New Lacing Cards and a lot of activity

DJ received these new-to-us Lacing Cards this week. I bought them secondhand for $10 and they're great. They are 9x12 heavy cardboard with adorable pictures of various tools. Perfect for a little guy.

Asleep in a Chair

After a few weeks of ignoring these opposite cards, DJ selected them out of the blue one evening. We laid out half the cards (30 sets total) and I pulled one card at a time from the other stack. Then DJ found the matching (opposite) card. In this photo, I have a long rope and he's looking for a short rope. He actually did about half of the matches before losing interest. How did I know he had lost interest? He started sitting on the displayed cards, tossing them in the air, shaking his head and making silly noises. You know, basic toddler speak for "Mommy, I'd like to not do this anymore."

A Little of This and a Little of That

It's been slow in terms of Montessori work lately. The summer has been busy with swimming, bicycling, trips, spending time with grandparents and potty training so there hasn't been as much interest in the Montessori shelves. But there has been a little.

Land & Water Forms

Continuing our introduction to geography, DJ had his first presentation of the land & water forms this week. This material is used to teach the various shapes of land and water found around the world in corresponding pairs such as island/lake, peninsula/gulf, straight/isthmus, etc. While this is a very common early geography lesson, it has particular relevance to the region we live in, which is rich with lakes, islands, peninsulas, straights and a sound (which is similar to a gulf except with more than one entrance from the ocean).

Last Week of July

DJ has been really enjoying the warm weather this month. We went to the local public wading pool a few days ago and DJ met this little boy and his awesome alligator. It was the perfect ride and DJ attached himself to it for an extended stay.

Grace & Courtesy

Image from: http://simplymontessori.blogspot.com

One of the least photogenic areas of Montessori education is also one of the most important : Grace & Courtesy. While teaching please and thank you is a common aspect of all youth programs, grace & courtesy has a greater meaning to Montessori classrooms. Having lived through both world wars, Dr Montessori was profoundly influenced by the need to establish peace in the world. From her perspective, teaching children to coexist in a respectful manner regardless of culture, race, religion, economic status or any other differences was paramount to ending the need for war.

Out and About

This was a really light week in terms of Montessori activities. DJ has been making a lot of progress with potty training and I'm wondering if that has him preoccupied. We're so excited though to see success in that area.  Still a long way left to go though, but we'll take all the forward momentum we can get.
Maybe there wasn't a lot of "school work" this week, but DJ did his share of gross motor activity. We went to a park on Thursday and DJ had a blast. It had a water feature which is why he's wearing his swimsuit. But it was this rope version of monkey bars that caught his interest. He really wanted to climb to the top like the bigger kids. Some day, little man. Just keep trying.