Old Creek Montessori

Craziness!

2010-07-19T10:37:00.003-04:00

Sometimes it is hard to maintain a Montessori un-school. Like right now, for instance. It's the middle of summer, and why am I even trying? Because our "school" is just a bunch of things out for the kids to use, changed once in a while as deemed necessary. It keeps the kids occupied and mostly out of trouble. And it works well for us. Usually they use at least some of what's on the shelves every day, and mostly on an individual basis, though they do often play together.

But lately their imaginations have taken over. They have started "playing" in the sense of building forts and making a zoo with their animals and all those fun things that I remember doing when I was a kid. It's great, right? And even Gene is getting in on it, which is unusual... But because he is, the interest seems to last a LOT longer. One day the three of them played in the basement together for 6 HOURS straight!

Why am I complaining? Because it's completely destroying our house (I'm exaggerating just a little, but still...). While I got a lot done on that 6-hour day, the basement is trashed. They brought down so much, and mixed up so much, that it will probably take 6 hours to put everything away again. The girls' room is a mess, because there are baskets with animals and random toys everywhere. And of course, the intention is to keep them there for a long time. And then they wanted to play in the basement again this morning.

What do I do? As a normal parent, I should just let them play, right? They are all extremely happy, and they have been playing together very nicely. Not many fights, and I love to hear how they compromise and work things out together.

From a Montessori point of view, though, this play isn't very productive in the preschool years. What is learned (sharing, cooperation) can easily be learned in the regular classroom in the course of working with things on the shelves. Waiting one's turn to use something, working together to use a material (depending on the rules of the classroom), conversing during meals and recess...it's all there. Many Montessori classrooms now have "imaginative play" areas, with dress up clothes and props, usually revolving around a theme such as "grocery store" or "restaurant". The theme changes once in a while, but it's set by the teacher and allows children to imagine what it would be like to be in those places.

Our house does not have an area like that. We do have materials out once in a while that encourage that sort of play, and the kids have had great fun with it.

But the play they are involved in now is a bit different. And from a Montessori parent's point of view, there are problems with it! Here's why...
1. Many things are conscripted into use, from all areas of the house, and no one wants to put
them all away at the end of the day.
2. One person is usually the leader, and the others follow...same leader every time, sometimes
loudly shouting commands. Good for that person's self-esteem, maybe, but what about the
others?
3. They are not "learning" anything educationally during the course of their play (besides the
above mentioned social learning)

Of those three problems, I think the one that is bothering me most is the first. Our house is fairly small, and when things aren't put away it is very obvious (i.e. we are stepping on them). We don't have a lot of things, because of the space constraint, and what we do have is used on a fairly regular basis. Meaning, we've had to spend a lot of time looking for things that we've found hiding under a blanket in the basement or in some other random spot.

Now that they've felt the exhilaration of their imaginations, however, it is hard to bring them back to the real world. Now, doing a puzzle doesn't seem that exciting when they could be in the "clubhouse" (Gene's room). They were all getting ready to go down the basement this morning, and I was really torn whether to let them or not. I ended up redirecting them, but now I hear happy noises coming from the clubhouse.

I expect that if I get any comments on this post, they will encourage me to allow the kids to imagine to their hearts' content. But I would actually love to hear from anyone who has some constructive advice...how do I allow it without letting our house fall into shambles, and has anyone else gone through this with their kids (home-schooled or otherwise)?

Thanks for hearing me out!

Homeschool set-up

2010-07-09T12:56:00.002-04:00

Our home is our classroom. While we had a "schoolroom" last year in the dining room, this year we rarely use it and instead have various works on the family room shelves and up in the kids' bedrooms.

What I've been realizing lately is the sheer difficulty of "setting up" the "classroom" when one is homeschooling, especially using the Montessori method. There is no teacher planning period, or in-service days, or summer vacation when the children have all gone away and left the teacher to plan and rearrange and think. What I have is the children here ALL the time, and a husband in the evening once they have gone to bed (nothing against him, of course...).

So I have had to be creative, and use what little spurts of time I have available to set things up in the best possible way for the kids. It has gotten more difficult lately to do this while they are around, as I get alot of "what is that?" and "can I do that now?" or "why are you putting that in the basement?" If I want to try something out, and they see it, it's really hard to change my mind and put it away. You know?

Anyway, I am grateful for the time I have today (my dad and sister took the kids to the zoo) but it is going all too quickly:)

The Middle Child...

2010-07-08T21:37:00.002-04:00

I don't know about anyone else, but I see the "middle child syndrome" occurring in a homeschool situation as well as in regular family life. I spend a lot of time thinking about what to do with Gene (now getting closer to 7), especially since I have not been trained in Montessori for the elementary child. My sister just gave me all her albums and materials, as she is no longer planning to teach, but I don't know when I'll have a chance to look at them. It is so exciting to teach him, leading him in new directions. He takes a bit of prompting to be swayed off his beaten path (generally he is interested in only a handful of activities and would be satisfied to stick with them)...for example, he is finally showing interest in the piano (we have had one in our house for over a year now). He is playing every day, and has learned to play all the major scales and is trying to figure out some of the sharp scales (C sharp major, etc). He is really interested, and is getting good fast.

Jane is almost 3 (in a couple months) and has about mastered her numbers. She is beginning to learn letter sounds, we're playing the I Spy game from Gettman (I think she's in stage 3 or 4, but I'm not looking at the book) and this is also a very exciting stage of life. I LOVE to teach reading, and she is on her way:)

Lucy, at almost 5 (4 months away) is doing great as well. She is becoming a bookworm, and is challenging herself with the books she chooses. For instance, I began reading chapter books to her about a month ago, and began with Chocolate Fever. I let Gene borrow it when we were done, and he left it in the car. She picked it up and began reading, and made it through the whole book by herself! She reads a few books every day, but is now at a stage that doesn't require a whole lot of work from a teacher's point of view. All she has to do is keep on reading, and she'll pick up more and more through the books. She is also quite interested in art, and often amazes me with what she creates. She mostly uses paper, scissors, tape, and various coloring tools. I guess because that's what is available most often.

I realize once in a while that I am not really teaching her anything. She picks up a lot, and seems generally satisfied with her lot in life, but I think she would really appreciate a little time and attention with her schooling:) What I want to do is teach her to write. She knows all the uppercase letters (how is it that they always learn those on their own!) but we'll work on the lowercase. I'd like her to know them by the end of the summer...and I'm just devising a lot of different ways to teach her. I think she'll progress with flying colors, and should know them all soon. 26 letters...about 60 days of summer left...

Puzzles

2010-02-25T19:41:00.003-05:00

Jane (age 2) has been doing puzzles for a long time now, and has mastered all the wooden knobbed puzzles we have. Now, she is challenging herself on my newest purchase...the puzzle map of Europe. If anyone reading this blog hasn't tried to do a puzzle of Europe, at least try to picture the continent, and all those tiny little countries in the Eastern part...very challenging as a puzzle. Especially since when we opened the box it came in, the pieces were all out of place. Needless to say, I have been quickly learning the countries and where they are- I didn't know them very well. But Jane is fascinated with it, and just sees it as an extension of the wooden puzzles she knows.

I wouldn't ordinarily have let her use it, but my training class has taught me (and also knowing Jane) that it's ok to let the youngest children in the class (and they start at 2.5 in some preschools) touch EVERYTHING in the class. They also don't start with every material on the shelves, but gradually add the more challenging things (and things with smaller pieces) as the year goes on. The only conditions are that the children don't hurt themselves, others, or the environment.

Jane is definitely not hurting the puzzle, and it is also holding her interest for a long time. She is learning where all the little pieces fit in, and when she is old enough (maybe not for 2-3 years) she can learn the names if she wants to. Right now she's happy, and I'm happy.

Oh, and one more thing. The Olympics being on has been the perfect time to introduce the countries of Europe. A lot of the European countries are competing, and it's been fun to hear their names on television. The kids know how to say and read a lot of the countries, and decide to root for one or the other of them. I'm enjoying it much more (with the kids) than I have in the past just watching the Olympics. I think the map has helped me, too!

Why the breakfast dishes don't get done (or...Why I should teach the kids to wash dishes!)

2010-02-11T10:14:00.004-05:00

The kitchen is still messy after breakfast, and we finished eating about 2 hours ago. How does that happen?? This has been a somewhat slow morning, since we don't have to go anywhere and two kids are sick with colds, but still! I am generally not done with the kitchen until probably 9:30 on a good day.

Here's my explanation: we're homeschooling, and the schooling is a day-long affair. We don't have a set school time anymore, we're doing what I will call "Montessori unschooling". And the kids are (mostly) doing very well. But it's why the dishes take forever to get done. The lessons (teaching) and assistance (help) and all those school-y things start happening as soon as the kids wake up in the morning. Along with the typical "get ready for the day" things. Here are the things that I (and a lot of other mothers!) do on a typical morning that interferes with the kitchen getting completely clean before mid-morning...and the things in bold are the extra things I did this morning:
shower, get dressed
start load of laundry
help 2yo get dressed
do hair of 2 girls
make breakfast and set table (sometimes kids help with these)
WIPE RUNNY NOSES
STAND CLOSE BY WHILE 2YO INSISTS ON WIPING HER OWN NOSE (after a lesson)
start emptying dishwasher
plan what's for dinner at same time, run to basement to bring up something from freezer
change load of laundry while down there
check on someone who's been quietly not getting ready for the day...
wipe someone's bottom
finish emptying dishwasher
GET OUT TWO BOWLS AND LABEL THEM WITH THE GIRLS' NAMES, PUT A WET CLOTH IN EACH SO THEY CAN KEEP THEIR COLD GERMS TO THEMSELVES WHILE WIPING UP AFTER MEALS AND WIPING DRIED BOOGERS OFF THEIR CHEEKS.
Help 2yo start brushing teeth
start loading dishwasher while she brushes
help 4yo get toothpaste on toothbrush (she needs repeated lessons on this...)
make my bed and straighten up room and hallway while upstairs
brush my teeth
go back to dishwasher
help 2yo put away toothbrush and paste
get 6yo started on writing project, because he's wandered into the kitchen after finishing his
morning chart, and it's the perfect chance to work with him
remind 2yo to use potty
get toilet paper and re-fill her basket of pre-rolled wads of toilet paper
do 4yo's hair, because she's finally done with breakfast
wipe down kitchen table and counters
help 2yo get started with Memory game, and end up playing 2 rounds because I haven't done
anything fun with her yet and she's begging! And she's getting pretty darn good at Memory!
bring up more Memory cards because the old cards are getting, well, old.
clean sink and run garbage disposal- finally done!

Well, that's what I remember doing. There were probably a few more things in there. On at least 2 mornings a week I throw in packing lunches for all of us, because we're out and about at lunchtime. And who know's what else?

This isn't really a school-y post, but I started out here and I'm not up to changing it right now. Off to watch the Olympics!

Update

2010-01-17T14:59:00.002-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted in so long! We haven't been doing actual "school time" for quite a while now. We started out very structured in the fall, and the kids were resistant. Nobody was coming over to "do school" and it was a little too forced. While I had new things out on the shelves frequently, the kids wanted to do them on their own time, and not be told when it was "school time". So, I revamped the schedule. And here is an overview of how we're doing things now.

In the morning, the two big kids have a "morning chart" which includes the usual morning toileting activities, along with a "morning job" like dust-busting under the kitchen table or dusting or other small chores. Morning jobs switch every few weeks, depending on the interest level. Also included are some school activities, writing practice for both kids and fine motor skill practice (dubbed "finger work" on the chart) because he doesn't generally choose those activities on his own. I change around the chart requirements based on how I think the kids are doing, and this works fairly well. It takes a while for them to get "ready for the day" and be able to play, but then they have the rest of the morning as free time.

This free time, though, generally includes some schoolish activities. Gene will run, dive and jump around our house for while playing the sport of the season, and then choose to read or play a game. Lucy does lots of art projects (cutting, drawing, gluing), and both girls like to build block structures. Lucy also chooses to do the ABC game (i.e. starfall.com) and is allowed to do it twice a day for 15 minutes at a time. This has greatly improved her phonics and reading skills!

A few days a week in the morning we have planned activities- gymnastics for Lucy, Atrium (Catechesis of the Good Shepherd) for Gene and Lucy, and we get together twice a month with cousins for a "kid-swap" so one of the moms can do errands.

In the afternoons, we still have an enforced nap/rest time for all the kids, but before each of them gets settled in I read with them. I read two short books to Jane (her favorites now are Caps for Sale and The Little Fur Family...moving on to the level above basic board books:)) and she is now starting to memorize some of the words-in the stage where I can pause at the end of a line and she fills in the word. So fun! Lucy is really starting to read, and I read two books with her- one that is a few levels above her reading level, so she just listens, and the other that is right where she is...we take turns reading pages or lines. She's on all the beginner reading books- today we read Green Eggs and Ham, and she knew 99 percent of the words! Then I move over to Gene's room and read a chapter of the latest book. We just finished as far as we're going in the Little House series, and now we're starting Mrs Piggle Wiggle. He can read these books by himself, but he tends to comprehend a little better if I read to him, since I'm pretty sure he skips over hard words and hence misses some of the story.

During rest time, Gene plays various games or reads, and Lucy has Montessori school work in her room. I could give some to Gene, but he REALLY wants to play and read, and since that isn't exactly harming his intellect, I can't say no. I do want to put some shelves in his room and at least give him the option of doing Montessori, but it would clutter up his floor too much right now.

After rest time, we don't have any scheduled activities. The kids have snack, and I've started requiring Gene to pay for his snack. I give him a certain amount of money every week, and then he can choose what he'd like for snack and pay for it. I did this for two reasons- he was old enough to have more choice about his food (usually I lay out all the snack before rest time is over, and that's the only option), and I wanted him to learn about budgeting money. And money in general. He's been interested for a while, but didn't know even the names of coins. So we're doing lots with money now. On Mondays I give Gene an allowance, and we count out the money and change pennies for quarters and the like. I got a few ideas last weekend at my class for more money activities, and I'm excited to try them out!

What else is educational in our house? We check out lots of library books, and I think we'll start checking out topical books now- this weeks topic was volcanoes and earthquakes (after talking about Haiti a bit).

When the kids are interested in something, I try to put things out that will meet that interest. We teach them new skills as they seem ready.

I know this is really an "unschooling" house right now, and I was sure that I would never do it. But...it's working. We don't have to keep it this way forever, and we'll adapt and re-adapt as the kids and I need to. Right now, though, I like things the way they are:)

Improv Writing Work

2009-10-19T11:57:00.004-04:00

Gene needs a lot of incentive to write these days. Well, he's always needed a lot, but lately I've been neglectful and haven't found any inspirations for him. I was thinking about it a lot, though, and finally came up with something...

Now, to preface this, I'll let you know that I haven't yet gone through the Language training in the classes I'm taking, and an online course I took (where I got to have access to someone else's albums) did not have writing activities beyond the initial "learning to write the letters". So, there are probably a lot of good writing activities out there in Montessori world that I just don't know about yet. Please let me know if you have any ideas!

We did a lot of writing over the summer, while we were reading the Little House books. I would write a question on a piece of paper, and he would answer the question in a complete sentence on writing paper. That was fine, but he was dependent on me writing the question and couldn't do it on his own. It also was a bit forced...he never begged me to do it with him:) But it did REALLY improve his writing, and very quickly. He went from not being able to even write about half of the lowercase letters of the alphabet on lined paper, to being able to write them all pretty darn legibly.

I also initiated a daily spelling test, and by daily I mean it happened about 3-4 days out of the week:) I based it off an idea I got from reading a book I found at a garage sale...a great book, by the way! Called An Acorn in My Hand by Ethel Bouldin, it lays out in a very easy to read manner how one teacher taught her first graders how to read and write...by the end of the year, they were able to read the newspaper, and write 2-3 page book reports. And, most importantly, they LOVED to write and they LOVED to have spelling tests. They were up to over 30 spelling words A DAY by the end of the year. She taught them phonetic spelling rules, and then just gave out 30 new words a day based on those rules. Every week she would introduce new rules, and therefore the kids were able to spell many new words just by learning the rule!

I can't recommend the book enough. I think every elementary school teacher should have a copy, and it definitely comes in handy to lay the groundwork for reading and writing at the preschool level. I started giving Gene spelling tests in the summer, and while he's only learned about 6 rules, he can spell MUCH better than before. And it really is fun:)

But...spelling tests are also dependent on the the teacher. I did think about recording the tests so he could play them back on his own time and write the words, but I haven't gotten there yet.

We have had a break from all writing for probably 2-3 weeks now...we've been busy with other work, and then everyone got sick. So I wanted to get back into it. But in a way that Gene could be independent. And a way that he would LIKE TO DO. I started thinking that, while he can write sentences, it was a lot of work for him. I want him to get comfortable just writing words, before he tries to string them together. So, I needed a word writing activity, that he could do by himself.

Here's what I put together:

On the tray is a jar with slips of lined writing paper, on cardstock so they will be easy to get out of the jar, and a little sturdier to work with. I found a website that offers free writing paper to print, and if I right click on the image and go to "copy image" I can paste the image in a new document and save it. Once printed, it's easy to cut into strips.

So, a strip can be chosen from the jar, and a picture chosen from the pile. Then, simply write the word that corresponds to the picture. I wasn't sure that Gene would think it was much fun, so I came up with a "point of interest" to entice him to do the work.

Here's where he puts the strips once they are written on:

I found this box at Wallmart in the sewing section, to hold sewing supplies. It cost under $2, and seems pretty sturdy. I labeled the sections alphabetically, and there's enough room in each section to hold quite a few strips. It would have been most ideal if there were 26 sections, but as it is this is pretty good.

He still wasn't keen on doing it, but once I said I would do it with him, he was all for it. We took turns choosing a picture and writing the word. He got to choose the pictures I would write, and immediately gave me the hardest ones! We made it through probably 20 pictures. Then, there were still some sections in the box that didn't have any slips, so I asked him if he could think of any words we could write for those sections, even if we don't have a picture for them. He didn't really want to write more, but once I wrote one word, he decided he wanted to write a different word, and we ended up writing a few more before putting it away. It went pretty darn well!

Now, I can definitely come up with more picture cards (I actually made those cards last year by cutting out pictures from magazines and laminating them on white paper, and I have a lot more in storage), but I also had ideas for extensions:

-laminate magazine pages that have multiple items in the same picture, and have the child write words that correspond to all the items he can find. This could be fun, since some items hide in most pictures (i.e. wall, door, floor...)

-once the pictures have worn out their appeal, encourage the child to look around the house for more ideas.

-the strips of paper in each section could be counted, and special effort could be made to find words to write to fill up the sections that have the least amount of words.

-turn it into a math activity as well, and keep a tally chart under the box. Label columns at the top of the chart that correspond to each section of the box. Each time a strip is put in a section, add a tally mark to that column...and the child will always know how many strips he has. Or...for number writing practice (which Gene needs as well!) just have the child write the latest number of strips in the column...

All right- this was only the first day of use. We'll see how the Word Box actually does in the long run!

Learning Update

2009-10-14T21:27:00.005-04:00

Here are a few things that the kids have been up to the last couple weeks...

Decorating the Lima Bean bowl (Lucy):

Using the red rods to build a tower, a maze and various other things (Gene and Lucy). Jane watched, and was very excited to walk through the maze with the other kids. She then asked to use the rods. Now, she hasn't used any of the preliminary Montessori sensorial building materials (Pink Cubes, Brown Prisms) and is pretty young for any of them in a traditional school, but as I have newly determined to "follow the child" and not say no to a rational choice, I allowed her to take them out. She said she was going to build the maze!

She very carefully took them out one at a time, carried them the way I had shown Lucy, and brought them over to the mat by our front door that we use for the rods (because it's big enough). She got tired about halfway through, and announced she was going to put them away again. And she did, in the stand we have for them, each in a spot though not in the correct order. She had a great first experience with them, and will learn over time how to use them in a more meaningful way. For now, though, I'm sure she'll go back and want to use them again, and I'm looking forward to the day when she truly gets them. For now, though, take a look at her "maze"...she had gotten the point that we put some rods on one side of the mat, and some on the other:)

Another activity that Jane has shown interest in way ahead of her time is cutting with scissors. She pulled out the cutting tray a few days ago, and went right at the paper strips with her scissors. She got her fingers in the right holes, finagled them open, and shut them again. She has chosen the work numerous times since, and I finally made her a separate beginner cutting tray, with a bowl to put the cut pieces in. Here she is in action (using her left hand, but she cuts most successfully with her right...a little experimenting won't hurt, though):

Jane got a set of fruit and veggies to cut for her birthday, and it's been a popular activity. I tried it myself, and it really does feel like the real thing. Pretty fun!

The surprise of the week was Lucy's To-Do list. She has been interested in writing letters for a long time, and has conquered most of them now (half uppercase, half lowercase, but at least she feels confident that she can write all the letters in one form or another). She's been writing her name for awhile, and a few other random words, but this was the first big writing project for her. It was completely self-initiated, I think inspired by a Frog and Toad story that we have read before (but not recently). She just got some paper one morning, told me what she was doing, and went at it. She then crossed off a few things as they came up over the course of the day, and I don't remember what they were, but here's what was left when I took the picture:

Translation:
Go to bed
Wake up
Clean up
Get in your bed

Translation: Go to school

Pretty neat, huh?

Things I have Learned

2009-10-10T10:24:00.002-04:00

So...I am in the midst of taking a training course to become a real Montessori teacher. Someday maybe I'll actually teach in a real school. We'll see. But, while that is on hold, I can at least apply the things I'm learning to my own kids, right?

One thing I've learned is to not say "No". That came as a big surprise to me, because we definitely say "no" often to our kids. But this applies in a strictly school sense...as in, a Montessori classroom should only display things on the shelves that are accessible to ALL the children in the class. The shelves start out with safe, larger objects so that the youngest children won't hurt themselves or swallow something. As they get more proficient at using the safe materials, gradually the materials are exchanged for others that are smaller, messier, sharper, etc.

But that is just the Practical Life section. In the other areas of the classroom, as well, the materials start off easy. In math, there may be just number puzzles out at first. Language, a bunch of books. Other materials are introduced, but the classroom starts off this way so that the youngest children will feel welcome. Imagine a new barely 3-year old, coming to school for the first time, who watches some bigger kids do something that looks really neat and exciting...and the teacher tells her, "No, you can't do that" when she goes to take it off the shelf once they're done. Anything the teacher tries to show her next won't look as exciting as what she had chosen herself.

I said "No" a lot last year during our school sessions, and I saw the difficulties of it. The kids were sad they couldn't use the materials they wanted to.

But, there are always some limits in the classroom. It is definitely okay, and even a must, to say "No" when a child is misusing a material in a way that is hurting it, them self, or another person. The teacher can help them put it away, and say that they can't use it until the next day. But they will be given another chance, with perhaps a lesson first on the proper use.

I have put this into practice this year in our classroom. Everything on the shelves is accessible to everyone, even to Janie (just turned 2). If she chooses something that I don't think she is ready for, I still show her something she can do with it. Something educational...if not the complete lesson, then at least a mini-lesson. For example, she was in awe of the Numbers and Counters- laminated cards with the numbers 1-10 on them, and a bunch of colored stones to place under each number. She watched the other kids use them, and one day she got them out and put all the cards (in random order) out on the mat, and then put some counters on top of each one. She also counted (up to 20 or 30) as she put them all out, but she wasn't exactly counting them as individual stones. Last year I wouldn't have let her take it off the shelf, but this time I just watched her, and she was concentrating very well, and not hurting the material at all. She used them for probably 10 minutes (pretty good for a toddler!) and then put the cards in a fairly good pile, and asked for help with the rubber band. Since then she has chosen it almost every day we do school, and someday she will get the concept of exactly how to use it. For now, though, it doesn't hurt to let her do her thing.

One more example- scissors! I would never have given a 2 year old scissors. But she chose the cutting tray, and put her fingers in the scissors, and tried to cut a strip of paper. And she actually did (a little!). She has chosen this work a few times, and if I sit with her and run through the process of what to do with the strip after she has cut it (put it in an envelope, along with any pieces she has cut off), she really enjoys herself. Now, I really should make an easier cutting work for her (without an envelope, and just a container to put pieces), but for now this works. And I should have a tonging work out, and other works to strengthen her hand, but for now this works...

Not saying "No" creates a much more peaceful, pleasant environment:)

Art Update

2009-10-01T15:17:00.003-04:00

I have recently added "Painting with a Brush" to our school shelves, and it's been a hit, especially with the younger crowd (i.e. the girls). Everyone has tried it once now, but Jane and Lucy seemed like they really enjoyed it. Gene wasn't reluctant about it as he was about finger painting, but he didn't seem thrilled, either.

I have it set out so they can get everything they need, but I did ask that they bring the paint bottle to me to pour into the cup. And school things are only allowed during school time, so I'm bound to be right there when Janie decides she wants to paint.

She chose to work on the floor, probably because that's where I did the presentation of it. She was pretty wiggly, but really enjoyed herself and kept wanting to wipe her hands and the tray with the wet cloth (pictured in a tupperware container on her far left in the above picture). She kept going until the whole paper was blue, even (proudly) painting over the pieces of tape I had used to secure the paper to the tray.

Circle Time Update

2009-09-28T20:33:00.002-04:00

I think Janie is enjoying our Circle Time (CT) the most! She is a great lover of routine, and also an avid "follower" ("copy-cat" being the less polite way of putting it). So, needless to say she joins right in with the big kids. She must use the toilet first (see this post for explanation) and then she climbs up in her seat at the kitchen table. We start with praying a (shortened) decade of the Rosary (yes, we're Catholic!) Jane likes to pass out the Rosaries, but sometimes someone else will do it...usually whoever is ready first. They spend some time finding the right bead to start on (but they're getting quite good) and I show a picture of that decade from a small "Praying the Rosary" book. Then I read the story that goes along with it from my Bible. A little over their heads, at least the girls, but I keep the stories pretty short and it works ok. We pray the Our Father and three Hail Marys...and Jane says about every other word to both prayers. She probably could say more, but the rest of us just can't talk slow enough for her!

Then someone collects the Rosaries and we move on to...singing. Definitely their favorite part. The "Songs We Know" notebook has been a big hit! We are up to 23 songs now that the majority of us know (and Janie chimes in for a good number of them). We try to add a new song or two every day, realizing how many songs we actually know. If we can't think of one, we practice a song on the "Songs To Work On" paper I keep in the notebook. Then we go around the table and everyone gets to pick one song for us to sing. This is a great way to review the songs we already have written down, and the kids have a great time picking. The big kids usually pick a different song every time (favorites are Yankee Doodle Dandy and The Grand Old Duke of York) but Janie's favorite is Skidamarinky-Dinky-Dink...she calls it "Dinky-Dink". And she tries to do the hand motions that we saw at a Gemini concert recently!

After singing we go on to "Poems We Know". We are just a few lines short of knowing A Little Shadow...but I am the one that is holding them back! I keep forgetting just one line, every time, and I also make a couple other little mistakes that I always get corrected on. Oh well...helps them learn, right! We add a line a day, so hopefully we'll get it by the end of this week.

And then we move on to Exercise Time. Sometimes I forget, but lately since it had been so nice out (I'm not counting today!) we've gone out for a sidewalk run. The kids run up and down the sidewalk, sometimes on a bike or scooter, and get their energy out. This morning we did get out before it started to rain and get cold...and Jane was the one with all the energy. She's recently learned how to run, and this time ran about 5 times up and down our block! Gene was keeping pace with her and promising to protect her from tripping over the bumps:)

Pudding Paint

2009-09-24T15:47:00.003-04:00

So fingerpainting has been out for a week. Lucy has done it a couple times (today she painting a "dragon" with talking clouds above him that were making him angry. I don't know where that came from ! Jane chose it once, and Gene hasn't chosen it at all. But, I did make chocolate pudding the other day and we fingerpainted with it.

Gene was VERY unsure about it, and once he came closer and looked at his little bowl of pudding, he said, "Mama, this smells gross!" It just smelled like chocolate pudding...kind of like brownie batter. He kept complaining, but did get his fingers in it and smear them around...a little. Just not his thing, I guess. Lucy, however, loved it and I had to convince her to stop after AN HOUR of sitting at the table, once the pudding had really decided it was too warm to stay on the table and started to drip on the floor. She ended up eating almost the whole bowl, after it got onto the table and was smeared around, just by licking her fingers every couple of minutes:)

Art 101

2009-09-16T21:40:00.002-04:00

Our first art lesson this school year is Fingerpainting. I am still trying to figure out how to make it accessible to the kids, so they can choose it when they want to, but I just wanted to do it today, so we did it all together. I haven't fingerpainted in ages...I tried to do it with Gene a couple times when he was younger, but he always ended up watching and it just wasn't any fun to do it by myself like that.

This time was great. I taped the kids' papers to the kitchen table, gave them a small bowl with paint in it (just one color) and we went to work. The girls loved it, and Janie especially kept asking me to "look, Mama" as she made a line or a squiggle or something. Gene wasn't so thrilled, and wanted to stop after a minute, but I told him he had to use ALL his paint. And I showed him how he could write words in the paint, or make designs. He was somewhat interested, but Lucy went and wrote "Hi".

We'll see if they choose it once it's on the shelf. I have a feeling the girls will choose it EVERY DAY and I'll regret putting it out because Janie at least will need a lot of help. But, oh well. I've neglected this part of mothering for the past 5 years...I think I can do it now!

First Couple Weeks

2009-09-14T14:14:00.009-04:00

Well, we're starting the second week of homeschooling, and so far...it has been alright. I am not on top of things as much as I'd like, but we're getting there, and we have established at least a few basic school routines. We have started a daily Circle Time in the morning, after we all get dressed, clean up the upstairs, do hair, have breakfast, and brush teeth (in that order). I wanted to have them all up by 7 to get started on the day, and that has been working fairly well, as they've been up by 6:30 on many days! (I'm not quite ready for them then).

Circle Time the first two days consisted of my trying to teach them a song and a poem, and a short prayer time...it was mostly a flop. Janie wanted to sit RIGHT next to me, but then also move around a whole lot. She was also very noisy, and yet wanted to participate and wasn't interested in playing by herself! Lucy was mostly bored and didn't want to sing, and Gene was mostly interested but annoyed by the girls. So, after this same thing the second morning (while also dealing with a potty accident on the kitchen floor and a 2 year old slipping and falling on her back in it!) I was a little frustrated! But after thinking for a while, I came up with this:

New and Revised Circle Time-
Pray decade of rosary (everyone picked their Rosaries ahead of time, and we'll keep them without trading for at least a month...last year there were a lot of tears over Rosaries!)

Pray a short prayer for each person in our "close extended" family- immediate family, grandparents, aunts and uncles (only those who aren't married in) and the priests we know by name. We put the name of each person on a popsicle stick, and we divide them up and each pray for a few each morning. I hope to add "married in's", cousins, friends and special intentions, but we are starting with these.

Work on filling in our "Songs We Know" notebook. I thought an incentive for learning a new song would be being able to write it down. So, we have a list of songs we're working on, and the kids and I brainstormed and came up with a few that we all know ("know" meaning know ALL the words). It was really fun, because they were actually trying, and realizing which songs we all knew was enlightening. Janie knew all the words to Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and a few others. But mostly we count just myself and the 2 big kids.

Work on filling in our "Poems We Know" notebook. I asked them the first day of our new routine what poems they knew, and there were blank stares! So, we started learning A Little Shadow (don't know who wrote it). I taught them the first line, and once they could recite it a couple times, I wrote it down. We're up to four lines now, and it is fun to do it all together. And again, the notebook is a good incentive. It's not just Mama wanting them to learn a poem, it's learning a poem together so we can write it down and say we know it. Much better!

Then, I read a Bible story from my Bible. I decided to do this instead of reading from their Children's Bibles, though we haven't put those away, it's just that they know the basic stories and I want to introduce them to the language of the Bible. However, we haven't quite figured this out yet. Gene is interested, and wants to sit next to me and follow along with the story. Lucy and Janie want to be there, to "see" but can't sit still, can't stop touching the Bible or each other, and can't BE QUIET. I may just start reading to him during quiet time...at least he appreciates it!

That's the routine. I decided to try and stick with it for a few weeks before changing anything, to wait till they get adjusted. I think I usually try to change my mind too soon on things, and the kids get confused about what we're doing.

As for other schoolwork, Gene has a chart of things to work on every day, and a few things to work on for each week. Daily- writing, math, art and spelling test. Spelling is a favorite (we're doing it phonetically so he learns a few spelling rules and can spell many, many words). And art is becoming so. I gave each of the kids a "story book" and they dictate a story to me and draw pictures. The art part comes in here, with the illustrations. Gene hasn't drawn much before this year, and now I'm strongly encouraging him to draw people, animals and whatever else from his stories. It's going well, and he's quickly building his confidence. For writing, it counts for now that he dictates a story (yesterday he dictated 4 pages double spaced) and we'll soon move into journal and letter writing.

I'll keep this updated as much as possible. We're just getting our bearings again:)

Beginning Again...

2009-08-29T15:51:00.002-04:00

This is a quick post, but I will have more (though still sporadic) throughout the upcoming months. We are planning for another round of homeschooling, after many months of seriously considering sending the kids to a local Montessori school. To put it briefly: Brendan's company was affected by the slow Michigan economy, and he started looking for another job back in early spring. We decided that I would try to talk to local M schools and see if I could get a teaching job (and send the kids there as well). I talked to two schools, and one said they had a position and I would qualify for it if I signed up for a teacher training course. I was very excited, and we started talking with the school and working out the details. The kids all came into the school and were given an informal evaluation, I filled out initial paperwork, etc. The school kept me waiting, though, to actually fill out the final paperwork until they knew their enrollment figures for the fall. And as I was waiting and waiting, I had a feeling that it wasn't going to work out. In the end, it did come down to enrollment- they were short 20 preschoolers (they only have two preschool classes) and didn't need/couldn't afford to pay another teacher.

I was pretty sad to think of all that my kids would miss by not going to that school. Besides a traditional Montessori curriculum, the school also offered a large playground (with three sandboxes), a sledding hill and ice-skating rink in winter, swimming lessons for the Kindergarten and Elementary kids, and the chance for Gene and Lucy to make some new friends. I was also excited about the toddler program for Jane. It would have been kind of like homeschooling, just away from home, since we would all have gone together, and come home together, and the school in between would have been a great version of what I try to do at home.

Regardless, I am mostly over feeling sad and now am getting excited for the Fall. I will post more about what we'll be doing, but it will be a mix of traditional Montessori (as much as I can afford or have time to make) and a few other activities (Gene loves worksheets, and I will take advantage of that as long as it doesn't become a chore for him!) We will have some daily work (math, writing, spelling), Montessori choices out on the shelf for free choice, and a weekly or biweekly art and science lesson. I was sadly lacking in my art and science presentations last year, and I am going to try and remedy that this year. I found a neat book that presents art in a Montessori way- skill based instead of project based- and I will post about how the kids like it.

We start the day after Labor day, if I can get everything ready. And even if I can't, we're still going to start...!

Summer Busyness

2009-06-19T13:31:00.004-04:00

So...I realize I haven't posted in a long time. I don't think of blogging as something that I necessarily need to do often, but I do enjoy reading other people's blogs, and the ones I enjoy most are the ones that post the most. That said, this blog probably doesn't have a lot of regulars!

Anyway, our school has wrapped up for the summer. I was seriously considering keeping it going until August, thinking the kids would need something to do or else they would start going crazy, but I hadn't realized a couple of factors:

-there is enough for them to do in the summer without school, factoring in outside time, vacations, having friends over, etc.

-I don't have time to do school in the summer...there is plenty enough for ME to do! I had forgotten about things like mowing the lawn and keeping up the gardens, as well as garage sales and swimming at my mom's house. Also, my husband and I are training for a triathlon, and that eats up a lot of extra time. I could possibly see having the actual school-time still, but I have no time for prepping new materials or changing the shelves around. And nothing new to work on results in bored kids who may be better off doing something else, anyway.

So...we did a couple weeks of "summer school" and then kind of abruptly ended. There was no "closing ceremonies" so to speak, which looking back on I kind of regret, but so be it. The kids are young enough that closure isn't as important to them, as it is to older kids. I think after how bored they were getting, they were kind of glad to be done with it:(

But...we had a great year. I just looked back at all the previous posts, and they sure did come a long way. I am really glad we did school the way we did it, and would do it again in a heartbeat!

Stay tuned for news on what we'll be doing in the fall:)

Toddler Montessori

2009-04-09T23:00:00.003-04:00

So, my daughter Janie is 19 months now, and has been "doing school" with us for the last 4 months. She has never fit in extremely well to the classroom, but we've made do. I put some learning materials/toys out on the floor against one wall, and she can take them to a table or work with them on the floor. She sometimes gets out a floor mat (she loves those!) and will work there.

It has been hard to be consistent with her, because she is so much younger and doesn't respond as the older kids do. She wants to use a material at a table, so she goes over and sits down...for about 30 seconds. Then she leaves the material there, and goes to see what is going on across the room. Then she'll get a floor mat and try to scoot as close as she can to someone else's floor mat...this occupies most of her time, and the work she was thinking of doing on the floor mat is forgotten. She also likes to roll up other people's mats, whether or not they are done working with them. Oh, and she is a chronic chair-stealer...sitting down on someone's chair while they are on it (or slightly off it...) In short, she has contributed to a lack of concentration on the part of all the kids (though they don't really get upset with her...they tolerate her and generally enjoy having her around...they just don't get as much work done). She is really a good lesson in practical life for the big kids (how to get along with a toddler), and a lesson in patience and perseverance for me.

Well, all that perseverance is going to pay off soon. After some deliberation, I decided to give Janie some shelf space (two small shelves in our classroom are now for her materials). That way she can get them when she wants them, and not just during school time (usually I put her materials away after school, as I wanted them to be fresh and keep her interested as long as possible). They were a "diversion" before, but now she's old enough to somewhat join our school. I also made a temporary table for her to work on, so she won't steal the other kids seats.

Two stools from Ikea and a board work wonders! She's sitting on the bathroom stool...

Anyway, I realized that now she has taken on (with the acquisition of shelves) a degree of responsibility she's never had before. She must now put things away before using other things. And she understands this! This doesn't mean she is eager to follow directions, but I know she'll get there. She wants to take her work all over the house, but understands now that it must stay in the schoolroom. She wants to leave work on the table and go play with something else, but if I bring her back and ask her if she's done or if she wants to keep working, I know she get's it. She's growing up!

Congratulations Janie!

Taping- update

2009-04-04T11:23:00.002-04:00

So Lucy has really been interested in the tape dispenser lately, and this morning I came down from a shower and saw that she had just been leading Janie in a coloring session. On her own initiative, she got a piece of paper and a crayon for Janie, taped the paper to the table (like I usually do) and let her draw. They proudly showed me Jane's picture when they were done. My stipulation: that she stay right with Jane to help put the crayon away!

Snapping

2009-04-04T07:58:00.000-04:00

My kids know how to do the snapping frame, but they can't snap their own clothes. The snaps on the frame are super-easy to press together (made of plastic) and clothing snaps are almost always made of metal and really require a strong force to close. So, I found some clothes that no one wears right now, and put them in a laundry basket. They all have at least one snap on them. I put the snapping frame in their too, and am going to show my kids today informally (we don't have "school" on Saturdays). I think they'll like it, but we'll see if they actually master any of those tricky blue-jean snaps!

Paper punching- update

2009-04-03T21:24:00.000-04:00

So, the paper punching work is a hit, at least with Gene. He has chosen it every day, and has now moved on to punching longer lines (the length of an index card). He didn't complete a whole line, but asked to put it away and finish it later. He was really motivated when I talked to him about the ultimate pin-punching goal- tracing out and punching the pieces of the world map puzzle. He is really excited about that, and would love to just try it...I almost let him try to trace a continent, but I KNEW he would be frustrated and not want to do it again. He needs a lot more work tracing the metal insets and some other stencils I've put out. But, he could also just practice tracing around the continents pretty soon...when he feels confident with that, he could then go ahead and punch one out. What a fun incentive!

Frustration

2009-04-01T10:50:00.001-04:00

What a frustrating day...and it was just my kids today, Norah having a sick brother at home, and Janie throwing up last night (I'm not sure if she's sick or not...but better safe than sorry). I decided to do a bit of school to give us something to do for the morning.

I realized that my frustration mostly stems from expecting perfection from the kids. I want Janie to do her work in a designated area, and instead she wants to carry it all over the room. I want the kids to speak in quiet voices, and instead they talk normally and sometimes even shout. I want them to use the works on the shelves exactly as they have been shown, and instead they "get creative".

Examples of what went on today:
-Janie wanted to work right next to Lucy, and kept scootching her chair, and later her floor mat, so she was almost touching Lucy. It didn't seem to bother Lucy, but it sure bothered me!

-Lucy drew a picture and then proceeded to cut it up and tape the pieces onto another piece of paper. She took the tape from the "taping tray" where it was designated to tape colorful triangles onto white paper.

-Gene used the taping tray correctly (all the kids are learning how to get pieces of tape off...it's harder than I thought it would be!) but then got some markers and colored it as well. This wasn't terrible, but the markers weren't designated to go with the taping tray...

-Gene spilled a whole cupful of beans all over the hard floor, where they scattered all over. This interrupted everyone.

I find myself wanting to correct them alot, but this doesn't serve the purpose I wish it would. It makes them feel bad for being creative, especially when they are really excited about what they did. And it makes me feel like the big bad mama.

What a Montessori teacher would do (I think!) is to give lots of lessons during circle time and privately about the correct way to use materials. And not at the time they are being used inappropriately. At a completely different time, so as not to make anyone feel bad. At the moment of incorrect use, a teacher would simple come over to a child, and either redirect them to another work (if it looked like they were either bored of what they were doing or didn't really want to be doing it) or ask a leading question (such as, which triangle are you going to tape on next?) Asking questions like this should hopefully lead the child to remember what they are doing/supposed to be doing and get them back on track. If it doesn't, they could put the work away and choose something else.

This is a great way to keep the school environment under control...but alas, with a toddler things become much more difficult. Because these things don't work for a toddler. Janie can't handle lessons or circle time yet. She doesn't have the attention span to watch me do something...I can simply do the first part, and then let her explore with the rest. Most of her works are things that don't have a specific purpose, like blocks, small bean bowl, playdough, shape sorter, etc.

I find myself constantly trying to re-direct Janie or help her with something. At the same time, I am fielding questions from the other kids and noticing if things aren't being used correctly (but can't always address it right away). At circle time, when it would be nice to address some of these things, Janie is getting really tired of "behaving" and often just wants to play with the kids. Maybe this would be a good time to give her "crib time" as the Babywise books suggest... (I don't know how to link to another site, I should learn sometime, but the idea is to have a certain amount of time (probably up to 30 minutes at 19 months) for a child to play in their crib (and later just in their room) quietly. I have never tried it, but it's appealing.

Anyway, I haven't done my job very well, and I am suffering the consequences. And the kids are, too, because their concentration is often broken and things seem to be escalating. And hence the frustration...

Paper Punching- solved!

2009-03-29T21:40:00.000-04:00

My kids have never taken to paper punching (punching out a shape drawn on paper using a small push-pin...a skill that strengthens the muscles used later for writing). I put it out earlier in the year, at Christmas time, because I was sure they would want to punch out Christmas trees. But...no. A couple of them tried it, but they punched a few holes around the edges and then thought it would be ready to come out. It was hard for them to grasp the concept of punching SO MANY holes. So, this activity has been retired for a few months. Until last week...

I realized I could break it down a little, and teach them the concept of punching enough holes, close enough together, to at least be able to tear out a very small shape. Or, in this case, they can punch on the line (perhaps 20-30 holes will do it) and then they can tear off a small piece. This is very do-able. Kind of like cutting with scissors...they can keep punching and tearing more pieces off, until they have had their fill. Done in short spurts, they could theoretically accomplish at least one "tearing" in just a couple minutes. Once they have grasped the concept, and feel confident in their punching abilities, we can progress to punching out shapes and other figures.

I think this will work! The pictures below demonstrate how the work is used. Oh, and I almost forgot...as a point of interest, once a small piece has been punched and torn off, it can be put in the small cardboard box by slipping it through the slot in the lid.

Mealtime Battles

2009-03-25T14:39:00.000-04:00

After every preschool session, the kids have a chance to play for a while, and then we have lunch. Norah has been staying to eat with us, and then a little more play time before I read her a book and send her home (well, now she gets to call her Mom on the phone before going home). Since I am feeding four children, one of whom with food allergies who usually has to have a separate meal fixed just for her, I can't take special orders from the other kids. Here's how we handle lots of kids at lunch time:

Everyone gets half of the main dish (sandwich, pizza...) on their plate, a serving of vegetables, and a cup of milk.
Everyone must eat everything on their plate before being excused. If I know in advance that they don't like something that is being served (i.e. Lucy doesn't like lettuce, Norah doesn't like peas) then I give them a very small serving, but they still need to eat it.
Once they have finished everything on their plate, they may either be excused (in that case, they must finish their milk as well) or eat the other half of their main dish, which is kept on a large cutting board placed in the middle of the table. It is easy for them to reach when they are ready.
They never have to finish the second half...they may choose to be done at any time.

We have been using this method at lunchtime for at least a year now. It is simple, and routine, and solves all sorts of eating issues. A couple adaptations are as follows:

Norah told me she didn't like jelly on her sandwich the first time I made pb&js. It took a while to figure out a solution to this, but we did. I put jelly on one-quarter of her sandwich, and this goes on her plate (instead of the usual half). The other three-quarters go on the cutting board, without jelly. After a couple days to get used to the system, she will now happily eat the jellied sandwich quarter. She even told me that now she likes jelly! (Though she wasn't begging for it to be on the other quarters).
Both Lucy and Norah have trouble finishing all their milk. Lucy sometimes tells me that so much milk will make her have to go potty...(yes, but...) So now I put a butterscotch chip (we're out of chocolate chips) next to their cups, and if I don't have to remind them to drink all their milk, they can eat the chip when they finish it. They very quickly caught on, and the cups empty very quickly.
I'll sometimes put extra food on the cutting board, and if anyone is still hungry once they have finished ALL of their food, they can have some of the extra food.

Sometimes I use this system for breakfast and dinner, but usually the food we eat at those meals isn't very conducive to being cut in half and put on a cutting board. So it remains a lunchtime routine for now...

Mixed-up order

2009-03-13T14:41:00.000-04:00

Montessori works are notorious for having a "right way" to do them. As a teacher, I present this "right way", and then expect that the kids will follow it. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. The trickiest part, for me, is knowing what to do when they don't.

Example- the "numbers and counters" activity. The first step is to lay out the number cards in order from one to ten. Then the little counters are placed under each number. But when a student refuses to lay out the cards in order first? And insists on laying them out in "mixed order"? The key in this case is knowing the student. I have observed my kids long enough that I am learning what is really going on in those little heads. In this particular instance, either I could have gone along with it, let the student lay them out in irregular order, but still asked them to lay out the appropriate counters. It could have been a way to increase the challenge of the activity. And in that case, it would have been okay and I would have gone along with the change. The point is, after all, to make sure they can lay the counters out. And I would have only done this if I knew the student COULD have laid out then number cards in order.

However, in this particular case, I realized that this student wasn't really ready for the order demanded from the activity. What was really wanted was a chance to play with and sort the counters. That is what I so appreciate about Montessori. Everything in order, even in the order of materials presented to children. Practical life activities are always presented first, way before math and language, and these include many sorting activities and chances to handle small, enticing objects. The kids can get their fill of that kind of thing, and get it "out of their system" so to speak, before moving on. However, practical life also includes learning to follow directions. Even in the sorting, spooning, tonging and pouring work, there are certain rules to follow. The materials are not completely open-ended, just not as complicated as those that follow. So, the ability to follow directions is honed at the beginning as well.

Well, what if that ability to follow directions needs more fine-tuning? Well, that is something that all the kids are working on. And something, perhaps, that I need to learn how to teach better as well. All of them insist, in their own ways, on HAVING their own way when it comes to using certain materials. And that is where I struggle a little. It is important for the kids to use the materials appropriately...that is the point. Otherwise they may not learn what the material intends to teach. But, is it just that they don't remember how to use it? Or is it that they choose not to remember? All the kids have their stubborn, sticking points, and it is my job to choose which battles to fight.

From anyone reading this, I would appreciate hearing any feedback you have on how to teach children to use materials correctly. Should I insist on correct use and threaten to take the material off the shelf if not used the way it is intended? When I have done this, I notice that the material is usually just avoided for a period of time instead of used correctly. A silent protest, I think. But also an indication that the child was perhaps either not ready for the material, or too advanced for it...

Sick teacher day

2009-03-04T14:43:00.000-05:00

I've been sick the last few days, but this morning when I took my temperature and wasn't feverish, I realized I couldn't stay on the couch any longer. Yesterday I was blessed to be able to be a couch potato all day, because my sister took the kids away and left me in absolute peace and quiet. One of the not-so-often realized dreams of every busy mom. So, I was somewhat disappointed to not be sick anymore, but grateful to be getting better nonetheless.

I decided to have school, and was able to drop Jane (18 months old today!) off at the Mitzels' (thanks Karen!). One of the benefits of being a Montessori teacher was really evident once we began...I didn't have to do anything! I sat in a chair or on the floor for the majority of the morning. I taught one lesson, assisted on a couple things, but otherwise I just had a good day of observing. I didn't even have to talk very much (good on a somewhat-sore throat).

I am grateful we did school today. If I had decided to call it off, it would have seemed easier, but in the end the kids would probably have spent the morning running, hiding under blankets, playing basketball, and fighting with each other. I chose the alternative, and had a morning of peace.

Learning in a Montessori environment

2009-03-02T19:53:00.000-05:00

When a child is in a Montessori classroom, sometimes the "learning" that he/she is doing is not evident. A parent may wonder why the child hasn't learned what so-and-so has learned who is the same age as their child, or even why a younger child knows something that their child does not. This is especially evident when it comes to language and math. Some kids learn their numbers and are beginning to read when they are three, and others learn these at a much later age. Some homeschooling books (though not Montessori-based) that I've read even suggest that a parent can wait until age 8 or 9 before teaching their child to read, if the child is not interested. And I am reading Farmer Boy to Gene right now, and was just reminded that Almanzo (the "boy" of the title)didn't start school until he was almost 9.

So, that said, each kid has their own timetable for learning things, and some just take longer. However, being in a Montessori environment does teach children much more than just their numbers and letters. Here is a brief list of the things that the children in my preschool have learned since we started in September (some of these things one or more children may have known already):

-how to put their outdoor clothes away before beginning work
-the routine of washing their hands before beginning work
-how to wash their hands
-how to carry a tray without spilling what's on it
-how to use a work the way it was presented
-how to clean up a work and put it back in it's spot before choosing another
-how to clean up a mess before choosing another work
-how to wait patiently for a popular work (by putting their nametag in the work's spot on the
shelf, they can claim it next)
-how to work quietly without disturbing others
-how to speak quietly to each other when necessary
-how to ask a question of the teacher
-how to get ready for circle time (put work away, get carpet squares)
-how to take turns sitting in the middle at circle time (this was a BIG issue in September)
-how to let someone (especially a toddler) watch them work
-how to ask someone if they can watch them work
-how to wait patiently for a turn at the snack table
-how to eat snack and clean up the table for the next person
-how to cut food (bananas, pears, cheese) using a small knife and cutting board
-how to spread (peanut butter)
-how to drink out of a non-lidded cup

There are probably more I haven't thought of, and we are definitely still working on some of these, but it is a pretty extensive list.

One more point, that I have been realizing lately...many of these things will prepare a child for later work in language and math. Especially "using a work correctly"...many of the works, if used correctly, are SPECIFICALLY meant to prepare a child for later reading and writing work, as well as math. I won't go into detail on this, as it would take too long, but many materials that Maria Montessori originally included in her classrooms were designed for these purposes.

And one final point, the kids have learned how to concentrate, and have been perfecting their concentration skills. They have learned that no one else will touch what they are working on, and they can work on it as long as they want. And they typically work with materials for 15-20 minutes at a time, or sometimes more. This REALLY does wonders for their mood at the end of preschool. If they have had good periods of concentration during the morning, they are usually quite happy and peaceful at the end of our work period.

That's all for now. The kids really have come a long way. Sometimes I wish I could do much more with them (as in, supply many more materials) but when I remind myself how everyone was at the beginning of the year, I am ok with where we are now. And we still have more school days to come...

Favorite Things

2009-03-02T19:45:00.000-05:00

The favorite works lately of each child in our little preschool are....(drum-roll please)...

Gene-
bean bowl
50 piece Land Before Time puzzle (he just moved up from 24 pieces!)
number rods
drawing with markers
pattern blocks

Norah-
bean bowl
play dough
pins in cinnamon-sugar shaker
tearing edges off paper
taping shapes on paper (using a large standing tape-dispenser)

Lucy-
drawing with markers
cutting paper
folding paper (no work for this yet- any suggestions??)
puzzles (24 piece)
command cards (she's learned to "read" some simple commands like run and sit and loves to flip
over a card and do what it says)

New works

2009-02-26T14:07:00.001-05:00

Just came up with an ingenious way to use a huge box of old (and I mean old) computer paper my parents gave me. It will both give the kids something new to learn, and be a solution to the incredible amounts of paper we are going through at the moment. Here it is, a new work, Tearing Edges Off Paper:

A pile of paper (I did have to tear the individual sheets apart, they come all attached to each other, as most people probably remember who had a printer back in the 90s). And a bowl to put the edges in.

When the bowl is full, I put the edges on our cutting tray, and the kids can cut them to pieces. They put the nicely de-edged papers on the paper tray, where it will sit for no more than a few minutes before being colored on, and then potentially cut into pieces and/or rolled into a tube by a creative 3-year old.

Below is a work I made for that same little person, who constantly cuts up her pictures. It is on her shelf now, but will make it's way around the room. I think all the kids are ready for this. The object is just to cut on the lines, and each line requires more than one cut, making it a little trickier. The markers are for coloring, as an incentive to cut the strips in the first place.

I was just visiting a friend and realized that kids are capable of cutting out shapes and much harder things by age 4-5, but...we haven't gone there yet. I only got kids' scissors last year! So, we are behind in the cutting game but soon to catch up I think:)

And our bean bowl, with a new addition, a milk-carton funnel. I just cut the bottom off a clean milk carton, and the top is a great funnel. I was having trouble using other funnels with the beans, because the opening at the bottom was never large enough. This is perfect, and has been very popular!

Montessori math

2009-02-26T13:29:00.000-05:00

I am just starting to do math with Gene- he's been learning about numbers (how to count, etc) just by talking with me and reading books, but we haven't done any formal work. Now we are just beginning with some of the math materials I've bought, and some I am in the process of making. I wish I just had them all to use as he is ready, because my gut feeling tells me he's going to speed through some of the beginning activities. But Montessori always emphasizes beginning at the beginning, and not skipping any activity. So, we've been using the number rods or "red and blue rods", and going in order. I am just going to describe them: long wooden rods with stripes of red and blue painted on them. The "one" rod is maybe 4-5 inches long, and is all red. The "two" rod is twice as long, the "three" rod is three times as long. Increments of that same 4-5 inches are measured off on each rod in alternating red and blue. First lesson is just laying them out in order and then labeling each with a number card (from 1-10). Then, once that is easily done (and, it sounds easier than it is...Gene can do it but the first couple times the actual laying in order took a little longer than I thought it would) you can take the ten rod and lay it by itself. Put another rod next to it (say, the 8 rod) and ask the child to "make ten"...i.e. find the rod that laid next to the 8 rod would make 10 (so they find the 2 rod).

Then a new material- numbers and counters. I printed off some number cards (could be the same as used with number rods) and found some little stones in my collection of random objects in the basement. The cards are laid in order, and then the little stones (could be other small objects, all matching) are laid under each card, in pairs of two (see picture below). This is a counting exercise, but also lays the foundation for easily learning about odd and even numbers. Odds have a single stone at the bottom, and evens have two stones at the bottom.

The next few lessons introduce math beads...I'll post more about those as I get them ready. I can't buy any more materials right now, so I am printing "beads" off the computer. Should be interesting...we'll see if it actually works. The test will be if Gene is interested in using the "beads", because I have heard that actual Montessori beads are very appealing to children. The appeal is what makes a kid want to work with materials, so I hope this works!

Random

2009-02-18T17:34:00.000-05:00

I put a bowl of toothpicks with the playdough on the school shelf today, and they were a big hit. Lucy and Norah built snowmen, using the sticks to prop up playdough balls. Quite ingenious. I wish I had taken pictures today! I think Lucy got the idea because when it last snowed, Brendan and the kids built a snowman and used a stick to hold the head on. I only found out because when the snowman started to melt, it leaned WAY over but the head was stayed on. Only a stick could have managed that!

Also used today- metal insets, pattern blocks, the number rods. I introduced a numbers and counters math material to Gene, and it was a hit. It is a traditional Montessori math work, but I just got it together last night. Much more to it than I thought...I'll try to post pictures soon, and a better explanation.

Oh, one last random thing. We read a book today for circle time that is one of my all-time favorites- A Fly Went by, by Mike McClintock. An early reader book from awhile ago, but it is a FUN book to read aloud. And very appealing to kids. One of those books I rarely get tired of reading. Just thought I would let anyone who reads this know. Try it out.

God Bless America!

2009-02-15T18:58:00.000-05:00

We sing a lot in our house, and I thought I would do a quick post about teaching songs to kids. We do listen to tapes (yes, I still have some around from when I was little!) and CDs occasionally, and we play a lot of classical and oldies on our computer, but that doesn't do a great job of teaching lyrics. My kids don't learn the words by listening to music, unless it is prounounced VERY clearly. For example, Gene "knows" the Notre Dame fight song ( I went to school there, so we play it once in a while) but when he sings it to himself, he mumbles through half the words, and makes up the rest.

The way my kids learn the words is for my husband or I to sing a song to them. They have learned a lot of classic songs this way, and the one that prompted me to write this post is God Bless America. It is a tooth-brushing song. My husband will sing it to them while brushing their teeth, and they know the words perfectly. We also sing Catholic prayers when putting them to bed ( Hail Holy Queen, the Litany of the Saints, Liturgy of the Hours).

Sing to your kids. Sing so that they learn the words. Sing songs that you want them to know when they grow up, not just "kids' songs". They can start learning as early as 2 years old (in my experience) and it is a great confidence-booster. My kids gain confidence every time they learn something...

As for our preschool music experience, we have been singing some little kiddie songs and fingerplays, but now that I mention it I may look for some good classic songs to work on. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

What We've Done Lately

2009-02-03T11:27:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures from the last couple weeks. Everyone has been busy, and they have really been enjoying having their own shelves. I will definitely keep it this way for now. The only downfall I see is that sometimes they really DO want to use something on someone else's shelf, and it's a little hard for me to say no when I think they would benefit from using it. So, for now we are still sticking with the original plan, but I'll think about revising it.

Above is a "Christmas Tree" that Gene made out of the pattern blocks. He had not been interested in them when they were out before, and had made a couple towers with them since Christmas. But he finally noticed what other people were doing with them, and since they were on his shelf he used them. I like the ornaments he decorated with!

The bean bowl is one of Norah's favorite works...she was getting frustrated with is (actually, I think it was just me that was frustrated) because she would try to fill up the cup or container that I put with it. But there would be too many beans, and they would get all over the floor. Now I put three cups and a small cup in the bean bowl, and the beans fit in the cups, with a little room to spare. Much better!

Above, Lucy is working with the cutting tray. There is some scrap paper on the tray, scissors, and a bucket to put the cut pieces in. Sometimes there are drinking straws, and I am thinking of other things to put on the tray because it is a very popular work.

I made a bean activity for Janie, and she used it with supervision. She really liked it for a few minutes, transferring the beans by handfuls to the other bowl. But I have to really keep an eye on her...she won't put them in her mouth, but she'll get them all over the floor.

We are taking a day off tomorrow due to sickness at Norah's house, so I'll work on more materials. Norah and Lucy are really ready for more language work- they both know letter sounds, and I think they are ready for some little objects with matching labels- cat, hat, lid, etc. Gene's next step when he was learning to read was a bunch of cards with words on them, and he would sound them out and then go on to the next one. I put them in a jar and called in a "word jar"- he loved it! But he was 4.5 then, and had been doing starfall.com on the computer for a while. I think the girls aren't quite ready to just start reading yet, but they are close! It is so fun to see the connections they are making! Lucy has been using the "command cards" that I made for her...little cards with a word on them like "jump, sit, walk..." and she turns them over one at a time and does the action the card indicates. I did it with her the first couple times, but then she kind of memorized them, and could tell just by looking what they were. Not exactly reading, but a fun step in the right direction!

2009-02-02T22:02:00.000-05:00

Keep it simple...

This is something I have been coming back to again and again since I've had kids. And today, I want to write a little bit about it. Here are some thoughts that relate to this topic:

-I have read lots of Montessori books, am following quite a few blogs, and have also observed in Montessori classrooms. I get a lot of REALLY good ideas that I would love to incorporate into our school times. But...it just can't happen. I can get maybe one new work out every day, and sometimes we go a few days with nothing new. I read last night of something fun to do with the sandpaper letters- tracing the letter with a finger on someone's back and having them guess it- and I thought that I could do it with at least one or two kids. It was easy, and required NO advance preparation. But, things happened and the morning was over before I thought of it again. Even if I had remembered it, it probably wouldn't have happened this morning. My big kids were a little sick, and Jane (my toddler) was clingy, and I wasn't in a great teaching mood (though I was praying my way through!). So, I cling to the fact that the kids ARE learning and are doing well in school. And they didn't know what they were missing today- they were too busy doing other things.

-I also get lots of great ideas to use in our Circle Time, the 15-30 minutes we sit down together at the end of the work session, and do group activities. There are so many things I want to do with them! But, again, Jane is clingy and insists on climbing in my lap during this time...and then climbing out, and climbing in again...I still need to decide what to do with her... Anyway, my point is that what I am doing is simple, and I think for this reason the kids actually enjoy it more and look forward to circle time. The routine is pretty set now: a couple songs and fingerplays as they are putting their work away and sitting down with me, short prayers of thanks by me and the kids (though they generally thank God solely for the dinosaurs...), then we learn a new line of a Catholic prayer (we have learned the entire Nicene creed now (!), and are starting the Our Father), and then start at the beginning and say the whole prayer. Then someone will choose a book from the book box I have out by the window, and I read that book to the group. Sometimes we'll finish at this time, and sometimes I'll introduce a new work or we'll play a game or two. To dismiss them from the circle, I'll say, "Whoever is sitting on their carpet square, and wearing pants, and white socks, and has a headband on her head, may stand up and put her carpet square away, and go and play." The first few words remind them to sit (sometimes they are getting antsy by this point) and then they are looking at themselves and each other trying to figure out who it is I am describing. It is fun to see their faces light up when they realize it is their turn to get up!

So...it is a simple Circle routine, and while I wish I could do more, right now I can't. And that is okay. Sometimes less is more, and what they are missing in knowledge and facts and whatnot that I COULD squeeze in to our preschool days, they are making up for in comfort and security of the routine. And, like I said, they are learning. And, like I have to remind myself, they are still very young. They will be fine!

Three New Works

2009-01-27T20:18:00.000-05:00

So, I've come to the conclusion that I can't say "children" anymore! It's driving me crazy! I re-read some of my blog entries, and they sound so formal and boring...not like how I would talk at all. So, I'm turning over a new leaf and just writing "kids". That's how I refer to them, and it doesn't seem like slang to me. It makes them seem more personable. "Children" are very well-behaved and intelligent..."kids" are fun and cute and I love 'em!

So...back to what I was writing about. Here are a few new things on the shelves for the kids:

Shelling peanuts has been a VERY popular work (and also very messy!) Above is how it's laid out on the tray. And this is how it is laid out on the table:

A close-up of the nutcracker. I got it from Montessori Services- they said it was easy for kids to use, and it really is. Just keep twisting, and voila- a nice snack! Here's a close-up:

It has been messy, but everyone is learning to hold the nut-cracker OVER the bowl to crack the peanuts. A hard concept, I'm realizing...but they learn when they have to sweep both the table and the floor afterwards. At least, I hope they learn. I would welcome any suggestions on making it easier for kids to clean up this kind of mess after themselves. What if they don't know how to sweep a floor yet? It's easy for me to get frustrated when there's a huge mess, and I have to mostly clean it myself. We have to work on sweeping lessons, I guess...

Here's another work that has been fun, and produced nice results: pasting! Or gluing, or whatever. We started calling it pasting in the fall, so that's what it's remained. I cut a bunch of circles with the help of a wonderful friend's die-cutting machine (thank you!), and this is the tray on the shelf:

When someone wants to paste a collage, they bring the shot glass to me and I put a little glue in the bottom. It really takes just a little (maybe just covering the bottom, or even less). Then they can lay it out on an art mat:

The brush and shot glass are great. It took me a few tries to figure out the best method for us, but so far this is a winner. We don't have any painting works out (and I don't know if we ever will...maybe!), so this gives them a chance to practice using a paintbrush. It's easy to control, and doesn't waste glue. Here are some of the pictures that we've made so far. They're hanging up on our front door where I see them every day, and I really like them! They actually make me smile when I look at them, and I can't say that with the average kids' art project!

Here's one more, sorting nuts and bolts.

The pieces of felt give the kids a place to put the nuts and the bolts, and then the trickiest part is matching them up again. And then getting the nut on the bolt. Just the right challenge, so far.

We have school tomorrow...maybe I'll remember to take pictures of the kids actually using some of these materials. I do like to do that...the problem is remembering. And then not getting distracted by a crying toddler, someone needing more toilet paper in the bathroom, or someone begging for a sandpaper letter lesson. We'll see...the chances are slim.

What We've Done Lately

2009-01-26T20:55:00.000-05:00

Here is a brief overview of what the children have been working on (at least what I've been able to photograph):

Everyone has been working with the puzzle map of North America. It is a fun, large puzzle and they are starting to grasp rudimentary geography.

Beginning in January, my youngest daughter Jane joined our class...it has been an expected challenge (she is not quite 17 months old) but she is adapting. Gene really helps out, and gives her attention when I cannot. We keep some of her things in the schoolroom where she can reach them.

Lucy using one of the dressing frames- small(ish) buttons.

Lucy using one of the geometric drawers- this drawer is a conglomeration of shapes that don't fit any other category. The other drawers have circles, triangles, rectangles, polygons, etc. Children can use them as puzzles, finding where the shapes go back in, and also match them up to cards. In the process, it is easy for them to learn the names of all the shapes.

Norah was the first to build a maze with the red rods (originally used to learn length- short, long, shorter, longer, etc.) But this is a fun extension, and the other children begged to walk in it as well.

Here's an example of our snack table. The children love snack! They usually check to see what snack is as soon as I lay it out (around 9 am!) and some of them choose to eat pretty early. These pictures show our "cutting a banana" snack. I started laying this out about a month ago (before Christmas) and they love to use the little knife and cutting board. The bananas have a small slit in the peel so the children can peel it without help. Then they can eat it whole if they want, but they all choose to cut it in slices with the knife, put the slices on their plate, and then eat from there.

There is always a control card laid out with snack. It has the name of the food written on top, and then a picture. The point is for the person having snack to lay out the food on the card, and then put it on their plate. This helps especially to control quantities, so one child won't eat all the snack. Though it still happens sometimes...

There is always a glass of water and a plate for each child. They eat snack, wipe their hands and face if needed on a wet cloth I leave out, and then dry them on a dry cloth, or the kitchen towel. They bring their used dishes to the "dirty dish bin" left on the floor of the kitchen. They wipe their place, and leave it ready for the next child. Only one child at a time can eat snack, but their is often someone else waiting to race into the kitchen as soon as the snack table is vacated.

2009-01-18T15:51:00.000-05:00

So, I just rearranged the whole school area. I gave each child their own set of shelves, with their own materials on them, and after one day of school (Friday) I can say that it is a very good arrangement!

My reasoning:
1. We were running out of room on the shelves, but I didn't want to put away some of what I considered to be essential materials of the school, in case someone was interested in doing them. And I was having trouble deciding what to remove to make room for new works.

2. Some of the materials were not being used AT ALL. This would usually not happen in a Montessori classroom, because there would be at least 15-20 children and one of them would certainly be interested in a certain work... But I didn't know how to excite interest in some of the basics...pouring, spooning, the sensorial materials.

3. The children seemed a little bored. They would do their 3-4 favorite works, and then want to be done! Even though there were some things that I thought they should be interested in...I couldn't force it. And I have had Janie (my 16 month old) for a couple weeks now, and she'll be staying with us for the rest of the year. While I enjoy having her home more than sending her away, it makes it a little more difficult for me to give quality attention to the other children...and they also tend to be more distracted by her as she likes to babble and move constantly around the classroom. We just have to work with her, and around her...

So, I am feeling really good about the shelves as they are now. I am able to put out just a few of the materials that each child is working with (the ones they tend to choose most), and I put all the rest away. Now they have a more limited choice (maybe 9-10 options total, plus one shelf full of things that are for everyone to use- mostly art materials). I also put out some things on their shelf that I WISH they would work with, and we'll see how it goes. I can talk those materials up a bit, because they are specifically for one child and there is a sense of ownership there that I think helps them be more interested.

If someone wants to work with something on another person's shelf, they may come to me and request that it be on their shelf soon. I don't want them working with another child's materials, even with that child's permission...I would rather they focus on their shelf.

We'll see how this works. It has just been one day, but I can't see how we can go too wrong with this!

I'll post pictures of new works soon. I know the pictures are what really makes a blog appealing...so I'll do my best!

2008-12-14T14:19:00.000-05:00

I love Montessori! I know I've probably said it before on this blog, but it's the truth. It is working so well for our family. Case in point today...we had just eaten brunch after church, and were starting to clear the dishes, when the kids pulled some work off the shelf and were quickly absorbed in it. Gene started making a "Christmas Chain", a work just presented on Friday that he hadn't tried yet, and Lucy got some paper and a pencil and drew pictures. They were so calm and peaceful, and we were able to clean up quickly while they worked.

It was nice for us (as parents who appreciate a quiet house), but I am writing this post mostly because I am so excited and happy for them. In my pre-Montessori days (i.e. a few months ago) I would sometimes wonder how I would ever do art projects (or any craft-type project) with them. I would try once in a while, pulling out all sorts of materials to make something-or-other, and then Gene would say he wasn't interested. Or he would attempt the project for a couple minutes, and go back to what he had been doing. The problem was that we were doing projects on my time. Montessori allows children to work on their time, to take a "prepared" project off the shelf and work on it whenever they feel like it. This means they are actually interested in the project, have NOTHING else they would rather be doing, and will probably work on it for a while and do a good job on it (or at least as good a job as they are capable of).

Gene cut, colored and glued together 5 paper rings, and was so proud of himself. Norah worked on it on Friday, and they are both excited to hang the chains on their respective Christmas trees. Yeah, Montessori!

Christmas Ideas

2008-12-04T22:59:00.000-05:00

I have had a few good ideas for Christmas activities, and I am way too tired to take any pictures of what I've spent this evening assembling, but here is the rundown... I found some red and white beads and a green string, so we will have "Christmas" bead-stringing on the shelf tomorrow. We have a stringing activity out often, but because of limited shelf space it is not always available. It does tend to be popular, however (being one of those "classic" preschool activities). I also sorted through our duplos (which are rarely used in our house...I think the children think they are boring because all they know how to do is build towers with them...they have yet to use their imaginations!) and put all the red, green and white duplos into a Christmas-decorated basket. We'll see if that makes them attractive enough. I also spent a while cutting out Christmas pictures from catalogs- Christmas trees, wreaths, stockings, candles, etc. I will put it out as a collage/pasting work tomorrow.

One other idea I had (though haven't gotten ready yet) is having the children cut paper to make their own paper chains. For anyone reading this who is also teaching young children, this would be excellent cutting practice. My children have been using scissors more often lately, but cutting on a line (especially a long line) is more difficult for them than I thought it would be, and yet they lack incentive to improve that skill. What is the point of cutting a bunch of lines drawn on a piece of paper (which is one work offered on our shelves)? But, if the point is to cut strips of paper (nice looking strips!) and then make a decoration from them, they might have more reason to work on their cutting. I can't wait to give it a try!

Wednesday, December 3

2008-12-03T22:08:00.000-05:00

A nice, peaceful day today. Everyone got to work and settled down fairly quickly once we returned from picking up Norah. I never know how long it will take to get started once we pick her up. Gene and Norah usually race ahead and wait for Lucy and I, but now with snow on the ground everyone wants to pick it up or eat it or whatnot. Lucy was intent today on picking up a huge chunk of dirty snow and carrying it with her the whole way home. And then she wanted me to carry it because her arms were tired! I'm getting sidetracked. Anyway, my point is that there is often some distraction on the way back to our house. And once we get there, they have to remove shoes/boots, mittens, hats and jackets, and put them all in their proper places. Then they wash hands before starting any work. Sometimes (and I don't know how) it seems to be close to 9:30 or even 9:45 once in a while before all three of them are actually working. And we go to pick up Norah at 9! I wonder if we can improve on that:)

The highlights today were as follows:

Gene-
coloring a picture
sandpaper letters
all the dressing frames
cutting paper
reading a book

Norah-
putting dimes in a bottle
playdough
putting pins in a shaker
lesson on coloring a picture
bean bowl

Lucy-
playdough
pins in a shaker
pooh puzzle
stamping
butterfly puzzle
duck floor puzzle
reading

Here are the new works I just mentioned:

"Coloring a picture"...I have been printing out coloring pages from online (look up "free winter coloring pages" for instance), and then laying out a couple choices for coloring. A child would choose a picture, and take it with a bowl of crayons and scissors to a table. Placing the materials on an art mat (we have some wild crayoning kids and the tables don't appreciate it) they can color the picture. That part is obvious. Then, if they want, they can cut on the lines that you may be able to faintly see in the picture...I drew lines above and below each picture, so that when cut the picture would be completely free of "computer lingo"...the words that always print telling the website the picture was printed from, etc. I am trying to incorporate some cutting practice in, as well as coloring, and it has been really popular. Gene is actually coloring, and learning to color in the lines! (He was never interested in coloring books, and loved to scribble on blank paper, but that's what it would be, lots of scribbling. So, this is a new step for him:)

Below is "Pins in a shaker"...I will take votes on new names for this. I bought some long sewing pins with colored heads, and they fit nicely in this vintage sugar shaker I found at a thrift shop a few weeks ago. I first saw this work at Go Like the Wind Montessori school I visited over the summer, and have been wanting to put it together ever since! It has been used every day since I put it out...The shaker is turned over, and all the pins are dumped in the small red tray (really a cardboard lid for a wine gift-box, but such a pretty lid I had to find a use for it!). Then, carefully, a child can pick up a single pin and put it into a hole in the shaker. They can put them in any holes they like, but when they are ready to put it away they must put the pins around the edges again.

And here is a picture from a few days ago...it wasn't during school-time, but Gene and Lucy pulled the Magneatos out, and I was finally able to interest them in building three-dimensional towers. They watched as I started one, and then helped to build a little of it. But then, they went back to their comfort zone and began putting them all end-to-end to build "roads"...

Also, at circle time today, we finished up reading a Bill Peet book (Zella, Zack and Zodiac)...I had never read any of his books before, but am pleased with what we have read so far...they are long but interesting picture books. I am enjoying reading random picture books during circle times...we don't have a theme to what we read, but I find that the books hold the kids' attention, and help them to settle down for the other activities we do. We also recently read "The Rainbow Fish".

And then, at the end of circle time, we build a couple "pink and brown towers" all together. It was fun for them, and I am hoping to interest them in using the cubes and prisms a little more (actually, at all...they have not been chosen by anyone by me!)

New Choices

2008-11-19T21:45:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned, there are some new works on the shelves that I haven't posted about. And some have been pretty popular lately. Here they are, in no particular order:

This is "leaf rubbing", and it has been out on the shelves for maybe a month now. Not a ton of use, but more so lately.

It took me a while to figure out how to present "leaf rubbing"...but this seems to be working. The leaf is real, and taped to a square of cardboard. To do this work, a child gets a piece of "metal inset" paper, puts it on top of the leaf and attaches the paper with the clothespins. Then they can rub the crayon all over, pressing harder to really bring out the veins in the leaf. Once they have rubbed a leaf, I will put tape on the back, and they can stick it to a branch of the tree I drew on our wall (I will post a picture sometime...right now it is too dark in the schoolroom to do the tree justice).

This is a "sewing cylinder"...at least that is what we call it. I got it from Montessori Services, I think.

There are many holes to put the large wooden needle into, and it is a pre-sewing exercise. Basically the wooden needle goes through multiple holes until the string is used up, and then it can be taken out again. But it is trickier than it looks...getting the cylinder unthreaded takes a lot of patience and requires good eye-hand coordination.

Sorting money is a very new work. Gene has been dealing with money for the last year or so, and very interested in it, but I realized that Lucy has barely touched a coin and couldn't tell the difference between any of the silver coins. So I pulled this together last night and presented it today. Everyone is pretty good at sorting, but it is fun to introduce new items to sort. And eventually they will learn the names of the coins, and learn more about them. But first things first!
These are the magneatos...we got them for Christmas a couple years ago, from a children's toy magazine. There are two sizes of "sticks" and many balls, and they are all magnetized. Here are some ideas of things to make with them, but so far the most popular has been to just stick them all together in a long line. Hopefully they'll get a little more creative soon...

I had fun with them, anyway. Maybe seeing what I did will rub off on somebody!

These are the sound books, which have been filling up with "sounds" at various rates. Gene has begun filling his yellow sound book, and Norah and Lucy are about halfway through their red sound books. They are very simple...I draw one big letter on each page as they are introduced to that particular sandpaper letter. Then, every time I give a lesson on a new sandpaper letter, I have the child show me how they trace the previous letters in their book. It is built-in practice.

This is the first sound in each red sound book. I just draw them in, though I know that Laura in the blog My Montessori Journey has the children in her class paste in a die-cut letter. I like that idea, but for now drawing seems simpler. Everyone has been fascinated, however, watching me color in the lines. I think we need a coloring activity...we haven't used many coloring books, mostly because Gene was never interested in coloring and Lucy was too little. But now that coloring is more popular, I think they need to appreciate the art of "coloring in the lines"...someone actually asked why I was doing it that way!!!

Wednesday, November 19

2008-11-19T21:12:00.000-05:00

Here's what we've been doing the last few days at preschool... Playdough, playdough, playdough! At least, Lucy and Norah have. But, I've got to admit they are getting good at it. Norah has perfected her snake-rolling and sometimes makes multiple "squirmy-wormies" and Lucy continues to work on her creativity. The other day she asked me to come and see the "tweezers" she had made...and how they opened and shut. Today she made a hamburger (with cookie-cutter cutouts for the buns and burger), a birthday cake (the hamburger with a candle on top) and a lollipop. This may not seem astounding to anyone else, but I haven't taught her any of this. And Gene was never very interested in play-dough, and doesn't have the same creative spark that Lucy seems to be developing.

Above is a "butterfly"...I can kind of see it. What I see most of all is that Lucy realizes that butterflies are symmetrical.

So...besides a heck of a lot of play-dough, here's a few other activities that have been off the shelves lately:

Gene- transferring water with a sponge (will post about this soon)
bean bowl (mostly spooning beans between big bowl and a smaller bowl)
duck floor puzzle
pooh puzzle
sandpaper letters (multiple times)
drawing with markers (another favorite)
magneatos (will post)
zipping a jacket
stickers

Norah- playdough
sorting money (will post)
bean bowl
magneatos
transferring marbles
toothpick jar
sweeping on table (with small dustpan...sweeping playdough crumbs)
rubber bands on dowel
sandpaper letters
butterfly puzzle
small alphabet puzzle

Lucy- spooning beans
cylinder block #1
rubbing a leaf
magneatos
sewing cylinder (will post)
toothpick jar
pooh puzzle
sesame street puzzle
duck floor puzzle
world map puzzle
drawing with markers, crayons and pencil
drawing lines with a ruler
butterfly puzzle

Lucy with a magneato "carpet square". Everything she makes now is "something"... It's not just "look what I made Mama" anymore. It's "Mama, look what I made. It's a...carpet square." But whatever she says it is, it actually looks like. So I don't have to fake my understanding.

Note: the reason there are so many pictures of Lucy posted is that she has realized that she can ask me to take a picture of her work, and she has been asking more lately. I let Gene and Norah know this as well, but they haven't taken advantage of it. And I don't usually think to take spontaneous pictures during a normal busy school morning...

A brief synopsis...I will post soon about the new works mentioned above. I have put quite a few new ones out on the shelves.

Sandpaper letters are awesome!

2008-11-15T21:55:00.000-05:00

I remember worrying a few months ago that Gene was getting too old to learn how to write. The Montessori books I had read mentioned (repeatedly!) that children usually have their "explosion into writing" around age 4.5. This is after they had been in a Montessori environment since age 2.5 or 3 and had been using many of the "pre-writing" materials- metal insets to learn pencil control, sandpaper letters to learn the shape of each letter, moveable alphabet to learn how to put letters together to make words. I thought since Gene hadn't been doing any of those things consistently (the only material he had used once in a while was the moveable alphabet, but he usually just made the letters dance around and talk to each other!), that he would move past the critical age, and not be able to master writing as quickly or easily.

Well, we'll see how fast he actually MASTERS writing, but the interest is definitely growing. He has been learning the sandpaper letters rapidly, and practices tracing them with his fingers multiple times a day, not just during preschool times. And this is great for the girls as well, because they have seen Gene taking the letters off the shelf so many times, they have asked for lessons on them as well. So, I have confidence now that Gene WILL write, and that Norah and Lucy will learn as well. And as proof of that, Lucy spontaneously wrote a capital "E" today, in the middle of scribbling a picture...and she came up and showed me. Way to go, Lucy!

Wednesday, November 12

2008-11-12T13:54:00.000-05:00

I introduced three new works today- folding cloths, zipping a jacket, and "getting water". The folding work is something I know will be used, and it is a stepping stone to other folding activities (i.e. folding paper, or folding clothes)...I have often tried to get Gene and Lucy to help me fold the laundry, but only occasionally are they interested, so we'll give it a shot on the shelf.

This is the basket of folded cloths.

The first step is to take them all out of the basket, and pile them up.
Then, select one cloth, spread it out on the mat, and fold it. The kids can choose to take out and fold all ten cloths, or if that seems too challenging they can just take out one or two.

"Zipping a jacket" is something I've wanted to put out for a while, because none of the children can get their own jacket zipped, and with jacket season beginning I am going a little crazy getting everyone ready to go outside. Once they can zip themselves, they will be able to get completely ready on their own...good for all of us! I also want to put out a jacket with buttons on it, but that will have to wait until I find a good one. I found this pink jacket amidst all of my youngest daughter's outerwear (she was given about 20 jackets and sweatshirts and sweaters, not kidding!) and it has a little hood that completely unsnaps...a fun bonus!

"Getting water" is also something I'd wanted to put out for a while now. There are a lot of Montessori water activities that are very fun, but they all involve the children getting their own water to use. Stepping up on a stool to get water from the sink, and then stepping down again, is fairly difficult to do without spilling, especially for the younger children. So, a water bucket is a way that many schools use to make water accessible to everyone. The children scoop up some water from a full bucket on the floor, use it for a certain activity (such as pouring water between two pitchers, or using a sponge to transfer water between two containers). At the end of each activity, the water is disposed of (I think we'll have a "used water" bucket). And that means we don't have to keep water in the containers on the shelves...a good thing when a curious toddler is living in the same house.

Here's what we were up to today:

Norah worked on playdough (first this time), the butterfly puzzle, and the bean bowl. She is very consistent. But she feels really comfortable doing these activities, and needs a little encouragement to branch out, I think. But, in the meantime, she is learning how to get out, clean up and put away what she does choose to work with. And she is definitely observing what the other children do...watching someone else do an activity a few times makes doing it oneself much easier.

Gene worked on folding cloths (before I even gave a lesson on it- he was that interested!) He drew a few pictures with a pencil (one of his "comfort works") and then moved on to pouring beads, the duck floor puzzle, a sesame street puzzle, and reading books. One of his accomplishments was writing his own name on one of his pictures. I told him I wouldn't do that for him any more, now that I've seen him do it a few times...and he remembered to do it by himself today.

Lucy learned a new sandpaper letter today (f) and was then able to get a lesson on "object box #1...an activity that matches up letters and objects that begin with those letters. There are four objects and letters in the box, and after she had four letters in her sound book she was excited to match up the objects. I'll try to take a picture of that work, as well. She also did stamping for a while, and copied Geno's name with letter stamps that I had put out. Maybe she'll do her name sometime... She did the duck floor puzzle as well, and the butterfly puzzle. I was amused to see that she had sorted the butterfly puzzle pieces before putting them back in the puzzle...she has been sorting everything lately!

Monday, Nov 10

2008-11-10T13:58:00.000-05:00

Occasionally (or more often if I can...every day would be stretching it though!) I will post a short post about what we've done in school that day. Nothing long or elaborate...just a bit about what each child worked on. It will be another record for my teaching purposes, and serve as a way to let the parents of the students (that would be you, Karen and Tim!) know what is going on. So, here goes:

Today was very cold and everyone had winter jackets and hats. I came up with a basket to put accessories in that the children could reach themselves (and we keep it by the "shoe spot" in the open closet). They were pleased to have a place besides the floor to keep hats and mittens. We also recently put some magnetic hooks on our garage door so they could hang up their own coats! Why didn't we think of that years ago! We found the hooks at www.emovendo.net, and were pleased with them. They are easily moved if we need to, but they can definitely hold a kid's jacket (and they come in varying strengths, if you want to hold something heavier).

So, the children soon got to work. Norah immediately spotted a new puzzle (a butterfly) and chose that as her first work. But while she was washing her hands, Lucy got it from the shelf so Norah watched Lucy finish it, and then had a turn. Norah was so interested in it (it was a bit challenging, being a kind of foam rubber and not wood) that she immediately did it again. Way to go! She moved on eventually to the bean bowl (which had a new ladle and a container to fill) and she was set for a while. Playdough rounded out her day, as it has for the last few days of preschool. There were a couple cookie cutters and a rolling pin, and she was focused and quiet for a good half hour. In between somewhere she looked through a book we had read last week called Action Alphabet, and she practiced acting out the actions that were described.

Gene made a beeline for his work binder once school began. We started putting them together on Friday, sorting and hole-punching all the work the children have created and putting them in the binder so they can be organized. All artwork and drawing (and later math and language papers) go on top of the dining room table so I can put a name on them (though later that can be done by the children) and they stay there to dry if need be. They are then put in the work box (just a big red box with a lid) until Friday. On Fridays we will sort through the work box at the end of preschool, and everyone can choose their best work to keep in their binders.

Gene had not finished putting in all his work on Friday, so on his own initiative he got the hole puncher and finished (Lucy wanted to watch). Then he took out the newest work I had shown him, writing on a chalkboard. He wrote a few letters (tracing the sandpaper letters with his fingers if he forgot how to make them), before wiping the chalkboard down with a wet cloth and putting it away. He did a Winnie the Pooh puzzle, the butterfly puzzle, and then worked on spooning beans. The first time he had done that in a long time. He also drew a few pictures with a pencil, and then I showed him how to use a ruler to make parallel and horizontal lines, and he colored in the squares that resulted with markers. He read a few books as well before preschool was over for the day.

Lucy had a puzzle day- she did the butterfly puzzle, a duckling floor puzzle (thanks Reenie!), and a small ABC wooden puzzle. She got a new letter drawn in her sound book (now she has r, a and m) and also spent a good deal of time using playdough. We took a picture of her creation, though, because it was quite unique:

She cut out a bunch of stars, made a hole in the center of each with the end of the rolling pin, and then gave them each two "eggs".

To go home, everyone could reach their own coats, mittens and hats, and Lucy even tried to help Norah button her coat. We really should put that coat on the floor and let the childen practice on it. It seems a little more appealing than the button frame, and maybe it would entice them to the frame...

Brown tower breakthrough

2008-11-03T22:50:00.000-05:00

Geno actually built the brown tower with the prisms!! He has never, ever attempted even using them before, and we have had them since about a year ago. I made a booklet last week of different things that could be built with the brown prisms and pink cubes, and combinations of both of them...took pictures, developed, laminated and put them together in a booklet that sits on the shelf with the prisms and cubes. Well, that booklet really peaked his interest, as I was hoping, and he built the tower. He had also just spent the previous evening building towers with the family, so perhaps he was still feeling motivated to build.

The funny thing is, I had been thinking that he was avoiding them because he thought they were too easy. But, perhaps it was that he really didn't understand, and it was actually a bit too challenging, since he has never been very interested in building. Whatever the reason, it was great to see, and I look forward to seeing all the children take more interest in these materials!

He's writing!

2008-10-29T14:04:00.000-04:00

I introduced the Movable alphabet to the children today, intending it be mostly for Gene right now, but the girls were welcome to use it as well. He didn't seem very interested, because he had used it last year a bit and had grown tired of it. But, he has sure come a long way! I started using it nearby once I saw that he was just sitting down and looking bored, and sure enough he came over to see what I was doing. I had written a few words, which he read and then asked if he could help me. He helped me put the letters away, and then I quickly turned it over to him. I told him that I would ask him a question, and he could try to write the answer. Here are the questions I asked, and then check out his answers! This is his very first writing, besides writing his name.

Questions: What is your name? What is your favorite food? What is your favorite animal? What is your favorite color?

Answers:

Helping Out

2008-10-29T13:54:00.001-04:00

At two different moments during preschool today did I notice a spirit of generosity and helpfulness that I (unfortunately) don't get to witness as much as I would like. But the Montessori classroom is supposed to foster this helpfulness in children, and I am excited to see it in our classroom.

Norah was using the bathroom and asked for me to get her a wipe. I have a basket of pre-folded wipes that sits on the back of the toilet, and she had forgotten to get the basket down before sitting down. Before I could help her (and I am intentionally slow to help when I know that I am not REALLY needed) Lucy jumped up and went to help. She was extremely polite and gave the basket to Norah, "Here you go Norah...is that better?" And then when Norah was getting down and starting to struggle with her pants, Lucy again offered her 2-year old wisdom, "Do you need a little help with that? It might work if you sit down." It is SO much better to hear it from a fellow classmate than from me, the all-knowing adult. I much prefer it this way, because Norah did sit down and did get her pants back on by herself, and was very proud of herself for doing so. I wasn't needed at all!

Later in the day Lucy was working on sweeping beans on the floor (she had quickly mastered sweeping cotton balls on the table and the floor so she could sweep beans) and they had gotten all over the place. Gene was near and offered to help. They both worked together for quite a while to get the beans back in a sweepable pile. If I had asked him to, he probably would not have been so cheerful or stayed with Lucy for so long...as it is, it was his initiative and they were both pleased with themselves when the beans were back in the pile.

Prayer in School

2008-10-29T06:33:00.000-04:00

So I haven't posted for a LONG time, but that may just be the ways things go around here! I will try to do better, though, because it is really nice to keep up with a blog that actually keeps up with itself- i.e. I love reading the blogs that post at least two or three times a week. So that will be my goal...and posting really does help to organize my thoughts about school and show the progress that is being made by all the children. So, here is a short post about how we incorporate prayer in our school-day.

We begin every circle time with a short prayer for the day, and then the Glory Be. Everyone knows that prayer now, and I may change the opening prayer now to the Our Father (or another short Catholic prayer) so that they have a chance to learn something new. But we ARE in the midst of learning something new prayer-wise every day...the Nicene Creed. I decided that was one prayer Geno probably did not know all the words to, or at least what it meant (he picks up on oral words so quickly, especially at church, that I'm never sure just what he knows). So they could all learn it together. We have learned one new line or part of a line every day, and always say it twice to incorporate the newest part...I am very impressed with them! We are about halfway through the prayer now, having just added the part stating "through Him all things were made". At the rate we're going, everybody will know the entire prayer by Christmastime, or shortly thereafter. It is really neat to see them learning it so quickly, and I am excited to teach them more. It is so easy at this age!

What a Wonderful Friday!

2008-10-03T14:02:00.000-04:00

We had a great day at preschool today...what a good feeling it is to see the children all working and then putting their work away and choosing something else... They are all becoming accustomed to the way the classroom works, and it is a relief on my part to see the pieces falling into place. Not that school will ever run perfectly smoothly, but today I realized how good it can be, and WILL be:)

Two new works were on the shelves today- crayon rubbing and breaking styrofoam. I had been wanting to put crayon rubbing out for a while now, since we have a bunch of chunky crayons that don't have labels on them and would be put to good use, and I would also like to have the children rub over leaves pretty soon. I put out a piece of rough sandpaper(very rough- the kind that is used to attach to a floor-sander) and the children chose a piece of paper to put on top and then rubbed a crayon over the paper.

The pictures that resulted had a lot of dark dots, and then lighter dots and splotches...not extremely beautiful, but I'll see if there is more interest before putting out some leaves.

The breaking styrofoam work is having a trial run on the shelf, and may be pulled and replaced with something else. We got some styrofoam peanuts in the mail the other day, and I thought the children would enjoy a chance to break something apart (making a neat sound in the process) in a controlled activity. I planned to use the small pieces in a pasting activity (maybe making snowmen in the winter). However, it became obvious rather quickly that when the pieces were broken into extremely small pieces, they were hard to get in the bowl (static cling!), and eventually there were small peanut pieces ALL over the table and floor. So, we'll see.

Here are some other new works that have been put out recently:

Putting rubber bands on a dowel gives the children good practice at using rubber bands. They have to open them up wide enough to fit over the end of the dowel, and then scoot them down so that more will fit on. A fairly popular work...and once they master this, they can go on to doing work that requires putting a rubber band onto a pack of picture or word cards.

Spooning rice looked enticing to the children, and a couple of them tried it, but it was hard to keep on the spoon, and even harder to pick up all the individual pieces of rice. So next to it I placed:
Spooning beads- The beads are larger and easier to pick up when spilled. When a child masters this work, they will then be ready to try spooning rice again. Until then, it can rest mess-free on the shelf.
The pasting tray has offered a great opportunity for the children to practice their pasting...and they are getting rather good at it. There are cardboard circles (roughtly 6-8 inches diameter) under the basked of shapes, and the paste is in the jar with the white lid. A child can choose a q-tip, dip it in the paste, and then brush it on a shape before applying it to the cardboard. A popular work, that has been used almost every day.

These are some examples of the pasting that has been done so far. There have also been projects with many shapes all of the same color.

Geno working on a pasting project.

This is "cylinder block #1", and it is basically a puzzle. Match the cylinders to their holes in the block. There are a total of 4 cylinder blocks, with cylinders ranging from thick to thin (#1), tall to short (#2), large to small (#3) and I can't describe #4...the first cylinder is tall and skinny and the last is short and fat... There are lots of activities to do with the cylinder blocks, and my favorites so far involve using more than one block and mixing all the cylinders up, and then trying to find the respective holes without any mistakes. This generally appeals to 2 year olds, but the older children have also shown interest.

Norah has enjoyed working with the bean bowl...she chooses it at some point almost every day.

What a good week. We have had 14 days of preschool so far...I can't wait to see what we do in the next month!

Motivation

2008-09-29T22:47:00.001-04:00

Motivation is very important in a Montessori classroom. It is what inspires the children to choose a work, complete it and then choose something else. Sometimes motivation is inspired by noticing what another child has chosen, and then choosing that work when it is back on the shelf. Sometimes a child is motivated to do a certain work because something about it (whether color, shape, or whatever) catches their eye and it looks appealing. Sometimes motivation is a direct result of having attempted a work before, and wanting to do it again and get better at it.

But...sometimes motivation has to be gently crafted FOR a child. If something has sat on the shelf for weeks and has not been touched (at least by a particular child), then the teacher has a job to do. How do you convince an almost 5-year old boy that pouring beans between two jugs is fun, and that he actually wants to do it, without making it seem like he HAS to or that I WANT him to do it...? The answer, at least for this particular boy but I think it would be the case for most children, was to give him an incentive. And no, not a reward exactly. But I let him know that when he got pretty good at pouring beans, and could pour them without spilling any, he would be able to move on to other pouring activities, and eventually would be able to pour water. That did it for him, and he went right over and took the bean pouring from the shelf. Yeah!

Every child is motivated by different things, but this kind of motivation clearly works in a Montessori classroom. Knowing the reason WHY you are practicing and working to master a certain activity can definitely help, especially for those tasks that seem too easy for an older child. The right motivation certainly keeps children interested and moving ahead...

Popular Work

2008-09-27T21:59:00.000-04:00

There are some favorite works in our classroom, and the interest in them spreads from one child to another. The Montessori method utilizes the "horizontal learning" that children are so good at (learning by watching another child do something as opposed to learning directly from a teacher) by teaching children how to watch one another work (with permission, and with hands behind the back and mouth shut). This is the formal way to watch, but the children always notice what is being taken from the shelves and used...and they often remind each other in this way of what is available and how interesting it is!

The favorites of the classroom right now are puzzles! We have two wooden animal puzzles with about 12-15 pieces each that are challenging but do-able, and a new ABC puzzle that I have been putting out in installments (2 new letters a day...we are approaching the middle of the alphabet, and the kids are thrilled that it now requires three floor mats to complete).

Other favorites are the metal insets (individual shapes that can be traced with colored pencils and then filled in with lines or shading, and can later be combined with other shapes); putting rubber bands on a dowel; pasting; tonging cotton balls; sorting buttons and cutting paper.

Each child already has their own favorites, and that is fine. The works that they want to do are generally waiting for them on the shelves. And if somebody is using the desired work at the moment, the child is free to wait until it is back on the shelf...but usually they just choose something else. And that often lead to developing a new "favorite" work!

Montessori vs. Unschooling

2008-09-27T21:11:00.000-04:00

It occured to me one day that the Montessori method and the method of homeschooling called "unschooling" are surprisingly similar. I had learned about unschooling in college when I researched different methods of homeschooling. It struck me as a beneficial way for children to learn (by being able to choose what, when, to what extent and for how long they learn) yet I was pretty sure I wouldn't unschool my own children. What if they grew up never wanting to learn about math, or learn to read, or (fill in the blank...)? And by establishing that they were in charge of their education, it would leave me as their worried parent with no power to teach them if they chose not to learn something. I read a number of glowing examples of children who excelled in the unschooling method, but still...not for me.

Montessori education is unschooling with structure. It gives children freedom to choose what they learn, when they learn, to what extent and for how long they learn...within the confines of a classroom. They are (at least in the preschool years, and the majority of the elementary years) limited in their choice to what is laid out for them by a competent teacher. And there is a game-plan to the Montessori method, though the children are largely unaware of it...they are led gently step by step through various interesting materials and lessons, entirely at their own pace, advancing when they are ready.

Structure is integrated throughout a Montessori classroom. The children learn how to take care of themselves and others, how to interact with each other, and how to care for the physical space they are in. They learn to respect the work of others, and to admire a job well done. There are many "rules" in a Montessori classroom, but they are not taught in a harsh no-nonsense way. They just become a part of the joy of learning- something else to be learned, and practiced, at a child's leisure. For example, note the difference in tone between a rule at a public school ("No running in the halls or you will go to the principal's office") and a Montessori school ("This is how we walk quietly at school. Do you hear a noise as I (the teacher) walk? You may practice walking quietly whenever you like, and when you think you are able to walk without making a noise you may come and ask me to listen to your feet.") The latter rule offers a challenge to a preschooler, who does often walk quite loudly, and also demonstrates the goal quite clearly.

Montessori and unschooling are both great learning methods, but Montessori takes unschooling one (large) step further by offering needed structure. As a teacher and a parent, that is a huge relief to me, and that is why I am still a huge Montessori fan.

Labeling

2008-09-22T22:53:00.002-04:00

It is amazing what good memories children have! And what a poor memory I have sometimes. This week I introduced a few new materials, one of which was the "pasting tray". I like the sound of that better than "gluing tray", but once I decide something like that, I need to get the name of it firmly into my head, as well as all the respective parts of the work. There was the container of q-tips to apply the paste, a basket of colored foam shapes to paste on, and a stack of large cardboard circles to use as a base. Also, a small tea-rest (actually, I don't know what it is called) that is meant to hold a tea-bag once it's been used. I showed the children how to put the q-tip onto the holder when they needed to put it down somewhere, so as not to get paste on the table. But I referred to the paste a couple times as "glue", and someone caught me and reminded me that it was "paste". A good reminder to me to give every part of a work a name and memorize them BEFORE I present. What a learning process this school-year is for me as well!

New Work and some thoughts...

2008-09-17T22:19:00.000-04:00

We are in our third week of school now, and it's been a great learning experience for the children and myself...they have kept busy with all the different activities that line the shelves, and I have kept busy showing, reminding, and insisting that the rules be followed (i.e. put your work away before choosing another, put your work on the shelf where it goes and not just the nearest open place, etc...) I've also given lessons on new work and on new ways to use old work. Sometimes, when the kids are peaceful, I will choose a work myself and find a spot to sit and relax for a minute. I often sit near a child who has not shown interest in the particular work that I am using, or has forgotten how to use it, in the hope that they will notice what I am doing and use it correctly in the future.

The power of observation is stressed for a teacher- observing the children in the classroom to determine what they are working on, what they are ready for, what is giving them trouble, etc. Much of the role of the teacher is to simply observe, and then in the future act on those observations by giving new lessons or re-demonstrating a previously given lesson. But...children are also keen observers, and that is part of the magic of a Montessori classroom. The children in a classroom are all working on different work, but at the same time they notice what their peers are working on, and also HOW they are using the materials. They rub off on each other! And I have noticed it with our school as well...all three of the children have been using many of the works on the shelf, and they all tend to gravitate toward those they are comfortable with. But, though they each have their "favorite" works, seeing someone else rush to work with a certain material is a great motivation to give it a try at some point...

Here is some new Practical Life work that we have done lately:

Above is "Using Stickers", and the purpose is simply to become familiar with peeling a sticker off a backing and sticking it onto a particular spot. I drew some lines on strips of paper, and the children try to completely cover them with stickers. I will change the sticker selection in the future, but for now I wanted it to be plain and simple. And it has been pretty popular!

Sorting button has been a favorite as well since it was put out on Monday. The buttons all begin in the middle, and one by one are sorted into the twelve surrounding areas. Not TOO challenging for the children, but it still requires a bit of thought because some of the buttons are pretty similar.

I've also introduced two dressing frames, which are intended to help the children learn to completely dress themselves. Right now we have out the "snapping frame" and the "large button frame". I will post pictures as some point, but they consist of two pieces of material in a wooden frame, connected by snaps/buttons, and a child can fasten and unfasten to get practice in these skills.

That is all for now...I will continue to post as we add more materials, and have more to share.

By the way, this is a "private" blog (i.e. only those people I have invited can read it) but if you will let me know of anyone you think SHOULD be invited to read it, I will gladly do so. I don't mind letting people read it, I am just a little wary of a complete stranger stumbling onto it and reading all about my kids...

Sensorial work is here!

2008-09-10T15:24:00.000-04:00

I just introduced the first of the sensorial materials to the children...these are the next step after practical life, which we have been doing exclusively for the past 3 preschool sessions. Practical life focuses on the physical skills that children will need to get by in life- pouring, spooning, snapping, tying shoes, using various kitchen utensils, washing hands and brushing teeth (we may introduce this as an activity at some point, so stay posted...) While we will continue to do PL activities and add new ones as the year goes on, we will also begin with the Sensorial activities (and later Language, Math and Culture will arrive on our shelves as well).

Sensorial work is a group of activities that Maria Montessori came up with, based on her extensive work with special-needs kids in Italy, to teach children about their senses- touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste. She created materials to teach in a way that the kids couldn't help but learn (they are fun!) but could also check their work themselves and know whether they were correct or not (this is actually how ALL Montessori work functions). Today, for example, I introduced the "pink cubes" and the "brown quadrilateral prisms". And yes, that is actually the name of the work. I will try to refer to them with that name as much as possible, but I think "brown prisms" may suffice. The object is to order the cubes from largest to smallest, and the prisms from thickest to thinnest. There are various other activities to do with the cubes and prisms (such as use them both to build a "brown and pink tower", but I introduced the basics first (ordering them both horizontally and vertically). Here are some pictures:

Friday, Friday

2008-09-05T14:46:00.000-04:00

Day #2 was fairly successful, though I think the second day of any new thing is always a little bit of a letdown. On first days everything is so new and so exciting, and the excitement always wears off a little by the second day. However, the kids did well and did work for a LONG time! They washed their hands and we began circle time with the Days of the Week and Months of the Year, and Norah seemed to be following fairly well (my kids know these songs very well, but enjoyed having something to do when the particular day/month was sung). I demonstrated how to carry a rug (with two hands, vertically) and then they were free to choose work. Again today, they all did a little of everything. Norah worked for quite a while at cutting with scissors (she told me she was going to cut all the strips in the basket, and she actually did!) and then flitted back and forth for the rest of the session. Getting a lesson is a popular thing right now, and the kids were asking for lots of lessons so they could use new works. However, I realize that I still haven't given a lesson on all the works on the shelves to each kid, so there are more lessons to come! I will continue to introduce new works slowly over the course of the year, but right now the kids are becoming acclimated to what is on the shelves.

As I said above, they worked for a long time, about 2 hours, and I think I should have stopped the work period before that...by the time we had the last circle time they were all a little antsy. But they were still wanting to work, which is why I let it go so long. Next time, I think 90 minutes works about right, at least for now. We will work up to two work periods of 90 minutes on either side of circle time...but that is for the future. And, that is only a goal. We'll see how much work the kids can actually handle!

Norah cutting with scissors. She took over Lucy's spot from yesterday for a while this morning.
We had quite a long reading session in the middle of the work period. Gene and Lucy read to themselves, and then I read a couple books to all the kids.
Lucy having snack. We had grapes and graham crackers again, and we will probably change up snack a little bit next week (maybe raisins and graham crackers).
The control cards do make it easy. Notice there are only 5 grapes on Lucy's plate...the control card kept her from taking ALL the grapes left in the bowl, so Norah could have her snack too.

The First Day!

2008-09-03T14:00:00.000-04:00

We had a successful first day of school today. I stayed up till all hours getting materials ready and planning out last details (I think Brendan is amazed at how much preparation I've done the last few weeks!) but it was all worth it because we had a great morning. Here is a rundown, with some pictures: We started out with "circle time"- the kids chose a carpet square and sat on it, then we talked about what day it is (Wednesday) and what month (September). We sang a song about the days of the week, and another about the months of the year, and the kids raised their hands, stood up, or wiggled their toes when we got to the particular day or month we were in. Quite fun. Then I gave them a tour of the schoolroom, and it is available for your viewing pleasure in the first few pictures. The first picture shows the whole side wall of our dining room/school room- two cabinets with a bookcase in between.

This is a view of the back wall (upon entering the room from the front door)...a table which used to be our family room coffee table with two small folding chairs for the kids to work.

The wastebasket (aka "floor mat holder") holds a number of large and small mats that the kids can spread out on the floor to define their work area.

The reading area is in the bay window seat, with a box of books for the kids to read at their pleasure.

We had our first lesson of the day after the school room tour- hand washing, a kid favorite. We trooped into our tiny bathroom where I demonstrated how to wash one's hands- a little different than my kids were used to. I stopped up the sink, put my hand in the bottom of the basin, and then turned on the water. When the water was up to my wrist, it was full enough and then I soaped up, rinsed, let out the water and dried off. The only tricky part is getting just the right water temperature...well, that will be another lesson for another day. The kids washed their hands using the new method, and then I proceeded to show them what we will be doing the majority of the time in school: the work on the shelves!

This is the left-most cabinet, which is kept open for the kids during school time.

I gave a "lesson" on some of the works on the shelves, and then the kids were free to use them as I had shown. They were so excited! Above on the left is the "toothpick jar"- a little shot glass of toothpicks to poke through the holes of a spice shaker. Everyone tried this, and I realized Norah needs to learn how to screw on a lid (or at least she had trouble with this one) so on Friday I will bring out our "containers and lids" activity". Next to it is "paper punching"- I drew some dots around the edges of construction paper squares, and demonstrated how to punch each hole and place the red dots that resulted in the tin cup. Gene got this pretty quickly, and Norah really tried but couldn't get the puncher to cooperate. She really enjoyed putting the dots that I helped her punch in the cup.

The stamping tray caught everyone's eye right away, and that is the first thing Norah chose to work on. Two little butterfly stamps, a stamp pad, and a damp sponge to wipe the stamp on when done. The paper is kept on another shelf. All three kids did this work.

I gave Gene a lesson on transferring golf balls (there are two baskets stacked on each other, and the point of the activity is to pick up one ball at a time and put it in the other basket...not hard or complicated, but a lesson in choosing only one object at a time, and following through to completion) but he quickly moved on to something else. We'll see about this activity- I think it may appeal to slightly younger children (in Montessori preschools they accept children as young as 2.5). Next is "pouring beans" and I gave a group lesson on this as well as an individual lesson to Lucy. Object is to pour the beans from one pitcher to another, without spilling any. It is an introduction to pouring that lets the kids get good at it before having to deal with water!

Spooning balls was not demonstrated today, but I personally like it. There is something very satisfying about the wooden balls fitting just perfectly in the little melon baller...at least I enjoyed it when I was putting it together!

Above left is "cutting with scissors"- there are strips of paper and some small kids' scissors, and the point is to cut pieces off the strips and put them in the small container. Lucy tried this for the first time (she watched Gene do it all last year) and cut a few little pieces off- scissors are hard when you've never used them before! She spent a lot of the time trying to keep her fingers in the right places.

These are on the top of the bookshelf, a world map puzzle and a sandpaper globe. The puzzle caught Gene's eye right away, and I gave him a lesson. I wasn't planning to put it out on the first day, but I knew it would interest him, and I wasn't sure how long his attention span would be for the first day since a lot of the works were not new to him. (We did some informal schooling over the past year). The girls, however, were sorry to hear that I wasn't going to give them a lesson on the world map puzzle today. Norah almost threw a fit over it, but I told her it could be her first lesson on Friday and then proceeded to distract her by showing her the pictures I had taken of our school day. Oh, the sandpaper globe is an introductory globe that lets the kids feel the difference between where the land and water is on a globe.
On the top shelf is "drawing with markers" and "drawing with crayons", and some art paper. I think the Montessori way of labeling works is kind of odd (and calling them "works" is too), but it makes sense when a child says "I am going to draw with markers now" instead of "I am going to use the marker basket"...I think it is an easy way for kids to learn vocabulary, and proper speech. On the bottom shelf is "hammering in clay", which was a hit for all the kids. Using a small wooden hammer, they can pound golf tees into non-hardening clay. The only tricky part was pushing the clay in to cover all the holes when they had pulled out the tees- it was a little too stiff for small fingers. We'll have to see if they get it...otherwise, we'll figure something out.
On the top right is "stringing beads" which I gave a lesson on to Norah. I don't know if she's done stringing before...she didn't want to continue once the lesson was over. On the bottom right is the snapping frame, two pieces of material with small snaps to connect them...gives the kids a chance to practice snapping when nobody (like a parent) is in a hurry! Lucy has about mastered this one already, because she is very interested in dressing herself, but Gene has never shown interest and so has no idea how to snap something. We'll see if watching the other kids do it will entice him. To the right of the snapping frame is cylinder block #1. It is a wooden block with 10 small wooden cylinders, decreasing slightly in width but all the same height. It is a perception puzzle, and teaches the kids to use their eyes to determine which is thinner or thicker, and which comes next. Nobody did this today, but Lucy and Gene have practiced a lot with this over the past year.
On the top left is a Winnie the Pooh 24-piece puzzle, which Gene has been putting together 2-3 times daily for the past week! Lucy is able to do it, but has only completed it once or twice, and Norah tried it today but it was too challenging and she lost interest quickly. To the right of the puzzle is "sewing a circle", which no one tried. On the second shelf is "building with duplos", "clipping clothespins" and the colored shapes. I guess that doesn't have a spiffy name, but it's not really an activity, just something for the kids to play with. I don't even know what I could call it...? The clothespin box wasn't used today, but I am curious to see whether Norah knows how to use a clothespin. It was a big hit with her younger sister, Kitty (who caught on very quickly), when she came over to play a few weeks ago. The point is to clip all the clothespins in the box onto the edges of the box. A satisfying work, I think.
Gene putting together the Winnie the Pooh puzzle while Norah works on stamping next to him.

Not a very becoming picture of Lucy (she kept turning away just as I would take the picture) but she used almost all the duplos to build a tower...and was done once it tipped over.

Lucy hammering in clay. She tended to work in the same spot on the floor for most of the morning.
Gene and Norah also had their respective spots. We'll see whether they continue to choose the same seating arrangements as the days go on...Gene took a turn hammering. He was proud of himself for hammering the tees until they were almost entirely in the clay, but then frustrated when he needed help getting them out. We'll see if he pounds them so hard next time.

The kids worked for about 90 minutes before I called the last circle time. They were definitely getting restless. We read a story (What Baby Wants) and played a game called Questioning, a fun introduction to grammar. I said a short sentence with a subject, verb and noun (i.e. Paul washed the dishes) and then asked questions of the kids: who is Paul, how old is he, what was he wearing, etc...when did he wash the dishes, why were they washed, where were they washed...what color are the dishes, who made the dishes dirty, are they glass or plastic... Any kid could answer, and any reasonable answer was accepted. They did well with this, and then we did a statement about dinosaurs for Norah at her request. Circle time ended with a rousing rendition of If You're Happy and You Know It and we were done. They had an hour or so of play time in the family room, lunch, and we were off to drop Norah at her house again. One full morning of school!

Tentative schedule

2008-08-29T12:28:00.000-04:00

I have a daily schedule planned out for our preschool time, and we'll see how much (if any) we need to adapt it. I have done a lot of research and talked to people as to how they run their Montessori classrooms/homeschools, and there seems to be only a few different variations. Here's what ours is going to look like:

8:45 walk the kids over to Norah's house (just a block away); drop baby Janie off to take her nap, and pick up Norah.

9:00 into the preschool room (aka our dining room) and have circle time. This will consist of saying "good morning" to each child, talking about the calendar and the weather, and doing a few presentations of new materials (they must have a presentation on a certain material before they may use it, to be shown what it is for and how to use it correctly).

9:10 work time. This is the time when the kids will have "free choice" from a variety of materials on the shelves. At first there will be things that are pretty self-explanatory and won't require a presentation- duplos, blocks, and other learning toys. During this work time I will usually give at least one individual presentation to each child, showing them either a new material, or a new way to use a material that they already have experience with.

10:25 circle time. This will be a longer period where we do some typical "preschool" group activities- songs, stories, fingerplays. We will have some group discussions and a chance for the kids to share something they have done in the last couple days, or something they have made, etc. Depending on how the kids are, there may also be a short recess to play outside if they want to, or they could go straight to work time again.

10:45 work time. This will be the second work period of the day, the same as the first.

12:00 lunch.

12:30 we'll walk Norah home and pick up Janie.

As I said, this is very tentative and we could change a few things, but from the people I've talked to, this schedule works well for many different Montessori schools. Surprisingly, the other main alternative is not having the circle time in the middle, but having a straight 3-hour work period with no scheduled interruption. If the kids want to go outside, usually there is an assistant who can go with them on an individual basis...there would be a door directly from the classroom to the playground. That way if the kids get involved in working with a material, they don't have to put it away to do something with the group.

So...I'll continue to post every day or two and let you all know a little more about Montessori, and how we're going to use it in the Old Creek Montessori preschool...

One Week and Counting

2008-08-25T10:47:00.000-04:00

Old Creek Montessori school is officially one week away from starting. And this blog will document what happens once we start, and for the rest of the year. The materials are almost ready, the schoolroom is almost ready...but the children are definitely ready! They need to learn something, and they will learn MUCH more than they could ever imagine. I can't wait to get started!