Welcome Readers :)

Welcome readers !
Thank you for visiting 'Inside the child' and hope that your time spend reading my blog is educational. It includes my thoughts and approach to a child, based on the Montessori educational philosophy that emphasize on independence, freedom within limits and learning concepts of working with materials hands-on, rather than by direct instructions.

My favorite quote by Dr. Maria Montessori “There is in every child a painstaking teacher, so skillful that he obtains identical results in all children in all parts of the world. The only language men ever speak perfectly is the one they learn in babyhood, when no one can teach them anything!”
As a Children's House Montessori teacher, it is my pleasure to share my experience with children of ages 2 1/2 - 7 yrs old, and how small little things makes a big difference. Enjoy reading. Thank you.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Parts of a flower - Hibiscus

Nomenclature means 'assigning the name'. In this activity we will assign names to the parts of a flower. In the picture below, we have a Hibiscus. A real yellow Hibiscus flower is kept near the activity.


This is a very Montessori style of doing an activity. We do all our work on the rug. It gives us space and hands move freely.

Nomenclature of a flower is also available in Montessori for everyone for $4.99. Or, like I said earlier that I rather make the set my self and save this money to buy some other Montessori material. Cards in the above image are hand made and laminated. Making cards is fun. I would simply take a picture of a flower from the internet and print it - 8 with outline and 2 colored flower or if you are a good artist then draw it by your hand, color the different parts of a flower as shown in the image( below are the close up images ), type the names twice - Calyx, Corolla, Stamens, Pistil and Flower. Print, cut into labels. So, in all we need -
1. 5 picture/label control cards, all laminated.
2. 5 labels with the names of the parts.
3. 5 pictures of the flower parts.

We also need a paper as the base, here we have green as to refer to plants, like plants are green and living thing. You can take any other color as you like it !

Picture/label cards on a green paper laminated, under it are separate picture and label cards.

Corolla is the red petal.

Stamen that produce the pollen and Pistil that produces the seeds.

This activity is very good for Kindergartners and other children who can read well, around 4 1/2 and above. See, like I explained in what's important - age or learning ? article that it's not the age that matters it is your child and his interest in the activity, that's important. I have done this activity with a 3 year old also and he had an immense fun while doing this. What I am trying to say is that any activity can be presented to a child in various ways. It is the child you have to observe and see his capabilities and interest or excitement at that time.

In brief, to a 3/4 yr old - you will first place the control cards(picture-label card) on the top of the rug from L-R, starting with the flower card. Then, match the picture card (card with only picture) by placing it next to the first control card on the right side. If it matches nod 'yes', place the card under it. If it does not matches nod 'no', pick another picture card. So, this activity is a matching activity for a child of 3-4 years old. They sometimes are able to match the labels by recognizing the shape of the letters. It works great and they love it.

For a child of 5 and above, you will do a matching activity as shown above. In addition, a child reads the labels first then match it. Labeling is done using the 3 period lesson where the teacher makes sure if the child remembers all the parts of the flower.
For example, a teacher says, "This is a Calyx." Child says, "Calyx." Teacher names all the parts and the child repeats after her. She then ask the child, "Show me (the last name she said, here it is) Pistil." The child points at Pistil. She ask to show all the parts. Once the teacher is confident that the child knows all the names she goes to the third period and ask the child pointing at the Calyx picture, "What is this?" 

definition cards.

Later, the child uses the definition cards and defines each part of a flower.



The child can also write these definitions on his science note book !! Look he got his first science not book :)
One sentence definition cards.

Enjoy !! If you have any questions please email me. Thank you.


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