Our next topic was Geography. For this topic I had to prepare lots of materials, so today I wanted to share the details about one of them: felt continent map. The wonderful idea for this map came from montessorimakers group in Yahoo - thanks to Lisa and Sarah for an inspiration!!!

Materials that I used:

1. Hard felt in different colors
2. Blue marker
3. Map file: there are plenty on the web, but I used this one - Large World Map. I actually created few smaller files that were easier to print on regular 8×11 paper:
   • Africa and Europe outlines

After we finished Botany, we jumped right into the Zoology. I was surprised by how much we managed to cover, diving as deep as the vertebrates/invertebrates! However, we’ll cover them in more detail in the next unit.

We are still using the same PPT presentation about all the things we’ve learned: Introduction to Biology, Botany and Zoology. Vertebrates/invertebrates deserve a separate presentation but in the meantime, let’s get going with the first social mingling in zoology…

Other Categories and how we use these materials.
Categories - Materials and ToDo lists (MS document)

• Materials Useful for learning Zoology
• Unit 1 - Introduction to Biology and Zoology

Read more…

We started Botany last month and picked Zoology as our next topic. It really worked well for us to learn their introductory units one by one - so much in common! Though, it stretched a little - holidays, long weekends, flu… but we don’t mind - it is fun! We even have a new PPT presentation about all the things we’ve learned:  Introduction to Biology, Botany and Zoology

Other Categories and how we use these materials.
Categories - Materials and ToDo lists (MS document)

• Materials Useful for learning Botany
• Unit 1 - Introduction to Biology and Botany

Astronomy is our subject of the week and I am gathering resources to make sure I don’t forget anything…

Other Categories and how we use these materials.
Categories - Materials and ToDo lists (MS document)

• Materials Useful for learning Astronomy
• Unit 1 - SolarSystem

Materials Useful for Learning Atronomy

Books:

• The Magic Schoolbus:
  • The Magic School Bus Sees Stars: A Book About Stars by Nancy White and Art Ruiz
  • The Magic School Bus Lost In The Solar System by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen

Who said that size doesn’t matter?  It does, when it comes to planet sizes.   As we are learning the Solar System, I constantly chant: “Jupiter, the biggest planet in the Solar System… Mercury, the smallest planet in the solar system…” Yet, size numbers don’t mean much to a four year old.   So, we did this project to try hands on learning on the planets sizes and their distance from the sun.

The idea for this project came from The Planets in Our Solar System (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out, Science, Stage 2) by Franklyn M. Branley.

No matter how strange this seems to adults, practical life exercises are not only fun for kids, but also great for small motor development AND their brain development. Maria Montessori already wrote dozens of books on this topic, so I’ll just get right down to this one: combining Astronomy and Practical Life tongs activity!

Lots of new materials need lots of new shelves. So, during my trip to Ikea to get more furniture, I picked up some heart shaped ice cube trays. Aren’t they cute? I thought so too. Especially, considering, that ice was the last thing that I was planing to keep in them! Ice cube trays without ice?! Yep, these hearts are just begging to be filled with some beloved possessions!

Anatomy is one of my older one’s, Sunshine’s, most favorite subjects. Don’t ask me why - the answer is as mysterious to me. We were studding the skeleton this week, upon completion of our skeleton model he peted the ugly set of bones and fondly declared: “He is so cute! Let’s name him Sunshine, just like me.” I felt a little stupid, but I couldn’t agree with either of those statement. Definitions of cute cast aside, I prefer not to use my family members names for something like this… “All right, Mom, can we name him Smiles, like the baby?” What did I say about the family members’ names?

Thanks to Belén for sharing these wonderful Spanish presentations! They include masterpieces by They all contain gorgeous high quality images, well selected words and terrific reading by Diego de Silva Velázquez, sorted by subjects or even by details. All presentations include randomizer. Thank you so much for sharing these!

Links to books on the pages of ChildAndMe
Links to all Belén’s files

Belén’s books in the the contest of other ChildAndMe presentations:

• Encyclopedic Knowledge - Art, Spanish Barocco-Pintura: VELÁZQUEZ-LAS MENINAS.. Thanks to Belén!(11/10/2009)
• Encyclopedic Knowledge - Art, Spanish Barocco-Pintura: VELÁZQUEZ-OTRAS OBRAS.. Thanks to Belén!(11/10/2009)