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Friday, March 15, 2019

Montessori-Inspired Backyard Bird Activities Using Free Printables

By Deb Chitwood from Living Montessori Now

Backyard bird activities are so much fun! I couldn't help adding to the wonderful resources that are already available for a study of backyard birds. Today, I'm sharing both backyard bird activities and free backyard bird printables, including my new Montessori-inspired backyard bird pack (subscriber freebie at LivingMontessoriNow.com)!

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 Backyard Bird Themed Activities

You’ll find Montessori-inspired backyard bird 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)

I always have related books available throughout a unit. On my top shelf, I have About Birds and The Random House Children's Encyclopedia (wooden cookbook holder). The children's encyclopedia is one we had from when I homeschooled my now-adult children. It's available used very inexpensively, although not everything will obviously be current.

On the middle shelf, I have Backyard Birds (Peterson's Field Guides for Young Naturalists). These books are all Montessori friendly. I have a book basket beside the shelf with more Montessori-friendly nonfiction books.

My fiction books about birds (in another part of the room) are a variety of Montessori-friendly books and books that aren't Montessori-style books but are simply fun. You could mix your backyard bird-themed activities among your shelves according to curriculum area. Or you could have a special backyard bird-themed 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.

To add interest this month, I'm featuring the Safari Ltd. Backyard Birds TOOB.

About Birds Book with The Birds' Bath Poetry and Robin from Egg to Bird Tray

Free Printable: The Birds' Bath By Evaleen Stein (subscriber freebie) from Every Star Is Different

The robin is from the Safari Ltd. Backyard Birds TOOB.

Free Printable: Robin from Egg to Bird from Share and Remember. This is intended as a poster, but I cut it into sequencing cards.

The craft stick is for the child (or adult) to point at each word in the poem as it's read. You can have objects for each part of the poem, but I just included the robin. As I often do, I placed everything on a Multicraft tray.

Backyard Bird Watching Tray

Free Printable: Bird Watching Record by Tanglewood Hollow at Teachers Pay Teachers

Free Printable: Bird Counting Sheet from Share it! Science

In addition to Backyard Birds (Peterson's Field Guides for Young Naturalists), we'll be using National Geographic Kids Bird Guide of North America.

The lovely printable from Tanglewood Hollow will be perfect for my toddler grandkids. Below it, I have a free printable with a variety of types of bird pictures to tally.

If you haven't already purchased the Montessori Spring Mega Bundle at 90% off (only available through this Sunday, March 17), don't miss out! It has beautiful nature journals by Tanglewood Hollow along with over 1300 pages of Montessori printables for spring! ($235 worth of printables for only $20!!!) There are a number of bird printables in it, too! We'll be using one those nature journals for our backyard bird unit, too.

W is for Woodpecker Birdseed Writing Tray

Free Printables: Woodpecker Letters for Letter W Birdseed Writing Tray (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 first saw the idea of using birdseed for a writing tray at School Time Snippets. I thought it would be fun to use a feather for the writing, but it didn't work as well as a finger. Birdseed is lots of fun to write in, but it needs a fairly thick writing tool.

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 still had the birdseed from my N is for Nest Birdseed Writing Tray. (I keep previous writing tray materials in bags stored in drawers in my garage so that I can reuse them.)

The woodpecker is from the Safari Ltd. Backyard Birds TOOB. If you would like help with introducing phonetic sounds, introducing objects with sounds, or beginning phonics in general, check out my DIY Beginning Montessori Phonics with Preschoolers.

IR, ER, and OW Phonogram Cards and Booklets

Bird and Warbler Phonogram Cards and Booklets

These are the materials you can see on the right side of my middle shelf. I’ll add the “ow" yellow warbler phonogram work to the shelf in a week or so. They all have the same photograph, showing that it can be called a bird, a warbler, or a yellow warbler. To limit the number of phonograms, I didn't include ar, although you could still focus on it.

Free Printable: Ir Sounds Picture and Letter Cards from MontessoriSoul

Free Printable: Er Sounds Picture and Letter Cards from MontessoriSoul

Free Printable: Alternative Pronunciation of "ow" Word Building from MontessoriSoul

The yellow warbler is from the Safari Ltd. Backyard Birds TOOB. These activities are very simple to prepare. I simply print out the materials and make them into little booklets.

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

Hummingbird Tray for Backyard Birds Unit

I like to feature a bird that's very common in our own backyard. For us, that's the hummingbird. I even found two hummingbirds living in our vertical garden! They flew away during watering.

Free Printable: Printable Hummingbirds Poster from Project FeederWatch (Be sure to download their other beautiful feeder birds poster, too!)

Free Printable: Hummingbird Dot to Dot from Super Coloring (This goes to 81, so it's great math practice for older preschoolers and kindergarteners.)

Free Printable: Animal Adaptation: Birds and Beaks by Montessori Print Shop at Teachers Pay Teachers While the Montessori Print Shop materials have a variety of birds and beaks, I just cut out the hummingbird as my featured bird.

Cardinal and Sunflower Seed Subtraction Activity

Free Printable: Cardinal Numbers 1-10 (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)

Free Printable: 1-10 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)

I used 10 Sunflower Seeds (taken from the birdseed for the writing tray), the cardinal from the Safari Ltd. Backyard Birds TOOB. and a Montessori Services basket. This is a simple but fun way to work on subtraction skills.

Cardinal and Sunflower Seed Subtraction Layout

Cardinal and Sunflower Seed Subtraction Layout

The activity starts with 10 sunflower seeds. Then the child spins the spinner to see how many sunflower seeds the cardinal eats. After taking away that number of sunflower seeds, the child completes the equation. Cardinal and Sunflower Seed Subtraction Activity

Cardinal and Sunflower Seed Subtraction Activity

Birdseed Sensory Bin with Backyard Bird Figures and Types of Backyard Bird Cards

Free Printable: Safari TOOB Backyard Birds Matching Cards from The Pinay Homeschooler

Use whatever type of sensory bin you'd like. Because my toddler grandchildren can't have access to small objects unless they're watched continuously, I keep this sensory bin in a Glasslock container. It has all the birds from the Safari Ltd. Backyard Birds TOOB.

It was so sweet to watch my 5-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, showing this activity to her 15-month-old sister, Sophia. Sophia would feel the birdseed and find a bird in the sensory bin. Then Zoey would place the bird on its matching card and tell Sophia the bird's name.

There are a variety of free matching cards for the Safari Ltd. Backyard Birds TOOB, so just choose the one that works for you (see list below). I like this one for toddlers because it has an actual photograph of the Safari Ltd. bird figures. Normally, you wouldn't use the words for toddlers, but I like having the words on them for Zoey. If you're a homeschooler, just find the level that's right for your child or children.

Montessori-Inspired Backyard Bird 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 Bird Activities and Resources

HELPFUL ANIMAL CLASSIFICATION POSTS

For more free printables for this unit, go to my post at Living Montessori Now with free backyard bird printables.

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.

Happy bird watching!

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 43 years (and lives in the city where her kids, kids-in-law, and grandkids live). She blogs at Living Montessori Now.

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Montessori-Inspired Nest Activities Using Free Printables

By Deb Chitwood from Living Montessori Now

If you're looking for activities for a bird theme this spring, I have them for you today! I've put together a number of Montessori-inspired nest activities that can be used in the classroom or at home.

At Living Montessori Now, I have a list of free nest printables featuring real nests. The free printables include my latest subscriber freebie (a Montessori-inspired nest pack). Here, I'm sharing ideas for using free nest printables to create Montessori-inspired activities for preschoolers through first graders.

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 some affiliate links (at no cost to you).

Montessori Shelves with Nest-Themed Activities

Montessori Shelves with Nest-Themed Activities

My shelves with nest-themed activities include a free nest culture card designed by The Montessori Company. You’ll also find Montessori-inspired nest 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)

I always have related books available throughout a unit. On my top shelf, I have Birds Make Nests, Whose Nest Is This? and A Nest Is Noisy. On the bottom shelf, I have A Nest Full of Eggs (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science). These books are all Montessori friendly. Although my activities this month all feature bird nests, I like that Whose Nest Is This? and A Nest Is Noisy include nests made by other types of animals as well.

In my book basket, I have some books that are fiction but aren't Montessori-style books, such as the fun The Best Nest.

You could mix your nest-themed activities among your shelves according to curriculum area. Or you could have a special nest-themed 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.

Nest Culture Card and Whose Nest Is This? Book

Whose Nest Is This Book with Nest Culture Card

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

The description says: “Nests are where birds lay eggs, usually high up in tree branches. They are commonly made of sticks and twigs but are quite strong.”

Bird Nest Lacing Activity

Free Printable: N is for Nest Pack from Teaching Mama

For this activity, I just used the printable on a Multicraft tray with a shoelace tied to one end. I don't always laminate activities for preschoolers and older for home use, but I do always laminate lacing activities.

I love the Scotch Thermal Laminator, which I use whenever I want to laminate an activity. Activities for toddlers or ones that will get a lot of use are the only activities I laminate at home.

Angela from Teaching Mama cut the birds off for the lacing activity. That's probably best for toddlers, but I think most preschoolers can be taught to lace even with the birds still attached.

Nest-Themed Book, Sandpaper Letter, and Word Card

Nest-Themed Book, Sandpaper Letter, and Word Card

Free Printables: Nest Word Tracing from Birds Preschool Pack at Homeschool Creations

This is on the shelf next to A Nest is Noisy book. I use it to introduce the theme with the sandpaper letter "n." I used my small movable alphabet "n" on the nest word card. I also printed out the "nest" tracing word card that I would use with a child who's ready to trace letters.

N is for Nest Birdseed Writing Tray

Free Printables: Nest Letters for Letter N Birdseed Writing Tray (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 first saw the idea of using birdseed for a writing tray at School Time Snippets. I thought it would be fun to use a feather for the writing, but it didn't work as well as a finger. Birdseed is lots of fun to write in, but it needs a fairly thick writing tool.

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.

If you would like help with introducing phonetic sounds, introducing objects with sounds, or beginning phonics in general, check out my DIY Beginning Montessori Phonics with Preschoolers.

Nest and Egg Beginning Sounds or Word-Building Activity

Nest and Egg Beginning Sounds or Word Building Activity

Free Printable: Rob the Nest Alphabet Edition from Ms K's Kreations at Teachers Pay Teachers

This was super easy to prepare. I just printed and cut out the materials and put them on a Multicraft tray. There are directions in the printable for playing "Rob the Nest Alphabet Edition." It uses both uppercase and lowercase cards, though.

I like cooperative games, and I just wanted to use lowercase letters. So I made up my own games.

For younger children, you could take turns drawing letter cards and saying their letter sounds before placing them in the nest. You don't have to include all the letters on the tray. Adapt it for your own child or classroom. When you've placed all the eggs in the nest, everyone wins. Repeat as long as the child or children are interested.

For older children, you could have a word-building activity where you take turns drawing a letter. Whenever you have enough letters to spell a word, you could work together to form and read the word.

Place used letters in the nest except any vowels. You can use those for more words. I like to allow nonsensical words as well as real words. The important part is spelling and reading!

Oval Inset for Egg-Themed Work

I have plastic insets instead of metal insets. I like them for home use because they can be stored in one basket, but either metal or plastic insets are fine. The inset could be traced before the child creates a design on the egg. Eggs can be added to a nest like the one above if desired. It's just nice to focus on the oval as an egg shape during the nest theme.

Counting to 20 to Get Mama Bird to the Nest

Counting to 20 to Get Mama Bird to the Nest

Free Printable: Follow the Path Mama Bird from 1-20 Mama Bird from Education.com

I used a Multicraft tray, glass gems stored in a Bambu condiment cup, and sugar tong for a fine-motor activity. A younger child could place the glass gems on the the path as far as he or she is able to count, and you could place the rest. A child who's working on numbers to 20 could put them on the page using the sugar tong before counting each of the numbers.

Robin's Nest Addition with Montessori Bead Bars

Robin's Nest Addition with Montessori Bead Bars

Free Printable: Robin's Nest Addition from Make Take Teach at Teachers Pay Teachers

This activity uses a piece of felt for a table mat (I used the Montessori Services felt table mat) and bead bars from the decanomial box in a Multicraft tray and Bambu condiment cups (what I used here) or other small containers. (My bead bars, which I love, are from Alison’s Montessori. You can get bead bars on Amazon, although I haven’t personally used materials from those companies.)

The printable has addition facts for 5-12, although you could just use the nests for 2 or 3 numbers. I used 5, 6, and 7 here. I have the bead bars for each set of numbers. There are two 3 bars for 3+3=6. I would first lay out the nests in order. Then just have the child choose an egg and find the answer using bead bars. Place the eggs on the appropriate nests.

Nest and Egg Addition and Subtraction Activity

Nest and Egg Addition and Subtraction Activity

Free Printable: Nest Numbers 1-12 (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 a Montessori Services basket, 12 miniature eggs, and 2 dice. The nests in the Montessori-inspired nest pack are identified on the credits page. From the credits page you'll see that each number card has a photo of an empty Carolina wren nest. The eggs aren't high-quality eggs, but I like that they look a bit like Carolina wren eggs. My 4-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, loves them. I chose dice with numerals for this activity, although you could use whichever type you prefer.

Putting together (Adding) 5 Eggs and 2 Eggs

First, Zoey laid out the number cards in order. Then she rolled both dice. In the photo, she has a 5 and a 2. She counted out the eggs for each number and then put them together to add them.

Completing the Subtraction Problem 7 Eggs Minus 2 Eggs Equals 5 Egg

After that, Zoey rolled one of the dice to see how many eggs to take away. She thought it was fun to pretend that 2 eggs hatched and the birds flew away. She placed those eggs in a basket behind her. Then she counted the eggs that were left and made the final subtraction equation.

You could adapt this for a variety of skill levels, depending on whether the child is working on counting or hands-on addition and subtraction.

More Free Nest Printables

Go to my post at Living Montessori Now for links to free nest printables from around the blogosphere: Free Nest Printables and Montessori-Inspired Nest 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.

More Bird Activities and Resources

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!

Spring will be here soon!

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.

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Birds

Hi! It's Carolyn from Kindergarten: Holding Hands and Sticking Together. April is such a wonderful time of year to teach children about birds. I wanted to share some ideas I love to use in my classroom.

Before I start, I wanted to share this "sign" of spring with you. Two years ago yesterday, my sweet friend, who also teaches across the hall from me, lost her fiancé in a tragic accident. I feel so blessed that we have such a strong support of friends here in our hallway (and together outside of school!). Well, now we even have some support outside the window. Just a couple weeks ago, a bird house was set up right outside her window. (My friend does NOT like birds, by the way- usually.) However, since the beginning of this week, two bluebirds have been at the birdhouse each day. They sit right outside of her window and look in or sit on top of the bird house. Bluebirds are not common here- and are a thrill to see.

I told her they were bluebirds of happiness sent right for her, and she loved it. She hadn't heard of that, so I tried to find a picture to show her that they really are called "bluebirds of happiness."As I was looking, I found this first (by Presley Love) on a page that came up:

The timing could not have been better.

Now- onto my post!

My favorite introduction to my bird unit is reading Birds written by Kevin Henkes and illustrated by his wife, Laura Dronzek.

It is such a special book to read and share with children. Look at these pages!

If there are lots of birds in a tree, and they all fly away at the same time, it looks like the tree yelled,

SURPRISE!

This page was maybe my favorite to share with the children. We talked about all different types of birds and the colors they may leave in the sky, if their feathers left marks. I had seen an idea from Ready, Set, Read with feather painting and feather patterning to go along with this story. I just loved the idea of feather painting!

I made this paper so that we could make our own feather paintings. I printed it on light blue for the sky color. If you would like a copy, just click on the picture.

We studied lots of the feathers, and then chose some to use for our paintings. I let the kids different feathers for the yellow, blue, and red paint.

These paint bricks worked really well. I just had to remind the kids to be a little careful "flying" over the words- so we could still read them.

I also made a bulletin board in the hall with some of our artwork. I had the children only paint the feather marks on the paper for the bulletin board, and then tell me which birds they chose to make the marks.

As I called a couple children at a time up to paint , the other children worked on this Types of Birds Easy Reader from Debi Forsyth. It is free at her TPT store.

I made this little paper to go along with her book, to show the children what each bird really looked like, so they could use it as a guide as they colored their books. If you would like a copy of my bird pictures, just click on the picture below.

I actually saved the page as a picture, and printed it out as a 5x7 picture, just to save some ink. Then, I cut each one in half (since there are two strips on each page) and stapled a strip right onto the cover of each child's book.

The books came out so sweet!

My post about Birds and Bird Nests has LOTS of other bird ideas you might like to use.

This is my Bird and Bird Nest Prezi at my TPT store. I used it to show the pictures of the birds we talked about before we made our books. The children loved choosing which birds they would pretend left marks in the sky.

Birds is one of the books featured in my Kevin Henkes' Author Study Packet.

AND Kevin Henkes is one of eight authors featured in my Writing Prompts Author Packet. I put all of my author studies together in one packet. I use these all the time. I love doing simple author studies with my kids.

Here are the different books and authors in the packet.

I also just updated my Author's Prezi at my TPT store. I included Kevin Henkes because I LOVE him and his books. I use so many of his books throughout the year. The children loved learning more about him- and seeing some of his work. The other authors I have included in my Prezi are Eric Carle, Theodor Geisel, David Shannon, Jan Brett, Laura Numeroff, Donald Crews, Shel Silverstein, Norman Bridwell, Robert Munsch, and Mo Willems.

Thank you for stopping by. Have fun reading and watching the birds!

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