You know when you see something on Pinterest and you can tell it is going to change your life.
Well, life changing may be a stretch, but this was a fabulous addition to our practical life shelf.
A few weeks ago, this Pin, was on my Pinterest home page. A large, stable looking French knitter, and I knew it would be perfect for the class.Continue reading “french knitting”
A Montessori class is full of movement.
You want to do the pink tower?
After the child has placed his floor mat, he makes ten trips back and forth, between the work mat and the shelf where the pink tower is stored. If you count retrieving and returning the floor mat, the child will have moved through the room 22 times when he has completed the work. Not only does setting up any given work take a fair amount of trips through the class, most often there is no straight path to the shelf or to the table – there are other children’s floor mats, other shelves and tables in the way – the child must be able to coordinate his movement as not to step on any other child’s work or run into a table or shelf.
But what do you do when you see there is a need for more movement, especially during the morning work cycle?
You make a movement shelf.
Yes, by default a Montessori class requires a child to refine his movements to be able to function in the class, and walking on the line is a wonderful work that enables the child to further practice and hone those skills, but, by providing actual movement works that are skill specific and can be practiced at any time, this is filling a need that needed to be met in our class late this spring.Continue reading “movement shelf”
Who doesn’t love mail?
In our house, my daughter is the official mail opener. Any card she receives she rereads daily for weeks, and then hoards it in her specail paper box. Or, if the card is from my mom, it usually sings, and then she and everyone in the family listens to tinny renditions of You Say It’s Your Birthday. So, in a class of preschoolers and kindergarteners, what better work could there be to encourage writing than letter writing, complete with mailbox and delivery person.
This mailbox, while very cute, is temporary. I made this one for Imogen about two years ago and it is just on loan. If you are interested, I followed this tutorial. I have a more permanent one planned, I just need to find it and buy it. Continue reading “letter writing montessori style”
I am not the Montessori teacher to come to when you are looking for a fantastic new work for the art shelf. Together with my co-teacher, Callie, we try to keep all the works on the art shelf process-oriented and open-ended, but we are always looking for creative new ideas and ways to fit these goals. One thing I do think we have figured out, our easel painting setup.
If I had to pick, I think the moveable alphabet has to be my favorite work in the class. It is a work that can be modified to fit so many levels, it can be extended to meet the child where they are and you can connect it to the interest of the child.
blue, green, red, yellow – writing words describing her metal inset
Work with the moveable alphabet consists of what is called encoding – or spelling. Encoding almost always comes before decoding (or reading), it is very important that the child have a great deal of experiences with encoding before we present any sort of reading. And, since Dr. Montessori was so brilliant, she knew if you took away the mechanics of forming the letters (handwriting), and gave then a set of letters – the moveable alphabet – a young child could easily build meaningful words.
Most days there is some sewing happening in our class. We try to have a logical sequence of activities that call to children at different ages and stages, and a variety of works that allow everyone in the class to participate and create
I find sewing to be such a versatile area of the Practical Life curriculum. While yes, I can continue to make endless variations of pouring works, and repeated practice with pouring will no doubt help the child develop independence, improve eye-hand coordination, and will increase his self-confidence and concentration. There is something about engaging the child in creating a meaningful product with his hands – even if it as simple as stringing pony beads on yarn or sewing a line on burlap – it can focus the most unfocused child in a matter of moments.
