Teaching from a Tackle Box

I'm PINNING too!

2012-02-18T01:01:00.003-07:00

After It's Elementary and What DID We Do All Day posted on the SAME DAY that they had started pinning, I knew that I *HAD* to do it too.

Back in August 2011, I sent out a plea to my Livable Learning egroup members:

I spend so little time on the computer any more it's going to take a great deal more dedication and discipline to get me to stay on track. Please keep me in your prayers. I have so little spare time that I have to make the most of every minute spent on the computer.

For now in the whole scheme of things - would someone please enlighten me to any benefits of Facebook and Twitter. I have become so computer illiterate in the past five years that I don't have the patience to spend hours researching the new social medias. My kids are getting pretty familiar with Facebook but I have no clue about Twitter and it looks like there is a selling place too? Etsy? And what about blogging? It just seems so labor intensive to me - I just don't get it. Forgive me

Funny what a difference six months can make! In the past six months I lost a handful of my high maintenance daycare kids and it allowed me AND forced me to put my efforts into getting back online to promote Livable Learning and Teaching from a Tackle Box.

Pinterest for me was social media's last stand!! - I just didn't get it!

And now that I do "get it" - a whole new world has opened up for me! The first board I worked on was Montessori Mobiles. I will eventually do a post on this topic but for now you can check out my Livable Learning Pinterest pins:

Infant Mobiles

Keep your eye on my Pinterest site. You ain't seen nothin" yet!
I have "boards" of GREAT pins yet to load!

Knex, Rubber Bands & Boys

2012-02-15T12:53:00.000-07:00

Never underestimate the power of spontaneous learning!

Today my 12yo son got out his Knex to build a windmill in between writing down his spelling words.
And this is what happened:

3yo sets up a Knex tire and rod and starts stacking rubber bands.

3yo starts naming each of the colors as he puts them on the rod.

1yo starts grabbing rubber bands
so we make a wheel and rod for him to place rubber bands on.

(Under close supervision of course).

All three of them engrossed with intense concentration.

6yo starts stacking and sorting colors (blue, red, green, and yellow)
on four attached rods.

From experience, I can tell you, some of the best learning takes place when you don't plan it, but see the opportunity at hand, then allow it to happen, and occasionally nudge it on...

I'm linking this post to:

Tackle Box TUESDAY - Tessellation Exploration

2012-02-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

I just finished the new Teaching from a Tackle Box design for Tessellation Exploration.

This set utilizes the extra large Flambeau 8001 (15" x 14" x 2").

I placed a set of pattern blocks in the box for introductory presentations on tessellation. The square and triangles pattern blocks are in their own compartment and the other shapes in the center front compartment. Plastic pattern blocks are available in 1 cm thickness or in .5 cm thickness. You can get a large floor set of pattern blocks for extension activities. Tessellation materials can also be made by using Avery printable magnetic sheets. Colored templates will be available at the Hope4ME printables page soon.

I used my new Hope4ME printable Tessellation Template to print on colored 24# AstroBrite paper. Several copies of each sheet were printed on three different colored papers. The template prints the figures in a very light grey. That is intentional so that the cutting lines do not distract from the shapes and so that both sides of the paper can be used for tessellation.

We will be using one (blue) set of the Tessellation Tiles from Kid Advance for tracing activities. Paper tessellation materials work for design exploration but they are sometimes a bit hard to handle. When a design is created it can be transformed into a paper tessellation collage by gluing the pieces on a larger piece of paper.

I chose not to use a couple of the very small shapes from the Montessori tessellation set and added a few of my own choosing (so not all shapes will have blue plastic tessellation tiles for tracing). There are 22 paper tessellation shapes with the octagons stored in the front left compartment of the tackle box and the dodecagons placed loosely on top of the center front compartment when closed.

You can read more about Geometric Exploration and Tessellation activities in previous TTB posts.

More on Tessellations!

2012-02-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

Learning Resources Giant Pattern Blocks #2036

Once again I am finding this topic fascinating and I finally had to FORCE myself to STOP surfing the net for tessellation links!

You may want to start with this Tessellation Power Point HERE.

Hmm...So you can tessellate with Pentominoes and 7-pin polygons (never heard of them before!)

Check out the worksheets for Rotational Symmetry with Pentominoes and the Instructions for Using 7-pins. And here helpful printouts on Seven Pin Polygons and How many can you Make? (with answers).

Here's a review on What is a Tessellation and a description of the difference between Tessellations vs Patterns: "Patterns repeat but do not have clearly defined closed shapes. Tessellations repeat and do have clearly defined closed shapes."

SYMMETRY& TRANSFORMATIONS:

Symmetry is the preservation of form and configuration across an point, a line, or a plane. In informal terms, symmetry is the ability to take a shape and match it exactly to another shape. The techniques that are used to "take a shape and match it exactly to another" are called transformations and include translations, reflections, rotations, and glide reflections.

Finally, all tessellations have translational symmetry by definition. To say that a tessellation has translational symmetry is to say that it is made of some repeated pattern, and all tessellations are repeated pattern of some sort.

Here's another great tutorial on pattern and symmetry!

As usual, in our homeschooling mindset, one subject leads to another... from tessellations to kaleidoscopes! Another way of creating interesting tessellations has been called the kaleidoscope method:

Line of Symmetry Crafts from eHow

A kaleidoscope is a fascinating way to teach children about rotational symmetry. Kaleidoscopes are small tubes with built in mirror systems that allow the viewer to see images that feature rotational symmetry. This images change when the kaleidoscope is turned, forming lots of colorful patterns.

Kaleidoscope Tessellations
How Kaleidoscopes Work
Kaleidoscope Painter
Tessellating and Kaleidoscope Coloring Pages
You Tube: How to Make a Kaleidoscope

More TESSELLATION links to check out:

Tessellated Alphabet
Color Usage and Tessellations
Tessellated Polyhedra

Convex Pentagons that Tile the Plane
Hinged Tessellations
Semiregular Tessellations
Demiregular Tessellation
Dual Tessellations
Truchet Tilings
Keplers Monsters

This is where it all got to be TOO MUCH!! ...and I just HAD to stop.
I already pulled an all-nighter on this post.
WOW!

I''m linking this post to:

Materials REVIEW: Boxes of Tessellation Tiles

2012-02-14T04:58:00.000-07:00

Kid Advance Tessellation Boxes 10 set - SE051

So far I am not too impressed with what is available commercially from Montessori suppliers. It seems that all the suppliers I can find carry the same materials, and the way they are advertised is a bit confusing. In order to do tessellations you need *several pieces of the same shape* in order to repeat the patterns. Kid Advance advertises 2 boxes containing 20 shapes for $14.99 - so in all you get 20 different shapes in yellow and 20 different shapes in blue. That's only 2 pieces of each shape (one of blue, one of yellow) and makes it literally impossible to do any tessellations! All for Our Kids offers 10 boxes with 20 pair for $70.20 (10 of each color?) and JnanaMudra offers 22 boxes of 19 shapes (11 of each color?) for about $85.00 US. The pieces are made well but very thin - only 2mm thick and three of the shapes are ridiculously (and dangerously?) small for tessellation purposes. The material would work well for tessellations but you have to have several sets to make it work. For family use, I still think the best deal is to cut your own out of colored paper or print colored images onto printable magnetic sheets. If you opt for homemade, then you may want to order the set from Kid Advance so you have a set to trace with. Look for my Tackle Box Tuesday post with my new Tessellation Tackle Box!

Tackle Box TUESDAY - Snake Game

2012-01-24T23:30:00.000-07:00


SNAKE GAME - Positive, Subtraction & Negative

Well, this is where it all started. About ten years ago, Lisa, a Montessori consultant/teacher introduced me to the homemade Snake Game materials and she placed them in a tackle box. Little did she know that her mentoring on such a simple material would lead me to the hopeless state of addiction to TACKLE BOXES! Since I was very limited on space and resources, using tackle boxes helped me to keep both my home and finances in order.

As I read more about Montessori, and researched and brainstormed with fellow homeschoolers and Montessori teachers on playschool6 and montessorimakers, the thought lingering in the back of my mind obsessed me: Can I design this material to fit in a tackle box? I am so sick with "tackle box fever" that now when I see a NEW tackle box, photo organizer or craft box I snatch it up, only later to find a use for it. That happened just last week!!

I adapted the Snake Game Tackle Box to include the essentials for all three levels of the Snake Game: Positive, Subtraction and Negative. I have some old Snake Game Demo videos posted at Montessori Materials in the Math section. That was back when I called my business Curriculum Connections. I changed the name when I found another company by the same name, and since then I have been known online by Livable Learning.

The Snake Game Tackle Box contains:
     5 sets each of positive colored bead bars #1-9
   23 golden positive ten bead bars   (all gold)
   5 sets each of grey and white negative bead bars #1-9   (grey and white)
     23 grey negative ten bead bars   (all grey)
     1 set of positive remainder bead bars #1-9   (black & white)
     1 set of negative remainder bead bars #1-9   (red & white)
     1 wire place holder

My favorite bead supplier is Bolek's - the colors are shown on their bead chart.
I used to use 10 mm beads (#118) but now we have switched to 8 mm (#101).

ONE bead bars - #17 Xmas Red (5)
TWO bead bars - #07 Christmas Green   (10)
THREE bead bars - #08 Hot Pink   (15)
FOUR bead bars - #27 Yellow   (20)
FIVE bead bars - #19 Light Blue   (25)
SIX bead bars - #01 Amethyst   (30)
SEVEN bead bars - #06 Crystal Clear   (35)
EIGHT bead bars - #22 Champagne   (40)
NINE bead bars - #21 Midnight Blue   (45)
TEN bead bars - #23 Sun Gold   (230)
Negative TEN bead bars - #62 Opaque Grey (230)
Negative bead bars #1-9
      #62 Opaque Grey   (175)     #73 Opaque White   (50)
Positive Remainder bead stair #1-9
      #52 Opaque Black   (35)   #73 Opaque White   (10)
Negative Remainder bead stair #1-9
      #67 Opaque Red   (35)   #73 Opaque White   (10)

I also use 18 gauge silver beading wire from Boleks. I will explain the actual beading process in a later post.

When making the grey & white negative bead bars and the Remainder bead bar sets the solid color (grey, black or red) never goes past five beads and then white beads are added. So the bead bars for 6,7,8,and 9 have 1,2,3 and 4 white beads respectively. I asked once why this was, and I was told that it is for instant recognition - so that you can look at the bead bar and the eye can instantly recognize what number it is.

I prefer the Tuff Tainer 5007 for the Snake Game but I have also used the Plano 2-3700. Tackle boxes are available at Cabela's, K-mart, WalMart and your hometown Bait and Tackle Shop. Amazon is also a good source for tackle boxes if you can't find them locally.

ALBUM PAGES
Addition Snake Game: AMI Primary Guide,
Subtraction Snake Game:   AMI Primary Guide

YOU TUBE VIDEOS
Positive Snake Game
Positive Snake Game - with Check

For those who would rather buy the set pre-made it is available at Livable Learning.

TACKLE BOX TUESDAY LINKYS
You can link up with your related posts below. Please no tray activities or craft like presentations. This is a linky opportunity for you to share your posts on how you organize your Montessori environment, or how you organize your materials. You can also link posts on your handmade traditional Montessori materials. The linkys will be moderated so you will not see them right away and I reserve the right not to post any linkys that I feel do not meet the requirements.

Respect for Life and Montessori

2012-01-22T03:16:00.000-07:00

Montessori - Education for Life

“Maria Montessori developed her teaching methodologies one hundred years ago and they have survived because her ultimate goal was to preserve the dignity of the child. How can a child not thrive and learn in a prepared environment that emphasizes respect and integrity? -- A respect and integrity not only of the materials presented and used, but more importantly of the child himself, and of those with whom he interacts.” S.V. Wilhelmi

The quote above is my own, from a book I am writing, entitled Montessori Made Easy: the Basics.

As our nation prepares to mark the 39^th anniversary of Roe v. Wade today, January 22nd, my 19-year-old daughter is preparing to go in person to the March for Life on Monday at the United States capitol in Washington, DC. So my mind has been focused in a personal way on the upcoming events, while I am also pondering thoughts of respect for the life of the child, in light of Montessori education. It was my re-reading of the book The Secret of Childhood that got me going.

In the forward of the book Margaret Stephenson speaks of Maria Montessori:

Dr. Montessori did not wish what she set on foot to be called the “Method” – she said that she had not invented a process to be labeled with her name; she did not care for the world ‘method’ which denotes in our minds a system of schools and educational institutions. Over and over again, she insisted that we must think in terms of “help to life” if we were to understand what she was trying to make people see. If we are thinking of life, then, not of a school or class, we have to take a very much deeper, broader, and wider view than if we were to study merely a system of education. It is from this angle, therefore, the angle of the totality of Dr. Montessori’s work, that we have to look if we are to understand what she meant by “the secret of childhood.”

The first thing to do is to realize that Dr. Montessori was working for life, not merely for the educational process of life; and only if we understand this, can we begin to understand what was her real contribution to mankind. If we are studying life, not a child in a class, we are faced with something different from a person who has to be taught. . . This is not a child to be reported on, marked, graded, classified, labeled, but a living organism following a pattern of development. Life does not begin at three or whenever the child enters pre-school, nursery class, kindergarten, or first grade. Life begins at the moment of conception, and at that moment we are faced with a cell so microscopic that it cannot be seen with the naked eye but which holds within itself all the potentialities of the human being it is to be.

Kathy O’Brien has an excellent article on Montessori and Catholicism HERE where she quotes E.M. Standing:

"Children are creatures of God; and, if Montessori has discovered certain basic truths about their nature and laws of their development, it our DUTY as parents and educators to become acquainted with them."

I especially love what Kathy says about the child’s effect on the spiritual aspect of the adult:

It is easy for us to accept that we adults aid the child, but the child is also an aid to the adult and should be a formative influence on the adult world. A child can change the hearts of adults. In the presence of a child hardness disappears. Dr. Montessori says: "The child can annihilate selfishness and awaken the spirit of sacrifice," tenderness and affectionate care. "The love which then begins is like a revelation of the moral greatness of which man is capable when his child obliges him to feel as a parent. In this way does God move and form the adult through the child.

From a practical, moral point of view, Michael Olaf says:

The traditional work of the family is referred to in Montessori as practical life work. It is the single most important area of an education for life.

An older post from Mama Says presents some food for thought regarding Education for Life, in terms of modern society.

Education for Life - This You Tube video emphasizes that education begins in the womb, and that Montessori education is the call of our time.

I'm linking this post to:

Montessori: To Train or not to Train?

2012-01-12T23:19:00.000-07:00

Montessori Training Center of Minnesota has an excellent video HERE on the basics of academic Montessori training and represents well the beauty of handmade materials.

I am living proof that a homeschooling parent - without formal training in Montessori academic education - can successfully grasp the method and learn to present the materials to children. Having acknowledged that, I have preached often that it is very difficult to learn the 3-D method of Montessori in a 2-D fashion. You can't just read about Montessori...

Montessori is something you have to experience to understand. I had a reasonable grasp of the method of Montessori when I attended my Level I training for Catechesis of the Good Shepherd but I just didn't "get why" in the albums I had read that it took some *16 steps* to move a chair, until I saw it in person through our trainer. Montessori brings a reverence to all aspects of a child's education and recreates in the adult an awe and wonder in the complexity of the simple things in life. When our trainer silently, slowly and deliberately broke down each step of how to move a chair - into a kind of slow-motion but amazingly fluid choreography - I finally had that "aha" moment and I understood.

I first came on board with Montessori homeschooling about 10 years ago and most of us back then learned solely through reading books and online discussion groups such as MontessoriMakers and Playschool6. But today, with online videos and resources such as You Tube, the average parent can self-train in a more effective manner. I have a project in process for How to Get Started with Montessori Education at my Livable Learning website.

I have also frequently recommended that if a parent cannot afford the time and expense of formal academic training then one should at least try to take the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd training. Use the CGS Course Locator to see if there is a training near you. Summer intensives run about two weeks for two summers or if courses are available locally you may be able to attend classes once a month. You will be trained in the Montessori way to teach the faith while you also experience Montessori in person and learn the same basic methodologies one learns in academic training.

Below my daughter, Rachel, learns the practical life presentation of "How to Wash a Table" at our CGS training in Altoona, Wisconsin, 2005. Rachel audited the class with me - at the time she was 13 years old.

SNEAK PEEK - new Tessellation materials!

2011-12-17T21:58:00.000-07:00

I will *complete* this post later but for now I wanted to show you the NEW material I made for tessellations! I used printable photo gloss magnetic stock to make these tessellation tiles. And I used a magnetic dry erase board for the working surface. The only problem I can foresee is that both sides would have to be colored for reflection mirror image flips where you turn the piece upside down to tessellate it. For those shapes you could print another sheet of the colored shapes on an 8-1/2 x 11 full sheet label stock and laminate only the printed side if desired. Then each shape could be cut out and peeled of the backing, then stuck onto the magnetic backside of each piece. I will experiment and let you know how it goes...I will post the colored template at my Hope4ME printables web page as soon as I tweek the angles on a few of the other shapes.

Geometric Exploration

2011-12-17T02:11:00.000-07:00

Included in the Montessori SENSORIAL albums are two sets of exploratory materials:

the Superimposed Geometric Figures and the Tessellation Tiles.

Teaching From a Tackle Box: Inscribed and Concentric Figures

SUPERIMPOSED GEOMETRIC FIGURES
This material is known by other names: aka Inscribed and Concentric Figures, Ornamental Geometric Shapes, Circles Squares and Triangles, or Graded Figures. "Superimposed means to lay or place something on or over something else. There are three basic shapes in this material - circles, squares and triangles - in various colors (usually red, yellow and blue). Each shape is graded to ten sizes progressing from 1 centimeter to 10 centimeters. The aim of the material is to explore how geometric shapes relate to one another and to learn basic geometric nomenclature. You can make your own printable materials as in the tacklebox above with Hope4ME membership. I have files for Inscribed and Concentric Figures and a new file for Inscribed and Concentric 3-Part Cards. I used 10 mil laminate to make the geometric shapes easier to work with. The 3-part nomenclature cards are laminated with 5 mil.

Vocabulary: inscribed, concentric, aligned, tangent, circumscribed.

There are four pages of Geometry Inscribed Shapes HERE. (An excellent resource for a variety of other homemade Montessori materials - be sure to click to the Main Page to explore further.)

Dahlia posted Inscribed Concentric command cards at the MontessoriMakers files.

In the Geometry Album at freemontessori.org there is a presentation on the "Relationship between Two Circles" on pages 62-63.

(Note of interest: according to the Montessori Primary Guide the circle is the calculator of angles; the square is the measurer of areas and the triangle is the constructor of the other figures.)

To the Lesson blog has a video presentation of Inscribed and Concentric HERE.

TESSELLATIONS
A tessellation (or tiling) is a repetition of shapes so that that do not overlap or leave gaps. Technically, tiling refers to patterns of geometric shapes with straight edges, while tessellations are considered to be repeated patterns with irregular shapes, as with Escher's art. Steve Schwartzman in The Word of Mathematics says:

tessellate (verb), tessellation (noun) from Latin tessera "a square tablet" or "a die used for gambling." Latin tessera may have been borrowed from Greek tessares, meaning "four," since a square tile has four sides. The diminutive of tessera was tessella, a small square piece of stone or a cubical tile used in mosaics. Since a mosaic extends over a given area without leaving any region uncovered, the geometric meaning of the word tessellate is "to cover the plane with a pattern in such a way as to leave no region uncovered." By extension, space or hyperspace may also be tessellated.

The Tessellation materials are to be introduced after the child has worked with the Geometric Cabinet. Montessori World has a Tessellation Album Page and an online Tessellation presentation HERE.

Younger children can begin explorations of tessellations with Pattern Blocks or Fractiles. A more complete set of printable Tessellation shapes are available at my Hope4ME page. The child will eventually realize that a shape with more than six sides will not tessellate perfectly with itself - another shape will be needed to complete the tessellation. An extension of the materials could be to study tessellation techniques and the naming of tessellations.

A GREAT HOMESCHOOLING UNIT STUDY ON TESSELLATIONS
After explorations with Tessellation shapes, the child can go on to study tessellations in history through mosaics, Greek keys, Celtic knots, and tapestry patterns. Research modern applications of tessellations in floor tiles, quilt blocks, wallpaper, architecture and graphic design. Search for tessellation patterns in nature and food. Create artistic tessellations with help from the amazing videos below.

YouTube videos on Artistic Tessellations:
Create a Tessellation
Tessellation Slideshow
How to Make an Escher-esque Tessellation
Escher
Escher's Tessellations

Who ever knew Geometric Exploration could be so FUN!!

I'm linking this post to:

Sensorial Basics

2011-12-12T00:18:00.001-07:00

This is one of my latest Teaching from a Tackle Box creations: Sensorial I.

I put all the basic materials for the senses into two tackle boxes. Sensorial I contains Sound, Color, Tactile and Thermic activities. Sensorial II contains Tasting, Smelling, Baric and Sterognostic activities.

Ellen Yale Stevens in her book, A Guide to the Montessori Method, states that Montessori's purpose is "to give each child a full sensory life, as early as possible, that his brain cells will develop and paths of association between them be formed. Higher powers of observation, conception and apperception (recognition in the new of some element already perceived) come as a result of a rich sensory experience."

She goes on to note the names of the senses and their location:

Tactile (touch) - located chiefly in the fingertips
Gustatory (taste) - located in the tongue and palette
Olfactory (smell) - located in the nostrils
Visual (sight) - located in the eyes
Audile (hearing) - located in the ears
Thermic (heat) - located in the skin
Baric (weight) - located in the tendons and muscles
Stereognostic (fusion of tactile and muscular) i.e. touch with movement
Chromatic (sense of color) is also listed, but as a division of visual

Just as when I took my training for Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and I learned the meaning of *big* words like kerygma and epiclesis and parousia, the buzz word for me in academic Montessori was stereognostic.

Don't you just love the feel of those words rolling off your tongue!
And all the better when you understand what they mean.

I'm linking this post to:

Welcome to my Blog!

2011-12-11T23:08:00.001-07:00

I am feeling a distinct and compelling call to step into theworld of blogging - so I put quite a bit of time into discerning what the focus ofthis media should be, and what I should name my blog.

So why “Teaching from a Tackle Box?”

I am mother to eight and still homeschooling five. My interestin Montessori education was sparked when I helped organize a local mini-conferencefor our homeschool group, where I gave atalk on the methods of homeschooling. A few months later a Montessori teachercontacted me about her availability to be a consultant for homeschoolers. Ipersonally accepted offer and I asked her to come into my home to help me get organized the Montessori way. She showedme how to put together my first bead set for the Snake Game and how to store itin a tackle box. Then after months of reading, and online research, and egroupdiscussions at playschool6 and montessorimakers, I started designing my ownmaterials. Having both limited income and limited space for materials, I startedorganizing my homemade materials into tackle-box-friendly groupings, and hencethe birth of Teaching from a Tackle Box, the publishing of my first book - From Creative Chaos to Livable Learning, my Livable Learning website and Livable Learning egroup in 2003, followed by my Catechesis of the Good Shepherd & Catholic Learning egroup in 2004.

And why “Musings?”

I seem to have an attraction to alliteration – with all the “m’s”in Montessori methods and materials the word musings had the right ring to it.Then I looked up the meaning of the word in the dictionary – musings: meditation; thoughtfully abstracted.Perfect.

So the focus of this blog will be: “Musings on the Methods and Materials of MontessoriEducation.”

We will be meditating on and thoughtfully abstracting(summarizing) Montessori methods and materials especially from the perspectiveof parents who are homeschooling their children.