And then there was....one?

So with Christmas falling in the middle of the week I expected to have a few children leaving early on vacation (hence why we opened our class gift last week!) But I can't say I expected to be down to just one child in class today!

As soon as M came in this morning I told her "Guess what! Today it's just me and  you, we can do anything you want!" She looked around the classroom, taking it all in with her fingers on her lips as she thought. Then she asked "Why are the dishes over there?" "Oh I washed them all for the new year. Do you want to help put them away?' And that was what she chose to do. The possibilities were endless and she wanted to put dishes away. Her dad just laughed when I told him at the end of the day.

Not that we spent the whole day flying solo. She and I attended a little re-enactment of the Nativity Story in the other classroom. Another segment of sharing family traditions that has been going on for the last week. Afterwards a Kindergartner from the other room kept peeking in to our room and I finally extended her a formal invitation to join us for the morning. She was absolutely thrilled!

Together we three cleaned up the classroom; scrubbing the sink, dusting shelves, collecting ALL the laundry to be washed. M really enjoyed showing our visitor around the room, and our visitor was quite pleased that she already knew how to fold a dustcloth and could show it to M. I have to admit they were just adorable siting on the floor, the Kindergartner patiently showing each step and M copying her exactly. Unfortunately my camera was too far away to snap a shot, darn!

M was also happy to share our end of the day traditions. She let our visitor know that the clean up song was playing and they needed to put their work away, and she also showed her were the necklaces were so the two of them could be in charge of putting up the chairs...though who else was rushing to do the job I'm not sure ;) M was also quite proud to demonstrate how we put the bead on at the end of each day and together we all counted the beads for December to finish out 2014.

It bodes well for how M is going to help any new students settle in to our room, I can't wait!

Montessori Sunday: Sandpaper Letters

I was trying to decide which material to highlight when it occurred to me that I hadn't yet showcased the sandpaper letters. I think it was my Montessori trainer who said that if she had to set up a Montessori classroom with only a few of the real materials it would be the sandpaper letters, the moveable alphabet and the golden beads. So obviously the sandpaper letters are of great importance.

The sandpaper letters are just what they sound like; letters (ideally cursive) cut out of sandpaper and mounted on wood. The consonants are mounted on pink and vowels in blue, which matches the scheme of the moveable alphabet that the children will learn to use next.

Using the sand tray to practice
forming ta cursive 'o'
(like in ostrich and on)

They are first presented to the child around 3 years old, when they begin to show interest in identifying the sounds of words. The directress will usually first introduce the letter that child's name begins with, as well as one or two other common sounds (like t, s, or b). The child is shown how to trace the letter with the pointer and middle finger. Near the end of the tracing the directress will say the sound of the letter, not the name. The child is invited to try and the sound is repeated. Together child and teacher think of some words which begin with the sound, and then move on to the next letter. Once the child has been introduced to all 3 letters a three period lesson is began, where the directress gives little commands to help reinforce the sounds that go with each symbol. Ex. "Trace 'c'", "Tap 's'", etc. At the end of the lesson the child is asked to trace each letter a final time and asked "What sound is this?"

Obviously is takes a long time to get through the entire alphabet of 26 letters, so it is important that the sandpaper letters are used often so ensure the child has a solid foundation to begin writing later. Because English is such a non-phonetic language there are also sandpaper letters for the more common phonograms in the language (ch, sh, th, etc.).

The reason the sound of the letter is introduced, rather than the name is to ease the child in to writing and reading easier. Knowing the sound 'b' instead of the name B, helps the child know what symbol make the 'b' sound in "ball", rather than having to go through the extra step of translating the sound 'b' into the name B and then trying to recognize the symbol.

Cursive is preferable for the same reason of making later writing easier. With cursive letters all the symbols are distinct, it's much harder to mix up b, d, p, and q when they are written in cursive script. The motion of forming cursive letters, with it's continues curves and loops, is also a more natural hand motion and so is easier to young children to follow. It also helps prevent letters being written backwards and upside down because there is a natural flow from the starting point.

All of this in one single material in the classroom. Those sandpaper letters are so important for later work...now I feel  like I should be working with them even more in the classroom!

We love our sand

Specifically in the sand tray...and that's where we're trying to keep it. Our classroom sand try is actually a mix of color sand and some salt. The children can practice forming letters and numbers in the tray with their fingertips.There's also a small dish with a cloth to wipe the extra sand off their fingers and I've really been trying to make sure they're only using their fingers, not their whole hand to ensure that the sand tray actually stays full of sand.

Making numbers has been especially popular. C especially loves to go through the entire box of sandpaper numbers, forming each one in the sand tray and then giving it a gentle shake to clear the sand before making the next number. Hopefully I can get them excited to start writing letters in the tray as well, it will making learning to write later that much easier if they have the muscle memory already. Until then we'll keep on plugging away with the numbers, especially 0, the current favorite number in the class.

Painted Hands

Today our work was painting hands. Red ones, orange, yellow, green, and at least one blue for everyone (it seems to be our classrooms most popular color!).

And this project has been nearly 2 weeks in the making, talk about a long process for the children!

First the children helped me rip construction paper into confetti sized pieces (mostly at least). We soaked them over the weekend. Then, one by one, I showed them how to use the paper making activity. They scooped the sludge onto a frame, spread it out, used a sponge to soak up most of the water, and finally rolled it flat. Since they each were in charge of making 4 cards this was a pretty long adventure so it took the better part of the week to get done. Especially since I tried to make it as independent a project as possible. I also used a toaster over to help dry out the paper; the children all loved when it dinged at the end shouting "It's done!" They were quite amused that I was 'cooking' their presents.

Finally all the cards were dry with edges trimmed and ready to decorate. So myself and each eager child sat down and painted their hands to 'stamp' the paper with their personal signature. They were all very excited to do their 'fingerprints' as they kept calling it.

Note to mom: Gee, I wonder if they get told at home "Look at all those fingerprints you left on the window!", like I did a lot.

I was very impressed with their self control all morning. No one protested the ticklish feeling of having their hands painted, and in fact they all chose four different colors to stamp on. They mostly waited patiently for their turn, I had children simply checking in ever minute to see if it was their turn, rather than just hovering a couple feet away. Oh well.

In the end we had a lovely row of hand stamped cards drying to go home. I don't know how those normal preschool teachers do these types of projects day in and day out. Whew!

It's not just for girls

A lot of people think Montessori is really more for girls. They can't imagine getting little boys to sit quietly and concentrate on something for an extended period of time. They don't think the practical life exercises like sewing, preparing food, taking care of plants or dusting will appeal to boys.

That's just being stereotypical.

I'm very lucky that right now there's no stigma of "That's for girls/boys!" in our classroom (even with colors which for obvious cultural reasons seems to get drilled in very early on). So I had no problems showing O how to arrange flowers. It's a presentation I've been meaning to give him for a while, but one that needed to wait until we had a fresh delivery of flowers. No point showing him how to cut and put them in a vase if there was only one or two flowers to use!

I'm so glad that I finally got around to this today because he absolutely loved it. This is the same little boy that came in to the classroom in September and was so unaware of his movements that he would move the tables a foot or two as he tried to see what someone else was doing. Today O stood quietly and observed with his hands at his side as I demonstrated how to cut the stems underwater and them place them in a vase. I felt no qualms about handing over the gardening shears to him. I knew he'd taken to heart my message that they were sharper than scissors and we needed to be extra careful.

I helped him through the process one time, making sure he didn't skip any steps and reminding him gently if he did. O was more than happy to try and do it the way and I had shown him and happily went to get another bunch of flowers when the first set ran out. He did come to me a bit later, upset that the flower kept falling out of the vase but perked right up when I told him how he needed to cut the leaves so it would fit inside the mouth of the vase.

M with all her arrangements.
She was so focused on making them they she didn't
want to waste time spreading them around the room for display!

O made a few arrangements, then neatly cleaned up...well at least I think he did. I know I saw him drying things and folding the apron neatly. But M had been shadowing his work station, just waiting to pounce on it to arrange some flowers herself. So she was already hard at work before I had time to go over and inspect.

Now after this whole little tirade of how much a boy enjoyed flower arranging I have to admit that I have been a little biased by only showing the girls the button sewing activity in the classroom. But NOT because the boys weren't interested in it. In fact I had one little boy that for weeks kept taking out the basket and asking for a presentation....but he wasn't ready for it yet. It's commonly recognized that boys mature more slowly than girls, and that includes the fine motor control necessary for sewing on a button.

I purposely made an activity for threading a needle, the primary step in learning how to sew a button, to help gauge when children might be ready. I told C that he needed to master that work first and then I would show him how to sew a button. He's still working at it- and so are the other boys.

There are no 'pink' or 'blue' areas in the classroom. Everything is for everyone and that's the way we like it in our room.

We're teaching....physics?

What is the maximum weight a 5 year old can pull? Does friction have any impact? What about the slope? What if the 5 year old is sitting or standing? What if a 4 year old helps?

Ok, ok so not exactly the most advanced physics questions but the children were quite eager to find out the answers anyways. A large group of the children spent most of recess making a sled train. They'd have 3 or 4 sleds with a rider in each holding on to the rope of the next and try to move them. Unfortunately what mainly happened was the person in the first sled (the one who ended up pulling most of the weight) would slide right out of their sled. So they'd start all over again.

They experimented with different people pulling, taking away the last sled, and then just as they'd get the train going someone else would jump on and the entire thing would fall apart. No one got mad though, they'd just up and try again. Foot by foot they moved the little train along.

Then they got to the sliding hill....

I'm not quite sure what happened. All I know is the next time I looked over all the sleds were at the top of the hill, children were swarming around, hopping in and out, pulling one another a little ways and stopping, turning sleds around, all sorts of commotion. I felt kind of bad breaking it up with the call to go inside.

Oh well, tomorrow they'll get to experiment again.

One of those "is it time to go home yet?" days

Montessori has connection of freedom and responsibility. The children are allowed freedom, but only if they can show they will be responsible enough to handle it. And I had to take away a lot of freedoms in my class today.

1) One child was brandishing a knife at someone else...twice
2) Another couldn't keep his hands off everyone elses work
3) Another couldn't decide what he wanted to work on (all morning long)
4) Yet another child drew until we were out of drawing paper (and did just a little scribble on each piece)

So, their freedom to work on what they wanted without adult interference was taken away. Not handling the responsibility that goes with freedom of choice? Sorry guys, but I'm going to have to take that away.

1) Not treating potentially dangerous objects with respect? Well I guess you aren't allowed to do that work until I have time to re-present how to do so carefully again. Which might not be for a while because let's be honest, I'm tired of cleaning up the egg crumbs on the floor after you leave.
2) If you can't stop touching work, then you may not observe. And it's still observing if you're standing 5 feet away. And no, you can't observe someone else. Or that person either.
3) Can't decide? I'll decide for you then. Don't want to do that? Sorry, make your own choice next time.
4) Out of paper? Oh look! You have this entire side still that you haven't colored on, and plenty of space still on the other side. Let's see what you can find out.

As you might be able to tell from my responses I was a bit worn out today...maybe even before the day really started. In my defense there were quite a few things working against me. The heat wasn't working so we had the little space heater going in the doorway between the classrooms and the hustle/bustle from next door kept filtering in and adding to our normally quiet community. I was also attempting to make paper with each of the children to use as their holiday presents. It's an activity really designed for an older child, or a teacher being more hands on.

So yeah. It was one of those days were I'll admit I was pretty glad when the day was over.

Until I came home to an impatient dog who didn't want to listen as well!

Montessori Sunday: Classified Cards

This week's Montessori Sunday focuses on the classified cards, or as they are sometimes called, 3 part cards. These picture cards are in the language area and help build up the child's vocabulary; both in spoken language and later in the area of reading/writing. Each set of cards usually has a common theme, such as fruits, farm animals, kitchen objects, etc. This is done to intentionally introduce children to the idea of classifying objects based on their similarities.

The cards are sometimes refereed to as three part cards because they are commonly made having 3 separate parts including: a card with a picture, a label that matches the picture, and a third card with both the picture and its corresponding word (called the control card). For a child who is reading they can spread out the pictures, find the corresponding label and then check their work with the control cards. This allows them to build their reading vocabulary. The label must match one of the pictures and so even if the child isn't able to completely sound out a word, they have a certain context in which to guess based on the parts of the word they do recognize. The matching control card allows the child to be independent in checking themselves, a key part of being a Montessori child.

Spoken language cards for different farm animals

My Montessori training presented the making of the cards just a little bit different, though how they are used is identical. We were taught to make 3 sets of cards. The first set is simply the cards with pictures on them. The second set is the pictures with corresponding labels that are separate. The third set is a card with the picture and corresponding word both. This allows there to a be a set of cards for children who cannot read yet, as well as a separate (though matching) set for a child who is ready to read the words and label the pictures.

The previous classroom I worked in had only the original 3 part cards and the younger children where forever getting out the labels and control cards as well as the picture cards I would be trying to use with them. This led to a lot of lost labels and bent cards that frustrated the older children who wanted to use them for reading. A minor change, but in my mind well worth the extra paper, ink and laminate to have an extra set of the cards just for spoken language.

The children in my class really enjoy fetching the cards. They'll spread the cards out at a table, then come over so I can tell them which card to get. They're all pretty good with the fruit cards we have, but for something more difficult (like dinosaurs) I'll often get out the matching control cards so I can show them the picture of what I'm asking for. Then when they return with their card I'll ask them to tell me what they brought, and supply the name if they've forgotten. Once they get more practice I'll be able to just tell them the name of the card and they'll have to go and find it without looking at the picture. Then when they return I'll flip over my copy of the card and have them check if they match.

They like this little game so much that they've started doing the fetching with another classmate if I'm not available. They usually don't know the name of what they're sending the other child to get, but it's a good opportunity for me to see which ones they really do know!

Eggs!

"Teacher Alex the egg's funny." C came up to me with a very puzzled look on her face.

"Let me see," I said, thinking she was just having trouble peeling the hard boiled egg. She led me over to her table and I knelt down to look at the egg in the little cup. "You're right. That egg's not cooked."

Earlier O had noticed that there were no more eggs for peeling and I told him he could take the bowl and go out and ask the other adult out in the hallway if he could have some more for our classroom. He came back in a minute or two later and I didn't think anything of it until C showed me the raw egg she was trying to peel. Kind of a really difficult trick to pull off!

So we laughed about it a little bit, luckily she hadn't cracked it too hard and had even had the good sense to put it back in the little cup once it started leaking. So I went out to get the hard boiled eggs, checking with the other adult in the hallway who told me "Yeah, O didn't ask me about the eggs, I just saw him walking back to class with the bowl. Though I was curious why there were only 10 eggs in the carton when I went to boil them...."

Apparently O had gone out, and lacking an adult for direction decided to help himself to the eggs. He knew they were in the fridge and must have recognized the carton and helped himself to a couple. No problem. That's what Montessori kids are supposed to do after all; solve their own problems.

Just a regular morning

E, M and J are sisters who attend our school. J, the youngest, obviously adores her older sisters and they are all obviously very close. This year M moved up to join E in the elementary class and it's obvious that J misses having her in the Children's House all day. She's grown used to it as the year has gone on, but still tries to spend as much time with her older sisters as possible during before and after school care.

This morning E was busy knitting on the couch, and J was watching her like most mornings. She was happy just to sit next to her sister, holding the ball of yarn and watching E knit. J's friends weren't quite as keen on this idea. They wanted her to come and play with them, they wanted her to color by them; but J just said "No, I want to watch my sissy!"

Did they just accept this answer and go off to amuse themselves? Of course not! They decided that they would all watch E as well. Now E's a pretty easy going and quiet girl, and even though I could tell she was enjoying the attention she's not really one to take advantage of it and act all silly or anything.

This wasn't quite true for the children watching her. The little pack got louder and more rambunctious as they jostled around in the small space. First they discussed whether it was 'knitten' or 'knitting'. The loudest voice was winning until I broke in with a simple "E is knitting." and quieted the kindergarten who was convinced the word was 'knitten'.

There was some bouncing up and down as they shifted from standing to squirming on to the couch, to jumping up again. J accidentally dropped the yarn ball. It bounced around, rolling farther and farther away despite the many eager hands trying to stop it. Next thing I know, 4 different little girls are holding a section of yarn, waving it up and down and giggling hysterically. The line got longer and longer, while the ball got smaller and smaller.

I stepped in again, reminding them not to tangle up E's yarn, and suggesting they find something else to do. They happily complied, one of the older ones staying behind to wind up the fallen yarn a bit. Throughout this whole thing E had just kept sitting there quietly, knitting away. When it was clean-up time she silently rolled up the rest of the yarn the younger girls had been playing with, gathered all he knitting supplies and walked off to class. Just another regular morning in a mixed age school.

Montessori Sunday: Spindle Boxes

It's been so long since I did a post on a specific Montessori Material that I had to go back and check what I haven't already posted about. So today's post is going to be about the Spindle Boxes because A) I haven't done them before and B) because I just recently showed them to a child in my class.

The spindle boxes are one of the earliest math materials children are exposed to in the classroom and are supposed to convey the idea that numbers mean a specific quantity of something. They are shown after the child has had practice counting the number rods (which are units that are bound together so that 5 is always 5 and you can't accidentally drop any parts to make is 4) and is comfortable identifying written numbers. The material is made up of a shallow box divided into 10 separate compartments. The numbers 0 to 9 are written in the space above each compartment. There is also a container with exactly 45 spindles in it.

The adult double checks that the child is familiar with the printed numbers and then begins demonstrating how to count out the desired number of spindles, beginning with 1. Each time the spindles are counted into the hand first and when the correct number is reached then the spindles are counted again in to the correct compartment. 

When the compartment for 9 is filled all the spindles will have been used, creating a built in control of error for the child. If they haven't counted correctly their will either not have enough spindles for the last box, or there may be some extras left over. 

Once all the spindles have been counted the teacher introduces the 0 compartment. "This is zero, zero is nothing so we don't put any spindles in here." The teacher then demonstrates how to bind the groups of spindles together and place them back in their compartments. This binding is done to show that the number is the whole quantity grouped together.

That's it. A fairly straightforward activity that introduces the child to the idea of 0, careful counting of objects, and double checking of work (by counting the spindles twice). I really miss the spindles from my training class, they were like old fashioned sewing spindles, smaller and smoother than the current type and just felt so much nicer in the hand. They were also smaller, I found that when showing my classroom set to C that he had trouble grasping the spindles in one hand as soon at the quantity was any higher than 7. This makes binding the spindles together even more difficult; how are you suppose to bind something that you can't even hold in one hand, what hand do you have to use then? So I'm currently brainstorming ideas on how to complete this part of the lesson. I'll let you know how that turns out.

Today was relaxing

So today I was either the best teacher ever....or the worst, I'm still deciding.

I spent my morning in the classroom with the children (and granted there were only 4 of them today) and got a lot of work done. I laminated and cut new classified cards and modge-podged a container for the newly completed land and water form pictures. Throughout the morning my students would wander over, ask if they could watch for a bit. We'd chat for a little while, they'd watch what I was doing and I'd explain and then they'd go off again when I told them it had been long enough.

That was it. That was pretty much what I did the whole morning work cycle. No striving to enrich their little lives, or trying to stun them with fascinating details of the world. I didn't present any new materials, or focus on learning letter sound with the sandpaper letters or sound games. I didn't set out to teach any new vocabulary, or impart another lesson in grace and courtesy. I sat and did my own work and watched what the children were up to.

So what all did they do?

Well, to put it bluntly they were amazing.

They all did fetching with the classified cards (multiple times for W!). They'd choose a packet and ask me for the extra set I keep in my cupboard and then one of them would sit in the chair by my stool (or on the stool if they were feeling really important) and send the other to find the matching card. I have to say they did a pretty good job. I relegated myself to reminding them to walk when they got to excited and only offered the vocabulary word if they expressly asked. They were all so busy and eager to work with one another.

It was the first day in a long time that I noticed W was really engaged in what he was doing and didn't end up wandering aimlessly around the classroom. He spearheaded most of the classified card fetching and later took it upon himself to clean up the spilled grains hiding under the red rod stand. I only suggested he use the dustpan and brush rather than the small crumb sweeper. He happily spent close to 15 mins meticulously sweeping up the rolling soy beans and cous cous, completely engrossed.

The other children? Well they also went about their day, moving from work to work and getting fully engaged with whatever they were working on. We had a slight interruption when they went out in little groups to make place mats for the Thanksgiving feast tomorrow, but they went out, did their little project and came right back in to work.

There were two instances where I did need to step in. M took out the Trinomial cube, which is a pretty complicated puzzle and one she's just beginning to learn. She spent close to 1/2 an hour trying to figure it out, finally managing to get it all in so the box would close and she could return it to the shelf. Well...at least until I pointed out that one piece was still at the table. Needless to say it just didn't fit anymore. M tried to get it to fit, but when the box just wouldn't close she stood up to walk away and I came in right away to help her put it together the only way it would all fit in the box. Meanwhile W had been inspired to take out the slightly simpler Binomial cube, but since he had never been shown the material before he was just as perplexed and needed help getting started.

Other than that all I really did was finish my own projects and chat with the children a little bit.

These are 3 year olds, 3 year olds. (Ok, so W just turned 4 but close enough) They spent almost 3 hours keeping themselves busy. This busyness resulted in no real messes or catastrophes. They all spent time with other children and working independently. They served themselves snack or made their own food if interested. They struggled with work, but respected their teachers right to continue her work first before helping them.

So I'm still not sure. I know I had a great day, and I know that my students sure seemed to as well. But I can't necessarily say that I actually 'taught' anything today. Luckily I'm a Montessori teacher. We respect that it's really the child that is teaching themselves and we're just there to assist them. And I'm pretty sure I accomplished that just fine today.

Just roll with it

So usually I try to prep the children for when a big change is coming. One day I knew I was going to do some major re-arranging of materials, so I warned them beforehand that things were going to be a little different when they came back on Monday. Rather than being confused they were actually excited to try and find where I had moved things to and adjusted pretty quickly.

So when I heard we were getting our new carpeting installed over the weekend I told the children what to expect on Monday. Well Monday has come and I wish someone had told me what to expect! Due to a measuring error our new carpeting was an extra two feet wide and two feet short in length. Can you say oops? So I re-arranged the shelves, blocking off the area the carpet didn't quite reach and using other shelves to help hold down the temporarily taped down edge of the carpet.

Oops...

The children and I spent the day admiring the new carpeting and navigating the room length bump caused by the overlap onto the tiled area. I actually think they rolled with the situation better than I did. They were more excited about the new color and extra space my re-arranging had made. Let's just say there was a lot more reminding about not running or twirling in the classroom.

So even though I can't prepare them for everything I'm glad to see that all my students are comfortable in the room so things like this don't bother them. After the initial excitement we got right down to work. In fact they were so dedicated that in order to give presentations I had to wait until they finished working and catch them before they got something else out; what a great problem to have!

Highlight of the week

So I was doing classified card fetching with C. He'd chosen to use the fruit cards and had spread his set out at a table across the room and kept coming back to me with the particular card I asked for.

"Can you get me the coconut?" I asked before he darted across the room. C came back, beaming and shoved a card with a green object on it in my face. "You brought me the lime," I said matter of factly, and flipped over my card to show him the picture. "Can you bring the coconut?" Luckily he darted off again before I started giggling, this refrain playing in my heard. "You put the lime with the coconut and drink it all up!"

Guess there's some jokes I just can't share with them ;)

Lessons of the day

Lesson 1: Careful what you're doing, someone is always watching you.

C came to school so early that I was still setting up the classroom so I enlisted her happy help. Together we set up the dishes, put out the laundry, sharpened pencils, and delivered a few random things back to their places, including my notebook and clipboard for note taking. later that morning when we came in to formally start the work cycle with the rest of the children I headed over to my stool to check my lesson plan before starting presentations. To my shock I noticed that C had not only delivered both items as requested, but had carefully tucked the notebook in my side table, balanced upright how it best fits, and placed my clipboard on the nearby stool with the pen on it ready to write....just like they eventually end up every day even though I try to store them both hidden in the side table. And then I started wondering....what else have they been watching me do?

Lesson 2: Never underestimate a 4 year old.

J and Q were playing together at recces, enjoying the new snow and the return of sledding. J was riding along as Q pulled her. Q slipped along; the sled starting and stopping. "I can help you!" J giggled happily, using her arms to push the sleds forward in little lurches. Q looked back, a slightly disgruntled look on her face. "Stop, I don't need your help." J, always happy to please her friends listened immediately and settled her arms back in to the sled. Without another word Q took off, her boots slipping on the snow a bit before a final yank pulled the sled forward in rush. J fell back down in the sled from the force and lay there giggling as Q stomped away through the snow. She didn't need anyone's help to pull that sled; after all, she's 4 now!

Extensions and games

Lately in the classroom I've really been focusing on showing extensions of sensorial materials to the children, to encourage them to go back and practice the things they've already been shown so they can truly understand and master them. I have at least one child who feels that after she has done something once, she's done with it, no need to practice (even if it wasn't all that easy the first time!). By introducing some little 'games' she can do with friends though, I've gotten her to practice a lot more with the materials and get to know them a bit better.

While there are about two dozen or so different sensorial materials, the extensions are pretty similar. The children can do different types of matching.. They can match the materials themselves, find things in the classroom environment that are the same color/shape/size/etc., or even just bring one set to a table on the other side of the classroom and try to remember what they're looking for while navigating across the room. All this little games help build up their memory and really help solidify the aspect of the material that they're working with.

C doing an extension of the color tablets where he collects items
from around the classroom that match the color of the tablets.
Several children observed this and couldn't wait to try it themselves!

Another main extension that I've tried to make a point of introducing is the language that goes with each material. Things like the color tablets and geometric shapes have obvious language to be given, but all the sensorial materials have a certain bit of language associated with them. For example the pink tower is large/small, the brown stair is thick/thin, and the red rods are long/short.

The specific words are used to introduce the children to the idea of comparing two different qualities through language. In a certain context one red rod may be the longer one, but next to another rod it may be shorter. While a child  may be able to put the rods in order, they may have no idea how to explain verbally to another person what they did. The point of these language extensions is to formalize and give the language for something the children  already understand.

I do want to point out that as a teacher I'm not actually trying to teach children the 'idea' of large and small, I trust that they've already noticed that objects are all different sizes. What I'm trying to supply them with is the language associated with these different properties so they can communicate about them with other people.

Montessori Sunday: Celebrating Holidays

Ok, so how to celebrate  a holiday isn't exactly a Montessori material in any regard, but it is something that is approached a bit differently and since I didn't get to talk about our 'visitor' on Friday I'll do it now. There usually aren't 25+ copies of the same art project made by the children displayed around the classroom. Bulletin boards aren't updated with the usual holiday colors. Though there are some similarities though that seem prevalent in every preschool environment. Special songs and stories surrounding the season are shared with the children. Also, the diversity of holidays (especially around the winter season) is introduced with the idea of exposing children to many different points of view.

Here's how our All Hallow's Eve 'party' went as an example. Our class has spent two days preparing a jack-o-lantern. The children helped gut the pumpkin, then sorted the seeds from the flesh to save for a snack. The next day they each drew a part of the jack-o-lanterns face and I carved it out. I also set the seeds out on a table to dry and the children were very excited to remember that they were going to be our snack on Halloween.

On the day of Halloween I waited for all the children to arrive before asking them to put their work away and wash their hands for a special snack. While they did so I darkened the room. Together we passed out napkins and the roasted seeds, as well as some warm apple cider from our Fall Festival the weekend before. The children were very careful with being allowed to eat on the carpeting and were very careful and neat with their snack.

I lit the pumpkin and read one of my favorite Halloween stories, "The little old lady who wasn't afraid of anything." The children munched on their pumpkin seeds and enjoyed their apple cider as the jack-o-lantern flickered and I read the silly story to them. They were so attentive and well behaved that I wish I had a video of the event. When I finished the story the candle was blown out the children who were done took care of their dishes and napkins before getting back to work. They all agreed they wanted the Jack-o-Lantern to visit our classroom for the rest of the morning so I left him out for them to admire at leisure. Then I sat and enjoyed my own snack with the stragglers and that was it. That was our entire Halloween.


There was no big hoopla about candy. No tears and uncontainable excitement around costumes. Just a peaceful snack with friends and a silly story in a slightly spooky setting. Then they were done and over it. I didn't hear another word about Halloween for the rest of the morning. They were content with what we had. I only hope we can do it again.

Visitors!

Our little classroom has had some extra visitors lately. A group of college students came to observe for one of their education classes. It was a fairly large group that had to do some rotating to give everyone a chance to be in the classrooms since the presence of too many adults really disrupts the children. Then today we had a prospective parent come in. By the time the parents came in my students weren't even phased, visitors were old news to them!

Though they don't know about the visitor we have every day after they leave!

Meet Rudy. Technically he's the elementary class pet, but he comes over to 'help' me with classroom clean up at the end of the day and get a little hopping exercise in. He has his favorite places and activities in the classroom, just like the children do. The flower arranging is his favorite work, though he eats the flowers instead of arranging them properly. And his favorite spot in the classroom is hiding behind the sanitizing bins (the cream ones to the right in the photo). He likes to wiggle behind and then push them around or crawl inside the actual bins. I'm waiting for the children to notice the half-chewed flowers before letting them know about this little visitor!

And tomorrow we're going to have another 'visitor' that the children are very excited about. But I'll wait for some pictures to share.

The 'Perfect' Presentation

Please note that the word 'perfect' is in quotation marks in the title ;)

So C is my student I have had the most problems presenting new activities too. It's not that he's not interested, it's that he is so interested he has a really difficult time keeping his hands off the materials until it's his turn to try. This results in a lot of overfilled water glasses, triangles that don't fit together because he missed the part about the black lines matching, and sound cylinders that are simply shaken instead of matched. Not atypical for a three year old, but slightly frustrating as a teacher.

Today though I showed him the orange squeezing activity and everything fell in to place. He's done enough other food activities that I could verbally direct him to get on the apron, place the oilcloth and bring the tray to the table. All hands on, no waiting required on his part. C was a bit impatient about letting me unload the tray so I could tell him the names of things. Luckily there are only four things on the tray: a juicer, cup, tongs and cloth. He also knew from experience that he had to carry the tray over to the fridge to get his oranges out. I only had to let him know that he was allowed to use the tongs to get two oranges and that was it.

Again, no waiting necessary.

At the table he immediately jumped on the sliced orange and squished it down on the juicer....then looked in surprise that all the juice hadn't magically come out. He looked at the orange, pushed is down again and looked at it in puzzlement. "Let me show you." He insisted on hanging on to the orange as I demonstrated how to twist it to squeeze out the juice. Finally he got it and after showing how to pour it gently in the cup I let him juice to his heart's content.

Despite having other children come and ask questions I was able to direct him to putting the finished juice in the fridge and cleaning up to go wash dishes. Knowing these were all tasks he could handle I drifted off to the other neglected children (ok, so they were doing a pretty good job keeping busy but I know they felt neglected!). Luckily I noticed right away as he went to put the clean dishes back on the shelf and was able to remind him about getting a new cup and cloth for the next person. He happily complied, then went to fold his apron at a table.

Next thing I know I hear this little voice "I all done!" C had come all the way across the room from where he'd been sitting at the snack table to show me his empty cup. "Was it good?" He nodded, grinning and I sent him off to wash his cup and be off to new adventures.

If only my timing could work out so nicely for every presentation! It always seems as though the biggest spills and disaster happen when I'm int he middle of presenting something new. Oh well.

Montessori Sunday: Having Snack

In our classroom having a snack is no different from any other work. There's a specific set of steps that need to be followed, the children can choose to have it whenever they like (though only once!) and when they finish things need to be cleaned up. This week, the snack routine got a bit more complicated.

Since the start of the year the snack in our classroom has been set out in individual Dixie cups, one for each child. I demonstrated to all the children how to wash their hands, choose one snack, enjoy it and then clean up the table when they finished. Now to an adult that seems like a simple process; however to the child it requires a huge effort of self control. Not only do they need to wait their turn to have snack (we had only one chair at the snack table), they also need to resist the desire to take more than one cup (or muffin as the case was one day).

Since my class right now is so small it was very easy to monitor the snack area and make sure the children were following the rules, especially the hand washing beforehand. After a few incidents of extra snacks eaten, some dumping of water back into the communal pitcher and lots of practice with washing hands, I decided they were ready to begin dishing their own snack.

Now our snack area boasts a 'Menu' each day. The children need to 'read' it and take the correct amount of snack to put on their plate. They use tongs or a spoon instead of their hands to dish out the food. When done, they are responsible for washing any dishes and putting them in the sanitation bin.

Now, having the food out like this does make it more likely to have germs spread than handing out individual cups. But the learning process and development of self control far outweighs this slight problem. After all, that's why we spent the first two months of school building up to this point. The children had already proven themselves worthy of the trust to keep this area clean and healthy for everyone. If we welcome any new children to the class I may have to reconsider whether this current set-up will work or if we'll need to go through a period of limited snack freedom until they can settle in.

Currently though, my students love being able to use the 'menu' and dish their own snack. They are also very proud of having real dishes to be responsible for. They can choose to use a bowl or plate for the day, and I also have spoons and forks available. They don't usually need silverware, but sometimes enjoy using it anyays.

Then, to make snack even more of a challenge- I turned the table and added another chair. Snack with a friend. Done partly to satisfy the logistics of having some slow/thorough eaters and to encourage some social interactions. After all, it's fun to eat with a friend!

What's better than cheese and pretzels? Cheese and pretzels with a friend!

Trying new things

Well the children in my class may like to hear the same book over and over (I can't wait until it's time to bring the "Three Little Peas" back to the library!), but they're more than happy to try out new works. Don't ask me why there is this discrepancy, I just know it exists.

Tuesday one of the lovely parents from school returned our metal inset stand. He had sanded and re varnished it to a glossy sheen. With the children watching excitedly I spent the morning putting it together; delicately placing the metal shapes on the shelf and carefully counting out three of each color pencil. They were pretty awed by all the colors and shapes, and keeping their fingers off was quite the challenge! All through the morning work cycle they'd come up in turn and ask if they could use the new work.

What they don't know is that anticipation is often key to having a successful presentation. *Insert evil grin here*

At the end of class though I did partially calm their excitement. To the whole group I demonstrated carrying the tray over, showing them each item on it; the metal inset with its two parts, the three pencils nestled in their holder, and the special paper just the right size to match the inset. They watched quite intently as I first traced the frame with one color, than the inset itself with another. The final step was coloring it in with precise curves.

"Can I try?" M asked breathlessly before I could say another word.

I told all the children that it would be available for them all morning the next day, and since everyone had seen my presentation they could all try then if they would like to.

So here's an example of a successful presentation-

S came in the next morning and makes a beeline for the shelf, so quickly that there wasn't even an open table for her to work out because all the chairs were still up. C spotted her with the work and immediately got out the second tray. While the two of them made multiple inset drawings M hovered around, waiting for the instant one of the trays was available for her. O kept asking "Can I do that when you're done?" over and over so much that S finally just quit asking him. Meanwhile the other C just watched quietly, went about his morning and took out his choice of shapes when all the hubbub had died down later.

5 out of 5 children agree- The metal insets were worth doing!

Our little community

Our classroom is no longer a collection of 6 individual children; it's a community.

This morning several of the children asked if C was coming back. We just had a three day weekend but they all easily remembered that one of their classmates had been sick the days before. I asked "Did you miss him?" They all answered in the affirmative and when C was spotted outside the door less than a minute later they all flocked over, chanting "C's back! Look it's C!"

Throughout the day I observed their usual little interactions. They helped each other with snaps and oil cloth rings. They offer to help wipe up spills and deliver forgotten dishes. They ask others to work with them and work together to clean up. They're becoming aware of the others beyond themselves.

S and W really demonstrated this especially today. They sat together with the reading mat for almost an hour, with S 'reading' to W from just about every book in the library. When they finished I suggested S take care of one of our plants that was looking pretty bad. W just kept wandering and I finally directed him to a shelf since it was too early for him to just be hanging out by me for the rest of the morning, an activity he enjoys doing a bit too often. He refused to participate though, so I chose an activity for him and set it at a table, wanting to keep him from wandering and distracting any of the others.

I feel bad but it was the other children who noticed he was crying first. They looked and asked me why and told them to go ask W. They flocked over and asked straight out why he was sad. "I want to go home! I want my daddy!" He blubbered out. They hovered around for a bit, telling him that he was ok and that it wasn't time to go home yet, but after the bead was on he could! I was so proud of their gentle words, some that I know I had said to them myself.

He quieted down and they drifted back to their work. But S wasn't done with him yet. She dutifully finished her work, cleaned it up, then went back to join W at his table. Together they played with the tanagrams (not exactly in a manner I liked, but....). Soon she had him giggling and chatting with her. Now that's something you can't force to happen- empathy with action!

Working together

We have arrived!

So my substitute for the other day wasn't at school yesterday so I hadn't had a chance to thank her yet, or see how the children had done in my absence. When I talked to her today I was completely surprised. She said that not only was my room absolutely lovely (she actually wants to have any future observers come in to my class!) but that the children had all gone right along with their work all morning as though nothing was different. She's was a Montessori teacher herself before becoming a mom so to hear her say that means quite a bit. Just a little over one month from our original point of departure towards this little community and my classroom is already normalized to the Montessori way of doing things.

Maria, we have arrived. :)

Sick Day

I'm sick....definitely sick. Mandatory day off for Strep Throat and no clue what went on with my students today. Or even who was in the classroom with them! Not that I doubted that they were in good hands, but since I don't have anyone else in the classroom with me on a daily basis there's no one  reliable to keep things going forward. The children are helpful and have good intentions but....not exactly reliable.

I spent all morning wondering what they were doing.

Did C keep trying to use the Land and Water forms, even though I've told him countless times that he's not ready yet?

What about O, how many things did he errantly tell the sub "Yes, I"ve been shown that." He really has no idea what he can practice or not.

And poor W, he was gone and Monday and now his first day back and there'll be someone different in a room that re-arranged on him.

I thought about M, if she was trying to hide away from the stranger in the room. Circling around their peripheral vision like she did with the photographer.

S and C I'm not worried about too much, I bet the two of them actually had a good time telling the substitute how things usually worked. Maybe even being a little bit bossy to them about doing it like Teacher Alex said. Hey, I can hope can't I?

One thing I wasn't concerned about them forgetting though was putting a bead on the string. Each day we add a new one to our bead calendar. It's become their end of the day tradition. They clap, they cheer, they grin with excitement when that bead goes on. Last week I even caught C pretending to be putting on the bead of the day using the large wooden beads we have for an early fine motor activity. She was sitting on the chair and each bead she put on she'd say "this bead's for Monday," or tuesday or Funday or Mesterday, whatever came to mind. A few of the others even drifted over to watch her too, giggling once they realized what she was doing.

So, I'm pretty sure there's no way they let the sub forget to put on the bead at least. One thing taken care of for sure!

More exuberance

We like using clothespins in our class....a lot.

After all, you can never be too sure that your painting isn't going to fall off the drying rack!

A little too exuberant

M had forgotten for a while about watering the plants. She loved the work when I first showed it too her, but as our plants got a little too much watering love I had to have her stop for a few days. She suddenly re-discovered it today and this was the result-

You can't tell in the photo but this entire vase is full of water. She ran out of plants and proceeded to use the watering can to fill up all the vases with flowers in them. The only problem...this one's a fake. Ooops!

Just not ready

Well it wasn't as much as it's been in the past, but I still spent a lot of the day breaking C's focus as he fingered things on the shelf. "No, C. You haven't been shown that, you're not ready yet."

And it's true; sometimes the children just aren't ready. It's silly to try and teach a child how to cut out a flower design if they can't yet hold scissors confidently. Or, as was the case today, sewing a button is pretty much impossible to do independently if you can't thread a needle. C has been fondling the small spools of thread on the shelf since practically day one, so I thought I would show him what they were for so he could have some direction.

The oh so tempting spools of thread

Let's just say there were some mixed results. The activity itself is very simple. There's a needle in a pin cushion and a pair of scissors in the small basket. The child brings the basket to the table, then chooses a single spool of thread from the stand. They measure it to the length of the table, cut it with the scissors and then attempt to thread the eye of the needle.

That's basically the whole activity. Once they successfully thread the needle I introduce them to the fact that we will need to knot the thread and demonstrate how, but this is an extension that I don't expect them to master before going on to the next activity. Tying a knot can be really hard to do.

So even though C has some limited patience when I give a presentation I thought this would be simple enough for him to sit through, then try for himself. Needless to say he was very excited when I finally offered to show him the thread. He had a hard time sitting still while I demonstrated how to measure the thread, I finally had to ask him to put his hands in his lap.

The next problem was with the scissors. Now the scissors I have in this activity really don't cut very well, which compounded the problem. C kept trying to use two hands to operate the scissors, so of course the thread kept sliding away since he couldn't grip it. Also, the spool kept getting knocked off the table and he didn't quite understand that if he simply pulled on the thread instead of picking up the spool it just kept unwinding. So pretty soon we had a large tangle of thread on the floor. I wound it back out for him, trying to explain what he needed to do so that didn't happen. Then I tried to help him cut with one hand so the other could hold the thread. He's been doing a lot of cutting with paper, but I haven't paid close attention to his technique to see if this is how he normally cuts, or if the dull scissors were prompting him to try some different techniques.

Finally we got the thread cut and all the extra back on the spool. That's when C finally buckled down and got busy. He spent nearly 15 mins trying to thread that needle. Each time I peeked over at him he'd have a puzzled look on his face as he stared at the uncooperative thread.

Unfortunately the next time I looked his chair was empty and the work was still on the table. I got C headed back to clean up his work when I noticed that the needle was gone. No clue what he did with it. C kept pointing at the pin cushion when I asked where it was, but I could not feel it anywhere inside and got him looking under the table for the needle. We never did find it, and I had him put the work up on my counter to be 'fixed'.

So I'm a little bit torn. It doesn't seem like he was really ready for the presentation. He didn't have the necessary scissor control, or reliability to leave the needle in the pincushion as requested. However he did spend a good chunk of time focused on threading the needle. Hopefully he'll build up the skills to handle the other steps but until that point I'm going to have to give him a hand. This is one of the skills I hope I gain as I get more experience as a teacher; how to better judge if a child is ready for a presentation. Though with them there's always going to be the element of surprise!

We're workin'!

Wow! Only one month in to school and already I had trouble giving presentation because the children where too busy working and I didn't want to interrupt them. That's wonderful!

Ok, ok, so it wasn't all day and it wasn't always everyone, but as the general flow for the day I think I can confidently say that they were all pretty busy. There were a few times when I was busy helping one child or another and someone else would be wandering or need my assistance in some way, but by the time I could get to them they always seemed to have either fixed the problem or chosen a work to do. It was great!

The two C's at the cloth washing stand

C repeated the cloth washing activity I had shown her pretty much perfectly. If you know anything about small children you should have realized by now that sometimes they're spot on with their imitation, but not always. I was so proud of her for remembering all the steps...well and of course for using the lovely stand my parents had built for the classroom.

S meanwhile was actually practicing things, a big accomplishment for her as she normally just observers others and waits for me to give her a new presentation. It seems like the funnel pouring work was entertaining enough to hold her attention.

O and W, my two usual rambunctious ones, were their usual bouncy selves, but both found some things to engage in with for some longer periods. O was very interested in the new clay I put out, one with a more natural color and stiffer consistency than what was on the shelf originally. I think it will be great for all the children to use it, since they need to use more of their hand muscles to manipulate it.

C working with the scissors

The other C in our classroom was also pretty busy today, I still needed to watch and make sure he stuck only to materials had been shown, but luckily when he does take out a work he stays very engaged with it; especially the snipping work with the scissors. He really likes the little origami envelopes to tuck the pieces in once they are cut.

M, is my student who can be so quiet that I'm not always sure what shes' up to. Today I watched her do the pasting over and over until she had three pages covered in little shapes. I think the main reason she stopped was she ran out of good shapes! She put the work away when she was done, but I noticed the table was a bit sticky still and asked her to wipe it up. She absolutely jumped on that task and in less than a minute the table was sparkling! Not too bad for a girl who usually likes to say "I don't want to."

I saw this possibility in the beginning of the year, and I'm really glad we'er getting to that point where they have enough things that interest them to keep busy all morning. Of course I have to be careful not to distract them. Which means I can't read books, sing songs, or play sound games with anyone else. S asked near the end of work time if I would do a sound game with her. I said yes and she barely had time to get the basket of objects before C was rolling out a mat for us to work at, while the other C and M were cleaning up their work as quickly as possible. W wanted to join us right away, and did an ultra fast clean-up when I reminded him about all the split peas he had spilt on to the floor.

Oh well, I guess I can't complain since they did actually clean everything up before coming to join us!

Working, working, everyone is working.

Follow the Child (literally)

As I've said before in this blog, I have such a small class that I don't have an assistant with me. Usually this isn't a huge deal, though of course there's always times where I wish I had another set of eyes and hands to help out. However, a big part of the Montessori experience is having the children learn patience while waiting, and work to solve problems on their own. That's what most of my students experienced today while I was busy shadowing one specific child.

In the beginning of the year I told the children that the three rules of our classroom were: 1) Walk in the school, 2) Return things to the shelf when you're done, 3) Wait to touch something until you've been shown how to use it by the teacher. It's the third one that has been giving C, trouble.  When he doesn't have a work out he's most likely to be found standing at a shelf, fiddling with the materials on it. He's not trying to take them out to try and figure out what they are for, he's just fiddling with them.  Now I know it's pretty natural for the children to be curious about the materials, but this is going a bit beyond that. I've even had to take a few materials out to keep him from playing with the small pieces.

I've given him some mixed reactions when this happens. Usually remind him we don't touch things we haven't been shown how to use and that he needs to wait. If it's a work that he might be able to handle though I will go and ask if he'd like a presentation. Unfortunately there are a few specific things that he keeps fiddling with that are not appropriate for him to learn right now, I know he doesn't have the concentration to use them yet. So I spend much of the time reminding him that he needs to wait, he's not ready yet.

Because it's been such a recurring problem I made it my mission to try and spend all day shadowing C. I put together a special clothespin work to present to him; he LOVES pining up wet cloths on our drying rack and commonly uses up all the clothespins in the basket. I made a point to also show him a pasting activity that he's been trying to use with the watercolor paints. He spilled quite a bit of glue and so spent more time cleaning up then actually pasting, but hopefully knowing how to use the glue applicator will stop him from using it to try and paint with!

Follow me!...though I might not know where I'm going....

All day I watched C, trying to catch him before he tried to take things off the shelf, showing him new materials and suggesting things when he looked a bit lost. It was a tricky balance, trying to let him work independently while keeping such a close watch on him.

We'll see tomorrow if all that shadowing has any effect on his inquisitive fingers. At least it gave me a chance to spend some time connecting with him, and the other children were pretty good about keeping themselves busy. It just might take more time though....hopefully I can keep being patient about it.

I've turned into...my teachers?

When I was in preschool I was only half-day like all my students right now. Up until that point I had basically stayed home with my mom or been taken care of by one of my Aunts. So it was a pretty big deal when, one day, my mom was trying to tell me something and I replied "But Miss Anne said.....!"  My mom said she had to pause for a moment to take in what had just happened. It was a turning point. I had stepped out in to the rest of the world and she wasn't necessarily a part of it.

I hate to say it, but I think I reached that point with one of my students today. C came in with her hair down and slightly messy. Luckily she had a ponytail left over from yesterday and asked if I could put it in for her.

"Do you want a pony on top like you had yesterday, or one in the back like me?" I asked

"Like you!" She burst out, grinning up at me. I couldn't help but laugh a bit as I pulled her hair back into a slightly messy ponytail. Weirdly enough it's easier to put one in my own hair than someone elses! "How's that?"

"Good!" C answered, bouncing around before going off to work.

Now I can't say that mom or dad will notice, but I have a feeling that the words "Teacher Alex said...." can't be too far behind!

Milestones

We had a major milestone in our classroom today- our first visitor!

Our school had a photographer come in to take some pictures for the school website. I had prepared the children the day before a little bit. At our morning meeting I first told them we were going to have a visitor, then before getting ready to go home I had them practice introducing themselves.

Well none of them did introduce themselves, or ask her name (at least that I heard) but they definitely were pretty excited to see her. It was almost like I had done a magic trick. I said that someone would be visiting, and oh my gosh! They did!

Actually M was a bit nervous. She actually began to set her work up at a table and then when the photographer came closer to take a picture of someone else I noticed M kind of circling, watching. I asked if she was a bit nervous and she said yeah so I offered to sit by her while the photographer was there. That was all it took to send her back to her work (she was doing the orange squeezing and really didn't want to stop!).

The photographer was in and out all morning and I did tell M that she could say she didn't want her picture taken if she was too nervous. She actually worked up the courage to say so, though she was still a bit nervous and moreso shouted it across the room when the photographer came back in. But hey, she said what she needed to say.

Other than having one nervous child they all did very well with having a stranger in the room, which is great because we should actually have a lot of visitors to our room and I want them to become so used to this and comfortable in the room that they can keep working as though no one is watching. Not that it'll happen when their parents come to observe I'm sure but I can hope!

Sometimes they just need to be upset

Today was a stressful day for both  me and the children. We had 4 incidents of broken glassware today.

4.

That's a huge number, despite the fact that nearly everything in the classroom is breakable an item actually doing so is pretty rare. I'd say once a week, even in my young classroom. They were all very legitimate accidents; a heavy tray slipping from soapy hands, a slick tray sending a bowl sliding, a wet floor making a child slip and fall. However, I think it really threw the children off, distracting them and making them feel a bit lost and unable to focus on work. I know it made me upset and have a shorter temper. And I'll be honest, it was my actions that made these children upset.

But I feel they were justified (both my actions and the children!), and that's ok. Sometimes people just need to be upset, and learning how to deal with it is a part of growing up.

The first incident happened when C ran across an area where glass had just broken. The children have already been taught that when glass breaks they are supposed to back away until I clean it up. I had just spoken to C, reminding her to stay back until I was done. She seemed to have heard, but just as I scooted a little bit to reach a different spot I saw her dart across the area.

"Stop!" I shouted to her, making her freeze. "C, you just ran across glass, I need you to sit down on this chair right now so I can make sure you don't have any on your shoes." She stared at me with wide eyes and immediately obeyed. She didn't make a peep as I carefully examined the bottoms of her shoes. I knew there probably was not glass there, but really wanted to reinforce the point that what she had done was not ok. After checking I told her once more not to enter that area until I was done. She nodded, obviously upset and made her way over to the library (her usual 'safe' place).

I finished cleaning up the glass and went over to her. C was sobbing quietly, just like I had guessed she might be. I knelt in front of her and apologized for yelling at her, and asked if I had scared her. When she nodded I apologized for that too, then went on to explain that I had done it because I was afraid that she was going to get hurt. I kept it simple and I could see her listening to what I said. At the end I apologized once more for scaring her, then asked if she forgave me. She did.

I can't say I"m proud of making C cry, but it do make for a great learning opportunity. Not just her learning that I was very serious about the glass rule, but that I was also concerned about HER and wanted to help her out.

The second incident involved W. He was part of the little sound game I was doing with two other children. He was already not  very focused and kept interrupting but I thought I would give him a chance to try. As I pulled out the objects I showed them how the small shovel had been glued back together and let them know we needed to be careful with it. When W successfully identified the shovel as starting with the 'sh' sound, I let him take it from the pile, reminding him that it has just been fixed and was fragile. He immediately started grinding it on the mat and, surprise surprise, it broke again.

"Oh no!" he exclaimed, holding it out to me. "It broke," I said and took it from him. "W, I'm going to ask you to leave our sound game. I can't have you touching the objects if you're not listening to the rules." He looked at me in utter shock, he could not believe I would say such a thing.

"I listen!" he insisted. "No, you weren't listening, you  need to find something else to do." He stood up and started bawling in frustration. After a few seconds I let him know he needed to stop as he was distracting the other children. He cried even louder and I escorted him over to a chair and let him know he needed to sit down because his crying was distracting the other children.

He continued to cry and screech, watching me the whole time. Once he tried to come over and tell me he was ready, still crying and yelling. I sent him back, saying that he was still being too loud for our
 group. The other children couldn't stop staring, but I ignored him. Soon enough he pulled himself together though and went and chose a second activity.

Was he really truly upset, or was he just frustrated that I had stuck to what I first said to him? I don't know. What I do know is that when something similar happened later he recovered much quicker from my reinforcement of limits.

So did it hurt him to be upset? Personally I don't think so. What it did was help him learn how to deal with that frustration and anger. Something that's going to happen again in his life...a lot I might even venture to say.

The Importance of precious things

"C why don't you choose which book you'd like me to read and I'll carry our special reading mat." It took a little bit to convince C that one book, not two, was all we needed, but eventually she made a choice and we set out to find a spot on the carpet to read about the day in the life of a police officer.

I don't think I was even 3 pages in before the entire class was gathered around, listening. They had even all put their work back on the shelf before joining us, score! Everyone sat relatively still and quiet as I read. I'm slowly introducing the idea that we don't talk during stories. It's a tricky balance because I do want them to ask questions about what is being read, but at the same time it isn't ok for each of them to interrupt and say they've seen a police officer (especially since when one child says it they ALL feel the need to say it!).

Still though, they really enjoy being read to and were all eager to stick around for a second book. I gave the first book to one child to return and chose another to pick out a new one. Meanwhile C did one of the sweetest things I saw today. She noticed that our little reading mat had gotten a bit rumpled from someones foot and reach out to smooth it back down. When she finished she gave it a little pat and sat back, a smile on her face.

That is why I have made so many things for the classroom. ...ok so I didn't make the reading mat (thanks mom!) but the principle is the same. But it's not just the having of lovely objects that makes the classroom special, it's how the children are introduced to them.

I didn't just take the reading mat out one day and roll it on the floor. No, I carried it slowly and carefully with the children watching. I told them how my mother had made this special mat for our classroom to read books at. I made sure to unroll it with very deliberate motion, smoothing it as I went along. I pointed the little book icon on it to the children, telling them again that it was a special mat for reading. Then, and only then did I gently place the book upon it.

It's not enough just to have these things. If children don't' know that we value things, why should they?

Missing faces

It wasn't the first time a child was missing from my little class, but I think it was the first time the other children noticed. They're just beginning to realize that these other children are going to be with them all the time. They're starting to learn names and occasionally match them to the correct face!

This is something else that differentiates Montessori from most mainstream preschool programs. Though of course some programs have children who seem to be there whenever the place is open (especially in lower income areas), many higher income parents choose to have their children attend preschool only a few days a week. This leads to children coming an going, and a class where the community dynamic changes daily. This is actually one of the reasons I really recommend the Montessori approach to a lot of families. Regardless of where you want your child to be academically most parents can agree that they want their child to have friends and other children they feel comfortable spending time with.

The classroom down the hall was missing six students today. Not only did it make a huge dent in the student to teacher ration (lunch was done almost 10 minutes earlier!) but who was playing with who also shifted. At recess I noticed a few children, drifting lost without their favorite playmate to engage with. Meanwhile others where more adventurous and branched out to newer friends.

It's not that it's something bad, or even necessarily good, it just is and it will be a part of life. These children will cycle through friends their entire life and they're just now starting to realize what that means to them and how they're going to deal with it.

We're not dealing with eternal children here, we're watching adults being formed.

Montessori Sunday: The prepared environment (tour edition!)

I've previously written about the importance of preparing the environment in these posts- http://thepointsofdeparture.blogspot.com/search?q=prepared+environment

This post is slightly different as it really showcases how this may look in the actual execution. Of course every classroom is highly varied based on the furniture and space alloted to the teacher. I'm actually quite curious to see how much my own classroom changes over the course of even just this year!

Introductory shelf, including puzzles, bead stringing,
fruit matching, a lock and key, and lacing activity.
There are also some cleaning things as this shelf is
next to the sink and space where the brooms are hung

Cleaning area, including child sized mop, broom,
dustpan and brush for the table and floor

Sink with soap and towels for washing hands.
Underneath are some cones to mark off wet areas and
some towels for wiping up spills on the floor.

Dish washing stations. There is a tub for soapy water, one for rinsing
and the drying rack in to the right on the sink.
The shelf below has a tray for the dirty dishes (they wash one thing at a time),
extra soap and sponge cloths, as well as two bins for 'clean' dishes
that are used to transport things to the dishwasher at the end of the day.

Food preparation shelf.
The activities with orange apron involve making food.
The upper shelf holds some materials
for arranging flowers and caring for plants

Flower arranging station and dressing frames.
This old desk is taller, allowing the children to stand
while they trim flowers and arrange them in vases.
Currently only a few dressing frames are available,
when the stand is full it will need to be moved so
the children can reach all the frames easily.

Snack area.
Here we have a hutch with all the snack supplies.
Currently the snack is already pre-measured in dixie cups
but as soon as they are more trustworthy the children will dish their own.
The fridge currently hold extra snacks (to keep them from being
contaminated by eager fingers) as well as halved oranges and
slices of lemon for  the food activities.

The drying rack for wet cloths and art work
(please note that I had removed all the extra clothspins at this point,
usually the children use 6 or 7 for each little cloth!)

Our snack table.
The children have a cross stich picture to admire
and can also observe part of the garden from here.
Later in the year This table will be set for two children at a time.

 

Resupply shelf for spills cloths, aprons & oilcloths

Custom built stand for cloth washing (thanks mom and dad!)

Chalkboards and my observation stool.
From this spot I can easily see  most of the classroom to take notes.
There is also a chair for the children to sit by me if they need or want to.

Spoken language shelf.
This shelf is also a work in progress and will grow as the children progress.
Currently sound game objects and sandpaper letters are displayed on top
while spoken language cards, some poetry books and biological activities are below.

Library area
I already gave the children a special presentation
on the treatment of  public library books.
So long as they're respectful we have an endless supply
of great literature from the local library!

Flags with land and water forms.
This stand is actually for the puzzle maps,
but as we will only be using one this year I have re-purposed
them to hold the materials for teaching about
islands, lakes, peninsulas, etc.

Sensorial Shelf 1 (back)
I was so excited to find this little table for the red rods!
The child haven't yet had trouble reaching the cylinder blocks on the top shelf,
even with these other stands in the space, but I'll keep watching.

Sensorial Shelf 1 (front)
This has mainly visual materials, including the two cabinets
for geometric shapes, and botany

Sensorial Shelf 2
This shelf has more of a mix of materials for different senses.
On the shelf behind it (currently turned backwards as the children
aren't ready for the materials yet) holds more geography works.

Practical Life Shelf (water works)
This is the biggest shelf in my room and will probably be rotated
throughout the year. Currently the top has easier exercises like simple pouring.

Sewing Activities
This is one of the few shelves that probably wont' have much rotation.
There is an introductory sewing activity, a needle threading work, button
sewing, and a running stitch work. All can be modified slightly to add difficulty.

Art shelf
This shelf has definitely gotten a lot of use already!
Most of the basic activities will remain out all year,
though they will be changed up by adding different colors,
shapes or textures to work with. 

Polishing shelf
All the montessori polishing activities are here,
as well as a basic folding activity and grace and
courtesy cards.
Sometimes it's where things fit, not where they make sense!

The Peace table
Haven't had to use this yet thankfully!
But eventually it will serve as a quiet space for the children
to meet and talk their problems out.
When they solve it they can ring the bell together.

Student bins
Obviously there's some room to expand here!
On top of this shelf are some objects for polishing,
dusting cloths, our 'sun' for birthday celebrations,
and (a class favorite!) our bead string for counting the days.