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MCA’s Top 10 List for Starting Back to School


Our MCA classrooms are ready to welcome you to the 2019-2020 school year!

It seems like the summer, once again, is passing by in the blink of an eye. And while some folks are eking out the most of their remaining vacation time, many teachers have already made their way back into their classrooms to start preparing for the upcoming school year. Now is actually the perfect time for parents and children to also begin to do some preliminary planning to help ease into the start of school in September. Below are some helpful hints shared by some of our MCA professional staff of things families can do now to build excitement and alleviate any stress about the upcoming school year.

1. For Parents First: Read through your Parent Packet and complete any necessary forms prior to the first day of school.
By now, our MCA families should have received their Parent Packets filled with information about the school year, the calendar, school policies, the Parent Handbook, and much more. Included in the packet are several forms which should be completed and ready to turn into the school office on or before the first day of school. Especially important are the medical forms, which were mailed earlier in the summer and are due back to school by August 26th. The State of New Jersey has very specific requirements about what schools must have on file before any student may enter the school building. Reading through this information and completing the necessary paperwork ahead of time will help parents be prepared for that first day of school.

2. Adjust activities at home.
One of the wonderful things about summer is the opportunity to have some ‘down time’ which often is missing from September through June as children’s days are filled with their time at school, which is often followed by after school enrichment activities, sports, homework, and very little ‘down time’. If the house rules for summer allow for more screen time—television viewing, computer games, etc. —it’s probably a good idea to trim those hours now. Instead, consider initiating a reading time (perfect for when parents are preparing dinner—children can read aloud while you cook or look at books silently nearby until supper’s ready). Or, engage as a family in a few more activities that require more concentration and focus—a large jigsaw puzzle, card games, or even art projects. Helping children return to tasks that need their full attention will help them when they enter or re-enter the classroom.

3. Start easing into a “school day” morning and evening routine.
A few weeks leading up to the first day of school is a good time to begin adjusting your family’s morning wake up times and evening bedtimes, which may have become a bit lax during the summer months. Knowing how early your family needs to get up to get through all of your necessary morning activities makes starting each school day so much easier. From brushing teeth and getting dressed to having a nutritious breakfast and making the morning commute, some families benefit from doing a ‘test run’ a few times to see if they can accomplish their morning rituals and arrive to school on time.

Equally important is establishing a healthy bedtime which ensures your child has adequate sleep for the busy hours spent at school. It’s not always easy to settle down for bed when the sun still hasn’t set in the summer, but even easing into a bedtime routine of listening to soft music or reading a few books in bed helps with this summer to school year transition.

4. Consider creating a family calendar.
One family activity you might consider is to create a school year family calendar. Many dollar stores sell wonderfully large calendars which you can customize with your own important information. After looking through the school calendar, mark important dates on the family calendar. Invite your child to decorate special event days with their own illustrations, or color-code the days of the calendar according to school days and days off from school. As children see some of the exciting activities that await them each month, their excitement about school may grow and override any nervousness they may be feeling about that first day.

5. Visit with friends.
Some of us have the best intentions to reconnect with friends and family during the summer when we think we have more time to get together only to find that we’ve blinked and haven’t had a chance to do so! If your child hasn’t seen neighborhood friends or former classmates over the past few months, now is a nice time to reconnect. If you know some of the children who will be in your child’s class for the upcoming year, having them come together at a local playground might be enough to spark that joy of returning to school to see old friends and make some new ones, too.

6. Attend “Meet the Teachers Day”.
If you’ve created a family school calendar, then you’ve marked the date for “Meet the Teachers Day” already! At MCA, parents and children together visit their new classroom, receive their lists of necessary school supplies, and meet their teachers face-to-face.
Meet the Teachers Day is followed by a “Phase-In” (see your Parent Packet for details), aimed at helping to alleviate any separation anxiety and providing the children with a smooth transition into their new school environment. Meet the Teachers Day is just one part of the orientation to school where the children acclimate both socially and emotionally to being apart from their parents and begin to take part in all aspects of their classroom community. At home, use your child’s teachers’ and classmates names in conversations, and begin to initiate conversations that are related to school.

7. Take your child shopping for school supplies.
Allow your child to get excited about going back to school by bringing him or her with you when you go shopping for any needed supplies or a special first day of school outfit. Giving your child the freedom to pick out his or her backpack and lunch box will also create a sense of ownership around these items, which will inherently point your child in the direction of being responsible for his or her things. Now is also a good time to remember to label all items with your child’s name.

8. And while you’re shopping, consider making a grocery list for lunches!
Sometimes planning for mealtimes is the most stressful part of a busy school or work day. Get a jump start on this and together with your child, create a list of things your child would like to have packed in his or her lunch each day. Creating a one or two week schedule of meals that can rotate may alleviate any of the issues your family may have regarding food. Keep in mind your school’s nut-safe policies, your child’s personal tastes, and what is important for a healthy lunch that will sustain your child for the afternoon.

9. Separate your anxieties about separation from your child’s.
Whether this is your first child heading off to school or your fourth, it is normal for parents to have some hesitation about leaving their children in the care of others. As parents ourselves, we at MCA know the internal struggles of sending our children off to school. We also know that our children will thrive and grow in their school settings, and that our children’s schools are nurturing, safe, and enriching places for our children to be!

In order to assist our children in making a smooth transition, it is important for us, as parents, to put forth a positive attitude and send our children off with a big smile, a brief hug, and assurance that we are looking forward to sharing stories about each of our days when we meet again after school and work. Your positive attitude helps your child sense that you believe he or she will be able to manage the school day just fine, and that positive attitude just might be contagious!

To help you maintain a smile before you say goodbye, take some time to reflect on the successes your child has exhibited in play groups or at other times when you were not right by his or her side. And be confident that should your child need some extra support, the teachers at MCA will help you both through this new transition and with becoming comfortable with a new school routine.

10. Consider starting a new ‘last day of summer vacation’ or ‘first day of school’ family tradition.
Again, using your family calendar, mark something special to do on the day before school starts or for that first day of school. Maybe it’s a special outing to a favorite nature spot, an end of summer ice cream treat, or a family splash in a pool. Or perhaps it’s a first day of school dinner picnic in the park, ride to a favorite bookshop to purchase one new book for bedtime, or an evening walk around the neighborhood in pajamas. Whatever you decide, make it something that will bring about a heightening happy anticipation to the start of school.

We can’t believe that the summer is almost over, but we are anticipating another wonderful school year ahead!! The MCA school calendar is filled with fun activities for everyone, starting with our Welcome Back Coffee. We hope you’ll mark your calendars now for our Parent Workshops and our highly anticipated night with guest speaker Dr. Robert Brooks, author of Raising Resilient Children, which was the featured selection for our MCA Parent Book Club last year. Our teachers are preparing their classrooms, just as your family is preparing for the new school year in your own way. To all of our new and returning MCA families, we look forward to seeing you in September!

Summertime Reading Buzz

by Alex Chiu

Summer is a wonderful time for storytelling and reading together. Long car rides to the beach, lazy Saturday mornings in bed, and twilight evenings on the back deck are ideal moments to listen to books on tape, share memories and stories, or read with your children. But what types of books should you read? There are so many delightful choices available – both the familiar titles parents will remember from their own youth and many brand new and equally engaging options which seem to come on the market daily. Consider this quote from Dr. Maria Montessori: “Travel stories teach geography; insect stories lead the child into natural science; and so on. The teacher, in short, can use reading to introduce her pupils to the most varied subjects; and the moment they have been thus started, they can go on to any limit guided by the single passion for reading.” So, it doesn’t really matter what you choose!

As their children’s first and most influential teachers, parents are instrumental in opening up new worlds for their children, particularly through the sharing of books. As you read together, invite your child to ask questions and share thoughts and ideas related to the book. Ask open-ended questions or help your child discover connections between what is in the story and your child’s own experiences. Encourage active engagement with others by having your child relate the plot or information from favorite stories with friends, neighbors, and relatives.

With summer in full swing, we thought we’d share a few titles specifically related to geography (including maps and different places or experiences from around the world) and insects, as featured in Dr. Montessori’s quote. Geography and insect themes can promote many summer adventures. These certainly are two areas that lend themselves especially well to the summer months and often become a springboard for other points of interest. Adults may provide the first selection of books to enjoy together, and then based on the children’s responses, parents may offer more similar suggestions or veer off on a different path.

When diving into the ocean of books offered at your local library or favorite bookshop, follow your child’s lead as he or she shows a special curiosity about a character, topic, or genre. See where your summer reading adventures can take you this summer. It could be miles away to discover faraway lands and cultures, or right to your very own backyard where you can delve into the world of the creatures that crawl and fly about. Wherever you go, we wish you happy reading, happy exploring, and a very happy and safe summer!

A Small Sampling of Books Related to Geography and Culture

A Country Far Away by Nigel Gray
A Single Pebble: A Story of the Silk Road by Bonnie Christensen
Katie in London by James Mayhew
As the Crow Flies: A First Book of Maps by Gail Hartman and Harvey Stevenson
Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney
Flat Stanley’s Worldwide Adventures by Jeff Brown
Smart About the Fifty States by Jon Buller
Time of Wonder by Robert McCloskey
Vanilla Ice Cream by Bob Graham
Where on Earth? by Helen Abramson

A Small Sampling of Books Related to Insects

A Butterfly is Patient by Dianna Aston
Bee and Me by Alison Jay
Bugs A to Z by Caroline Lawton
How to Survive as a Firefly by Kristen Foote
Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni
Insect Detective by Steve Voake
Step Gently Out by Helen Frost and Rick Lieder
The Big Book of Bugs by Yuval Zoomer
The Disgusting Critter Series by Elise Gravel
We Dig Worms! By Kevin McCloskey

*Note: Several authors have used the same titles for different books, so pay special attention to the complete titles and/or author names above to ensure you find the right book!

Sewing Up the School Year

By Fiorella Benson with Alex Chiu

As the 2018-2019 school year comes to a close, we are delighted to share a special photo blog featuring a special end of the year project from one of our MCA classes which beautifully illustrates how skills gleaned from across the Montessori curriculum come together “seamlessly” with stunning results!

The students in one of our MCA classes have been working on a new extension of the Montessori Constructive Triangles, using a sewing machine and their hand sewing skills to make their very first quilt. The children deepened their knowledge of the different shapes they can make with triangles, while learning about symmetry, patterns, and how to design a quilt. This hands-on approach to geometry also gave the children the opportunity to work on a fiber arts project, improve their fine motor skills, develop a sense of order, promote independence, and deepen their concentration. It was an empowering experience for the class to work on this project as a team and to realize that each one of them could thread and operate a sewing machine independently.

The creative process involved the following steps:

Working with the Constructive Triangles and Extensions
The children first created different shapes and patterns with triangles. They worked with the Constructive Triangles and worked on different extensions, such as tracing, coloring, and gluing triangles made out of construction paper.

First Stitches
The children learned how to thread a sewing machine and practiced sewing a straight line, while leaving a ¼- inch seam allowance. They also practiced putting the right pressure on the pedal.

Patterns and Symmetry
The children explored the different shapes and patterns present in a finished quilt, and then proceeded to create their own design as a team. We talked about symmetry and how you can use the same pattern at the top and bottom, or at the right and left side of a quilt.

Sewing Half-Square Triangles
Each child learned how to sew a half-square triangle, which is a square made from two equal right triangles. Then they sewed them together following the pattern they created for their quilt.

Putting the Pieces Together
Once again, students used the sewing machine to put their half-square triangles together.

Hand Tying the Quilt
The students quilted their project by hand, using a tie stitch that runs through the three layers of the quilt and is secured with a few knots.

Topstitching by Hand
To give a colorful final touch to their project, the children topstitched the perimeter of their quilt by hand with running stitches.

Presenting Their Finished Quilt!

Applying the skills the children have developed over the school year to a project such as this is a wonderful way to keep those skills sharp when school is out while at the same time having some family fun and perhaps learning new skills along the way. We hope this photo feature inspires some of our MCA families to consider taking on a special family project that involves creativity, new learning, and fun this summer.

We wish you a happy, healthy, and rejuvenating summer season!

Celebrating Spring

By Alex Chiu

“Development is a series of rebirths.” ~Dr. Maria Montessori

 

This is the time of year when many special events start springing up on our calendars. At MCA, we again find ourselves in the midst of planning and preparing for a variety of end of the year activities that will certainly make this already fulfilling school year even more enriched and memorable.

One highly anticipated spring activity occurring in several MCA classrooms is the hands-on study of the life cycles of different living things. Students have the opportunity to witness firsthand the development of plants, caterpillars, or baby chicks. Some classes begin planting seeds in early spring and track the growth of their plants on a chart. They may experiment with different types of soil or different growing conditions and compare and contrast their results. Several of the 3-6 classrooms set up butterfly habitats and observe caterpillars as they grow, form their chrysalides, and then emerge as butterflies. Students have an up close and personal look at the anatomy of the butterfly, and they are often amazed to see the butterfly’s proboscis stretch out to collect nectar from sugar water sprinkled onto flowers which the children place into the butterfly habitat. This unit generally ends with a celebratory releasing of the butterflies on the playground, and the children keep watch to see if their butterfly friends fly by throughout the remainder of their spring school days.

Other classes welcome eggs from a local farm and care for them in an incubator. Students learn how much warmth the eggs require, and they are careful to monitor the turning of the eggs while they are in their care. It’s always a delight to see the children’s reactions as they marvel at the baby chicks when they begin pecking their way out of the eggs. The children learn about what the chicks eat, and they take great pride in how carefully they handle them once they hatch. The growing chicks are returned to the farm, and while the students are sad to see them go, they have wonderful memories of this experience. Having both the caterpillars and chicken eggs in the classroom allows the children to see firsthand how the circle of life continues during this season of rebirth. They learn about the needs of these living creatures and nurture them through their development. It’s a precious thing to see the excitement in the classrooms as the children notice the first sprouts of the plants, or the day when they first see butterfly wings stretching open, or when they hear the first pecks at the eggshells when the chicks are ready to hatch.

And just as the children learn about animals and their offspring as an extension of these life cycle studies, they take time to reflect on their own families, as well. The children prepare and plan tributes to mothers and fathers. These important family members are honored in a variety of ways, either at classroom teas or special breakfasts prepared by the children or with lovingly-made crafts kept secret until Mother’s or Father’s Day arrives. We find that parents who come into the classrooms either for spring celebrations or merely to observe the children at work really are amazed at the growth that has taken place over the course of the school year. The children are certainly changed by spring!

Spring is also a time when MCA students come together as a community to celebrate the season in song at our annual Spring Sing. After working with our Music Teacher, Mr. Vergara, throughout the year learning about matching pitch and keeping the beat to different tempos, as well as other musical dynamics, the children are ready to present their musical talents. The performance includes song selections that highlight the different types of musical learning the children have gleaned. This year’s performance likely will include songs about spring, nature, and peace, as well as a blues piece, a lullaby, and a song sung in a foreign language. The Spring Sing is their opportunity to put into practice what they’ve learned and share the joy of music with an audience.

Our Elementary students host their own annual Art Exhibit and Choral Presentation in the spring, where they, too, sing for an appreciative audience of parents and friends. After this special event, guests are invited to view art and science displays, as well as other work and projects completed by these oldest MCA students. It’s a fitting celebration of their achievements as the students take pride in showing their accomplishments to their visitors. Our Elementary classes will also perform original plays for other MCA students at our Short Hills campus. This performance is the culmination of the Elementary students’ theater work with the Paper Mill Playhouse as part of their arts enrichment programming. The Elementary Yearbook Club will also publish their school yearbooks. Yearbook distribution is a highly anticipated event, and the students enjoy looking through the yearbook to revisit memories of the past school year and sign each other’s yearbooks with special messages and summer sendoffs.

As spring is a time of rebirths which flourish all around us, we enjoy this season and delight in reflecting on the growth and achievements of our students who have blossomed in our classrooms. We celebrate the children who learned to separate from their parents without tears and those who have learned to tie their own shoes. We celebrate the children who have mastered new learning in Language or Math and the children who have taken the initiative to help someone who was struggling with their work. We celebrate these children who have learned to care for the classroom materials as well as care for family, friends, and the environment. Spring is a delightful time to acknowledge and celebrate all of this growth which has unfolded beautifully throughout the school year!

Believing in Growing Montessori Minds

By Alex Chiu

   

Montessori Practical Life – Pouring Exercises

We continuously hear new buzzwords regarding child development, education, and personal growth, and one buzz in recent years has been about “fixed mindsets” vs. “growth mindsets”. In their simplest terms, a ‘fixed mindset’ is the belief that your intelligence and abilities are what they are and can’t be developed or improved, whereas a ‘growth mindset’ is the belief that our intelligence and abilities can grow, change, and be developed with work and effort. In her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol Dweck shares the importance of working towards a growth mindset for better attitudes about ourselves and better success across all areas of our lives. Further work in this field of ‘mindsets’ has unfolded the importance of modeling and facilitating a growth mindset for our children, and what seems to be at the core of promoting growth mindsets in everyone centers around the word ‘belief’.

Not surprisingly, once again the Montessori Method beautifully dovetails with this relatively current idea. After all, Dr. Montessori’s very first Casa dei Bambini was a school created for the poorest, most disadvantaged children. Her expectations of what her students could do and achieve were not limited by their circumstances. She believed in their ability to learn, grow, develop, and achieve within the specially designed environment she provided for them. She believed that with careful observation, she could tune into their needs and develop materials that would allow them to overcome whatever obstacles they might have in their lives. Central to both Montessori education and a growth mindset is that very important aspect of “believing” that work and effort is important and that by putting forth that work and effort, children can learn new things, master many skills, develop a sense of self-worth and confidence, and do so with enthusiasm and satisfaction.

Experts agree that developing a growth mindset requires people to do certain things. A few practices which seem to be required for achieving a growth mindset include:

• Putting Forth Effort
• Responding to Feedback
• Taking Time for Self-Reflection
• Persisting Despite Difficulties
• Embracing Challenges

Many of these things automatically and naturally occur in the Montessori classroom. Children put forth the effort to make their work choices and do the work from start to finish. Children receive immediate feedback because the Montessori materials and lessons have built within them a ‘control of error’. Children know when they’ve completed the work correctly because of this self-correcting aspect created within the materials. For example, in the very basic Practical Life lesson of pouring liquid, if water spills, the child knows that something went wrong. The child engages in self-reflection as he or she thinks about how to do the work differently to solve the problem and do the work without spilling. Should she pour the water more slowly? Should the angle of the pitcher change? Should she concentrate more on her work than looking up at others across the table while pouring? Then, the child can repeat the work and persist despite difficulties. Through this repetition, the child comes to discover just the right way to pour water from one container to another without spilling. He or she learns the appropriate speed to pour, the angle at which the pitcher should be held, and the careful concentration it takes to perform this task. In the Practical Life area and throughout the classroom, the child is constantly invited to embrace challenges, as the Montessori materials are arranged in succession of difficulty and grow with the child, continuously moving the child forward in learning new skills. Even in this very basic Montessori Practical Life pouring exercise, the child works on developing a growth mindset, believing that he or she can do the work without spilling water with more practice and effort.

Perhaps even better is that as children work through various Montessori lessons, they are not reliant on an adult giving them praise for doing a ‘good job’. Instead, they internalize that they are making progress and doing things well because they see it for themselves! The feedback is right there for them as they do their work. And it’s not critical or judgmental—it just is. The process of children choosing their work equally stimulates a growth mindset, as they can return to lessons to refine their skills or seek out new lessons that are intriguing and very likely more difficult or complex.

Additionally, teachers prepare the environment for their students so that challenges and (internal) rewards (such as self-satisfaction, a feeling of accomplishment, and feeling a sense of success in doing the work well) are available at every turn and in every activity they choose. This type of environment motivates children to seek out challenges, learn from mistakes, and enjoy the process of learning! Just as Dr. Montessori did with her first students in her first Casa dei Bambini, today’s Montessori teachers believe in their current students and are there to guide them towards a healthy, joyful, educational experience. We believe that Montessori students can grow, persevere, and find delight in learning with their growth mindsets throughout their entire lives. This is why we believe in the Montessori Method.

 

For more information about growth mindset, you might like to explore these resources, some of which were used in creating this article:

Briceño, Eduardo. “Growth Mindset: Clearing up Some Common Confusions.” Mindshift, KQED Inc., 16 November 2015, https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/42769/growth-mindset-clearing-up-some-common-confusions.

Dweck, Carol S. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York: Random House, 2006.

Dweck, Carol S. “Recognizing and Overcoming False Growth Mindset.” Edutopia, George Lucas Educational Foundation, 11 January 2016, https://www.edutopia.org/blog/recognizing-overcoming-false-growth-mindset-carol-dweck.

Eidens, Alexandra. “Top Growth Mindset Resources for Parents and Educators.” Big Life Journal, 8 September 2017, https://biglifejournal.com/blogs/blog/growth-mindset-resources.

Freibrun, Marine. “Maintaining a Teacher Growth Mindset.” Tales from a Very Busy Teacher, 31 December 2016, http://www.talesfromaverybusyteacher.com/2016/12/maintaining-teacher-growth-mindset.

Heggart, Keith. “Developing a Growth Mindset in Teachers and Staff.” Edutopia, George Lucas Educational Foundation, 4 February 2015, https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/developing-growth-mindset-teachers-and-staff.

Whips, Merri. “I Can Do Hard Things.” Montessori Blog, MariaMontessori.com, 7 March 2014, https://www.mariamontessori.com/2014/03/07/i-can-do-hard-things.