Wednesday, November 12

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

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

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!

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

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

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!

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!