New Theme: Spring

We kicked off our Spring theme this morning on a cold, cloudy, clammy and very unspring like day, by introducing some Bird nomenclature printables from Montessori Printshop. They can be used as cards, or made into a book, we tried our best to combine both options. I chose Birds to kick off our theme because, Masha' Allah, ever since we got our bird feeder up, everyone's interest in birds has really blossomed.

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Bird Book

I just LOVE the Montessori Printshop's nomenclature printables, often referred to as nomenclature cards. It is such a clear way to teach a lesson. I had the bird cards printed out in color, then put them under protective sheets and bound them in a small three ring binder

Each section of the bird is highlighted in color, followed by a short description. Its about six pages long. 

Masha' Allah, when Grammy visited us last week, she brought two bird books for our classroom. 

These books are informative and colorful, especially the one featuring the Cardinal on the cover. The Bird Watchers Digest is more wordy, less pictures, but there are some great links in there I am going to be checking out, insha' Allah. I've already found some local Bird watching trails! 

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Spring Shelf

We have two shelves in our classroom that we change up periodically. I try to keep the stuff Montessori, or Montessori theme based. I changed our top shelf around a little this morning to reflect the start our Spring theme. 

This window overlooks the bird feeder, so I thought it was the perfect place for our nomenclature book, on the far right, and our bird watching books. On the far left I included a plastic magnify glass ( dollar store) for closer inspection of bird pictures. Our bird clock (gift), which plays bird songs on the hour, of the featured bird, rests on the window sill behind the shelf. This gives the Professors a close up view of the featured birds, and has double as a chart for bird watching, Masha' Allah. The last thing on the shelf are Insect picture cards (walmart), which feature full color photos of the insect(s) on the front, with the insect information on the back. 

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The next animal theme for our nomenclature book is going to be Frogs, then Lady Bugs. From there we'll move on to other spring things, like plants, weather, whatever strikes the Professors fancy. I'm basing this heavily around their interests. 

If you'd like to make your own nomenclature book or cards, you can find the printables here: 

http://www.shop.montessoriprintshop.com/searchresults.sc

scroll through the link to find what you want insha' Allah. Some are at cost, and some are free : )

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