Parent Toddler Program Blog

April/May 2008

News from Parent/Toddler Program:

Well, we are down to the last few weeks of The Parent/Toddler Program for this year. The last day is Thursday, May 22nd.  I have thoroughly enjoyed this year observing, guiding and getting to know each child, and I thank each one of you for letting me be a part of the process of learning during this amazing time in your child’s life.

This is actually my last week of teaching Parent/Toddler because I’m off to have a baby!  But I look forward to seeing many of you in the fall, if not before.

New or Enjoyed Jobs:

The Barn and the Farm Animals came out this last month, and the children love the Farm Puzzles and Magnets, the Tractor and Farm Animal Books and singing Old MacDonald at circle time. Other new jobs include the Unit Blocks and a new Sorting with bears Activity among others. We’ve brought back out some of the jobs the children have seen and liked in the past; Pasta Peg Board, Ball in/out Boxes, Nesting Number Boxes and Bead Color Sorting.

The Children love to see Pictures of themselves in our latest classroom Book called Jobs We Enjoy In The Classroom. We’ve all enjoyed the outside classroom at the end of class, taking in the fresh spring air, climbing, swinging, running, sliding and bubble popping!

Aspect of Montessori: Sensitive Periods

Maria Montessori termed the “Sensitive Periods” of a child as the determination of perfection for a single-minted task, skill or trait. Once the trait is acquired, the sensitivity disappears.  But until then the child will repeat an activity or job over and over until he or she is satisfied, and then will move on. Examples of sensitive periods are specific jobs such as: Pounding Balls, Sorting, Scooping, listening to Books or doing puzzles, or more general areas such as Order, Movement, Grace and Courtesy, refinement of the senses, Music, Language and later Reading, Writing and Mathematics.

March 2008

News from Parent/Toddler Program

We’ve enjoyed some new Easter Bunny finger plays and a couple of spring songs at circle-time to hopefully bring the warmer weather our way.

BUNNY

Here is a bunny with ears so funny,

And here is his hole in the ground.

Where a noise he hears, he pricks up his ears,

And he jumps in the hole in the ground!

1-2-3-4-5

1-2-3-4-5, I caught a fish alive, 6-7-8-9-10, then I let him go again.

Why did you let him go? Because he bit my finger so.

Which little finger did he bight? This little finger on the right.

MY TURTLE

This is my turtle. He lives in a shell. He likes his home very well.

He pokes his head out when he wants to eat.

And he pulls it back in when he wants to sleep.

New and Enjoyed Jobs:

This last month the children have enjoyed several new jobs including the Big Animal Abacus, Rice Exploration with pouring tools and funnels, the easel with Farm Magnets on one side, and chalk drawing on the other. Pom-Pom Transfer with a spoon and Hammering Pegs are new on the Practical Life shelf. Bristle Blocks and Tower making Jobs they have enjoyed, and are a good lesson in sharing with a friend. These, along with new variations of jobs that we might have seen before (Sorting, In/Out jobs and Shape and Color matching) are popular with the children. This next month we’ll be getting the Farm out with all the fun Farm related materials and animals that go with it!

Aspect of Montessori: “Grace and Courtesy” and “The Ground Rules”

February 2008

We are finishing up our second 11-week session of the Parent/Toddler Program with fun Valentines fingerplays and hugs and kisses books. We’re getting ready to start the third and final session with hopes of warmer weather and more outside playground climbing and swinging time at the end of each class.

New or Enjoyed Jobs:

We’ve been very busy despite the snow days (and inevitable sick days) we’ve all had.  Several new materials include Color Matching Vehicles, Clothespin Color Matching, a new sorting job, Sensory Feely Bags and Big/Little Animals, all on the Sensorial and Practical Life Shelves.  The Land/Water Animals, some fresh playdough and cutters, and knock- knock instruments are also new this month.

A big hit has been the Water Work: it’s a popular exercise for helping children work with their small and gross motor coordination skills. We have a tub of water with various water containers and a baster. The addition of some small water animals has made it really fun for them. An active gross motor activity they’ve enjoyed at the end of class is the Big Blue Tunnel. This next week will bring Potato Prints, some new art materials, an easel and a Big Abacus among other things!

Aspect of Montessori: Independence

Maria Montessori believed that if the environment were prepared for the child, the child would thrive. If we provide the child with the materials, at their level, so that they can get them when they need them, then they can succeed automatically. There is no interruption and thus their concentration and their depth of engagement deepens. They then have a sense of ownership of their environment when they can do it themselves, and pride when they accomplish the work on their own. They CAN do it themselves!

January 2008

Happy New Year!

We have had fun singing some new songs at circle-time; Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Old McDonald Had a Farm and If Your Happy and You Know It, among others. We love reading stories during work-time and during story-time. Some new favorites are A Snowy Day, In The Sea, On The Farm, and In The Jungle. We’ve been trying to stay nice and warm inside, during this bitterly cold winter weather spell we’re having!

New and Enjoyed Jobs:

There are several new materials out in our prepared environment. The Sorting of Rocks and Shells Job is out on the Sensorial Shelf. New instruments are out, along with new tools for the playdough work, and Little Animals are on the Language Shelf. They have enjoyed the small wooden train and train track they can put together, and the big Dollhouse with all of it’s fun little dolls, beds, tables and chairs. The children continually love the Lock Box, the various Shape Sorting Jobs and all the great puzzles! (Thank you Theresa Hewson for the fun tractor puzzle!)

Aspect of Montessori: Practical Life, Everyday Living in the Classroom

Children want to learn. They want to have a job; they want to clean; to help; to work. That is their natural instinct; to learn to do everyday, real activities. Why not channel that energy by giving them practical jobs to practice real work with real tools?  For example: The Pouring work will help them learn to pour juice; the Transfer jobs helps them learn to use their pincer grasp, and various tools; and learning the Ground Rules (put your job back on the shelf, etc.) helps to create a foundation for all else. All of these jobs are preparation for later in life.

December 2007

News from Parent/Toddler Program

As the weather has turned bitterly cold outside and the Holidays fast approaching, we have been staying nice and warm inside reading holiday books at story-time, and singing Jingle Bells (and shaking our jingle bells) at circle time.  We’ve started our second eleven-week session of the year and have welcomed another friend into our classroom.

New and enjoyed jobs:

We have seen several new materials appear on the shelves for the children to discover the last few weeks.  For the children that have continued on in this next session of the class, it’s another cycle for their expanding knowledge and capabilities for using the materials.  They might have seen some of these jobs before, but are now able to use the material in possibly a new and different way than they could have in the past, because they are that much older than they were.  They are also continuing to become familiar with the ground rules of our environment (i.e.: Put your job away when you are finished, sit down when you are eating snack, push your chair in when you are done, etc) and are beginning to understanding why we need these rules… maybe! 

In the Practical Life Area there are different versions of the Transfer and Pouring jobs than we have seen before. The Twisting job and Stringing Beads on a pipecleaner are also out on the Practical Life Shelves.  The children are enjoying a new Pounding Balls with Hammer job, the new Felt Board, the Matching Little Pictures to Big Pictures, and all the fun puzzles!

The children have continued to enjoy snack-time and usually will eat together in a group, and most of the time will try the new tastes (bananas, grapes, kiwi, tomatoes) along with the old standbys!

Aspect of Montessori Education: The Importance of Order

It is the young child’s Sensitive Period for the Sense of Order- both of place and time.  The child needs consistency and familiarity to feel comfortable and secure, and therefore be able to succeed. If a child knows what is going to happen next, by the routine established then he/she knows what is expected and what to do when.  If each material has a specific place in the environment, then the child knows where to find it and where to put it back when finished, and there is less chaos and confusion. If the environment and routine are consistent the child can then concentrate on other important activities.

November 2007

News from the Parent/Toddler Program

The children seem to have adjusted well to their classroom environment. They have all been busy during the morning work-time, usually going from job to job with little guidance. They are all working on and doing a good job with the “work cycle”, that is, choosing a work, concentrating on the material and then putting it back on the shelf to get it ready for the next person.  

New and enjoyed Jobs:

We have seen several new presentations the last couple of weeks including Sorting Shells and the Sensory Bags both in the Sensorial Area.  The Sensory Bags encourage the child to feel what is in the bag without looking (or with looking, in our case!), and challenges his/her memory of touch, creating a matching game. This game can also teach new vocabulary, as you can ask the child what the object is, or how they guessed the object in the bag.  Popular works in the classroom have included the In/Out ball and shapes works, the Building Blocks and Nesting Blocks, the Cutting Wood Fruit and the Bead Patterns, Coloring, and the children always love a book read to them. At morning circle we’ve been getting energized by dancing and singing to Raffi music. Like I said, we’ve been busy!

And of course they love the Play dough, here is a recipe that really works well: 

1C flour, ½ C salt, 2T cream of tartar, 2 T oil, 1 C water (mixed with food coloring) and 1 t vanilla essence (optional), put all ingredients in a large saucepan and stir over medium heat, until the dough forms a ball. Allow the dough to cool, and knead until smooth. Store in an airtight container.

Aspect of Montessori Education: The “Absorbent Mind”

The “Absorbent Mind” is what Maria Montessori referred to when she was talking about the young child’s mind. The child becomes the impressions taken from his/her environment. It is the capacity for absorbing the environment like a sponge, whatever might be in the environment. That is why we (as teachers and parents) model gentleness and kindness, we create beauty in our classrooms and homes and we use real names of food, songs and tools so that the child builds up a vocabulary to match his/her experiences.

October 31, 2007

We are settling comfortably into our second part of our eleven-week session of the Parent/Toddler Program. The first part of the session was busy as the children were getting to know the “Prepared Environment”, and some of it’s “ground rules”. We have been learning How to Choose a Job off the shelf, How to Carry a Tray, and How to Roll a Rug, among other things. We use our rugs to define our own workspace.

New and enjoyed “jobs”:

We have seen many presentations during work time including the Pouring and Transfer Jobs from the Practical Life Area, and Shapes Sorting Jobs from the Sensorial Area. Popular works in the classroom include The Instruments, Tasting Activities, Puzzles, Playdough and many of the Practical Life Works: “In/Out” Works, The Lock Box and The Hammering Work. We are all working on putting our material back on the shelf when we are finished with it, and putting our rugs back where they belong. (Thank-you parents for helping to model this important step)

A new favorite song of ours is Five Little Pumpkins:

          Five Little Pumpkins sitting on a gate

          The first one said, “Oh my it’s getting late”

          The second one said, “Fall is in the air”

          The third one said, “Oh we don’t care”

          The forth one said “Lets run and run and run”

          The fifth one said “Isn’t Halloween fun?”

OOOOHH went the wind, and OUT went the light, those five little pumpkins rolled out of site.

Aspect of Montessori Education: The “Prepared Environment”.

The “Prepared Environment” influences development and learning of the child, as well as encourages independence, order, cooperation and coordination. It is filled with beautiful, real, carefully chosen objects and natural materials, each with it’s own specific place and purpose. It consists of low shelving so the materials are easily accessible to the children. The materials are rotated in and out of this environment, as determined by the director, directress or parent.