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!

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.

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!)