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Monday, September 10, 2012

Montessori Monday~ The God With No Hands!

Well today was the big day...we had our first great lesson! I was all ready for it and was super excited! Plus to make it even better, we had some of our friends over to join us for the lesson! It was really exciting! I didnt have a chance to get alot of pictures of the lesson (I only have so many hands) but I did make sure to take pictures of the demonstrations! I had everyone read the story before hand because I had heard that for alot of classes the story with the demonstrations were really long and that there were issues with the kids being able to absorb everything at once! So I thought that if we read the story first, then they would be able to think about the story and give be excited by the experiments without getting overwhelmed. To be honest, I'm not sure if it helped, but the kids sure remembered alot of it!  They were really interested in all of it and they loved having the charts and experiments to go with the story! We got started right away and it went so well! Here are the pictures that I have. I made the charts myself and I am also offering them to you, my readers for your own classroom! :) All you need to do to download them is click the link below the picture!



Demonstration 1
(Solid, Liquid, and Gas)

Demonstration 2
(Attraction of Particles)

Demonstration 3
(Particles of Liquids)

Demonstration 4
(State of Matter Depends on the Temperature)
 

Demonstration 5
(Heavy Particles Settle First)
 
 

Demonstration 6
(The Volcano)
 

 
Like I said the lesson was really cool and the kids were fascinated and interested! In fact after I finished the story, they started working! I shouldnt feel so surprised, but I was! One of the kids wanted to repeate an experiment, the girls grouped together to draw the universe, and I even pulled out some of my solar system cards for another kid work with! WOW! They all were so involved in what they were doing and they all were doing cosmic work with very little help from me!
 
Exploring what will happen if you fill the test holding water all the way up with molasses. He wasnt sure if the water would flow out or the molasses! It turns out the water will over spill first!


Here are the girls coloring the earth, coloring and cutting stars, and labeling their work!





Here is Bunny's stars. We talked a bit about a constellation and what that was!



Working with solar system cards and matching them to the ones that hang on the ceiling!

Redoing the attraction of particles experiment

Here I sat with J. talking about why the different pieces of paper sink and others stay floating. I asked him why he thought it happened. He thought that the paper absorbed the water. I asked why he thought the others still floated. He thought for a while and we found that some of the hearts were doubled up from the punching, so maybe that was part of it. It was really interesting to see him thinking and working it all out! His mom told me later that he said, "it was cool because every time I asked a question she just told me to try it out and see what happens. She never really answered my questions, I had to figure it out. It was so fun!". Cosmic Education is happening all right!



 
It was ever so great! I loved all the work that the kids did! They all worked so hard. After it was about lunch time, the girl said that they had a show to preform! They each came up and told all about what they colored! It was really great to see them sharing their work! They were so proud!
 




C. shared her brothers work for him since he was too shy! :) What a good big sister! 
Bunny was in charge of making the signs that gilded people to the Star Show!
 
All in all it was a big success! They all did a great job and I am so excited that they were inspired! After everyone left, and the girls rested, asked Bunny if there was something in the story that she wanted to know more about. She said that she wanted to know all about the stars! I asked what she wanted to know, and this is he list of questions:
What are starts made of?
How do they get their light?
When did they start to appear?
And...well...everything!
Good questions huh? I asked her where she could find the information and she said we should go the library. So off we went! While we were there, Bunny also picked out some books about rocks and minerals! So I guess we will be learning about that too! :) Hooray for Cosmic Education!
I will be linking up to Montessori Monday! Be sure to stop over there for more Montessori fun!


8 comments:

  1. WOW!! Job Well Done!! Thank you for sharing.

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    1. Thanks ever so much! We all had a great time!

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  2. Great job! I was going to do that lesson yesterday as well but chickened out. I need a night when I'm home alone without my husband so I can get all the experiments set up without having to do them for him! Tonight is that night I think!

    All of the albums I have suggest a piece of wax, a piece of iron, and iron solder for the states of matter experiment. I see you have an ice cube instead of the iron. Do your albums say what the result of the experiment should be? I assume that some items will melt, some won't and at different rates. I would have an easier time choosing materials if I knew what three things I should be demonstrating. Wondered if you had more info.

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    1. From what I understand, the result of the demonsration is that the state of each matter can be different even though they are all over the same heat. All of the items start as soild, but as they are exposed to heat, some particals turn to a gas (my ice melted to gas), some turn to liquid (my crayon), and some stay solid (my S hook, for lack of something better at the moment). I dont know if that helps or not. In my album, it says to use was, lead, and iron. I'm not even sure where to easily get my hands on lead. At least this was safe and non toxic! ;)
      I am sure you are going to rock the great lessons! It was much easier and more fun then I thought! The kids really did all get to work. In fact I was rather under prepared for the questions and didnt have a whole lot of good resources for the work they wanted to do! It was pretty cool! I cant wait to see how your goes! Good Luck!

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  3. Thanks for the beautiful pictures of your lesson! Wish I could have seen in person how you demonstrated! Thanks for sharing the printables, I am collecting everything for when I would need this and probably going to keep re-reading your post till I get it!

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  4. Wow! OMG, You see what Im talking About?! You made a Awesome job! Besides, a full classroom! Soooo Good they dont wait to leave, and wait more! Love All! The art Work before. Everything!! Love it, Love it! Congrats My friend!

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  5. What a wonderful lesson, Stephanie! I love seeing how excited the kids were! Thanks so much for sharing your experience and your printables. In addition to featuring your post at the Living Montessori Now Facebook page, I pinned it to my Montessori Elementary Activities and Ideas Board at http://pinterest.com/debchitwood/montessori-elementary-activities-and-ideas/

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  6. Thank you for sharing the charts. I am going to do this great lesson with Bear. I think she will love it. It will inspire her for sure:) You and MBT are making me want to turn back to Montessori Elementary:) Bear has not been inspired by school lately.

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