Sunday, March 6, 2011

Sorting vertebrate and invertebrate cards

I have been loving the PDF files from Montessori Print Shop.  I just pick and choose the ones I want, purchase & quickly have a link to the files in order to print them.  There is a huge selection, both individual files as well as a few CD-ROM collections and freebies.  If I didn't need some of these materials immediately I would have opted for the CD's.  Oh well, I'll be better prepared for next year!

 This next week I'll be introducing animals, beginning with a discussion of invertebrates and vertebrates.  I inherited a few black-line animal nomenclature cards, but I didn't have anything truly exciting.  The school has a set of black line masters to use, but again not very exciting.  I love the real pictures in this set!  Also included is a black line page of animals.  I plan on using them as an extension for the kids.  Perhaps some accordion books illustrated with the cutout black line animals?

I printed these with my inkjet on white card stock.  I hate cutting, but fortunately my assistant LOVES to have cutting work to do in the evenings.  This particular set I will laminate at home with my little table-top laminator so that I can have it ready to use tomorrow.  If you don't have a laminator you can use a transparent contact paper method.

Other Montessori Print Shop materials I have in line to make this week:  Frog and Toad picture cards, Frog Life Cycle Cards, and the Frog Definition set.

Some other resources for Montessori classroom materials:
  • abcteach:   Some free materials, but for a yearly fee you can have access to all the materials they have available, including Montessori extension materials.
  • Enchanted Learning:  No Montessori resources, but there are lots of printables that can be used as extensions as well as some great craft ideas.  It is also a subscription-based website, although there are things you can access for free.
  • Montessori For Everyone:  Another great source for PDF files you can print yourself.  They have a great selection as well, including a freebies page.  I've been ordering mostly from MPS because I got a discount after my first purchase:)
Now, all I need is to figure out some cheap-and-easy-yet-durable holders for all these fantastic card sets I am making.  Any suggestions?

Bonus Tip:  You can use the pictures for cutting work if you have ink issues while printing! Turtle has a lot of cutting work to keep her busy for some time  :-P