last day of school...

Today was Evangeline's last day of school for 2010...

and it was the Christmas Corroboree...

And this is Evangeline with her fabulous teacher Natalie...she will stay in Natalie's lower primary class for two more years...I love this about Montessori as the children develop real relationships with their teacher and their learning progresses naturally each year....

And look at this amazing picture Morganne drew today...it is of our pony Bella! You can definitely see the long pony head with ears and forelock...and the body..and lots of legs....lol...pretty good for three years old!

Tonight we watched a Christmas Movie to celebrate...Santa Buddies...so tomorrow is the first day of our summer holidays...Lissy

a second tooth..

Evangeline has lost her second tooth! But it was all happy this time! Fortunately the Tooth Fairy managed to reply to her questions about what happened to her teeth in a mini letter...and left a heart charm for her bracelet...Evangeline turns 7 next week so I made the invites yesterday and this morning she wrote the names and handed them out at school...we are having a camp out in the tree house! It is from 4.30 - 7.30pm so they can play with the mini torches I bought! Ben gets home tomorrow so he has to get the tree house finished!On Monday I went to do an observation in Evangeline's lower primary Montessori classroom...the parents are invited to visit once each term to work with your child and see what they are working on...Evangeline has a contract of work to complete each day with maths and language activities...Some of the work is set such as spelling...and other work they have choices in...and they have one on one lessons with the teacher and some small group lessons...many people believe there is no routine and no direction in a Montessori classroom and are often surprised when they visit one...And we are getting some much needed rain! Great for the garden...but hopefully it stays in the metro area as the farmers are trying to harvest now so do not want it!

And speaking of farmers...my brother in law is 50 today! Happy 50th Allan!

And some sad news today as the mum of two little munchkins Jack and Charlotte passed away yesterday...so terribly sad...Lissy

much needed rain...

The other morning we had some much needed rain...

And a little girl was very excited...so found her boots and jacket and went out to play...at 7.40am...So she had to get changed again before we headed to school and playgroup...

She also had her first transition visit to Jacaranda Class (Children's House...Evangeline's old class) where she will start part -time in the new year...Montessori education starts at 3...

She kept telling me in the car she was too little....but she happily went off with Dawn (our play group leader) and came back happy and said she would go again...

Evangeline has been nagging me to go Trick or Treating...for two years...Halloween is not big here in Australia...and we live on a rural block so there is no where to go...anyway luckily she went to a friend's to play yesterday afternoon and they had people come to the door...They were happy as they scared them with the vampire teeth I had sent along...and when she was dropped home they came up to our door and knocked to get a treat...

And that was the end of October... Lissy

multiplication and montessori maths...

Last night I went to a Parent Montessori Maths Evening at school...it was focusing on multiplication in lower primary...year one to three (6-8 year olds)...

Maths has never been my strong point and it was fabulous to see how they approach it at our school and the equipment they use...it is all very hands on and concrete to develop real understanding...rather than just learning the Times Tables song...

Evangeline is 6 and a half and is working on her 1s, 2s and 3s times tables...initially it is all hands on with no writing so they learn the concept of groups of and lots of...

They start with equipment like the multiplication board ...this one is doing the 5s...and they add a row of beads for each group of five and then count... And the bead chains...there is one chain for each number...this picture shows the 6s chain...so they learn to count in groups of six putting number markers of 6, 12, 18 and so on...then see how much 6 lots of six makes (squared) and so on up to a 6 cubed block as a visual...And then move onto equipment such as the Pythagoras Board...and some other written work...
If I had been taught like this I am sure I would have had a better understanding of maths...I am so happy Evangeline is learning maths in this way...I am looking forward to the next sessions...Lissy

our month...

We have had a busy month here while off line...nothing overly exciting happening but it is good to update for my reference...
We had our fifth wedding anniversary on June 1st...Ben was away but Mum and I went out for breakfast with Evangeline and Morganne to celebrate!
Morganne turned 6 months old ( she is now 6 1/2 months)...and she is changing so much each day...

She has two teeth! She like fruit (banana, pear and apple) and will eat some veges like pumpkin carrot and parsnip...and I am trying to work on other things! She is almost sitting up by herself and I need to give her more time on her tummy! We bought a mat for the floor so now it is warmer and not so slippery for her to wriggle about on and start crawling. She is getting pretty clingy at the moment and cries if I disappear. But she still is mostly a very happy little thing. She has had another cold but is over that now. She is very curious about goings on around her and will crane her head around to see what is going on. She can use two hand to pick things up now and will try and get anything in her reach. My hair and glasses are fair game at the moment. She is about 9.1kg and 66cm long. I am still not sure what colour her eyes are going to be...but her hair seems to be getting lighter.
Evangeline is four and a half and going well and growing too...109.5 cm and about 20.8kg...clothes I thought were far to big this winter now fit her! She has had ear infections and a cough so has not been swimming. She has had a few play days with friends...at Whiteman Park, here and friends homes...And she had a dance recital....She is a busy beaver as always making and doing stuff and playing with Morganne...Ben came home a couple of weeks ago...We have had family visiting and Ace and Ike have both had sleepovers here...and been to visit Kaysie and Felicity...
We have been to friends places for fabulous meals...Eggs Benedict at Alli's....delcious...and a roast at the Albans...
I watched all the 6 seasons of Sex and the City having never seen it on TV, before going to the movies with some girlfriends last week. And I rather enjoyed it all. I am trying to get used to my new computer and new programs on it...And I have been busy gardening including planting the vegies...
Yesterday we went to Evangeline's school open classroom. It is great to see what work she is doing...And that is about it around here...I am having trouble with blogger so not many pics in this post...and hopefully this will publish OK! Lissy

when.....

"When is Baby coming????" E has been asking every day since her birthday! We have been telling her for months that it would be her birthday, then Baby will come and then Christmas...it is now a bit hard for her to understand that we do not really know when Baby will arrive! I have told Ben the baby's name....he is not overly keen but I hope it will grow on him...as I can't think of anything else!

I spent the morning at school today to help out in the class and take photos....it is great to see how much all the kids are learning...and it is all as they are interested and ready (as is the Montessori way)...so a fabulous way to learn for young children! They choose what work they do each day and the teacher also gives them individual lessons as needed.

E was very busy today....E started painting a ceramic Christmas ornaments, made bread to eat for morning tea, did some writing, and some work on beginning sounds, played outside, read books, did puzzles...and so onAnd that is all for today - Lissy

four...

Here she is...our four year old! Bit of a strange expression on her face! Lots of photos and details mainly for Ben's benefit as he is still at sea somewhere south of Bali heading for Dampier!

She loves her new lego....
The new pram and baby doll are very popular...ready for her to be a "mum" when the baby arrives...
Grandma gave her a little key board and she has been entertaining us ALL afternoon...

And she "wrote" some of her own music!

I made some cupcakes to take to school...E's teacher Naomi does this wonderful story about the earth going around the sun...and the child growing up...
The birthday child get to be the earth going around the sun (the candles) and each year the teacher says what she can do...up to their current age ( crawl, eat, walk,ride a bike, write their name and so on)
and then they sing happy birthday...it is fabulous.... Montessori education really is fabulous for E!

So happy happy birthday to our darling girl...party tomorrow! Lissy