Discover the key principles of montessori method that unlock curiosity, independence, and a lifelong love of learning. Read Now!!
2D shape activities for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten. Shape mats (legos, geoboards, etc), play dough mats, posters, sorting mats, worksheets, & MORE.
Anya, the founder of Montessori From The Heart, is an educational coach, a blogger, an author, a digital creator, and an influencer.
Let kids use their snack time to explore early math concepts in an easy, fun way! Grab this snack math for preschoolers free printable.
This shape activity is one that preschoolers love, and it only takes a minute to put it together. Jonathan (age 3.5) has been desperate to “do school” when we are doing school. And one or two coloring pages won’t cut it! He colors something and then says, “Now what can I do, Mom?” I’m glad […]
★ Product Information This listing includes 5 worksheets that are focused on body parts and anatomy, which is a great way to teach preschoolers and kindergarteners about the human body. - Product Name: My Body Busy Book Printable - Product Type: Digital - Design: Worksheet - Total Number of Pages: 7 - Worksheets: 5 - Cut Out Sheets: 2 - Instantly Download: Yes - What You'll Get: PDF file for printing on letter size (8.5'' x 11" paper) - What You'll Need: Printer, laminator, scissors, velcro dots (or hook & loop dots), binder (optional) ★ You might also be interested in: - Circle Time Bundle https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/820415902/circle-time-binder-preschool-and?ref=shop_home_active_4&crt=1 - My Body (dark skin tone) https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/788053949/busy-book-printable-my-body-dark-skin?ga_search_query=my%2Bbody&ref=shop_items_search_2 - Solar System Learning Pack https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/781527142/solar-system-printable-busy-book-science?ref=shop_home_active_39&crt=1 - Sight Words Builder https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/848514865/sight-words-builder-spelling-printable?ref=shop_home_active_1 - Beginning Sounds https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/809972898/beginning-sounds-busy-book-printable?ref=shop_home_active_28&crt=1 - Construction Vehicles Numbers and Counting: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/813339956/numbers-and-counting-construction?ref=shop_home_active_5 *Click here to see all of our learning resources: https://www.etsy.com/shop/HudsonAcademy ★ FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM TO SAVE ★ Grab your 10% discount coupon now! - Following us on IG: @hudson_academy or https://www.instagram.com/hudson_academy/ - DM us on IG for your discount coupon. - We'll send you a 10% off coupon code that can be used on any order from our shop at any time. Follow us on Instagram @hudson_academy and be the first know our new product launches, sales, and monthly exclusive freebies! ★ Terms of Use Copyright © 2020 HudsonAcademy. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. For personal home use or single classroom use only. Not for commercial use. You may not copy, alter or share these digital files. Thank you! ****Please note this is a digital download. No physical product will be mailed to you.
How to learn letters and sounds using the Montessori Method.
Are wondering what your preschooler can be learning? Here is a checklist to help you have a successful preschool at home.
Here are some fun hands-on math activities with a summer watermelon theme! Print watermelon number cards and a Roll It, Write It, Count It mat. Below, you’ll also find a recipe for some amazing watermelon scented play dough. Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the printable activities. First, I’ll tell you how […]
Getting Started with a Homeschool Schedule One of the biggest keys to successfully educating your children at home is having a homeschool schedule. But it can be hard to come up with homeschool schedule ideas. If you’ve wondered what to do, how to set one up, and keep your sanity in the process – I
I remember being a new teacher and waiting so anxiously to get into my new room! I tried to imagine what it would look like...the center areas, the little tables and chairs, the storage space, etc. How would I arrange my new room? What centers would I have? Would I have enough shelves and tables? Those were just a few of the hundreds of thoughts I had before I started school. I drew my layout on notebook paper late at night when I had new teacher jitters and on napkins as I waited for my food in restaurants. The day had come, and after I saw my classroom, I had to reconfigure my arrangement based on the space, furniture, and other obstacles. I knew I had to have space to put down cots for nap time, I needed a small group table/teacher aide work space, I needed the tables to do double duty for activities and lunch time, I had to work around the built in carpet, cubbies, teacher desk....the list went on and on! My advice is to make a list of necessities and plan those areas first. Sometimes you will have to work around not having enough storage or tables, funky pieces of furniture that have to stay in your room, outlets in goofy places, etc. You will have to get creative! Also, It's perfectly fine to redo your arrangement during the year and switch it up! I've always changed my arrangement at least once a year and I always want something different as a new school year begins. The classroom should be a happy & comforting place for students and teachers as well! During college courses and internships I learned about early childhood room arrangements. The shelves should be low, all materials on open shelves are for the students, everything labeled, plenty of walk space, etc. I took notes as I toured classrooms and poured over those cute teacher blogs! : ) But only from my own teaching experience, I truly learned the importance of classroom space & design. Here are a few of my favorite classroom floor plan arrangements that I've had over the years. We might not have the same furniture or same amount of furniture but I hope it gives you at least a few ideas to work with! Happy planning! I liked this arrangement because there was plenty of room between the centers and tables. I bought the cube shelves from Target. They made a great room divider, held storage, and you could see through them so it made the classroom a light & airy feeling! The large group time carpet was built into the floor so it couldn't be moved. I double duty used it for our whole group lessons & for block play. The art center and easel were conveniently located to the sink for easy clean up. The light table was next to an outlet and book shelves were used as center dividers. I also used some of the backs of bookshelves for felt boards and to display vocabulary. The cabinet next to the door was used as a parent sign-in station and the rug there was used as our safe spot. I liked this arrangement because placing the library center at the entrance of the classroom provided for a homey/living room look as students entered. The safe spot was located closer to the teacher work area tucked into a corner and the pretend center had plenty of space. I also liked having a defined blocks center. Students could leave out special constructions during transition time and return to them later. In this floor plan the safe spot was moved near the cubbies and the light table was moved to the back wall. I traded in a table in the discovery area to allow students to have more workspace. Also, the library area was moved to the middle and made the classroom feel much larger. There was also a book shelf/cabinet placed behind the group time carpet. The cabinet held puzzles and morning tub manipulatives. Here of a few photos of some of my past classroom arrangement ideas! They are a mix of photos and from different years. Enjoy! Parent sign-in station...the back of this cabinet (which actually used to be the pretend center fridge) stored crayon buckets! Pretend center in the corner... Here's another pretend center area where I had it in front of the window... Discovery/science center close to the classroom entrance... Chairs were bought at Ikea and they have remained in great shape! Baskets were bought at garage sales and www.saveoncrafts.com Discovery/science center Here's another discovery area idea in the corner with bookshelf and table... ABC center with use of table, magazine rack, and bookshelf. The shelf on top of the table is an over the sink shelf. I bought it at a garage sale and sometimes use it for storage under the Smartboard! I love items that do double duty! Portable light table on top of Ikea table with magnet board behind. Safe spot and crayon tub storage...parent sign-in station with folder drop off bucket... Built in group time area... (labeled apple baskets awaiting school supplies on Meet the Teacher Night! Get your labels HERE!) Built in cubbies and rectangle table used for breakfast... Rolling blocks station that could be moved to the big carpet for play. Another year, I made a bigger blocks area. I turned over the dress up closet/mirror and utilized it for block play/storage. The rug is from Ikea and I love the mellow colors! Math center table and bookshelf/cabinet... Library area when it was in front of the window. I created extra storage from zip tying Michael's wooden crates together to make a bookcase. I covered an existing felt board with burlap to tie in the neutral colors. The chairs were half price (yay!) from Garden Ridge/At Home store...the rug was bought there too. In this arrangement the library center is near the classroom entrance. It's defined by a rolling book cart and writing station cart. The writing station cart actually used to be the blocks cart, lol. Like I said..I have done a lot of re-planning and rearranging in my teaching career. It's fun when you find new uses for things and they work! I took the wheels off my listening center cart, flipped it over, and put a plastic bin inside...instant sensory station! ABC station: writing center/abc games... this is when I had a whole lot of hot pink leftover from my previous classrooms... I slowly turned over to neutrals and natural textures...it made the classroom feel much more calm, clean, and relaxed... Math center with storage for manipulatives and a table to play the games. I used the back of a cabinet for a math pocket chart game and vocabulary. And last but not least...the art center built by Target cube shelves. I've hope you've enjoyed my little room arrangements tour and I hope you've found some useful ideas for your new or existing classroom! If you have any questions leave them in the comment section below. Happy planning & happy teaching! ~ Christian
This science center display helps children explore sound with common objects. I collected "found" items to display on the tray with a sign, "What
Grab our free, clickable Mega List of Themes and Skills for Pre-K & Kindergarten Lesson Plans to see what themes/skills I cover in my classroom all year!
Help preschoolers identify parts of a flower with this hands-on lesson! This sensory-rich lesson also has options to extend learning with other activities!
Free printable picture tracing worksheets for preschool! This set of tracing worksheets features a fun picture for students to trace and color in! These pre k tracing worksheets are just right for little ones to build important fine motor control skills. Each tracing worksheet features a seasonal scene for students to trace. These are great for building pre-handwriting skills needed for the kindergarten school year.
This FREE class about "free-flowing" centers will help you increase learning and save time with independent Pre-K & Kindergarten centers!
Make a DIY balance with a few simple and inexpensive materials from the craft store. The balances are great for math activities, your science center, or STEM/discovery center in preschool and pre-k
Building skills to learn how to write and having fun while doing it!
PRE-K GOAL SETTING CHART My kindergarten incentive kit has been such a hit, I went ahead and created one for my Pre-K friends . We all know as teachers that the standards drive our instruction, but getting our students excited to master these skills is half the battle. Some ki
A comprehensive list of skills taught in Pre-K. This list will give you a better idea of what to look for in a good Pre-K curriculum.
Anya, the founder of Montessori From The Heart, is an educational coach, a blogger, an author, a digital creator, and an influencer.
The first step in introducing the concept of counting and numbers is one-to-one correspondence. One-to-one correspondence is the ability to count while pointing to one object at a time. It is assigning a number to one and only one object at a time. This is not rote counting or memorization but rathe
Free printable preschool worksheets pdf for teachers and homeschoolers. Fun preschool worksheets for math, English, fine motor skills, and more!
Pre-K and TK Activities: Back to School. Letter Recognition, Number Recognition, Counting, Colors, Patterns, Fine Motor Skills, and more!
Montessori family house cleaning plus a roundup of Montessori-inspired sweeping activities for preschoolers.
Looking for some fun ways to get moving this fall. Here is a list of our favorite fall songs for kids!
Easy morning work activities to create a smooth arrival routine in your preschool, pre-k, or kindergarten classroom with a fine motor focus.
A weekly outline of our Montessori at home preschool plans (2.5-6 years). Plus, links to practical life skills, Montessori materials list, and free printables! These unit studies can be used for homeschool or after school fun activities to supplement learning.
Ideas for preparing Montessori shelves at home for a 4½ year old with or without classic Montessori materials
A classical-relaxed pre-kindergarten homeschooling curriculum with a printable comprehensive checklist of learning objectives.
The most important activity students can do to develop scissor skills is to cut with scissors. Young learners should cut a variety of things-repeatedly-and perform cutting activities frequently! Teacher friends,...
Find over 200 of The Best Preschool Themes and Preschool Lesson Plans, Whether you need ideas for alphabet activities, 100th Day of School. All About Me, Apples, Transportation Theme, Beach theme, Fall Theme, Spring themes, Fall Leaves. Farm, Feelings. Use thematic unit studies to engage children in learning. Themes for Preschool and Kindergarten, Tons of Pre-K activities and Preschool Topics
Super cute FREE Alphabet Mazes are such a fun way for kids to practice going from A toZ. Print ABC Maze worksheet with your favorite theme.
I remember being a new teacher and waiting so anxiously to get into my new room! I tried to imagine what it would look like...the center areas, the little tables and chairs, the storage space, etc. How would I arrange my new room? What centers would I have? Would I have enough shelves and tables? Those were just a few of the hundreds of thoughts I had before I started school. I drew my layout on notebook paper late at night when I had new teacher jitters and on napkins as I waited for my food in restaurants. The day had come, and after I saw my classroom, I had to reconfigure my arrangement based on the space, furniture, and other obstacles. I knew I had to have space to put down cots for nap time, I needed a small group table/teacher aide work space, I needed the tables to do double duty for activities and lunch time, I had to work around the built in carpet, cubbies, teacher desk....the list went on and on! My advice is to make a list of necessities and plan those areas first. Sometimes you will have to work around not having enough storage or tables, funky pieces of furniture that have to stay in your room, outlets in goofy places, etc. You will have to get creative! Also, It's perfectly fine to redo your arrangement during the year and switch it up! I've always changed my arrangement at least once a year and I always want something different as a new school year begins. The classroom should be a happy & comforting place for students and teachers as well! During college courses and internships I learned about early childhood room arrangements. The shelves should be low, all materials on open shelves are for the students, everything labeled, plenty of walk space, etc. I took notes as I toured classrooms and poured over those cute teacher blogs! : ) But only from my own teaching experience, I truly learned the importance of classroom space & design. Here are a few of my favorite classroom floor plan arrangements that I've had over the years. We might not have the same furniture or same amount of furniture but I hope it gives you at least a few ideas to work with! Happy planning! I liked this arrangement because there was plenty of room between the centers and tables. I bought the cube shelves from Target. They made a great room divider, held storage, and you could see through them so it made the classroom a light & airy feeling! The large group time carpet was built into the floor so it couldn't be moved. I double duty used it for our whole group lessons & for block play. The art center and easel were conveniently located to the sink for easy clean up. The light table was next to an outlet and book shelves were used as center dividers. I also used some of the backs of bookshelves for felt boards and to display vocabulary. The cabinet next to the door was used as a parent sign-in station and the rug there was used as our safe spot. I liked this arrangement because placing the library center at the entrance of the classroom provided for a homey/living room look as students entered. The safe spot was located closer to the teacher work area tucked into a corner and the pretend center had plenty of space. I also liked having a defined blocks center. Students could leave out special constructions during transition time and return to them later. In this floor plan the safe spot was moved near the cubbies and the light table was moved to the back wall. I traded in a table in the discovery area to allow students to have more workspace. Also, the library area was moved to the middle and made the classroom feel much larger. There was also a book shelf/cabinet placed behind the group time carpet. The cabinet held puzzles and morning tub manipulatives. Here of a few photos of some of my past classroom arrangement ideas! They are a mix of photos and from different years. Enjoy! Parent sign-in station...the back of this cabinet (which actually used to be the pretend center fridge) stored crayon buckets! Pretend center in the corner... Here's another pretend center area where I had it in front of the window... Discovery/science center close to the classroom entrance... Chairs were bought at Ikea and they have remained in great shape! Baskets were bought at garage sales and www.saveoncrafts.com Discovery/science center Here's another discovery area idea in the corner with bookshelf and table... ABC center with use of table, magazine rack, and bookshelf. The shelf on top of the table is an over the sink shelf. I bought it at a garage sale and sometimes use it for storage under the Smartboard! I love items that do double duty! Portable light table on top of Ikea table with magnet board behind. Safe spot and crayon tub storage...parent sign-in station with folder drop off bucket... Built in group time area... (labeled apple baskets awaiting school supplies on Meet the Teacher Night! Get your labels HERE!) Built in cubbies and rectangle table used for breakfast... Rolling blocks station that could be moved to the big carpet for play. Another year, I made a bigger blocks area. I turned over the dress up closet/mirror and utilized it for block play/storage. The rug is from Ikea and I love the mellow colors! Math center table and bookshelf/cabinet... Library area when it was in front of the window. I created extra storage from zip tying Michael's wooden crates together to make a bookcase. I covered an existing felt board with burlap to tie in the neutral colors. The chairs were half price (yay!) from Garden Ridge/At Home store...the rug was bought there too. In this arrangement the library center is near the classroom entrance. It's defined by a rolling book cart and writing station cart. The writing station cart actually used to be the blocks cart, lol. Like I said..I have done a lot of re-planning and rearranging in my teaching career. It's fun when you find new uses for things and they work! I took the wheels off my listening center cart, flipped it over, and put a plastic bin inside...instant sensory station! ABC station: writing center/abc games... this is when I had a whole lot of hot pink leftover from my previous classrooms... I slowly turned over to neutrals and natural textures...it made the classroom feel much more calm, clean, and relaxed... Math center with storage for manipulatives and a table to play the games. I used the back of a cabinet for a math pocket chart game and vocabulary. And last but not least...the art center built by Target cube shelves. I've hope you've enjoyed my little room arrangements tour and I hope you've found some useful ideas for your new or existing classroom! If you have any questions leave them in the comment section below. Happy planning & happy teaching! ~ Christian
Huge number of resources for free printables for Montessori homeschools and preschools along with ideas for using printables to create Montessori activities
This rainy day counting activity is the perfect way to incorporate fun counting into your math centers or homeschool activities!
This is an extensive collection of free preschool worksheets designed for ages approximately 3 & 4 years old. These free printable preschool worksheets are designed to help kids learn to write the alphabet, numbers, plus a free printable color matching sheet!
After learning about plants in general, trees, leaves, and flowers, we began learning about plants we eat! This part of the study was severely impacted by our move — we started in one house …
Two Points: This is MY method, and not necessarily right for you, your teaching or care philosophy, your set-up, or your students. Curriculum participation by my students is VOLUNTARY. I invite them to participate, but if they choose not to, then that is fine. I usually offer them a choice of a few of the activities and let them decide where we start and where we go. An engaged child learns, a dis-engaged child rebels. The 3-year rotating curriculum is theme based. Some times we stick to the plan, but usually I observe what they are interested in learning about, what they are asking questions about, and suggest up to three different themes they can choose from for us to study. I make my own 3-year rotating curriculum for many reasons: Packaged curriculum is often only one year. Since I teach for 3 years, this would be redundant. Most packaged curriculum focuses on skills my students master early. My 2s count to 20, know 11 colors, know most of their phonics, uppercase and lowercase letters, 10 shapes and some of their numbers and I still have 3 years of curriculum to teach them. They often are worksheet intensive. My students usually are cognitively advanced from their fine motor skills. I have 4 year olds that still can't write well. If I had relied on worksheets for the last 2 years, there is no way they would have the skill sets they have. Worksheets are also not considered Developmentally Appropriate Practice [DAP] for children under the age of 8. We use them here for writing practice starting at age 4. [Yes, worksheet-intensive public schools are not using DAP for kindy through 3rd grade!] They can be expensive. If you are purchasing worksheets, why would you spend even $1 a week/$52 a year when you can purchase a 400 page Scholastic preschool workbook from Sam's Club for $8 that covers probably more material, is most likely aligned with the public school expectations, and is colorful. Colored copies are NOT affordable to make from packaged curriculum. Most [ALL!] preschool learning should be interactive. Pinterest is a better source for ideas. My students change every time I do a theme. I have to be able to tweak it to the interests and capabilities of those currently in my care. Plus, I'll find more interesting activities on Pinterest, have an idea for a new game, etc. It's a constant evolution to keep my curriculum relevant to our current group, situation and resources. However, curriculum planning and creation is very time consuming. Even with older curriculum I spend several hours going over it prior to teaching - updating, creating new materials, purchasing and setting new classroom decorations. While I have had my 3 year curriculum, this year I found myself wanting a more specific schedule to focus on specific skill sets for this particular group of children. Most of these skills can be incorporated into our themed curriculum, or they take 5 minute sessions to pop into our day. I have two groups, the younger preschoolers are 2-3 years old and the older ones are 4-5 years old, all at the same developmental and skill set level within their group. This makes it easier, as I can tailor everything to just 2 groups. If I were to have additional levels of children, then it would be tailored to each level. Children here are taught at their developmental level, not age. Asychronastic development is normal, so I may be teaching a child at various levels depending upon the subject matter. For the younger preschoolers, I came up with this structure. For the older pre-k students, I came up with this one. For instance, both of them have Measurement & Comparison on Friday for Reasoning. However, for the younger students, this would be a more/less, longer/shorter, big/little, etc. activity, while the older students would be measuring with rulers, yardsticks, tape measures, measuring cups, unit blocks, foot steps or themed units, and graphing the measurements to compare. Same skill set, differentiated at vastly different levels. Even this needs conditional tweaking. All the pre-k's know how to spell their last names now, so that is no longer a relevant skill activity for music and will be changed out. In another post I'll get into the curriculum components and the importance of each. For instance, how counting on Friday teaches 1-to-1 correspondence and creating method processes for counting groups of objects. CLICK PICTURES TO VIEW LARGER I use this MS Word template, available for FREE on TPT, for curriculum planning. Often, the daily skill sets above are either already incorporated, or can easily be incorporated, into the theme planning. For an example of a completed curriculum unit, check out our Owls Theme. Each monthly theme is broken down into 4 sub-themes. For instance: SPACE Astronauts & Rockets The Universe Our Solar System Aliens & Robots We also have a musical component, often classical, and an art component, often a master, and Spanish vocabulary component that we incorporate. This planning form may not include all games, file folder games, manipulatives, room-set up, etc. that I utilize. For those of you trained in curriculum creation, I do NOT do a full curriculum development for each activity. With having these children usually from infant to school-age, I keep an internal evaluation of progression and plan out only weekly learning objectives. Since I am creating the activities for my personal use, I do not need to create written procedures and evaluations. My curriculum is stored currently in file folders in a large office bookcase unit. I would like to get it into boxes so that I could have EVERY theme-related item, including dress-up, room set-up, manipulatives, etc. together for an easy pull. File boxes will most likely be the easiest, but they do take up a lot of space. In each file some of the things I probably have: Completed planning sheets All the books I own for that theme Flannel board Sentence and word walls File folder games Samples of previous crafts DVDs CDs Coloring pages Mini-book(s) Build-a-[theme item] game Curriculum creation is one of my great joys. I love the research and compilation, the creativity and excitement of bringing something fun and educational to my students. Learning is rarely linear. Children take developmental leaps, sometimes in odd directions. As a teacher, it is important that I keep each one challenged without pushing or inhibiting their growth, and that takes constant evaluation and a good eye for when those leaps happen so that we can move on to a higher level of instruction. When we do an activity, I constantly question if they WANT to do another round, another activity, and I usually cut them off while they are still engaged. I want them wanting more, and they will usually ask if they can continue. One of the most important desires and abilities I can instill in them is that of self-directed learning. So as they choose to go off with their rulers after we've spent several minutes doing a measuring activity, conferring between themselves as to procedures and what to measure next, I step back and let them. They know I am here as a resource, rather than an intrusive director. It is my job to ensure that when I invite my students to learn, they glow with excitement and anticipation of a fun, interactive, playful time. The results, so far, have been astounding. A few of my complete curriculum units are available through my TPT store. Apples Dental Ice Cream Penguins Rainbows St. Patrick's Day Valentine's Follow Connie -'s board Classroom on Pinterest. Tags: preschool, child care, pre-k, curriculum, development, teaching, education, homeschooling, homeschool, home, school, preschool curriculum development, planning
Use these pop it activities as an engaging tool to teach math, literacy, & fine motor skills to preschool, pre-k, & kindergarten students.
