More than 40 years ago I vowed, “I’m never getting married and I’m never having kids—they’re just brats!” But God had a Plan for me! He gave me a husband and we will be celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary this December and He gave me three children who took me on a journey to become a successful Montessori Guide—God has given me the gift to love and teach young children; how did this happen?!
The only thing I knew when my daughter was four years old was that she probably needed to go to school. We lived in Germany in a small German village. I checked with the military base and all the classes were full. I started talking to other military wives and one told me about her son’s “kind of different” school in the next village. That was the beginning of my Montessori journey—now my daughter is 36 years old!
C & K Children’s House was a parent co-op Montessori school for American and German children ages 3-6 years old. It was fantastic! My daughter learned to read by 5 years old and was so happy there. I decided to put her brother there too when he was three years old. As a parent co-op, I got to learn how to give Montessori lessons to the children, to substitute teach, and was elected to the School Board to run the school. I thought this was just the normal, regular way every Montessori school was: easy to get trained and learn all about Montessori! But that was not true.
We moved to Maryland and entered public school because there was no Montessori. I volunteered in the classrooms and all I kept thinking was, “Why do they make it so hard for the kids to learn when Montessori is so much easier?”
We moved again, to California, and our third child got to go to a Montessori school but the older two to public school. Again my Montessori experience was amazing. I got to substitute and was voted to the School Board. But public school was mostly a disaster—expectations and lesson were way too low and boring. I ended up Homeschooling my second son through 5th grade—the Homeschool movement was just beginning. There was still no place available to get trained as a Montessori teacher and the internet wasn’t something yet created!
We moved to Colorado next and again disappointment in lack of Montessori so I went back to college (in my 40’s) to get a regular teaching degree. I figured I could teach in a public school and just use Montessori materials and method there. Well, we got moved to Okinawa, Japan next and I was able to finish my regular teaching degree which included Special Education and then found an online Montessori training with International Montessori Society (IMS)! I completed both degrees and got to teach in a Montessori school—I loved it!
We got moved again to Germany and I got hired to teach on the military base in a “Sure Start” class. (The military version of “Head Start”). I led it as a Montessori class and within two months the children had completed the entire Sure Start “curriculum”. I added more Montessori lessons and wrote the equivalent Curriculum Standards for them and my class was the most successful to move on to Kindergarten.
Next we were moved to Virginia where I got to work in two different Montessori schools before our retirement to California. Here in California I have been blessed to be able to start my ministry, The Mustard Seed—a tuition-free Montessori classroom and Montessori Resource for parents.
For those of you who are interested in my professional training here it is briefly:
Montessori Certification through Interenational Montessori Society (IMS)
IMS Workshops in Pennsylvania, Scotland, and Hong Kong
Keynote Speaker for the Montessori European Congress in Sweden
American Montessori Society Workshop in Virginia
Association Montessori Internationale 100 Year Anniversary Workshop in California
International Montessori Council Workshop in California
Established Montessori Toddler Classroom at Calvary Chapel, Petaluma, CA
Saturday, August 25, 2018
Monday, August 20, 2018
Curriculum Workshop
Everyone interested in a curriculum workshop, post your interest here so I can set up a date. Love, Mrs. Curtis
Sunday, August 19, 2018
Materials and Curriculum
For those of you thinking about following Montessori teaching in your Homeschooling, I want to encourage you that it is not a method or curriculum meant for the intellectual, wealthy elite. It does not require extensive training, a burden of overly expensive materials, or an abundance of “curriculum”.
Friday, August 17, 2018
First Practice in Handwriting
Here is the first practice in handwriting letters: the child traces the Sandpaper Sound, says the sound out loud, and then draws it in the cornmeal. A simple shake of the box erases the letter so it can be practiced again and again or other letters can be formed. This is a very cheap box with lid that I bought in a Dollar Store. You can use cornmeal, sand, salt, rice.
Next, you introduce the chalkboard. Keep your materials orderly; I put my chalk in a container, use felt for erasing, and tuck it all into a duck basket. The child again traces the Sandpaper Sound and then draws it on the chalkboard. The first lessons on the chalkboard are without lines for the letters.
When the child is ready to move ahead with writing the letters, add a ruler and draw your guide lines. I love Cursive because every letter starts in the same place on the line whereas with Manuscript Print, letters begin in different places so you need to draw more guide lines as you can see in the next photo.
Now you are ready to start writing phonetic words! The Cursive does not have to be connected at first. That will come later. You want the children to be able to stop and hear the sound that is in the word and to draw it; this causes natural pauses at this point in the Early Writing stage. When the sounds become more fluid, they will be able to start connecting the Cursive letters together.
With your Manuscript Print you will need to continue with these guide lines and be very specific in showing how to form the letters since they begin at different places on the lines.
Finally, you will get to the point when the child is ready for pencil and paper. This is the paper I use. I am showing an examples using colored pencils; plain lead pencil is fine. I have found that it is worth investing in very good colored pencils for your pink and blue inset design work, your handwriting lessons, and booklet making that will come along with handwriting. This Prismacolor container has 24 colored pencils of high quality and they lasted an entire school year and will last another for sure! The container keeps them in order and the children never lost one because there is a slot for each pencil making it obvious if one has hidden itself on the floor!
Next, you introduce the chalkboard. Keep your materials orderly; I put my chalk in a container, use felt for erasing, and tuck it all into a duck basket. The child again traces the Sandpaper Sound and then draws it on the chalkboard. The first lessons on the chalkboard are without lines for the letters.
When the child is ready to move ahead with writing the letters, add a ruler and draw your guide lines. I love Cursive because every letter starts in the same place on the line whereas with Manuscript Print, letters begin in different places so you need to draw more guide lines as you can see in the next photo.
Now you are ready to start writing phonetic words! The Cursive does not have to be connected at first. That will come later. You want the children to be able to stop and hear the sound that is in the word and to draw it; this causes natural pauses at this point in the Early Writing stage. When the sounds become more fluid, they will be able to start connecting the Cursive letters together.
With your Manuscript Print you will need to continue with these guide lines and be very specific in showing how to form the letters since they begin at different places on the lines.
Finally, you will get to the point when the child is ready for pencil and paper. This is the paper I use. I am showing an examples using colored pencils; plain lead pencil is fine. I have found that it is worth investing in very good colored pencils for your pink and blue inset design work, your handwriting lessons, and booklet making that will come along with handwriting. This Prismacolor container has 24 colored pencils of high quality and they lasted an entire school year and will last another for sure! The container keeps them in order and the children never lost one because there is a slot for each pencil making it obvious if one has hidden itself on the floor!
Next Step In Early Writing
Before the children begin to put pencils in their hands to write, they get to write with the Moveable Alphabet! You can have them lay out small objects that have phonetic spelling as seen in this photo or you can dictate phonetic words out loud to them or even use pictures of things with phonetic spelling. Do not correct misspellings, this is a writing lesson and not a reading lesson! They don’t even have to read the words to you. The point is to get the children to hear the sounds that form the words and be able to find those sounds and create words. They will get better and better at this as they practice. Below is the Manuscript Print example.
Early Writing
These sequences of Early Writing occur after children have worked with Sandpaper Sounds (using that hand position I showed in the last post to trace the sounds while saying the sound out loud) and drawing designs with their pink and blue insets.
Get your work rugs in order...these Early Writing lessons are big and are best done on the floor! Here is one way to keep your Work Rugs in your Montessori space—in a simple box that will hold a few rolled up Work Rugs (do not fold them, the children learn more by rolling and unrolling them.)
This Early Writing activity is done with the Sandpaper Sounds in combination with the Moveable Alphabet. Choose any Sandpaper Sound, say the sound and find that sound in your Moveable Alphabet box. You can find something in your Montessori space that begins with that sound and put it alongside. This photo is showing this activity in Manuscript Print while the photo below is showing it in Cursive.
A note about Cursive: current brain research shows that Cursive is better for the brain—it can only be done in one direction (left to right) because of the connecting “tails” and the brain functions differently when there is no break in lifting the pencil while forming the letters. This being said, don’t worry overly much about which to choose because children are successful with either Manuscript Print or Cursive.
Get your work rugs in order...these Early Writing lessons are big and are best done on the floor! Here is one way to keep your Work Rugs in your Montessori space—in a simple box that will hold a few rolled up Work Rugs (do not fold them, the children learn more by rolling and unrolling them.)
This Early Writing activity is done with the Sandpaper Sounds in combination with the Moveable Alphabet. Choose any Sandpaper Sound, say the sound and find that sound in your Moveable Alphabet box. You can find something in your Montessori space that begins with that sound and put it alongside. This photo is showing this activity in Manuscript Print while the photo below is showing it in Cursive.
A note about Cursive: current brain research shows that Cursive is better for the brain—it can only be done in one direction (left to right) because of the connecting “tails” and the brain functions differently when there is no break in lifting the pencil while forming the letters. This being said, don’t worry overly much about which to choose because children are successful with either Manuscript Print or Cursive.
Friday, June 22, 2018
Friday, May 25, 2018
LA Recommendations
"Hi Jacqueline,
I have looked over the websites and info and here is what I recommend.
First, here are two free Montessori websites to visit to print downloads that would be exactly perfect for Camille:
Next, I love to use Bob Books in conjunction with learning to read--don't let the simple drawings fool you, children love them! You can order them on Rainbow Resource; I recommend Bob Books in Color All 5 Sets for $55.95. #BOBCLR. If this is too high for the budget, then start with the First Bob Book Set.
I also recommend from Rainbow the Tactile Letters Kit for $14 #060753--they are all black and white, upper & lower case. Camille can use these to trace with her fingers to learn the letter sounds. After she can trace them on these, set up a little square container with cornmeal/cream of wheat/sand/salt so she can trace the letter into the "stuff" and gently shake to erase. After that, give her a chalkboard to practice with (all
this is so she can erase and not focus on mistakes--practice makes perfect.)
Reading A to Z is an EXCELLENT online resource that will cost you $110 for a year but is super good. It has every leveled reader book you will need starting with alphabet books right on up. It is worth the money; you can read the books online or print them out. I printed several up and use them all year in my classroom.
At home for right now, one thing you can easily do for Camille is be sure she knows how to use scissors to cut on lines. This promotes concentration, connection between the eyes/brain/hands, co-ordination, independence, and self control. If she is already doing this, give her more difficult cutting work to do. You can also use lots of plain cheap white copy paper for her to draw on and dictate her story to you and you write it out slowly for her. If you cut the paper into fourths, she will make many little booklets that she can staple the pages together by herself--try to guide her to make non-fiction booklets about things she is interested in. Lastly, play a lot of I Spy With My Little Eye--choose some specific objects and lay them on a small plain mat, name the object stressing the beginning sounds. Then say: "I spy with my little eye something that begins with ___" and she guesses which object. Auditory connection to sound is necessary for learning to read and is often neglected. Play I Spy all the time. Don't worry about teaching the names of the letters to her, only the sounds; then she can learn to put the sounds together and make words very quickly. She can spell words like up/it/on right away using those Tactile Letters from Rainbow.
May the LORD Almighty guide your decisions this weekend with these choices you have to make.
Love,
Aunt Donna"
Math Recommendations
"Here are my recommendations for math from Montessori Outlet (there are many materials so you and Pip will have to decide how much you want to spend)
Montessori Outlet:
Small Number Rods #510500130
Colored Bead Stairs (get 2 or more). #510500740
Hanger Stand for Colored Bead Stair (just 1). #510500760
Small Number Cards (2 sets) #510500171
Box for Small Number Cards #510500173. (You could find your own container)
Large Number Cards (just 1 set). #510500161
Box for Large Number Cards #510500163 (again, use can use your own container)
Hundreds Board #510500210
Hundreds Board Control Sheet #510500220
Addition Strip Board #510500270
Subtraction Strip Board #510500320
Multiplication Board #510500370
Division Board #510500420
Stamp Game #510500140
*Beads for units, tens, hundreds, and thousands:
At Montessori Outlet, to get them is quite expensive. Might be cheaper at www.didax.com ALL in BLUE (not different colors—they are plastic) or at www.hand2mind.comagain all one color. It’s hard to advise by email on this part because a lot to talk about with how many you need and quality of product. You can call me if you want more info.
Love,
Aunt Donna"
Montessori Outlet:
Small Number Rods #510500130
Colored Bead Stairs (get 2 or more). #510500740
Hanger Stand for Colored Bead Stair (just 1). #510500760
Small Number Cards (2 sets) #510500171
Box for Small Number Cards #510500173. (You could find your own container)
Large Number Cards (just 1 set). #510500161
Box for Large Number Cards #510500163 (again, use can use your own container)
Hundreds Board #510500210
Hundreds Board Control Sheet #510500220
Addition Strip Board #510500270
Subtraction Strip Board #510500320
Multiplication Board #510500370
Division Board #510500420
Stamp Game #510500140
*Beads for units, tens, hundreds, and thousands:
Love,
Aunt Donna"
Writing Practice Tray
This is my cornmeal writing tray. It is cornmeal in a wooden lid; you can use a Tupperware or baking sheet. Some people use sand or salt. I find cornmeal less messy and easier to replace. The children practice writing their sounds and numerals in the cornmeal and just give a shake to erase. This prevents permanent errors staring a child in the face and helps keep a child from developing perfectionism where they throw away their work or sulk when they don’t do it just right.
Cutting Lesson
Cutting lesson would be excellent for Camille because she has to cut on the lines. I cut construction paper into 1” by 4” strips and draw lines for cutting on. This is difficult for children when you make harder lines to follow. Start with simple straight lines and change to other lines when she can do it easily. The envelope is for the small pieces to go into—keeps the mess to a minimum and she can learn to write her name on the envelope!
Sorting Lesson
You should always have one sorting lesson at the level that matches Camille. I have tweezers to strengthen handwriting muscles and the children put the white beans in one container and the pinto beans in another. You can sort anything: beans, coins, buttons, rocks, leaves, etc.
Sponging Lesson
Cut a sponge into child-size piece; one container has water in it, the other is empty. Use the sponge to soak up the water and squeeze the water into the empty container. One of Mrs. Curtis' boys does this every single day. Good for hand strength to hold pencil.
Pouring Lesson
This is Mrs. Curtis' current pouring lesson. You can pour from any container into another container either water or rice, beans, Pom-poms, sand, etc. Make it at the child's level by changing number of containers, using a funnel, changing the size of containers, etc.
Grinding Lesson
Using a mortar and pestle is excellent work for the shoulder, elbow, and wrist to prepare muscles for writing. This eggshell lesson is Mrs. Curtis' students’ absolute favorite everyday!
Red Letter Alphabet Book
Here are pictures of what the book looks like that Mrs. Curtis recommend for Camille. You can buy it online or in the Santa Rosa store of Montessori Services.
Presentation videos
Here is a link of videos that cover some 3-6year old presentations that we discussed.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7n8-uJamB0dL7Mhj0VF2-mLhgCXooLur
https://www.youtube.com/user/myworksmontessori
Montessori World Education Institution is another place to find excellent videos about the lessons. Margaret Homfray is super terrific in her videos but you will have to be patient as she is thorough and slow; but Margaret Homfray trained with Maria Montessori and knows exactly how to do each lesson and why we do each lesson.
http://www.montessoriworld.org
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Diversity
"Hello Aunt Donna, I am doing an interview on diversity in one of my classes. I was wondering if you would be willing to answer some questions for me?
Thank you,
Jacqueline
1. What is your role as an adult or teacher and what grades do you teach?
Currently I am a Certified Montessori Teacher operating my own small school. In the past, I have additionally been a certified elementary teacher with the Military teaching in Japan and Germany and a certified teacher with the state of Maryland and taught in Virginia and substitute taught in California. I have always worked with children from ages 2 years old through 6 years old. I have purposely chosen to singularly follow Montessori teaching practices personal because experience showed me they are superior in producing peaceful, intelligent, loving, non-competitive behaviors in all children.
2. What is your perspective on classroom diversity?
Maria Montessori was the very first female physician in Italy. After receiving her degree, she joined the first research of children with learning disabilities and worked in a children's asylum developing her own materials to support the young children; they ended up testing at normal ranges. This led Maria Montessori to begin studies in Educational Psychiatry and she took another degree in Anthropology in order to help with her research. Finally, she had the opportunity to begin a school in a slum outside of Rome and her educational method successfully produced well-mannered children who could read and write at ages previously unheard of (all of the children's parents were illiterate.) This gained her international recognition and she began her lifelong observation, study, and quest of serving children through her new methods. (Piaget, who is revered in educational theory of children was one of her students.) Most importantly, Maria Montessori served children in many countries from various cultures who spoke different languages and had different customs and beliefs (Italy, Germany, Spain, Great Britain, Holland, America, and India.) Due to the war in Europe she was often physically displaced for safety reasons. However, the knowledge she gained from that was that young children are pan-human. No matter what culture children came from, the result in learning through her methods was the same. Maria Montessori was a devout Catholic and survived life during the terrible turmoil of war; her primary goal was peace. When the children developed peace through her method, they could concentrate, developed a love for learning, and became loving and kind individuals who worked in harmony with others. I myself have witnessed the same through my experiences in teaching children from many backgrounds. There is only the biodiversity within ourselves that hampers working with children. God says, "The first shall be last, and the last shall be first." When we observe children without personal bias, we can put them first and serve them well.
3. Have you seen or experienced episodes in the classroom where children displayed biases, such as discrimination, stereotyping, or discrimination, whether it be expressed in words or the way the children behave?
In the early plane of development (ages 2 through 5 years of age) generally no. The very few cases I had of this related to children who had learning disabilities that affected their social interaction such as one four year old who was very, very intelligent and shy with the body control of a two year old, another boy age four whose behavior was atomic so children couldn't interact with him due to him never being still enough to talk to him, and one other child who had Asperger's. I have worked in Inclusion classes comprised of several children with learning disabilities and they were treated well by one another--only the three children mentioned above struggled in discovering how to be calm to find their way socially in the class. However, in the later plane of development (ages six and above) most definitely I have observed all these problems. It can range from competition brought in from the home environment in a naive way such as American superhero worship, when children arrive wearing clothing and carrying lunchboxes that display well-known superhero characters and the children themselves become those characters and fantasy fighting behavior occurs. Abrasive behavior can also enter due to bias in home environments revolving around monetary status--many children from affluent homes with an overabundant cache of toys and things think of themselves in the "first" category without having learned humility and serving others.
With that said, I would like to discuss three difficult children I had in a class in Virginia where the mix of culture was broad both ethnically and economically. All three were Arab boys whose parents were immigrants. These boys brought in one particular attitude from home that even at age 4 produced in them the right to be over/in control of girls--even their moms and their teacher. One of these boys was cruel in his language to another Chinese student who was very intelligent and hard-working; another made the announcement that his Dad was away for work so he was in charge of the house and when the children asked him, "what about your Mom?" he seriously stated, "Yes, I am in charge of her." In a school in Japan, I had one African American girl age three who brought in the attitude from home that all white people were against her race of people (these were words she spoke that no child of three would know to say unless taught from home.)
4. How was the situation handled, or how would you deal with biases in a classroom?
Everything is conquered with love; this does not mean letting the children continue in aberrant paths, but observing them to discover the root of the difficulty and kindly but firmly guiding them toward peace. With the Arab boys, this meant developing a relationship with the parents--first with the mothers so they had a good report to the fathers. In love, I spoke factually about goals to set and allowed the parents to decide on those goals because not every family can realistically do what you desire due to time constraints, finances, emotional states, etc. Once we entered an agreement on goals, I always set a time for review to see if progress was being made and if the goals continued to be the ones desired. Being respectful of the parents' desires for their children broke the barriers in the classroom. I managed to do this with these boys with hard work, but I heard that the teacher of the following year had a bad experience: the father of one boy became so belligerent that a restraining order was taken out against him and the child was removed from school. With the African American girl, the same solution. I developed a relationship with the mom so she could trust me thereby allowing her daughter to move forward in the class. With the learning disabilities, the answer was the same: observe the children to determine the root of their struggles and set goals with the parents. Once the parents truly understand that you love their children and you check in frequently to give progress and reset goals when necessary, you will succeed. With respect to American superhero clothing and lunchboxes, I don't allow clothing that disrupts the class while lunchboxes I allow because the structure of lunchtime allows for positive conversation to develop.
5. What is your general experience with diverse classrooms?
I love them! I lived abroad for 12 years traveling to many, many countries and discovering how beautiful humans are everywhere. We are all tied together in our creation--relating to one another, to God, to the earth--plants and animals. It is true that I will always be the biggest obstacle to children developing peace in the classroom. I must always be aware of my own past and what that brings to my personality because that is what becomes projected into the classroom. Therefore, the more observation I can make of the children, the more I become aware of who they are. We become like onions as we age--each year we put on a layer of behavioral protection. We learn to fight or flee. The more layers that are put on, the more layers that need to be removed to reveal the true beautiful self. That is why I absolutely adore working with such young children--they have much fewer layers disguising their germ. I am blessed to be part of their lives, in developing deep peace and love and gentleness and kindness. I see the result in my amazing precious classroom where children help one another and work with joy. It does not mean that it is an easy job. It takes great humility; I must be able to see myself in order not to judge a child wrongly. I must be able to change course when a path does not succeed in bringing about peace, concentration, co-ordination, and independence.
I can attest that young children in their natural state are peaceful, loving, gentle, kind, and focused. It is our job to create an environment that allows all children to find safety and provide materials that support their needs on individual levels. I do not believe in a teacher-centered environment where all children are expected to do the same thing at the same time. This creates competition rather than camaraderie. The teacher must very kindly introduce children who are new, don't speak the same language, or have a physical disability. I had one class with a Chinese orphan who had never been out of a crib for five years! Before she could even join the class, she had to be treated for an enormous tapeworm. This girl had a physical disability that prevented her from walking but she could scoot. With proper introduction, this girl was the love of everyone. She was always seen with a smile and was able to learn English with the class--this outcome is possible with every class of young children.
6. For students who struggle with language learning, how important is it to pay attention to nonverbal cues?
Observation, observation, observation is the name of the game. You can never assume what is in a child's heart because our projection of ourselves interferes. This means you must watch so closely where the child turns his/her eyes, how the child sits, stands, walks, runs, reacts to his/her clothes (itchy tags, pulling or sucking on sleeves, etc.), tone of voice, respiration of voice, facial expressions, where the child chooses to sit, does the child choose simple or challenging work, does the child want too much adult support, does the child enter into power struggles, is the child making friends, is the child shy? If you cannot determine the answer to these questions, you will fail. Children can teach other children much easier than adults can; promote friendships. Show the child how to help keep the classroom beautiful--water flowers, sharpen pencils, wash tables, put books away properly; duplicate work that the children see in their homes.
7. What cultural differences have you noticed affect the social and intellectual needs of newly arrived immigrant children?
As with any human being at any age, these children require the guidance in introducing them to the community and respectfully showing them where things are where they belong and showing them how to do everything. It is easy for adults to assume that children are intellectually inferior when they cannot verbally communicate with others--this is a trap to avoid. Living in other countries, I observed countless times that young children do not see differencesamong other children who don't speak their language, eat the same foods, dress the same, etc. There is a lovely universal body language understood by young children. When children become older and learn from the adult environment that some foods stink, that some clothes are ugly, that children should speak only a particular language, that some children are rich or poor, that some children are smart and others are not, some children have parents in jail, some children have parents with addictions, etc. then the layers of protection (fight or flee) begin to be built. A child should never be treated with pity or low expectations. Young children love challenges and take great pride in their accomplishments--if you don't provide situations for young children to succeed with difficulties, they will lose esteem and hope for themselves. Avoid rewards and punishments--genuine conversation from the heart that promotes self-esteem will plant the seed of love.
8. What strategies or specific modifications have you used or were provided as a learner?
First, help the child develop friendships and pleasant relationships with the community. This can include reading books to the classroom community that describe the child's native land and customs. Second, if possible meet the parents and visit the home with only the intent of welcoming the family to the community. Third, assign a responsible buddy to help the child through the school day. Finally, help the child learn English! (please note: parents should always continue to speak their native language at home--young children have no problem at all learning two or three languages up to age 8 when the brain relocates the language center.) Montessori materials are wonderful, so excellent in teaching all children English, both reading and writing. I introduce the graphic symbols of the alphabet with Sandpaper Sounds (the letters are cut out of sandpaper and glued to blue cards for vowels and pink cards for consonants.) The child traces the symbol, says the sound out loud, while looking at the symbol. I find small objects that begin with that sound and put it beside the letter. There is no need for a particular order of introducing these Sounds to the child--present what will make sense to the child, letters in his/her name, objects found in the room, etc. Next, I have a series of Pink Boxes that each have objects in them that can be spelled with three-letter phonetic words in word families such as: ham, cat, gas, map. The child learns the names of the objects and then finds the letters in a Moveable Alphabet box to spell the word. Many, many words are introduced in this manner. Following this, there are picture cards of three-letter phonetic words to do the same. Parallel lessons are to name and label objects in the room (you must connect auditory sounds with visual recognition of objects and words--play "I Spy With My Little Eye"), read out loud to the child often, create a library of very easy-to-read repetitive alphabet books that the child can take home when he/she has memorized them, sing songs, play "The Verb Game" (do an action and say the name: clap, laugh, jump, etc. and child mimics), set up a little library of Classification Cards such as a label card for "Farm" and then corresponding cards with farm animals; set up puzzles and card-matching games that the child can be successful with without knowing English, use individual-sized white board or chalkboard to draw and practice writing because it is easily erased and does not keep errors permanently in view of the child, use outdoor time wisely with community games and play. Above all, remain cheerful, positive, and friendly without lowering expectations of behavior. Continually check your self-projection so you are not an obstacle to the child.
Nonverbal Communication In addition to the need to deal with the actual acquisition of English, there are also nonverbal communications—the gestures and body movements we use to enhance our verbal communication—that need to be understood across linguistic and cultural groups. Sharing these ways of communicating and making a chart of what nonverbal communication signals mean can be interesting and add to understanding. For example, a teacher might ask students, “How do we show that we are listening carefully to someone as they speak? How do we show our respect if we are being corrected?” A child from Mexico will respond that he shows respect by keeping his eyes down and not connecting with an adult’s eyes. An Asian child will most likely respond in a similar fashion. However, an American student will explain that we are to make eye contact with someone speaking to us and that even while being corrected it is polite to keep one’s eyes on the speaker. Asking students how they indicate agreement nonverbally is also important. For Greek students, nodding the head up and down and clicking the tongue indicates “no” or “I disagree.” Moving the head from right to left signals “yes.”
Another area of cultural difference that affects how teachers interact with students and their families is the physical distance between persons engaged in conversation. Hispanic families are physically warm and often hug to show greetings and leave-taking. Hispanic children also often keep close physical contact with their friends and enjoy a hug from their teacher. Many Northern European and Asian families find close touch uncomfortable and prefer handshakes to other forms of social connection. Asian students, too, are prone to wanting more private space around their physical bodies.
Arab and Muslim cultures often separate girls from boys after age twelve, and some newly arrived families may find our mixing of male and female students and teachers uncomfortable. An example of how important it is to make these differences explicit comes from a school experience of one of our teacher friends in Virginia. Shortly after a family from Saudi Arabia arrived in the school, the father came to the school office asking that his son be moved to a different classroom. He didn’t want the boy taught by a woman. It was very difficult for him to understand how, in American schools, boys and girls were mixed in the same classrooms and that they would be taught by teachers of both genders. Something that most American teachers would never consider offensive was very difficult for this father to accept for his family.
If you have students in your classroom who come from a variety of cultural groups, it is important to be curious about their nonverbal communication signals and preferences. It can be an entry into an ongoing study of communication for your whole class. Most elementary students need to learn how to participate fully in a multicultural world; they also need to learn how to be productive members of their classroom community. Establishing a classroom protocol for talking and listening is useful to all involved. Small group discussions work well when children know to look at the speaker, give nonverbal feedback that is encouraging, and then respond in ways that acknowledge the ideas that the speaker shared.
Social and Intellectual Examples:
ELs will need additional time to think through the content and find ways to express their ideas in English. You will help students by giving them time to process ideas and information. You can encourage students to turn to another student who speaks their same language and talk together to make sure they understand. Establishing a supportive environment in which students can work together on class activities is important.
As we think about the language needs of students, we also need to think about the cultural expectations and values they bring that may be quite different from what we expect. For this reason, it is important for teachers to learn about the values and expectations of the cultures of each child in their class.
Many families come to our schools with more formal experiences in education. In many eastern European countries, students are taught never to question what teachers say; in addition, engaging in discussion of literature is not permitted. Students memorize the interpretations that the “authoritative theorists” have determined to be correct. When students from these contexts enter our schools, they are understandably confused. Why would teachers want to hear their opinions? Why would teachers waste time in discussion of what students think about literature?
Because we are experiencing a period of high immigration, it is important to become aware of significant differences in the approach to education among the countries from which students are now coming and those of our society.
Many of our newly arriving immigrant students are coming from Mexico. In many Mexican elementary schools, there is little emphasis placed on reading. In contrast, students spend a significant portion of their time learning to write, that is, learning to use correct handwriting and spelling. The formation of the letters and words is important; copying models from the board is often a task for students. Jiminez (2008) provides a clear explanation of these basic differences in the ways elementary schools prioritize their goals. Think of how confusing it must be for parents who expect to have their children practicing handwriting and instead find out that their children will be listening to teachers read aloud and be asked to discuss their own connections to the text ideas. In schools where handwriting and spelling are not a high priority, these parents can easily develop negative impressions of the education we provide."
Free printouts
"Hi Jacqueline,
I have looked over the websites and info and here is what I recommend.
First, here are two free Montessori websites to visit to print downloads that would be exactly perfect for Camille:
Next, I love to use Bob Books in conjunction with learning to read--don't let the simple drawings fool you, children love them! You can order them on Rainbow Resource; I recommend Bob Books in Color All 5 Sets for $55.95. #BOBCLR. If this is too high for the budget, then start with the First Bob Book Set.
I also recommend from Rainbow the Tactile Letters Kit for $14 #060753--they are all black and white, upper & lower case. Camille can use these to trace with her fingers to learn the letter sounds. After she can trace them on these, set up a little square container with cornmeal/cream of wheat/sand/salt so she can trace the letter into the "stuff" and gently shake to erase. After that, give her a chalkboard to practice with (all
this is so she can erase and not focus on mistakes--practice makes perfect.)
Reading A to Z is an EXCELLENT online resource that will cost you $110 for a year but is super good. It has every leveled reader book you will need starting with alphabet books right on up. It is worth the money; you can read the books online or print them out. I printed several up and use them all year in my classroom.
At home for right now, one thing you can easily do for Camille is be sure she knows how to use scissors to cut on lines. This promotes concentration, connection between the eyes/brain/hands, co-ordination, independence, and self control. If she is already doing this, give her more difficult cutting work to do. You can also use lots of plain cheap white copy paper for her to draw on and dictate her story to you and you write it out slowly for her. If you cut the paper into fourths, she will make many little booklets that she can staple the pages together by herself--try to guide her to make non-fiction booklets about things she is interested in. Lastly, play a lot of I Spy With My Little Eye--choose some specific objects and lay them on a small plain mat, name the object stressing the beginning sounds. Then say: "I spy with my little eye something that begins with ___" and she guesses which object. Auditory connection to sound is necessary for learning to read and is often neglected. Play I Spy all the time. Don't worry about teaching the names of the letters to her, only the sounds; then she can learn to put the sounds together and make words very quickly. She can spell words like up/it/on right away using those Tactile Letters from Rainbow.
May the LORD Almighty guide your decisions this weekend with these choices you have to make.
Love,
Aunt Donna"
Three Period Lesson
- This is...
- Introduce
2. Association
- Can you show me...?
- getting to know the materials
- make it fun, make it interesting
- keep them engaged
- what are these...
- how many are those...
- learn
- give clues
Ask can you show me? This is where they practice doing it on their own. They may pick it up quickly and get it the first time, or they may need to go over it a few more times. They may not be interested at all. Don't force it! Move on to something else if they aren't ready. The great thing is that they get to choose and learn at their own pace. And they will, when they are ready; they learn so fast you won't believe it! Give clues and keep it light and simple. Once they become more independent, step away and let them do their thing :)
3. What is it..?
This is the test. Ask them what it is, and if they've memorized and know what it is well without any clues, that's how you will know if they are ready to move forward. If not, repeat from step 1. This is were it becomes important to choose your materials wisely and don't introduce or have on display things that you know they aren't ready for.
Abstract vs. Concrete
The younger the child, the more likely they will be to fall under the concrete thinking category. This is why Montessori is so important. The materials used provide a visual and physical connection. So the child can understand and grasp the concept of what it is they are learning. They can see, touch, smell, hear, and experience what they are doing, that gets them mentally engaged.
When they move into the abstract thinking phase, they already have an understanding and concept of what it is they are learning. They think more outside the box so to speak.
When they move into the abstract thinking phase, they already have an understanding and concept of what it is they are learning. They think more outside the box so to speak.
Where do I start?
You might be asking yourself, where do I begin? Have you heard of or seen Montessori and wondered what it's all about? Me too! My Aunt, who is a Montessori teacher, has a classroom set up in her house, and whenever I go to visit her, my kids are drawn to and fascinated by all the strange and wondrous materials in that room! I always think to myself- great, they're going to go in there and screw everything up! Aunt Donna is so particular about everything and takes pride in her set up. She is passionate about the way she uses and teaches the kids to behave and use the materials in her Mustard Seed Resource Center. When she teaches, she tells me to be quiet and stay out of the way! One could take this the wrong way you know.. That is why it is a good idea to educate yourself by first reading the book "The Absorbent Mind," by Maria Montessori. Another helpful book is "Basic Montessori, Learning Activities for Under- Fives," by David Gettman. The first 20 pages are the most important. I've been told it can be used as a reference or a guide, and some of it may not apply to you and some language is from a medical standpoint that might be a little overwhelming. That's okay! The main thing is understanding the foundation and the reason behind the theology.
When introducing materials to your child, we use a mat or a tray for everything. The materials are laid out neatly on the shelves and meant to look appealing, not cluttered or out of order. The idea is to make it look beautiful. We teach the children to take things out and put them away in the correct order and handle them carefully. They learn to take pride and treat their materials and surroundings respectfully. Things we do in the real world right? I want my child to learn these fundamentals inside the classroom so they may learn to carry themselves and treat all things and people this way. Not to have unrealistic expectations or anything- hey, we all have those moments when they make us want to pull our hair out. Kids will be kids! The world is our classroom, you will begin to see that Montessori techniques can be used to teach and learn anywhere and everywhere. Let's begin our fascinating journey of development and grow
together!
"So, Montessori absolutely does follow the child--go outside on those rainy days and splash in the puddles! Go swimming, go fishing, introduce the world to your child. You want to encourage that the world is a beautiful place with so much to learn about and experience. Parents are always the first and best to do this with their children. The very first Montessori teachers were dressmakers, and regular people--they were extremely successful with their children. You do not need a degree, you need common sense!
You can use the Montessori materials at home successfully. I train parents to do that through my Mustard Seed Resource Center here at my home. Since you follow the child's lead, you do not have a set "curriculum" of what page to teach from a book. You have the materials that you show them how to use and leave the child alone to work with them. That is what you see Camille doing in my Mustard Seed space. We could always set up training times here and I could introduce the material to Camille and show you how to use it, although the website I sent you has videos on how to do it too.
The most difficult aspect for most adults with Montessori is how to talk to the children. We do not over-talk too much. We ask questions and give hints to help them discover answers to their questions and direct them. We use short, direct communication speaking softly face-to-face with respect. We give the children distance to find their own peace in working and develop independence, observing them all the time so we are available when they need us.
After trying both public school methods and Montessori, I have totally given up my three public school teaching licenses and focus fully and only on Montessori. I wish I had never contaminated by Montessori with any public school training, but there it is. I have returned to the beauty of serving the children and seeing them bloom because God has created them all in perfection; we adults are the major obstacle, we usually have to get out of their way!
I can always help and guide you and there are so many resources to help too.
Hope this helps.
Love,
Aunt Donna"
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