How to get them to do what you want

So I've been wanting the children to pay attention to a few more of the materials in the classroom. In a larger class there is more pressure to branch out because items will naturally be in use more and so the child needs to wait their turn. This also means that children are reminded about something they may not have used in a while when they see someone else using it. In our little class this just doesn't happen as often.

So instead I gave them some subliminal prompts!

Ok, ok, that's not how I'm supposed to say it. Quoting my Montessori trainer I gave them an "indirect lesson"

I've been waiting for them to experiment a bit more with the pink tower, exploring how all the blocks are related to one another now that they have no trouble building them in order. So I took it out myself. As soon as I did S asked to join me and together we scattered the blocks around the classroom and then rebuilt the tower. By then we had a larger audience so I purposely started experimenting with the cubes, stacking them in different configurations.

M didn't even want to wait until I was done to try that out for herself, she set out immediately to get the brown stairs out to try experimenting. C joined her and the two of them set about building everyone's 'house' out of the blocks (though C also insisted they build a clubhouse....a tall clubhouse!). I noticed M taking stock of the prisms, seeming to notice their relationships in size for the first time as she attempted to build a solid structure.

I'm gonna call that one a success.

My next task was to remind them about the metal insets. Other than W the other children rarely take this work out, despite my attempts to introduce a few variations to C and S. So instead of suggesting it and being turned down I simply took it out and began tracing and coloring the shapes myself. Same as before the children would eventually drift over to watch what I was doing. W immediately joined me, dragging a second chowki over to work right by me.

Unfortunately he did his usual quick trace, trace and barely color in before deciding he was done. I'm hoping to get him to take his time to color in a shape more fully as well as doing a different shape on each side of the paper. But since he's still having such trouble choosing work at all I don't want to make this in to a longer, harder work that he steers away from in an effort to take life easy. Some work is better than none right now!

C, on the other hand, got out an inset and spent quite a bit of time hanging out by me and coloring it in more fully; enjoying the process and hopefully strengthening her hand for writing later.

See how tricky we teachers are? :)

Montessori Sunday: Pink Tower

Edit: For some reason this did not actually get posted on Sunday, oops! Please pretend that it did!

Welcome back to another post of Montessori Monday, which from now on will be Montessori Sunday. My last Montessori post covered the basic history and structure of the method and today I'd like to introduce you to one of the actual classroom learning materials. There are hundreds of Montessori materials in the Casa dei Bambini (ages 3 to 6) alone, and where else to start but the Pink Tower, the iconic Montessori material.

The pink tower is more than just a pile of blocks and building it is more than just stacking the blocks one on top of the other. The blocks are built to specific dimensions so that they all vary by the same degree (1cm cubed). When the teacher presents this material to the children she shows how to carefully carry the blocks one at a time to a working mat. When the blocks are all brought to the mat she then shows the child how to build the tower. This isn't because she doesn't think the child can figure out how to build the tower, but because she wants to convey the precision and delicacy with which she builds it. The blocks are never slid into place, but rather picked up and re-centered to help improve fine motor skills. The tower is then admired from all angles and dismantled just as carefully. Originally Dr. Montessori had allowed the children to knock the tower down, but then changed her mind as she wanted them to treat all the materials with respect and care.

A child may learn how to build the tower very quickly and master its order, but that doesn't mean they are finished with it. Most Montessori materials have extensions beyond the first presentation. These are given to extend the child's use of the material. Simple games and language activities keep the children engaged with the material longer so they can really become familiar with it. With the pink tower the child may be introduced to scattering the blocks on one mat and then actually building the tower on a different mat across the room. This not only encourages them to remember which cube they need next, but to retain their focus as they wind across the busy classroom. The language for large and small is also introduced using the pink tower, giving the child a chance to begin using more precise language to describe their world.

But one of my personal favorite things about the pink tower is the fact that it corresponds to the brown stair (also called the broad stair). The two materials are based on the same basic dimensions and it is fascinating to watch the children explore the different ways the two materials can go together. Ok, and it's fun to do it yourself as well!