Friday, April 24, 2009

Wonderful Lesson from Susan at The Moveable Alphabet

photo courtesy of Susan Y. Dyer of the Moveable Alphabet

Check out this WONDERFUL lesson that Susan Y. Dyer over at The Moveable Alphabet came up with to show children how to make thick and thin lines with a paintbrush. This is a great art lesson in which she very creatively and naturally incorporated the Brown Stair Montessori material. What a great way for the children to use what they've learned with the Brown Stair and put it to use in a real life art exercise! Great Job Susan!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Light and Color

Oooh, pretty! I want a light table! I've been looking at some Reggio Emilia classroom pictures for inspiration for art and discovery projects in our home classroom and found the picture above. This summer, I'm hoping to turn the classroom into a fun open discovery center for the children, and then go back to mostly Montessori in the Fall. Check out these awesome translucent blocks I found online! They would be great for exploring color and shape on a light table:

Moolka sells them here in the U.S.A., but they're not cheap:

Oh good St. Nick, won't you please bring us a Light Table? Even a Tabletop Light Box would do!:

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Monday, April 13, 2009

Spring is in the Air!

Happy Easter to you all! I've been busy with the family doing lots of great little Lent, Holy Week, and Easter activities. Speaking of Easter, How many of you have more than enough Jelly Beans to get you through the year? Now that Easter is here, I've gotten spring fever and am looking forward to rejoice in Christ's resurrection and enjoy the beauty of His creation with my children. Whilst searching for some fun and colorful activities to present to the children, I stumbled across this great jelly beans bracelet idea, by Sarah over at Mrs. D Lightful. We have a ton of yummy jelly beans, so I thought this would be fun to try! Stringing the jelly beans could make a great practical life activity and snack too!

I also found this cute little poem called, "God's Jelly Bean Rainbow" from the book, Celebrate Jesus! at Easter by Kimberly Ingalls Reese:

Orange is the twilight night He prayed.
Black is our sin stain for which He paid.
Red is His own shed blood so bright.
Yellow is the Son's warm, healing light.
Purple is His head crowned with thorns
Pink is hope risen on Easter morn.
Brown is the ground where He was laid.
Gray is the stone that was rolled away.
White is God's grace we freely receive.
Green our eternal life when we believe.
All of these colors represent something true:
Jesus Christ, God's own Son, died for me and died for you.