The View From my Cozy Half-Couch

"They're trying to force the issue into my life. And it's just stupid."

A Gaythering Storm from Jane Lynch

Well She Sneaks Around the World from Kiev to Carolina

It's a funny thing with these Montessori children. Once they see one friend working on something, it's all they need to get motivated. And lately just seeing me working on something gets them going. Fun game.

So we're into maps. A fun bonus to the Montessori curriculum for me has been learning more about geography. We have puzzle maps for the world, each continent and the United States. The kids like making ones to take home. Well, many of them do. Some just like taking apart and building and rebuilding and taking apart again...and again.

They start with the world, tracing the continent puzzle pieces and perforating them with a large push pin (and hopefully learning the names of the continents in the meantime!):


And a few discovered that they could trace the maps from a flat paper version (both of these children had made all of Africa already once by tracing and perforating each country's puzzle piece separately on construction paper...I don't think they regret it):




The biggest reward came for me when I overheard this conversation:

O: I'm gonna color this flag.

(shows to D)

D: Oh, that's Zaire. But it doesn't exist anymore. Now it's the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Boo-yah!

The fact that I cried in real time with 7 out of 10 of these clips means I have really good taste.

Overheard in the Classroom: So Close

L: We're playing Mother Theresa, Miss Ida.

(I smile, smug satisfaction.)

S: Yeah! Mother Theresa and The Simpsons!

...oh...

Later-

L to S: I wouldn't want you as my MOTHER!

(catches my eye.)

L: We're *still* playing Mother Theresa!