The week we were receiving the new season (Spring), we were blessed with a great weather. Pinky was learning about the seasons at school. She was introduced to some of the fabulous characteristics about Spring, but how do you really knows if she understand what is Spring all about? Most of the time or maybe the easy way for us (parents) is just using the question and answer method. But this can become monotonous, not engaged or uninterested. I decided to do it by the hard way and, honestly, the fun one: I gave her my camera (the only one we have) and we headed outside. While we were walking our way to the nearest playground, I asked her: Can you show me Spring?

This is what she shared with me:

 

Spring is: plants, ants, green grass, leaves, feathers, blue sky, clouds, people walking, green trees, sticks, sun, dirt and a visible plane on the sky, and a mommy and daughter shadow sharing a bonding time.

 

As you can see she got way better at using the camera.

Linking to:

I love to take pictures of my little Pinky. I have thousand of photos since the first moment I saw her. Some of them have been lost because camera or computer problems and, sometimes, this hurts . They were treasured moments for a mommy. However, they’re still on my mind. I love to watch them whenever I can and see how much my sweetie has changed. How time flies!!!

A few days ago, she had her first Pajama day at school. Oh my! She was really pretty on those pjs. They were bought specially for this occasion. We went to Macys to buy some stuff for daddy and then she saw it: the perfect pajama! A Hello Kitty one! How could you say no to a little cute face and well behaved (at that moment) little girl?

That morning, I forgot to take the camera with me. How could that happen??? Well….it didn’t happen twice….I took it with me at the end of the school day and managed to take a few photos of my cute little princess.

Now we know something:

We love pajama Days!!!!

Here we are with more pond-related fun. This was such a great unit. There are many resources available  and ideas all over the internet. I tried to include a little bit of everything but mostly Montessori-inspired activities.

Practical life

Pouring water (this is the first time I set up on a tray this activity for Pinky. She is used to pour water while she helps me to cook, take a bath, or serve her own drinks. The outcome: She mastered, it was kind of easy for her, but fun. It was her favorite tray (you know: WATER!), repeating it multiple times. Self-explanatory (she loved to clean up the spills with the sponge) and independent.

Sharpening a pencil with a cute turtle sharpener from Target. She got really good at this one. Great concentration!

Scooping duck balls (and yellow pom-poms). Not a fav one. She did it twice, maybe.

Tweezing spiders (feeding the frog). I saw this idea featured at Living Montessori Now Leap Year activities post from The Preschool Experiment (she has such a great Pond unit post). This is an empty parmesan cheese container. I glued two green pom-poms, two googly eyes and a piece of red felt.

Motor

Pin pouching a duck silhouette. She loved it!!! Did the whole thing right away. I am thinking about using the duck for an art project.

Foam stickers for pincer grasp. This was a Math activity,too. She made her own patterns. Pinky is REALLY REALLY good at patterning. She can differentiate patterns taking into consideration their shape or color.

 

More stickers. I got this one last year, on sale aster Easter. I am never wrong with stickers!!!

 

Math

Counting lily pads (water beads) up the way ‘till 100. I got this idea from Starry Sky Ranch blog here. Of course, our mat was not that cute because I got a $1.00 bath tub mat at the dollar store which only had 8 rows on one of the sides, so I had to cut and paste pieces in order to get a 10 x 10 mat. Also, I had to paint the cups so she wouldn’t get confuse. Now you now: Make sure to get a bigger mat!!! Otherwise, we just used to practice our numbers and some pincer grasp. She loved it! So bad I didn’t get photos!   

Math game. I found this idea after reading this great Pond unit post. There you can find the link to the picture if you scroll all the way until the end…..believe me this is a HUGE all about frogs unit. I printed 2 copies and glued them on cardstock. Then, add two chips (we used 2 heart-shaped beads) and a dice. One player roll the dice, count how many dots she got and move the chip that many spaces starting at one corner (count how many dragonflies your froggy can eat). The first player to hop all the way until completing the square, wins! This was a hit with Pinky since she LOVES board games.

Sizes. Group by Large, Medium, Small. She wasn’t interested about this one. Maybe too easy for her.

I think this is everything for now! I still have lots of more stuff to post.

Can you guess the place????

Yes, you are right….The Pond!!! I’ll share more pics later! We had a fabulous time!