for a Fall Song!

“Miss Carole” Stephens

Macaroni Soup! Active Music for Active Learners!

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Squirrels!

Hi! It's Carolyn from Kindergarten: Holding Hands and Sticking Together. I've seen so many squirrels around these last few weeks. I found some awesome squirrel freebies on TpT and thought it would be fun to share them with you in this post.

First of all, Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt, is a great book that the children love.

Here's a little bit about the book:
Scaredy Squirrel never leaves his nut tree. It's way too dangerous out there. He could encounter tarantulas, green Martians or killer bees. But in his tree, every day is the same and if danger comes along, he's well-prepared. Scaredy Squirrel's emergency kit includes antibacterial soap, Band-Aids and a parachute.

Day after day he watches and waits, and waits and watches, until one day ... his worst nightmare comes true! Scaredy suddenly finds himself out of his tree, where germs, poison ivy and sharks lurk.

But as Scaredy Squirrel leaps into the unknown, he discovers something really uplifting ...

I always use Scaredy Squirrel as a Writer's Workshop reminder for the children to know that trying something new (like writing words and stories and drawing illustrations) can seem scary, but when you try new things, good things happen! We talk a lot about being brave writers, so this fits in beautifully.

I LOVE this Scaredy Squirrel I Have Who Has Letter Game from Barb Gaither. Oh yes, this is fun! Great letter recognition practice!

Scaredy Squirrel I Have Who Has Alphabet Match

A Special Kind of Class has these adorable Squirrel Counting Numbers. This is a fun math center and would be fun with real acorns, too!

I love Kinder Kay's Fall Squirrel I Can Draw I Can Write Fun Pack. What a great afternoon this would be learning to draw squirrels- and so great for details and writer's workshop!

This Fall Scavenger Hunt from Julie Barello will be so much fun for a beautiful fall afternoon!

A variety bag of nuts is great for so many activities for children. Children use their fine motor skills when they use tongs to move nuts to different containers as they sort them or make patterns with them. And the children just love studying the different types of nuts- feeling the different textures or examining them with a magnifying glass. This makes a perfect, easy science center.

I have had terrible luck finding acorns this fall. (Must be the squirrels got them first!) But I am still looking and thought this idea from Play to Write was adorable. I even have a little container all set to go (AKA an old Lysol wipe container) that I have turned into a little tree to store the acorns!

On a delicious note, aren't these so cute? These are from Life Inside the Page.

I made these (below) one year to decorate the top of a cake, and they turned out really cute. (SO- you know they are easy!) This picture is from Bargain Hoot. I think I like the look of the nutter-butter top.

(God made these- they are real! haha- just comparing the tops cause I am like that.)

As I was looking for that picture, I found this from Party Pinching! OH my goodness! I don't think I could even eat him, he is so doggone cute.

If there are no nut allergies in your classroom, making peanut butter is lots of fun for the children. Children sometimes don't realize that peanut butter comes right from... peanuts! Have the class shell about 3 cups of peanuts. Cover tables with newspaper or a plastic table cloth for easier clean up. Shelling peanuts is fun- and good for developing those little fine motor muscles.

After the peanuts are shelled, put about half the nuts into a food processor with about 3 tsp peanut oil or vegetable oil. You may want to add about 1/4 tsp of salt for taste.

Process peanuts until they are smooth. Empty the peanut butter into a bowl, and continue with the second batch of peanuts.

This picture is from Sally's Baking Addiction.

Give each student a few crackers, a plastic knife, and a spoonful of peanut butter on a plate. Teaching children to spread the peanut butter on a cracker is a skill in itself! It's also a great time to remind children never to put a knife in their mouths because they are sharp, even plastic knives.

Have a wonderful day! I hope you found some fun squirrel or nut activities to use in your classroom!

Friday, October 16, 2015

PUMPKINS - Let's Sing About Them!

Have you heard? There may be a shortage of pumpkins for Fall 2015!
OH NO!

Miss Carole here, of Macaroni Soup –Active Music for Active Learners! We grow a lot of pumpkins here in Illinois, and I LOVE PUMPKINS!

Pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin soup, pumpkin donuts, pumpkin custard – if it’s got the yummy squash – I’m all over it!

There’s no shortage of pumpkin songs in my music classes! I’ll share three of my favorites today.

Tune: “10 Little Indians”

Hear it HERE, or on my “SeasonSings!” cd.

LYRICS:

Pumpkin, pumpkin, orange pumpkin

Hi Ho! Autumn is here!

V.1 Give him eyes like two triangles

V.2 Give him a nose that’s round, like a circle

V.3 Give him a mouth to make him smile!

V.4 Give him eyebrows – very scary! (optional - see below!)
V.5 Original Pumpkin Pumpkin verse!

My favorite way to do this song is with a flannelboard. Cut a big orange felt circle with a “stem.” Cut black or felt shapes for eyes, nose and mouth. We recently added eyebrows – very scary! Be sure to change the feature shapes occasionally – it keeps it interesting. One of my students suggested the features should be yellow, as if the jack o’lantern is lit from within – good thinking!

In concert!

You might make a book, as my Massachusetts teacher buddy Carol Hartery did above and below. The children can "read" along while they
sing the song!

When I'm doing this with a concert crowd, I use a large pumpkin board with funfoam pieces that children in the audience can come up and place on the pumpkin.

Children enjoy making their own pumpkin faces afterward - either on paper, with shape blocks or on a smartboard!

Tune: “Great Big Ball”

Hear it on my “Season Sings” cd, or HERE.

LYRICS:

Who’s gonna get that pumpkin
as it goes around the room?

Who’s gonna get that pumpkin?

We’re gonna find out now!

This musical game is pretty self-explanatory. During the chorus, pass the pumpkin from one child to the next as they sit in a circle. Wherever it lands on “we’re gonna find out NOW – that child gets to demonstrate a motion/movement that everyone else can copy. Get ready to pass the pumpkin again!

I just love using my Bear Paw Creek Pumpkin Balloon Ball – but any ball can be used. Passing is a skill that must be learned and practiced. Demonstrate placing the ball carefully in the hands of the person next to you – not pitching it at them. With repetitions, children will find the process fun and exciting.

Tune: “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”

Pass the pumpkin ‘round

Pass it very slow-ly.

Pass! Pass! Pass! Pass!

Now it’s time to STOP!

Another passing game – this time varying the tempo and volume. Pass (and sing) it slowly, quickly, quietly, or loudly. Dynamics make a big difference. When it’s quiet, it can also be slow, when it’s loud, it can also be fast! Children need practice in cooperative behavior in a group setting, as well as with how to follow musical cues. Again, for this song I use my Bear Paw Creek Pumpkin Balloon Ball – but a beanbag, a small artificial pumpkin (softer is better) or ball will work, too.

Add one of these songs to an art or cooking project, or explore the taste and texture of a pumpkin – inside and out! Pumpkins are a delightful subject – they are all different, kind of like the children we teach!

Giant pumpkins? I found them at The Chicago Botanic Garden! Amazing – and they might be tasty, too!

Yours for a Pumpkin Song!

Carole Stephens

Macaroni Soup! Active Music for Active Learners!

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