European Countries (Territory Outlines)

Greetings! 

We're revisiting our Europe Study this month and I've been a little bit busy adding more materials to our study.  Last year, I published these learning materials for a Europe Study Unit and now I came up with new ones that we can use to have a better understanding of this continent.

I have here the 43 European countries in their territorial map outlines/contours.  There are two files available:  map in outlines and map in solid black (click the image for the link).

 

 

 

These materials aim to help Mavi identify the countries of Europe by just looking at the contour of a specific country.  I remember when I was in high school we would do this in History class but of course, it only involves Asian countries.

My son definitely loves this.  He enjoys matching the cards to our Europe Puzzle Map.  I have to say though that some contours can really be challenging to match!

 

If you don't own a wooden puzzle map, you can still use the file as this is a 3-part card which means it includes picture cards and labels as well.

By the way, I printed out the ones with the outlines only as I am saving black ink :)  But I find the solid black ones so pretty!

I have a few more materials to publish in the next few days. I can't wait to share it with you!

Oh, for other references please read about our 2013 Europe Study here and here.

Thank you!

For more FREEbies and learning aids, please check The Pinay Homeschooler Shop and Downloads.

The Hundred Board

Aside from the Golden Beads, I also purchased the ever popular Hundred Board.  Now I understand why it is one of the bestselling Montessori materials.  The main function of the board is to familiarize the child of the numbers from 1 to 100 and reinforce the sequence.  But I can see a whole lot more.  At home, we use it for games that teaches patterning, addition and skip counting. 

Here's an example of a simple patterning set-up I have.  You can see missing horizontal and vertical lines for Mavi to complete.  Before we start the game, I let him discuss his observations.  After which I tell him that to complete the board without counting, he needs to see how the pattern goes.  Here on the first set up, the first digit is increasing while the second digit remains the same. 

With the second set-up, the first digit is constant while the second digit is increasing (see the numbers 1-10).

This technique helped him complete the hundred board without starting from 1 or if there's a mixed-up setting.   I was happy that he grasped the concept easily.  At times, I can see him place the tiles on the square by counting and sometimes by just following the order and pattern.

He complains that it's difficult to complete starting from 1, but by introducing some games he was more eager to use it and began enjoying it. 

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The Golden Beads Layout

 

Just wanted to share our recent work with the golden beads material.  I've been contemplating on purchasing these for a long time and I was convinced by fellow Mommy Montessori bloggers that these materials are worth a try.  Actually, I was convinced because now I have two kids to home school. So definitely these are worth-it!

I am using KHT Montessori Math Album in our schooling.

In a nutshell, I introduced the beads (unit, tens, hundreds and thousands) with their corresponding number symbol.  My son loved this.  He was able to tell the difference between the quantities of each number symbol.  He's like "The thousand is soooo heavy!"

  

We also learned how to compose and read bigger numbers! I made a printable of this but my son showed no interest. However when he saw this large number cards, he can't stop using it!  He loves creating his own number.... but somehow still confused on how to read it :) 

 

Well there are a lot of ways to practice composing bigger numbers and one of which is simply writing it down on a paper and have your child recreate the it using the number cards. 

  

Because the beads arrived in the time that my son has a better understanding of quantities (we previously practice making ones and tens), he was able to create this massive layout on his own.  I swear, I just left him and he did all the work in one sitting!

Completing the units...

 

Working on the tens...

 

Then the hundreds...

 

And thousands. Unfortunately, I only have 9 wooden thousand beads so he finished it till 4000 :)

 

It was impressive indeed! How I wish I purchased this early on.  But anyway, there are still a lot of work to be done with the golden beads. We'll be exploring those in the days to come.

This is so exciting!

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The Solar System and The Planets II

My son completed his mini project of our Solar System unit and he finally got to display it in his room.  It was a simple project for my 5 years old, something that I made him work during the midterm break.

I mentioned this previously in my post that we're going to plot the planets in a black craft paper.  First thing, he placed all the INNER PLANETS.  My son memorizes the order so I made he did all the work here.  I decided that it would be best to label the planets so he can memorize the spelling.

As you can see, we added "asteroids"  after Mars.

 

Then he continued with the OUTER PLANETS.

 

When everything is in place, he added stars (stickers).

And we both stick it on the wall using blutacks. And look how pretty it is! He was so happy how it turned out.  He felt proud of what he has accomplished! And I have to say that the use of foil in planets made such a huge difference!!  Now this is art and learning combined :)

Linking to:

Montessori Monday
TGIF Linky Party
Teach Beside Me
Preschool Corner
Teaching Mama
I Can Teach My Child
Home + School = Afterschool!
Natural Homeschool's Montessori Linky