Incredible Art Lessons has lots of great links for art ideas from preschool through high school. There are even lessons combining art history and drama. Art is a great way to study Montessori lessons of history and culture.

I really look forward to reading Marin Schmidt’s column. This one is about how the brain works. She explains that it is important to be able to use both the right side and left side of the brain at the same time. The whole brain can communicate between both hemispheres.

I remember listening to a teacher for gifted children explain that people who use their whole brain are the most content, happy and successful in life. Whole brain learning is when creativity works within actions and reality. Montessori’s observation that the joy of learning occurs through action is a part of the whole brain functioning. It’s faith with action.

Whole brain activities are not just academic, they can include cooking, knitting, art, music and handwork too.

Here are two animated math songs: The sign of the plus and the sign of minus have a catchy tune and illustrate the concept of adding and subtracting. These songs would be a great addition to the Montessori lesson of introducing math signs.

Fisher-Price is recalling 970,000 toys that may painted with lead paint. The toys were manufactured in China and sold in the United States. There are at least 83 types of toys. Some of the popular toys included in the recall are Big Bird, Elmo,, Cookie Monster , Dora and Diego. If you suspect you may have any of these toys keep them away from your children and contact Fisher-Price-Mattel or call them at 800-916-4498.