Drawing a crowd

Today I started reading a story with one child. By the end of it I had four clustered around me and a fifth child hurriedly cleaning up so he could come and join us.

Later I was presenting the golden beads to a child, practicing counting teen numbers. One child drifted over to watch. Another pulled up a chowki to work nearby. (and by nearby I mean practically on my feet!). The final two set out their work at two of the nearest tables.

So in this whole room the entire class was crammed into a space about 8 feet square. None of them was really chatting with each other or all that interested in much beyond their own work, they just wanted to be close by I guess.

And then the baby came to visit us.

Little T often comes in to hang out in our room while his mom gets some work done in the office. He's a good little observer and the younger children love having him visit. So of course when T got a bit fussy and I shifted him from his bouncy chair to a mat on the carpet my students followed him like ducklings.

Granted they did all finish the work they had out first (including putting it away!) so I can't be too upset. Still though, they have an entire classroom I prepared especially for them. Come on guys, appreciate it already! ;)

What bravery looks like

Bravery is when you're 3 or 4 and your teacher unexpectedly brings you in to the 'big kids' room to practice folk dancing; and you follow willingly.

Bravery is listening to some strange adults play music and shout directions at you; and still trying your best to copy what everyone else is doing.

Bravery is holding hands with strange children; and not crying when they pull you around unexpectedly in a circle.

Bravery is being separated from the classmate you do know to be partnered with a stranger; and barely even hesitating to follow.

Bravery is leaving that crowded, noisy room; and then coming back all on your own.

(I'm so proud of all my students who did all this and more today! They were so brave to participate so willingly in an unexpected and chaotic event with adults and children they're unfamiliar with. Excellent attitudes guys, just excellent!)

Reapearance

Spring is coming! And after discovering that "Lake Superior" had moved into our play yard earlier this week we've migrated to having recess in the front yard; which has the major benefit of all day sun and a good drainage slope.

And finally today, the sandbox reappeared. Yesterday the last few stubborn remnants of ice and snow made the sand visible but too tough for much digging but not today. Today there were mud pies made, moats dug and castles constructed. Sand gardens were planted and chocolate cakes decorated. Hands were brown and gritty from the digging and carrying. A few faces got washed in dirt (both intentionally and not) and there was hardly a clean mitten in the place.

But best of all were the little treasure that were unearthed. Colored stones and coins we had purposely hidden as well as the regular run of the mill pebbles that for some reason have the same effect as unearthing real treasure, go figure.

And now I realized that I forgot to double check the pockets of a few overzealous treasure seekers....The rule is if you find it you bury it in a new place but it's been a while and I bet there's been some forgetting....

Hopefully there's some treasure left!

Feed the birds

So just when we decide to let the other classroom borrow our sunflower seed work the birds start visiting our feeder, looking for more seeds! So it was the perfect time to break out the mortar and pestle. I hope they like crushed bread crumbs because at this rate the children are going to cover what little snow is left with them!

Why should I do all the work?

C loves fetching things. He loves matching. He loves the flags in our classroom. So it's not much of a jump to assume that he loves fetching the different flags and matching them to the pictures in the book.

So today he helped me solve the problem of checking that our flags on the stand, actually matched those in the little flip book. We started at the beginning; I pointed to the picture, read the name of the flag and asked him to go and fetch it for me. He'd hurry off, find it in the pile of flags on the mat and then lay it on top of the picture in the book. C even caught the subtle difference between El Salvador and Nicaragua, which I didn't even notice the first time.

El Salvador

Nicaragua

If we ran into a picture we couldn't match I took it out of the book so the children wouldn't be looking for it in the future. At the end we actually had two flags that didn't have a match in the book and I promised C that I would make some new cards for them so they could be a part of the matching.

The funny part about all this? I've been meaning to check this material for a while, C just made it easier and more purposeful for me to complete the task. Sure it took a little bit longer (well maybe not, he was pretty fast) but instead of just making sure the book was accurate I helped pass along some of the country names to C at the same time. Two for the price of one!

A point of arrival

Thinking back on most of the blog posts I realize that I've mainly looked at where the children are going and how they're going to get there. Kind of what I was thinking about when I named this blog "The Points of Departure" But the Montessori process isn't just about departing, it's also about arriving. However there is no 'final' arrival point for human being, but rather many. I didn't realize it during class, but looking back today I'm pretty amazed at where we've gotten.

C started out the year barely speaking, Today he spoke in so many full sentences that I wasn't able to count them. And so many of them happened without prompting. And were on topic with something going on in the classroom. In a way the other children could understand. It's not that he doesn't have any more language skills to build, but he's transformed so much that it's almost ridiculous.

O is finally starting to recognize when he's not moving consciously. He now immediatly responds when I remind him to 'walk carefully' or to 'sit down until you're in control of your body'. And he can do these things. This is the little boy who used to lean on a table so hard that it would slide 2 feet, and yet he wouldn't notice that he was basically falling over as his top half followed it and the bottom stayed behind.

M settled in to the Montessori routine like she was made for it. Choosing work and keeping herself engaged was no problem for her. What was a challenge was speaking up. Today she has no trouble letting her classmates know if she doesn't want them to touch her work, or remind them how to do something. She was the one who started the singing as I finished emptying the dish water and she sang the loudest today when we practiced "I've been working on the railroad".

C used to get more self contained when I gently asked her to find something to do without me. She'd usually go sit in the library, sucking her thumb. Today she happily gets up when I tell her that it's time to do something on her own. With a simple "Ok" she conf

idently sets off to work with another child or take something off the shelf.

W was the child who couldn't stand the idea of having to solve a problem on his own. In the beginning of the year he'd been reduced to tears when I told him that I needed to leave the coat room without him because all the other children were ready. Nowadys he's not thrilled about it, but he's comfortable having to try something on his own. When his zipper gets stuck he checks in with me (just in case I've changed my mind from all the previous days and will just do it for him!) then he'll go back by his hook and start over to see if he can fix it.

And S....well S was gone today but earlier this week she polished all the glass objects in the room. And I mean everything. The girl I needed to explain about how practice made perfect repeated the polishing activity so many times that I needed to restock the cotton balls and rein her in from polishing the food dishes since she was running out of material.

Of course I still have goals for them but I'm really happy with where they are right now too. I can't wait to welcome some new children to our class and have my 'old hands' show them the ropes!

How some days go

Today it sounded like we had a leaky tire wheeling around the room thanks to 3 or 4 children rambling around the classroom going "ssssss" repeatedly.

How else are you going to find all those things that start with the S sound? Like scissors or sink or snowman? That's what happens when all anyone wants to do is sit and observe the teacher. She's going to start quizzing you on what sounds all the objects she's using start with. It's amazing how many things have the p sound; picture, paper, pink, polka dot.

And if you do a really good job finding things your teacher might make you laugh by teaching you alliteration: "So sick S sleeps, snoring soundly." or "Pointy pear parade past pandas."

And that's how we spend our days.

Isn't preschool great?

Adventures 'beyond' the classroom

"I want to go ask one of the bigger kids to read this to me," C declared today.

"One of the kindergartners?" I clarified, then set her up with a visitor's badge and sent her (and the book she wouldn't let go of) off to the other classroom. Now C isn't overly shy, but I've yet to know her to walk into the other classroom without some sort of back-up--much less talk to someone over there. But as I peeked in after her I saw her standing confidently next to the teachers assistant, waiting patiently for her turn to talk.

So when she still wasn't back in a couple of minutes I got concerned and peeked in again. C was still standing by the assistant as yet another kindergartner said that they were busy. The assistant teacher kind of looked around and I had the feeling she'd already gone through the entire list of children who could read and had come up empty. So it was on to phase 2!

"Is everyone busy? How about we go and ask one of the elementary students instead?"

So that's what we did. C was definitely more nervous going in to the 'really big kids' classroom, but she followed me in and was just ecstatic when one of the first graders agreed to come over as soon as she finished cleaning up her painting. 5 minutes later the two of them were camped out back in the 'safety' of our classroom, reading the puppy story together.

At this rate if I'm not careful I'm going to have to worry about which classroom my students are spending most of their time in!