These are a great addition to your reading shelf. There are a few levels of difficulty so you can do this with a range of readers. The simplest set would correspond to the “blue” reading level (blends and multi-syllables). The second set has words that include phonograms highlighted in red. The most […]
Blog
Free Montessori Printable Phonogram Sentences
Ok my friends, this is a HUGE printable and may be my favorite of the lot. You get THREE sentences for EACH of the Montessori phonograms. Yeah, THREE… EACH. This took forever to put together and I love it. I hope you will too! The sentences do include a few basic sight words like “the”, […]
Free Montessori Printable Phonogram Sorting
Three pictures to go with each of the standard Montessori phonogram sandpaper letters. The phonogram sound may be found at the beginning, middle, or end of the word.
Consonant Blends Word List: Free Montessori Printable
A whole lot of word lists to add to your phonetic reading shelf! A variety of beginning and ending blends are represented.
Free Montessori Printable Beginning Sound Sorting Cards
These cards can be used for a variety of early language activities. Cut out and mount on colored paper to coordinate with your letter sets. I do not like to teach the sound of the letter X in the initial position and so this set does not include any pictures for X. All the other […]
December Fine Motor Shelf
Here are some pictures of our fine motor shelves all decked out in red and green to celebrate the season 🙂 December Fine Motor Fun! Pouring from a festive votive candle holder Tonging little ornaments into a candle holder we found at a thrift store. This little peg board is from the dollar store. I […]
December Printables
Here are some of the materials on our shelves in December Play Dough Mats Add these to your play dough work and see what the children do with them. I’ve really developed a liking for play dough mats over the last few years! From the December Preschool Pack Cutting Cutting strips. Children can practice […]
Thanksgiving in Our Class
We wanted to share some pictures from last year’s Thanksgiving Feast. This is the one holiday we always celebrate together as a class. It ties in so well with our study of North America, of plants and food, and is a culmination of so many of the practical life skills we’ve been practicing since the […]
December Phonological Awareness
I find that most Montessori Language Albums (manuals) don’t provide enough information about the pre-literacy skills children need to develop before being introduced to the Sandpaper Letters. In my opinion, a lot of time should to be spent on oral language development and ear training before symbols are introduced. Phonological awareness is an umbrella term […]
Learning About Leaves
Matching pressed leaves Matching leaf silhouettes Identifying leaves and trees This is a great fan deck with images of leaves and the trees they grow on Sorting big and little leaves Parts of a Leaf 3-part cards (Free in the Trillium Resource Library) Learning about leaf shapes with the botany cabinet Leaf […]
November Printables
There are so many great educational printables around the web for November! Here are some of our favorites: Language Oral Language “Hide, Turkey, Hide!” Prepositions Game. We found these little turkeys at Michael’s (a craft store). The lovely cards are from Kinder Kapers. Visual Matching Love these scarecrow matching cards! They are part of […]
November Fine Motor Shelf
Here are some of the fine motor activities we have lined up for November! Gotta bring out the turkey baster in November! Tweezing corn kernels. We picked up some ears of corn when we went on our field trip to the farm a couple of weeks ago. This one requires a little more dexterity. Picking […]
Plants We Eat
We introduced plants and plants we eat during our study of pumpkins. Here are some more of the activities we have been doing to explore the concept of edible plant parts. Sorting Plants on a Plate (I wish I could find the source for this set! It was a hand-me-down that I received over a […]
Pumpkins in Our Montessori Class
How Does a Pumpkin Grow? We went to the pumpkin patch to find out! We love it when our alumni come to visit! We planted some pumpkin seeds to watch them grow You can find these great cards at Montessori For Everyone. We made these pumpkin sequencing cards using images from Google. What’s […]
October Printables
Here are some of the card materials we have on our Math and Language shelves this month. We’ve been trying to bring in the themes of Fall and Halloween to celebrate October. I still have mixed feelings about Halloween in the classroom since it’s such a fantasy-based holiday. However, it is a big part of […]
On the Shelves in October
Fine Motor shelves with an October theme Pouring acorns Tweezing mini pumpkins into a pumpkin icecube tray Spooning and pouring corn kernels Spooning lima bean ghosts. Thanks to Pinterest for the inspiration! Gluing-on-a-dot using Halloween themed confetti Making a jack-o-lantern with basic shapes We have these Halloween themed paper punches available on the art […]
Introduction to Montessori Geography
Introduction to Geography: A Montessori Approach The Montessori approach utilizes hands-on learning, independence, and exploration. When it comes to introducing young learners to geography, this method proves to be both engaging and effective, fostering a sense of curiosity and wonder about the world. Children are introduced to geography through tactile and visual experiences, such as […]
Montessori At Home
We had our first Parent Education Workshop of the year last week. We talked about things that can be done at home to support what the children are doing at school. All of our tips and suggestions center around helping the child become more independent. Here are some examples of ways parents can organize their […]
How to Start a New Class
How to Start A New Class Today’s post is about what we do during the first few days in our classroom. This post ended up being a lot longer than I had originally planned. It’s also coming a few weeks late since all of you are back to school already. But, I hope it helps […]
Organizing Thematic Units and Seasonal Supplies
Last month I wrote about how I use a unit studies approach to our “cultural” curriculum. I love how it has simplified my organization system. I used to keep my materials categorized by curriculum area. For example, all the language materials were in one cabinet, all the practical life materials were in one spot, and […]
Organizing Art Supplies
Organizing Art Ideas Pinterest is now my organizing tool of choice for all curriculum ideas. I have a board dedicated just to art, but I tend to add more art pins to my Unit studies boards. This makes it easier to decide when to use a particular activity. But before Pinterest, I had binders […]
8 Tips for Organizing Practical Life Supplies
Woohoo! Only a Montessori teacher can understand the rush of owning tiny bowls and pitchers and tongs. In the early days, you think you can’t possibly ever have enough. And then the day comes when you realize, by golly, you have to stop accumulating them because there’s no room left in the ~ahem~ fourth dimension. […]
Organizing in Four Dimensions
Over the years, I’ve collected a lot of classroom materials. I mean, a lot. If you’re a teacher, there’s a good chance you know exactly what I’m talking about. It starts with a few cute trays, a stack of themed printables, some thrift store finds that might come in handy one day… and before you […]
The Evolution of My Montessori Record Keeping System
I have been working and observing in Montessori classrooms for a good fifteen years now and I’ve seen dozens of different ways to keep track of the mountain of information generated on a daily basis. I’m also a bit of an information junkie and I collect ideas like they’re about to run out (have you seen my Pinterest boards?!) […]
A Simple Montessori Graduation
Do We Really Need a Graduation for Preschool? I have struggled with this question over the years, and more so the last few when we’ve only had preschoolers in our class. Fancy graduation ceremonies for preschool have always left me feeling uneasy. Many of the typical graduation rituals seem so… developmentally inappropriate for this […]
Around the World
Geography and world cultures are a big part of the curriculum in Montessori and we’re very lucky to have families who have traveled all over the world! Here are pictures from some of the wonderful presentations that parents have shared with us over the past few months. Africa Trying on a hat from Egypt Enjoying […]
Painted Lady Butterflies
Painted Lady Butterflies are a common and well-known species of butterfly found in many parts of the world. They are easily recognizable by their colorful and patterned wings. In this lesson, we will explore the Painted Lady Butterfly’s life cycle, habitat, and role in the ecosystem. Studying Painted Lady Butterflies provides an excellent way for […]
Flower Activities
We were given such a spectacular display of flowers for Teacher Appreciation week that we thought it was time to bring out our floral works! Sensorial Exploration Different Kinds of Flowers We have a ridiculous number of picture matching cards and they’re all out on the shelves! I may donate some of these to […]
Happy Mother’s Day
Trillium Moms are the best! You made our classroom look absolutely gorgeous with the stunning array of flowers you brought us for Teacher Appreciation week. Thank you for the love! We hope you enjoy the Mother’s Day books your children have been busy making for you all week! Mother’s Day Book Making Work Here […]
April in Action
These videos show a glimpse of daily life in our classroom during the month of April. The background song is “La Mariposa” (The Butterfly) by Colibri This has been one of our favorite group time songs this month. We’ve been playing a variation of the freeze dance game. When the music plays, we dance around […]
Africa Themed Fine Motor Trays
We made a few minor changes to our fine motor shelf this week. The pouring shelf is practically the same as it has been all month. We just changed the color to green to coordinate with the color of Africa on the Montessori continent globe. Most of the other trays include some sort of […]
The Continent of Africa
We’re learning about the continent of Africa this month! Here we have our materials for the study of Africa displayed on our Geography shelf. I’m lucky to have a sister who travels a lot and brings back treasures for the classroom! So many fun things to touch and examine here! These items are […]
Bugs! Fine Motor and Art Activities on the Shelf
We’ve been learning about bugs: butterflies, ladybugs, grasshoppers, spiders, and cicadas! Affiliate links are used in this post for your convenience. Read my full affiliate disclosure here. The children have begun to bring bugs in that they’ve discovered on their walks. Here we have a black and yellow millipede in this critter case. Examining cicada shells in […]
Learning About Bugs
It’s spring and the season for bugs! We have a little guy in our class this year who is going to be over the moon about this unit. We call him the bug whisperer. Come back next week to check out photos of our Fine Motor and Art shelves filled with buggy activities. Our oh-so-very […]
Australia: Music Playlist
Here are some of the songs we’ve been enjoying during our study of Australia. Our favorites** are starred. These are the ones we’ve listened to almost every day for the past month! The People and Languages of Australasia Waltzing Matilda Give Me a Home Among The Gum Trees ** The Animals of Australia The Kangaroo Song […]
Learning About Australia
We’ve been learning about the continent Australia! One of our parents brought along some wonderful items from Australia to share with us. Boomerangs! Holding a Koala What’s on the Shelf? Here’s our unit studies shelf with materials about Australia Geography of Australia This is our Australia Geography folder full of images from Australia and the Pacific […]
Learning About Japan
One of our families recently took a trip to Japan. They came back and shared a ton of fun things with us! He wore his T-shirt from Japan for the presentation. Where is Japan? Here is the flag of Japan Here are some fans that we can decorate with stickers from Japan. Cherry blossoms Chopsticks […]
St. Patrick’s Day Fine Motor Activities
We have rainbows in the class, but St. Patrick’s Day won’t be complete without a little green! Here’s our fine motor shelf for March Pouring On the very top are our pouring activities, in various shades of green. The mini leprechaun hats are from the Dollar Store and the trays are from Montessori Services (affiliate link). […]
Rainbows!
We decided to honor St. Patrick’s day with a rainbow theme this year. Who doesn’t love rainbows? (Since we have only preschoolers in the class this year, we won’t be going into the science of rainbows.) The Colors of the Rainbow The children can use these Montessori Color Tablets to sequence the colors of the […]
Sitting on the Rug
I’m excited to share our very first guest post with you! Heidi Walker will be coming over to Trillium next month to conduct our April Parent Workshop. I had a great time chatting with her recently and I am sure you will all get a TON out of her presentation! Read more about Heidi […]
February in Action
Here are the videos of our classes in action during the month of February! Parents, please check your emails for our February newsletter. [vimeo]https://vimeo.com/60799636[/vimeo] [vimeo]https://vimeo.com/60799635[/vimeo]
Antarctica: Learning About Whales
We love whales! Here are a few of the books we’ve been using Some of the children spontaneously took out the world puzzle map and globes while they examined the books about whales. I love when they start doing these things on their own! One of our parents emailed us this little gem: “You must have […]
Antarctica: Learning About Penguins
As part of our continued study of Antarctica, we have been talking about Penguins. Here’s a cute little Penguin book I found for beginning readers. I printed out one copy on blue paper for the class. I will be binding it together into a book for the shelf. You can get it at […]
Learning About Antarctica: An Overview
We began learning about the continent Antarctica this week. Here are some of the new materials we’ve had out on the shelves. I will be posting more in the coming weeks so keep an eye out! Pictures from Antarctica Our Geography Continent folder has some great images depicting a variety of scenes from Antarctica. You […]
Valentine Theme Activities
It’s February – here are some of our favorite classroom activities for this time of year! Pre-Literacy This is a fun matching work that Ms. Rashidah created for us last year. I like how you have to look carefully to make sure you get the correct pair of valentine stamp stickers matched up. Math The […]
Learning About Space 2
Here’s our unit studies shelf with many of the Astronomy materials described in our first Learning About Space post. The Universe nesting boxes My school is in the town of Cary, which is in the State of North Carolina, which is in the country of the United States, which is on the continent of North […]
January in Action
Here are the latest videos from our class! If you’ve been following our blog for the past month, check out these videos to see all of our winter activities in use! Parents, check your emails for our January Newsletter. See our earlier videos on Vimeo and YouTube Linked to these great early education blogs […]
Learning About Space
Here’s our unit studies shelf with many of our Astronomy materials. This is our Solar System basket. I paper mache’d the foam planets from a kit in order to make them more durable. The booklet has a great song entitled “The Family of the Sun”. I used a product called sculptamold on this styrofoam […]
Animals in Winter
This is our Unit Studies shelf with activities to help children explore what animals do in winter. Here’s our setup for making animal tracks in playdoh. A little glitter in the white playdoh can make the work even more attractive. I used the animals from our North America box for this activity. […]
Working with the Easel
We love everything about painting at the easel! Over the last few weeks we’ve been exploring tints. What happens to blue when you mix it with white? I love how this little guy left the top right quadrant of his paper blank and declared his painting finished. Check out some of these old videos of […]
Free Preschool Printables for Winter
Here are some highlights from our early literacy shelf (pictured above) in January: What’s Missing on the Snowman? from A Child’s Place. Scroll down to the “printouts” section near the bottom of the page for this free printable PDF. Snowman Sequencing from Teach It With Class. I Have, Who Has… Winter Words from […]
January- What’s New on the Art Shelves this Winter?
Pinpunching snowflakes and mittens. The mittens can be decorated with little dots or paper-punched snowflakes Pinpunching a snowman and decorating with various items Cutting coffee-filter snowflakes. I like to pre-fold and pre-draw the lines, then paperclip together to help the younger ones manage this work. Older children can be shown how to prepare the […]
Linked to these Great Blogs
I regularly link my posts to these great blogs. Please check them out! Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Fine Motor Activities For January
Pouring sparkly pom poms Pouring blue rice Pouring blue water using a funnel Spooning gel beads in a snowman dish Spooning sparkly balls into dimpled foam packaging Straight pins into a shaker. I put the shaker in a little winter-y bowl Tweezing and sorting fuze beads Using an eye dropper to add one drop […]
Protected: Welcome to Trillium’s FREE RESOURCE LIBRARY
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.