The Montessori Multiplication Board

Spring break has given us enough time to work on our multiplication.  After my introduction using counters, we worked on the Montessori multiplication bead board next. 

To know more about this materials and how to use it, here are some resources I collected for you:

• How to use the multiplication bead board (video)
• Multiplication Bead Board Presentation
• Multiplication Bead Board Worksheets
• DIY Multiplication Bead Board

For our work, I made multiplication strips for Mavi to work on.  This is similar to the one mentioned in my resources except that I edited the fonts to fit my paper size.

I followed the presentation based on the Info Montessori and demonstrated it on Mavi.  When its his time to work,  Mavi chose to work the table of 6.  He says its his favourite number because that’s how old he is.

                      

For the work strips, I printed them out and glue them on a yellow cardstock.  Mavi loved how beautiful they turned out.  As an extension, I also showed Mavi how the table of 6 works when laid out using the decanomial beads.   The laying out of beads was a hit! Mavi was hooked.  Too bad though, we didn’t get to finish the work because Vito was already awake and wants attention.  (PS. We don’t do bead works whenever Vito’s around. He still mouths objects)   

Making Montessori Ours has this amazing printable Multiplication Materials Package made out for you. I suggest you check her out as well!

Don’t forget to pin this for later! You don’t want to miss this!

And that’s about it! How wonderful this method of learning is! So hands-on and visual!  We will work on the rest of the multiplication table both in bead board and decanomial beads one at a time. Anyway, this is just to expose Mavi to multiplication.  Once we’re done with all the tables, we’ll start division and it’s going to be even more exciting!

Want to see what other’s are doing?  Check out my Pinterest board for other Math ideas!

Fossils for Kids

Because Mavi is fascinated with dinosaurs and fossils, I always make it a point to include it yearly in our homeschool activities.  If you are interested learning about our previous dinosaurs and fossils lessons here are the following links:

For this year, I focused on fossils alone as I wanted Mavi to understand how they became so relevant in defining history.

Fossils by definition are organisms or objects that indicates former presence of an organism which has been preserved in any natural deposit in or on the earth’s crust.  We examined the fossils we have on hand:  Safari Toob Fossil replicas, coral fossils and the animal impressions that we made.

There are different types of fossils.  One famous type of fossil is the preservation of insects found in resins, now known as amber.   Another are moulds of animals or plants; trails or tracks of animals and dinosaurs from thousands of years ago.

With this we made our own animal impressions using Safari Toob animal figures.  They all end up so pretty!  From this impressions you can easily identify what animal it is. Making animal impressions in a clay is one of the easiest way to recreate a fossil.  Another is embedding an animal or object in an ice or clay.

These are coral fossils which we got from our latest trip to the Philippines.   Mavi described the difference between moulds and cast fossils like those of coral cavities that were filled with mineral substance. Then we examined each of our Safari Toob Ancient Fossils and identify them.  (Source: Safari Toob Fossils)

1. Eurypterid.  A sea scorpion called Mixopterus was discovered in Norway.  They ranged from 5 inches to over 7 feet long.
2. Fossilized Fish.  This is a Diplomystus specimen, typical of a surface feeding fish.  The Green River limestone deposits in Wyoming, USA have beautifully preserved all the fine details of these fossils.
3. Dinosaur Skin.  This is a famous fossil “mummies” of a duck-billed Hadrosaur which became entombed in a sandstone after its death.  The real one can be found in North Dakota, USA.
4. Tyrannosaurus Rex Tooth.  This tooth was found in Montana, USA. The T-Rex, one of the greatest predator possess the largest single teeth of any dinosaur.  They used these double edge, serrated blades to slice off huge pieces of flesh.
5. Dinosaur Foot.  The discoveries of dinosaur tracks and footprints are grouped into similar types and they are given generic names.  Anchisauripus prints were from a small plant-eater found in the state of Connecticut, USA.
6. Velociraptor Claw.  Velociraptor are very efficient hunter because of these large sickle-shaped claws that grow on each hind foot.  This claw was found in Mongolia in Central Asia.
7. Ammonite.  This is an ancient mollusc with a spiral shell.  These marine animals existed for more than 135 million years.  This species is known as Peltoceratoides  and was discovered in Russia.
8. Giant Crabs. Did you know that crabs evolved from lobsters during the Jurassic Period? This original specimens from Washington state, USA are among the finest preserved crab fossils having been buried in sand, soon after their deaths.
9. Trilobite.  They are one of the most important groups of early animals and their unusual appearance and age, make them appealing to fossil collectors worldwide.  They first appeared in the early Cambrian period and become extinct in the Permian, 320 million years ago.
10. Fossilized Frog.  This fossilized species of frog is fully articulated and possibly the ancestor of the modern spade foot toad.  This was collected in Wyoming, USA.

And the best part of a studying fossil is experiencing how these Palaeontologist dig and discover fossils!  Materials used in the tub:

• Learning Resources Fine Motor Tool Set
• Oatmeal
• Random magnifier glass
• Paint brush
• Safari Toob Ancient Fossils

Be sure to pin this post for future reference!

Its time for the 12 month and now i would.like to sgare with you our study of the plant kingdom. Last year we worked on the animal kingdom and it help.Mavi blsh blsh. For the plant kingdom, i decided to bring mavi to

Airplabes

Last week I made an airplane nomenclature card for Mavi to explore the diff parts of an airplane.  My son loves airplanes and if you've been.iwing me.jn IG ive been.posting pics of his lego.planes.

Now that it was part of our home achool, he got really excited. He loves using the cards! He enjoyed discovering the parts and.describibg how it works.

To help us more with our study we have these books to read.

Our favourite one.and I hig l y recoomend.iy.is the the.  It presents the history of the airplanes and the different types of aircrafts we use these days.

Airplane

We looked.into.airplanes a.few.days ago in line with our The Glorious Light row. Feel.free.to.download your copy. Mavi loved.using this and made a LEGO airPLANE OUT of these cards.

I b suggest that. Before wheb using this, prepare some.airplane books to read witb or your kids. This wi hlthen

Here are the bookswe read.

I highly recommend,

AFRICA in a Nutshell

I love making materials for our geography lessons!! It gives me the freedom to choose subjects, topics to touch and most of all give me the freedom to put depths into it.  Now my latest creation is Africa! It is loaded with activities for you and your little ones. (Click the image below for the link of the file)

So what’s included in this file?

                                                                                   

 

1. MAPS! The file includes regional map of Africa… and I also included a 3 part card for it.  Mavi loves the 3 part card version. He would always tell me that they are so tricky to match! 

2.  African Ethnic Tribes.  Oh I am so enthralled by these wonderful people! I hope to meet one of them someday.  This activity familiarizes a child of the different ethnic groups in Africa.  Aside from the nomenclature card, I included definition/fact cards for each tribe so we can get to know them, how they are different from the others and they unique practices that they have.

3.  African animals and their skin pattern.  My Mavi loves this so much!  He is amazed by the close-up picture of each animals and their skin coverings!  We love putting them around in the house and see if they achieve a camouflage effect.  Works best if you have animal figures that you can match with it. The kids will surely love it!

4.  African Facts.  These fact cards basically summarizes the important things we needed to know about Africa.  I wrote the facts in a way that Mavi can easily absorb and understand them.  I let him read the definitions.  If you want to learn further, use these cards as your guide in researching more details in the internet.  I am teaching Mavi how to it.  I’m having an AFRICA post soon, so you will have an idea how we put these into action!

 

5. Giraffe and Zebra nomenclature cards.  Working on nomenclature cards has helped Mavi read.  Yes, starting when he was 3 yrs old, we would work on any available and interesting nomenclature cards I could own or interests.  He loves to match pictures and words!  And much more if you are working with animals! 

 

Other AFRICAN-related materials we have can be found here.  So if you are interested, just click the first image in this post or click here to download your copy!

I also made ASIA in a Nutshell last year. Go check it out!

Hope you like this collection! Thank you!

Geological Time Scale with Safari Toobs

Last year,  I was able to have bargain of these Safari Toobs at Amazon.  I've been wanting to get them for the fact that after our geologcial Time activity, Mavi has been so obsessed of doing the timeline representation over and over again.  When they arrived at the mail, Mavi was so excited! He can finally complete his timeline with all these figures!

So what do you exactly need to be able to create a geological time?  Well, in our case we have the following:
Cambrian Toob
Prehistoric Life Toob
Dinosaur Toobs (Carnivorous, Dinos, Feathered and Baby Toobs)

I  made out these paper to servee as our mat, and write the name of the ERA on the side.

Mavi carefully laid out the mat, and little by little placing the figures on each ERA starting from the Paleozoic ERA.

And tada!!! We have a complete Geological Time Scale!

Books tha we read to go along with this activity is our Lava to Life series.  I've talked about it here during our first lesson.  Click on the link below [aff. Link] to see the book details.

PS.  These safari toobs are really really awesome!  Let me show you the cambrian figures which I truly admire because of the details.  This collecor took a photo of each figure and described it.  Mavi and I read it so we know what we're dealing with here.

And here's the prehistoric life.  Mavi described these animals as the great grandparents of rhinos, tigers, giraffes and elephants!

Now I'm not saying that IT IS A MUST to buy.  But, if you are really interested, I suggest that you wait for the SALE season.  I usually have a wishlist and amazon would notify me if any in the list is on sale.