How to Make A Square-Based Pyramid Box

This is a great box for storing homemade materials or just for practice in opening and closing an unusual kind of box. Elementary children can make them as gift boxes or just experiment with different base sizes. I believe this qualifies as kirigami, because it is both paper folding and paper cutting (whereas origami is only paper folding, no cutting). I will try to upload a nice picture soon :)

(follow the directions or just use the template here.)

The Box:

1. Using a piece of square paper, fold it in half twice to make four squares.
2. Make a square the size you want your base to be out of a separate piece of paper. The smaller the base, the pointier the pyramid will be; a larger base will create a more squat pyramid. This will make the template for both the base and the square that holds the pyramid together.
3. Place the small square in the center so that the corners of the small square point at the sides of the larger square. If folded into 4 triangles it will line up with the folds on the larger sheet, and be perfectly centered. Centering is very important.
4. Trace around the small square. This will be the base of your box. This area should be reinforced before decorating the box if not using a thick material.
5. Using a straight edge, draw a line from a corner of the small box to the corner of the larger square. Repeat with all corners – this should result in a long isosceles triangle coming out of each side of the small square.

If using paper or cardstock as your box:

6. Trace a line parallel to the long sides of each triangle and only a short distance away. This section will be folded in to keep the edges crisp, so in a small box this will be only a few centimeters thick. At the corners of the small square, along the fold, draw a small line out that bisects the thin section.
7. Cut away the excess paper (the obtuse-angled isosceles triangles along the sides of the large square), and then cut along the small line that bisects the thin section as well. Fold all the other lines.
8. Trace the small square template again. Glue this piece onto the bottom of the pyramid (inside or outside according to your preference) to reinforce the bottom.
9. Punch out the circles with a hole punch.

If making the box out of a thick material such as wood, cardboard or plastic:

10. trace the paper onto the thick material leaving off the thin, folding piece. Cut out the triangles separately from the square and attach with flexible tape before covering with fabric or decorative paper.
11. Drill a 1/4 inch hole through each circle.

The Closing Square:

12. Trace the small square from the base of the box. This becomes the outside of the closing square.
13. Determine how far down from the tip of the box you want the closing square to fall. Measure the width of the triangle at that height.
14. In the center of the “large” square, draw a small square with sides the same length as the width of the triangle.
15. Cut out the small square from the center of the closing square.
16. If using paper or cardstock, fold in the corners so they meet the inner corners. Fold the sides so they meet the inner sides. Tape or glue the sides in place if desired. If using a thick material, leave the closing square as is, or trim it to the desired size.

The Stick:

17. Cut a 1/4 inch dowel (or tight roll paper roll) slightly longer than the side of the closing square.
18. Attach a ribbon or other decoration to the stick if desired.
    
    
    I am posting this without having tested the template that I posted (I made one by hand but haven't yet printed the computer one), so if you have any trouble please comment and I will fix any errors or talk you through it more thoroughly. Enjoy! 

1 Month Sample Lunch Menu

This is a sample lunch menu for a whole month. Some of the meals include nuts or nut butters, so please take that into account if your child's class is nut free. The blue meals are suitable for vegetarian families and the pink ones are suitable for vegan families, assuming that they've purchased or made vegan bread products.

Some children don't mind eating last night's leftovers cold, or even prefer it that way, but even if they want their food warm there's a solution. You can always pack hot food in a thermos and keep it un-refrigerated until lunch. Four hours in a thermos leaves food that is exactly as warm as most children like it!

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
A hard-boiled egg with two slices of homemade French toast spread with pureed raspberries, and peas	Diced chicken, bow-tie pasta, and small pieces of broccoli tossed in olive oil, with apple slices	Rice noodles in chicken broth with carrots and broccoli, a roll, and watermelon chunks	Homemade macaroni and cheese with peas and/or carrots mixed in, and orange slices	Baked tofu strips (marinated in soy sauce and garlic, then breaded), strawberries, and cauliflower
Slices of grilled steak, raw baby carrots, multi-grain crackers, and blueberries.	Bean and rice burrito on small wheat tortilla, green beans, and pitted cherries	Celery with peanut butter and raisins, mixed nuts, an apple, and buttered tri-colored pasta	quinoa cooked in pineapple juice with chunks of pineapple and cashews; sugar snap peas	Egg salad sandwich with vegan mayonnaise, bell pepper strips, and halved grapes
Beef stew with potatoes, carrots, celery, and onion, with dried or fresh mango	An apple with almond butter, cornbread, and broccoli with melted cheddar	Chicken quesadilla, pear slices, and cooked carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower medley	Plain yogurt mixed with fresh or frozen berries, lightly salted green beans, pear slices, and crackers	Roast beef sandwich with melted provolone, cooked zucchini spears, and fresh mango chunks
Small whole grain tortilla rolls filled with plain yogurt, applesauce, and peanut butter, and (separately) cucumbers	Fresh spinach salad with pecans, strawberries, and low-fat raspberry vinaigrette dressing and a roll	Berries mixed in cottage cheese, butter tossed pasta with parmesan, and lightly salted green beans	Thin crispy crackers, spread with almond butter and decorated with raisins, apple bits, and celery moons	Turkey roll-ups, with unsweetened cranberry-apple spread, cooked and sliced yellow squash, and a dinner roll
Beans and rice, raw sugar snap peas, a roll, and dried pineapples	Cheese tortellini with tiny chunks of broccoli and red sauce (or pesto), and strips of red bell peppers	Tuna salad made with cucumber, garbanzo beans, tomato, salt, pepper and lemon juice, on crackers; halved grapes	Chicken soup, (with potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, and pasta) with orange slices	Homemade egg fried rice with broccoli and carrots, and kiwi
vegetarian meal		any of these meals can be made gluten-free by using gluten free pastas or bread products
vegan meal (if using vegan bread products)

Read All About It!

This post follows "The 'Write' Stuff". It describes beginning reading materials and their use.

Once a child is writing proficiently (usually around 4.5) he will begin to spontaneously read what he has written. At this point the child begins to work with the phonetic object box. This, as the name implies, is a box with five to seven objects in it that are spelled phonetically. The teacher writes the name of one object on a slip of paper, slowly, and the child says the sound of each letter out loud as she does so. Then he puts the sounds together and “guesses” which object was named. This repeats until all the objects are labeled. For repeat use, there is a set of papers already labeled with the names of the objects, or the teacher may continue to write.

The phonogram object box is introduced after the phonetic object box. It is almost identical, but one of the objects (the last one named) is not phonetic. Rather, it uses one phonogram such as “ch” or “oo”, and the rest of the word remains phonetic. The teacher helps the child remember phonograms by isolating them if necessary, either covering the rest of the word or using a phonogram as the beginning sound and pausing dramatically while the child determines the sound. The phonogram is treated as one letter, just as it was in the sandpaper letter work.

Puzzle words are also introduced after the phonetic object box. While similar to traditional education's “sight words”, these are not simply easy words to recognize on sight. Puzzle words are, instead, words that cannot be figured out using either phonetic sounds or phonograms. They are like a puzzle – you can't tell what the “picture” is until you put all the pieces together and see the whole thing. These words are typed or handwritten on cards and the child learns three at a time, in a three period lesson. This involves learning the word (first period), matching the spoken word to the written word (second period), and giving the spoken word in response to the written word (third period, i.e. reading).

All words in the English language can be deciphered using one of those three methods, so once the child is reasonable proficient with these activities he can begin to do work with more challenging words. The picture cards used for spoken language activities come into use again, but this time as three part cards. One part includes both an image and the written word (all lowercase, in an easy to read font like Century Gothic). Another part includes just an image, and the third includes just the word. All cards in a set are cut identically. To use these, the child lays out the control cards with space between them. He then places the matching picture card next to the control card, and turns the control cards over so they are no longer visible. He reads the words, and places them beneath the matching image. When he has completed all the sets, he turns the control cards back over to check his work. Each classroom has several three part card sets on the shelves at any given time, and even more in storage for rotation.

The three part cards branch out into “parts of...” and “kinds of...” cards, as well as developing more fully into definition booklets. For example, a “parts of the flower” set will highlight the different parts of the flower (pistil, stamen, corolla, etc) in color, while the rest of the image remains an outline. These will be three part cards, but there will also be a booklet that describes each part of the flower on a separate page. For example:

The calyx

is the green part

that holds the flower together.

This definition is repeated, split up in different ways, for the child to match the parts of the definition to each other and to the image. The booklet is for initially defining terms and to use as a control so the child can check his work.

This list is (by far) not all of the reading work in a Montessori environment, but the next post will describe spoken language activities (which really should have been the FIRST post) so that after that we can go into the parts of speech and more advanced language work.

The "Write" Stuff

Though contrary to traditional education methods, Montessori discovered that children can write before they can read. In the first classrooms, children given instruction in the sandpaper letters (2.5 - 3) spontaneously began to write around age 4, and then to read what they had written about six months later. This pattern was repeated by many children in classrooms all over the world.
This is partially because, in our classrooms, we have many activities that start a child on the path to developing proficiency with written language, well before we expect him to do so. These activities build coordination and hand strength, recognition of sounds, and give practice in how letters are formed. Practical life activities help a child practice logical sequencing, develop his pencil grip, and increase his concentration.
Spoken language activities help a child develop vocabulary and learn syntax, as well as helping to classify the world around him, and a sensorial activity called the touch boards helps him maintain finger sensitivity. This helps avoid cramps when writing with a pencil.
These activities are started immediately (practical life beginning in the toddler community and sensorial from the first day in primary), far before writing and reading.

The first activity a child does that officially leads into reading and writing is called “sound games”. This game is usually guided by an adult or older child, and several objects are gathered strategically. Each object has a different starting sound, avoiding sounds that are too similar (like b and p). Each person takes turns holding an object in their hands, and says, “I'm holding in my hand something that starts with the sound ___.” Then the other players “guess” what he is holding. When the children are good at this, they can begin to do it without picking up an item. They might say, “There's something on the tray that starts with the sound ___.” When the children become more proficient they can play this game with middle and ending sounds as well.
Sound games are appropriate for any child who is reasonably verbal, and are played in the toddler class as well as the primary. In the primary they often run parallel to the sandpaper letters.

Sandpaper letters are formed out of (gasp) sandpaper, and backed by a painted wooden rectangle (blue, pink, or green). The child can easily see the shape of each letter, and is shown how to trace it with two fingers. We don't name the letters, but rather call them by the sound they make. This reduces the number of steps a child goes through when sounding a word out later – instead of, “this is b, b says 'buh',” the child can just say “buh”. The sandpaper letters with the green backgrounds are phonograms such as “ch” or “ea”.

The movable alphabet is the first opportunity a child has to actually “write”. He knows the sounds of several letters (from his work with the sandpaper letters), and can make lists, write a sentence, or even tell a story with these easily held cursive letters. Spelling is not a priority with this material (though it is part of the curriculum later), as it is important to develop confidence with the writing process first.

The metal insets are a series of geometric shapes which are traced with colored pencils to make a design. There are several lessons which become more challenging as the student becomes more proficient with using a pencil. This material isolates the difficulty of using a pencil from the difficulty of creating words, and the two are merged after individual mastery.

A sand tray helps a child practice handwriting before using paper, so he can simply shake away mistakes. Chalkboards can also be used for this purpose, and writing on a vertical surface helps to develop shoulder strength. Strips of paper are next, and finally sheets of special lined paper (feel free to use this paper at home or give a binder-full as a gift) which often have a space for illustrations.

The next post will describe the materials used next, to help a child teach himself to read! Stay tuned... :)

Snowman "Anything Kit" Tutorial

Today I'm going to share with you a tutorial for a super easy, super adorable winter craft. It makes a good project to do with children, and the insides are an activity for another time. Alternately, it could be a party favor at a winter party - and since it's not associated with any particular holiday you can use it for any group at any time. The toddler class at Dynamite is making them (with some grown-up help) at our holiday party.

Before we start, here's a little disclaimer: according to Montessori principles, art should be open-ended, or a project that the child designs independently and then fulfills. This project, while fun and awesome, doesn't really follow Montessori curriculum guidelines.

Isn't he cute? He's a snowman "anything kit". For this tutorial I made him into a play dough kit using the easiest recipe I know: salt, flour, optional kool-aid for color/scent, and water.

Ready to get started? Here's what you need:

3 identical white or clear takeout sauce containers, with lids

black acrylic paint and paint brush

tacky glue

permanent marker (orange would be nice for a nose)

black construction paper

not pictured: scissors and tape

First, you'll want to paint the lid of ONE of the sauce containers black. I snapped it onto its cup to hold it off of my work surface, and painted carefully. Acrylic paint is water cleanup ONLY while it's still wet, so if you get any on your clothes take care of it right away.

Let the lid dry while you do the other steps. Depending on your climate, it might take longer to dry, so take that into account too.

Next, you'll need to fill the other two containers with items of your choice. I did flour and salt, but you could do glue and objects, beads and string, any kind of small trinkets or even candies. Eventually we'll have another container to fill up, too, so you'll need a third, complementary item later. Mine will be blue kool-aid, because the sauce cups aren't water tight and everyone has water at home

anyway. Kool-aid is slightly harder to come by :).

Once the items are loaded in the sauce cups, put their lids on and glue them together. The two bottom pieces will be glued lid to lid, so the bottom one will be right side up and the middle one will be upside down. Then glue the top one (the one with the black lid) in place, right side up, on top. DO NOT glue the lids onto their cups unless you never want to open it. Now is a good time to remove the top lid and add the third item, because you'll be working with the black lid next.

Cut your black construction paper into a long rectangle (mine was approximately 3" x 1"). The long side will be the circumference of the circle you will make to be the tall part of the top hat. The height of the top hat will be equal to the short side. I used the inner ring of the lid as my guide, and cut the paper so it made a nice loop inside the little crevice with a small overlap. Once you have it the way you like it, tape it shut and glue it in place with the

tacky glue. If your lids have a crevice like mine did, you can glue it there and it will be nice and sturdy.

The final step is to decorate him. I just used a black sharpie (remember, I'll be doing this with 2-year olds so even that is a big mess risk), but I think he would be even cuter with real sticks hot glued to his sides and real tiny buttons, plus maybe a little striped scarf and a tiny carrot nose. If you're doing it with older children or by yourself, get creative and do them however you like!