Our Montessori Homeschool: circle

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

"Sewing" cards (circle shape) with no needle (for your piece of mind)

Last week we did a lot of activities that include circle shapes, we learn a little bit about the circles and straight lines, their differences, etc. "The circle is a line that curves around a central point", I illustrated with a crayon on a string ( like a compass), draw around the circle with your finger and show that a circle has no beginning and no end. (Sorry for not having pictures to show).

Sewing Cards:

A quick and easy activity, was creating a circle sewing card. I used a circle inset, trace it over red construction paper, laminate it, punch wholes and Ta Da..... That's it...... It was nice to found red yarn laying around in some corner of my house. The kids really enjoy this activity, 25 minutes well spent "sewing" .

Preparation For Writing - Metal Insets

This is the first of the writing activities. Dr. Montessori analyzed the movements which are connected with writing and developed the Metal Insets to strengthen the three finger grip and coordinate the necessary wrist movements. One of the classic works in a Montessori classroom is the “metal insets”. The metal insets introduce a child to plane geometry: the child works with the rectangle, triangle, curvilinear triangle, circle, ellipse, qua trefoil, pentagon, square, trapezium and oval, to carefully outline the shape and then color it in, discovering that the triangle has three sides, a circle is round, a square has four even sides, and a pentagon has five. Work with the metal insets develops a child’s eye-hand coordination, strengthens and refines the child’s pencil grip, increase a child’s ability to concentrate, and stirs the child’s interest in design and beauty. The children can make works of art with these shapes, varying the shades, the selection of colors, the shape of the lines, even overlaying one shape upon another. It is both the process and the final product that interest the child.