Reading and Writing

5 Unique Children’s Books about Seeds

By Marnie Craycroft Leave a Comment Filed Under: Outdoor Education Tagged With: Book Lists, Reading and Writing This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read my disclosure for more info.

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This list of children's books about seeds is unique. I tried to think out of the box, to give you and your children a different connection to nature. I hope I succeeded in making that new connection for you.

Children's Books about Seeds

#1 – A Seed Is Sleepy by Dianna Hutts Aston

I am a huge fan of this whole series of books, especially books about seeds. We adore A Rock is Lively by the same author. Good news for us is there are several other books within this series.

The illustrations are inviting and melodic. The words are like poetry. Plus there are many wonderful, helpful learning to be had along the way. I especially appreciate the pages that reveal the names of many seeds and their respective plants. Connecting the two can often be difficult.

So, pull out seeds to examine with your child and read this book while you are doing it. You will glad that you did.

#2 – Seedsby Ken Robbins

This book about seeds belongs in every library whether at home or in a classroom. Children will view intricate illustrations with many facts about seeds and plants woven into the pages.

The writing is extremely approachable in that it is “conversational” style. This style really gets the reader thinking about the topic. For example, why some seeds look different than others, and how some seeds grow differently than others. Great things for adults to also ponder!

#3 – The Dandelion Seed by Joseph Anthony

A simple, graceful book that will leave a child’s wanting to learn more about seeds. This book about seeds carries big lessons to children about courage and real fears. Besides that theme, children will begin this on the journey of the Dandelion Seed.

You see, the dandelion does not want to go into the world. Then the dandelion discovers that the journey can be wonderful, and shares his wisdom. Many great lessons within these pages!

#4 – Berries, Nuts, And Seeds by Diane Burns

I am mildly obsessed with these “Take Along Guides”. The amount of information is perfect for younger children. Plus, the illustrations keep the topic interesting and desirable from a learning standpoint.

My sons love to read these guides at bedtime but also enjoy carrying them out to our backyard. Worth every penny to own these books in your at home or classroom library. Loads of great tidbits!

#5 – If You Hold a Seed by Elly MacKay

This book is one of my all-time favorites! Just look at that cover. It alone is enough to pick up the book. The story weaves nature and dreams together in a magical way.

The author speaks to character building traits such as patience, gentleness, and being kind to yourself (and to a seed) awaiting for an extraordinary blossoming event.

The artwork in this book is dreamy in itself. Elly MacKay is truly gifted in telling a story through pictures and poetry.

For more about seed activities for preschoolers:

[Free Printable] Valentines Day Activities & Crafts for Preschoolers

By Marnie Craycroft Leave a Comment Filed Under: Activities Tagged With: Holidays, Preschool, Reading and Writing, Valentine's Day This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read my disclosure for more info.

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This post includes fun Valentines Day activities & crafts for preschoolers! Plus once you get to the bottom of this post you can download materials needed for these activities for FREE.

Valentines Day Crafts & Activities for Kids

I have the warmest memories of going out with my Nana to play BINGO. Doing something with my Nana was always fun. I loved seeing her in her element, how much people loved her, and I can't wait to introduce my boys to the joys of playing BINGO.

Short Vowel Word Bingo is fun and can easily be made into a learning game. This post highlights one of my sons' favorite Valentines Day activities. Simple to put together and the kids will have a great time. Plus, they might even learn something!

Language Activities for Valentine's Day

#1 – Short Vowel & Sight Word Bingo

Materials for Valentines Bingo

Do A Dot Art Markers to mark words on a card
Heart Punch to make word cards
Construction paper or card stock
Bag or basket
Pen or Pencil
Download the FREE Bingo Cards Below

How to Play Bingo with Kids

Paper hole punched many hearts of various Valentine themed colors
Write the short vowel and sight words onto these hearts
Give each child a Do a Dot Marker and a handful of heart if she chooses to mark with a heart, too
Fill bag or basket with word hearts
Blindly choose a word heart from the bag, or ask the child to choose a word heart
Announce the word
Locate and mark the word on the Bingo card
If you're playing the game, you can choose a line or “cover all” to complete the “work”

What Kids Get from this Activity

Have fun!
Learn sight words and short vowel words without the pressure
Pattern recognition

#2 – Nomenclature Cards

I am a sucker for Valentine's Day. Don't hate me. This post includes a free Montessori language download (see below) .

Love me. Like, give me a big hug and {{squeeze}}, not too hard, though.

I am fragile.

In our home, Valentine's is an occasion not to celebrate romance (I will take the romance, don't get me wrong). Valentine's Day is a day, heck, a month, to honor our loved one, to focus on compassion, and to be kind to those people in our lives.

For example, take the 100 Acts of Kindness Project hosted by my good friends at Toddler Approved and Coffee Cups & Crayons.

In that same spirit, we have fun and we acknowledge all the love and goodness in life with the hope that these feelings will stick around for a while.

I can't wait to read our Love Notes from our “I Love You Because” jar we began a few weeks ago. I also created a sweet set of Valentine-themed three part cards available FREE for you to DOWNLOAD (see the end of the post).

Valentine Nomenclature Cards

What are Nomenclature cards?

3 Part Cards are an essential part of Montessori Language learning. The goal is to arm a child with vocabulary to use as they walk through the world soaking in the environment.

The cards work in a few ways: to identify and name objects with images and label and to isolate various parts of an object or animal.

Each part is isolated with a color, usually red, and the child learns to identify the part and the name. For more detail on using and preparing cards, Montessori Printshop is a great resource.

For more detail on how to use nomenclature cards, check out my post on Montessori's Simple Nomenclature Cards Lesson.

#3 – Valentine's Day Pre-Reading Activity

This activity was spontaneous and driven by my son. He is on the cusp of reading so every day his desire to learn sounds amazes me. Plus, this pre-reading activity is easy and inexpensive, which is always nice.

Materials needed for this pre-reading activity include foam hearts and a marker. I wrote uppercase letters on one side and matching lower case letters on the other side. Spread the foam hearts around the floor and invite your child over.

Explain that when you say “Moose”, for example, he must find his way to the heart with the “m” on it. He can make his way to the appropriate heart by hopping, sidestepping, lunging or whatever action he chooses to meet the goal.

Simple.

We mixed it up a bit by working on ending sounds. You can do the same and take it a step further with “ch” for example and soon words and rhyming. The possibilities are endless.

#3 – Valentine's Day Math Activity

Fine Motor & Math Activities for Kids

#5 – Heart Lacing

Materials

a hole punch
red paper
scissors
a lace, ribbon or yarn

Approach

Cut a heart
Punch holes around the edge of the heart
Lace away

#6 – Sorting & Practical Life Activity

Sorting is great for fine motor skill and problem-solving cognitive development. This activity helps young hands develop fine motor skills and problem-solving. I love simple activities that go a long way.

I bought this tray at a local senior center consignment shop. The pail, the heart-shaped container, and the Xs and Os are from Target. Like with many practical life materials, I had the mini tongs in our kitchen.

I placed all the Xs and Os into a Valentine theme pail. Then I showed my son the activity. Pick up the tongs, grab an “O” and place it in one side of the heart container. Then repeat with the “X”s.

#7 – Sensory & Math Activity

Materials

a glue stick
red paper
red pom poms
a marker

Approach

Gather your materials
Draw a heart & circles to match the pom poms
Use the glue stick to place the pom poms onto the heart
Explore & enjoy the soft texture of your pompom heart

#7 – Pattern Cards

Pattern recognition and building help build a strong math foundation for children. Here is a simple yet effective pattern activity for your preschooler. I like this pattern because it is extremely simple, isolating really just the pattern itself or the difference between “X” and “O”. Notice the color and size are the same. For our learning, this piece is important.

Here is the FREE download of the simple pattern and the Xs and Os I purchased from Target. These Foam Letters and Numbers would give you plenty of patterns with which to work and they are inexpensive!

A sweet book to read around this time of year is called Hug Time.

Valentine's Day Art

I have recently become obsessed with resist painting for many reasons – cool design, easy to pick up, and loads of fun for your kids creating color patterns and designs. Applying this concept to Valentine's Day is simple and very sweet.

#8 – Resist Art

Here is what we did to create our resist heart:

I bought a handful of small canvases (3 inches by 3 inches). Go nuts with size. I bought small because the recipients live far and we have to pop these in the mail.
We used sticker paper to cut out a heart shape and then centered the heart onto the canvas.
I got out three small bowls for paint and a few brushes.
I used red, yellow and blue paints. Before I handed the activity over to my 2.5-year-old, I put a base of red paint on the canvas. I wanted to be sure the red came through given the special occasion. Sometimes with painting, although always beautiful, the result can be a mish-mash (technical term) of gray and brown when all the colors mix together in the process.
Then I handed it over to my 2.5-year-old. As he painted away I explained what the special reason behind the project. He likes hearts, understands they mean “love” and was thrilled to be sending them to his grandparents. Young children astound me in their understanding of emotions, relationships, and the world, generally.
Then we let it dry. Once dry I peeled off the heart sticker and smiled at the result.

#9 – Melted Crayon Hearts

Here is what you need:

Crayons (we used old bits and pieces)
Heart mold (silicone works best)

Here is how you do it:

Preheat over to 250 degrees
Break up crayons and fill your heart molds
Place molds into the oven for around 20 minutes or until the crayons melt
Let cool (I let them cool overnight)
Pop out of the mold (silicone molds makes this part easy)

Each crayon will turn out differently. Love the uniqueness!

Sensory

I love Valentines Day because you get the chance to not only think about those you love so dear in your life but you also have a chance to tell them and reflect on that love. A lovely “holiday”. Like most of my tubs, this one is super easy and quick. Most of the items listed below I grabbed at Target. Michael's, Amazon and many crafts stores are sure to have ample Valentine Day supplies. Here is our Valentines Sensory Love Tub.

#10 – Valentines Sensory Tub

For this tub, we have:

pink, red and purple colored rice as the base
pink and red bouncy balls
small erasers with the word “love” on them
a super cool red mini mailbox
heart shaped (plastic) “slinkies”
heart shaped containers for scooping
Valentine-themed cupcake wrappers for scooping
my favorite, “table scatter” of X's and O's
I included a few (the wee ones figure it out fast & can't resist) traditional Valentine sentiment candy “be mine”, “oh my” , etc

Free Downloads for these Activities

We all had a blast with this tub. Love the colors, the feel, and the sentiment. All round goodness.

Language Arts Curriculum for Homeschoolers

By Marnie Craycroft Leave a Comment Filed Under: Activities, Curriculum Tagged With: Homeschool, Reading and Writing This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read my disclosure for more info.

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I am always seeking out ways to help my kids with reading and writing without boring them to pieces. If you're searching for a Language Arts Curriculum for your homeschool or your classroom, I found a gem!

Recently we quite out of nowhere began to homeschool our 8 year old son. There are many reasons why this change happened in our family, which I will describe in a future blog post.

For now, I have to describe this amazing language arts program for homeschool but also for any parent wanting to supplement at home.

Language Arts Curriculum for Homeschoolers

Honestly, we've always wanted to homeschool and hope that our other two children will follow in his steps. In fact, I have done my research and vetted materials and curriculum.

Related Post: Montessori Homeschool Curriculum

In my scramble (yes, scramble) to get a homeschool plan together, I jotted down the topics we needed and wanted to cover and pulled resources from my back pocket to meet the requirements.

My Favorite Language Arts Curriculum

One particular Language Arts resource I am thrilled about is called Brave Writer.

Why I Love the Brave Writer Language Program

Here are a few reasons why I am so impressed by the material:

Virtual book clubs covering a wide range of abilities and development stages where kids go online to interact with each other and a teacher
Poetry Teatime is a weekly event – in our case on Tuesdays – where we drink tea, read poetry outloud, and discuss the poetry. The discussion part might seem daunting but the discussion happens quite naturally. You'll see.
On Wednesday afternoons we have a movie discussion club. Similar to poetry tea time, you watch a movie from a selected list of high-quality movies and discuss online with a teacher and other children. The teachers direct the conversations and respond to the kids' answers.
We also do a lot of free form writing based on an image we capture in nature, a poem, and so on.

Partnership is a big theme with Brave Writer. As the adult in your child's homeschool, modeling and partnering with your child and his learning is key to success.

The Partnership Writing Program guides you to make this happen in your homeschool. There are 4 separate guides beginning at 5-years-old and ending at 18. We purchased the Partnership Writing Bundle, which includes Writer's Jungle, Partnership Writing, and The Arrow.

The Writer's Jungle introduces and teaches a process of writing for both you and the child beginning with reading great books and poetry, developing acumen with spelling, grammar, and punctuation, observing detail, discovering and massaging a writing voices, and learning how to revise writing.

The second piece of the Writer's Jungle is my favorite because it is full of fun with word games, journaling, and reading lists. This part supplements the foundation introduced in the first section.

I can't possibly say it better than the creator of the program. Here are her words:

The missing ingredient in writing curricula isn't how to structure a paragraph (information that can be readily found on the Internet). You don't need more facts about topic sentences or how to use libraries. Grammar and spelling are not the key components in writing, either, much to the chagrin of some English teachers.
Writing is first and foremost about writers—people with ideas, thoughts, and insights they want to share. Readers are cultivated by risky writing—writing that hooks, fascinates, speaks, surprises, enlivens, and tells the truth. How do you help your kids reach inside and find those kinds of words? That's what Brave Writer is all about and that's what The Writer's Jungle is designed to help you do.

The Arrow is also part of the bundle. Think of the arrow as a monthly injection into your homeschooling and learning at home.

It is a virtual book club (we're reading this book this month) and each guide includes the following:

Four copywork/dictation passages
Grammar, spelling, punctuation, and literary device notes
A writing activity
Nine discussion questions

Poetry Resources for Your Homeschool

Homeschool Resources

Must Have Materials to Teach Montessori Grammar

By Marnie Craycroft Leave a Comment Filed Under: Curriculum, Montessori, Outdoor Education Tagged With: Grammar, Homeschool, Language Lesson, Reading and Writing This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read my disclosure for more info.

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Montessori Grammar is fun to do with kids, and noun sorting cards are a must have when you do so! When my son was almost six years old, he was extremely interested in parts of speech. He asked a lot about what certain words mean and why these words belong in a particular sentence. It was a great time to teach him and his younger brother more about nouns with Montessori grammar lessons.

I began by reminding my sons that nouns are the meat of the sentence; that nouns are what ground the sentence. Yes, I know it sounds dramatic, but it makes sense to kids. Then we went on a NOUN Hunt in our environment. We went outside and had a lot of fun collecting objects and even moved into adjectives as we described the collected objects. Once we got inside, the boys were ready to focus on a work. So, I pulled out our Noun Cards and let them at it.

So, we began with the sorting cards. I created cards with REAL images that I believe relate to my children and their lives. The lesson is fairly simple. Print out these noun sorting cards, cut them out, and laminate the cards. Invite the child to do the work, perhaps with the use of objects. My sons fetched our police person figurine, for example, during this exercise. Many children respond well to concrete.

Montessori Grammar Lesson with Noun Sorting Cards

The Montessori Grammar Noun Sorting lesson is straightforward.

Invite the child
Lay out the labels – Person, Place, Thing – saying the name on the label as you place it on the mat.
Remind the child of the definition of a Noun
Go through the cards and sorting the cards as you name the image.
Most likely the child will take over the lesson.

Grammar Lesson Extensions

Encourage her to point out nouns in the environment
Go on a noun hunt either simply by identifying or by collecting objects
Grab a magazine and scissors. Invite the child to identify, cut out, and sort by pasting the images onto a piece of paper.
Gather objects to sort into Person, Place, and Thing. Safari Toobs are a great source for these objects. Also, Montessori Services has a ton of objects to use in language lessons.

Download my Montessori Grammar Pack!

How do you use noun sorting cards in your Montessori grammar presentations?

Ridiculously Effective Montessori Grammar Activities

By Marnie Craycroft Leave a Comment Filed Under: Curriculum, Montessori Tagged With: Grammar, Homeschool, Reading and Writing This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read my disclosure for more info.

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Grammar is fun! Montessori Grammar is even better! Inside you'll find awesome Montessori Grammar activities the kids are sure to love.

My six year old continues to be interested in parts of speech. Most recently he is set on coming up with as many homophones as possible. The activity is not only fun but he works hard to test various word pairs, then uses the words in a sentence. English is a tough language to learn. Homophones are just one example!

To help my son out, I created homophone cards using real images. He enjoyed matching up the cards. That part was quite simple for him. I encouraged him to write out the words. He took it a step beyond writing the words by illustrating the words. Here are a few materials I've created to help my children with learning Parts of Speech.

The materials I have created so far are in this bundle in my SHOP and in Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Montessori Grammar Activity: Noun Sorting

I like this noun sorting exercise because you can prepare the work for a wide age range. My 4.5 year old really enjoyed this work and added his own flare to it by seeking out objects to also sort into Person, Place, and Thing. My 6-year-old appreciated and understood the fact that a noun is what grounds the sentence, it is the meat of the sentence. Seeking out nouns around our home (“Going on a Noun Hunt” as my boys called it) was equally as fun for them. Who knew learning Parts of Speech could be so entertaining to them! I used these Noun Sorting Cards available in my TPT store and my SHOP.

Montessori Grammar Activity: Preposition

Kids have so much fun with prepositions. I personally love this Part of Speech because you can get bodies moving and be creative! These preposition cards are simple and can be used with props to help children really understand the lesson. Check out the full lesson in this grammar post.

Montessori Grammar Activity: Article, Adjective, Noun Cards

My son enjoyed matching these grammar cards to the images. Next stop is adding a verb and having him create the grammar symbol pattern to match the phrases. I created these grammar phrase cards with a nature theme.

For all these Montessori grammar materials plus a whole lot more (including lots of freebies), check out my SHOP and my Teachers Pay Teacher store!

Best,
Marnie

How to Encourage Montessori Writing Development

By Marnie Craycroft 4 Comments Filed Under: Curriculum, Montessori Tagged With: Reading and Writing, Shelf Work This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read my disclosure for more info.

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Montessori's approach to language development is fascinating, intriguing, and, well, effective. If you are looking for insight into Montessori writing development, you have landed in the right place. Welcome. I am going to introduce you to one of the tools to effectively learn how to teach kids to write.

“Genius is eternal patience.” ~ Michelangelo

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Montessori Outlet. All opinions are 100% mine.

Montessori metal insets are one of my all-time favorite Montessori materials. They are by far the most effective I have come across in teaching my son hand coordination to prepare him for writing.

The insets come in the shapes of a square, triangle, circle, rectangle, oval, trapezoid, pentagon, curvilinear triangle, and quatrefoil. They present the child with a wide variety of hand movements to enhance work on control and steadiness while writing left to right. The child will also eventually learn to make a continuous stroke.

Montessori's Metal Insets Teach Kids to Write

The best part is that the insets work on a wide variety of skills. This work primarily focuses on the development of Montessori writing skills, of course. In addition to that, art and math skills are also inherent to the metal inserts as children are making designs and patterns with the shapes. By the way, the insets are the same size as the shapes found in the geometric cabinet.

Keep in mind, though, that the work with metal insets should not be rushed by the adult or the child.

How to Teach Kids to Write with Metal Insets

There are fairly specific presentations with Montessori metal insets. Here is the approach I took with my son, along with some variations.

Introduce the Metal Insets

Present each inset to the child, picking up the inset with a three finger grip, tracing the insets with the dominant index finger, then returning the inset to its template. If the child wants to continue that day, great. If not, put the work aside for another presentation.

Trace the Metal Insets with a Pencil

The next time I brought the insets out, I introduced the tracing paper and colored pencils. We worked slowly together tracing most of the shapes. The work is meant to be done slowly, so when you introduce the work to your child be sure to emphasize that slowness and steadiness. Tracing gives the child an opportunity to learn how to grip and guide a pencil, and feel the pressure on the pencil while writing.

How to Teach Kids to Write – Metal Inset Extensions

Children can make designs on their own.
Present simple designs and ask the child to identify the shapes used to make the design.
Prepare a few simple designs and ask the child to reproduce the design.

My favorite part of this work is the use of the metal insets and colored pencils to create beautiful designs. This part of the work comes after a child has worked with the insets for a bit.

Metal Insets Deliver Results

The wait and work are worth it. When my son was 3.5 years old, he was deep into the sensitive period for reading and writing. Observing him was beautiful. Watching him unfold into his magical self-has always been inspiring and motivating.

I remember thinking when he was about 2.5 years old: “I must be doing something wrong,” because he wasn't interested in my presentations or the materials. He needed to be ready. Patience is truly a virtue, my friends, please keep that in mind on your Montessori journey.

Where are your children or students in their Montessori writing development? What do you think of these metal insets?

Thank you for reading today. I hope that you found this post helpful to you in your Montessori journey.

Warmly,
Marnie

A note about our Sponsor, Montessori Outlet:

Montessori Outlet offers premium quality at outlet prices. Old traditions meet new technology is a key message that resonates with me. They use authentic Nienhuis blueprints to produce affordable Montessori materials for classrooms and home learning environments. I am proud to be partnering with them. Definitely check out their line of Montessori products. They offer great deals on shipping too. You will be happy that you spent the time.

Please take the time to visit Montessori Outlet to browse their affordable Montessori products for your school, classroom or home school. I have been extraordinarily pleased with the selection and quality of materials. The customer service is also top notch.