Last day of school before our second week of vacation. Hopefully we will get lots of work completed on our new schoolroom renovation.

Peanut has been very interested in this satelite map this week. This morning she was showing Iish where all the continents are on the map and singing him the continent song.

Everybody doing their own thing this morning...Iish was getting his Playdoh fix, Little Man was looking at books and Peanut was building with Lego.

We did continent paintings of Australia...

We finished off the rest of the peas from the garden...the beans are in full flower, there should be lots after the holidays.

Just plain cute!!!

Rest time after lunch

Children under three have their naps in the bedrooms. The older children have "rests" on their mats in the schoolroom as they listen to stories. Today they listened to Thornton Burgess animal tales.

Tiger has taken to driving with a sword in one hand....

Peanut and Little Man watching the caterpillers....

Yesterday the high winds knocked a Polyphemus moth caterpillar out of the Birch tree....we were able to watch him for a few hours. Today we watched as it made silk to spin its cocoon. This was really amazing to watch as the caterpillar actually seemed to shrink before our eyes.

Our Monarch chrysalises...the lighter one on the left has been in its pupa stage since Monday, the other formed their chysalises today....

I have put most of our Montessori materials away for the summer but I am glad I have kept the map out, it has seen a lot of use this summer. We have been learning about oceans this week and while looking at a book yesterday we came across a picture of Pangaea. Little Man arrived today and wanted the book so he could build Pangaea.

Learning to joyfully serve each other is an important aspect of Montessori. Each one of the children is an important participant in our little community and most importantly they know it...

We take pool safety very seriously.....

All the non-swimmers are required to wear a life jacket or a float suit while in the pool enclosure ...even if they are not swimming.

A nice, refreshing, morning swim...

I love how working with the Montessori method develops great relationships between the children. The children really care for each other. The older children love to help and work with the younger ones.

Tiger and Iish play with the Playdoh everyday...

Trouble is a great game for number recognition, counting and learning to play games together. For the little ones it is a great for working the pincer grasp and sorting colours.

Art Today

We made Textured Salt Paintings today.....

Tiger giving Iish a ride.

Our preschool is in summer session and though we still have a learning focus each week we function more as a daycare over the summer months.

Stenciling...

I pulled out the Aqua Doodle this morning. During the school year we have new "work" everyday but during the summer we spend most of our time outside. The children still enjoy something new every couple of weeks. Peanut drew an Aboriginal Xray picture as we have been learning about the Aborigines of Australia this week.

Iish working with the shape sorter....

Peanut and Little Man building with Duplo....

Tiger working with the World Map Puzzle.....

Peanut visited the Pioneer Village last week where she learned some pioneer games...she thought our ship's wheel would make a perfect hoop...it was a little heavy but it worked.

I cut down some Iris plants in the flower bed today...the children asked for the leaves. They put them in the water....

Then, they started to weave with the leaves....

Today was the last day before we close for a weeks holiday. Have a safe week Tree House Gang and enjoy your holidays with your families.

Tiger helped me pick some peas then he shared them with his friends....ohh so sweet!

Thursday July 8th, 2010

Tiger doing the 3D shape sorter....he usually works on this at least once every day.

Peanut and Little Man did the habitat floor puzzle together.

I have been really thankful for our shaded play area during this week's heat wave.

Peanut found this poor little Wood Nymph butterfly...its wings were damaged. Everyone got to have a good look at it.

Princess loves doing the world map puzzle.

All this space is great for dancing.

This was one of those wonderful moments when the children discover something for themselves. "Look the continents fit together. Do you think they used to all be together?" This was followed by getting out our "Exploring Your World" book and looking up Pangaea.

We checked our garden before we went swimming. The beans are starting to form flowers. There should be beans to pick for lunch after our vacation. The peas are ready though...the children enjoyed nibbling on them today.

We have been learning about Australia this week....Peanut is trying to learn the names of all the unusual Australian animals.

Princess is learning to be very gentle with books...

Little Man and Peanut have a developed an interest in gymnastics...they looked at the book and then tried a few moves...

Iish spent most of the inside time today using the cutting Playdoh tray....

Again we spent lots of time in the pool...

A little cloud watching after our swim...

"that one looks like North America"

Quiet day today......one little one was ill and another is on vacation.

Here is an update on our renovations.....the livingroom is now separate from our schoolroom....lots left to do. We are hoping to have everything complete for the beginning of the new school year.

Our new space...

Our classroom feels so big now....we still have lots to do. We have a couple of walls to build, some cubbies and shelves to make and fresh paint.......but we are on our way.

This is where we spent most of our day....

Princess working with the Canadian animals

Iish and Princess are starting to have lots of fun together..