Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Atrium

I've been pretty busy getting ready to start school and working from home as a marketing consultant, managing social media and writing copy and content for a few companies! Since I have a lot going on right now, I thought I'd repost some oldies, but goodies! I hope everyone is doing great and that you have a wonderful start to the new school year!!!

Copyright Stephanie@ Discovery Days and Montessori Moments

Stephanie over at Discovery Days and Montessori Moments has shared some lovely pictures of her local Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium. Get inspired and check out the rest of her wonderful blog while you're there.

Looking for a Catholic Montessori Albums?

Digital Catholic Montessori Catechesis Albums for Home Use
Level I (Ages 3-6) Level II (Ages 6-9)

PAPYPAL
$75

These albums are scanned digital files and include lessons on parables like The Good Shepherd, the Mass, and more! Receive your PDF albums via email within 24 hours of purchase.

Level I Catechesis Album

Table of Contents


Environment


Introduction to the Atrium


Movement and Nomenclature

The Altar: Level One

The Altar: Level Two

The Altar: Level Three

The Altar: Level Four (The Tabernacle Genuflection)

Sign of the Cross

Liturgical Calendar

Preparation of the Cruets


Geography

Globe and Topographical Map

Puzzle Map

City of Jerusalem


Celebrations

Advent Celebration

Christmas Celebration

Liturgy of the Light

Pentecost Celebration


Prophecy

Prophecy of the Light

Prophecy of the Names

Prophecy of the City

Prophecy of the Mother

Prophecy of the Star


The Good Shepherd

The Good Shepherd

The Found Sheep

The Eucharistic Presence of the Good Shepherd

The Wolf and the Hireling


Parables of the Kingdom

The Mustard Seed

The Pearl of Great Price

The Leaven

The Hidden Treasure

The Wheat Seed

Paschal Parable: The Grain of Wheat


The Infancy Narratives

The Annunciation

The Visitation

The Nativity and Adoration of the Shepherds

The Presentation in the Temple

The Adoration of the Magi


Baptism

Baptism: Level One- the Light and the White Garment

Baptism: Level Two- the Water and the Word

Baptism: Level Three-the Gestures and the Oils


The Mass

Preparation of the Chalice

The Cenacle

Gestures of Mass: Lavabo

Gestures of Mass: Consecration

Preparation to Hear the Gospel


Prayers

Psalm 23:1

Psalm 23: 1-3

Hail Mary: Part One

Hail Mary: Part Two

Introduction to the "Our Father"

Maxims

Level II Catechesis Album

Table of Contents

The History of the Kingdom of Heaven

    The Unity of the History

    The History of the Gifts

    What Is the Bible?

Geography

    Pin Map

    City of Jerusalem with Passion Narratives

Prophecy

    Prophecy of the Light (Second Presentation)

    Synthesis of the Prophecies

    Prophecy of the Peaceful Kingdom

    Prophecy of the Holy Spirit

    Prophecy of the Hills and Valleys

The Good Shepherd

    The Eucharistic Presence of the Good Shepherd (Second Presentation)

    The Wolf and the Hireling (Second Presentation)

Parables

    1.  Parables of the Kingdom

            Synthesis of the Parables

    2.  Moral Parables

            The Good Samaritan

            The Insistent Friend

            The Ten Virgins

            The Sower

            The Pharisee and the Publican

            The Wedding Feast

    3.  Parables of Mercy

            The Found Sheep (Second Presentation)

            The Found Coin

The Infancy Narratives

    The Flight into Egypt

    Synthesis of the Infancy Narratives

The Sacraments

    Composite Presentation of Baptism

    The Rite of Baptism

    The Sacrament of Penance

    Summary of the Law

    Overview of Sacramental Preparation

    Meditation 1: The True Vine

    Meditation 2: The True Vine, Second Perspective

    Meditation 3: The Found Sheep and the Found Coin

    Meditation 4: The Prodigal Son

    Meditation 5: The Cure of the Centurion's Servant

    Plan for the First Communion Retreat

The Mass

    Children's Personal Missals

    Synthesis of the Mass

    Origin of the Eucharist

    Altar Definition Cards

    The Consecration

    Re-enactment of the Last Supper

Prayers

    Communal Prayer

    The Lord's Prayer:  Messianic Portion

    The Lord's Prayer:  Entire Prayer

    Maxims

    Psalm 23

Celebrations

    Synthesis of Pentecost

Practical Life

    Match Lighting 

    Calligraphy

Montessori Enrichment Activities

My kids love choosing electives like the art puzzle above, after their core school learning is done for the day! It's important to give kids the opportunity to learn and explore on their own. It gives them the chance to try out many of the concepts they've learned in their school subjects. Some of our electives include: Exploring art through different mediums and techniques, typing, graphic design, building, researching topics of interest, playing the guitar or ukelele, and more. These are especially great for the older set of kids as too!

What elective options do your children enjoy?

Creating an Art Studio for Young Children

My daughter creating enjoying some art time.

Euphoria's old blog has a 5 part series of posts on Creating an Art Studio for a Young Child. She's since created a new blog that you can read at Euphoria for Green Mama's.

I love reading about how to set up creative and learning spaces. If you have a covered patio, you might even want to set up a little outdoor art studio with Euphoria's tips and things like colored water spray bottles!

Do you have an art area for your children at home? If you are a teacher, what is your art section like at school?

Sorting Animals by Continent!

Photo taken from, and property of Butterfly Montessori Blog

I came across this very cool piece of "Montessori Candy" and just had to pass it along! Check it out at Butterfly Montessori Blog. What a great idea for inclusion in Montessori continent studies! Thank you Natasa! I wonder if she could share some tips on making fabric continents? I'm wondering if you would just trace the continent map puzzle pieces on to felt and then enlarge it somehow? I don't know?! I'm not very crafty! I guess I'll just have to ask her on her blog! Don't forget to check out the rest of her blog! She has oodles and oodles of ideas to share with everyone and great pictures to accompany them too! I had seen her blog before, but it wasn't until just recent that I "discovered" the translator function she has included on the left hand side of her blog. I'll definitely be checking out her blog even more now that I've got help of the translator!

... After a little bit of thinking, I just got an idea! Maybe a variation of this activity could be to trace continent puzzle map pieces on to paper and then use a copier to enlarge the outline and print it on to colored card stock, glue on to a 8.5x11 sheet of white colored card-stock and laminate, or copy an enlarged outline on to an 8.5x11 sheet of white card- stock and just draw over the outline in the appropriate color with a marker and then laminate. You could place 7- 8.5x11 sheets on a tray with a basket of animals and/or laminated cards of animal photos (cards with corresponding outline color for each continent like Natasa has shown). You could even start with two continents on a tray, and one by one add a continent sheet and corresponding animals/cards until you have all 7 on a tray. This sounds like such a fun idea that the children would love!

If you're short on time, you might want to check out this alternative at
Montessori Print Shop: Animals of the Continents

Montessori Print shop also has some great individual cards of the animals and their corresponding continents if you want to make up your own activity: Animal Cards
We've purchased these for our co-op and really like them a lot!

By the way, I just found out that Jessica at "Garden of Francis", is selling felt world maps. Check out her page Here for more information and for questions on custom products.

The Little Travelers: Japan

My 5 year old decided to buy The Little Travelers: Japan dvd with money he received from his Godparents for his birthday. His Godparents went to Japan about 3 years ago, and had a lot neat stories to tell and pictures to show. We just watched it a couple of days ago and both the children and I absolutely loved it! It was filmed through the perspective of 2 little girls, sharing with us their experiences in a new country and culture. I think this is a great dvd to show to any child really, but I especially found it great for children being raised with a Montessori type education.

In school we are focusing on Asia for our geography and cultural studies this month. This dvd will fit in perfectly with our study of Japan, along with watching Frances Xavier and the Samurai's Lost Treasure. The 6-9 class will also be learning about how the Catholic Church survived underground in Japan for a couple of hundred years. and the messages of Our Lady of Akita.

What's for Lunch?

Photo from LaptopLunches.com

Yesterday, I found this awesome website called LaptopLunches.com

I was looking for lunch ideas for my weekly menu to make life easier during the school season. I was so excited to have found Laptop Lunches because they have tons of pictures a.k.a. "eye candy", and the lunches look really easy to modify for less expensive or available ingredients. Today, we had the lunch above, but substituted the papaya for diced nectarines because that is what we had. I don't have a panini press, (but would love to have one!), so I did with what I had there as well. I sliced the ciabatta and spread mayonnaise on each side, then sprinkled a little garlic on them. Meanwhile I had some slices of zucchini, red onion, red bell pepper, and chopped parsley with a little bit of salt, sauteing in olive oil. I placed mozzarella cheese on the ciabatta slices and made a sandwich with the veggies. I placed the sandwich on a griddle, then placed a large pan on top and then a kettle full of water on top of that! I then pressed down and voila! I had delicious "panini" sandwiches! (panini grill is going on my wish list!)
I'm going to try my best to pre-make each days lunches with the ideas from Laptop Lunches, so that lunch break is actually a break and not hectic for us. The nice thing about lunch this way is that the children can help. Tonight, my 7 year old cut fresh green beans for us and placed them in a Rubbermaid container for easy lunch assembly later. For Montessori lunch making, you could even layout all of the pre-cut ingredients for a lot of these lunches and have the children assemble their own lunches by looking at a printed picture from the website. For correct nutritional portions, you could have 1 cup, 1/2 cup, etc.. measuring scoops in each ingredients container. I found correct portion sizes listed on the Laptop Lunches website and printed them out so I could start learning what they are.
I noticed that most, (if not all) of the Laptop Lunches pictured were meatless. As Catholics, we keep the custom of not eating meat on Fridays and of course there are days throughout the Liturgical year that call for fast and abstinence. I found this to be a great added bonus!

Besides the Laptop Lunches website, there is also a Laptop Lunches Flickr group where you can find more inspirational ideas for both kid and adult lunches.
Please feel free to leave comments and share if you've got any other great easy meal making systems or ideas!

Last Saturday of Summer: Farmers Market, Parade, & Urban Farming Harvest Festival

We had a great day yesterday. In the morning we went to the Farmers market and bought apples for our Montessori co-op this week, we also bought flowers so the children could arrange them and put them on our little class altar. We sat on the grass and enjoyed some bluegrass music and tasted some delicious fire baked pizza from an oven brought all the way from Naples Italy!

Later we went to a parade and festival at an art school where my husband teaches. The children enjoyed seeing some old cars turned into garden beds for pumpkins and sunflowers. We even saw a tumbleweed sculpture there. It was pretty cool.

After lunch and naps, we headed out once again for an urban farming harvest festival. We got to enjoy an afternoon hayride underneath clear blue skies dotted with puffy white clouds. It was a lot of fun and later we got to watch a short documentary on our local "farm to table" program. That got the children all worked up about eating the apples we bought at the farmers market earlier that day. It was a really great day, one that we'll surely remember! Thank you Lord Jesus for days like this! The pictures below are snippets from our day. Enjoy!

Wildflowers and Marbles: Eye Candy and More!

Check out Jen's blog, Wildflowers and Marbles, for a glimpse into her home learning space. Aside from all the eye candy, she also has some wonderful posts about how she stays so organized. I absolutely love reading about organization, especially from other mom's, and love being able to peek into a beautiful learning space such as hers!

My First YouTube Video!

My husband showed me how to make a quick 60 second video and upload it tonight. It was fun, and more simple than I thought. Check it out!

What's on the Shelf?

Check out this blog full of inspiring ideas and photos for your Montessori shelves at home or school: On The Shelf: A Picture Diary of Montessori Work In Our Classroom

Inspiration for Edible School Gardens

This video was taken from the Edible School Yard website. They have some interesting sounding publications on integrating various curriculum with the school garden. Check it out!

Sooo Cute!

I love, love, love this video from Countryside Montessori in Illinois! Check out these Montessori children preparing and setting up lunch!

Montessori Art Shelves

Photo used with permission from Montessori for Everyone

With summer approaching, I've been thinking of ideas for setting up some fun Montessori inspired shelves to keep the kids learning while having fun. Lori at Montessori for Everyone has a great blog post about bringing art into the Elementary classroom, as a well as a whole bunch of other great blog posts. These include topics such as, Montessori basics, home schooling, organization, child development and more! Go check it out. It is one of my favorite and most informative blogs!

For some inspirational pictures of children at art check out Brooklyn's very own, Painted Cloud children's art studio blog: The Cloud Kids

Have fun!

Hershey Montessori School: A Little Friday Montessori Candy!

Light and Color

Oooh, pretty! I want a light table! I've been looking at some Reggio Emilia classroom pictures for inspiration for art and discovery projects in our home classroom and found the picture above. This summer, I'm hoping to turn the classroom into a fun open discovery center for the children, and then go back to mostly Montessori in the Fall. Check out these awesome translucent blocks I found online! They would be great for exploring color and shape on a light table:

Moolka sells them here in the U.S.A., but they're not cheap:

Oh good St. Nick, won't you please bring us a Light Table? Even a Tabletop Light Box would do!:

If you enjoyed this post feel free to Follow the Blog!

Montessori Three-Part Cards

I was so happy to receive a comment from French Montessori home schooling mama, Cissou. She was nice enough to share a wonderful idea for storing and displaying Montessori three-part cards.

First she folds little folders out of colored paper or card stock

Next, She laminates the folder and cuts little slits in which to place the cards and labels in

Voila! C'est magnifique, non?

Here is the finished product ready to be chosen off the shelf:

I was really inspired by Cissou's idea and by reading this post over at Montessori for Everyone and created the folder below for my Phases of the Moon materials:

I created my folder by using an inexpensive colored folder and then attaching stick on "library pockets" in two different sizes. I found my "library pockets" at the local teaching supply store. If you don't have one, you can always check online. I would include a link to an online source, but Blogger is behaving strangely and won't let me highlight text to add a link right now. My label maker ran out of label tape, so I wasn't able to label the top two pockets and front of the folder, but I plan to. I am really excited to have some great ideas on how to store and display my printed materials. I believe organization is very important in a Montessori classroom so that you are able to find your materials easily for rotation. You also want to set a good example for the children and not have their materials strewn all over the place! It will help them develop a respect for the materials and work. My 6 year old was really excited to see the folder above and

can't wait to get started working on them!

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to Follow my Blog!

Tommorow's Child Magazine

A dear friend and mentor let me borrow a copy of, "Tomorrow's Child Magazine", by the Montessori Foundation. I loved the special first issue that had a Montessori 101 for parents to understand some of the basics and to clear up some misconceptions about the Montessori method of education. I especially LOVED all of the lovely pictures of the classrooms! Talk about eye candy! If you are interested in purchasing a subscription ( I did!), you can go to Montessori.org for more information!

Saturday Night Eye Candy...

The Montessori Prepared Environment 036, by sew liberated.

Meg over at Sew Liberated has so many great pictures of her Montessori journey in Mexico to share. I particularly like this little art setup here because it has a great view to the outside and it looks very inviting. She also provides us with the great idea of putting paint inside old elmers glue containers so that the children can squeeze out their own portions! Great idea Meg! You can follow her adventures in crafting and Montessori Here.

This is what she has to say about the above photo, posted on Flickr:
"Our painting station works quite well. To the left, you will see rolled-up, pre-cut-to-fit paper for the easel. Each roll is secured with one paper clip, which the child removes and places on a little plate on the small, pink "painting provisions table." The child then hangs up his paper. Then he can serve himself paint. Generally, we provide red, yellow, and blue paint, although right now we only have one color available because it's the beginning of the year. We use old Elmer's glue bottles, with the label rubbed off, so the child can serve himself paint. The child squeezes a bit of paint (we have a TINY little bowl for each color.) Now we have to options - you can use a paint brush, or a sponge with which to paint. I suggest changing the painting tools to keep the level of interest high. When the child is done, he hangs up his painting to dry, rinses off the paint brush and little bowl in the the pink bucket, dries them with the towel hanging on the right of the easel, and replaces the material so another child may paint. At the end of the day, one of the older children empties out the dirty water in the bucket and cleans the easel to prepare for the next school day. "

I Love Math?

Advanced Bank Math Game in Montessori -- powered by ExpertVillage.com

Am I REALLY starting to fall in love with math? How can this be?! Growing up I had the most difficult time with math! I had so much trouble understanding the problems even though my family and sometimes tutors would try to help. From about middle school and up, I just could not grasp the concepts and would fall so behind since the next chapter would depend on what you had previously learned. Sad to say, it seemed that I would always just barely get by without really learning much.

Now, as I study the Montessori method and materials for teaching my children, I cannot believe how excited I am to learn more about how math is done. When I say excited, I mean really excited! I'm actually hungry for the knowledge to help give my children a good foundation in math. It is truly amazing, given the fact that math has always stressed me out! I too am using the Montessori method to learn math, it would seem, for the very first time. So, in my joy and new found love of math, I would like to share a few resources that I have come to enjoy!

The Materials:
One of the things that has helped me in understanding how to present the math lessons to the children has been actually using the material myself. All this talk of bead stairs, number rods, stamp games, and ten boards was a bit foreign to me. That is... until I was able to use the materials for myself, or see them demonstrated. I highly recommend that you get your hands on a set of Montessori materials if possible. This is what really turned the light on for me! So far the Montessori Outlet has worked for me. Montessori Materials, as most of us know all too well, can be very expensive, so if you can't get your hands on some materials, I would suggest visiting a school and observing some presentations if possible.

Book:
Math Works: Montessori and the Developing Brain
This is an awesome book I just got that talks about Montessori math materials and has a reference section in the back naming the materials with a short description of what they are used for. Never in my life folks! Never in my life did I think I would be reading about math and enjoying it!

Videos:
This video gives an overview of the Montessori math methods:

You can find a transcript of the complete video for purchase from EVP by clicking HERE.

Finally, here is one more video by Tami Elliot, (I am so grateful to her for making these videos!) owner of Northstar Montessori Preschool, in which she demonstrates counting in the teens by using the hanging bars:

Hanging Bead Montessori Activity -- powered by ExpertVillage.com

Eye Candy Alert: Childrens Art Portfolio!

The other day I was browsing Flickr for some Montessori eye candy to inspire me while setting up our home classroom. I love looking at picture's of classroom's and how things are set up and arranged. I find pictures of classroom's that incorporate art or nature especially inviting. So there I am browsing my little heart out (probably the only advantage to nursing a "nip & napper"!), when I come across the picture above! I thought it looked so cool, but what was it? It turns out to be an art portfolio put together by Jojoebi over at A Bit of This and That . She went ahead and gathered all of her son's artwork from 0-3 years and had it printed in a photo book by Blurb. How cool is that? I don't know how many times I've had to struggle with deciding what to keep and what to toss when it comes to my children's art work. This is totally the hot fudge sauce on my sundae! I am loving it! Go check out some more pictures of little Ebi-kun's art portfolio Here.

If you want to start collecting your little Picasso's art projects for inclusion in his or her very own art portfolio, here is one of my suggestions on how to start organizing this:

1. Start with an accordion file and label the tabs with your preferred method. of classification. For example, by month, by media, season, etc..

2. When your child creates a new work of art, display it in a rotating gallery. Be it on your fridge, their bedroom or playroom wall, your child will feel a great boost of confidence seeing their creations displayed nicely and it will give them a sense of dignity in the work that they do.

3. Make sure to talk to your child about the work of art that they've just created. Ask questions, and remember to let them do most of the talking. Art can be such an intimate expression, and we can really get a peek into the child's heart, mind, and soul when we leave the explaining up to them. Also remember to not just say "Good boy" or "Good girl", but actually comment on what you notice and like about the picture. Saying things such as, "I really like the color combination you chose", or "your ability to blend the colors is beautiful", not only provide both positive and productive feedback, but they will also be more meaningful to your child as well.

4. After a week has gone by, (you decide the time frame), place the artwork in your accordion file and attach any notes you may have taken when discussing the work. The notes can be included alongside the picture of the artwork in the portfolio to capture the overall essence of your child at the time the artwork was done.

5. When you've gotten a good amount of pictures for each category, you can review them with your child and ask which one's they would like to use for inclusion in their art portfolio. The pictures not chosen for inclusion in the art portfolio can be given away to loved ones as gifts, or can be made into birthday cards for friends.

When it comes to art projects that are mixed media, sculpture, etc.. you can use a camera to take a picture of their project and store it in the same fashion as above.