All about nature bundle giveaway

Yei! I am so happy I can finally reveal all the info about the project we were working on. 

Nature is such a big part of the Montessori space. We try to help children discover the beautiful natural world around using various materials. We have a lot of different cards on our shelves that teach children about nature, plants, and animals. We use natural materials in our activities, such as chestnuts, sticks, leaves, stones, seeds etc. We have different figurines that represent different living creatures. We have nature corners where we include nature gifts. We showcase many books where children read about how animals hibernate, how leaves change their colors, how ants build the anthill and many other interesting things. We help children to learn everything about the world we live in.

I am a nature lover myself. I wanted to be a naturalist as a child. So I know how children love spending time outdoors and learning about it.

Me and my dear friend Yuliya from Welcome to Mommyhood want to give more children the opportunity to learn about some specifics of the natural world. We want to help more children to use our materials. Also we aim to help teachers and homeschoolers by saving you tons of time.

We prepared a huge package of materials for you - "All about nature" bundle. This is a wonderful collection of materials that you can use all year around. You can use them on various shelves such as cosmic, language, sensory and math. 

The pack consists of 3 parts: zoology, botany and various materials about nature. It includes materials that are core for any learning process and any teacher and classroom needs these materials. A teacher will need to collect all of them while creating a curriculum for the full learning cycle. Every Montessorian should have these materials in his/her library of materials. You can read more about the full contents here. 

It is really a wonderful resource because we made for you while having Montessorians in mind. The pack is very organized and easy to use. We use realistic pictures. We covered various topics that can be of interest to little explorers.

Sooooo the unexpected surprise that we prepared for you is....... we want to give away our bundle to 2 lucky winners! 

The total worth of the bundle is over $200

and we are giving it to you for FREE!

Yes! You can win it for your own children or for your classroom!

Woohoo!

All is super duper easy but there are several important things:

• You enter the giveaway by providing your email address below. 
• You agree that if you win, you will provide us a written testimonial, stating your opinion of the prizes. 
• You may enter between 22 October 2017-24 October 2017 (giveaway closes midnight EST) 
• We will announce 2 winners on Wednesday, October 25, 2017. Winners will receive an email. 
• Winners will be randomly generated via Rafflecopter. 
• Every participant has an equal chance to win. 
• Winners have 24 hours to respond to claim their prize. If you do not, you will forfeit your prize and it will go to another randomly generated winner. 
• After you confirm, we will email you a zip file of materials. 
• You send us a testimonial by 30 October 2017
• If you want, share some photos on Instagram. Don't forget to tag @IBelieveInMontessori and @WelcometoMommyhood

Also there are several rules. Please pay attention.

1. You must be 18 or older
2. The giveaway is open world wide
3. We gift you materials for the single use only
4. By participating, you are agreeing to provide a written testimonial that me and Yuliya may use at their discretion as needed - no restrictions. 
5. By participating, you are agreeing to sign up to the I Believe in Montessori and Welcome to Mommyhood newsletters. 
6. You may not use the prizes in any way other than intended. You may not sell hard copy versions of our materials. You may not sell digital versions of these materials. Use logic and don't be mean. Please don't sell our hard work.

If you are interested, use your chance to win here ☟

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Signed up? Please spread the word!

Tell about the bundle to your people who may be interested. Share it with your friends teachers, parents and homeschoolers! Thank you ;)

Read about all the details and surprises that awaits you in this beautiful bundle here.

Tips and tools on making printable materials

My friend Jane from TheLaminatrix is a total expert in cutting, printing, laminating, and everything else pertaining to turning printables into ready-made materials. I often get asked about tools recommendations for printing and laminating my digital cards so I thought it would be interesting for you to learn what Jane has to say about it.

For those of you who do not know me, please let me introduce myself. I am Jane Albery, former teacher with a major in Language Arts. Now I’m a homeschooling/afterschooling mother of two who also owns an Etsy shop offering Montessori inspired finished materials thelaminatrix.etsy.com as well as printables on teacherspayteachers.com/store/thelaminatrix

I often get asked about tools I use to make my materials. I have received quite a few messages from teachers and parents telling me they admire the quality of the cards they received and would love to be able to take advantage of purchasing less expensive printables and making their own materials. So I decided to write a post about my favorites and share them with you along with affiliate Amazon links. I buy most of my supplies on Amazon since I have Prime memberships, and it has been great because it allows me to be able to try just about anything and return it if I am not 100% satisfied with the results. And trust me, I have returned a lot! Below are the pictures of my best tried and true laminating pouches, laminator, paper trimmer, corner rounder, and printer along with the Amazon links. I will post a short description under every picture.

Akiles Pro-Lam Plus 330 Laminator

I actually wrote a review on Amazon about this item, so I will not repeat myself as you can read it following the link. Purchased it a little over a year ago and had no problems since.

Prior to that I thought Fellowes Saturn 3i 95 was doing a good job. But the plastic construction of it couldn’t handle my load and started smelling funny and making loud scary noises. I only had it for 3 or 4 months when it started happening. But if you laminate occasionally it may very well work for you. Here’s the link to it on Amazon and as you will find out it has rather glowing reviews -  http://amzn.to/2uMmKu3

Laminating pouches 

 I buy these in bulk now at 200 sheets, which ends up being about 12 cents a pouch. They come in two 100 sheet boxes with a feeding sleeve aka carrier. You do not have to use it, but I do as my industrial type laminator is capable of taking the thickness of cardstock, 5 mil laminating pouch, and the carrier. The results are gorgeous glossy finish without a single scratch or blemish.

Lexmark cs310n Printer 

Now if you read the reviews on Amazon, they do not seem so hot. But a lot of those have to do with people not being able to install it or some other technical nonsense that has nothing to do with the actual performance and quality of print. I had an HP printer before, it had duplex print capability and lots of other cool features. BUT! When I printed side by side, especially darker images, there really was no comparison. I do also buy my refills on eBay. All four toners are about $150 and they last me over 6 months. And I print a lot! In fact I just printed device statistics and it shows I’ve printed about 2500 sheets. What?

Dahle 507 Paper Trimmer 

This was my 3rd paper trimmer and it’s a keeper! I initially ordered the 18” one and quickly realized I didn’t need it to be this long, so exchanged it for 12 1/2” and have been very pleased. It has automatic paper clamp, which holds whatever you are cutting in place rather well. Not so much for laminated sheets, as those are slippery, but since I precut all my paper and cardstock, it has proven itself to be irreplaceable. No Fiskars trimmer was ever able to cut with this German precision.

Sunstar Kadomaru Pro corner rounder 

I’ve tried gazillion corner rounders and this one is by far my favorite! As with all corner rounders, they will dull over time and there’s now way to sharpen them. At least I don’t know how to. So when I buy these I get two at a time. It has a little storage compartment for your clippings, so they don’t fly all over the place and you can actually use your hand, rather than your thumb to punch corners, which is a lot easier on your wrist. I also like having 3, 5, and

8 mm options. It is not available on Prime as it’s shipped from Japan, but the wait is totally worth it.

So there you have it, TheLaminatrix tricks of the trade. Let me know what you think and if you use the same or different tools. I am definitely curious to see what others use and am always open to suggestions. And like I said, with my Prime membership, I really have no problem exploring other options.

I am wishing you the best in the new school year. Have fun learning and teaching.

Yours truly,
TheLaminatrix

Montessori guide for developing language at home

A lot of you ask me about how Montessori method can be implemented at home. Today I want to tell you about a wonderful resource that will help you in developing language skills of your toddler at home.

I can understand how you may feel when you see photos of beautiful spaces and videos of Montessori environments you also want to be able to set such spaces, give your child the best and understand fully how Montessori method works. When I first entered a Montessori classroom I wasn't trained Montessori teacher and to be honest I knew just a little about Montessori. I was fascinated! I observed several days and I had so many questions. Now there is a lot of information on the internet. There are a lot of wonderful sites where teachers and parents share their knowledge and experience. But there are not that much that give basic knowledge about Montessori lessons. I always value knowledge over information because information is cheap and knowledge is what is precious.  That's why I want to tell you about this wonderful book. It is such a helper for parents! I think everyone who uses Montessori at home needs it.

There is such a thing as Montessori teacher albums. Teachers write them during the training. There are separate albums for every area of learning, for example, practical life album, sensorial album, language album etc. The album consists of presentations of different materials, works and lessons. Every work and material in a Montessori classroom have a special way of presenting it. Teachers write albums to remember all presentations better and to have all of them in one place. So when you need to refresh your knowledge you just open the album and look how the work is presented. Parents at home often want to know how to work with some Montessori materials or what is the best way to present some activities to children. But there is no such thing as albums for parents. Though there is a difference between teaching in a classroom and at home it would be very helpful for parents to look at such album to understand the general pattern of working with materials, presenting them, to learn about the aims of various works etc. But you can not just go and buy the teacher's album because most often they are handwritten and they are rarely sold. 

Why have I started all this talk about albums? Because this book reminds me of them! But it is even more, even cooler, it has not only presentations of materials but the actual printable materials and super helpful articles that answer the question you often have while teaching at home! And even more! Yes, it is that cool! Now I want to tell you about it in all the details.

The authors of the ebook are four wonderful women that leave in different parts of the world. Isabel is from Germany, Yuliya is from the Netherlands, Amruta is from India, and Vanessa is from the USA. What they have in common is all of them are wonderful mothers and all of them love the Montessori method. They use it at home daily with their children. They live in different places and it works wonderfully for all of them. I think it is very interesting to hear about their experience at home and they definitely have a lot to tell you! They are all bloggers and can read about their daily lives using the Montessori approach.

The activities presented in the ebook are intended for children between the ages of 2-4 years old. However, a preschool aged child may still enjoy many of these activities.

The ebook consists of 12 chapters:

1.  Precursors to reading and writing
2.  The role of the caregiver
3.  Reading and storytelling
4.  Around the home and outdoors
5.  Pre-reading activities
6.  Pre-writing skills
7.  Crossing the midline
8.  Sound games
9.  Mystery bag and treasure baskets
10.  Rhyme and song
11.  Montessori 3-period lesson
12.  Teaching a second language

Every chapter includes descriptions of different lessons, a list of materials that you will need, detailed instruction of how to present these lessons, and their benefits. All these accompanied with beautiful pictures from the real life, ideas, and materials in use. I am just scrolling the ebook while I write it and I don't know how to even describe how wonderful is it. I like it so much!

The cool thing that it doesn't have unnecessary text just to fill the ebook. Every page is useful. You open it, you read it, you use it.

That's interesting! 

I want a copy of the book!

The ebook covers all the core elements that are important for toddler language development. It talks about all areas of language in toddler life. 

The ebook includes a huge bundle of language printables that include:

• Fruits and vegetables matching cards
• Animal life cycles matching cards
• Go together matching cards
• Around the house/kitchen/yard matching cards
• Go together
• Opposites
• Clothing labels
• I spy mats
• ABC cards
• CVC word cards
• CVC silly book
• Nursery rhyme cards
• Prewriting skills printable activities
• Fruits/vegetables/herbs 3-part cards
• Life cycles 3-part cards corresponding to Safari LTD Life Cycle Toobs
• Around the house/kitchen/yard 3-part cards

So the ebook includes language lessons and also printable cards that correspond these lessons. I need to say that the printable cards are absolutely gorgeous! They contain beautiful and realistic images.

The pack also includes printables in Spanish!

The ebook also has the wonderful additional materials that you can print as little helpers and reminders, such as:

• a short Montessori method FAQ  that answers questions using Maria Montessori own quotes
• a checklist of miniature objects for language works, mystery bag, and treasure basket. This is really helpful because little objects are very needed. They work wonderfully for language lessons and I often see questions like "What objects can I use for letter J" or other letters. So you can just print the checklist and collect your own big set. I think everyone needs such a set of miniature objects
• possible order of introducing letters 
• phonetic sounds for language objects
• a list of Montessori language lessons
• developmental check list for a toddler that gives a general idea of developmental milestones
• a list of Montessori language materials for ages 2-5
• a list of recommended books for a toddler 
• a list of useful books for you to read
• a list of favourite blogs and resources

I can totally recommend this book to anyone who uses the Montessori method at home.
It is a really wonderful find ❤

Regular Price: $24.50

Promo price: $11.50

Bonuses and promo price available until July 26, 2017

BUY NOW

BONUS: There is even more! If you buy the book during the launch you will also receive several printable freebies that are worth over $25!  Freebies will include: Bird Science Bundle, Honey Bee Science Bundle, Story of Diwali, and a Hibernation Unit.

In a nutshell:

What is this ebook?

It is a guide for parents for developing child's language skills at home. 

This is the ebook + a big pack of printable materials

Who is this ebook for?

• Parents that use the Montessori method at home 
• Parents that don't use the Montessori method at home. The lessons and printables will still work wonderfully for you
• Homeschoolers
• Toddler teachers because it has a huge pack of cards that you will be able to use daily

What is the ideal age for this ebook?

The ebook is for 2-4 years old but preschoolers may also find many activities interesting

What is the price?

Regular price is $25.50 but during launch July 19-26 you can buy it for $11.50

What is the size of the ebook?

This ebook is over 200 pages and includes 50 pages of content (activities and theory) and 150 pages of amazing printables and resource guides (checklists).

How should I use the ebook?
You can just read it and use the lesson right away. I would recommend printing everything, the whole ebook, and the printables. Put the book in a separate binder. Store the printables as you prefer. This would be your language album at home. Everytime you change your language shelves, put new materials on them, or present new work to your child you can open it and look how you can present this lesson.

Oh, one more thing!

During July 19-26 you can get the previous amazing ebook from this series also with discounted price.
You can buy Montessori Inspiration at home - Practical Life for $8.50 only! 

And, you can grab a pack of 2 of these ebooks for $20 HERE!

Have a wonderful Montessori at home ;)