Let It Be Montessori

Hands are not for hurting, but sometimes they still do.

   This was originally posted at www.msgl.org on 2/7/2015.

    February in Indiana is tough. It’s 28 days of Arctic cold, howling winds, and brown slush everywhere you turn. The air hurts your skin and the gray sky steals your hope. Do you know why February is only 28 days long? Because no one would survive if it lasted even one day longer. February is the Chuck Norris of our calendar year.

 

     I think February brings out the worst in everyone, even the sweet little children at the Montessori school. So it's often in February when I remind myself that the primary purpose of preschool is socialization. Sure, our Montessori classrooms have these beautiful materials and teachers trained to present them, but our primary goal is for each child to develop naturally into a well-rounded and well-adjusted individual. And for that to happen, each child must learn many, many social skills. Here’s a partial list. Lucky for me, blog inches are cheap!

• How to talk to others.
• How to listen.
• How to respond to positive events.
• How to respond to negative events.
• How to express emotions.
• How to read emotions.
• How to move gracefully across the room.
• How to walk peacefully in a hallway filled with people.
• How to be part of a group.
• How to speak in front of a group.
• How to listen as part of a group.
• How to lead.
• How to follow.
• How to make decisions.
• How to choose an activity.
• How to clean up and put away.
• How to sit next to a friend.
• How to ask for help.
• How to offer assistance.
• How to comfort others.
• How to share.
• How to ask to share.
• How to say “No, thank you” to sharing.
• How to improvise.
• How to make do.
• How to say “I’m sorry” and mean it.
• How to stick up for yourself.
• How to show respect.
• How to be worthy of respect.

     Preschoolers do all of this really challenging work surrounded by 23 other children who are all trying to do exactly the same thing. (Twice that many, if enrolled for a full day.) Preschool can be very hard work!

     Sometimes a child will do something inappropriate to another child and a well-meaning parent will ask me, “Did you tell them not to do that?” Of course. Every day our teachers remind children that hands are not for hurting and to use their words. But listening is not the way young children learn morals and social skills. (Although it IS the way they learn language.) Preschoolers learn by doing and that means that sometimes - lots of times, actually - they do inappropriate things. And gradually, they learn from them.

     So, since young children are not born knowing the difference between appropriate and inappropriate behavior, and they can’t simply follow our instructions, the grown-ups have to give them lots of opportunities to figure it out with other children. We must provide them with an environment that allows them to safely - with close supervision - make many, many bad decisions. In our preschool classrooms, the teachers expect inappropriate behaviors and respond to them consistently with each occurrence, knowing that they will lessen over time. A child’s “bad” behavior might keep us on our toes, but it rarely surprises us.

     And thank goodness for that! Imagine if doctors were shocked to see so many sick patients every day. Or if plumbers were bewildered by clogged pipes. Or firefighters were stymied when houses caught fire. They would not be very effective at their jobs. In order to be effective at my job as a teacher in a Montessori classroom of three to six-year-olds, I have to first: like children, and second: understand that all of the terrible things that children can do to each other are not failings, but simply a natural part of their development. A child who hits or bites or kicks is showing me that she is upset about something and has not yet learned to respond without hurting. It’s my job to help her develop a new, appropriate response while doing my best to keep the other children safe.

     I admit that my best isn’t always enough. And it’s not easy to watch these children suffer through the process of dealing with separation anxiety, or a friend’s harsh words, or simple frustration at being unable to dress themselves. I love the children in my care and it hurts to watch them hurt themselves or others when their anger literally comes out of their fingers and toes.

     Recently, I was sitting next to two children who had been playing very actively all morning. I will call them Danny and Sandy. They were having trouble working together but they just couldn’t stand to be away from each other. They are each learning how to be friends with someone who drives them a little bit crazy. I stayed close to them so I could intervene and help them resolve the issues that were bound to arise when things got out of hand.

     At group time the children got to talking about which animals they liked the most. Danny laughed and said, “My favorite kind of animal is Sandy.” I turned to them just as Sandy pulled back her arm and punched Danny squarely in the face. Danny was really surprised. He thought maybe he was hurt for just a moment, but quickly regained his composure.

     Seeing that he wasn’t hurt, I said, “I don’t think Sandy liked it when you called her a name. What do you think?”

     “I was just saying it to myself,” he said.

     “Well, I'm pretty sure she heard you," I responded.

     Having made herself clear already, Sandy had nothing to add.

     Did Danny deserve to be hit? No. But he did need to know that Sandy didn’t like the way he treated her. Should Sandy have hit him? No. But she did need to let him know that it wasn’t okay to call her a name. Did either of them “get in trouble” by me? No. We talked about other possible responses and there was no more name-calling or punching that morning. But it’s not over. I will keep those two on my “Watch List” for the rest of the year and when I hear their voices get loud or see them chasing each other I will do my best to be right there to help them work through their next disagreement. That’s my job. Not to punish or shame children, but to help them learn to express themselves and to be good listeners and… ah, just refer to the previous bulleted list.

 

     I have read about preschools with zero tolerance policies for hitting and biting. My question is always, "Where will they send all of those children?" If a 4-year-old is banned from preschool because she has not yet learned to get along with others, what’s next for her? Reform school? Prison? Dr. Phil?

     Preschool is THE BEST place for young children to learn how to get along with others. Sometimes it’s tense, sweaty, gritty, even frightening work. But the mis-steps children make in preschool prepare them for a future that is much less secure. A time when they won’t be surrounded by loving adults waiting to step in and guide them to resolve problems peacefully. A time when using hands to hurt can have lifelong consequences.

     I am not complacent about children hurting each other and I put myself between thrown punches and sweet little faces every time I can. But I also know that "bad" behavior is not a fault in a child, it signals an important learning opportunity. A child who lashes out is showing us how we can help her. Maria Montessori put it this way,

“The undisciplined child enters into discipline by working in the company of others; not being told he is naughty. Discipline is, therefore, primarily a learning experience and less a punitive experience if appropriately dealt with.”

     Please try to be patient with your children and other people's children as we all wait for the Earth to travel just a little further around the Sun. February will become March, winter will become spring, and children who are not yet peaceful will develop a little more self-control and gradually, gracefully learn to cope with the many frustrations of being a small child.

     Thanks for reading,

     ~ Heather

What Did You Do at Preschool Today?

    What did your child do at preschool today? You can try asking, but often they will say they did nothing or they “played.” The most common question I receive from parents is, “How can I know he is doing anything at school? He never tells me anything and his cubby has been empty for days.”

    Please believe me, your child is doing something. A lot of stuff, actually. But he may not remember "doing" anything at all that day. And his accomplishments often cannot be held in the hand or seen with the eye at pick-up time. If he could tell you, it might sound like this: 

"I concentrated today!

When someone asked to play with me, I said yes.

I looked at the caterpillars in the jar - for a very long time. Then my teacher read me a book about butterflies. Twice. Because I asked.

I sat next to a friend who was labeling the lifecycle of the frog. I handed her the labels and helped her match them. I got her a paper towel when her fingers were gluey.

When everyone was talking about bees I told them, “Bumblebees don’t sting. Only honey bees sting. Bumblebees just bumble.” Everyone agreed with me.

I looked at a real chicken egg and a real duck egg. I said the duck egg was bigger.

I used the very heavy tortilla press to make playdough tortillas. My friends helped and we laughed. None of us pinched our fingers.

I compromised about sitting in the comfy chair.

I served myself a snack, ate it politely alongside my friends, and cleaned up after myself.

I felt sad - just for a little bit - because I missed my mom.

I noticed that the lizard’s food bowl was empty and cut some lettuce for him.

I waited for a turn on the orange bike.

I heard that a friend is going to Korea for the summer and I gave him a hug to say goodbye."

    A preschooler's greatest and most important work often doesn’t have any external product to show for it. Having and being a friend, acting out of kindness, demonstrating patience and self-control, taking care of oneself, feeling satisfied with a job well done - these things are all internalized. The children in our classrooms build their character and their understanding of the world every day, but they can’t always verbalize it. They are doing so much challenging work! But they do not yet see their actions and successes as separate from themselves.

    After a sunflower seed sprouts in the garden we might notice as the stem grows taller, but we cannot see the acts of photosynthesis and respiration and transpiration that take place every single day. The sunflower plant continues to do its work converting sunlight to sugars and sugars to fuel - the internal work of living - whether we take notice or not. Then, one day it blooms and we look at it and say, “Finally!”

    Maria Montessori believed that the child reveals himself through his work, not through his outwardly visible successes and accomplishments. Every experience he has is internalized and becomes a part of his very being. She put it this way, “The things he sees are not just remembered; they form a part of his soul.”

    Stories from their day and recorded work, like the blooms of a sunflower, are parts of the child we can see and they might be pleasing to us, but they are only the product of a momumental amount of internal work. So please don’t worry when your child says she did nothing all day. Nothing to grown-ups can be everything in the life of a child.

     Lots of peace, lots of love ~ Heather

Originally posted in April, 2014 at Montessori School of Greater Lafayette Blog.

 

10 Rules for Working with Young Children - Maria Montessori's Decalogue

Photo courtesy of Lena Atkinson

     What is Montessori?

     Rather than explaining what Montessori is, I am offering an excerpt from an article that does a beautiful job of describing what Montessorians do. Maria Montessori's Decalogue is a set of 10 rules for adults working in a Montessori classroom. It is relevant to parents, grandparents, and caregivers of all types who strive to relate to children peacefully and respectfully in any environment.

     I hope you will enjoy this expanded version of the Montessori Decalogue as written by The Mammolina Children's Home Montessori Kindergarten in Beijing, China. 

 

The Montessori Decalogue

 

1. Never touch the child unless invited by him (in some way or another).

Unless there is a very strong reason to (like avoiding an accident, for example), one should never touch a child unless a child requests it. Picking up a child without the child’s consent, even if in a playful manner, or grabbing her hand, pushing her, etc., should always be avoided. If children are engaged, looking at a book, working, playing, resting, the same principle applies. Children invite contact in many ways, and parents and adults in general, who work with children, know how to interpret the signs they send. It is important also to respect a child when she is angry and does not want to be touched or picked up.

2. Never speak ill of the child in his presence or absence.

Speaking ill of a child, or making negative comments about a child, either in the child’s presence or absence, denotes lack of respect for the child. It also sets a frame of mind and denotes an attitude that is negative and conducive to confrontation—and not always open! Preconceived ideas often linger as negative thoughts and breed reactive behavior. If an adult falls into this trap, it is very easy for a lack of patience and negative attitudes to creep in and damage the relationship with the child.

3. Concentrate on strengthening and helping the development of what is good in the child, so that its presence may leave less and less space for what is negative.

If adults focus on negative behavior, children will feel inadequate. This will result in low self-esteem, and a self-fulfilling prophecy like behavioral patterns will take over. Negativity will become second nature. Instead, by focusing on what is positive, the child will feel safe and confident. Children are learning what is and is not acceptable behavior can and cannot be done, etc. They do not need punishments or rewards. Simply to be shown what is and is not acceptable, by adults that model appropriate behavior.

4. Be proactive in preparing the environment, take meticulous and constant care of it. Help the child establish constructive relations with it. Show the proper place where the means of development are kept and demonstrate their proper use.

If the child is presented with a prepared environment, there is little need for much more. Again, modeling appropriate behavior is essential. A child that is shown an orderly environment will likewise feel encouraged to keep it orderly. If a child has available manipulatives she can handle, play and work with, rather than things she cannot touch, she will feel at ease to explore the world around her. If objects are at reach, that the child may break or hurt herself with, she should be shown how to handle them, rather than told “don’t touch!” A kitchen is a world full of wonder for a child! Cutting, cooking, stirring, pouring, etc., are all activities the child will want—and need!—to master in order to become independent. Include the child in as many activities as possible at home, from cleaning to cooking; there is enough to keep any child busy and engaged all day long.

5. Be ever ready to answer the call of the child who stands in need of you, and always listen and respond to the child who appeals to you.

There is nothing worse for a child than to feel insecure and ignored. Abandonment is a feeling no child should have to live with. “If a child asks for attention, then that child needs attention,” stressed Montessorian Margaret Homfray. When people brush a child aside and say, “she just wants attention,” that person is missing the point: a child only wants attention when she needs attention. Children who feel cared for and do not have to worry about being abandoned, even if for a short time, are far more likely to care for others and show concern for and trust others, than those who experience this sort of “cold shoulder” treatment. Also, “timeout” and “go to your room and stay there” approaches are also expressions of abandonment.

6. Respect the child who makes a mistake and can then or later correct it herself, but stop firmly and immediately any misuse of the environment and any action which endangers the child, its own development or that of others.

Avoid rushing to correct mistakes a child has committed. Children are learning to cope and function. They will persist and practice to their heart’s content whatever skill they need to acquire, until they master it. If a child starts throwing things around and disrespecting the environment, by all means, stop her. Yet, explain why you had to stop her. Reason and listen to what the child may have to say. Maria Montessori said that “a child’s first tantrums are the first ills of her soul.” There is always a reason for everything. Try to bring the reason to light. Punishing, isolating the child, etc., will only feed her pain, and burry deep those reasons—she will learn to hide rather than communicate.

7. Respect the child who takes a rest or watches others working or ponders over what she herself has done or will do. Neither call her nor force her to other forms of activity.

A child that is idle is often not idle at all… Children need to be given space to find what it is they are interested in and want to do. Once they do, they pursue their interests with unrestrained passion and perseverance! A child that is observing other children or adults is also learning. If the child is resting, she is not being lazy and doing nothing just lying there—she is most probably processing information, observing, reflecting on something she did, or saw, or is planning on doing.

8. Help those who are in search of activity and cannot find it.

Be sensitive to the needs of the child including differentiating when apparent inactivity is inner activity, or in contrast, a child is simply lost. A child in search of activity and unable to find it is usually restless. If sitting or lying down, it can be noticed that she is not “engaged;” she is not resting, but simply lost and prostrated. There is a thin line that separates these two worlds. It is the adult’s responsibility to observe carefully and find out the signs—often very different from child to child—that can reveal what the child is experiencing. Abandonment differs from rest and contemplation.

9. Be untiring in repeating presentations to the child who refused them earlier, in helping the child to acquire what is not yet her own and to overcome imperfections. Do this by animating the environment, with care, with purposive restraint and silence, with mild words and loving presence. Make your ready presence felt to the child who searches and hide from the child who has found.

A child may need to be shown the right way to do something, say a word, express her feelings or acquire any sort of new skill, many, many times. One should never grow tired of repeating it, such as reading the same bedtime story or singing the same jingle. Children seek perfection in all they do until they reach a level which meets their needs (not what the adult may think “perfect” is, or means.) To be always available but not intrusive is an art. When a child needs help, she will ask for it. When a skill has been acquired and the child no longer needs assistance, adults should respect the child’s new acquired or reached level of independence.

10. Always treat the child with the best of good manners and offer her the best you have in yourself and at your disposal.

Children who are respected will learn to respect others. Giving the child the best one has to give helps the child learn that you are someone she can count on, and teaches her to also give others the best she has to give. It is important the way Montessori puts it, “the best you have in yourself,” as if to say, always reach higher, but do not feel dismayed if you fall short, and “the best” that you can give is not the best you think or know you should give. If your best manners are not always what they should be—a common feeling parents harbor when children seem to be pushing their patience beyond the limits, do not lose heart. The way Dr. Montessori put it, is basically this: have realistic expectations towards the child, and yourself too. Give the best you have to give, but don’t feel guilty if you fall short. Simply keep striving to improve and always do your best. If you commit a mistake, giving the child your best may well be recognizing it and apologizing. “Amy, Mommy got upset and shouted. That was not nice of me. I am sorry.” Children also need to recognize mistakes, learn to apologize, and that parents are not always perfect.

These are basic principles. What Montessori strives for is to protect the child from all sorts of negative influences that can create deviations in the child’s spirit and psyche. To preserve the natural curiosity of the child, help her find her interests, protect her passion for learning, foster it and let it grow in a healthy way. In this way, the child can contribute her best to society. This is conducive to world peace, as Dr. Montessori envisioned it, and Montessorians believe is possible. It takes passion, it takes commitment, and it takes working together.

- Excerpted from Montessori: Committed People with a Passion for Children by the Mammolina Children's Home Montessori Kindergarten in Beijing, China.

This post was originally featured on the Montessori School of Greater Lafayette Blog.

The Child Who Is Not Yet There

 

    I had the great pleasure of working in my former classroom today and it reminded me of why the three-year cycle in Montessori classrooms is so beneficial, not least of all, to the teachers.

     Our Montessori preschool classrooms are composed of a mixed-age group of children who remain, ideally, in one classroom for three years. A child starts at age three and stays through her Kindergarten year. This is called the three year cycle. Each of those years brings new and unique learning opportunities for the child. As a three-year-old, the child observes her older peers and benefits from their experience. As a four-year-old, she starts to see herself as one of the “big kids” and expands her social circle. In her Kindergarten year she is recognized as a leader and takes pride in helping others.

      It’s easy to see how the three-year-cycle benefits children, but it is also a tremendous opportunity for personal and professional growth for early childhood teachers. Few other settings offer the experience of observing and interacting with a child for half of that child’s life!

   
  When I took a sabbatical at the end of the school year in May, I left behind children who had been in my classroom for one or two years. I was able to catch up with many of those students today when I visited the classroom. I observed that two of “my” third-year students, I’ll call them S and K, were part of what Montessorian John Chattin-McNichols calls a “roving pack of 5-year-olds.” They were wandering around with some other boys and mixing it up a little. I knew these two boys when they were just barely three years old. I knew them before they could consciously control their bodies at group time and even before they could dress themselves successfully. Now, here they were - big, bold 5-year-olds and I was curious to see who they had become eight months after we last worked together.

    Angie, my dear friend and the lead teacher of my former class, shared with me that S and K had been working on the squaring and cubing chains in the math area, so I asked them about those activities. They were eager to show me what they had already done and tell me what came next. Within a few minutes, they broke off from the pack and were ready to master the 10 cubing chain.

    The 10 cubing chain - or 1000 chain - is a concrete representation of 10 cubed. It’s made up of one thousand pea-sized beads organized into bars of ten. The bars of ten are attached at the ends to make a chain. Children are ready for this work after they have mastered the 1 - 10 squaring chains and the 1 - 9 cubing chains. This video from the DuPage Montessori School in Naperville, Illinois provides a good overview of how the squaring and cubing chains are presented in the Montessori classroom.

    The 10 cubing chain is nearly 30 feet long so it must be laid out in the hallway outside the classroom. So, off to the hallway we went.

    S and K divided up the tasks between themselves. One carried the rolled-up mat and the other carried the chain. We established the space we would use in the hallway and K unrolled the mat while S went back into the classroom for the number tabs. We discussed how they would sort the tabs on the tray and move it down the mat as they worked.

    S found the 1000 tab. He knew it went at the very end of the chain but he left it on the tray. There was a pause before they started and I asked what number they would start with. S said, “We have to count them all.”

    That is certainly one way to do it. But when a child is ready for the 1000 chain, he is generally ready to complete it without counting every number because he can now count by tens and hundreds. Once you trust that 10 is ten, you don’t have to count it again.

     I asked if they thought they could first put tabs on the hundreds. Yes! They were sure they could. Together, we counted the bars as 10, 20, 30 and so on until we got to 100. S got the 100 tab and marked that spot. K quickly grasped the system and immediately went to work sorting out all of the hundreds tabs in a separate group so that S could place them. This was my cue to find something else to do. I went back inside the classroom to assist Miss Angie while the boys marked off every 100th bead on the chain with the appropriate tab.

    They repeated the process, stopping after each bar of ten. K was the sorter, S was the placer. “150! I need 150,” S said. K had it ready. There was never any disagreement, that I heard, over who would do which task. They just got started and they each found their niche as they went. And they were really digging their work.

    They started the cubing chain work at 9:45 and I checked in with them every few minutes. They finished at 11:00. One of them stopped to use the bathroom then went straight back to his work. Other children would step into the hall to see what was happening and then go back inside to their work.

    Sometimes I checked on S and K without speaking and other times I acknowledged their progress. Once, I said I would be back to check on them in a bit unless they needed some help. “We need some help,” S said. They could not find the tab for 590. I suggested they leave a space for that number and they could put it there when they found it. They never found it, but they were able to move on without hesitation.

    As they got to the very end, S picked up the 1000 tab and started to place it under the 1000th bead. K said, “Hey! We decided we would put that one on together!” And so they did. That’s when this photo was snapped.

 

    If you had asked me three years ago if these children were developing normally and if they were going to learn to read and write and grow up to be compassionate humans I would have responded, “Of course they will!” But in the back of my head there would have been a tiny voice saying, “What if they aren’t? What if they are never able to sit in a chair for more than 8 seconds? What if they never learn to put their shoes on by themselves? What if they show no interest in reading? What if they always write six as 9?”

    That doubtful voice is a familiar one to parents because most of us only get to experience the development of one or two children. We fear we will do something wrong and our children will not achieve their potential. Preschool teachers should know better because we get to observe hundreds of children over the course of our careers, right? But sometimes, even with years of experience, we forget that our job is simply to prepare a nourishing environment. It is the child who must do the work of building the man.

    In 1949, Maria Montessori offered us some guidance in our quest to relax and trust that each child will reveal himself as a competent and confident being in his own time. In The Absorbent Mind she wrote, “...for while, in the traditional schools, the teacher sees the immediate behavior of her pupils, knowing that she must look after them and what she has to teach, the Montessori teacher is constantly looking for a child who is not yet there.”

    Dr. Montessori also implemented the three-year cycle in our classrooms to give us enough time to look for that child and see him before he moves on to primary school.

    I am not at all surprised that S and K can count to 1000 by tens and hundreds. I am not surprised that they can recognize 3-digit numerals or that they can prepare, complete, and put away their work. I am not even surprised that two 5-year-old boys willingly work together on a math material for 1 hour and and 15 minutes with only a bathroom break and very limited guidance. I’ve seen it before.

    I am surprised at the sense of joyous relief I feel each time children reveal themselves in this way. It's an experience that never gets old. I suppose that’s the ultimate reward of being a teacher.

This post was originally featured on the Montessori School of Greater Lafayette Blog.

Okay, So Here's What Happened...

 

This is an edited post from our classroom blog, December, 2011.

     Last Tuesday we received the first measurable snow of the season. The afternoon class was so excited to see those gigantic flakes falling outside the window that we literally dropped everything and went outside.

    Day 1: Now, it had been raining all morning and that was why we had to stay inside all morning. But as soon as the temperature dropped just a couple of degrees, the rain turned into big, fat, wet snowflakes and that somehow made it essential that we get outside and stick our faces up to the sky and catch as many of them on our tongues as we could. And it makes an everlasting impression on us to look up to the sky and see nothing but dense, gray clouds with snow falling out of them, don't you think?


     This is an artsy way of saying that we went outside in the very wet snow and we stayed there a long time. Some of us got very, very wet. Miss Heather had to put her coat in the dryer when she got home and many other friends did too, I am sure.

Miss Angie smartly used an umbrella to keep out of the snow. Note the playground conditions in the background of this photo.

      But the children were extremely happy and they were helping each other and being kind and smiling.  Most of them walked around with a kind of astonished look on their faces. The ones who got too cold or too wet were able to go inside with my assistant teacher, so it was a win-win situation for everybody I think.  Until everyone had to go home and dry all their snow gear. But I digress...

A and D shovel the slush.

     Day 2: The next day was really terrific. We got out the sleds and kids were sliding and building forts on the basketball court and once again, looking astonished.  Morning or afternoon class, they loved the snow.

A friend on a snow-covered tire with the morning sun lighting up her face.

     Doesn't it sound terrific?

     Day 3: The next day is when things got a little messy.  All that snow had melted into rain and it collected in what we call Lake Montessori covering the sidewalk. Another low-lying area, we call the Pond, is located in the grass a little further west toward the road. The morning children tried to shovel the muddy water just like they had with the snow the day before but they quickly learned that water can't be shoveled. Now I agree that I look at this photo and there is a little part of me that screams, "What were you thinking?!!" But just a tiny part that I tend to disregard.

Many friends join in to try to move Lake Montessori.

     The children's intentions were good. All of this started out because they couldn't ride the bikes through the puddle so they wanted to move the puddle. And they were learning so much! One question was, "Why doesn't the water just go into the ground?"  When we repeat the experience in the classroom with a fishbowl of soil and a watering can it will make even more sense. But it's best to start with a concrete example.

 

      So when they realized that shoveling wasn't going to work, I brought out the wheelbarrows. The kids love the wheelbarrows and we rarely get to use them so this seemed like a good time for a lesson in fluid dynamics. I suggested that the Pond could hold more water so the challenge became getting the water out of Lake Montessori and into the Pond via wheelbarrow and snow shovel. If you want to see happy kids, give them a physical job that requires them to use their whole bodies in the great outdoors and makes them think. For some, messy is okay. This job was all that.

M. and A. successfully moved then poured a wheelbarrow of water into the Pond.

 

     When was the last time you moved a wheelbarrow full of water 10 feet across soggy grass? I know, why would you want to? But these guys had nothing else to move. They LIKE moving things from one place to another. And the benefits are immeasurable. In their second attempt, A. told M. , "Miss Heather said to keep it balanced! Look, it's balancing!"  We can't recreate THAT kind of hands-on discovery and purposeful work in the classroom. 

A. found a bucket worked better than a shovel.

 

      When it was discovered that a bucket worked better than a wheelbarrow to carry the water, they changed their tools. They did actually manage to lower the water level of Lake Montessori but soon we were wet and cold and all but a few of us were ready to go inside.

     I'm sorry so many of your children have come home wet and muddy this week. It's entirely my fault. They weren't like that because they were trying to get dirty. They were just doing good, purposeful work and having fun. They were also learning a little science and a little about themselves. I want the children to understand that when they walk into a puddle of water in their tennis shoes their feet are going to get wet and cold.  The same thing happens when they put their cotten gloves in a cold pile of wet snow. But hopefully they just need to learn these lessons a couple of times before they can make good decisions about dressing for the weather conditions.

     In my dream classroom, I would have a mudroom with rain coats and boots for each child, lots of extra hats and mittens, and maybe even a washer and dryer. A gym would be nice, too.  Until then, please understand that I am NOT encouraging your kids to get wet and dirty, but I'm also not insisting that they stay clean. The outside is composed of soil, water and air and it's a good and happy day when we can touch them all.

Heather

  

Roly Polies - Mankind's Most Forgiving and Durable Pet

      Call them wood lice or pill bugs or potato bugs or sow bugs - all of those names will pull up a similar picture on Google. Roly poly is the name the children seem to prefer for this tiny bug that eats rotting vegetation and curls itself into a ball when threatened. With children digging them up and carrying them around, they must feel threatened a lot! But they are such good sports. 

     Roly polies have been especially important this year to the children in our classroom. Perhaps part of the reason is our extended outdoor classroom time which allows more opportunities to find the bugs, collect them, then build a community around the activity. Who is the chief collector? Who helps? Who carries the jar? Who decides when a jar is needed? Who brings them into the classroom? Who remembers to put them back outside? 

S.  found and counted 92 roly polies one morning.

      Roly polies are a terrific example of how learning takes place without any teaching. I have attempted to list below all of the skills that I have observed being used to handle these tiny terrestrial crustaceans.

1.) small motor - it takes a well-coordinated, yet gentle, pincer grip to pick up a roly poly.
2.) visual skills - you have to see them crawling through the dirt and mulch.
3.) bravery - you have to be "ok" with them crawling over your skin.
4.) observation - "That's a roly poly!"
5.) visual - "This one is little and this one is big."
6.) estimating and counting - How many do you think are in the jar? How many are actually there?
7.) love and respect for other living things.
8.) social - working as a team to collect and  study them.
9.) language - isopod, pill bug, sow bug, terrestrial crustacean, armadillidiidae, wood lice, moist, damp, rotting vegetation...  
10.) classification - pill bugs and sow bugs are all members of the wood lice family, but only pill bugs roll into a ball.
11.) observation - they have 14 legs (or 7 pairs) and we find lots of roly polies under pieces of wood. 

I'll stop there but you could probably can add a couple zillion more...

     This week we will discuss what we will need in order to have a living collection of roly polies in the classroom.

Rockets

     Rockets are big. Rockets are loud. Rockets are powerful and kind of dangerous. And when rockets are launched, people count backwards. What's not to love about that? Especially for preschoolers.

     One child in my morning class has been deeply interested in rockets and the moon since the beginning of the year. His interest has now spread to the rest of the class. The children have been so interested in rolling up paper into rocket-shaped tubes that we have added a third tray to the paper shelf in the art area. 

• Shelf 1 is clean, white paper that we use for drawing and coloring.  
•  Shelf 2 is sometimes a maze or a "coloring" sheet that has a picture of something related to an area of study in the classroom. (Some children are not interested in making marks on paper. Coloring sheets can be helpful for those who need more direction than a blank paper can offer. We never discuss coloring inside the lines.)
•  Shelf 3 is paper that has been used on one side, the "recycled" paper. This is the paper that the children can use to roll, fold, cut, tape, and generally make into whatever they want it to be. 

     In the photo below, someone made a "Feuches Haus" (fishy's house) but lately, it's mostly been rockets. 

 

   One specialist who visits our morning class each week asked me, "Is that all they do all day? Make rockets?" Well, not EVERY day. Some days they choose other things. But they are working on something, here. Rolling a sheet of paper into a tube seems like a magic trick. It's a transformation from a flat surface that can accomplish little on its own into a structure that can roll, can fit into a smaller space, can be used as a tool, can be placed inside another shape, can even support weight as a column or pillar. There is also a joy that comes from working with your friends to make the biggest, longest, pointiest rocket-like object you can make. 

     Wikipedia defines engineering as, "The discipline, art, skill, profession and technology of acquiring and applying scientific,mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes."

          Maria Montessori said,  "Imagination does not become great until man, given the courage and strength, uses it to create. If this does not occur, the imagination addresses itself only to a spirit wandering in emptiness." - -Dr. Maria Montessori , in To Educate the Human Potential

      Rolling up paper rockets is hands-on engineering practice. It seems like a waste of paper and tape to some, but not in my class.  

     Since Johnson Space Center and the Moon are both off limits to us for field trips this year, providing a real experience with a rocket is out of the question. So we are relying on the following storytellers to help us make the leap from the concrete objects we have not yet experienced to an abstract understanding of them. 

     These two beautifully illustrated stories by Oliver Jeffers.

This book combines actual NASA photos of the moon and Earth. Written by Anna Milbourn and Benji (Illu) Davies.

 This fun countdown counting book by Michael Dahl, Derrick Alderman, and Denise Shea.

      We made these fun, cardboard tube rockets from an idea I borrowed from bhoomplay's blog.

     Ours turned out great thanks to lots of help from parents. And the children showed great concentration when painting them.

 

     We followed the children's interest in space and rockets by offering them supplies to make colorful maps of the solar system. We also had a Moon Party to celebrate all we had learned.

     Those blogs will follow.

     Thanks for reading and thank you to bhoomplay and all those other bloggers and pinners who help me find activities that appeal to students' interests. You all definitely rock!

Heather

 

 

This Makes Me Smile

     One morning in early March it was cold and drizzly outside. I gave the children the option of staying outside with me or going inside to the classroom with my assistant. When I poked my head in to see if anyone in the hallway needed my help changing out of their gear, I was greeted with this beautiful sight.

    Since October we have all worked together to learn to hang up our coats and snowpants and tidy up our outdoor shoes by our lockers. It has been six months! But look at this sweet result. The children who chose to come inside organized their coats and shoes by themselves.

     As Montessori teachers, we are not disappointed when children are not able to follow directions or unable to do exercises correctly. We do not grade their abilities, but rather try to quietly guide the attainment of these abilities.

     Dr. Montessori described it like this, " The Montessori teacher is constantly looking for a child who is not yet there ..." and "The teacher, when she begins to work in our schools, must have a kind of faith that the child will reveal himself through work. " - The Absorbent Mind

     The sandbox will be open on Monday and these coats will be left at home. But next October, the owners of these coats will help the new children learn how we take care of our outdoor clothing. December's snow will bring absolute anarchy to this hallway and January's ice cold wind will have us convinced that we might not ever match 42 boots with 21 children. But by March we will see this same, orderly scene. It happens every year.  The children learn to take care of themselves.

Chinese New Year

 

    I have become very timid about observing holidays in my classroom because each one brings with it the possibility of offending some of my families. I would love to be able to observe the cultural traditions of holidays and leave the religious components to families and their religious institutions, but that is also offensive to some. I know I can't make everybody happy, but I still wish to try. 

    For years my wise and wonderful husband has suggested that I stay away from religious holidays and any holiday that was created to sell greeting cards. Celebrate real things, he says, like Spring, an eclipse, the solar system, leap year, rock music, a new classroom pet, gravity... he's got a great list. That's why I picked him - he's a super genius.

    This year I listened. I've already announced that the Birch Room is ignoring Valentine's Day. But Chinese New Year seems like a good fit for us. Sure, there are religious aspects such as the burning of the kitchen god. And Hallmark does sell cards for Chinese New Year. But in large part, it's an observance of Spring and the moon and family. Those are real things we study in our Montessori class and therefore, Chinese New Year is a holiday for us!

    We did not have an actual celebration, more of an observance through reading, discussion, and a few great art activities I saw on Pinterest. (My lack of artsy craftiness is a moot point now that I have discovered Pinterest. I am forever grateful to everyone who shares their brilliance there.)  Our first project was this dragon I saw at No Time for Flashcards.

    We changed it up a little bit because we didn't have the capability to give everyone a hand in the bubble-wrap painting. We left the white butcher paper unpainted. But the children in both classes were able to cut and tear their choice of paper and glue it on whenever they got the notion during class.

    After they glued for two days, I cut out the dragon shape and displayed it in our hallway for display. 

    I also saw this beautiful idea for making cherry blossom or pear blossom branches at Fairy Dust Teaching 

    Ours turned out to be a sweet little arrangment. Just some tissue paper glued onto a few branches. I only have this video capture image for now.

    What I loved about this project was that the night before we had a big storm and I was not willing to go out looking for branches on a dark, stormy night. The next morning on the playground a friend found a fallen branch and brought it to show me. I asked if we could use it for an art project and he graciously said yes. Talk about following the child... 

 

Free the Children! (to use the water)

    Smoothing the way for true independence for the children in my classroom is my first priority. But it can be hard for us adults to hand over the reins - or the garden hose - as it is in my situation. If you want to make a group of even seasoned Montessori teachers uncomfortable, give a 4-year-old the working end of a garden hose and show him how to turn on the water. Suddenly, the adults are taking cover over by the sandbox.

    But it doesn't have to be that way. Just like any activity, learning to use water requires instruction at first and some supervision throughout. This isn't gasoline we're talking about - it's just water. Water is the perfect practical life material. It isn't sticky, it doesn't attract pests, and it dries up and disappears from sidewalks, clothing, and skin without a trace. If you turn your back on a child with a lot of water at his command, the worst thing that can happen is someone might get wet. And wouldn't that be terrific?

    It's been so hot in our part of the country and our school gardens have been suffering. So I set out our large collection of watering cans and I opened up the rain barrel. Within minutes I had attracted a circle of children wanting to pour water on things. I was hopeful that the water was actually going to make it to the plants but I needed to give guidance on how to pour the water on top of the little plants and at the roots of the taller tomatoes and sunflowers. So I needed a helper to fill the cans and my friend D was at the ready. When I walked away to help a friend, he took over the rain barrel. He learned to work the valve and filled up the other children's watering cans.

    Soon, my friend L wanted to fill her own can so I asked D if he could let her and he did. You know where this is going, of course. All of the children who wished to were using the rain barrel hose to fill up their own watering cans. Most of the water got to the plants, but not all and that is okay. No one ended up soaked and everyone felt great after doing such good work on a hot day.

    The next day, the rain barrel was empty so I started the process again but with the fresh water garden hose. It was the same story but with a lot more power behind the water. D came over to help and I showed him how to adjust the flow of water. He allowed others to help, and he stayed and supervised. I watched from afar.

    On the third day, it was so hot that the children were red-faced and miserable and asking to go inside early. Some of my friends still needed to move their bodies before settling into their afternoon work, so I brought out the spray bottle (my friend Ana's idea.) Spray bottles attract attention immediately so when the first child approached I asked him if he would like me to spray him with cold water. "Yes!" he replied. And you know how this goes. Everyone who wanted sprayed got sprayed and those who did not, were not.

    My friend D was there again and he wanted to be in charge of the sprayer. I wasn't sure about that, but he had demonstrated such responsibility and respect for others with the garden hose that I gave him the bottle with careful instructions to ask every person before spraying and not to spray anyone who did not want to get wet.

     D did an excellent job and soon brought me an empty spray bottle. The children were cool and happy and only a little bit wet. I thought that was pretty terrific.

    The reason this topic speaks to me today is I catch myself getting so caught up in preparing practical life materials with careful controls of error that I forget the "fun" part. It's important to learn to pour water carefully from a pitcher, then to learn to make bubbles with a whisk in a bowl. 

    But sometimes you just need to turn on the tap, pour some soap into the sink, and make the biggest pile of bubbles you've ever seen, preferably with a friend.

    Yes, it is imperative the children learn about water conservation and why we should not waste water. But before we can work to conserve something, we must learn to care about it. Before we can ask the children to turn off the water, we have to trust them with the power to turn it on.