A Sweet Holiday Treat

Each year the children at our little yellow school make a holiday present for their families.  As the children enjoy baking and food activities, we decided to make a tasty treat that could be enjoyed over the holidays. 

What's inside the bag?

The making of our holiday present utilized some of the skills the children had acquired through their Montessori work.  Some of the first activities a child is introduced to in the Montessori environment are those of the Practical Life area.  Many of these activities allow the child to do what the adults around him/her are seen doing everyday.  These activities are divided into Manipulative Skills, Care of the Environment and Self-Development.  The making of our holiday present would focus on manipulative skills.

Spooning

We only needed a few key items - sugar, cinnamon, sea salt and popping corn - to make our holiday present.  

The Ingredients

Each child made his/her own present.  We started by scooping a half cup of popcorn kernels into a clear bag.  Next we made the popcorn topping.

Topping Ingredients ~ Sugar, Salt and Cinnamon

Each topping packet consisted of two tablespoons of granulated sugar.

Measuring the Sugar

A pinch of salt.

A Pinch of Salt

Measuring the Salt

The final ingredient was a half teaspoon of cinnamon.

Adding the Cinnamon

Stir the ingredients to combine.

Stir to Combine

  

The Popcorn Topping

Can you guess what we made?  We made cinnamon bun popcorn!

Cinnamon Bun Popcorn

Before the children took their holiday presents home, we all gathered together to make some cinnamon bun popcorn.

The popcorn is popping.

The Popcorn

It was fun to see, hear and smell the popcorn popping.  When the popcorn was ready, we drizzled some melted butter over it and mixed it.

Next we sprinkled on some cinnamon bun topping and mixed well.

Cinnamon bun popcorn!  It looked and smelled good!

Now for the taste test.

It was so good!  We hope all our families enjoy their sweet holiday treat!

The Holidays Are Here!

The holidays are an exciting and memorable time at our little yellow school.  It is a time to experience all the joys that the season brings.

This year the festivities began in early December with Hanukkah, the festival of lights.  

The Menorah

Mrs. M. explained the meaning of this very special holiday through stories, songs and food.

Spinning Like Dreidels

Sizzling Like Latkes

Biting a Latke

Each classroom had a menorah.  The children enjoyed coming together for the lighting of the candles for the eight nights of Hanukkah.  Playing with the dreidels was so much fun!

Playing with the Dreidel

The holidays just wouldn't be the same without some sweet treats.  We had a cupcake decorating party!

We made a little holiday present for our families.  

Although we can't tell you what's inside, here is a little peek at the process.

Making a Holiday Present

Making a Holiday Present

We were very excited to decorate our class Christmas trees.

We even had a visit from a famous North Pole resident.  SANTA!

Spending Time With Santa

He arrived during our Music class and joined in with the singing and dancing.

He taught us a new dance called 'The Elf'.  It is very popular at the North Pole.  It's a great dance!

Mrs. Claus sent us a letter from the North Pole.   Here is a little bit of the letter.

Last night Santa said that he missed all of you so much .  It just wouldn’t be Christmas if he didn’t come and visit everyone at The Children’s Montessori Academy.  Santa and I are so pleased at all the hard work you are doing.  Most of all, it makes us so happy to see how kind and helpful you are to one another.  Your school is a very special place.

We are so fortunate that Santa makes a point of visiting with the children at our little yellow school each year.  Mrs. Claus would really like to come and visit too but someone has to stay at the North Pole to keep an eye on the elves.  Did you know that the elves were having an indoor snowball fight with marshmallows?  They were supposed to be making hot chocolate!  They can be such rascals!  Santa brought little treats for the children and Mrs. Claus sent us some gingerbread cookies that she and the elves made.  They are for our big holiday party.

Treats and a Letter From the North Pole

Presents From Santa

A Present From Mrs. Claus and the Elves

Gingerbread Cookies From the North Pole

Wishing everyone a holiday season filled with warm memories and cherished moments.  Best wishes for a very happy new year! 

The Sensorial Materials ~ The Colour Boxes

The Montessori classroom is divided into five disciplines or subjects - Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Arithmetic and Culture.  Each discipline has a number of interesting and attractive activities which follow a sequence.  Activities in each discipline are organized from the earliest/easiest activity to the most complex.

The activities in the Sensorial area of the classroom help the child sort out sense perceptions.  Maria Montessori created many varied activities which highlight sight, touch, taste, smell and hearing.  The Colour Tablets are one such activity which help develop the child's visual sense, the perception of colours.  This includes differences in hues and intensities.  This material is composed of three boxes.

Colour Box 1

Colour Box 1 contains the primary colours red, blue and yellow.  There are 6 tablets in all.

Colour Box 1

The Montessori teacher invites the child to take the box to a mat.  The teacher will remove all tiles from the box and place them in a random arrangement on the mat.  The teacher will demonstrate the proper way of holding the tablets by the white wooden edges.  The teacher will select one tablet and compare it to the others to find a match.  This will be done for all tablets.  The child is then invited to work with the material.

 

Colour Box 1 provides the child with the opportunity to pair items and identify colours.  Once the child can match the tablets, language and games will be introduced.  When the child is able to identify the colours, s/he will be introduced to Colour Box 2.

Colour Box 2

Colour Box 2 contains the primary and secondary colours along with brown, black, white, grey and pink.  The box contains 22 colour tablets.

Colour Box 2

The presentation of Colour Box 2 follows the format of Colour Box 1.  The teacher will remove the primary colours red, blue and yellow from the box and ask the child to pair them.  If the child is able to pair them, the teacher will introduce the orange, purple and green tablets and invite the child to pair them.  The final colours will be pink, white, brown, black and grey.  After all the tablets have been paired, the child is invited to pair all of the tablets independently.

   

Colour Box 2 provides the child with the opportunity to pair items and identify colours.  Once the child can match the tablets, language and games will be introduced.  Games include finding objects in the room that match the colours of the tablets, and pairing tablets from across the room.

When the child is able to identify the colours, s/he will be introduced to Colour Box 3.

Colour Box 3

Colour Box 3 contains 7 shades of nine colours - red, blue, yellow, green, purple, orange, pink, brown and grey.  There are 63 tablets in all.  The box is divided into 9 separate compartments.  Each compartment contains seven different intensities of one hue. 

Colour Box 3

The presentation of Colour Box 3 follows the format of the previous two boxes.  The teacher will select one colour and remove all 7 tablets of that hue.  They are placed on the mat randomly.  The teacher will begin with either the very darkest or the very lightest intensity of the hue.  The teacher will then find the next darkest intensity of the hue by comparing the tablet with the rest.  This will continue until all of the tablets have been placed in order.  The child is then invited to choose a colour and grade the tablets.

The teacher will introduce the language - light, lighter, lightest  and dark, darker, darkest - for each colour.  The child is invited to continue grading other colours and will be introduced to games with this material.

In our classrooms, the children particularly enjoy working together to grade all of the tablets.  This is one of the extensions of Colour Box 3.

Colour Box 3 enables the child to further refine their visual sense.  The tablets in each section illustrate the subtle differences in one colour.  Things can be blue, but also dark blue or light blue.  The gradations of colour make a difference and are visible in the beautiful and colourful world around us.