Tag Archives: Montessori education

Celebrating the International Day of Peace

By Alex Chiu

Once again, The Montessori Children’s Academy (MCA) will be joining with people worldwide to celebrate the International Day of Peace on September 21st. “Peace Day”, as it is sometimes referred to, began in 1981 when the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution to have “a day devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples”. In 2001, the organization officially chose September 21st as its fixed date for the celebration of Peace Day, and the tradition continues on today.

Each year, the UN chooses a theme for the celebration, and this year’s theme is “The Right to Peace”. In our homes, in our schools, in our communities, and in our world, we hope everyone aspires to peaceful living. However, we know that peace isn’t always or easily achieved. Still, peace is something that we can all work towards with effort, practice, and guidance. Learning how to be peaceful is central to what we hope to pass on to the children we serve at MCA not just on September 21st, but every day.

Montessori education, at its core, incorporates peace education across all areas of the curriculum. From the very beginning of her research and educational practice, Dr. Montessori sought ways to educate the ‘whole child’. Every aspect of Montessori’s work was geared toward helping children in order to help the world because she believed that children were the ‘promise of the future.’ Most of us would agree with that sentiment today, and thankfully, we have Dr. Montessori’s guidance and time honored traditions to know how we can work best with children to facilitate a more peaceful world. Montessori’s educational methods and the materials she so carefully constructed aimed at providing children with ways to develop important skills and to work through challenges. The Montessori philosophy incorporates the essential ingredients needed to foster not only discovery and learning, but also peace within the child, peace within the classroom community, and ultimately, peace in the world. From Montessori’s teachings and example, we know the importance of preparing an environment for children where they learn about order, self-discipline, grace and courtesy, respect, kindness, empathy, problem solving, character, and global awareness, in addition to their academic lessons. This type of learning, this way of addressing the ‘whole child’, certainly is a path to peace.

And so we celebrate both the International Day of Peace as well as the values of Montessori education this September 21st! As is tradition, everyone at all three MCA campuses will participate in singing “Light a Candle for Peace” at 9:30AM. Should you like to mark this special day in a very simple way, you might consider taking a moment of silence at 12:00 Noon to join in the efforts of the organization Pathways to Peace to create a “Peace Wave” along with millions of others around the world to honor and inspire the work we all are called upon to do in order to be peacemakers.

As Dr. Maria Montessori said “Times have changed, and science has made great progress, and so has our work; but our principles have only been confirmed, and along with them our conviction that mankind can hope for a solution to its problems, among which the most urgent are those of peace and unity, only by turning its attention and energies to the discovery of the child and to the development of the great potentialities of the human personality in the course of its formation” (The Discovery of the Child).

May we all work together to create a world where everyone everywhere is able to enjoy and exercise their ‘right to peace’. And may we all help our children learn how to carry on this important mission. Wishing you all a happy Peace Day!

For more information about the International Day of Peace and other peace initiatives, check out these websites:

http://www.un.org/en/events/peaceday/
www.singpeacearoundtheworld.com
http.://internationaldayofpeace.org
pathwaystopeace.org

A Matter of Trust


By Alex Chiu

Trust. This is a good word for the beginning of the school year. Parents who have chosen to send their children to a Montessori school have already shown that they have trust in the educational philosophy. Now, as September is upon us, it is time take a deep breath as we send our children off to school and to also trust our children, their teachers, and ourselves.

The start of a new school year is always filled with anticipation, and sometimes anxiety, by students, parents, and school personnel. Everyone is excited for new lunchboxes, new learning, and new growth. But many are equally nervous about a new beginning. For parents of new students, there may hesitation about being away from their children for what may be the first time, or concern about how their children will fare in a new classroom with new faces and new routines. Families with children returning to school also face uncertainties and may feel some apprehension about what the new school year will have in store.

But this is where trust comes in, and especially trust in Montessori. At The Montessori Children’s Academy, parents can trust that their children are in the care of well-trained, dedicated teachers who believe in the Montessori Method and adhere to the principles set forth by Dr. Montessori. The teachers fully appreciate that parents entrust children to their care during the school day. They model respect, patience, kindness, and curiosity, and they work diligently to individualize the learning that takes place in order to follow each child from where he or she is to wherever it is that he or she wishes to go. Of course, everyone in each classroom goes through the ‘normalization period’ where they learn how to work together as a classroom community. The groundwork for the year is laid as the classes talk about classroom guidelines, expectations, and goals. Separation issues may ensue for some, but again, parents are asked to trust that the teachers (and the other children) will work together to make every individual in the class feel safe, secure, and excited to be at school. Parents must trust that even if this takes some time, it happens, and if their help is needed, they will be invited to help in the process!

Montessori parents also can trust that their children will have the opportunity to learn and grow in a nurturing environment that has been specifically designed just for them! The carefully designed materials invite the children to explore how they work, and each material offers many levels of learning. Montessori classrooms are an oasis for children. Everything is just their size, and each item on each shelf is carefully and purposefully placed. The children learn a sense of order as they are shown how to take an item off of the shelf, how to use it, and how to return it so it is ready for the next friend who wants to use it. They learn responsibility and how to care for their environment which they share with their friends and teachers. They learn to take pride in the work they do and in the way in which they do their work. Parents can trust that the levels of learning are many. Additionally, they can trust that children in the Montessori classrooms learn not only important academics but also social skills, leadership skills, and higher-level thinking skills that they will carry on with them wherever they go.

Finally, parents need to take a moment, take a breath, and trust themselves. Especially for parents with first time students, trust that you are sending your child on a wonderful, joyful journey. As children begin their education, and move forward with each subsequent year, they have the whole world opened up to them. Parents can trust that they know their children best. They are their children’s first teachers and have already set a foundation on which their children will build their personalities, experiences, and education. Trust that you are sending your children into the world where they will learn, grow, contribute, share, develop, struggle (yes!), overcome, persevere, question, discover, and so much more. Trust that there is a wonderful school year ahead!

 

Summertime Extensions for Exploring the Cultural Area

Montessori Childrens Academy NJ

Montessori classrooms truly give students the world. The Cultural area of the classroom is filled with flags, globes, and maps which allow students to travel to places beyond their classroom walls. Montessori students learn about geography, land and water forms, and climate, not to mention the customs and cultures of people from around the world. Exposure to these cultural aspects opens the minds and imaginations of students. They discover the similarities and differences between their own country of origin and places worldwide. Through their cultural studies, they also gain an appreciation for things that are unfamiliar to them, and this appreciation of ‘other’ lends itself to developing understanding of and respect for all people, all cultures, and all places.

Summer is an excellent time to use the Montessori Cultural area as a springboard for continued learning. Because many of the students have already been presented with lessons in map making and simple research, parents can challenge their children to extend their cultural discoveries at home over the summer holiday. Even if your family is planning a ‘staycation’ this summer, you can all travel virtually through your participation in some of these Cultural extensions.

1. Discover your roots. If your ancestors came from other countries, summer might be a perfect time to find out more about your family’s history or about your family’s country (or countries) of origin. Public libraries generally have children’s books about places around the world, so check out a few related to your family’s own ethnic background.

2. Taste something new. As an extension, you might enjoy trying out a new recipe from one of these places. Involve your child in planning the dish, shopping for ingredients (and there are some ethnic markets that are like a trip to a foreign land in and of themselves!), and then together prepare and taste something new!

3. Map your neighborhood. Keep those cartography skills sharp and have your child create a map of your neighborhood or town. Challenge your child to identify the major landmarks (school, library, police station, favorite playground), and invite him or her to draw out the paths from home to each of these important places in your area.

4. Design a family flag. The children have learned that nations can be identified by their flags. They also know that each state in the US has its own flag. Why not design a special family flag? Think about things that are important to your family and include symbols representing those things on your family flag. Design it first on paper, and if you’re really ambitious, create an actual fabric flag to wave proudly at home!

5. Identify the land and water features you visit. Again, even if you don’t leave home, your child can look at maps of where you live and practice identifying what land and water forms are displayed on the map. Not only do we have the Atlantic Ocean along our NJ border, but the state is filled with rivers, lakes, and mountain ranges to identify.

6. Research a destination. If your family is planning a getaway to another city, state, or country, include your child in the planning, and research some of the history, geography, and culture of the place you will be going.

7. Keep a travel journal. Keeping a journal on a family trip is a wonderful way to have your child document the trip, and it is something that your child can then share with family and friends upon returning home. Drawings, notes, and collected items such as ticket stubs, photographs, or brochures can build a wonderful keepsake of your vacation.

Whatever your summertime plans, your child can continue to discover the world through a variety of activities, even from the comfort of your own home. Happy Exploring!

Balanced Literacy in a Montessori Classroom

By Imelda McShane with Alex Chiu

Balanced literacy contains both spoken and written components. The foundation for language learning is hearing and imitating sounds, listening to words, understanding the meaning of words and sentences, and being able to use words to communicate. At The Montessori Children’s Academy, we teach the children who are ready to read by using a phonetic approach that demonstrates how words are made up of sounds, which is later supplemented by sight-reading strategies. Learning to read starts with phonics in Montessori schools because we understand that reading is essentially the decoding of the individual sounds of a word, and connections are made among speaking, reading, and writing in all areas of the curriculum right from the start to promote balanced literacy.

Many preschool children may already have mastered the names of the letters by the time they come to school. They know their ABCs from the Alphabet Song which uses the names of the letters and which we all know very well. When young children enter a Montessori classroom, they then are introduced to the sounds the letters make. For example, “A” says the sound “a” as in “cat”. This is a new concept for most preschoolers, and as their interest in the Language area of the classroom grows, they become engrossed in the various materials that facilitate their reading, writing, and general language skills.

The first of the Montessori materials used to help teach the sounds of letters are the Sandpaper Letters. These materials consist of 26 individual flat, thin wooden boards, each with a lower case letter made of sandpaper attached to one side of the board. Consonants are on pink boards and vowels are on blue boards. The Sandpaper Letters are kept in boxes containing 4 or 5 letters, chosen because of their differing sounds and shapes. For example, the first box a child would be introduced to includes the sounds “b”, “m”, “s”, and “t”. Each letter’s shape and sound is quite distinct from the others in the box, promoting an easier differentiation for the child.

Using these materials, children learn to recognize the symbols of the letters, associate the phonetic sounds with the letters, and make a tactile connection between the sounds and the formation of the letters. Montessori teachers show the child how to trace the Sandpaper Letter with one finger. While the child traces the letter, the teacher will repeat the phonetic sound of the letter. The child is encouraged to repeat the sound. An extension of this work is to have the child write the letter in a shallow tray filled with sand. The child is invited to form the letter in the sand, and if dissatisfied, the letter can easily be ‘erased’ by gentle smoothing the sand so the child can try again and again. These activities are direct preparation for writing because they give the children practice in the movement used for making the letter, which they will do with pencil and paper in the future.

Recently, in one of our MCA preschool classrooms, the children used crayons to trace letters written first by a teacher in pencil on a piece of paper. After tracing the letters, the children could choose stamps with pictures of objects that begin with those letters to illustrate their papers, for example using a stamp of a “rose” for the sound “r” or a stamp of a “monkey” for the sound “m”. Students have also used watercolors to paint turkeys and hats representing the sounds of “t” and “h”. Using a small pin punch tool, the children pin punched the outlines of the shapes of pumpkins and cats on construction paper to help them learn the sounds “p” and “c”. While studying invertebrates, the children had the opportunity to match different sounds with different types of invertebrates. Montessori classes perform many activities like this to reinforce the sounds across curriculum areas.

Another fun way to work with sounds is to play an “I Spy” sort of game. During circle time, some teachers, when calling children to choose work, line up, or get their coats, will often say, “If your name begins with the sound “d”, you may get your coat.” Parents can play this in the car or at home too, as it is an enjoyable way to incorporate learning sounds throughout the day.

Once the children have mastered many of the sounds, they begin working with another Montessori material – the Movable Alphabet. The Moveable Alphabet is a box containing small, lowercase letters of the full alphabet. Consonants are usually red and vowels are usually blue for the children to easily distinguish. The activity is done on a mat on the floor with a set of phonetic objects (for example, a hat, a cat, a rat, etc.). One of the objects is laid down on the mat, and the child is asked to identify the object. When the child names the object, he or she is then invited to listen for the first sound he or she hears when saying the word. The child then finds the letter that represents that first phonetic sound from the Moveable Alphabet box and places it beside the object on the mat. The child and teacher will repeat the word again, “h-a-t”, slowly so the child can hear each of the sounds used to make the word, and the child chooses each of the corresponding letters to spell the word on the mat. The fact that this reading activity requires manipulation of material is important because the child is still at an age where he or she learns a great deal through the use of the hands. The objects also are very inviting and draw the children to choose this activity in the classroom.

After the children have learned to spell out the words “hat”, “cat”, “bat”, etc. using the Moveable Alphabet, they read what they have laid out to a teacher; thereby moving from building the word with the Moveable Alphabet letters to reading the word out loud. The children will continue in this way building many words using all of the vowels in the box, and progressing from simpler words to more challenging ones, as they are ready.

To continue their work in putting sounds together, the children progress through the Montessori Pink, Blue, and Green Language Boxes. In one of the first Montessori reading exercises, the Pink Reading Boxes, the child matches small pictures with simple, phonetic words printed on cards. At first, this exercise involves three-letter words with short vowel sounds. Later, in the Blue and Green levels, four or five letter words such as “stamp”, “flag”, “crab”, etc. are introduced. These are called blends. There are many such pictures in the classroom, so that a variety of work is always available. The children are introduced to basic sight words and eventually reading phonetic sentences.

One way to enhance the Language curriculum in a Montessori classroom is with an activity known as “Sharing the Pen.” An example of this activity was observed recently when an MCA teacher drew a place setting on a large piece of paper. The children were asked to choose an object from the place setting picture and come to the paper and write the sounds they could hear when saying the name of the object. One child wrote “plt” on the picture of the dinner plate. Each child was allowed a turn to “share the pen.” The children look forward to activities such as this, and they are able to see how language is part of everything that they do.

Another important component of the Montessori Language curriculum is literature. Literature is part of every school day. Reading and class discussion are woven into every aspect of the MCA curriculum. Through their continuous exposure to literature, children build a wide vocabulary, gain a better understanding of the function of words, and learn to communicate and express themselves better, both orally and in writing. One recent literature lesson at MCA involved the book 10 Black Dots by Donald Crews. The author wrote, “One dot can make a sun, two dots can make the eyes of a fox, and three dots can make a snowman’s face.” The children were asked what they would do with 10 black dots. One child wrote, “Four dots for the flowers in my dad’s garden.” Another child wrote, “Two dots are for yummy chocolate chip cookies,” while still another one wrote, “10 dots can make a necklace for my mom.” Even the youngest students participated by illustrating pictures and dictating their stories to a teacher.

MCA students engage in language across all areas of the curriculum. Music and art connect to their Language learning, too. For Thanksgiving, some of our children wrote what they were thankful for on leaves with crayons and used watercolors to paint over them. In December, other students talked about their own holiday traditions and read holiday stories with a theme of gifts from the heart. The children then wrote cards to the parents expressing a gift such as love, joy, kindness, etc. Recently, a class read the book The Wonder of Hands by Edith Baer, which illustrates the many wonderful things hands can do. This book inspired much discussion about the varied things that hands could be used for, after which the children wrote about what their own hands can do. For example, one child wrote, “I can make a heart with my hands to show love,” while another wrote “I can hold my friend’s hand with my hand.” Throughout all seasons of the year, the children are exposed to poems and stories related to holidays, seasons, and current classroom themes, all contributing to their Language learning.

The goal of a developmentally appropriate classroom is to accept the children where they are and take them forward on their literacy journey. Montessori classrooms especially help guide children on this journey through a variety of activities and with specifically crafted materials that facilitate their language growth. A balanced literacy program, such as what you will find in MCA’s classrooms, helps to ignite the excitement of language learning and light the way for children’s development in this area.

A Practical (Life) Thanksgiving

 

By Alex Chiu

Thanksgiving is just the holiday for making connections between home and your child’s Montessori school experience. With the number of preparations involved, it’s wonderful to have extra hands helping with all of the details, and your children have a great deal to offer as helpers. Since September, they have been refining many of the skills needed to pull off a perfect Thanksgiving holiday for family and friends. Invite your child to participate in the planning and preparation. They will take pride in and feel great satisfaction in being able to contribute, and you’ll be grateful for the extra help in getting things done!

Before the Big Day

Clean: As you begin your household chores, consider what tasks can be done by your child. At school, Montessori students practice folding cloths, scrubbing tables, washing dishes, sweeping, cleaning the leaves of plants, rolling rugs, and pushing in chairs, just to name a few. See what needs to be done around the house before company arrives, and then invite your child to take on one or more of the chores that he or she can be successful in completing. Simple chores such as putting clean hand towels in the guest bathroom, organizing their toys, or pushing in the chairs around the dining room table allow even the youngest children to feel like they are making a contribution to the festivities.

Decorate: Montessori students have ample opportunity to be creative with a variety of art supplies at school. Charge your children with the task of creating table centerpieces. Encourage them to take a nature walk and collect items to use in their creations. They may also enjoy making place cards for your dinner guests. Provide them with colored paper, scissors, colored pencils, and the list of guests. To welcome visitors, you might like to spend time together making a welcoming wreath for your front door. Using a wire or grapevine wreath frame available at most any craft or dollar store, use clothespins to attach favorite photos or items from nature, or tie strips of different colored ribbons around the frame.

Set the Table: Your children are already old hands at setting the table by the time Thanksgiving rolls around. They have been setting up their lunch spaces since the start of school, and many classrooms have likely set out a “table setting” work on the Practical Life shelf, showing the proper placement of forks, knives, spoons, and napkins. If your dishes are too fragile, work together. Let your child set out the napkins and utensils while you set out the dishes and glassware. And remember to have your child count while doing this chore. How many people are coming? How many of each item will we need? How many utensils will be on the table in all? Learning opportunities across disciplines abound in this preparation work!

Thanksgiving Day

Help with Food Prep: Food prep is often a favorite activity for Montessori students. They become young experts in peeling, chopping, pouring, and so much more. Allow your child to help with measuring and mixing, slicing (with a child-safe kitchen tool) and washing, or pouring and peeling. Remind your child to wash hands prior to doing any food prep, and provide some guidance, but be prepared to be surprised at how well they can manage many tasks in the kitchen!

Practice Grace and Courtesy: Prior to the arrival of your guests, coach your child in some of the social graces you expect of them. You might have your child collect coats as guests arrive or provide newcomers with a small tour of the main level of the house. Have your child introduce guests to one another, and practice some ‘conversation starters’ for your child to use. Share some memories about family and friends who will be joining you for the celebration, or put out some photo albums for your child to peruse with guests as a springboard to hearing old stories and making new lasting memories. At the dinner table, include your child in conversations by asking open-ended questions or encouraging your child to share some stories about school, friends, or special events.

Clean Up: Just as with setting the table, your children can easily assist with certain clean up jobs. Ask them to help clear dishes, wipe counters, or push in chairs. Transferring leftover items from serving dishes into storage containers is a great job for children to do. Whatever the task, allow your child to do the job to the best of his or her ability, and enjoy having the help!

When everyone is full, when all the work is complete, and when the busy-ness of the day winds down, take a few moments to reflect on all of the hard work that was done in order to create a special day for everyone to enjoy. Think about the ways in which your child was able to help and how he or she is growing, developing new skills, and gaining independence. Maria Montessori once said that “Joy, feeling one’s own value, being appreciated and loved by others, feeling useful and capable of production are all factors of enormous value for the human soul.” So before the day is done, share your reflections with your child, and remember to give thanks for it all!

 

Photo Credit:  http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2677/4104214861_9f3e18b225_z.jpg