Here is the latest tour of our classroom!

OK, so we have had our huge delivery of Montessori materials... and here is a quick tour for you all!

Record Keeping - how I am doing it...

I have tried several ways of record keeping for the classroom. I have used Evernote, Montessori Workspace and notebooks... None of them really did it for me. I am a very visual person, and I just couldn't deal with having things online, but not able to glance at them. So, after being inspired by Addie's nursery's method of record-keeping, I devised my own method. I have basically printed out 7 sets of sheets, 1 set for each 'term' or 7-week block. In the set, I have included
3 record sheets to actually record the work Addie has done (these are blank one side so I can add photos). These are set out with the Montessori areas on them so I can see which areas of the curriculum we are covering.

Then I have a double-sided sheet which helps to map what she is doing over to the International Baccalaureate's Learner Profile, Attitudes to Learning and Characteristics of Learners. This is merely a preparation for using the IB later on, but it is interesting to keep records of how she learns, and not just what she learns:

On the back of this I note down what she has learnt at church, any service, exercise, arty stuff etc she has done.

I then have a double sided page which actually correlates to her nursery records, which I will copy into here. This maps her learning on to the Early Years Foundation Stage, which I am not too fussed about following, but it is nice to have an idea of where she is... 

And then at the end I have a review sheet with planning for the next term on it:

I have been using this since January, and we are having an easy introduction into any kind of schedule (yes I am finding it hard to adjust!)... but here are some photos of how it looks in action:

Anyway, so there it is... I am really liking this method. Many people do not keep records, and probably most people don't keep this many records, but I see it as a way of journalling my kids' progress, and for me, this is working perfectly so far!

Science workshop

Addie and Jay went to a science workshop together and they really enjoyed themselves!

Sensorial stuff

Practical life this year

Here are some of the things we have been doing in Practical Life/Botany... 

Quantity recognition and money matching

Addie is obsessed with money and stones, so I made a matching activity for her with coins, and then with glass beads (which we got away with calling stones!) where she matches the stones to the number of dots. We haven't done any counting or anything, it is just a preparation for recognising quantities etc.

It's been a while...

And this is why... On 5th December 2014 we welcomed this gorgeous little guy, Brogan Jonathan Dale Ray-Jones!  

He was so little, he even got to be baby Jesus in our church nativity!!

Time has flown by and he is 2 months now, and Addie will be 2 in a couple of days!! She has developed so much since October, I have had to add so many more activities to the classroom - pics to follow soon!

Today was our first day back into the classroom, and she loved it!!