In Loving Memory...

When I first started this blog, I became friends with another blogging mommy from Orange County. Some of you are familiar with her blog: Orange Juice. We cheered each other on as we got our blogs going, and I always felt like I could count on her creativity in teaching her little boy to help me teach my own daughter. She was kind, loved her family to PIECES, and lived life to its fullest.

Her life came to a sudden end this week- and while I never met Kristi in person, a little piece of my heart goes out to her family. The blogosphere will never be the same.

Cash Register and a Blog Gave-Away

I had the opportunity to do a blog review for CSN stores recently. My daughter is REALLY into pretend playing restaurant and store- so I thought a cash register would be the perfect tool!

I ordered the learning resource pretend and play teaching cash register. I chose this because of the educational tools it offered- a coin recognition slot to be precise. I took it out of the box and was really impressed with the size of the buttons and the overall look and feel of the toy. However, the cash register was not recognizing coins correctly. I contacted CSN stores and was able to receive another cash register. My daughter LOVES it! However, she loved on it a little too much and we were again struggling with the coin recognition slot working correctly. After taking it completely apart, my hubbie was able to sorta fix it.... it recognizes coins with about 95% accuracy. All in all, a great toy for kids- the coin recognition educational aspect is great in theory, but the register's coin slot is not as durable as I would like. However, working with CSN was great and because I received the toy for only a few dollars, I am not complaining! And if you don't care whether or not the slot will tell you if you have inserted a penny or a nickel, then this is a great pick for you!
CSN stores contacted me and allowed me to donate the first cash register that I had ordered. The next day I happened to hear of a family who lost both their jobs and was able to use it for Christmas. The Lord works in mysterious ways!

happy teaching!

La Posada Christmas Traditions

La Posada started this week. This is a Mexican holiday that started December 16th and is centered around the Nativity. I thought it would be a great way to throw in some holiday Spanish learning!

Originally I wanted a whole day of Spanish games and activities, followed by making a homemade pinata and a big Mexican dinner where it would be mandatory to speak only in Spanish. My plans didn't go quite as I expected (you know, with all that holiday hustle and bustle) but we did manage to do the following:

1. Homemade Mexican dinner- it was delish! My husband made his first ever guacamole (which my daughter calls "bwack-a-woli" and was brave enough to try ONCE) I have the plainest of appetites and therefore was thrilled to see my daughter chowing away on chips with salsa and sour cream with her taco salad.
2. After dinner, we got a surprise visit from Santa. He doorbell ditched us and just happened to leave a very cute little bilingual book Un gato y un perro (A Cat and a Dog). I swear my daughter thinks Santa only gives books! Anyway, Santa just happened to let me know that this was another great deal found in the scholastic book orders. Smart shopper!
3. After reading the book, my daughter wanted to role play it. She was the gato and I was the perro, and we played out all the scenes. Including the part at the end when we became best amigos. :)

Happy Teaching!

and Feliz Navidad (from our casa to your casa)

Montessori Christmas Ideas

What is one of the first things you think about when you hear the word "Montessori"? For me- it's the learning area known as "practical life." Maybe it is because my daughter and I focus most of our Montessori time on this subject. Or maybe because it is the most,..well..., practical!

I created a list of different practical-life Montessori activities you can do with your child during this fun time of year.

1. Teach your child how to wrap presents. Provide them with several small boxes, wrapping paper, scissors, tape, and technical skill to get the job done.
2. Using a small set of Christmas lights (found at Dollar Tree!) and a mini tree, teach your child how to wrap lights around a Christmas tree. (And if they bunch them all up and carefully smush them on the tree, praise them for trying :) )
3. I am not sure if this is considered practical life, but talk about the concept of charity and giving to others. Come up with a plan with your child to GIVE this holiday season.
4. Write a polite letter to Santa and follow that up with a thank you card. Teaching manners is part of the Self Development category of Practical Life.
5. Have your child help you hang the Christmas stockings on hooks.
6. Use a holiday nutcracker to crack open nuts. My nutcrackers are strictly for decorative purposes, but it would be cute if you are brave enough to try!
7. Prior to meeting Santa at the mall, be sure to teach your child how to introduce him/herself.
8. And let's hope this doesn't happen, but if an ornament happens to fall and shatter, this would be a great time to carefully show your older child how to sweep up the fragments.

The list could go on and on- there are so many different practical life activities you could tweak for the holiday season!

Happy Teaching!

Nativity Dice

Part of my church responsibilities include working with a great group of 8-10 year old girls. I thought it would be fun to teach them about the nativity, and originally was going to make a nativity ornament with them- when I thought it would be more fun (OK, easier and less messy) to make nativity dice with them!

The objective of this activity is to teach about the different characters of the nativity. I wanted to see the girls dive into their scriptures to learn more about who these people were. I also wanted a project that my girls could take home and do with their families. So this activity seemed perfect!

Materials:
6 images of different Nativity characters
foam cube (I saw these at Michaels for five dollars, but they are only a buck at the Dollar Tree!)
cardstock
glue sticks/ hot glue/ scissors

How to make the Nativity Dice:

1. Trace one side of the foam cube on the cardstock. Cut out square and use this as a pattern to cut out 5 more squares. Hot glue cardstock on foam cube.
2. Cut out nativity characters and glue one on each side of the foam cube.

That's it! Unless you want to embellish. I kept mine simple.

How to play the Nativity Dice Game:

1. Roll the dice.
2. Name the character and describe the role they play in the nativity.

You may also want to do one of the following:

• Research this person in the bible.
• Share any connections you may have with this person.
• Share any questions you may have for this person.

This is the perfect addition to our family's nativity kit !

Happy Teaching!

Indoor Snow Fun

A few weeks ago, after a big snowstorm, I thought it would be fun to bring the snow indoors to play! I read somewhere out there in the blogosphere- I can't remember where- about snow painting and I wanted to give it a whirl!

It was a different experience- painting on cold icy flakes. However, once the snow melted a bit we liked seeing the colors drizzle down the side of the rubbermaid.

We painted for about 10 minutes- which is great for my kiddo- and then dumped out the painted snow and got some fresh snow for the activity I knew she would LOVE- burying and unburying toy dinosaurs. I had to pull her away from this at dinner time. We used different small plastic spoons as little shovels to dig for the dinos. And the whole time my daughter made high pitch shrieks as the dinosaurs were crying for help. We had a lot of fun staying warm and playing in the snow!

Happy Teaching!