Learning about Insects for Home and School

Assembling unit studies is one of the things that I like doing.  Last summer, we worked on insects and I made a compilation of work which the boys did over the years on learning about these amazing animals.  You will absolutely love these ideas and they are perfect for kids from 5 to 10 years old.

Back to School: Our Math Learning Resources

We are using Montessori Math albums in our homeschool so our math works revolve mostly on classic Montessori materials.  I also integrate seasonal activities in our learning activities to add some twist.  I got my albums from Montessori Parent and KHT Montessori for early childhood.  These are amazing resources that have helped me understand the order of materials to use and basically how to use them.  We tend to do a lot of extension works, something that are not included in most of these albums.  I share these activities mostly in my Instagram account and hopefully I will have some time to share them here in the blog as well.

Note that this list is for our personal homeschooling only.  It doesn’t reflect what’s in a Montessori classroom.  The list serves as my guide in the subject area and Vito's possible activities this school year.  Although I have a plan and a guide it doesn’t mean that Vito is forced to work on all of these for the next 10 months.  Depending on Vito's interest and progress, we will choose which activity to do and prioritize.

Montessori Multiplication: Extension Work

My son wants to master his multiplication tables, especially for bigger numbers.  We are using both the Chinese/Singapore math (abstraction) method and Montessori when it comes to mastering his mathematical skills. For Montessori, though we have the Multiplication board, Mavi prefers using the colored beads as these keep him engaged and he thinks that they are more “fun”.  With this, I am so excited to share the learning materials we use to aid his mastery of multiplication using extension activities that goes perfectly with the Montessori colored beads.

These learning materials were very helpful, and my son enjoyed working on the extension activities.  The best thing about these learning materials is that they grow with your child and you can print them again and again so your child can practice each multiplication table through the years.

Montessori Addition and Subtraction of Fractions

Sharing some updates with regard to my elementary boy.  Though it may seem that I’m posting a lot about preschool activities, in the background my 9 years old is doing a lot of work too in math, geography/history, and science.  Now, one of the things he worked on last year was his fractions.  After working fractions and fraction equivalence, Mavi worked on addition and subtraction of fractions.  He did very well on this.  With one simple presentation, he grasped the concept right away, and after which he did a lot of practise using our fraction cut-outs.  Somehow, I find this straightforward, meaning if your child knows about their basic addition and subtraction they can breezily work on this and move on to multiplication of fractions or working with unlike fractions.

Montessori Inspired Shark Study for Kids

My 8 year old Mavi is into sharks nowadays and asked if we can do a study about them. The last time we had a shark study was years ago, when he was 4 years old and this time he wanted to use our Shark Anatomy Model which he recently bought. This is Vito’s very first shark activity and he had so much fun learning with his big brother.

Telling Time Activities

Mavi wanted to practice more of reading the time, especially when it comes to reading and writing “quarter to” and “half past”.  He seems to be confused with the positioning of the small hand.  So with this, I made a few activities for him to work afterschool.  I am sharing these activities as well as the printables were are using (yes it’s free!).

 

Introducing the North American History

Based on my experience, the best way to teach kids about history is through famous landmarks.  I remember growing up with my father’s stories of Greece, Spain, Egypt and South America.  He has photos taken at the Great Pyramids of Giza, Sphinx, in Acropolis, Christ the Redeemer in Rio and more.  He’s telling me a bit about history through the landmarks in his photos, which fascinated me.  Since then, I’ve been very interested in travelling and learning about world history. I wanted to inspire Mavi in the same way.  I always start my history lessons with the famous landmarks using our travel photos and the Safari Toobs (Around the World, World Landmarks).  Recently, I purchased the Safari Supertoob USA (on sale) because Mavi wanted to know more about the US (inspired by our trip there last May).

So in this post, I’m sharing how we worked on understanding the history of North America through famous landmarks, figures and playsets that depict the life of the early people of North America.

Hands-on Learning on the European Regions

Mavi is into geography once again and we are revisiting the Continent of Europe.  My approach for this year’s study is to look at Europe through the different regions.  It’s easier to understand and internalize facts when they’re into smaller groups than attacking them as a whole.

So I created these label cards for northern (blue), western (red), southern (orange) and eastern (green) Europe.  The color coding is based on our map in Europe in a Nutshell.  The mini flags seen in the photo is from Flags of Europe printable.

How to Teach the Anatomy of the Human Heart to Kids

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Mavi was so excited about this.  He has always been so curious of the human heart and how it works. Because he reads some biographies, he would encounter terms like “died of heart attack” LOL and most probably triggered his curiosity and enthusiasm in learning about the heart.  So I worked hard to create learning materials for our study and I’m so happy that they turned out pretty good, and Mavi loves them!

Objectives on why we study the human heart:

Learn how the heart works

Learn why it is one of the most important organs in the body

Learn its functions

Learn how to avoid getting heart diseases

Learn how to maintain a healthy heart

Learning about the human heart might be too advanced for a 7 years old.  But Mavi was persistent, and because I created the materials suitable for his age (lots of graphic presentation) he was so engaged the entire time we talked about this important internal organ.  Another advantage of learning this at home is that I get to filter “complex” concepts.  This means, I set aside information that he can’t absorb yet and save it once he’s old enough to understand complex functions of the heart.

So let me share with you how we worked on our human heart.  Links to the materials used are provided at the end of this post, including where to buy heart models.

The Human Heart and its Parts

It’s always been a practice that we always start learning about different parts of our subject.  And in Mavi’s case, he learns and absorbs everything with the use of The Human Heart 3-part cards.  We’ve been using this technique since he was 3 years old and so far he’s used to learning this way.  The retention is great, he can remember the parts by working on these cards over and over again. 

Of course, having a heart model adds up to the fun in learning. It’s the closest we can get to visualize what the heart really looks like, unless we dissect a pig’s heart

Aside from the 3 part cards, we also used the definition booklet included in The Human Heart learning pack. It was so handy whenever I needed to describe each part, its function and how it works. We took turns in reading and discussing the parts. 

Afterwhich, Mavi worked on the activity sheets, also included the The Human Heart learning pack.  It’s basically making his own heart anatomy booklet (less the description).

How the Human Heart Works

This part was for Mavi to understand how the blood flows in and out of the heart.  To demonstrate how this works, we used our materials mentioned below, plus pipe cleaners to trace the flow of blood.

In this part, we used the materials The Human Heart learning pack and Cardiovascular System Information Diagrams to learn how the heart works.  I created the information diagrams to see how the blood flows in and out of the heart and the blood distribution to the rest of the body.

As you can see, we used pipe cleaners to demonstrate the blood flow in the left ventricle (blue pipe cleaners) and the red pipe cleaners for the right ventricle. 

So now, Mavi knows which part of the heart is responsible for distributing deoxygenated blood to the lungs and the part which distributes oxygenated blood to the rest of the body.

Heart Diseases

I just have to include this to answer Mavi’s question about “heart attack”. Included in my Cardiovascular System Information Diagrams, is a presentation of the different heart diseases. One of the main focus of our study is the coronary heart disease which is the main cause of a heart attack. Here, I pointed out which part of the heart is affected and how it is causing the problem.

Our model comes with arteries showing the progression of fatty residue that limits the flow of blood flow.  See how Mavi discovered that there’s not enough space for the blood to flow when the walls of the artery is covered with fats.

Now his question is, can he still eat fatty foods? Now that’s another story and will be included in my Circulatory System post next month.

By the way, if you wish to demonstrate this with your kids, you can either use a straw or a hose, tissue rolls can also be used, and for the fatty residue Playdoh would be best.

And that’s about it, our human heart study.  I hope you find this post helpful!

Materials Used:

• Cardiovascular System Bundle Pack, this is the bundle that includes Cardiovascular System Information Diagrams, The Human Heart learning pack, and The Cardiovascular System
• Cardiovascular System Information Diagrams
• The Human Heart
• The Cardiovascular System

Where to buy Heart Model (US):

• Tedco Human Heart Anatomy
• Learning Resources Human Heart Model
• Heart Conditions Model

Where to buy Heart Model (UK/Europe):

• Eason’s  (if not available online, visit the store)
• Hamley’s  (if not available online, visit the store)
• 4D Human Heart Anatomy
• Learning Resources Human Heart

I know you’ll be needing this for later, so here’s a pinnable image for you!

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Continent Study of South America

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South America Continent Maps and Flags

Whenever we worked a geography lesson at home(for elementary only!), I always start with maps and flags because I wanted him to know the location and flags of certain cities from that continent.  We travel a lot, crossing countries and continents almost every year and so knowing all these will be useful. The Montessori Continent Puzzle that we are using is from Tower High Learning.

Sorting Musical Instruments

Yesterday, we started our Montessori-inspired activities for Music.  This is in preparation for our Montessori Music post this coming Friday, the 17th of July for 12 Months of Montessori Series.

Now, I just wanted to highlight this activity, of sorting musical instruments.  There are lots of instruments out there, but I think it is important for the child to identify the groups or families of these instruments to understand how they work.


The Helpful Garden has this amazing file of musical instruments!  It was created as a Montessori 3-part cards, but in our activity, we sorted them out according to their categories.  So I started off by presenting the instruments to Mavi and how these instruments make sounds.  (We also watched videos on how these instruments are being used)

Exploring Animals in the Marine Ecosystem

A sudden change in weather made us look into the world of marine animals.  Per usual, we use Safari Toob Animal Figures (Safari Ltd Coral Reef Toob and Toob Toobs Sharks Miniatures ), FREE Marine Animal Cards which I created a long time ago, books from the library (see affiliate list for the details) and some paper crafts for our mini project.