Montessori activities: "Saint Patrick's Day" theme.

Today I'm sharing some Practical Life works from my classroom. Saint Patrick's Day is the next major holiday and even though we're on school break when it rolls around, I like to change the themes and color of trays each month to coincide with some type of holiday or season. We don't actually acknowledge most holidays at my school -- so the trays cannot be overtly celebratory but you can do a lot with colors. So here are my non-St. Patrick's Day yet very green/white/orange/shamrock trays. :)

In Montessori, Practical Life, is an area of the classroom geared toward all things practical. Children aren't born knowing how to pour themselves a drink or how to feed themselves with a spoon. They aren't born knowing how to clean a spill, or to wash a table and to open their containers of food at lunch time. But they observe, and practice and learn so that they can implement these skills into their everyday living. The main lessons include pouring, spooning and scooping, squeezing, twisting and lacing. 

Pouring:

 Spooning & scooping:

 Squeezing:

Twisting:

Lacing:

In a classroom of 20, this post doesn't include all Practical Life activities -- there's others like hand washing, baby doll washing, silver polishing, plant watering, table washing, and many more and maybe I'll show those on another day. It's also fun to bring in the green/white/orange/shamrock theme in other areas of the classroom. In math, the counters are "lucky gold coins":

The continent box is switched to showcase Europe (and Ireland). Books about St. Patrick's Day and Ireland are in the book corner. Art activities around shamrocks and rainbows are out -- you get the idea. I also put out some "luck of the irish" sayings like this one: