Orientation: Day 2

Well I survived another day with my new students. It was definitely an easier day, mainly thanks to having two groups of 3 instead of a group of 2 and a group of 4.  Plus no one really cried at drop off, and they were so stinking adorable! Now, that's not really the way my trainer would have wanted me to talk about the children, she'd hope for something a bit more respectful of their growing individual selves, but I think adorable described them perfectly today.

With both groups I had a chance to actually just pause for almost an entire minute and just watch them work. Not bad for new children who aren't used to being in a situation like this. And in the second group they were all actually working on the cylinder blocks at the same time. It was so cute! All three of them, at their separate little tables, intently lifting the cylinders by the knobs to put them in and take them back out. That was the best part to is that they were even using them just as I had shown, it was so awesome!

As you might be able to guess I felt pretty good about how today went. I had it a bit more in my head of what the day was going to look like: taking them all to the bathroom first, reviewing our three rules, then a short lesson about how to sit in a chair, and after that going wherever the children led.

Not that it was perfect, there was definitely a few minutes where I had two children waiting outside the bathroom while the boy inside proceeded to not just pull down his pants to use the toilet, but actually took them and his shoes off to complete the act. And unfortunately he's not had much practice dressing himself as I soon found out.

But it went really well. I got in a few nice presentations and exposed my more impatient students to the idea of waiting. I really made a point to explain that "I'm working with so-and-so. When I'm done I will come and help you." They were very receptive to it.

I definitely let some things slide that I won't later on in the year, such as a child leaving work out while they observe someone else. I know most things are easier to be strict on at first and ease up later, but because I'm in the position of being the sole teacher in my classroom, I need to take advantage of any involved time they have right now.

Here's hoping that tomorrow goes just as well! (though it might make me nervous if it does!)

New students!

The day has finally arrived, the first day of orientation for my six new students!

Welcome: S, CL, O, Ca, W, M
(...hmm, they kind of looks like periodic elements this way, oh well!)

I am happy to report that the day went by with no major catastrophes, which is great news because I am flying solo without an assistant and our float person was also absent for the day. I think the biggest incident was having one student come at the wrong time so I had a group of 2 and a group or 4 instead of two groups of 3. It made things a bit trickier but it all worked out.

My favorite accomplishment of the day? Getting each child to shake my hand hello AND goodbye. They all were excited to see their parents, but I was secretly glad that they were also content to continue playing for a bit and didn't need to run right up to them. Let's hope they feel the same when they come back tomorrow and realize this isn't a one time thing!

At our school orientation takes place over three days where the children come in small groups for about  1 1/2 hours. This helps them get used to the routine of coming in to school, changing their shoes and working for a little bit in the classroom. The smaller groups is to help the teacher give more presentations so they new children have activities to do.

I gave each group a quick little tour of the bathroom (very important!) and some important parts of our classroom. We went over our class rules, all three of them!

1. We walk in the school
2. We wait until we've been shown how to use things before we touch them
3. We put materials back in their place when we're done.

I had a small shelf set up with some activities they probably have at home, such as some simple puzzles and a bead stringing activity. I told them they could take any of those things to a table and most of the children found something to interest them.

Now I know I've talked a lot about how a Montessori teacher is supposed to stand back and not interfere, but what I haven't mentioned is that this happens only after the child has EARNED that freedom. That meant that I had precious little time to sit and observe today. Most of my time with the children was spent reminding them to push in their chairs and put things back on the shelf. There was also a lot of directing to activities and (with one group) a lot of reminding that we don't touch things we haven't been shown.

Yet with each group I can distinctly remember a short period of time where I looked around and all the children were engaged with something. It was wonderful! They will get there. We will be a calm, functioning Montessori classroom. The children will be able to choose things that interest them and work on them with concentration. It won't happen right away, but I"m already excited to see that it will be possible!

Montessori Sunday: Art Activities

A little late but here's a brief look at art materials in the classroom.

Maria Montessori often pressed teachers to provide "the best for the smallest", meaning that we shouldn't give children tools that were inferior to adult versions. Instead she wanted to ensure they could experience the best materials possible. That could mean giving them a child sized rack with a wooden handle that won't bend like the plastic ones which are more common.

She also wanted children to be exposed to more than watercolors and crayons that are the staple of most preschool rooms today. Her books talk about giving children real clay to build small sculptures with, and oil based paints to explore with. Montessori wanted to have children learn how to sew with real, sharp needles (that are sometimes very hard to thread for such small fingers!).

The art aspect of Montessori isn't often included when most people sum up the Method to others. I think it's because of the big cultural shift away from art education in general. Of course in the classroom there are lots of opportunities for children to be creative beyond the art materials, but I'd like to focus on the actual art works today.

Currently on my shelf for the new three year old students I have-

My homemade rubbing blocks. 

The green is very rough sandpaper that is mounted on 

pre-cut wood blocks from the local craft store.  

The child places a piece of paper on top of the shape 

and rubs over it with a crayon to make the image appear.

• Drawing with colored pencils
• Simple cutting paper for scissors
• Modeling clay
• Pasting pre-cut shapes
• Rubbing with crayons
• Watercolor painting

As the year goes on I'll update some of these activities (like adding different papers to the scissor cutting), while others will be rotated out and replaced with more challenging work (such as exchanging the pasting activity for a paper making work).

I'm thinking about doing a winter and spring themed art activity as well when the time rolls around, but don't want to focus too much on the holidays and seasons. I previously worked at a school that tried to do a different type of art project each week to follow the theme. It was far too much work. A lot of prep time on the part of the adults and a lot of time spent nagging each child to make sure they had a completed project to bring home. It wasn't very Montessori and I just didn't like doing it. I also noticed that the children who were really interested finished their project right away and wanted to do another (though they couldn't because we didn't have time to prepare extras). Meanwhile the children who weren't enthusiastic would drag their feet and avoid the art project.

I'd rather have a situation like the one that happened in the classroom last year. We had a work where the children cut the parts of flowers out of paper and glued them together. All the children were very interested when we first put the work on the shelf, but after a bit only a few children were interested. But these children were extremely interested in cutting out those particular shapes and putting them together. So much so that they made several each day for days on end.

The end result? Most children just brought home 1 or 2 paper flowers, while a few brought home dozens. I feel like the parents got a much better idea of what their children ACTUALLY liked to do, rather than what they were being forced to do.

Tools of the Montessori Teacher

As the time to welcome my new students rolls ever closer I've rediscovered a great tool at home. Meet my favorite appliance (is it an appliance?)-

THE WONDERFUL SERGER!!!!

This old machine was a generous present from my grandmother and oh has it come in handy making classroom materials. There are so many things in the Montessori classroom that are better when they are handmade. I've made over 100 small drying cloths with this thing, as well as some random fabric pouches and other items.

The last few nights I've been working on making some hand towels for the children. Even a washcloth is really too large to be used for drying ones hands when one is only 3 years old. So with the help of this nifty machine I cut them all in half. Plus it's always nice to double the quantity for free- and even better to quadruple it when cutting down regular hand towels. At least it makes ME feels like I'm being thrifty.

I'm really hoping these items last for quite a few years. Unfortunately they are going to have to put up with the abuse of being used on a nearly daily basis as well as being washed on the same schedule. But if not I'll hopefully be able to make some replacements just as easily. That is if I can figure out why that wonderful serger suddenly started cutting its own thread....maybe it's just tired from overuse? Maybe? *Fingers crossed*

Finishing Touches

New student orientation is less than one week away and my classroom is finally coming together. Though there is still plenty more to do (including some things I know won't be done in time for the start of the school year), I'm beginning to feel that the room is ready to welcome the newest children at our school.

Most of the first couple of weeks will be spent getting the children used to completing a cycle of activity (including taking out a work, using it properly, then returning it to the shelf for the next person). I'm also going to be doing a lot of grace and courtesy lessons, such as how to roll a mat, how to move a chair, etc. Oh, and how to wash your hands at the sink. That's probably one of the more important lessons! Actually, the fact that I know how a set of completed hand towels for my students to use may be what has finally made my room feel more complete. If nothing else they will be able to wash their hands!

Washcloths magically sewn in to hand drying towels.
I can now sleep knowing I can teach the children how to wash their hands!

The 'work' of eating

Today I had an interesting conversation with one of the Children's House students. We were eating in the classroom since it was raining outside. The children where clustered around a few of our larger tables put together so we could enjoy a family style lunch. They all seemed really happy with the arrangement. chatting with one another and actually staying in their seats. It's much more comfortable and easier to stay in your chair when your feet can actually touch the ground. Our outdoor picnic tables are definitely not child sized and I think that's contributed to a lot of the problems at lunch. So even though eating in the classroom itself should have been an exciting new novelty, they took to it quickly.

Anyways the children were asking if we were going to play outside for recess and I said no, we were going to have indoor play today. One of them asked "Where?" and before I could answer another student spoke up "In the classroom!" They all giggled at that and I laughed with them, then said we were going to play in the day care room because the classroom wasn't for playing; it was for working. "And for lunch!" one of the kids interjected excitedly. "Well yes," I answerd. "But eating lunch is a type of work."

And it's true.

At our school we don't view lunch as something that just needs to happen every day. Instead it's another work for the child to accomplish. They need to remember all the steps such as: washing hands, getting their lunch box, setting out their napkin and eating their protein first. They're expected to manage their food and containers themselves. Whenever a child can't open something themselves we always have them ask another friend for help before coming to a teacher. They're also spending time practicing mastering silverware. I think yogurt seems to be one of the hardest things to learn how to eat! It's tricky, one minute it's solid on your spoon, then it drips off like a liquid!

We teachers also try to model good table manners. Staying seated properly at the table, not speaking with your mouth full (a really hard one when you're trying to manage the whole group and eat your lunch at the same time!). We encourage the children in conversation, their usual favorite topic is who has the same food as who. It's pretty entertaining how excited they get when they have carrots and someone else does too; like they never imagined anyone else could have had that 'rare' food!

Really noticeable today too was the after lunch clean up. Each child was not only responsible for packing up their lunch containers, but also sweeping up all the crumbs under their chair. We also provide a bucket of soapy water in case anyone has an especially messy time eating.

So, all in all eating a meal really is 'work' for the child. Real, purposeful work that is applicable in their lives and is helping them grow up to be competent adults.

Hooray for Parent Volunteers!

Our school has been undergoing some major transitions over the past 6 months, most of it stressful. One of the more minor points (in the overall scheme of things, though it feels major to me) was the lack of shelving in my classroom. With only one children's house last year we cannibalized the second classroom, taking the best of the materials and some shelving units to use. Honestly it makes sense, why store something perfectly good when you could be using it?

But what it led to was me being assigned to re-open a classroom that was short a few shelving units, and those that were available were probably as old as I am! But of course in the mess of transition to a new head of school and waiting for him to come in to the country to begin working, this minor issue got pushed to the wayside.

So when our second summer session started up last week I was getting pretty nervous about actually getting my shelving in time. Then some parents got involved. Two who had really been advocating for me to get the supplies I needed stepped up to bring this to the attention of our new head of school. A couple of days later one of them comes in to my room and asks what dimensions I want because they're just going to build them. So I happily give him my specifications, thinking at least I'd have my shelves before school started.

He dropped of half of them 2 days later. He would have had all of them done, but the store was out of Oak. I'd barely had time to admire them before another parent volunteered to take them home and polyurethane them. Awesome! Now I'll only have to wait like another week to start putting things on them.

Nope. They came back Monday morning, all ready to be set up.

Note to self, parents can be the best of help...even if they're not your own!

(picture of my awesome new shelves to come soon!)

History was made today

Or maybe re-made?

Today I got to witness a 're-enactment' of the story of Paul Revere. I have no clue how it started. I was watching the elementary students at recess and the next thing I know a bunch of them are running around shouting "The Bristish are coming! The British are coming!". I can't say how historically accurate their rendition was. At one point there was a queen and princess who were being abducted by the Americans (pretty sure that didn't happen), not to mention multiple escape attempts by said queen and princess that ended up with one of them being raised from the dead (I KNOW that didn't happen).

However the British did lose....but for some reason the American's were the ones drinking tea....I might have to suggest revisiting that topic to their teacher.

Preparing the environment

As much as I miss working with the children during the morning work cycle, I'm super excited to be setting up my new classroom! I've been waiting for this chance for several months now and am finally getting a couple hours each day to begin setting up. My first task was actually to remove everything that didn't actually belong in the classroom. Between using the space for daycare all last school year, then moving other things for safe keeping over the summer there was quite a bit of extra furniture and miscellaneous objects in there!

Second order of business was setting up the basic layout of my room. In a Montessori classroom it's important that there be room for the children to move about and work on the floor if they want. I tried to place the small work tables in quieter areas so they can develop concentration. And of course there's dealing with the physical limitations of the room, like the location of the sink and doors. I'm pretty excited with how it's turning out, and cannot wait until some parent volunteers finish building the new shelves that will be going in my classroom.

It feels like the countdown to starting my own room has really begun!

After having most of the extra things cleared out...
we still have a ways to go!

An oak leaf story

So one of our new children, one who yesterday spent most of the morning crying for her dad, came right in to school this morning brandishing an oak leaf. I 'oh'd' and 'ah'd' over it for a minute, watching her grin and squirm happily from all the attention. Then the real test came. I asked if she wanted to show one of the other children in the daycare room.  And what did she do? Thought about it for a second, then rushed in, shoving her leaf in the face of the closest child. No tears, didn't even notice that dad had disappeared. I think she's gonna settle in just fine.

Back in Session!

Wow, it's amazing what can happen over 5 weeks! All the children came back and I could have sworn they all grew 5 inches. All those little three year olds looked so grown up, walking in to school with such confidence. They were back. They knew what was going on. They knew where those tricky shoes and lunch boxes went (and even when we changed some things on them they could roll with the punches!).

But what they didn't know was that they were going to encounter something new...well make that someONE new. Four new children joined us for the summer session, and I could see it on the returning children's faces how blown away they were. That had been them last year. The child crying because they wanted dad was doing just what they had done. They watched, stunned at these new children joined the line and entered the classroom with them; not quite sure what they should do.

By recess it was all sorted out. New friends played together in the bower of lilacs, rules were explained to the youngest members of the community (sometimes multiple times!). And the new 'recruits'? Well they might not have known the names of all the children they were playing with, but they sure knew who they wanted to be with!