FREE PODCAST ABOUT MONTESSORI

A good resource for both parents and teachers. Free podcast on Itunes called Montessori for Parents Podcast.  Info about the curriculum, methods, and child development. Very good, in my opinion. Post any questions  or discussion here!

CHILDREN ABSORBING POLITICS!

Today in the lunch line, discussion about President Obama came up.  One boy says, "I don't like Obama." (Why?)  "He lies!" (What did he lie about?) "I don't know, but my Dad says he lies!"  :)   :0

Then another boy chimes in, "My Dad doesn't like Obama either!" (Really?  Why?)  "My Dad says he steals his money!"

It was really funny, but is also a good example of how easily words, ideas, and attitudes can be absorbed!  Now just be sure you keep talking about how interesting and fun school is!

YOUR CHILD BRINGING HOME BIG WORDS?

    Maria Montessori respected the intelligence and the ability of even the youngest children.  Through her observations and research she learned that children are most senstive to absorbing oral language and vocabulary during early childhood.  For this reason, Montessori teachers are trained to use a full vocabulary with students, and to never "water down"  or baby talk. You may hear your child using a rich vocabulary including scientific terms. You need not worry that your child is being given work far above his grade level or abilities!  He is simply absorbing the rich vocabulary he is exposed to every day.  Of course, sometimes these words become confused.  When I asked students why a fish would need camoflage, one child answered with enthusiasm, "to stay safe from CREDITORS!"  Now that's something even adults can relate to!

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT TEACHER HOME VISITS?

Many schools require their teachers to conduct a family conference at the home of each student.  Home visits and visits by families to the teachers home are common practices in other cultures.  Visits may be scheduled at the beginning of the year so that teachers, students, and parents can get to know each other. They may also serve as goal setting conferences so that teachers are aware of the family's priorities and goals for their student. Goals may be social, emotional, physical, and/or academic.  The teacher can also be made aware of any special needs child child may have.  Proponents of home visits believe that parents feel more comfortable meeting on their own turf, instead of at school.

On the other hand, some teachers feel uncomfortable with home visits because they feel this mixes professional and personal territory.  Especially if the child attends before/after school care, at-school visits give parents a rare chance to see the classroom. Some parents may feel that home conferences are intrusive.

My colleagues and I would like to receive feedback from both parents and teachers regarding home visits.

HANDWRITING SKILLS VS. KEYBOARDING

I have just finished my master's research project which explored how Montessori exercises contribute to the development of fine motor skills and spatial awareness necessary to handwriting readiness.  As part of this project, I reviewed some related literature that debated the possible obsolescence of handwriting now that we use keyboards so much.  Research has found that the physical act of learning to write is integrated into the mental act of processing writing.  Students who use keyboards too early have more difficulty later with composition, interpretation, and other higher thinking tasks necessary to good writing. Students should become adept at keybording in the upper elementary years, after basic writing skills and thought processes have had time to develop.

COMPUTERS IN THE EARY CHILDHOOD CLASSROOM- TEACHER AND PARENT OPINIONS REQUESTED

I would be interested to know from other teachers ways in which they have used computers/internet in their classrooms to benefit their students.  Are there reservations or limitations you recommend?  From parents- what are your feelings about technology in early childhood classrooms?  Do you feel children receive adequate technology exposure at home? In what ways ( if any) do you see computer/internet at school benfitting your 5-7 year old child?

SIGN LANGUAGE WITH BABIES

I am not too fmailiar with this topic.  Does anyone have experience with babies they know?  In particular, how does use of sign language as an infant affect subsequent acquisition of oral language, or does it?

WHY TEACH LETTER SOUNDS AND NOT THIER NAMES?

As a child begins to learn his letters, he becomes more able to spell and read if he knows the sounds rather than letter names.  Many letter names begin with the sound /e/:  f, l, m, n, s, and x ALL begin with the sound /e/. If the child tries to "sound out" using the letter names,  c becomes /s/, g becomes /j/.  He really becomes confused when he says w as /d,/, u as /y/, and y as /w/! 

Using the sandpaper letters, the child is taught the lower case letter shape and its corresponding sound.  This way he can easily progress to phonetic spelling and on to phonetic reading.

WHY DOESN'T MY CHILD HAVE A WORKBOOK YET?

This is a frequent question asked by parents who are concerned about their child's progress in reading. Teachers realize parents are very eager for their child to become a reader.  However, to succeed with a workbook, the child must be prepared for much more than just reading.  Some children can read remarkably well at age 3, yet to furnish them with a workbook might be very unwise.

Montessori practice entails preparing the whole child.  In the language area this means we develop speech, print concepts, spatial awareness, order, Independence, the "will", concentration, and fine motor skills, as well as actual encoding (spelling) and decoding (reading) skills. In general, teachers consider the following questions before assigning a workbook.

1. Does the child understand that print symbolizes things and ideas?

2.  Has the child mastered many sensorial and practical life skills that have enabled him to demonstrate independence, order, coordination, and concentration? Does he freely choose to sit and work with paper and pencils/markers or is he more attracted to literacy work that allows more large motor movement?

3.  Has the child completed the sandpaper letters and all of the  "pink" material?  (Does he know all phonetic sounds and their corresponding shapes?  Can he spell phonetic three letter words?  Can he read three letter words?

4. Has he completed 5 levels of writing preparation with the metal insets?  Does he show proper pencil grip and hand strength for writing?  Can he write all 26 lower case letters properly, or does he still write in capital letters? Does he generally write (his name, for instance) left to right?

5.  Does he mind writing and does he seek writing opportunities?  (If a child often asks, "Do I have to write it?"  this is NOT the stage to require sitting with a workbook!)

6.  Can he read the readers that accompany the workbooks?  Spelling or word building is a much different skill than reading.  Children can generally build words before they can read them.  On the other hand, early readers who do not yet write well enough for a workbook can continue reading progress on one level, while continuing to develop their pre-writing and writing abilities at a lower level.

When children exhibit these skills and motivation,  chances of succeeding and enjoying a workbook are much higher. If you have questions about your child's reading or writing readiness, talk it over with the teacher.  A child pushed too soon into a workbook can develop poor writing habits as well as a dislike for writing!  Very willing to address your questions on this blog!

Why I love going to my job every day:

Real quotes from real children!

Re: the war in Iraq:
"They should just have a competition.  There should be three games and whoever wins should get to be the government."

re: Sudan
"It's a big country so they should just share."

Re: homelessness
"The people with lots of money should give a little money so the people without houses could get houses.  This is a problem everywhere."

Re: What you should do when your teenager keeps calling you at work:
"Make him sleep outside."

Re: Outside playtime:
"I'M GONNA RUN TIL I'M OLD!!!!

Re: The important things in life:
"When's snack?????????????????????????????????????????????????????

"Aggressive" play

Looking for teacher and parent input. We have had some discussion about how much (if any) aggreesive play should be allowed at school, in the classroom, on the playground, even in the children's artwork.  Examples we see include a variety of "shooting" and "exploding" when playing with construction materials such as blocks and legoes.  Playing superheroes with pretend light sabers, etc. and drawing/writing about shooting, killing, exploding, bombs, etc. Our public school ave a zero tolerance policy about weapons and weapon look-alikes.  We feel the need to follow peace principles recommended by Montessori,  yet we need to prepare the children for a smooth transition to public school, while at the same time wanting to acknowledge and guide the children's need to process aggression and the good-evil conflict they see and know about from games, TV, etc.  How about the new Iowa gun laws in the mix? WHAT DO YOU TEACHERS THINK/DO ABOUT THIS?  WHAT DO YOU PARENTS DO?  WHAT DO PARENTS THINK THE SCHOOL POLICY SHOULD BE?  Dads please chime in because research sometimes blames the largely female teaching profession with an overall "female" tendency toward non-aggression, and say fantasy aggressive play is necessary for some chidlren.  Is aggressive play something young children need to process through play?  If so, how do we prepare them for zero tolerance in our public schools?

Parents and peacemakers?

I would also be interested in how parentsof 5-7 year olds feel about introducing them to rather touchy subjects related to peace such as war, racism, etc. How do you answer their questions when these issues come up?

Peace Education

This month we have been talking about great peacemakers such as Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Rosa Parks, the Dalai Lama.  I would be interested to hear what other primary or lower el classes do to introduce rather serious concepts to younger children.