Ruth, you had stated you make much of your own stuff. Is it hard to do? What are some of the basic things that one would want to have ? Although I teach in a traditional setting, I use much of the MOntessori philosophy. I just don't have all of the items to set things up as I would like to. What are some of the basic items?
I have a 4th 5th grade class that I only do practical life food prep on thursday. We do economics lessons for practical life but that is the extent besides our chores. As for sensorial. I have NOT done transferring or push pinning with any student older than 1st and 2nd grade! Although some of the handwriting of my students could definitely use it! Instead, my 4-5th gr. do sewing activities and make a class quilt. I make most of my materials for social studies related to time lines. But I use the montessori albums from our training for the science and geography or any 3 part card lesson. Papercuts- is the name of a company from BOCA RATON FLORIDA that makes great reproducible montessori three part cards. the stamp game (math apparatus I make from stock paper) I draw the multiplication board I draw the racks and tubes division (you can buy the test tubes and stands- you got to find the correct size bead that will be able to fit TEN in each tube) language drawers (I purchased the set from R&D in 1990 and have made variations of it since. It stands as 'skyscrappers' in my classroom) grammar boxes (I only made the grammar boxes ONCE as it was the most difficult I have done using stock paper) The montessori classroom is gorgeous with the set up of wood equipment. I will post for you some catalogues so you can glance at the materials.
http://www.bambini-montessori.com/mon_exercises.htm http://www.wasecalearning.com/biome3.html http://www.bruinsmontessori.com/products.php http://www.cabdevmontessori.com/miscellaneous.cfm http://www.caphoneticreadingprogram.com/
http://www.eduaids.com/index.t?sid=1854-6629-103103 http://www.jmjpublishing.com/FAQ.htm http://www.i-learnings.com/catalogue.html http://www.learningwithtoys.com/classicactivities.htm (for gorgeous wood) http://www.montessori-n-such.com/ http://www.myworlddiscoveries.com/cards.html http://www.onetotentoy.com/allproduct.asp http://www.prioritymontessori.com/PmMaterial.asp
http://forums.atozteacherstuff.com/showthread.php?t=5379 http://forums.atozteacherstuff.com/showthread.php?t=4598 from archives of atoz great list although some of the links that I posted then are dead links. The links I posted recently are all active links http://forums.atozteacherstuff.com/showthread.php?t=7210 this atoz archive post reminded me of the ‘house words’. Make your own set to use for beginning readers. http://forums.atozteacherstuff.com/showthread.php?t=5093 this atoz archive post is about a great company called Montessori made manageable. The links to MMM are there. http://forums.atozteacherstuff.com/showthread.php?t=4607 this archive is for SCISSOR or fine motor skill development. FANTASTIC set of links to set up a ‘center’! http://forums.atozteacherstuff.com/showthread.php?t=4558 archive post from atoz that will give you an idea as to the difficulty of ‘bead’ activities http://forums.atozteacherstuff.com/showthread.php?t=4484 atoz archive post that gives you ideas of setting up practical life lessons http://forums.atozteacherstuff.com/showthread.php?t=4243 atoz archive post for ideas to set up a room for Montessori style December Activities http://forums.atozteacherstuff.com/showthread.php?t=4022 atoz archive post for ideas to set up Montessori October Activities http://forums.atozteacherstuff.com/showthread.php?t=4362 atoz archive post for ideas to set up for Montessori January Activities http://forums.atozteacherstuff.com/showthread.php?t=3592 ato z archive- the Montessori forum with Montessori teachers sharing
mommaruthie, What kind of practical life activities do you have for the Elementary classes? Our El 1 teachers are trying to incorporate some practical life works into their classroom. Thanks!
I wanted to add that I have made the checkerboard (math apparatus) using felt AND also I have made them out of stock paper. I used paper square numbers instead of beads. You can turn abacus style into bead frames... Patty- one of those archive posts has the practical life ideas that I did include.
Thanks Ruthie...I love all that wooden stuff...and have had the chance to look at the classroom in our school system. I have another question of any of you. I'm assuming your kids clean the tables off after lunch, etc. Do you give them sponges? What do you recommend? We have wash cloths and they can be washed daily, but sponges harbor germs, right? Do you use the smaller mops and brooms?
In my classroom, the kids use wipes or sponges. I really dislike sponges because of the icky germ factor and change mine quite often. If we have to use sponges, I usually have a bucket with warm soapy water and a couple of sponges. I usually will do this if the kids eat in the gym. If we eat in my room then we just use wipes.(not Clorox) At the end of the day we (my assistant and I) use Clorox wipes or bleach and water. Wipes and sponges are on my back to school list. We usually get enough to last the entire year.
Thanks, Patti. I like the idea of sponges. Think I will get some. I love to clean with bleach, but have ruined so many clothes. Any tips on how you prevent that? EVen when I am careful it seems to happen.
I am afraid I don't have any tips about how to prevent bleach on clothes. I am the world's worst at getting my clothes splattered by paint, bleach, or dropping a sharpie marker on myself! I forgot to mention that in my classroom we use dustpans and a sweeper. For the table they make crumb sweepers for tables. They can be purchased through Montessori n' such or Little Red Robin. I got lucky and found a dustpan with a mini crumb sweeper at Walgreens in their dollar section.
Patty, I have seen those little dust pans/sweepers. I'll have to look for those again. Another thing that my kids learn is to fold their sleeping bags. It's an all day program so they nap. If they need help, I let the ones who have mastered it help them. Thanks for your help. Let me know if you can think of anything else that I could do without spending a lot of money on equipment!
will you let me know how they arrive- they truly have so much of usefulness but i dont know anything about the quality...
Ruthie, I received my order today. The quality is very good. I ordered the parts of a volcano, golden bead cards, animals of different continents, and dinosaurs set 1. The only downside is that the company is located in Canada, therefore shipping takes a little longer.
Ruthie - I have ordered from Mont Print Shop before also. The quality is great!!!! I don't remember how long it took to ship, but it didn't seem like it took very long.
Practical life stuff I might have missed it but I didn't notice mention of my favorite source - Montessori Services - out of California, for practical life activities which is their specialty, for older kids the japanese rock garden and many other practical life activitities integrate well with cultural studies etc. The catalog is a great browse...
