Montessori Springtime 2010 Resource News

Conceptual Learning - http://www.conceptuallearning.com

Dianne Knesek will be attending the national American Montessori Society Conference in Boston, March 25th through March 28th. If you are planning to attend the conference stop by the Conceptual Learning booth to chat with her. Please see Spring Newsletter I for information about free Montessori math lessons.

LORD Company - http://www.lordequip.com/

The LORD Company Winter Sale at http://www.lordequip.com ends on April 1. Lots of half price furniture, close outs and bargains. New Products include graded chalk boards in the "Writing to Perfection" category at http://www.lordequip.com now available in a Stand for display at introductory prices. Our best selling product for home sales (the Infant Chair and Matching Hard Wood Table) is on sale through March at $139. All these offers may be seen on the Home Page at http://www.lordequip.com.

Please see http://www.amonco.org/spring2/montessori_spring2.pdf for information about a free geography set of land and water form cards and simple reading books - both available from LORD Company.

Speak and Sing - Shari and Jerry - http://www.shariandjerry.com/

Add a little music to your curriculum. Shari and Jerry have just released their Songs for Every Season CD. This award winning CD is sure to delight children, school and home educators and others with the fine selection of award winning children's songs.

Check with your local library system to see if they have ordered this CD. If not, encourage them to do so. The Songs for Every Season CD/book has already been ordered by the Santa Clara County Library in Los Gatos,CA, Awhile ago, this library system ordered Shari and Jerry's Simple Songs for Circle Time. If you live in that area, you can easily borrow and preview both CDs today.

The School Library Journal recently reviewed the new Songs for Every Season CD., and you will want to take time now to read this wonderful review. Please visit http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6674070.html

To access the free Simple Songs for Circle Time, Percussion Bands and Musical Concerts, please visit http://www.amonco.org/spring2/montessori_spring2.pdf

Literatureplace.com - http://www.literatureplace.com/

Announcing the online availability of the 2010 Edition from www.literatureplace.com

The 2010 Edition of all literureplace.com’s resources will be available for purchase on March 15, 2010! See the Sample BookfolioPLUS 2010 online beginning Mar. 9, 2010 to preview of all the new features unique to this edition. The discount has been raised to 20% and is available until 4/15/10. Use code #20101 to receive discount.

See http://www.literatureplace.com for details.

Download some free literatureplace.com free lesson planning ideas by visiting

http://www.amonco.org/creative/montessori_fall4.pdf

Gari Stein - http://www.little-folks-music.com/together.htm

Gari Stein recently announced that on March 13 she will be the keynote speaker at a Michigan early childhood regional conference. A week later, on March 20th, Gari will be a featured speaker the Michigan Reading Association Annual Conference. Gari also has the honor of being a USA Book News National Best Books Award Winner. Please see http://www.little-folks-music.com/ , http://www.amonco.org/together.html and http://www.amonco.org/howto.html for more information about various products and services offered by Gari.

Hands On Equations - http://www.Borenson.com/

Were you unable to attend the special Montessori free Hands On Equations Webinars that were offered last month?? Some of your Montessori colleagues attended last month's webinars and received invaluable information.

Don’t miss out on this wonderful opportunity afforded to you. A Hands-On Equations Learning System, to use with one student, is raffled at each webinar.

You are just one click away from being a part of the next webinar. It's easy and free.

To register for an upcoming webinar, click on one of the links listed below and complete the registration process:

Thursday, March 4, 3:15 - 4:00 PM Hands-On Equations Introductory Webinar

Wednesday, March 10, 1:15 - 2:00 PM Hands-On Equations Introductory Webinar

Wednesday, March 17, 3:15 - 4:00 PM Hands-On Equations Introductory Webinar

Funfelt - http://www.funfelt.com

Obtain a free felt board figure sample and catalog from Story Time Felts - Fun Felt for Kids. Visit www.funfelt.com for all of your hands-on felt visual aids including felt boards for science, math, and social studies. Their felt products are 100% made in the USA and safety tested. Request a free sample and catalog at http://www.funfelt.com

Karen Clark, of Funfelt, is also pleased to introduce the new

http://www.funfelt.com/thematic-unit-workshops.html Monthly Thematic Unit Workshops from Story Time Felts

and

http://www.funfelt.com/community-helper-dolls.html Community Helpers

Download some free Funfelt lesson planning ideas by visiting

http://www.amonco.org/creative/montessori_fall4.pdf

Brand New!!

Montessori Resources 2010 on CD

Please see http://www.amonco.org/bookstore.html

Wishing you a blessed springtime filled with many beautiful new beginnings,

Heidi Anne Spietz

Montessori Pick for the Week of January 31, 2010

Please click on the following for some excellent lesson planning ideas.

The Rain Stick or Rain Maker

Soap That Grows

Three Little Kittens - Literature Link

Montessori Picks for the Week of September 14, 2009

More in Store for you this Fall from AMC

Click on the highlighted links below to access this free information!

Science and Nature

In In Part II Janette, from Cotton’s Journey, shares her
COTTON BOLL’S BOUNTY ACTIVITY Janette tells us that the student will be able to compare cotton lint varieties, predict and record, compute percentages, and discover the properties of spinning and crushing cottonseed oil.

This activity is an interdisciplinary unit for the following grades:

1st-3rd, Mathematics, Life Sciences, Nature of Science
4th-6th, Mathematics, Life Sciences, Nature of Science
7th, Mathematics, Life Sciences, Nature of Science

John, from Exploration Education, will walk you through the science activity SIMPLY SOUND, which helps children understand the properties of sound, and they will actually have fun doing so. Visit Part VIII for details.

Don and Diana, from Nature’s Workshop Plus, have authored the article Delighting in Discovering Little Things. Set aside time to read this informative piece. Children will discover new ways to see the world through a hand held magnifying glass or microscope. Seehttp://www.amonco.org/creative/montessori_fall4.pdf to download this information.

Ever been on a microscope safari? Get ready, set, go! See
Part IX for additional information.

Receive a complete cardiovasuclar unit study for K – 12 with links for post secondary students by visiting Part VIII

Free Educational Games

Alan, from Stillson Works, offers some unique, innovative Middle School Word Puzzles These puzzles will be especially useful for Columbus Day, Christmas, etc. Alan’s puzzles are also unique holiday gifts.

See Part IX to access the Birdcage Press Combine Learning and Fun at Art Museums article plus links to the Treasure Hunt, Art Collector, I Spy an Eye and Scavenger Hunt games.

Literature Lessons

Searching for the right book? When in doubt, start with the winners! Rita, from literatureplace.com will show you how to do just that! Whether you are in the process of compiling a reading booklist or in the process of creating your own book-awards program, this is the place to start. Visit http://www.amonco.org/creative/montessori_fall4.pdf to download Rita’s information.

Fall Literature Lesson Planning Favorites

New and Notable from Literatureplace.com and Patria Press

Rita, from Literatureplace.com, recently had the following to share with the AMC readers:  “In response to that need, we organized our Core Collection of 150 titles into five major categories."

Genre Collections  

Theme Collections  

Level Collections

Top Ten Collections

Special Collections 

"Each of the five categories is presented online in an easy-to-use Planning Guide which includes the curriculum collections for that category.  Visitors at literatureplace.com have full access to the guides to view the information provided for each title in a collection--information about genre, author, story summary, activities list, and much more.  The online guides make it more convenient for you to both select titles to meet your plan as well as purchase resources from our three product series:   Bookfolio Student Activity Guides, Chapter Reading Guides, and BookfolioPLUS titles.  All our instructional resources are available online in two versions:  you-download-for-instant-access and we-print-and-mail-to-you-access.  We invite you to visit literatureplace.com and to take advantage of our online resources." 

Visit  http://www.literatureplace.com  for more details.  Don’t forget to download Rita’s free lessons included in the AMC Fall Montessori issue.  Point your browser to http://www.amonco.org/montessorifalllessons.html

Spend some time at Patria Press  http://www.patriapress.com and sign up for "The Young Patriots Biography Bulletin", and monthly newsletter. Subscribers will get a sneak preview of new releases, sample chapter excerpts of upcoming titles, fun facts about each "Young Patriot" and special offers.

• Hook Kids on History

• Get Kids Reading

• Jump-Start Kids' Curiosity

Florrie recently shared the following on her website: "In celebration of our young students returning to school and in honor of this September's International Reading Day, take advantage of special savings on the Young Patriots Series!"