What I do
Free Downloads
Everything I make for my classroom can be found her for free. EYFS, KS1, KS2, Montessori, Free downloadsPhonics
I am passionate about quality phonics teaching and share a wealth of ideas and resources for freeLatest Posts
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Phonics Flash Cards
These videos are designed to help children practise their recall of the phonic sounds. Each one flashes through the sounds then after 2 seconds they will here the pure sounds. Ideal for phonics sessions. Phase 2 Flash Cards Phase 3 Flash Cards Phase 5 Flash Cards I hope that you find these helpful.
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Free Home Learning Pack
I am getting a pack ready to send home for my class to use during home learning. These are the bits I am preparing – all links are to free materials. 120 square Alphabet and high frequency word strip Letter formation chart Personal dictionary Number cards Place value cards Number line I hope that these
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Ending Screen Time battles
This has been a Game changer for us. My kids, like many others, love their iPads. I have been trying to limit the time that they have on them, as I can see dramatic changes in their behaviour with too much use. I had explored apps such as OurPact but at £6.99 a month I
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Easter Egg Hunt Challenge
Over the years I have been refining this Easter egg hunt idea, it is always a hit, from the younger children all the way up. At the end you can always give a chocolate egg for the completed sheet! The hunt only takes a few minutes to prepare. You can either use the coloured eggs
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Human X-ray printable
We are just about to start looking at the human body at school. I have made this printable so that the children can explore how the bones work in our bodies. I have all my downloads for Human body here and will be adding more! If you have any questions or feedback please email me info@montessorisoul.com .
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Conker weaving
We had a wonderful day making these today. We were blessed with a glorious autumnal day and children from year 1 to year 8 who enjoyed making these. I found these great hand drills on amazon and safety gloves that are a perfect fit for the children, but they don’t affect how they can use
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Guided reading
Last year I set up a ‘Book Club’ in my class. In groups of four the children enjoyed reading books together. I want to make this as independent as possible for all reading abilities. So I have started creating some challenge cards so at the end of each page the children can answer the questions
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Personal Dictionaries – free download
I have been trying to find a personal dictionary to use in my class. I couldn’t find any I liked and had some time on my hands so created these. Each dictionary has a box on the front for the child to make their own. NB: We have just discovered these great handwriting pens! Buy
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Why I let my children go shopping on their ‘own’.
Recently I posted this photo onto my Facebook page of F and S going shopping. An eager eyed friend noticed that it had been screen dumped and posted on to another group discussing supermarket shopping. Whilst I am hardened to comments on social media – I found the discussions occurring around this photo fascinating: “They
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Times Tables marbles game
I’ve just made these fun marbles to help with times table practice. Super easy to make – Freya (9) actually made half of them and is in the video clip! What do you need? Download this free printable and print double sided (we used 160 grm card) Glass marbles Mod podge Scissors Brush Instructions: First
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DIY Kids Suncatcher
Trying out some ideas for school we had a great time making these this morning. Nice and mess free! I have tried to make it so that Freya can achieve them independently which she did! Here are some photos of what we did. To make these suncatcher we used the following (I have added affiliate
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Willow Star wand
Earlier in the year we planted some willow. We decided to harvest some and make these lovely willow wands. Once we cut it we then stripped all of the leaves off. I presume that you could use and fresh, thin tree branch if you don’t have willow. Instructions: Make a bend in the willow about
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Halloween Slime – UK recipe
We have been having a lovely relaxed family day today as we start half term. Seb wanted to make some Halloween slime – so I thought we would share it with you. We still love our simple slime recipe and it literally takes 4 minutes to make. Seb has made a little video showing how
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Multiplication Times table circles pegging activity
I have been trying to think of ways to incorporate fine motor skills into the classroom. I am hoping that improving hand strength will help with handwriting. As I am in Year 3 at the moment we are also starting to learn times tables. So I made these times table wheels. They are attractive to
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5 Minute Ikea Classroom Clock hack – Free Download
I have updated my teaching time printable to make this simple clock by hacking the Ikea Rusch clock. If you can’t get to ikea not as you can buy the clock for a little extra on Amazon 🙂 Ikea Rusch clock #affilaite Just download my Free Clock printable and cut it out. Carefully remove the clock front. There
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Classroom editing kit
In the past year I have been trying to learn about children’s writing and the different processes it involves. I have decided that I really want to focus on the task of editing as a separate task so that the mechanics of writing don’t inhibit young writers. In the video above you will see I
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Dates in the classroom
I have been setting up my new classroom recently and have moved up into KS2. I want to try and encourage my class to be more independent when it comes to writing the date. I plan to teach them how the shower date is formed and that the numbers represent the day, then the month,
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DIY Giant Bubbles – 4 simple ingredients – NEW and improved!
We have updated our bubble mixture and its got even better with 4 simple ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen! This video shows how big the bubbles can get! We have played a game called Pop, blow or shoot! Great for listening and patience! Basically as the bubble floats off you shot Pop
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Fidget Spinner Tricky Words challenge
Freya and Seb have finally caught on to the trend of fidget spinners! #affiliate We found some great ones on Amazon that didn’t break the bank (around £3) and came quickly. Seb especially has loved this challenge – he has read his tricky words at least 8 times today!! I need to make him a
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DIY Egg candler
We we have 12 runner duck eggs in our incubator at the moment. They have been in for 5 days and I wanted to check their progress. I normally use the titan egg candler Which is fantastic, however we are mid house move so it’s packed away. Instead i found this easy DIY version which isn’t
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Multiplication and Times Tables – Fun Montessori Style
Freya is starting to learn her times tables at school. I remember hating this as a child and thinking it was pointless! I now know the importance of it – but still remember my own struggles so I have been trying to make it as fun and easy for Freya as possible. I saw this
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DIY Braille feely blocks – Sensory Fun
I have been meaning to make this activity for ages. Freya and Seb have really enjoyed it this morning and I was very surprised how well they could actually recognise the letters. We have really enjoyed this magical book called ‘The black book of colour’. #affiliate We have also enjoyed a book called ‘Mole’s Sunrise’ Both
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Slime Bubbles – UK recipe Borax Free
We have been playing with Slime for the past two days. Lots of fun, fine motor and this time we added in straws which the children have been blowing bubbles with! Its been great for controlling breath. We whipped up a batch of Borax Free slime (Recipe available here) and added some straws #affiliate We have had
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Sun Safety for Kids with UV Bracelets
We all know how important it is to teach our kids about staying safe in the sun. Since a young age we have talked about this with Freya and Seb. Sometimes though it is hard for them to see when we need to put on suncream. How can they tell when UV isn’t visible? Well
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DIY Bird Feeders in 5 Minutes!
We have started to learn about the birds in our garden and we decided we wanted to try and encourage some more! A quick trip to the local supermarket and we got some bird seed and dried worms! (Much to Seb’s delight!) You can also order these on amazon http://amzn.to/2nAI4vG #affiliate. We have been using these free
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Top Tips for lighting fires the Forest School Way
Lighting fires the forest school way! I have learnt alot in my forest school training. Who knew that you could use pixie pillows (cotton wool), dragons snot (vaseline, although this wasn’t allowed during my assessment) and dragons breath (from a fire steel). But, what I have really learnt is how to make a good controlled
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Easter Egg Pinata
We had so much fun making this Easter Egg Pinata for an event at school. It was really popular there too! I was inspired by a post from Studio DIY for DIY Egg Popper Tree. I have adapted this idea slightly though – see details below. To make this Pinata you will need the following.
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Valentines Slime UK Ingredients
We’ve been playing and adapted our slime for Valentine’s Day – what says I love you more than… Slime! We played around with the recipe a bit and tested them out. We made one Slime which was more like a silly putty. The second was super stretchy and Freya and Seb preferred this stretching it
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Seb’s 6th Birthday Lego Party
I LOVE Pinterest. If am am planning anything, a party, a lesson, a sewing project, I will always make a board and search for ideas and inspiration. If you are interested my Pinterest board is pinterest.com/montessorisoul. But back to Seb’s birthday. The boy is obsessed with Lego so it was an easy option to do
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Seb’s 6th Birthday Lego Party
I LOVE Pinterest. If am am planning anything, a party, a lesson, a sewing project, I will always make a board and search for ideas and inspiration. If you are interested my Pinterest board is pinterest.com/montessorisoul. But back to Seb’s birthday. The boy is obsessed with Logo so it was an easy option to do
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Why we have Seasons and Solstices
We were discussing that today is the shortest day and what that means. This lead to us doing lots of experiments about the planet earth and how it goes round the sun. How this creates the seasons and longer and shorter days. We started reading the book: Christmas a very Peculiar History. #affiliate link to
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Glitter Slime – Borax Free – 4 simple ingredients
This has been an absolute hit this weekend with all ages!! Freya and Seb loved making the slime – the glitter has been contained and not spread everywhere and they have played and explored for hours! That’s a win-win-win for me!! This is an amazingly simple recipe without and borax and uses ingredients that can
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Learning about the layers of planet earth
We are learning about the planet earth at school at the moment. Freya and I have had fun tonight making play dough versions of the planet earth. We have made different colours of play dough using our 3 minute play dough recipe. Once we had made the play dough Freya made the planet like this. First
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Laminated Poppy pictures for Remembrance Day
I have been asked about books for Remembrance day. This book is absolutely beautiful. It has a nice repeating refrain through out and the illustrations are out of this world. It shows the life’s of 2 friends that are young when the war breaks out and their time in the war and then when they
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Remembrance day window poppies
This was one of my favourite activities last year and the children loved it too!! Cut the apple in half and paint the flat side with red paint. Print it onto the INSIDE of a laminating pouch. Add a black center. We used a cut off carrot! Then you can add a stem and leaves
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First blog post
This is the excerpt for your very first post.
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UK slime recipe
We were so excited to find this new slime recipe – it works brilliantly and the addition of shaving foam gives it a lovely fragrance too! We saw the original recipe on Instructables – but we’ve tweaked the recipe a bit for the U.K. Market. The secret ingredients… Ingredients: For ease I have included
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UK slime recipe
We were so excited to find this new slime recipe – it works brilliantly and the addition of shaving foam gives it a lovely fragrance too! We saw the original recipe on Instructables – but we’ve tweaked the recipe a bit for the U.K. Market. The secret ingredients… Ingredients: For ease I have included
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UK slime recipe
We were so excited to find this new slime recipe – it works brilliantly and the addition of shaving foam gives it a lovely fragrance too! We saw the original recipe on Instructables – but we’ve tweaked the recipe a bit for the U.K. Market. The secret ingredients… Ingredients: For ease I have included
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UK slime recipe
We were so excited to find this new slime recipe – it works brilliantly and the addition of shaving foam gives it a lovely fragrance too! We saw the original recipe on Instructables – but we’ve tweaked the recipe a bit for the U.K. Market. The secret ingredients… Ingredients: For ease I have included
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UK slime recipe
We were so excited to find this new slime recipe – it works brilliantly and the addition of shaving foam gives it a lovely fragrance too! We saw the original recipe on Instructables – but we’ve tweaked the recipe a bit for the U.K. Market. The secret ingredients… Ingredients: For ease I have included
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Snozcumber Slime
Following on with our BFG theme we had great fun making ‘Snozcumber Slime’! So much fun exploring this! So simple to make too! What do you need? Chia seeds (affiliate link) Large cucumber Green food colouring Cornflour Water How did we do it? First soak the chia seeds in a cup of water and add a
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Snozcumber Slime
Following on with our BFG theme we had great fun making ‘Snozcumber Slime’! So much fun exploring this! So simple to make too! What do you need? Chia seeds (affiliate link) Large cucumber Green food colouring Cornflour Water How did we do it? First soak the chia seeds in a cup of water and add a
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Snozcumber Slime
Following on with our BFG theme we had great fun making ‘Snozcumber Slime’! So much fun exploring this! So simple to make too! What do you need? Chia seeds (affiliate link) Large cucumber Green food colouring Cornflour Water How did we do it? First soak the chia seeds in a cup of water and add a
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Snozcumber Slime
Following on with our BFG theme we had great fun making ‘Snozcumber Slime’! So much fun exploring this! So simple to make too! What do you need? Chia seeds (affiliate link) Large cucumber Green food colouring Cornflour Water How did we do it? First soak the chia seeds in a cup of water and add a
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Snozcumber Slime
Following on with our BFG theme we had great fun making ‘Snozcumber Slime’! So much fun exploring this! So simple to make too! What do you need? Chia seeds (affiliate link) Large cucumber Green food colouring Cornflour Water How did we do it? First soak the chia seeds in a cup of water and add a
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The Ultimate DIY Giant Bubbles
Wow today was the day – after months of trying I finally seem to have cracked the Giant bubble mixture!! See our recipe below which has been updated and is our best yet! The forecast for Sunday is warm and light winds – perfect for giant bubbles so I thought I would try making some
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BFG Inspired Dream Jars
We went to see the new BFG film and we were blown away. Such a brilliant film. As we watched it my mind whirred with ideas of activities I could do with F and S. As we are a few weeks into the holidays I wanted to do a little bit of writing with them
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DIY Kinetic Sand
We started our summer with a staycation trip around the South west of England. Absolutely stunning, but thoroughly exhausting. Next, a week long course learning abut leading a forest school – fantastic, but exhausting! Finally an amazing weekend with friends messing about on the river. We need a day to chillax at home and recharge
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Water colour wheel
Easy to make water colour wheels are also a great fine motor skills activity. I use these glass bottles (find similar on amazon #affiliate) I made the colour water using brusho – (also available from amazon – brusho). I love these brusho crystals – they are quite expensive but a little goes a long long way.
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5 minute butter from scratch
We have had fun making butter today. Freya really enjoyed this and is was a great lesson in where food comes from. Very simple to make you just need double cream, we left it out for couple of hours so it was at room temperature, and a clear jar. After about 1 minute the cream
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5 minute butter from scratch
We have had fun making butter today. Freya really enjoyed this and is was a great lesson in where food comes from. Very simple to make you just need double cream, we left it out for couple of hours so it was at room temperature, and a clear jar. After about 1 minute the cream
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5 minute butter from scratch
We have had fun making butter today. Freya really enjoyed this and is was a great lesson in where food comes from. Very simple to make you just need double cream, we left it out for couple of hours so it was at room temperature, and a clear jar. After about 1 minute the cream
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5 minute butter from scratch
We have had fun making butter today. Freya really enjoyed this and is was a great lesson in where food comes from. Very simple to make you just need double cream, we left it out for couple of hours so it was at room temperature, and a clear jar. After about 1 minute the cream
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5 minute butter from scratch
We have had fun making butter today. Freya really enjoyed this and is was a great lesson in where food comes from. Very simple to make you just need double cream, we left it out for couple of hours so it was at room temperature, and a clear jar. After about 1 minute the cream
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Blackboard table – Upcycling
I have been meaning to do this upcycle for along time! I have this old table that has been past down the family. It has great sentimental value so I didn’t want to get rid of it. I was in B&Q yesterday and saw that they do a blackboard spraypaint… a light bulb moment! When
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Easter
Easter Getting ready for our last week of term and some Easter lessons. I have just made an Easter version of the story bracelet to help children remember the story and sequence it. I plan to read the story with some physical props. Palm leaves, bread, crosses etc. Books I have also found all of
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Music in the Classroom
Do you listen to music in the classroom? I love to use music to help keep the children calm and focused. I have loved using Amazon prime music – it has a great variety of music including Disney Piano that the children love! I use classical music to help focus. #affiliate line to Amazon
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Magnetic Slime – UK recipe – Borax Free
I have seen the recipe that is going around for magnetic slime at the moment by FrugalFun4Boys. There are others too, but they all seem to use either borax which is not popular in the UK, or like this recipe, liquid starch. So, I decided to play around with my Borax free slime recipe
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Freya’s Hundred Square
I just had to share this! So proud of Freya tonight – she got home and decided she wanted to make a hundred square. She then chose then change the colours for the columns based on the units to match the short bead stair. How great is this? Free Printable: http://montessorisoul.com/free-downloads/numeracy/number/freya-s-hundred-square
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Chinese New Year
I love chinese new year – it is a great opportunity to look at another culture. Here are a few of the ideas and resources that I am planning to use as we celebrate Chinese new year. The Great Race I love the story of the great race. This year I will use it as
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Artic Animals
This week we are going to look at how animals keep warm in winter. I am going to set up a number of activities for the children to explore. Here are the details and how to set them up yourself. Types of Penguin I have these cards as a free printable – Types
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Melted snowmen biscuits
Freya and Seb had such fun making these their cousins for their grandparents annual Christmas party! Thank you to the lovely Mrs Williams at school for the idea! And here are some very simple instructions as shown by Freya. 1. Spoon a puddle of icing on to the biscuit. 2. Add a marshmallow. 3.
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Melted snowmen biscuits
Freya and Seb had such fun making these their cousins for their grandparents annual Christmas party! Thank you to the lovely Mrs Williams at school for the idea! And here are some very simple instructions as shown by Freya. 1. Spoon a puddle of icing on to the biscuit. 2. Add a marshmallow. 3.
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Melted snowmen biscuits
Freya and Seb had such fun making these their cousins for their grandparents annual Christmas party! Thank you to the lovely Mrs Williams at school for the idea! And here are some very simple instructions as shown by Freya. 1. Spoon a puddle of icing on to the biscuit. 2. Add a marshmallow. 3.
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Melted snowmen biscuits
Freya and Seb had such fun making these their cousins for their grandparents annual Christmas party! Thank you to the lovely Mrs Williams at school for the idea! And here are some very simple instructions as shown by Freya. 1. Spoon a puddle of icing on to the biscuit. 2. Add a marshmallow. 3.
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Melted snowmen biscuits
Freya and Seb had such fun making these their cousins for their grandparents annual Christmas party! Thank you to the lovely Mrs Williams at school for the idea! And here are some very simple instructions as shown by Freya. 1. Spoon a puddle of icing on to the biscuit. 2. Add a marshmallow. 3.
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Sock Snowmen
Start by getting your materials ready, you will need: White sports socksScissorsElastic bandsRice Funnel (for ease of pouring – ours was fashioned out of a disposable cup!)StringPensRibbonPVA GlueButtons 1. Cut the sock in two just below the heel. Keep the toe for the hat. 2. Turn other piece inside out and secure at one end with
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Thanksgiving Story Bracelet
I have really enjoyed making these story bracelets today and they were a huge hit 🙂 The idea is that you make a bracelet and for each section of the story you add a bead to act as a reminder to the child of that part of the story. This then really helps the child
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Telling time
This is going to have to be a quick post. Firstly I want to thank Marnie at Carrots are orange for her inspiring Learning to tell time post. Freya has been enjoying using the 5 bead chains to learn about 60 minutes in an hour. I made my own bead chains and labels (free download).
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Buried treasure coins
Buried Treasure coins! The children I work with really enjoy the interactive games on Phonics play – http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk. I wanted to create and offline version so I have made coins for each phoneme in the Phase 3 letters and sounds. All free just click the star to go through to the file! Green Set 1
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Strawberries!
My husband just taught the kids this!! So clever and no more half eaten strawberries!!
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Pipe cleaner fireworks
Today while I made lunch Freya put this activity together from scratch! I love how she used duck tape to hold the pipecleaner! The sweetest thing was she went on to teach Seb how to do it!
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Green Series Phase 5 reading lists
I have just added the word lists for the final set of green sounds, Phase 5 letters and sounds in the UK. Hope these help with phonics teaching: http://montessorisoul.com/free-downloads/language/green-series/reading-lists
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My go to no cook playdough recipe
Over the past few years I have refined this recipe so it works for me. So easy it can be done with a hand mixing bowl but I find it easier in the mixer!! Freya and Seb love playdough and the creative freedom it offers – they can concentrate for hours – great for the
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DIY Pencil mirror
I’m going to let the pictures speak for themselves! I got a simple £10 mirror from the range and collected all of the old pencils at the end of term. Freya loved making this with me and I can’t wait to put it in my new classroom in September.
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Updated Phonics resources
Here are the phonics resources I have made for Phase 2 to Phase 5 in the UK Letters and sounds. PS: Just click the star to go through to the file! Pink Box 2 Box 4 satpi n m and d g o c ck e u r h b f/ff l j and v
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Crabbing – top tips!
We’ve had a fab afternoon crabbing and wanted to share our top crabbing tips!! # 1::We always tie the crab line onto the pontoon!! # 2:: Hold the crabs from behind and they can’t nip you! # 3:: Finished crabbing – have a crab race to get the crabs back in the water! # 4::
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Chinese lanterns
Each year one of my highlights is the Aldeburgh Carnival – a fantastic family day. In the evening the whole town gather on the high street for a chinese lantern procession – a truly amazing sight. We then prosess to the beach where we are treated to an amazing fireworks display next to the sea!
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Chinese lanterns
Each year one of my highlights is the Aldeburgh Carnival – a fantastic family day. In the evening the whole town gather on the high street for a chinese lantern procession – a truly amazing sight. We then prosess to the beach where we are treated to an amazing fireworks display next to the sea!
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Chinese lanterns
Each year one of my highlights is the Aldeburgh Carnival – a fantastic family day. In the evening the whole town gather on the high street for a chinese lantern procession – a truly amazing sight. We then prosess to the beach where we are treated to an amazing fireworks display next to the sea!
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Chinese lanterns
Each year one of my highlights is the Aldeburgh Carnival – a fantastic family day. In the evening the whole town gather on the high street for a chinese lantern procession – a truly amazing sight. We then prosess to the beach where we are treated to an amazing fireworks display next to the sea!
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Chinese lanterns
Each year one of my highlights is the Aldeburgh Carnival – a fantastic family day. In the evening the whole town gather on the high street for a chinese lantern procession – a truly amazing sight. We then prosess to the beach where we are treated to an amazing fireworks display next to the sea!
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Flower napkin folding
We are having friends for dinner tonight and Freya has taken to laying the table. She decided she wanted to fold some napkins and wanted to make a video to show how! For some reason I can’t embed the Youtube video 🙁 So ckick here to see it: https://youtu.be/Pkn295Hp-ek What a surprise Daddy will
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Independence Day activities
We have been preparing for an Independence Day party and I wanted to share with you what we did. First here are some of the trays we set up – hopefully the images are self explanitory: Safety Pin Independence day flag. Thread beads onto a sfaty pin to make the pattern and then thread a
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Life Cycles
We are really enjoying looking at life cycles at the moment – I just wanted to share a new category that I have put it the free printables section for Life cycles. All my free life cycles cards in one place: http://montessorisoul.com/free-downloads/terminology-3-part-cards/zoology/life-cycles Are there any others you would like to see and I will try
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Melted Crayon Fireworks
I had seen some great ideas on Pinterest about art with melted crayons (babble.com) We popped into the local Poundland and cot 48 crayons for… you guessed it a £1!! We then went to the art shop and got some A1 180grms Paper – I wanted to make sure that Freya and Seb had enough
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Safety Pin Bracelets
I was so exctited when Freya got given a Safety Pin Bracelet kit for Christmas. (This is a similar kit on Amazon Safety Pin Bracelets (Klutz) #Affiiate) A very Nostalgic gift for me as when I was 13 I set up a small business selling bracelets though a oca craft shop!! Freya was so excited
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Safety Pin Bracelets
I was so exctited when Freya got given a Safety Pin Bracelet kit for Christmas. (This is a similar kit on Amazon Safety Pin Bracelets (Klutz) #Affiiate) A very Nostalgic gift for me as when I was 13 I set up a small business selling bracelets though a oca craft shop!! Freya was so excited
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Safety Pin Bracelets
I was so exctited when Freya got given a Safety Pin Bracelet kit for Christmas. (This is a similar kit on Amazon Safety Pin Bracelets (Klutz) #Affiiate) A very Nostalgic gift for me as when I was 13 I set up a small business selling bracelets though a oca craft shop!! Freya was so excited
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Safety Pin Bracelets
I was so exctited when Freya got given a Safety Pin Bracelet kit for Christmas. (This is a similar kit on Amazon Safety Pin Bracelets (Klutz) #Affiiate) A very Nostalgic gift for me as when I was 13 I set up a small business selling bracelets though a oca craft shop!! Freya was so excited
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Safety Pin Bracelets
I was so exctited when Freya got given a Safety Pin Bracelet kit for Christmas. (This is a similar kit on Amazon Safety Pin Bracelets (Klutz) #Affiiate) A very Nostalgic gift for me as when I was 13 I set up a small business selling bracelets though a oca craft shop!! Freya was so excited
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2014 – My first year blogging
2014 round up! As I only started my blog this Autumn (Fall) I have had so much to learn! I have taken the last week to reflect on what I have learnt and what has been enjoyed the most. I love that Deb @ LivingMontessoriNow does her monthly round up – so I thought I
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Simple decorations from Lolly pops / popsicles
Lollypop decorations – Simple ideas for easy to make decorations! So we are a filling our days now we are not at school with lots of crafts. I have noticed this holiday that Freya has really gained confidence in having her own ideas. So I gave her the materials she needed to make lollypop decorations
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Top Tips for Christmas Cakes with kids
My Top Tips for decorating cakes with Children! I love making Christmas cakes and have done them for as long as I can remember. I used to make them with my Mum as a child and remember her making proper royal icing. Over the years I have spent hours making our cake look as beautiful
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Nativity Story Bracelet
I have heard of other Nurseries making Nativity Story bracelets so had a look around online. I found on on My Montessori Journey, thank you. It inspired me to rewrite the Nativity stroy in a simple story to encourage children to read it themselves. I have also included suggested bead colours but you may want
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Nativity Story Bracelet
I have heard of other Nurseries making Nativity Story bracelets so had a look around online. I found on on My Montessori Journey, thank you. It inspired me to rewrite the Nativity stroy in a simple story to encourage children to read it themselves. I have also included suggested bead colours but you may want
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Nativity Story Bracelet
I have heard of other Nurseries making Nativity Story bracelets so had a look around online. I found on on My Montessori Journey, thank you. It inspired me to rewrite the Nativity stroy in a simple story to encourage children to read it themselves. I have also included suggested bead colours but you may want
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Nativity Story Bracelet
I have heard of other Nurseries making Nativity Story bracelets so had a look around online. I found on on My Montessori Journey, thank you. It inspired me to rewrite the Nativity stroy in a simple story to encourage children to read it themselves. I have also included suggested bead colours but you may want
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Nativity Story Bracelet
I have heard of other Nurseries making Nativity Story bracelets so had a look around online. I found on on My Montessori Journey, thank you. It inspired me to rewrite the Nativity stroy in a simple story to encourage children to read it themselves. I have also included suggested bead colours but you may want
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Freya made Reindeer cards
Freya wanted to make cards for her friends and teachers at school. I wanted to find something that was easy to achieve a good effect as she has over 20 to make! When we were in the craft shop getting an ink pad I saw the embossing bits which reminded me of my stash at
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Christmas Tree Numeracy Fun!
A few weeks ago at halloween (wow seems like a long time ago!) Seb really enjoyed the pumpkin number activity that I made for him. With that in mind I wanted to create a number activity for him. I an idea on Rockabye Butterfly for decorating trees with the correct number of pop poms and
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Snowman Garland by Freya age 5 and 3/4
I must spend hours looking on Pinterest for ideas to inspire Freya and Seb. I saw this amazing Snowman advent garland by Whimsy love. Reading her post though it wasn’t very easy for Freya to do independently so with a bit of tweaking here is my version! PS I just discovered PicMonkey for image editting
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Paper Christmas Wish Tree
Just 10 pages of yellow A4 paper and about 10 sheets of Green A4 paper and voila…. a beautiful Paper Christmas tree. It was such a hit in the classroom today – I love my colleagues idea of adding stars with childrens wishes on and doesn’t it look amazing! Our room is starting to feel
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Paper Christmas Wish Tree
Just 10 pages of yellow A4 paper and about 10 sheets of Green A4 paper and voila…. a beautiful Paper Christmas tree. It was such a hit in the classroom today – I love my colleagues idea of adding stars with childrens wishes on and doesn’t it look amazing! Our room is starting to feel
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Paper Christmas Wish Tree
Just 10 pages of yellow A4 paper and about 10 sheets of Green A4 paper and voila…. a beautiful Paper Christmas tree. It was such a hit in the classroom today – I love my colleagues idea of adding stars with childrens wishes on and doesn’t it look amazing! Our room is starting to feel
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Paper Christmas Wish Tree
Just 10 pages of yellow A4 paper and about 10 sheets of Green A4 paper and voila…. a beautiful Paper Christmas tree. It was such a hit in the classroom today – I love my colleagues idea of adding stars with childrens wishes on and doesn’t it look amazing! Our room is starting to feel
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Paper Christmas Wish Tree
Just 10 pages of yellow A4 paper and about 10 sheets of Green A4 paper and voila…. a beautiful Paper Christmas tree. It was such a hit in the classroom today – I love my colleagues idea of adding stars with childrens wishes on and doesn’t it look amazing! Our room is starting to feel
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Thanksgiving
So, I’m a bit slow joining on on Thanksgiving but we had fun at the weekend! As I tried out some things with Freya and Seb my mind turns to what we wil do in class on Thursday and I want to share with you. Hand printing turkeys. First we prepared the paint – we
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Christmas Gift Ideas – 2014
So what will you be buying for Christmas presents this year? Here are a few gift ideas of either things I have seen and will be getting this Christmas or bits we have bought throughout the year and have been a huge success. It does include affiliate links – but the opinions are completely my
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British Animals
Animals of United Kingdom. I have been wanting to do soe activities on both nocturnal animals and animals that migrate, hibernate or adapt. As I was making some lists of animals it occured to me that I needed to make a more generic set of cars BUT that I should then make some cards for
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All about Weather
Since we were going away on holiday Freya has shown a real interest in the weather so I have worked on some different weather ideas. First I started by reading the book Oh Say Can You Say What’s The Weather Today. I love these books as they introduce topics in a ‘Cat in the Hat’
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Supporting Spelling at home
Spelling Freya has just started getting spellings at school. As a parent it is the first time I have had to deal with ‘home work’. I want to be able to support Freya with her work, however, I want to also help her to do things independently if she wants to. Her school uses the
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Remembrance Day – Including finger knitted Poppy tutorial
Remembrance day – 11th November. With young children I think this is a hard area to cover – but also a very important area to cover. To try encourage appreciation in a very spoilt generation is difficult. Where the Poppies now Grow I will be sharing a beautiful book that I have come across with
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Slime – Borax or not Borax..
Slime!! To Borax or not borax that is the question! When I started making slime I could purchase Borax from Amazon – not a problem, but over the years I have seen more and more Borax free slime recipies on Blogs. The majority coming out of the US. These always seem to have ingredients that
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Handwriting – Cursive script
Following on from my post about print letter formation here is Part 2 – a guide for cursive handwriting. Freya’s new school uses cursive writing so I have been doing some research on how to support her. I want to do it in a way that she can independently check her letter formation so I
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Helping with Letter Reversal
Here are some helpful tricks we use to help with letter reversal. I know there are lots out there but this one we have found to be the least confusing. There are two here for b and d as well as p and g. If you know any more please share on my facebook page.
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Halloween – Free Printables
I have recently done two halloween blogs – have you seen them? Blog 1 ideas for Pumpkin maths, DIY halloween window gels and spider investigations! Blog 2 has ideas on how to make a toy spider, Halloween feely bag game and Hammering golf tees into a pumpkin! Great fun!! Today I wanted to share links
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Diwali celebration
Just a quick post as it is the last day of Diwali – here are some activities I will be doing with Freya and Seb throughout the day. First we looke at some Diwali photo cards – it was great to start a discussion about Diwali with the kids. Afterwards we looked at this Diwali
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Halloween – we just can’t stop!
Here are some more ideas for Halloween – we’ve had great fun doing them I hope you enjoy them too! Window Gels As we are having friends over on Friday Freya wanted to decorate the house – I saw a great post on Pinterest about window gels from TeachingMama. You basically mix 2 tablespoons of
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Learning about Space
As I posted earlier in the week Freya and Seb have been fascinated by the stars and moon at the moment. I suppose it makes up for the early dark nights we’re having that the children can see the moon and stars before bedtime! So our starting point – the Night sky.
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New space printables
I am getting ready for the weekend – we are going to be looking at space! It is getting dark so early here in the UK at the moment that the kids are loving looking at the stars. I have just created a new astronomy category in my downloads section why not take a look.
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Geometric Solids extension
If you read my post about whales you will have seen the wonderful 3D boat picture that Freya came up with. It reminded me of this fantastic extension for the geometric solids. I can’t take the credit for the idea – it was in one of the presentations at the MCI Annual conference. I have
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A Whale of a weekend!
This week Seb has been studying whales at school – he said he wanted to do some more this weekend. What a challenge! As a family we love whales though as Aunty Nico works with humpback whales so it was easy to find some inspiration. This blog shows some of the things we have
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Handwriting – Letter formation Part 1
Every school seems to have a different handwriting policy, most schools use either cursive or pre-cursive letters. Pre-cursive means that each letter is designed to be individual. Cursive font is designed so that you don’t have to take the pen off the paper allowing the wrting to flow better. Each school may also have different
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All about Turtles
We had an amazing holiday in Mexico and we were lucky enough to swim with turtles: We have loved learning about turtles and we wanted to share some of the things we have done. To start I had a collection of books out. I have struggled to find many books related to turtles, certainly
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Great extensions for Short bead stair and Seguin boards
Just a quick post about the new materials I just put in the upload section. Using the short bead stair and Seguin boards is a great way for children to build a concrete understanding of number. I have just created two downloadable extensions for these exercises where the children can record there learning. Download short
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Pure Sounds phonics
The current trend for teaching reading is using phonics… which is great as that is how Montessori has always done it. For those that don’t know, learning to read using phonics is done by teaching children sounds. There are 44 phonemes (sounds) which relate to the letters of the alphabet (25, q is taught
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Search Free Downloads
If you can’t find what you are looking for please email me – I am happy to create resourses just ask! Email info@montessorisoul.com.
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Chocolate Hedgehogs!
Today we decided to do some hedgehog themed cooking. I have a go to recipe which the kids love and also gives us a great opportunity to talk about changes of state – melting and solidifying etc. It is a very chocolatey recipe! And always popular! I have created a pdf version of this recipe
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Looking at the human body
This is my first blog post, so hope it give the infomation you need – if there is something I have missed just let me know! We have been looking at the human body as part of the KS1 curriculum here in the UK. It says that the children need to know the parts of
