Follow the child

One of Montessori's foundational ideas is following the child. This means that as a guide, we introduce children to activities that interest them, and are within reach of their current abilities. This means that no matter how interested they are in the beautiful bead chains, we won't present them until the child is able to count confidently. Instead a good guide will redirect the child to an activity more suited to their current ability.

That's exactly what I did with Q today. She had taken out the spindle boxes and was happily dropping spindles in to random boxes when I found her. I gently told her she hadn't had that presentation yet, but if she wanted to count we could work on the number rods together. The number rods are the child's first formal introduction to numbers in the classroom, usually we introduce them at around 4 years of age. Since Q is just barely 3.5 I figured I'd introduce her to the first 3 or so rods and that would be about as much counting as she could handle.

I was completely wrong.

After she had set up all the rods I sat at the mat with her and was pretty surprised when she readily identified the rods of 1 to 3 with no problem. 4 and 5 needed some counting, but I was blown away by her steady focus and concentration on the task at hand. So I made it a little harder. I sat on a stool a ways across the room and asked her to fetch a specific rod for me. Fetching this way is harder because not only does the child need to remember what they are looking for longer, but there are plenty of opportunities for distraction while they walk from one point of the room to another.

Q did much better than I had even hoped. I kept it pretty easy for her, but she brought me the correct rod most of the time...though once I did catch her asking an older child to help her find the correct rod! She really liked the one on one time though, and was so confident in her counting. I'm so glad that I followed her obvious interest in numbers, because from set up to complete clean up she was engaged in this counting activity for close to an hour.

Now that is impressive a 3 1/2 year old!

Exuberance can hide in quiet packages

We have a set of siblings in our class who are not native English speakers, their family speaks primarily in Japanese at home. The older one,N, has been in the classroom for two years at this point and her younger sister S has only been with us for a year. N has had a lot more opportunities to learn English and usually does a lot of the speaking for both of them. We've been trying to get S to say more for herself, but it's been difficult.

Not because she doesn't understand, but because she's so strong willed! S would rather have a battle of wills and stand stone silent, rather than say a simple word like "blue". For the longest time she would also take out only the same 3 or 4 activities. She'd cycle through them, all things she long ago mastered, and spend the rest of the time with her older sister. We teachers tried to help her branch out, but she was so unwilling to talk to us that we could barely get her to participate in being shown a new material! This is so opposite of most children, who love the one on one time.

Recently though S has begun to make huge breakthroughs. She not only has been involved in any new presentations, but has actually been ASKING for them...aloud. Let me clear this up. The child who hasn't spoken more than 50 words all fall semester, is coming up and asking 'show me this?" without any prompting. She is now working on a variety of things in the classroom, and though she still really likes to sit by her sister, she's now more likely to go and choose another table, rather than stubbornly wait for the other child to leave.

Today I saw how far S has come. She had taken out the table scrubbing activity and began attacking a table vigorously. I noticed her scrubbing on the carpet and came over to help her move it to the tile area in case there were any major spills. Then I noticed that she still had all the items in the basin and had filled it with water, not exactly how it was supposed to go.

I didn't say anything about the objects, just asked if I could help her. S looked at the table, turned back to me and nodded. A huge step for her, to accept help. Together we moved the table, and I sent S to get an oilcloth while I pulled the tools out of the soapy water. I helped her set up the objects so she could re-fill the basin with clean water and then began the actual presentation because by this point I was pretty sure she had not been shown how to scrub a table before.

But S quietly watched and copied my motions when it was her turn to scrub. She was super interested in it...and then it was time to get ready to go home. I stalled as long as I could, to give her time to finish scrubbing to her hearts' content, but eventually I had to get all the go-homers ready to leave. N bounced over, telling her little sister it was time to leave, and S immediately went to get her label to put on the wet table. I gently told her she  needed to dry it and clean up, then she could get ready to go.

S stopped. She looked at me, her mouth open in a little O and shock on her face. But then the amazing thing happened. She did it. As stubborn as she can be, as focused on being near her sister as she is, S turned around and began drying the table with vengeance.

But she didn't just rush through it, she did a thorough job. By the time she was done we had 4 orange towels drying on the line from all the drying and S went in to the coat room to get ready. What a change from the little girl who wouldn't say a word or do anything new.

Wait....I guess she still didn't say much...oh well, maybe next time.

Overheard in the coat room

After a week long hiatus from school for winter break the children were quite happy to be back. Overheard in the coat room this morning-

Child 1: Do you know why I'm smiling?
Child 2: Because you're happy?
Child 1: No! Because I'm so excited to be back!
(I guess excited and happy aren't the same thing?)

Me: Did you have a good break?
G (nods head)
Me: Did you have fun?
G (nods head)
Me: Did you play with your sisters?
G (nods head)
Me: Do you miss us?
G (nods head, stops halfway through) "Huh?"
(I think she was still on auto pilot for the morning!)

G (entering the coat room): I have to make two trips because I have so much stuff!
M (just as G starts to leave): Hi G!
G (pausing): Hi.
L (just as G leaves the coat room): Hi G!
G (backtracks a few steps and peeks back in to the coat room): Hi L!
E (watching this whole thing from 2 feet away, waits until G has left the coat again) Hi G.
G (keeps walking, stops, turns around and hurries back) Hi E!
(all children continue hanging up their clothing and ignoring one another as though this never happened....)

Rejected and Clung to in the same day

D came in this morning, took one look at me and hid behind his dad's legs.

"Me don't like teacher!" he stubbornly articulated. Dad looked at me, embarrassment clear on his face while I desperately racked my memory for anything specific I had done that might have provoked this fierce statement. Coming up blank I shrugged my shoulders while dad tried to figure out what to say to his little boy. I let it go and talked to D's brother instead, he was more than happy to say good morning. Not that D's words didn't hurt, I think it was the first time I heard a child say that to me....well it may have happened during a tantrum but I won't count that. But D had had a few difficult days recently with coming into school, so I wasn't too surprised.

I gave D some space, staying just close enough to make sure he wasn't going to follow dad back out the door or anything. While his brother hurried in to hang up his coat and go in to the classroom D sat on the entryway bench, not crying but still pointedly ignoring me. After about 20 minutes, with most the children in the classroom I went back and sat on the bench across from him.

"D would you like to go in and read a book with me? I'll let you pick it out."

"Yeah." And he started to take off his boots.

That was it. He got his shoes, hung up his coat and snow pants and went in to the classroom. Over the course of the morning I read a book with him, introduced a new way to use a material and helped him make a few work choices. I guess he didn't really mind me as much as he had thought that morning.

Sigh, sometimes it's hard to be the 'symbol' that mom or dad is going to leave.

On the opposite end of the spectrum today was Q.

She came in, sought me out for a handshake and eagerly took me up on my offer to practice some sandpaper letters. In fact she was so eager that she just grabbed the first three letters she saw, too impatient to get to a table. Together we traced the letters, and she giggled at every single word I came up with that had that sound in it. Seriously, every single word was hilarious to her.

Then she followed me around the rest of the day. Every time I turned around, there was Q. She didn't bother me, or pester me to work with her, she was just there. She'd come and observe when I worked with other children. She'd stand nearby while I jotted down notes. Every now and then she'd come and put a hand on my shoulder or sit down next to me.

And she was still doing her own work all day. She drew on the chalkboard while I did fetching with another boy nearby. She washed a bunch of windows, changing her location as I walked around the room. I'm not sure what the deal was, but she wanted to be my shadow.

Oh, and she was absolutely ticked when I sat by her at lunch. That just about put her over the top.

So that helped me break even for the day. I'd rather D would be more happy to see me, but you can't win all the time. Hopefully he's in a better mood tomorrow. If not maybe I'll try to have him and Q work together...hmm.....

Patience pays off

Well, it's finally happened. The youngest children that stay all day (the ones we call the nappers) can just about do the entire afternoon schedule without us. After about 5 months of practice these 3 year olds can follow a routine that takes an hour and half and contains four big transitions between environments.

They no longer need reminders to wash their hands before lunch, and other than a few sneaky ones remember to eat their protein and vegetable before diving in to that delicious fruit and crackers! L still has some issues with this, she absolutely loves the gluten free pretzels her mom packs and they're often gone before a teacher can even realize that she's say down and started eating! The nappers all know how to pack up their lunch boxes and clean up their table. Without any reminders they put those same lunchboxes away and get dressed to go outdoors.

Here's where most of the trouble is, not because they don't know what to do but because zippers can be tricky. And that darn second mitten! The first one can go on just fine, but how on earth does one put on the second one without a thumb? I think only one of the nappers has actually figured this mystery out, and mainly because she's too impatient to go outside to wait for a teacher to help her, she wants it on NOW.

Anyways, once dressed they know to go out the door to the playground, including opening AND shutting that same door! They have become experts at standing in line to wait and take their boots off, including how to scoot up the line when someone else goes inside. Some still need a reminder about when it is their turn (we only have 2 at a time on the bench to take off boots because of space issues), but our two smallest girls, Q and J, have started to figure out how to watch for a space to open up.

All the nappers have figured out how to get their boots off, even if the elastic of their snow pants gets in the way. I was so proud today to finish getting off my outdoor things, turn around and see three small children already finished and carrying their boots inside. There wasn't even any whining about it being cold in the back hallway, or about wet socks from the puddles of melting snow!

We've recently had a schedule change so the elementary students are eating lunch in the room where our shelves for boots and shoes are. This means that not only do the children need to remember to switch their boots for their inside shoes, but they need to do it surrounded by a crowd of excited and noisy older children. I am happy to say that all the nappers can successfully navigate this hazard with the barest reminder.

They have become such experts that at this point I can simply stand silently in the coat room while they hang up their snow pants and jackets. S and L usually need reminders to tuck their hat and mittens in to the sleeves, but other than that there isn't much for me to do.

Al the children know where they need to line up for the bathroom, and even which games or songs they can do while waiting. E has taken it upon herself to run the games (usually trying to guess which animal the child is thinking of), though I think this is mainly because she wants to be the first one to think of an animal! Each of the nappers remembers to walk quietly to the nap room door, remove their shoes and gently tip them against the wall before entering.

Phew! That's a lot of steps!

Sometimes the kids don't take the most direct line,
but they do get to the final destination eventually!

But hang on, there's more.

Those who don't sleep after an hour know that after they are dismissed by the teacher that they should come and find me, they no longer linger in the hallway looking lost. E, S and J all were awake today and as soon as they finished getting their shoes on came out in to the big room, searching for me to ask if they could help with the cutting I was doing.

For the children who don't sleep, they've learned that waking up after the teacher has gone means they should quietly come out, put back on their shoes and go to the classroom. Today Q woke up about half way through nap and even though she was really upset about missing her socks she managed to get her shoes on and get in the classroom to come and ask for help. O also woke up early, and she has even more to remember since she sleeps in the coat room. Each day she needs to roll up her blanket, put it by the nap room door, and put back the books she looked at. That's quite a few things for sleepy 3 year old to remember!

So yeah, it's a crazy schedule, but it's what we've had them do all year. If there's ever a strong case for consistency this nap routine may be it.