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Montessori Newsletter 7
Happy New Year!
This Newsletter is brought to you “Everything you wanted to know about Montessori” http://montessorimom.com/montessori_links.html A great book to get organized- The Mystery Class & A Journey to the North that involves an overview from the changing days to the migration of humming birds- “The Great Lesson” Mini Normalization A Baby Box Idea Storytelling Hints & Books.
It’s flu season in Colorado. My husband has been sick for 10 days. So, we have been washing our hands a lot. Here is a link http://montessorimom.com/washing-up.html to help teach your child to wash his or her hands. It’s helped the rest of us keep healthy so far.
Tidying up our homes, school rooms, and offices…
"From Creative Chaos to Livable Learning" by S.V. Wilhelmi http://www.jmjpublishing.com/teacherpreparation.htm was written by a mother of 8 children, who is homeschooling her children using Montessori’s method to get her home and homeschool in order. This is a simple to follow 12 step, no fail program. This spiritual journey will help get your home and life organized.
This is a great time of the year to get your house in order. I start by not digging into my storage areas too deeply. I just get rid of items that are floating around the house. If I can touch it, I will organize it. It’s amazing how many unwanted items I have just sitting around my house and office area. Here are some things I consider when deciding whether or not to keep an item. 1. Do I use the item? 2. Have I worn any particular outfit over the past 2 years? 3. Does the item have good or bad sentimental attachments? It they are unhappy attachments, I definitely get rid of the item. 4. Has my child outgrown the clothing, books or toys? I can apply this to myself too. 5. Do I have room to store the items? 6. Are you overwhelmed by junk mail? Here are some links to help lessen the load. http://www.obviously.com/junkmail/
7. The fewer items you have in your home, the more time you will have for family and friends.
Great Lessons
Mystery Classes and the Journey North are exciting ways to learn about culture, science, geography, changes of season, migration, map making. http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/MapMaker.html, math, reading & writing. Anyone can participate!
This program is very much like the Montessori Great
Lessons. This is a challenging opportunity for older children. Here are some links that might be useful. You can pick and choose the activities that would suit your location and ages of children. You can follow the migration pattern of humming bird’s http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/humm/Resources.html Whales, monarch butterflies, and other animals migration patterns are studied. Teacher’s tips are available here http://www.learner.org/jnorth/challenge/spring03/index.html#Mystery
These links give you an idea of all the different themes you can follow with the Journey North. http://www.learner.org/jnorth/spring2004/index.html
This is a postcard geography class registration for the Mystery Game, http://pcg.cyberbee.com/guess.html
This site has templates for data and graph print materials. Even a young child can help keep track of the sun rising and setting- http://neirtec.terc.edu/Template/resources/mysteryclass.htm Complete sun and moon data for one day link http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.html
Here is an overview of the program- http://www.learner.org/jnorth/spring2000/species/mclass/index.html Register now-everyone is welcome to join! http://www.learner.org/jnorth/reg/
What are The Great Lessons?
Dr. Montessori observed that the 6 to 12 year old child went through an intellectual and moral leap of development. Children at this age have an unquenchable desire to understand and explore their environment and culture. They have great imaginations and curiosity, develop their sense of right and wrong, and have a logical and reasonable approach to life.
Montessori believed you should present the whole universe during this phase of development. She invented “The Great Lessons”-five in total, as follows: God Who Has No Hands The Coming of Life The Coming of Humans The Story of Writing The Story of Numerals View online http://www.moteaco.com/albums.html The lessons cover the beginning of the universe to the present day. These stories are introduced sometimes over a span of 3 years. She used visual aides to introduce the themes of the Great lessons. The children are free to follow their interests on any of these themes. This study integrates all the aspects of reading, writing, science, researching, and even math. You don’t have to follow the Great Lessons, but programs that introduce the big picture give students motivation to work on their basic skills. For preschool children, I still use themes and integrate the learning as much as possible. Even young children like to put together the puzzle of learning.
Mini normalization:
After a long holiday break you may find your students are restless, even lacking in discipline, and not ready to work. Often times, there is a 2 week normalization process when school starts again. We couldn’t understand why our students seemed so unsettled after a long holiday. After a few years of observation, it was evident that the students were going through a mini normalization process again. This usually occurred after the winter and summer break. After 2 weeks peace returned.
Baby Box
Babies love boxes with lids with their favorite goodies inside. I used a hatbox and put in the following items.(Make sure anything you put in is safe, especially for choking. Also, make sure small parts can’t be taken off)
A baby that sits up (about 6 months) can sit next to the box and take out the fun items.
Here are some ideas-use the items that would be safe for your baby’s age 1. Nesting measuring cups 2. Measuring spoons 3. Wooden spoons 4. Rubber spatulas 5. Mirror 6. Plastic bracelets 7. Small clean hair brush 8. Comb 9. Tooth brush 10. Old remote control with batteries taken out 11. Wash cloth or different textured cloths (make sure they are big enough) 12. Small purse or wallet-empty 13. Balls-tennis or baseball 14. Clean rocks (big enough so they can’t fit them in mouth) 15. Small stuffed animals 16. Noise makers-such as rattles 17. Plastic baby keys on a ring 18. Plastic containers with tops-clean yogurt containers 19. Large thread spools (empty) –too big to swallow. 20. Well sewn bags of potpourri 21. Tin foil pie or bread pans 22. Rubber dog bone-my baby would always go for the dog’s rubber bone, so I had to get one for my baby! 23. Teething ring 24. Large wooden bead necklace, made and tied together. (beads are big) 25. Silver egg cup 26. Baby spoon 27. Solid clothes peg(without hinges) 28. Small stainless steel mixing bowl
Anything that involves your child’s five senses, smell, touch, taste, sight, and hearing will help develop his or her cognitive skills for later learning.
As my babies grew, I used other items in the box, my children loved any kind of safe paper product, including tubes, small boxes, large sheets of paper, etc. Also, I put a biscuit or dry cereal in a plastic yogurt container with the top loosely put on. They loved opening it and taking out the goodies to eat. My daughter loved her baby box items put in an old handbag.
10 things to do when telling a story.
1. Pick a book that is well illustrated for younger children. You can use more text for older children. 2. Read the story 3 times to memorize the words so you can “tell” the story. 3. Use voice inflections, give each character a personality. 4. Use a less involved plot for younger children. Repetition of words, sounds, or phrases will keep a child’s attention. 5. Use clear diction to help develop proper sounds of words. Use melody and rhythm to keep a child’s attention. Poems and fingerplays are great for this. 6. Set the reading mood with a concrete object, such as a puppet, stuffed animal, piece of fruit, etc. You can even use the illustrations of the book. 7. Tell your child if the book is pretend or not. I don’t think it is wrong to read fantasy stories to your children as long as you tell them “it is pretend.” Being truthful avoids confusion. 8. Tell the name of the book and who wrote it. You can explain that an author is someone who writes books. A title is the name of the book. 9. Let your child think by pausing between events of the book. 10. Allow your child ask questions about the book while you are reading it. You can encourage your child to think about the content by asking, “What do you think will happen next.” This helps your child develop comprehension skills.
Preschool book “Sheep in a Jeep” by Nancy Shaw - you can get it at half.com http://half.ebay.com/search/search.jsp?nthTime=2&product=all&keyword=Sheep+in+a+Jeep&x=13&y=10 or check it out from your local library. Great rhyming picture book with a fun sense of humor. Goes well with the finger play- “Baa Baa black sheep Have you any wool? Yes sir, Yes sir, 3 bags full. (Kiss or gently squeeze your toddlers fingers for each number) 1 for my master 1 for my dame and 1 for the little boy who lives down the lane.
This is a fun way to introduce "1".
