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Unifying Words and Their Meanings: The Quiet Genius of Montessori Vocabulary Lessons

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 17:22:51 GMT

Have you ever watched a Montessori teacher give a lesson and thought, "That seemed...very short!”? If so, you may have witnessed a three-period lesson. What looks almost effortlessly simple is actually one of the most carefully designed teaching techniques.

The three-period lesson is the primary way we introduce new vocabulary to young children. We use it constantly for phonetic sounds, geometric shapes, textures, quantities, names of parts of a flower, names of continents, and so much more. Virtually every time children learn a precise new word for something they're experiencing with their senses, we are using a version of this lesson.

Why Vocabulary Needs Its Own Method

Young children are in what Dr. Montessori called a sensitive period for language. This is a window of time when children’s minds are especially primed to absorb new words and refine their understanding of them. It’s important to keep in mind, though, that absorbing a word isn't the same as truly knowing it. Children might hear the word "rough" many times without ever firmly connecting that sound to what their fingers actually feel on a piece of sandpaper.

The three-period lesson closes the understanding gap. It's built on an insight Dr. Maria Montessori borrowed from educator Édouard Séguin. Learning a word happens in stages: first association, then recognition, then recall. Moving through those stages deliberately, with no extra words or distractions to clutter the lesson, gives children's minds the clearest possible path to making a lasting connection.

“Both object and name should strike the child's understanding at the same time — but only the name itself, and not some other word, should be pronounced.”

— Dr. Maria Montessori, The Discovery of the Child

The Simplicity of the Three Stages

Here's how the three-period lesson unfolds. We’ll use a classic example of teaching the words "rough" and "smooth" with our sensorial textured boards.

1. ASSOCIATION — "This is..."

The adult presents the object and names it clearly, with no extra words. The child repeats the word while experiencing the sensation. "This is rough." The child runs their fingers across the surface and repeats: "Rough."

2. RECOGNITION — "Show me..."

After a brief pause, the adult asks the child to identify the object by name. The child simply points or touches, and thus no verbal answer is needed. "Which is smooth? Which is rough?" The child points to each in turn.

3. RECALL — "What is this?"

The adult points to an object, and the child produces the name themselves, demonstrating that the word is now truly theirs. "What is this?" The child touches the surface and answers: "Rough."

The whole lesson might take only two or three minutes, and this brevity is part of what makes it work. A child's attention is fully focused on precise vocabulary acquisition.

What Happens When a Child Gets It Wrong

One of the most quietly radical aspects of the three-period lesson is what happens when a child gets it wrong. If a child points to the wrong texture in the second stage, the adult doesn't correct. We don’t say, "no, try again.” Instead, we just end the activity gently, with the understanding that we will try the lesson again another day.

Dr. Montessori was clear about this approach. A correction at that moment doesn't help a child learn the word. In fact, a correction only reinforces the feeling of having failed. So we simply close the lesson. The child carries no impression of having gotten something wrong, and when we revisit the lesson, the child comes to it fresh.

As Dr. Montessori wrote, an error in the second period is simply a sign that the child "was not at that instant ready for the psychic association.” Nothing is wrong with the child. The teaching hasn’t failed. It just wasn’t the right moment.

After the Lesson: When Words Come Alive

One of the loveliest things to observe after a successful three-period lesson is what children do next. A child who has just learned the words "rough" and "smooth" will often wander the classroom touching things: the edge of a wooden shelf, a piece of fabric, the surface of a stone, and quietly naming the texture to themselves. The words become tools for understanding the world, and they want to use them everywhere.

This spontaneous generalization is exactly what the lesson is designed to spark. The goal is never for children to recite vocabulary on command. Rather, we want to give them language that deepens and sharpens their experience of everything around them.

Trying It at Home

You don't need Montessori materials to use this approach. Any time you want to help a young child connect a precise word to something they're experiencing (the names of spices by smell, the names of fabrics by touch, the names of tools in the garden), the same three-step structure applies. Name it clearly. Ask them to show you. Ask them to tell you. Keep it brief, keep it joyful, and if they get stuck, simply set it aside and try again tomorrow.

The lesson works because it respects how young minds learn. New connections need space, simplicity, and the freedom to form without pressure.

To see this vocabulary tool in action, schedule a visit here in [Your Location]

Our Montessori Bookshelf: Water Connects Us

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 13:45:00 GMT

Rivers are so important to our human story. They are sources of nourishment, transportation, and connection. We see how children are naturally drawn to water, and rivers offer a powerful way to understand ecology, interdependence, and our place within the natural world.

With this in mind, we want to share some of our favorite books about water, rivers, and watersheds. Through story and illustration, children can trace the journey of a single drop of water, observe how land and water shape one another, and begin to understand how human choices affect the health of our planet.

We’ve grouped the following collection of river and water-focused books by developmental stage. Each title offers language, beauty, and meaningful context for deeper exploration. Whether you are reading with a toddler, a younger elementary child, or an emerging researcher, these books invite wonder, responsibility, and reverence for one of Earth’s most essential elements.

For the Youngest

Hey, Water!

By Antoinette Portis

This picture book takes us on a journey of how water is part of our lives in so many ways: from sprinkler spray to a teardrop trickling. The clean-lined illustrations transition between bird’s-eye views and close-up images. This is a great transition book for toddlers moving from pages with one word labeling a picture to a narrative that connects to daily experience.

A Place for Rain

By Michelle Schaub, Illustrated by Blanca Gómez

A lovely introduction to the concept of rain gardens, this picture book follows a simple story of children witnessing how rain runoff can be transformed from being problematic into something stunning and special for everyone. The sweet, slightly geometric illustrations highlight how even simple actions can have a big impact.

Water Is Water

By Miranda Paul, Illustrated by Jason Chin

Although a picture book about the changing states of water, the lyrical text and charming illustrations make this a delightful and fun-filled page-turner! It’s a great way to introduce young children to the water cycle and the importance of water in our lives.

Water Cycle: For Younger Elementary

Drop: An Adventure through the Water Cycle

By Emily Kate Moon

Bridging between comic style and traditional picture book, the story follows the character, Drop, as she travels through the water cycle. Delightful and engaging, this is a great book for younger elementary children and can serve as an easy-to-access resource for understanding the states of water.

A Drop Around the World

By Barbara Shaw McKinney, Illustrated by Michael S. Maydak

Written in rhyming verse, this story follows Drop from a cloud near Maine around the world and back to Cape Cod Bay. A map inside the cover shows the journey, and emoji-style images accompany the text, linking to more detailed descriptions of the amazing science at each step along Drop’s path.

Watersheds

If the Rivers Run Free

By Andrea Debunk, Illustrated by Nicole Wong

This captivating picture book takes readers through the human story of rivers’ importance in our lives, the mistakes we’ve made, and how we can make things right and help rivers run free again. The rhythm of the text is accentuated by moments of human realization, with bold statements that step out of the rhyming pattern and gently jar us into a sense of action. The illustrations take readers on a journey, too!

One Well: The Story of Water on Earth

By Rochelle Strauss, Illustrated by Rosemary Woods

Through its clear text and lush illustrations, One Well emphasizes the interconnectedness of water on our planet. It offers an array of interesting information that will appeal to children in elementary years, both through narrative text and short snippets overlaid on the images that fill each page. The fact that this picture book has an index is an indicator of how just how much its 32 pages contains!

River Story

By Meredith Hooper, Illustrated by Bee Willey

Rich in realistic content yet engaging and accessible, this lushly illustrated picture book takes readers on a journey from the source of the river to where it empties into the sea.

Watersheds: A Practical Handbook for Healthy Water

By Gregor Gilpin Beck, Illustrations by Clive Dobson

Best for older readers, this book offers helpful and non-technical information about watershed concepts and environmental concerns. This is an excellent resource for older elementary or younger adolescents engaged in ecology research. The illustrations are beautiful, too!

We’d love to hear what you think about these books! You can also download a printable list for the next time you visit your local bookstore or library!

Also, feel free to schedule a visit here in [Your Town/Location] to learn more about how the story of water flows through children’s lives!

How Montessori Makes Long Division Make Sense

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 14:15:04 GMT

For many of us, we remember learning long division as a confusing sequence of steps to memorize and repeat (bring down, divide, multiply, subtract), often without a real sense of why it works. In Montessori classrooms, long division unfolds very differently.

Through the Racks and Tubes material, children get to experience what division actually is.

Two Ways to Divide: Sharing and Grouping

Before introducing the material, we first clarify an important idea: there are two different kinds of division problems in real life.

One asks, “If I share this equally, how much does each person get?” This is partitive division, or division by sharing.

The other asks, “If I make groups of a certain size, how many groups can I make?” This is measurement division, or division by grouping.

The Racks and Tubes material focuses on partitive division. Children physically share quantities equally and discover what one share receives. Materials like the Stamp Game emphasize division of measurement. Together, these approaches give children a complete understanding of division and help them choose the strategy that best fits a given problem.

What Are Racks and Tubes?

At first glance, the material is impressive and a little mysterious. Children are often drawn to the material, both for its beauty and its seeming complexity.

Racks hold test tubes filled with beads, carefully color-coded by place value: units, tens, hundreds, thousands, all the way up to millions. Matching cups hold the dividend (the number being divided). Boards and skittles represent the divisor (the number doing the dividing).

Every detail of the material reinforces place value. Each time children need to make an exchange, they trade in one bead of one category for ten of the next category (e.g. one hundred becomes ten 10’s). This process is visible and incredibly concrete.

This material takes intentional focus. It takes time. And it makes the steps of long division clear.

How Long Division Becomes Concrete

When children solve a division problem with Racks and Tubes, they follow a logical, embodied process:

They build the dividend using the racks and cups.
They represent the divisor with individual figures on boards.
They share beads one at a time, equally, to each part of the divisor.
They stop when sharing is no longer possible and then see what remains from that category.
They then bring down the next category of beads to continue the sharing process.

Each step answers a real question:

What does one unit get?
What happens when we run out?
What do we do with what’s left?

Instead of being told “bring down the next digit,” children literally bring down the next category of beads. When exchanges are needed, they perform them physically by trading beads. Remainders are not mysterious leftovers. They are beads still sitting in the cup.

Long division becomes a story children can follow.

From Material to Abstraction

One of the most beautiful aspects of this work is how naturally it leads into abstraction.

At first, children record only the quotient. Later, they begin recording intermediate remainders. Eventually, they discover that multiplying the quotient by the divisor tells them how much has been used at each step. This is the very heart of the traditional algorithm.

We don’t give abstract shortcuts. Instead we help children discover the pattern. This allows them to own the process.

By the time children are working abstractly on paper, the algorithm already makes sense. It matches what their hands have done again and again.

Why This Matters

The Racks and Tubes material does more than teach division. It teaches:

Deep place value understanding
Logical sequencing
Patience and precision
Trust in one’s own reasoning

Most importantly, it gives children confidence. Division is no longer something done to them. Instead, they can think through the process, step by step, with meaning and understanding.

In Montessori, math is not about getting the answer quickly. It’s about building an understanding of why the process and answer makes sense. And with Racks and Tubes, long division finally does!

Schedule a visit to our classrooms in Old Saybrook, CT to see for yourself!

The Power of Presence: How Adults Shape Learning in the Early Years

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:00:28 GMT

In Montessori, we often focus on how the environment educates the child, but just as powerful as the physical space is the presence of the adult within it. For children in the first three years of life, adults are not simply caregivers or teachers. We are models of movement, language, emotional regulation, and relationships.

Being present with young children is about being present in a different way.

From Birth to About 14 to 16 Months

Infants are forming their earliest understanding of the world and of themselves. They observe everything! So the adult’s role requires a quiet strength and a deep level of self-awareness.

To be present with infants, we must love without expectation. Infants are not able to return affection in predictable ways, and presence cannot be dependent on feedback or validation. This work requires patience, generosity, and emotional steadiness.

Movement also matters deeply at this stage. Infants study how adults walk, reach, sit, and handle objects. Slow, intentional movement gives children something meaningful to absorb. When adults rush, babies feel it, even if they cannot name it.

Our language, too, must be precise and respectful. Clear enunciation and specific wording help infants build an accurate internal map of their world. Vague language like “that” or “over there” offers little clarity. Instead, we want to name what we see and what we are doing: “I am placing the cup on the table.”

Infants cry as their primary form of communication. Being present means responding without panic or frustration, and making thoughtful decisions even when there are multiple demands on our presence. Emotional regulation in adults becomes a sense of emotional safety for the child.

Dynamic Toddlers

As children grow into toddlers, our presence still needs to be very intentional, yet it also becomes more dynamic.

While toddlers are building independence, they still need deep connection. For adults, this means remaining loving without demanding affection or closeness. Even physical affection requires consent: “Would you like a hug?” or “Do you need some comfort?” Respecting children’s autonomy builds trust and self-awareness.

This stage is full of transitions, especially for children navigating new siblings, new communities, or a growing awareness of others. Sometimes toddlers want to be capable and independent. Then sometimes they want to be cared for like a baby again. Presence means honoring both without pushing the child prematurely in either direction.

Limits are a key expression of presence. Clear, consistent boundaries create structure, and structure supports independence. A few simple rules, maintained calmly and consistently, help children orient themselves in the world.

If power struggles emerge, we can use them as opportunities to reflect on control rather than behavior. If children have tantrums, presence means staying close without escalating. During the height of anger or upset, we may simply ensure safety. When a child moves into sadness or overwhelm, we can offer comfort and reassurance. The goal is not to stop the tantrum, but to support a child through it.

Flexibility is another essential part of presence. Although routines give children a sense of security, rigidity can disconnect us from their real needs. Sometimes the best choice is to go outside, to move, or to shift the plan. When children feel secure, they can adapt, and so can we.

Finally, presence means embracing life alongside children. Young children notice the world with fresh eyes. Weather, seasons, light, and movement all become sources of joy and wonder. When we allow ourselves to feel awe again, children experience validation that life is something rich and meaningful.

Our Inner Work

Being present with young children is demanding, not because of what children require, but because of what we must bring: patience, humility, emotional regulation, and a willingness to slow down.

This work invites us to become more aware of ourselves: our language, our pace, our reactions, and our assumptions. In doing so, we offer children not just care, but a living model of how to be human in relationship with others.

Presence is not perfection. It is mindful attention. And for young children, that attention becomes the foundation upon which everything else is built.

Please visit our school in Old Saybrook, CT to learn more about how we think about the role of adults in children’s learning environment!

Language Revealed: The Montessori Journey to Understanding Pronouns

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 04:00:43 GMT

When children begin working with pronouns in Montessori, they are not learning something entirely new. Instead, they are bringing to consciousness language they already use every day.

Pronoun work builds slowly and intentionally. It is not about mastering grammar rules, but about understanding how language functions and how meaning is carried when words stand in for one another.

Beginning With Experience, Not Explanation

Montessori pronoun work begins with movement and spoken language, not written grammar.

We start with little oral games to highlight how a pronoun functions, sometimes eliminating the pronoun (“Josie and John and Jack and Josiah are walking around the table.”) and other times emphasizing the pronoun (“They are walking around the table.”). The children love acting out the phrases, sometimes chanting, moving, watching one another, and laughing. Through these physical experiences, they begin to notice that we don’t always use names when we speak. Certain words take the place of a noun, and the meaning is still clear.

At this stage, we don’t offer the term pronoun because we want children to simply experience its function.

From Movement to Sentences

Once children are ready for more structured language work, we introduce them to the Pronoun Grammar Box so they can build and rebuild sentences using color-coded cards for each part of speech. From one sentence to the next, only a few words change as nouns get replaced by pronouns. By comparing sentences, children discover that although the word changes, the sentence still makes sense.

This comparison is essential. Rather than being told what a pronoun is, children see what it does.

We then invite children to add grammar symbols to the sentence (noun, article, adjective, verb, preposition, adverb) until we finally draw attention to the remaining word: “This word is used in place of a noun.”

Only then do we introduce the pronoun symbol: a purple isosceles triangle, the height of the noun symbol.

Montessori Lore: The Pronoun’s Story

There’s a beloved story about the pronoun symbol.

Long ago, the pronoun was shorter and a different color. Wanting to be as important as the noun, it stretched itself taller and taller to reach the same height. As it stretched, its base became smaller and it turned purple from the effort of standing in the noun’s place.

It’s a poetic reminder of what children discover through their work: a pronoun depends on the noun, borrowing its meaning while standing in for it.

Why Pronouns Come Later

Pronouns are more abstract than other parts of speech. To understand a pronoun, children must already have a strong, concrete understanding of the noun.

For this reason, pronouns (along with interjections) are typically introduced later than other grammar symbols, often in the elementary years. Even then, one lesson is not enough.

In Montessori, the real learning happens after the presentation, when we step back and children work independently with the material. The guide’s role is to show how to use the material, not to explain grammar in detail. Understanding emerges through repeated use.

Deepening Understanding Through Play and Exploration

As children grow more confident, the work expands to include:

Transposition games, where pronouns are removed or replaced to explore how meaning changes.
Command cards, which physically isolate pronouns through action.
Personal pronoun charts, introducing first, second, and third person (singular and plural) through storytelling.
The Verb Family, where children explore the close relationship between the verb, adverb, and pronoun.

Children discover that pronouns often work closely with verbs, helping to carry action and meaning through a sentence.

Subtleties Come Later

At first, Montessori avoids getting caught in fine distinctions. Over time, children may explore nuances such as the difference between possessive pronouns (the book is mine) and possessive adjectives (my book).

These discussions often happen later, sometimes with the support of grammar references, once children have a solid foundation.

Language Revealed, Not Taught

Through this carefully layered progression of movement, sentence work, symbols, and exploration, children develop a deep understanding of how words function differently in sentences.

Montessori grammar invites children to discover how language works at their own pace through hands-on exploration. We don’t rush this process. So by the time children are ready to name the pronoun, it’s not a new idea. It’s something they already know.

We invite you to visit our classrooms in Old Saybrook, CT to see firsthand the children’s joy of learning!

Sleep as a Skill: A Montessori Reflection for Baby Sleep Day

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 15:07:35 GMT

March 1 marks Baby Sleep Day

So we thought we’d take a moment to reflect on the alignment between Montessori philosophy and modern sleep science.

In Montessori, we focus on independence as a path toward self-sufficiency. This is a gradual, mindful process of becoming capable. For our youngest children, this journey begins with mastery of the most fundamental human needs: eating, toileting, and sleeping.

These areas matter deeply because they are ultimately under a child’s control. No one can make a child eat, use the toilet, or sleep. Our role, then, is not to force outcomes but to remove obstacles. As adults, we can provide thoughtful structure and support children as they develop the skills that build confidence and trust in their own bodies.

Language Shapes Our Intentions

In Montessori, our language reflects our values. For example, we don’t talk about “toilet training.” Instead, we focus on “toilet learning” because children are learning how to care for their bodies within the cultural norms. We are not training behavior. We are supporting development.

The same is true for sleep. Rather than “sleep training,” Montessori invites us to think in terms of supporting independent sleep skills. We help children learn how to settle their bodies, self-soothe, and eventually fall asleep independently, all skills they will rely on for the rest of their lives.

Why Sleep Matters So Much

Research continues to affirm that sleep is foundational. Healthy sleep supports brain development and learning, emotional regulation, physical growth and immune function, and memory and attention.

During sleep, children’s bodies perform essential functions, including muscle growth, tissue repair, protein synthesis, and the release of growth hormones. Deep sleep stages are when the most restorative processes occur.

How Sleep Works

Two systems guide sleep: circadian rhythm and sleep pressure.

Circadian rhythm is the body’s internal 24-hour clock, regulated by light and darkness. When it’s dark, the brain releases melatonin (the sleep hormone). When it’s light, melatonin decreases, and cortisol helps us wake. This is why darkness supports sleep, blue light from screens disrupts it, and consistent bedtimes matter.

Newborns are not born with a mature circadian rhythm. It begins developing around six weeks and becomes more established around three months, which explains why early baby sleep can feel unpredictable.

The other factor is sleep pressure. The longer we’re awake, the stronger the drive to sleep. This pressure builds during the day and resets after a long stretch of rest.

When children miss their sleep window and become overtired, stress hormones (adrenaline and cortisol) kick in, creating that familiar “second wind.” Suddenly, a child who desperately needs sleep seems wired and alert. Understanding sleep pressure helps us time sleep before children tip into exhaustion.

A Montessori Framework for Healthy Sleep

To support both healthy attachment and independence, Montessori encourages clear, loving boundaries. Sleep is no different.

We can focus on four key factors: a prepared sleep environment, predictable and respectful routines, healthy sleep associations, and limits with flexibility.

A Prepared Sleep Environment

Just as we prepare our Montessori classrooms, we want to be intentional about preparing our child’s sleep space at home. Key components include ensuring that the space is:

Dark (blackout curtains help melatonin production)
Quiet and calm
Free of stimulating toys
Slightly cool

A good question to ask ourselves is: Would I easily fall asleep here?

Predictable, Respectful Routines

Children feel secure when they know what comes next. A simple home routine might include:

The final feeding
Putting on pajamas
Toileting/diapering
Tooth brushing
A short story or song
A hug and kiss goodnight

Long baths or extended reading are best before the sleep window, not during it.

Healthy Sleep Associations

Children form associations with the conditions present when they fall asleep. If a child falls asleep being rocked, fed, or held, they will often need that same support during natural night wakings. Instead, we want to place a child in bed drowsy but awake, so they can practice falling asleep independently. Comfort objects, such as a small blanket or stuffed animal, can support this process.

Limits with Flexibility

Sleep needs change as children grow. Consistency matters, but we don’t want to be unnecessarily rigid. It’s important to keep in mind, though, that older children may test boundaries, delay routines, or negotiate endlessly. Calm, consistent follow-through reassures children that the structure is dependable. And just as importantly, adults need support, too! Holding limits is much harder when we are sleep-deprived, so self-care is essential.

Why Independent Sleep Is an Act of Care

Babies naturally cycle through light and deep sleep many times each night. When they wake briefly between cycles, a child who knows how to self-settle can drift back to sleep without distress. Independent sleep skills:

Reduce frequent night wakings
Support early morning sleep
Improve mood and learning
Protect parents’ well-being

Plus, poor sleep in infancy is linked to challenges later in childhood, including difficulties with emotional regulation and health concerns. Supporting sleep early is preventative care.

A Closing Thought for Baby Sleep Day

Supporting sleep is not about forcing independence. It’s about preparing the conditions so independence can emerge naturally, with confidence and trust.

If you’re navigating sleep challenges, please know this: you don’t have to do it alone. Sleep is learned, supported, and refined over time (just like every other human skill!).

We want to honor sleep not as a struggle to overcome, but as a vital rhythm to protect, for both our children and ourselves. If you are interested in learning more, schedule a visit here in Old Saybrook, CT today!

The Quiet Landing: Why Children Need Time After School

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 15:24:40 GMT

When we pick up our children from school, it’s almost automatic to ask, “How was your day?”

And just as automatically, the answers tend to fall flat: fine, good, okay, or sometimes nothing at all.

As adults, we can probably relate. When someone asks about our day, we don’t always feel like revisiting every detail, especially before we’ve had a chance to rest or reset. For children, this challenge is even greater.

In Montessori environments, children are immersed in experiences that are rich, complex, and often difficult to put into words. How does a young child explain the sensorial experience of carefully carrying each cube of the Pink Tower across the room? Or describe the quiet satisfaction of discovering that ten tens create a hundred square? Or articulate the subtle social negotiations that happen during community lunch?

Even for older children, language often lags behind experience.

Why “How Was Your Day?” Can Feel Like Too Much

As children move into the elementary years, they are also navigating peer relationships that are still very black and white. A single interaction can color their entire perception of the day. So their reports may sound overly simple: someone was mean, someone was nice, the day was bad, the day was good.

But often, the issue isn’t that children don’t want to share. Instead, the timing is off.

Research on children’s nervous systems helps explain why. When children walk out of school, their brains are often still in a state of high alert. Throughout the day they’ve managed noise, social expectations, concentration, corrections, and constant stimulation. Their nervous system hasn’t fully shifted out of “school mode” yet.

So it helps if we remember that we aren’t greeting children in their most rational state.

Those first minutes after pickup are a transition, not a conversation window. When we jump in with questions too quickly, even well-meaning ones, we may unintentionally overwhelm our children’s nervous system, which hasn’t had time to settle.

Connection Before Conversation

In Montessori, we place great importance on transitions. We know children need time to move from one state of being to another, whether that’s arriving at school, moving between activities, or going home at the end of the day.

Instead of starting with questions, we can start with presence.

When we first see our children, a warm greeting that communicates “I’m happy to see you” goes a long way. Some children need a snack. Some need quiet. Some need movement, proximity, or simply space. This is not the moment to gather information. This is the moment to re-establish connection.

When families allow even 10 to 12 minutes of quiet decompression after school, through silence, music, or simply being together, children regulate more quickly. Evening stress decreases, cooperation improves, and children are more likely to talk voluntarily later on.

Rather than interrogating right after school. Try coexisting. This pause is deeply respectful.

When Children Are Ready to Talk

Later, after your child has had time to settle back into your care, you may notice that conversation begins naturally. This is often when children share what mattered most to them, not what we might have thought to ask about.

When you do open the door to conversation, gentle specificity helps. Broad questions like “How was your day?” can feel overwhelming. Instead, try comments that invite reflection without pressure:

“I noticed you seemed really focused when I picked you up.”
“I’m here if you want to tell me about something you worked on today.”
“What felt good about today?”

Just as important as the words is our availability. Putting down the phone, pausing the logistics, and showing with our body language that we are truly listening makes it safer for children to share.

Listening for Timing, Not Just Content

This approach applies across ages. Even adolescents benefit from what some call a “quiet landing” after school. When we honor timing, we’re less likely to walk into the emotional residue of the day and more likely to build cooperation and connection later.

In Montessori, we often say: regulation comes before reflection. Children don’t need us to extract their feelings. They need us to create the conditions where feelings can land safely.

Sometimes that looks like silence. Sometimes it looks like presence. And sometimes, after enough space has been given, it looks like a child finally saying exactly what mattered most.

So the question isn’t just “Do I listen to what my child says?” And instead becomes: “Do I listen for when they’re ready to speak?”

Curious to learn more strategies to support your child during transitions? Set up a time to come visit here in [Your Town/Location]. We love to connect!

Understanding Equivalence: A Montessori Approach to Math Insight

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 17:38:25 GMT

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Elementary Story: How Geometry Got Its Name

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 18:58:42 GMT

In Montessori elementary classrooms, we like to introduce big ideas with big stories. We offer children a sense of wonder first, sort of like an imaginative doorway, so that when they later study formulas, theorems, and proofs, they already feel connected to the human story behind them.

One of these stories is The Story of How Geometry Got Its Name, an introduction to a subject that is far older than the textbooks and protractors we encounter today. In Montessori, Geometry is more than about shapes. It is about human beings solving real problems in the real world.

A Problem as Old as Civilization

To introduce geometry, we take children about five thousand years back in time to the ancient civilization of Egypt. This was a land shaped by the , the longest river in the world. Each year, the Nile flooded its banks as snowmelt poured down from the mountains far to the south. The Egyptians depended on this yearly flood as it left behind rich, dark silt that nourished their crops and made life possible in an otherwise harsh desert.

But the flood created a challenge, too. It washed away the boundary markers that separated one farmer’s field from another. When the waters receded, no one could quite remember where their land began and ended. Arguments ensued. “This corner is mine!” And the fields needed to be measured and marked again.

The First Geometers: The Rope Stretchers

To solve this annual problem, the Egyptians relied on a special group of skilled workers called the Harpedonaptai, or Rope Stretchers. These were early land surveyors who used a knotted rope tied at regular intervals and three weights to create a very particular triangle.

In the classroom, we invite a few children to hold a prepared rope at its large knots, forming that same triangle. As they stretch it out and lay it on the ground, many quickly recognize what the Egyptians had unknowingly created: a scalene right-angled triangle. This shape would later become central to the geometry studied by Greek mathematicians.

The Rope Stretchers used this simple tool to re-establish field boundaries, set right angles, and make sure the land was measured accurately and fairly. Geometry, in its earliest form, served a deeply practical purpose.

From Rope to Pyramid

The Rope Stretchers’ expertise was valued far beyond the farmlands. They also helped lay out the foundations of temples, monuments, and even the Great Pyramid of Giza. The base of the Great Pyramid is a perfect square, which is an astonishing feat of measurement and design. The Pharaoh himself oversaw these measurements, but it was the Rope Stretchers who executed them.

Their work represents one of humanity’s earliest recorded sciences: the careful measuring of the earth.

How Geometry Got Its Name

The name geometry reflects this ancient practice. It comes from two Greek words:

gê — earth

metron — measure

Geometry literally means earth measurement.

The Egyptians did not use the language of right angles, nor did they classify triangles as we do today. Their work was grounded in practical needs. They needed to solve problems, organize land, and create structures that would endure for thousands of years. Yet their discoveries influenced later thinkers like Pythagoras, who likely traveled to Egypt and learned from their methods. Over time, the simple knotted rope inspired a whole discipline devoted to understanding lines, angles, shapes, and the relationships between them.

Why We Tell This Story in Montessori

When Montessori children hear this story, something important happens. Geometry becomes more than a set of rules or vocabulary words. It becomes a human endeavor born from curiosity, necessity, and ingenuity.

This is the heart of Montessori’s cosmic education: helping children see knowledge not as isolated subjects, but as gifts from generations before them. When children pick up a ruler, explore angles with a protractor, or classify triangles in the classroom, they are continuing a legacy that began with those early Rope Stretchers on the banks of the Nile.

Through story, children feel connected to the people who shaped our world and to the problems that inspired great ideas. Schedule a tour today to see how geometry becomes meaningful, purposeful, and alive for our children here in Old Saybrook, CT.

Gratitude: Why We Celebrate the Unsung Heroes

Mon, 25 Nov 2024 11:00:04 GMT

As children move from early childhood into their elementary years, they become very attuned to heroes. In fact, in Montessori we call this “hero worship,” and we consider it an amazing opportunity!

Our elementary-age children are figuring out their moral compass, which partially sparks this strong attraction toward heroes. Often, we see children become focused on sporting personalities, movie and television stars, singers, and sometimes even teachers! Children may even choose to emulate a classmate or slightly older peer.

Understanding the Self & the Group

As children use their imaginations and look toward heroes, they are really thinking about how to actualize their own potential. Thus, they become very observant of others. They begin to recognize individual strengths and apply them to their own practice society, community, and family. Children invite each other to work based on their strengths and then they feel seen. In this process, children begin to recognize that the strength of the group is their own strength. Hero worship drives all kinds of prosocial development.

Thus part of hero worship is stepping into leadership roles in the community and learning how to lead and how to follow. Our children experience the joy of belonging to the group and being part of something together. In this hero worship, we see the cultivation of cooperation and collaboration.

All Kinds of Heroes

Children of this age are also incredibly open to stories of history's great innovators and heroes. So we introduce a variety of heroes through books, songs, storytelling, and casual observations. Montessori children love to lean into research and want to explore the histories and stories of their heroes.

In this process, we emphasize how heroes are all around us! How can we show gratitude for those who deliver our mail or help us when we’ve gotten hurt?

As our children explore these heroes and fall in and out of admiration and emulation, it’s important to remember that while we can’t control our children’s choice of friends or heroes, we can offer lots of different options. In this process, we make sure to provide exposure to non-typical heroes, including unknown heroes.

In the various stories we tell in our Montessori curriculum, we often emphasize how we will never know who those first humans were who did all sorts of important things like picking up a burning branch after a lightning strike and figuring out how to save and use fire, creating a hole in a small bone and using it as a needle, discovering how to save seeds and plant them, or leaving cave paintings to share a message. As we explore early human history and children discover that there are so many unknown heroes, we always pause to offer some gratitude for those who discovered and created so much.

Elementary children look up to power, strength, and beauty, in whatever form that occurs, and this isn’t always in the form of a human hero. There were the first plants that began to cling to the land and adapt to life out of the water, the Carboniferous amphibians whose fins eventually became legs, tiny cells each with its own job so that the body runs smoothly, and leaves that work like food factories for plants.

Giving Thanks to All Kinds of Heroes

With our children’s tendency toward hero worship and their admiration for heroes of different kinds, we can also help our children understand what they value in a hero. Often our children recognize and respond to stories of people (and non-human entities!) who overcome hardship, endure loss, and sacrifice for others. We also draw their attention to the fact that one does not need to be important or famous to be a hero.

In this season of gratitude, let’s remember to celebrate many different kinds of heroes and offer our thanks for how they have contributed (or continue to contribute) in varied ways. We also thank you and hope you’ll schedule a time to observe our gratitude-filled classrooms in action!

Nurturing the Whole Child: How Montessori Balances Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Growth

Mon, 18 Nov 2024 11:00:01 GMT

One of the gifts of Montessori education is that we can truly focus on the whole child —cognitive, social, emotional, and physical. Our approach is not just about academics but also about nurturing life skills, emotional intelligence, and social relationships.

The Montessori approach to child development revolves around the understanding that children are naturally curious, care deeply about others, and can be intrinsically motivated. When provided with the right environment, children can deepen both their love for learning and their appreciation of and care for the community.

Prioritizing the Prepared Environment

One of the keys to balancing social-emotional learning with cognitive and physical development is prioritizing the impact of a prepared environment. In Montessori, a prepared environment is a place specially designed to appeal to children’s sensitive periods for learning, as well as their core human needs and tendencies. When designing these prepared spaces for children, we work to ensure children feel safe and supported so they can reach their potential. The Montessori-prepared environment is a place where children can feel at home as they develop their inner selves and outer skills.

Our carefully prepared Montessori classrooms are calm and orderly, foster independence and decision-making, and provide varied opportunities for peer interactions in mixed-age classrooms. The result is that children can develop their emotional regulation skills in child-centered spaces.

Opportunities for Conflict Resolution

In addition, we weave in opportunities for conflict resolution. This means we actively model and support children as they learn to communicate their feelings through words. In addition to promoting self-awareness through identifying and naming emotions, we also teach active listening, problem-solving, and techniques for self-regulation (from deep breathing to using calm-down spaces).

Adults serve as mediators and guides rather than arbitrators and judges. Through guided discussions, we help children think reflectively about social interactions, practice respectful communication, facilitate peaceful solutions, and model how to handle conflict. Ultimately, we want to empower children with tools they can use even if an adult isn’t present!

Respect for Others

One key to this is cultivating respect for others’ perspectives and patience for alternative approaches. Because children work together in a variety of ways through their care of the classroom environment and small group projects or lessons, they develop a deep sense of compassion and empathy. Our mixed-age groupings and peer-to-peer learning activities promote collaboration and mentorship. So, in addition to the adults, older children also serve as models of emotional regulation and conflict resolution for younger peers. The result is that Montessori children develop a deep tolerance for and appreciation of difference.

Deep Appreciation for Community

Children thrive when they have a sense of community and belonging. So, we promote inclusivity and respect for diversity within the classroom. The Montessori curriculum includes a range of activities that encourage group cohesion and empathy-building, which leads to trust and respect among our students.

The long-term benefits of Montessori’s focus on social-emotional learning and conflict resolution are that children develop lifelong social skills such as a deep sense of empathy, effective communication with various people, and the ability to cooperate with grace and goodwill.

The Montessori method nurtures social-emotional learning and equips children with essential conflict-resolution skills they can use in their classroom communities and social interactions outside of school.

Do you want to learn more and perhaps even support these practices at home? Schedule a visit today.

Materials Spotlight: Animal Story Cards

Mon, 11 Nov 2024 11:00:02 GMT

Children adore animals! Our elementary students (and even some older primary students) often love to start researching animals. To capitalize upon this interest and use it to build the base for more in-depth research skills, we have a set of materials called the Animal Story Cards. These picture and story cards introduce animals that live in the region. They are composed of a few folders with pictures and text that get rotated throughout the year.

The collection of cards includes a large picture of the animal in its natural environment, a large text card with general information about the animal, and then a series of smaller images and matching text cards that show and detail information about the animal’s habitat, how it protects itself, its natural diet, how it reproduces, and how it cares for its young.

This material helps children begin to classify and organize their zoological awareness of native animals. We also try to gear the stories to the needs of the animals with which the children may have had first-hand experience so that the activity reinforces their prior knowledge.

Information in the folders draws children’s attention to certain aspects of animals’ lives and the interconnections of animals through various food chains or predator/prey relationships. Each folder focuses on one animal and contains picture cards and text material relevant to that animal’s basic needs.

As we rotate the cards throughout the year to provide exposure to various animals, we also ensure the selected animals have contrasting qualities (e.g., a mammal, a bird, an amphibian, etc.).

In addition to providing a base for future research skills, this material also increases children's awareness and knowledge of animals that live in the surrounding environment, highlights differences among animals, cultivates an appreciation for animals, and provides an interesting reading activity.

When we present this material, we gather a small group of children and place the large picture card in the center of the rug or table. Often, we start with a little story about the animal, and as we tell the story, we introduce the related smaller picture cards as they become relevant.

We only have three or four of these animal stories in the classroom so that the children can use this material as a model for their own research and work. Ultimately, we want children to turn to books in the classroom or the library for further information. Those in the early stages of reading and research often enjoy drawing the animal and a picture of what it eats, how it cares for its young, etc.

So the youngest children can access the text and practice their reading, we sometimes have one-word labels that can work in place of the text cards. Early readers can access the easier text and place the one-word labels underneath the matching pictures.

We encourage children to share the story of the animal we introduced to others in the class, explore the other folders, and try to match the pictures and the different text cards. Sometimes, children get excited about making an animal story set of their own. This activity can result in a great deal of concentrated work!

As children use the Animal Story Cards, they begin to also realize that animals have fundamental needs just like humans do!

We’d love for you to visit the school to see this and the many other ways we cultivate an appreciation for the natural world. Schedule a tour today!

Materials Spotlight: The Montessori Bells

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 11:00:04 GMT

Music is a form of language. Because our young children effortlessly absorb language, we, of course, provide them with opportunities to express themselves musically! One key material we use for this is the Montessori Bells.

The bells are perfectly tuned, each designed to deliver a distinct, pure tone when gently played with a mallet. Also aesthetically pleasing, the bells invite children into the world of music. This helps children develop a keen ear for pitch and tone, while encouraging an appreciation of musical instruments and expression.

The Montessori Bells

In our primary classrooms, the Montessori Bells are easily accessible on a specially designed wooden stand or table, each bell arranged in order according to its pitch.

There are two sets of 13 bells. One set has black and white stands and is set up in the back to serve as a control and is arranged like a piano keyboard (the white bells represent whole notes, while the black bells serve as the sharps and flats). The other set of bells has stands of natural, varnished wood, so we call them the brown bells. Each brown bell is paired with a white or black bell, and these 13 pairs of bells comprise the chromatic scale beginning at middle C.

The bells sit on boards that also serve as guides. The brown bells rest on a pattern of black and white rectangles corresponding to the keys of a piano.

Playing One or Two Bells

After our youngest children have learned how to care for materials and have had plenty of experience discriminating sounds with our sound cylinders, we show them how to play a single bell. This is a multi-part process: how to carry the bell, use a mallet to gently strike the bell to make a tone, appreciate the sound the bell makes, use a damper to stop the tone, and return the bell to its proper place in the set.

Returning the bell to its proper place prepares children for future work of pairing and grading the bells. So, we take time to model how to check that the tone of the brown bell matches the corresponding white (or black) bell behind it.

Once children learn these steps, they can select any of the brown bells to play. Eventually, we also show children how to choose and play two different brown bells. This experience helps children focus on the fact that the two bells look the same but sound different. Then, upon returning the bells to the set, children also get to work on finding where each brown bells goes (because there are two empty spaces) by matching the tone of the brown bells to the white or black bells in the back.

This may seem like quite an elaborate process for just “playing a bell or two.” However, we carefully break down each step so that even our youngest children can learn how to use this delicate instrument with precision while also beginning to hone in on the slight variations in each bell’s pitch.

Pairing

When we observe children’s success with this initial process, we introduce the challenge of pairing. This experience begins with the adult letting the child know in the lesson that the bells are on their boards in a particular order. We play up the brown bells and down the white bells so the child can hear the gradation and experience the impression of the C scale. Next we model how to remove four brown bells from their boards, mix them, and place them in an open space off to the side.

While showing this process, we reflect aloud how we could match the brown bells to their pairs when we had just two bells. We point out that we can use the same technique to find the matching pairs of the bells we just mixed up and moved to the side.

We start by moving one of the brown bells to a space in front of the first empty white space (always working from left to right). We play the white (control) bell and then the brown bell. If they sound the same, we move the bell up onto the white space on the board. If they sound different, we slide the bell to the right to be in front of the next empty white space and we repeat the process until finding the brown bell’s match and location. When all the brown bells are paired, we again play up the brown bells and down the white bells to check they are in the correct order.

Once we finish modeling, we select the same four bells, mix them to the side of the workspace, and invite the child to pair the bells. We stay long enough to see successful matching of the first bell, then we fade into the background and observe. If the child is successful, we remove the same four and invite the child to do it again. If the first round was successful, we invite the child to remove all the brown bells and pair them!

Grading the Diatonic and Chromatic Scale

After children can pair all eight bells successfully, we introduce grading. This time, children learn how to put all the brown bells in order by paying attention to the degree of difference between each tone. This time, rather than using the white control bells to determine the order of the scale, children mix up and play the brown bells, using their awareness of the change in pitch to compare and reorder the bells. This requires children to have an acute awareness of each tone and how they differ. We start with just the white bells which represent the whole notes, and later introduce mixing in the black bells to make the chromatic scale (with sharps and flats).

Language Material

After children have successfully paired and graded the diatonic scale, we also introduce the “writing and reading” component of the bells. Children learn the symbols and names for the pitches and match the pitches with their notes.

When writing in language, we have thoughts we want to express and we can write them down. Composers have melodies in their heads and they write those melodies by using the notes of the staff.

We use beautiful staff boards with small wooden circles so that children can learn how to place the notes on the staff and eventually even write their own music, similarly to how they write with the moveable alphabet. Like with spoken language, children first explore through writing and then reading melodies.

Taking a Look at Homework

Mon, 21 Oct 2024 11:00:01 GMT

Many of us grew up with some form of homework, so it can feel a little strange when our Montessori kids come home without it. In fact, we may start to wonder what our children are missing by not having homework.

Perhaps some worries have crossed your mind: Don’t my children need additional practice to help improve their retention? Doesn’t homework help reinforce concepts learned in school? Doesn’t homework serve as a tool for teaching responsibility, self-discipline, and time management?

Let’s lean into these questions to explore what happens in Montessori classrooms and whether homework meets children’s developmental needs.

Do our children need additional practice to help improve their retention?

Unlike our youngest ones, who love endless repetition (it can be hard to read that favorite book one more time!), once our children reach the elementary years, they crave variety. Thus, the key is to provide lots of different kinds of opportunities for practice. For example, in Montessori classrooms, we have SO MANY ways for students to practice their multiplication facts: the large bead frame, bead bars, bead chains, multiplication board, checkerboard, and bank game, just to name a few.

We find that children love to practice and challenge themselves. So should we assign practice for them to take home? Author and researcher Alfie Kohn spent years reviewing the available research (as well as interviewing parents, teachers, and students), and he sums up his findings with the following statement: “Homework is all pain and no gain.” In fact, in studying the research, Kohn found that having and doing homework during the elementary years does not improve learning. That being said, in high school there is a small correlation between homework and test scores, although no clarity about whether doing the homework leads to higher test scores.

We’ve also found that when children are engaged and loving their varied practice at school, requiring that they continue the practice at home can actually backfire. For example, when children are made to do academic work at home, we see that they are less likely to engage with similar learning activities at school. That being said, when children are excited about their learning and initiate continuing at home, we encourage and celebrate this extension of their work!

Does homework help reinforce concepts learned in school?

We want children to see themselves as life-long learners. One way we support this is to avoid the dichotomy of home versus school. Learning doesn’t stop or start at the classroom door! Perhaps at school, a child is suddenly passionate about sea turtles. We explore how this learning can extend into the community: visiting a local aquarium for a real-life encounter, finding sea turtle books from the local library, watching a sea turtle documentary, etc. Some of this could happen through going-out trips from school and just as easily could also be something the child’s family embraces to support the learning experience.

Home learning (rather than preassigned homework each night) is meaningful and relevant. Just as an adult might be motivated or excited about a project at work and want to continue some of the process at home at night or over the weekend, we want our students to realize that their learning has no bounds of time or space! This could work in the other direction, too. Maybe a child asks a question at home one night about how stars are formed, which leads to a deep dive at school into types of stars, galaxies, and even chemistry.

This understanding that learning happens throughout all the aspects of our lives is a hallmark of Montessori education. We emphasize deep, hands-on engagement with varied kinds of learning materials. Our curriculum is designed to support an explosion of imagination and curiosity. Children can ask questions, explore, and work through big concepts at their own pace.

Does homework serve as a tool for teaching responsibility, self-discipline, and time management?

Montessori education is grounded in a deep respect for young people. Our unique approach is designed to cultivate responsibility, self-discipline, and time management skills. Montessori classrooms provide children with the freedom to choose their work, but within a structured environment and framework. This freedom is tied together with responsibility and teaches students to make well-informed choices about how they spend their time and what tasks they prioritize. With the help of their teachers, students create work plans each week.Through one-on-one conferencing and daily adjustments, classroom teachers provide guidance and reflection that empowers students to think about their own learning process, including what parts could use more attention.

Instead of relying on external rewards or punishments, Montessori emphasizes intrinsic motivation. Students engage in activities because they are interested and find satisfaction in completing them, which nurtures self-discipline. Plus, children work at their own pace without direct competition. This allows them to focus deeply on their tasks, developing concentration and persistence, which are core aspects of self-discipline.

Ultimately, there is work to be done and sometimes even deadlines to meet. As we experience in the adult world, if we have procrastinated, lost focus, or just had to tend to other things, the work doesn’t go away, and sometimes we have to bring it home to make sure we get it done. The same applies to Montessori students. Sometimes they will need to bring some work home to meet a deadline or work through a challenge that needs more attention.

Guides may also work with older students to create individual learning plans so that they can more consciously plan their day or week to meet their goals. We scaffold this skill so our young people can learn how to incorporate goal setting, planning, and time management into their lives.

In a supportive way, we integrate choice, autonomy, and responsibility into students’ daily routines. The result? Montessori students feel empowered, take ownership of their learning, and have the gift of devoting afternoons and evenings for rest, family bonding, and exploring personal interests.

Facing Frustration & Flipped Lids

Mon, 07 Oct 2024 11:00:04 GMT

You’ve experienced the scene before. All is quiet and calm. The kids are playing outside. Maybe you are even focused on something you’ve wanted to do for a while. And the next thing you know the door slams open and everyone comes in, teeming with frustration.

At first, you may try to piece together the details: a game, something stolen, someone who felt excluded, others defending their territory. Removed from the situation, you can probably see the dynamics at play: someone felt left out and wanted to belong but didn't know how to ask, so they do something that gets them some negative attention.

Feeling Disconnected

Our children don't necessarily use the most constructive ways to let us know what they need. Rather than say, "I feel disconnected, and I need some extra love and attention," they are more likely to hit or throw tantrums or, as they get older, say or do mean things to get us to notice. In our imaginary scene, a child who wanted to belong decided to take something to get the other children to pay attention.

In situations like this, other kids typically don’t respond well. They get defensive and usually respond with a fair amount of their own fury. When children retaliate, they aren’t thinking about any consequences of their actions, much less about another child's motivations! Even if we try to listen and have a conversation about what happened, children will often tend to become inflamed again.

Shifting Gears

This is when it is helpful to remember that we can shift gears to help children understand what is actually happening in their brains! Ideally, we find something that children can relate to and that changes their focus.

A pet reptile is an excellent option. “So you remember the gecko we saw at the pet store? She has a very basic response. If threatened, she has three options: to fight, to freeze, or to flee.” From there, we can explain how we all have a very reptilian part of our brain, the amygdala. When we feel threatened, we tend to go back to basic responses: fight, freeze, or flee.

Flipping Our Lid

We also have our frontal lobes, which allow us to think more logically and consider other options. Despite having a rational part of our brain, it is easy to do what Daniel Siegel has termed "flipping our lid."

We can show children what this is like by representing our brain with our hand. When we curl our thumb into our palm it is like the amygdala, a primitive part of our brain essential for basic functions. The amygdala is our alarm center and responds from a place of instinct. Then we can curl our fingers over our thumb so they can represent the frontal lobes of our brain, which help us with self-control, empathy, and decision-making.

When we get upset, we can "flip our lid." Our fingers (representing our frontal lobes) fly up and are out of commission, leaving our thumb (representing our amygdala) exposed. When this happens, we tend to act from the more reptilian part of our brain.

Getting Curious

When we provide this model for children, they often focus intensely on how our brains function. Yet there is still a challenge: What should we do when we are intensely upset, have a flipped lid, and are in the midst of a challenging moment?

It helps to really sit with the question with our children and lean into a place of curiosity. What if we had a plan for when we get into these kinds of moments? What if others around us were able to do this, too? What if our communities, our governments, and our countries were able to manage flipped lids? What kind of world would we experience?

When given the opportunity to explore options together, our children tend to rise to the occasion. They might decide to use each other for support when they feel overwhelmed by feelings of anger or frustration. They might also begin to think more about others’ needs and how to help them feel more included. Our children are so capable of moving from a place of not knowing to taking initial steps to figure out their own plan of action. While our children won’t have all the answers, we can help them carefully consider how to manage themselves in the face of challenges.

Curious to learn more about how we help children when we confront frustration, recognize the need to belong, and even just manage overstimulation? Schedule a tour and see for yourself how Montessori helps us all grow in beautiful ways! We also have a Positive Discipline workshop coming up on October 25, 2024. To register, click here.

Materials Spotlight: The Grammar Boxes

Mon, 30 Sep 2024 11:00:04 GMT

One of the best parts of a Montessori education is that learning is so much fun! We provide hands-on activities and experiences that engage children’s hearts and minds and help them grasp abstract concepts and master complicated skills.

For example, when we introduce grammar in elementary, we use the Grammar Boxes, a set of materials that involve reading, interpretation, acting, art, movement, pattern-finding, and even poetry. The result is that grammar becomes an experiential and joyful process that children get to play with and even embody. Grammar work in Montessori elementary classrooms is also a group activity, which our gregarious elementary-aged children absolutely love.

The Materials

The Grammar Boxes comprise an array of colorful materials that easily take up a whole shelf in the classroom. Like so many Montessori materials, they use color coding to help children establish stronger neural pathways to identify parts of speech and their function in sentences.

Each of the eight grammar boxes has one large compartment that holds cards with sets of phrases and sentences, as well as smaller compartments for one-word cards. The cards are different colors for each part of speech: article (tan), noun (black), adjective (brown), verb (red), preposition (green), adverb (orange), pronoun (purple), conjunction (pink), interjection (yellow).

Children experience the name, symbol, and function of each part of speech in a multi-sensorial way, maximizing their opportunity to acquire real and deep understanding.

The Activity

We start with little games to introduce the part of speech. For example, we provide commands, like skip, run, hide, hum, and so on, to experience the role the verb plays. Next, we select the grammar box and filler box to match the part of speech. Children fill the grammar box with the various cards, and then they choose one of the sentence cards and read the sentence. Using the one-word cards, they build the sentence by looking through the smaller compartments in the grammar box to find each word.

In the preposition grammar box, one of the sentences states, “Lay the pen with the pencil.” When children look for each of the words, they will find that “pen” and “pencil” are on black cards because they are nouns. “Lay” is on a red card because it is a verb. “The” is on a tan card because it is an article. The new type of word – “with” – is a preposition. Children build the sentence and then act it out.

The next sentence on the card is exactly the same except for one variation. “With” changes to “behind” so the sentence reads “Lay the pen behind the pencil.” So children keep the constructed sentence but just change the one card. They act out the sentence again, experiencing how changing the preposition changes the sentence in a certain way. The final sentence on the card reads “Lay the pen beside the pencil.” This acting out and playing around with what happens when one-word changes provides a sensorial experience of the parts of speech.

We also share key phrases that highlight the function of the part of speech. For example, when working with pronouns, we’ll state, “This kind of word stands in place of a noun.” The children come to appreciate how words do important work just like they do. As a result, they experience an inspired interest in the functions performed by different words.

Continued Exploration

Once children have mastered this first step, the Grammar Box materials offer multiple forms of follow-up to promote deeper understanding.

Symbolizing

We link each part of speech with a color-coded symbol. For example, nouns are represented by black triangles and verbs by red circles. Children love to “symbolize” the grammar box sentences, as well as sentences they have written or even sentences from books. This practice is essentially an early form of sentence diagramming and children begin to notice visual patterns in the structure of sentences.

Quizzing

We can also play a little game to quiz children on the parts of speech and their functions. One form of this is to cover all the smaller, labeled compartments with color-coded paper. We might prompt the children, “What is the name of the word that told you the action?” They’ll call out “verb!” And we reveal (or they will check) the answer by removing the red slip.

Transposing

When we move words around in a sentence or phrase, the meaning may remain essentially the same, change dramatically, or be lost entirely! So, with the grammar box cards, we play around with shifting the order of the words in the constructed sentences and phrases. This highlights the importance of word order in our language and also opens up some creative thinking about poetic phrases (which often enlivens the imagination of young poets!).

Reading Commands

Children also love using the command cards that accompany each grammar box. These cards encourage dramatic interpretation and build reading comprehension. Children interpret nuances as they explore gradations in vocabulary and eventually even how subtle shifts in vocabulary can impact meaning or interpretation.

Extensions

After children learn key grammar language and concepts via the Grammar Boxes, we initiate a deeper study into classifications within each part of speech. For example, a study of the verb moves to an examination of the differences between action and linking verbs, a study of voice and mood, and an exploration of the tenses.

Extension work also includes more complex and detailed written work, a study of synonyms, further exploration of ideas presented in the introductory work, and research related to the parts of speech and the history of our language.

Elementary children love the extraordinary, the peculiar, and the unusual. Carefully selected words in the Grammar Boxes help spark this fascination, drawing the children into a study of the science of their language.

Although work with the Grammar Boxes helps children learn about and understand the functions of the different parts of speech, the lessons also demand a great deal of active and physical expression and thus support children’s powers of expression.

This is what “reading comprehension” really is. We can observe the quality and sophistication of children’s understanding by the precision with which each child carries out the actions required by any particular grammar box text.

The Importance of Grammar

A good grasp of grammar empowers us to communicate and interpret others’ communication with greater clarity and understanding. Thus, our goal is to help each child wield their language with accuracy and power. Grammar work in elementary invites a rich vocabulary and fosters an expansive use of our language in all of its expressions.

Grammar work is an exciting, fun, and intellectually stimulating activity in Montessori classrooms. Schedule a tour today to experience this in person!

Grammar the Montessori (Fun) Way!

Mon, 23 Sep 2024 11:00:03 GMT

The study of words, grammar, is all about understanding how words function and how they relate to each other in a sentence. In essence, grammar represents the rules that we use, either consciously or unconsciously, as we speak and write. And in Montessori classrooms, grammar is incredibly fun!

In early childhood, children effortlessly absorb the language(s) in their environment, including the grammatical conventions people around them use. So in our primary classrooms, we first offer a series of games to introduce children to the functions of words.

The Games

The games provide a sensorial experience of the function of each part of speech. For example, when we invite children to the “article game,” we play around with asking for items using either the article “the” or “a” depending upon if we are thinking of a definite object (like the laundry basket) or an indefinite one (like a red pencil, which could be any of the red pencils in the classroom).

Or with the “preposition game,” we give commands using prepositions (words that show relationship) such as: “Put your hands on your stomach.” “Put your hands under the chair.” “Put your hands behind your back.” Each time we only change the preposition, so that children experience what happens when we change that one word.

Children also love the “verb game” and the “adverb game” because they get to engage in all sorts of actions that can get more and more complex depending upon the series of commands from “run” and “skip” to “walk loudly” or “tiptoe angrily” to multi-step requests like “Walk to a friend. Say hello to the friend. Come back to me. Tell me the friend’s name.”

Our primary children consider these games to be delightful and often request them again and again!

A “Feel” for Language

Eventually, children in our primary classrooms move on to grammar-based activities that involve a great deal of reading. Using little paper slips and objects, we present a variation of the grammar games that isolate the different parts of speech and help children intuit the patterns in our language. We write words and phrases on the paper slips, children read them, and label different objects or items in the classroom. We also begin introducing symbols for each part of speech.

For example, by the time children have learned about nouns, articles, and adjectives, we can introduce conjunctions as words that connect. We can write little slips for individual objects (“a green pencil,” “a red pencil,” “a pink pencil”). The children collect those pencils and we connect them with a pink ribbon. We also highlight the word that connects each of the objects (“and”) by writing it in red. Finally, we add each of the symbols that represent each part of speech.

Because children of this age are very tuned into syntax, they quickly develop a “feel” for how words are used in sentences. A great example of this is how young children might say, “I runned as quickly as I could.” Just through experience, they are able to identify how past tense is formed by adding “ed” to the verb. All that is needed next are opportunities to learn about how some words don’t follow that particular rule.

Systematic Study

In the elementary years, we embark on a systematic study of the different types of rules, such as those that direct the formation of the past tense. In addition to learning about suffixes (such as “ed”) that affect tense, elementary students learn about auxiliary verbs and even study the mood and voice of verbs. The children also discover that our irregular verbs have a historical origin. In fact, many of the seeming inconsistencies of our language have a fascinating historical story!

For that reason, whenever possible in elementary, we link grammar to history. The word grammar, for example, comes from the ancient Greek term grammatike tekhne, which means “art of letters.”

As we embark on “the art of letters,” our elementary children dive into several disciplines, including morphology (the structure of words), syntax (the arrangement of words), phonology (the pronunciation of words), semantics (the meaning of words), and etymology (the history of words). We distill these disciplines into three main areas: word study, parts of speech, and sentence analysis.

The Grammar Boxes

In next week’s blog, we’ll highlight a deeper exploration of how one material, the beloved Grammar Boxes, connects these key areas of study. In addition to helping children understand how words have a function to perform and how the sequence of words and surrounding words determine the function, the Grammar Boxes also support the study of words and lay the foundation for sentence analysis.

Our grammar lessons and presentations are quite lively and involve a great deal of activity. We’d love to have you schedule a visit to come see this grammar work in action!

8 Tips to Make School or Daycare Drop Off Easier – From a Teacher!

Fri, 20 Sep 2024 18:58:03 GMT

https://themontessoriroom.com/blogs/montessori-tips/8-tips-to-make-school-or-daycare-drop-off-easier-from-a-teacher

With a new school year approaching, we thought it would be helpful to share some school drop-off tips.

Drop off, especially at first, can be a hard transition for everyone – the children, parents, and teachers!

Katie, an RECE and Montessori Toddler teacher, has 10+ years of experience starting a new school year and has welcomed many new children into her classroom.

Here are her 8 tips to make drop off easier:

1. Create a Predictable Drop Off Routine

It's helpful to create a drop off routine with your child. This appeals to their need for order and creates predictability.

For example, you could tell them in advance," I'm going to give you a BIG bear hug and 5 kisses at the door and you're going to go inside with your teacher. I'll be back to pick you up when school is finished." Make it special and just for drop off.

Once you say goodbye, walk away and let the teachers take over. If they are experienced teachers, they've handled these types of new transitions countless times and know what to do.

2. Your Energy is Important

Your energy is important because your child will pick up on how you're feeling. Ideally, you're feeling confident, calm, and optimistic.

Even if you're feeling a little sad, it's best to keep your energy calm until your child is in the classroom. It's wonderful to share your emotions with your child, but expressing them right at the classroom door will likely make the day harder for your child.

3. Talk About It

Young children often understand more than we give them credit for. On the way to drop off, you can talk to your child about school and what to expect.

Follow their lead and avoid pushing the topic but you can talk about the different fun parts about school, i.e. there are so many fun toys to play with, nice children to play with, a friendly teacher, new books and songs, etc.

4. Give Them Something to Look Forward To After School

Young children don't really have a concept of time, so part of your drop off routine may be giving them something to look forward to, like "We can go to the park after school" or" I'll bring your bike when I pick you up and we can go for a bike ride."

These types of comments are also helpful for the teacher to hear because they can create dialogue around it and remind the child throughout the day “Daddy said you're going to the park after school, what do you like to do at the park?”

5. Don't Sneak Away

This is difficult for the child because they will eventually realize you're no longer there and it's very upsetting for them. ALWAYS say goodbye.

6. Don't Visit

Try to avoid walking by the school throughout the day. Seeing you may confuse or upset them when they realize that you're not there to pick them up.

7. Validate Feelings

If your child is sad or having difficult feelings at drop off, it can help to validate those feelings – "I can see that you're sad. I love you so much and I'll see you after school.”

8. Avoid Bribery

Try to avoid bribery unless you're prepared to “reward” them every day. It can become an expectation and add another hurdle to drop off once you've removed the reward.

If Your Child is Still Struggling With Drop Off

if you or your child is still struggling with drop off, Katie made a few more notes here:

https://themontessoriroom/com/montessori-tips/what-to-do-if-your-child-is-struggling-with-school-or-daycare-drop-off

While a new school or daycare can be a difficult adjustment for some children, rest assured they will eventually settle in.

It can help to talk to the teachers about how you're feeling because they might have more tips based on your child.

Keeping the Big Picture in Mind

Mon, 16 Sep 2024 11:00:08 GMT

As parents, we want the best for our children. It hurts when they encounter setbacks or challenges. When they experience frustration or failure, we want to fix things so they don’t suffer.

Lessons Learned

However, physical and even emotional discomfort is a significant part of how we grow and learn. In fact, mistakes and failures have a number of benefits including an increase in self-confidence, creative thinking, problem-solving, and patience.

When children learn that they can overcome obstacles, they build self-confidence and are more willing to challenge themselves in new activities. In addition, when children can experiment and have room for error, they can explore and create new approaches, which leads to flexibility and expansive thinking.

Success requires time and continuous effort. When children aren’t afraid of failure, they understand that progressing isn’t always a straight line. Rather than being afraid and giving up when faced with difficulties, children are more willing to take a circuitous route, try different directions, or experiment with diverse options. This process also helps children develop logical thinking skills and the ability to solve problems confidently.

Home-School Partnership

So that our children can reap these benefits, it helps if we stay in communication about challenges that may arise. Whether social, emotional, academic, or intellectual, it’s inevitable that our children will experience some level of difficulty at some point in their school years. Our hope is that we can work as partners to identify any challenges or areas of discomfort, and also provide the structure, freedom, patience, and confidence to allow kids the opportunity to struggle.

In Montessori, we are well-trained to observe children, balancing both a deep awareness of developmental milestones and the knowledge that individual children have their own pace and trajectory as they develop as young humans. We recognize that some children may need additional support and we also want to make sure we aren’t rushing in too soon to rescue them, which can lead to a decrease in self-confidence and resilience.

A partnership between home and school means that we ask you to trust the process while also staying in dialogue with us about your hopes and fears for your child. Conversely, we commit to communicating what we observe about your child’s progress and areas for growth.

Over the many years of schooling and parenting, we’ve found that an investment in longer-term learning and growth necessitates tolerance for some shorter-term disappointment.

Communication Road Map

Good communication is the heart of positive partnerships! To that end, we offer some tips for cultivating and maintaining this long-term relationship in support of your child(ren). First and foremost, we rely upon timely communication and yet also want to respect everyone’s busy lives. If something comes up, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us to share what is on your mind. We want to better understand what your child is experiencing or any concerns you have.

We also ask that you consider a big-picture perspective. If your child complains about something bad happening, take a deep breath and acknowledge that they might need to let off some steam or just feel some big emotions. Listen without judgment and reflect back on what you hear. Once they are done, you can ask if they want some help solving the problem or communicating with someone at school.

It helps to think about how to set the stage for your child to be their own self-advocate. If they want help, you can offer to brainstorm solutions, draft an email together, or even role-play how to handle the situation differently. Often, though, our children just need to let out their upset or frustration so they can move on with their day. They need us, as parents, to be a safe place to vent.

When or if you do contact the school, please let us know if your child is aware that you are sharing your concerns or observations so we can approach the situation with the utmost respect and care.

It’s also important to remember that as adults, we are constantly modeling for our children. Approaching even challenging circumstances with thoughtfulness, care, and goodwill shows our children how they can tackle tough situations with grace.

Long-Term Goals

When we talk about what we want for our children, we often discover some common themes. We want our children to be adaptable, kind, and hard-working. We want them to be creative and confident in their own abilities. We want them to be self-reliant and independent, while also collaborating with others and learning from those with different perspectives. We want them to live peaceful lives, celebrate present moments, and have a sense of purpose.

While we don’t want to see our children struggle, one of the most important things we can offer them is the chance to confront and work through challenges. We commit to being your partner in this process. Please schedule a visit to the school, observe the classrooms, and connect with us about how we can work together!

Our Montessori Bookshelf: In Honor of Grandparents Day

Sun, 08 Sep 2024 11:00:00 GMT

Grandparents (and “grandfriends”) are such valuable parts of our children’s lives. In honor of Grandparents Day (September 8) and the desire to use the whole month to do “grand” things, we’re sharing our favorite picture books that highlight the value of connection between grandparents and their grandchildren.

We hope your children and their grandparents can perhaps share some time together, or at the very least that your children can read these books with you and reflect upon what they value about their grandparents. Maybe after reading these stories, grandparents and grandchildren can share and create their own stories together!

Berry Song

by Michaela Goade

With mystical illustrations that are also grounded in botanical bounty, this book shares the joy of a child’s connection with her grandmother and weaves it together with the power of sharing traditional ways of honoring the land and its gifts. After responsibly harvesting food together, the child and her grandmother cook and feast and share. And the seasons change and the story continues as the girl takes her little sister’s hand to begin the process again. The extensive author’s notes are also incredibly powerful and worth savoring.

Drawn Together

by Minh Lê, Illustrated by Dan Santat

“Sometimes you don’t need words to find common ground.” This book perfectly illustrates this tagline. The story even starts without words, just images in the comic or graphic novel style of getting dropped off at his grandfather’s house. We see all the ways they don’t connect and yet when the boy decides to pull out some paper and draw, the grandfather gets his sketchbook. A whole new world opens up between them, and the narrator begins to use words to share the experiences of grandfather and grandson. The illustrations both show contrasting generational and cultural experiences and how a shared love for drawing can bridge a divide.

I Love Saturdays y Domingos

by Alma Flor Ada, Illustrated by Elivia Savadier

Two sets of grandparents offer two very different sets of cultural experiences, which are lovingly depicted in this story of how a young girl appreciates her Saturdays and Sundays. With Spanish carefully woven throughout the storyline, especially to show the contrast between Saturdays y Domingos (and Sundays), we encounter the joy and delight of different traditions and daily routines. By the end of the book, the two sides of the family come together for the girls’ birthday and demonstrate the significance of togetherness.

Kiyoshi's Walk

by Mark Karlins, Illustrated by Nicole Wong

In addition to being a lovely portrayal of how a wise, quiet grandfather helps his grandson discover his own answers to his questions, this book is an excellent introduction to haiku. The story begins with Kiyoshi watching his poet grandfather compose a haiku and wondering aloud where poems come from. His question leads grandfather and grandson on a neighborhood exploration full of wonder, connection, new poems, new questions, and ultimately profound insights.

Nana in the City

by Lauren Castillo

A Caldecott Honor book, the story begins with a young boy coming to visit his Nana in the city. He finds the place too loud, busy, and scary, so his Nana promises to show him how wonderful the city can be. While he sleeps, she knits him a red cape for him to wear and feel brave during their excursion throughout the city. With a newfound perspective, he is able to see the extraordinary and why his Nana wants to be there (and how he can look forward to visiting again!).

The Ocean Calls: A Haenyeo Mermaid Story

by Tina M. Cho, Illustrated by Jess X. Snow

With a stunning use of color, The Ocean Calls reminds us of the power of patience and how traditions are passed from one generation to the next. Dayeon longs to be a treasure-hunting mermaid like her grandma, yet also holds deep fear from a previous experience in the ocean. Her “what if” questions are calmed by her grandmother’s calm presence and reminder about haenyeo tradition. Although subtle, the book also visually shares the power of a community of women serving as support.

Time for Bed, Old House

by Janet Costa Bates, Illustrated by AG Ford

It can be a treat to sleepover at a grandparent’s house, but it can also be scary, too. So Isaac’s grandfather takes a different approach, leading Isaac on a tour through the house to “put it to bed.” They move slowly and quietly. They dim the lights. They draw the blinds. And they check on all the sounds. The cozy illustrations make you feel right at home and some include a perspective that makes it feel like you are in the room, too. The best part is how the story shows the arc of how Isaac takes ownership of the process and as a result, feels safe and secure.

The Truth About Grandparents

by Elina Ellis

If you are your children are in the mood for some fun-loving frolic, this book is just what you need! The child narrator introduces their “really old” grandparents (plus their “wrinkly faces” and “funny teeth”). While the words on the page state one thing that the narrator has heard about old people, the illustrations show the child’s experience sharing adventures and all sorts of fun with their grandparents. Full of zest and joy, this book can’t help but bring out some smiles (and maybe even some ideas of fun things to do together!).

When Lola Visits

by Michelle Sterling, Illustrated by Aaron Asis

With simple illustrations, the story focuses on the scents of summer, including all the smells and experiences that are part of a grandmother’s summer stay. The repeating refrain of “summer smells like” weaves together a whimsical, wispy nostalgia, while also showing how different traditions “like kalamansi pie and fireworks on the Fourth of July” can come together in powerful ways for young children. The book also brings together the contrasting feelings that can arise when the beauty of summer ends and the promise of a new school year begins.

Where Are You From?

by Yamile Saied Méndez, Illustrated by Jamie Kim

This is a perfect book for when children feel stumped by the question, “Where are you from?” The main character asks her Abuelo. What he shares is both beautiful and inspiring, reminding his granddaughter, and perhaps all of us, of the places and ancestors who are so much a part of who we are. But this expansive answer doesn’t satisfy his granddaughter who wants to know where she is really from. His answer captures the essence of who she is and where she is from and establishes the power of personal love and ancestral connection.

We hope you enjoy these books as much as we have! Here is a printable copy of the list of books . We also love to have grandparents and grandfriends come to the school for grandparents day in November. More information will be sent home in folders next month.

Montessori 101

Mon, 02 Sep 2024 11:00:01 GMT

As the school year gets into swing, we thought it would be helpful to review some key elements of Montessori education and how what we do supports children’s development.

The Montessori method focuses on children’s important process of constructing themselves into the amazing humans they are becoming. Respect for this process of self-construction, along with a prepared environment that supports the development of self-discipline and freedom within limits, forms an entire system wherein children develop independence, creativity, character, awareness of their own learning style, and skills for self-advocacy.

The Prepared Environment

Dr. Maria Montessori pioneered this understanding of the effect of the environment on human development. In Montessori prepared environments, children benefit from carefully designed spaces that meet their developmental needs at each stage of their lives. The materials in the classrooms offer young people keys to their development. In addition to the beautiful physical environments in Montessori, the prepared environment includes a community of children and trained adults.

Individualized Instruction

We focus on the fact that learning starts with the child. Montessori guides observe children’s interests and abilities and use those observations to create an environment in which children can really flourish. This requires a comprehensive knowledge of child development, keen observation skills, and awareness of how to adjust according to where individual children are in their process of learning and growth.

The Montessori Guide

The Montessori guide needs comprehensive training and a new way of thinking to focus on individualized instruction. An integral part of the Montessori approach is that the guide must respect each child’s process of self-construction and provide opportunities to help children develop their potential. An extended relationship over time in a multi-age classroom enhances the guide’s ability to be effective in this role.

Multi-Age Groupings

While every child works at their own level, younger children learn through the observation of older children and older children reinforce their own learning by helping younger children. Older children also have opportunities to develop leadership skills while serving as role models. Our communities emphasize and encourage cooperation and social responsibility. As children develop social and academic relationships with others of various ages, a strong community develops. The multi-age group allows for natural socialization far beyond what is found in homogenous age grouping.

The Toddler Community

Our youngest children are working toward a number of goals of self-sufficiency. In order to learn to make sense of the world, toddlers need permission to explore, clear and logical limits, natural and logical consequences, positive role modeling, opportunities to make choices, and consistent procedures and ground rules. During this critical developmental time, children are able to extend their concentration through independent choices, purposeful activities, opportunities for repetition, and time for completion. They also benefit from exposure to grace and courtesy, group experiences, and positive attitudes toward new things. The learning materials in the Toddler Community include extensive language exposure, practical life activities, sensorial exploration, and gross and fine motor development.

The Children’s House or Primary

Designed for children two and a half to six years old, our primary program nurtures children’s individual development while offering them an experiential understanding of the value of interdependence. The classroom community also provides a carefully curated array of choices for individual activities that aid children’s work of self-construction.

The Montessori guide helps children develop their ability to choose freely, sustain focused and concentrated attention, think clearly and constructively, resolve conflicts peacefully, and express themselves through language and the arts. Through the active development of their will and the satisfaction of their authentic needs, children develop self-discipline and become connected in a socially cohesive way.

Areas of activity at the Children’s House level include practical life, sensorial organization, language, mathematics, and cultural subjects. The extensive sets of Montessori materials in each of these areas are designed to appeal to children's deep interest and inspire repeated activity. Because children of this age absorb so much effortlessly, they can take in vast amounts of information and grasp sophisticated relationships and principles wholly and effortlessly.

The Elementary Program

The Montessori philosophy continues in elementary and provides an unparalleled opportunity for growth in this new period of life. Children of this age have immense powers of imagination and creativity and are trying to understand themselves as social beings. The elementary environment provides an appropriate balance of freedom and responsibility and an expansive curriculum to support children’s curiosity and problem-solving so as to prepare them for the challenges of the future. The elementary program encourages a mature sense of justice and fairness, reinforces oral and written communication, provides cyclical experiences in all academic content and skills, and fosters the development of imagination and creativity.

The curriculum expands the sense of order that was nourished in the early childhood environment to study the order of the universe. Life is interrelated. Lessons dovetail between such subjects as geology, botany, history, language, math, and geometry. One of the goals of the program is to inspire children to explore ideas and interconnections, while also developing an understanding of their individual learning styles, needs, and goals. The Montessori interdisciplinary approach to elementary education supports children as they view the world, and even the universe, with a continued and intense sense of wonder.

A Strong Foundation

Our mission is to prepare children for life. All children are naturally curious and love to learn. We support this innate drive by providing environments that meet children’s developmental needs, creating a staff of loving and well-prepared adults, and building a community of families that actively support this mission. We celebrate each child’s individuality and help them discover how they can best contribute to our world and culture. This unique model offers children an incredible gift of independent thinking, self-assurance, inner discipline, and a love of learning.

Join us for the free parent workshop, “Montessori 101” on September 27, 4-6pm. To register click here .

Back to School in Five Steps

Mon, 26 Aug 2024 11:00:04 GMT

We hope you are enjoying this last stretch of summer! As the school year approaches, we wanted to suggest some ways you can help your child (and yourself!) prepare for the transition back to school.

Encourage Mealtime Independence

Food preparation and meals are important parts of our daily lives. At school, children will be involved with preparing food, setting the tables, pouring water to drink, and cleaning up after themselves.

So we recommend practicing this at home! Children can be part of preparing the table and then clearing the dirty dishes after the meal. We recommend having a clear routine for cleaning up, which can include putting dirty dishes in the sink, dishwasher, or a dish tub after eating. We also encourage the use of regular cups and glasses for meals and snacks, saving a water bottle for when in the car or on walks. Younger children can be encouraged to use silverware to feed themselves. By eating family style meals sitting at the table together, you can also model and practice good table manners.

Older children can be involved with setting the menu for meals and even helping with grocery shopping. They can start to map out what they want to pack for lunch and be part of the process of getting their food ready in containers and everything into their lunch box. This also helps children have ownership and buy-in about what they are eating.

We also recommend that your child have food containers that are easy to open and close. Going to the store and having your child try opening different kinds of containers is a great way to find some that work well!

Think About What to Wear

Because younger children are becoming independent with their dressing and undressing, it helps for them to practice these skills at home. Even young toddlers are capable of doing quite a lot of taking off and putting on different items, and they love to do things for themselves. We recommend giving your child the time and encouragement to do things for themselves, including taking shoes off, pulling pants up, unzipping jackets, and so on. Choosing clothing and shoes that are easy for your child to put on and take off is a big help for the transition to school.

Older children can gather their belongings to make sure they have everything ready for the first day of school (and every subsequent day!). They can check the weather to determine appropriate outerwear and shoes, practice setting out their clothes the night before, and prep items needed for after-school activities.

Prepare a Goodbye Routine

To be ready for the first days of school, we recommend preparing your child (and yourself) for what drop-off will look and feel like. It can be helpful to drive by the school and casually notice with your child(ren) where drop-off will happen, that you will pull the car up to the drop off circle and your child will get out with a teacher while you stay in the car and wave goodbye. As adults, the more clear we are about the routine, the more secure our children will feel.

Short and sweet transitions are key. The longer we linger the harder it is for our children to recalibrate and settle into the classroom. To that end, figure out your goodbye process ahead of time. Perhaps it is one hug and two kisses, plus a wave goodbye. Whatever you decide, stick with it. Our children are hard-wired to test our limits and they will want to figure out if they can negotiate two hugs and a wave goodbye then more hugs. However, if that negotiation is successful, they actually feel less secure because then they can’t rely upon a predetermined plan.

To help ensure the goodbye plan is a success, practice! While at home and when everyone is in a great mood, suggest a game of pretending you are doing drop-off at school. Remember (or create) the goodbye routine and then act it out together! Take turns being the adult and the child (children love getting to be the adult). Playacting is a fun way to work through what can be a stressful few moments.

By establishing clear and firm routines, we help our children develop trust and confidence. If we feel hesitant or unsure, our children absorb those feelings. So we want to exude assuredness!

Adjust Schedules

If our children have been staying up later during the long days of summer, it helps to gradually shift bedtimes and establish a consistent routine. Rushed and tired mornings tend to be more difficult, so putting some additional effort into getting enough sleep and having plenty of time in the morning can really help the transition back to school.

Although earlier mornings can be tough, children do so much better when they can get to school with enough time to settle in. We recommend trying to come on the early side of the arrival window so that children aren’t overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of last-minute or late arrivals. Coming late can also mean that they miss out on some of the benefits of the Montessori work cycle.

We recommend a gradual transition to the school year schedule. If children have been going to bed later, start easing into a bedtime that is earlier by using 15-minute increments over a series of days. Easing into the new schedule is more helpful than just hoping for the best on the first day of school.

Check-In

We all tend to feel more secure when we feel prepared. To that end, we recommend reviewing the handbook and pickup and drop off procedures , checking supply lists, labeling your child’s items, and asking us any clarifying questions! It can also be nice to reach out with a friendly email to your child’s guide(s) to touch base about the best way to communicate with each other.

As always, please let us know if you need anything or have any questions. If you are curious to see more about how we help children transition into Montessori, schedule a visit!

A Healthy Relationship with Work

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 11:00:04 GMT

As adults, our relationship with work is rather complicated. We pay others who have more expertise, more time, or more willingness to do work that we don’t know or want to do. We invent machines to work for us. We often aim for expediency and efficiency. We value our non-working time, like vacations, personal time, and leisure. We think about retiring early. Recently in history, there has also been a notion that we should find work that is the most fulfilling, makes use of our gifts, and follows through on our passions.

The Value of Work

However, the truth is that we, as humans, need to work to thrive. Often we find a sense of purpose, meaning, and connection through work. Those who have retired know how it feels to drop out of the social organization of productive human activity and perhaps wonder about contributing to the community, group, or society.

We establish our identity through work and, in the process, contribute to a complex web of interdependent activities we share with others. We provide service to others, and this gives us a sense of belonging. What we do to accomplish our purpose in life is our work.

“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.” – Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence

Purposeful Work

Appreciating the varied types of work we do in our lives to care for ourselves, to care for others, and to care for our environment, is not something we are particularly practiced at doing in our culture. Yet in Montessori, we prioritize these three pillars: care of self, care of others, and care of our surroundings. We recognize that children gain deep satisfaction through work that has purpose. They want to feel and be useful!

Work that is purposeful or meaningful comes from an internal drive, while also being connected to the environment and to others, which leads to a sense of responsibility. For our youngest children, this can be as simple as noticing that laundry needs to be folded or that snack needs to be prepared and then wanting to play a role in getting that work done. Older children may feel compelled to share their research or discoveries with classmates.

Adult Work vs. Children’s Work

In her observations of children, Dr. Maria Montessori began to see how the work of adults differs from the work of children. While adults work to minimize effort and make our external environment better meet our needs, children use their environment to develop their internal capacities. Because children’s work is their own development and self-construction, their work doesn’t follow the same patterns, look the same, or have the same outward manifestations as adult work.

More often than not, adults do not recognize children’s work for what it is, which can result in a kind of conflict between adults and children. Often adults try to keep children away from any adult work because children can seem to get in the way.

According to Dr. Montessori, this is primarily due to the complexities created by modern life. There was a time in human history when children’s need to self-construct through their own activities was more naturally and easily met by just being around as adults worked to secure food, build shelters, or make tools. This work was more immediate, concrete, and apparent. Children could observe, explore, imitate, and little by little participate in adult work.

But the work of modern humans is more complex and abstract, making adults’ work more inaccessible to children and thus making the presence of children often an interruption, distraction, or nuisance. As a result, children are often separated from the everyday work of adult life.

The Importance of Self-Construction

By nature, children are compelled to do work that ensures their own development. Children’s work is the work of self-construction. Often this work even feels like play!

In Montessori, we recognize the fact that children are forming who they will become as adults. Thus to fully support children’s work of self-construction, we offer children purposeful activities so they can learn how to contribute meaningfully to their communities. Our youngest children slice fruits and vegetables that are served for snack. They arrange flowers to make the classroom more beautiful. They sweep the floor and wipe the tables. As children get older they take on more responsibilities, from taking care of dishes to answering the phone, to running class meetings to organizing trips.

Beyond caring for themselves, each other, and the environment, we also help children develop a healthy relationship with intellectual challenges. Because the purpose is self-construction, rather than external rewards, children love to lean into learning. They see mistakes as opportunities for growth. They want to gain mastery. They delight in self-improvement.

Montessori children grow into adults who understand the value of work in its many forms. To see how this happens, come visit our school! We love to share what we do.

Why Try? The Impact of Screen Time

Mon, 05 Aug 2024 11:00:02 GMT

Let’s face it. Parenting is hard. And frankly, things seem so much easier when our children are occupied with an iPad, phone, or similar device. Plus, they need skills for the digital world. And that’s how kids connect today, right?

So much pulls us toward more tech time for our children. But is this really what is best for their development? A study from August 2023 found that screen time for one-year-olds leads to developmental delays in communication and problem-solving when the children are aged two and four.

The impact continues as our children get older. Jonathan Haidt explains the high costs of a phone-based childhood in his book The Anxious Generation—How The Great Rewiring Of Childhood Is Causing An Epidemic Of Mental Illness. The first section of the book outlines the decline in teen mental health and well-being since the smartphone took over our lives. Haidt argues that this new technology, along with parental overprotection, has shifted our children’s lives from play-based experiences to an unprecedented state of fragmentation, disconnection, and even deprivation.

It’s interesting to hear children’s thoughts on this topic, too. When asked, kids are pretty self-aware of the impact screen time has on their lives. They speak about how they can be disconnected from others when they are on their devices and how getting outside actually helps them feel better. Young people also recognize that screen time can lead to crankiness, headaches, and even not-great sleep. They can identify “video game brain” and how hard it is to come out of that state. Young people are self-aware enough to notice how it’s easy to fall into an expectation that screen time will soothe a bad day but that in reality, it doesn’t and how taking a walk would be so much better.

Families whose children participated in Screen-Free Week from May 6 to 12 shared some lovely results. During that week, their children were kinder, better able to regulate their emotions, and more present in what they were doing. Children reported reading more, spending more time with their family, and reveling in being outside.

So what do we do? Our lives are so intertwined with technology that breaking already established habits can seem insurmountable.

One first step is to be open with our children. For younger children, this can be as simple as setting limits and stating that things will be changing. Our little ones rely upon us to set the routine. They will test us, of course, because they need to know if we are going to hold true to a limit. But the process is pretty straightforward: decide to limit screen time and stick with the plan.

Our older children will appreciate some genuine conversation, which means also listening to their thoughts and concerns. When they feel heard and their opinions valued, young people can be pretty open to hearing adults’ perspectives. Through thoughtful conversation, we can explore options for reducing screen time. The next step is to try it out. Treat the process as a collaborative experiment, with the intent to come back together and discuss what worked and what was challenging.

If moving toward less screen time seems daunting, also remember that we can call upon our community! Make a commitment with other families and find ways to support each other. Publicly state your intent and goals. Share successes and challenges. Plan screen-free playdates and organize experience-based outings.

Our children deserve the best we can offer them during these crucial developmental periods of early childhood and adolescence. Yes, giving them an iPad or phone, letting them watch videos, or giving in to another online game can give us a little respite, but are these choices really serving our children well?

For additional support and resources, visit:

The Anxious Generation

Screen-Free Week

Screen Time Action Network

Please also feel free to contact us . At our school, we prioritize a play-based childhood and are happy to share more about what we do!

A Healthy Relationship with Feedback

Mon, 29 Jul 2024 11:00:02 GMT

In Montessori, we want children to embrace mistakes as opportunities to understand how to improve. Our goal is for children to understand that feedback is important for knowing what still needs to be done and what still can be learned.

What does feedback look like in Montessori classrooms?

We take care to cultivate a culture of feedback. Even at the early childhood level, we start this approach with a gentle noticing that allows children to begin to develop some self-assessment.

For example, when we see that someone has left their chair out, rather than reminding and instructing by saying something like, “Push in your chair,” we offer an observation, “I see that your chair is out.” By making a neutral observation, we provide children with the chance to notice and make a choice. They can make their own realization: “Oh, I forgot to push my chair in!” As a result, children can have agency in the process.

In social situations, we can use similar reflections. When someone is unkind to a peer, we might say, “It looks like your friend/sibling/classmate is feeling hurt.” We can also wonder aloud: “I wonder what would help them feel better. Should we check?” Or “Would you like some help checking in with them?”

Ultimately, children want to do the right thing. But when we overinstruct or always dictate what should happen, we deprive children of the opportunity to develop their own inner drive to make the right choice and follow through with action.

How does Montessori support self-assessment?

Many of the Montessori learning materials are “self-correcting” or have a built-in “control of error,” which means children can tell if they have done an activity inaccurately and try again without an adult needing to intervene. In our primary classrooms, the sensorial materials offer an excellent example of how the materials help children assess their own mistakes. If the largest cube isn’t used at the base of the pink tower, and then the next largest is placed progressively after, the tower won’t be stable. If the last knobbed cylinder doesn’t fit in the last space in the cylinder block, it’s clear that the pieces need to be rearranged.

Because the materials are designed to give feedback, children begin to learn early on that they can recognize, understand, correct, and learn from mistakes. As the materials get more advanced, children are able to use answer keys to check and correct their work. They can use control cards to see if they have used labels or identification markers accurately. Children are able to take control of their own learning and not rely on adult correction or judgment. The result? Children are motivated to try new things and take risks in their learning.

How does this approach work with more advanced academics?

As children get older and need feedback on essays or other work, we are careful about how we frame our responses. We recognize that our responses can significantly impact motivation, self-esteem, and a love of learning. Therefore, rather than emphasizing failure with red marks and X’s, we emphasize areas for growth.

A focus on growth can start with noticing what is right. For example, perhaps an elementary-aged child is working through a series of geometry lessons and has tried to abstractly determine the area of different shapes. By noticing what has been mastered, we are providing feedback about areas of strength: “Wow! You really aced a number of questions about area. You must feel really confident with calculating the area of squares and rectangles!”

Recognizing what is going well sends a message that students’ efforts are valuable and that their hard work toward mastery has an impact. It’s important to note that this is slightly different than praise. Rather, we are highlighting success instead of focusing on failures. It’s a subtle shift but one that makes a huge difference.

In addition, we ensure that any feedback offers room for students to revise and improve their work. Whether children are working on honing an essay or mastering long division, we ensure that they have the chance to incorporate the information, repeat or revise their attempts, and move toward mastery.

In reality, children love checking and discussing their own answers! Their conversations about mistakes, corrections, and revisions are the place where really fruitful learning often happens. Older children typically enjoy debating and discussing wrong answers with each other. In the process, Montessori students begin to understand mistakes as a place to explore and grow, which ultimately strengthens their critical thinking skills.

Why is a healthy approach to feedback beneficial?

The authors of Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well researched feedback and found that learning how to receive feedback effectively is key to healthy relationships and our professional lives. We want our students to develop a healthy and positive relationship with feedback so they understand that feedback is a gift that allows us to become better as people and at what we do.

Montessori children develop confidence and self-sufficiency through work with self-correcting materials, thoughtful space for revision and mastery, and intentional messaging from adults. They learn to appreciate opportunities for critical thinking and problem-solving.

We invite you to come see how children embrace opportunities for growth and mastery. Schedule a tour today! We’d love to hear your feedback!

Cultivating Mindfulness Part 2: Resources

Mon, 22 Jul 2024 11:00:03 GMT

Elizabeth Heller’s mission is to empower children and teens to self-manage emotional and physical wellness with the evidence-based tools of breathwork, body movement, and journaling. Elizabeth recently shared resources for using mindfulness in our families and with our children.

You have shared a lot about mindfulness, movement, and journaling. What resources can you recommend?

First, you are your greatest resource. You know more than you think you do! Using tools to connect with your inner knowledge is the most important resource. You can do this with a simple practice of pausing to notice any body sensation or feeling, without judgment and taking three to five breaths. Even one breath makes a difference.

Noticing is really about listening and paying attention. Researchers (and anyone who uses it) know that social media is a practice of distraction and disconnection. I believe children need to find their inner creativity and imagination long before they are bombarded with images of other people’s ideas and truths. We can learn to count, know colors, and learn the seasons and the alphabet without screen time.

I suggest trying different family activities like:

exploring the library by making a ‘treasure hunt’ for information on whales, or basketball, or the moon
teaching kids to read paper maps and then drive places without the GPS (the destination could be a place for a picnic, mini-golf, or a museum)
walking outside often and inside when the weather is uncooperative
breathing together before a meal or on the way to school
doing a one-word check-in before transitions or after to notice and share what you are feeling in the moment,
and, of course, reading with your kids or as a family.

It’s really about mindful attention, connection, and limiting distractions in order to enhance the connection to the self, others, and the world.

Having a journaling practice also helps, so using the Kids Super Journal or Teen Super Journal is an effective and fun way for kids and caregivers to practice mindfulness in minutes a day in their own creative way. Any guide that encourages self-exploration with pen and paper is a great way to explore who we are day-to-day because we are always changing.

Tell us more about the Super Journals.

The Kids Super Journal and Teen Super Journal are 70-day activity books that empower kids and teens to self-manage their emotional and physical wellness with the evidence-based tools of breathing, moving, and journaling. Each of the seven chapters has a “Mindfulness Menu” with fun and simple breath practices and body shapes for that chapter. Each chapter has 10 journal days based on a theme like Building Strength, Feelings Are Like the Weather, Love, and Gratitude.

Each journal day includes a breath and movement option, a feelings report and body sensation check-in, a fun journal prompt, and a positive activity. The journals are designed to help kids and teens create a mindfulness habit in just a few minutes a day. And with tools kids can use immediately and for a lifetime.

Breathing, moving, and journaling require no special training or equipment and are effective right out of the box. Kids and teens can use the books on their own with no special training or adult help necessary. That makes them a wonderful tool for home use and use in schools and mental health organizations and they are being used more and more in all those settings.

I have heard from dozens of adults who have used the Kids Super Journal for themselves and love it. Men and women. And the most common thing they say when they read about the tools in the Super Journals is ‘Oh, is this mindfulness? I can do this.’ The format works for anyone! Simplicity and consistency are key to creating a wellness habit. The Super Journals help kids and teens (and adults) do that.

Also, it’s important to remember that the key to mindful journaling is to simply write down whatever you notice at that moment. Spelling, grammar, punctuation, and pretty prose do not matter. You don’t even have to answer the prompt if you want to write or draw about something else. There is no right or wrong way to journal and there should also be no pressure to share. Journaling can only be effective if we feel free to express ourselves without anyone else reading or seeing what we journaled.

Are there ways families can have this kind of experience together?

In addition to breathing together and physical activity together, creating a journal jar as a family is also a great practice and as an option for kids to choose on their own.

To create a journal jar, find a big glass jar or jug. As a family, everyone writes down journal questions on slips of paper. It helps to choose a theme and include questions about feelings. Then put the papers in the jar.

Every day at a designated time (like before or after dinner) have kids take turns choosing a question from the jar. Put a timer on for five minutes and everyone (including adults) can journal their response. Drawing counts as journaling so small children can also participate.

Keep the Journal Jar in an accessible place along with markers and paper so kids and teens can use it whenever they want to. You can also read a question aloud and share your thoughts together as a family.

Can you give some examples of how people have implemented these practices?

Older students have shared that they wished they could have learned about mindfulness when they were younger because they thought that would have really helped them have a better high school experience.

I’ve also had some teachers decide to use the Super Journals for themselves. One music teacher said, “It was luxurious to spend those five minutes or so every morning with myself on those pages.”

It’s important to remember that curiosity is everything. If we start with curiosity we can say to our child, “I notice you are running in circles. I’m curious.” Start there. Then the next step is to teach our child to be curious. With this, there is a place to find a response versus a reaction and most importantly learn something in the moment by staying in connection.

We will always be in connection with other humans, so modeling is so important. We are teaching kids how to be connected and participate in the world and how to help other people do the same. This way we are setting up children to have cohesive relationships, which is the foundation of a healthy, joyful life. With breathing, moving, and journaling we are giving kids tools to self-manage their lives – their emotional lives, their physical lives, their social lives – and explore them.

What is so beautiful about humans is who we are inside. That is our uniqueness. The more we understand who that is and how to express it, the more we grow. That is what is beautiful, fun, and interesting as we move through the journey of living!

Cultivating Mindfulness Part 1: A Conversation with Elizabeth Heller

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 11:00:01 GMT

In our busy lives, how do we stay grounded and present for our children? Why is it important that we do so?

We recently explored these questions with Elizabeth Heller, a mindfulness expert, best-selling children's book author, certified yoga and meditation instructor, journalist, podcast host, and mom. She is the author and co-author of eight books for and about children, as well as a contributing author to four parenting books. Her most recent books are Kids Super Journal and Teen Super Journal.

Elizabeth shared her thoughts about how mindfulness can support our parenting, our own lives, and our children’s futures.

Thank you for connecting with us! As we all know, parenting is hard work! How do you see mindfulness helping in our families and with our children?

We do like to say parenting is ‘hard work’ don’t we? And I find it useful to flesh out what we mean when we say ‘hard work.’ What I believe we often mean is that parenting is a daily practice of staying present with children as they grow, make mistakes, ask questions, choose, and explore their world. I am speaking about the difference between responding to children rather than reacting. And doing so with curiosity and connection and non-judgment. It takes attention and purposeful effort (which is the ‘hard work’) to act as a guide and teacher over a disciplinarian. And teaching is what parenting really is all about.

This is where mindfulness comes in. Mindfulness has become a bit of a buzzword, but it just means paying attention to the present moment without judgment. The non-judgment is key. Once we start judging ourselves, our children, or anyone, we are no longer in a mindful state and are more likely to find ourselves reacting impulsively instead of staying present with what is happening, settling our emotions and making a thoughtful choice.

There is so much wonderful science out there about the benefits of breathing, moving, and journaling—like improved emotional regulation and behavior, increased self-esteem and self-confidence, stress and anxiety reduction, boosting immunity and brain function, and increased engagement and meaning in the classroom. And these benefits begin from the first mindful breath, journal entry, or mindful body movement.

What I really love about all of this is how kids and teens light up when they realize there is something they can do to create their own wellness by simply breathing, moving, or journaling. Once they know there are tools they can use to support themselves, they use them. That’s the practical magic of mindfulness.

Where do you suggest families begin?

It’s like that cliché about ‘putting on your oxygen mask before assisting others with theirs.’ Parents and caregivers can first take care of themselves by establishing their own mindfulness practice. I love breathwork, body movement, and journaling as a place to begin. These tools don’t cost money and are universally accessible to adults and kids. If you can breathe (which, of course, we all can), you can reap the benefits of mindfulness.

For example, before you get out of bed in the morning, pause and notice any body sensations you might have. Keep noticing the sensation and breathe slowly in and out of your nose three to five times. That’s the golden ticket: putting on your oxygen mask first. It doesn’t require an hour of time. It can happen in a few breaths. The key is a daily, consistent practice. Consistency matters more than the length of time.

You can help kids–at any age–use this practice too. I have taught mindfulness, breathing, and yoga to kids as young as 14 months old with tremendous success. Introduce this when things are going smoothly. You can say: “I learned this amazing thing and I want us to experiment with it. It’s a way to pause and notice things before we make choices.”

Find something (like the weather or a body sensation you are noticing) and say, “I notice I feel a warmth in my heart. I am happy to have breakfast together. I am going to breathe three times and notice my happy warmth.” Then model the breathing and ask if your child would like to try it.

Don’t force the breathing. Just guide kids to try it out and share what they notice.

Once we establish the practice for ourselves and with our kids, everyone can learn to pause, notice, breathe, and then make a choice. We can use our breath anywhere and anytime during the day as a tool to self-manage emotions. You can try this practice on the way to school, before a meal, or before and after brushing your teeth!

Mindfulness is about more than making the day run smoothly. Caregivers and children are learning to notice who they are and what they need at any moment. We are learning to ask for help, practice healthy and open communication, and establish a process for staying connected to each other and to ourselves no matter what body sensations or feelings are present. Plus, teens are more likely to communicate with caregivers later if they have been practicing these tools early on in their development.

What are some priorities or practices that you uphold for yourself or in your work with children?

Mindfulness is a way of life for me. I had a traumatic and abusive childhood. When I was eight years old, I instinctively picked up a pen and journaled a few sentences about some big feelings that came up for me in a ballet class. It was so empowering to express my feelings and be connected to myself in this way, that I have never stopped journaling. I was also an athlete so I was moving my body all the time and reaping those benefits. And the final piece of my mindfulness puzzle came when I left my martial arts practice due to an ACL tear and started yoga.

The combination of all three—purposeful breathing, body movement, and continued journaling–is for me, a powerful, beautiful way to experience life inside and outside myself. These tools have made me a better communicator because I have the practice of managing my body sensations during challenging conversations. I also absorb the beauty of the moment and share what I notice about others’ beauty. It’s like magic. It’s why I am so dedicated to sharing these practices with families, schools, adults, and kids.

Based on what you know about Montessori principles and practice, how do you see your work with mindfulness and journaling connecting with or supporting what happens in Montessori schools and in Montessori families?

I think about the four “c’s” – curiosity, connection, creativity, and confidence.

We start with curiosity, so our first reaction is curiosity, not anger or yelling. We can notice our feelings: “Oh I feel anger right now. That’s interesting.” We can notice that and be curious. Or we can ask our child, “I’m curious. You were supposed to set the table. What happened?” Our assumption might be they don’t care or they weren’t paying attention, but there might be something else that is important. So it starts with learning to be curious, about the world, about others, and about the self.

Then if you are curious, the next practice is connection. Curiosity can sometimes be unsettling. So kids can learn to connect to themselves first in order to be present and connected to a person, nature, classmates, or to the learning that is happening. If you have a practice of taking a breath, moving your body, and journaling you can stay connected and explore what you need. This can happen with one or two breaths, 5 minutes of journaling, or a quick walk outside. Over time, it becomes almost automatic. Maybe you need to get help, try again, or take a break. In Montessori, children have this gift of being able to meet their needs as they explore learning.

If you have curiosity and stay connected, then you are making space to be creative and try new things. When these three “c’s” are firing, it’s just confidence all over the place.

Children have so much wisdom. Montessori really values learning how to explore the world and yourself in it to learn how to grow and contribute. With mindfulness tools, children can develop the confidence to try new things, make mistakes, learn, and grow. This becomes a powerful, beautiful cycle for being a lifelong explorer in this world. And it all begins with a mindfulness practice for exploring the self.

Our Montessori Bookshelf: For Summer Adventure

Mon, 08 Jul 2024 11:00:06 GMT

Summer should be a time of adventure! Remember back to your own childhood, when summer days seemed to stretch on endlessly? Now, our children are so scheduled that they rarely get to navigate the neighborhood, traverse through the forest, or splash along a stream bank. Yet more and more research shows the importance of unstructured time in nature.

To encourage some summer outdoor adventure, we suggest settling in with your child to explore The Lost Book of Adventure from the notebooks of the Unknown Adventurer. Although this book is ideal for elementary ages and up, younger children can enjoy the illustrations and may even appreciate having adults read some of the snippets and sections scattered throughout the book.

To begin, it’s worth noting that by design this book has a sense of mystery and magic to it. While it’s chock full of practical advice and stories from the field, The Lost Book of Adventure’s origin story is an invitation all on its own.

The compiler and editor of the book, Teddy Keen, was on his own adventure in a remote part of the Amazon when he came upon an abandoned shelter. Upon some investigation, he and his friends uncovered a rusty metal container. Inside the container was a slew of notebooks, journals, and sketchbooks – a compilation of some unknown person’s adventures, wonder, and knowledge from all around the world. According to the story, there was also a letter addressed to two young family members with a reminder: “Be good, be adventurous, and look after your parents.”

After years of restoration, compiling, and editing, The Lost Book of Adventure not only shares this unknown explorer’s beautiful (digitally remastered) artwork but also offers practical tips and invitations to begin your own adventures in your backyard.

Although organized into thematic sections—camping, rafts and rafting, creating shelters, exploration, and general useful knowledge—the book is a kind of journey from cover to cover. It invites exploration of its pages. You want to discover the next illustration, caption, short narrative, or snippet of advice.

However, the book also serves as a kind of reference guide. How do you go to the bathroom in the woods? How can you make a bedsheet hammock? How do you climb a mountain? You can flip to just the content you need.

Woven throughout are little stories – from a sandstorm in the desert to a failed attempt to create a raft – that make the whole book accessible in a sweet and personal way.

The effect is that adventure feels accessible. Yes, some of the anecdotes involve emperor penguins in Antarctica or a bike adventure through Africa. Yet somehow the book balances an allure with just enough concrete tips, tools, and tricks to make it all seem doable.

If you are interested in learning more, visit The Unknown Adventurer website . Above all, though, use this summer to create some little family adventures. If you need some ideas to get you started, we offer the list below (and this printable version ).

See how many of these activities you can do with your child(ren) before the summer months slide by!

Climb a hill or a mountain.
Explore a new hiking trail.
Walk, bike, or skate along a bike path.
Canoe or raft on a local river.
Explore a nature area near your house.
Climb a tree.
Learn how to use a compass and map to find your way.
Learn how to pitch a tent.
Learn how to make a fire.
Cook breakfast outdoors.
Make sandcastles on the beach.
Make mud pies.
Search for invertebrates in seaside rock pools or woodland streams.
Build a fort or lean-to in the woods.
Spend some hours making dams and bridges on little streams.
Try catching frogs.
Try catching fireflies in a jar.
Learn how to identify some constellations.
Find the North Star.
Learn where north, south, east, and west are in relation to your home.
Watch the Perseid meteor shower (which peaks August 11-12).
Build a birdhouse.
Ask someone to teach you how to whittle a piece of wood.
Name local birds in your neighborhood (use binoculars, bird songs, etc).
Learn the names of the trees on your property or in your area.
Collect something and make a little museum (e.g. shells, rocks, feathers, etc).
Keep a nature journal.
Dig for worms.
Go fishing.
Go for a night hike with a flashlight.
Pick fresh berries and bake a pie.

Imagination, Creativity, and Fantasy: A Montessori Perspective

Mon, 01 Jul 2024 11:00:08 GMT

So what’s the deal with Montessori and fantasy? Does Montessori encourage creativity? What about imagination? Don’t children love make-believe?

A lot of the questions we hear like this often emerge due to some misconceptions about the relationship between Montessori philosophy and concepts of fantasy, imagination, and creativity.

What is imagination?

Imagination allows us to visualize things that aren’t present or haven’t been experienced directly. We use our imagination to be creative, solve problems, generate ideas, and explore possibilities. Our imagination allows us to take in information and organize it in new and creative ways. Imagination is a central aspect of childhood. As children shift from early childhood into their elementary years, they are able to use their imagination almost like a superpower to explore ideas and concepts throughout time and space.

What is creativity?

Creativity is how we generate new ideas, sometimes in artistic ways. It allows us to come up with original concepts or solutions, often because we are thinking about something in a new or different way. Creativity also helps us transform ideas and approach problems from a unique perspective. It is cultivated over time through exposure to different kinds of sensory input and appropriate freedom and support for creative expression.

What is fantasy?

Fantasy is a diversion from reality. It is the realm of make-believe. We use our imagination to create fantasy because it involves things that are impossible or improbable. But unlike imagination, which can encompass a wide range of ideas, fantasy is focused on the extraordinary and the fantastical. When thinking about or immersed in fantasy, we do not worry much about reality.

One misconception is that Montessori doesn’t allow fantasy. To explore this, we should also recognize that there is self-generated fantasy and imposed fantasy.

Pretend Play vs. Adult-Generated Fantasy

Children love to engage in pretend play, a self-generated form of fantasy. Often, in pretend play, children explore roles they see in real life by pretending to be in those roles. It’s pretend for them, but they are working out what different roles mean. Whether pretending to play school or house or creating a construction scene with excavators, this is young children’s way of processing the world around them.

Where pretend play can become confusing for young children is when they have seen different kinds of fantastical things that seem real, such as Superman jumping off a building or a normal boy turning into Spiderman by being bitten by a spider.

Young children are still distinguishing the line between fantasy and reality. It’s worth noting that even if our young children can repeat back that they know something is real or pretend, a true cognitive understanding of the difference doesn’t fully form until children developmentally shift into their elementary years. This is why we sometimes see children trying to get bitten by a spider so they can become Spiderman, or trying to jump off the top of the stairs so they can fly like Superman.

As adults, we have a tremendous responsibility to allow children to create their own fantasy rather than imposing fantasy on them. For example, superheroes, fairy tales, and fictitious animated characters are adult-created fantasy. When we impose fantasy on our children, even if they like it, we are inadvertently depriving them of the opportunity to develop their own imagination. If children are in awe of adult-created fantasy, their creative expression often becomes more limited because they are trying to recreate something others have imagined.

The Real World is Amazing

From birth to about age six, children effortlessly absorb everything about the world. They are like sponges! This is the time when we want to introduce children to all sorts of exciting information. The options are almost limitless: species of mammals, names of flowers, land and water forms, countries in all the continents, types of clouds, pollinators, geometric solids, types of triangles, and the list goes on.

Children are fascinated by the natural world. They gain so much inspiration from their sensory explorations and interactions in their environment. Neurologically, young children are developing mental order and categorization for all their future understanding. We want to give them real information so that they have a solid foundation for their imagination and creativity to truly soar.

If we introduce children to fantastical, unreal things during the early years of their development, we divert their learning from what is amazing and wondrous about the world. In the process, we also create unnecessary confusion. For children who are still learning to discern the difference, the world of fantasy can be disorienting and even, at times, frightening.

As adults, we understand the difference between reality and fantasy, and there are times when we enjoy the diversion into the world of fantasy. For our youngest children, let’s give them the gift of building their understanding of the truly remarkable world around them. By doing so, we help them lay the foundation for a rich imaginative, and creative life.

Curious to see more about how Montessori inspires creativity and imagination? Schedule a visit to our school . We’d love to connect with you!

What does assessment look like in Montessori?

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 11:00:01 GMT

So often we get asked how Montessori guides assess children’s work and progress without relying on quizzes, tests, or grades. If we remember that Montessori is about learning for life, we can flip this question and ask, how does assessment work when we move outside school walls and step into the world of work? In our work environments, do we have tests and grades? If so, how do they help us grow and improve in what we do?

Interestingly, a 1999 document “An Employer's Guide to Good Practices” from the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration, has a whole chapter on issues and concerns with assessment, including the “limitations of tests in providing a consistently accurate and complete picture of an individual's related qualifications and potential.”

Before we dive into how we can get an accurate and complete picture of skills and potential, let’s first think about traditional forms of assessment and how they are designed to monitor students’ learning.

What do tests, quizzes, and grades really measure?

Rather than a measure of how much students have learned, grades tend to measure how good students are at getting good grades. If we want students to have curiosity and intrinsic motivation to understand, it’s important to first recognize that grades inhibit that process. Rather than concentrating on learning, students’ focus becomes on doing what it takes to get a good grade.

When students are preparing to take a test or quiz, they are trying to anticipate what will be asked. In the process, they are trying to fulfill external expectations. Often after the exam is over, students lose interest in the content because their relationship with the material is about learning certain information to achieve a grade or pass the exam.

It’s important to thus recognize that grades don’t measure students' effort, creativity, grit, compassion, sense of place in society, character, capability, or even intelligence.

Grades do measure students’ ability to memorize and anticipate what will be asked. With that in mind, students do need to show some knowledge and skill when taking an assessment. While we hope that grades measure how well students have mastered central concepts, the very act of administering a test and assigning a grade means that the outcome is based more on how well students take the test rather than how much they actually learn.

What if we designed assessments that provide a more accurate reflection thinking and problem-solving?

So it’s worth thinking about what we actually want to assess. Do we want students to just acquire new content knowledge or be able to apply this knowledge to new or existing situations? Do we want to see if students can produce something that demonstrates their understanding of the content or skill? Do we want to assess their writing ability, speaking skills, creativity, collaborative process, or organization?

If we focus on authentic assessments, we are asking that students apply what they have learned to a new situation, or perhaps we are requiring them to use some judgment to think about what information and skills are relevant and how they can be used. Similar to how adults are “tested” in work or personal life, often authentic assessments are tied to a real-world or complex situation.

In addition, authentic assessments offer students the opportunity to rehearse, practice, consult resources, and get feedback so as to refine what they are doing. Students can be innovative in this process and as a result, are often extremely self-motivated.

Developing Body Awareness

Mon, 17 Jun 2024 11:00:00 GMT

We know that our youngest children are sensory-motor learners. They are learning constantly through their movement and sensory input. Think about babies and how fascinated they are with their own hands and feet – moving, touching, looking at them with wonder and delight. This experience gives them feedback about their body, so they can identify what makes up themselves and what is external in the world.

What is Body Schema?

Body schema is the internal awareness we have of our body and the relationship of our body parts with one another. It’s essentially a perception of where our body ends and the external environment begins.

Our senses and movements are key to this awareness. When newborns feel the sensations of clothes on their bodies or when something touches their skin, these experiences give an awareness of body boundaries.

Why is the Development of Body Schema Important?

The development of body schema helps build the idea of the essence of ourselves. To have a positive idea of who we are and what our essence is, we need to have positive experiences both physically and psychologically. When children get feedback from their environment, they develop their ideas of their body scheme and ultimately their self-image.

A healthy development of body schema and self-image leads to the unity of mind and body. When our children start any kind of movement, they need the coordination of their mind and body. And to achieve more deliberate and precise movements, they need clear awareness of all of their body parts.

How Does Body Schema Develop?

Body schema is developed through sensory experiences and movement and this begins in utero! By 12 weeks unborn babies can feel the amniotic fluid, umbilical cord, and their hands in their mouth. After birth, newborns’ body schema develops more intensely through ways that we feed, handle, hold, bathe, change, and massage them.

In their first year of life, children experience dramatic changes to their body schema as they move from lying down, slithering, crawling, standing, and then walking. We thus want to offer our infants lots of opportunities to freely explore so their body schema can adjust through new accomplishments.

As children move into toddlerhood, early childhood, and middle childhood, their body schema continues to develop, but much less rapidly. However, once our children reach adolescence, they experience dramatic body changes which lead to the development of a new body scheme. For this reason, adolescents benefit from various forms of exercise and physical expression so they can develop better awareness and control of their bodies.

How Can We Help?

We want to give children activities that encourage them to use their maximum effort. This begins with the motivation to slither and crawl, then progresses to carrying items while walking upright, pushing wagons, jumping, and so much more! When our little ones use their whole body in effortful ways, they are fully present and aware of their bodies and their movements.

We can also help by using correct language for body parts. When we are giving our babies and toddlers a bath, or supporting them with getting dressed, we can playfully and positively name each body part: I’m washing behind your knee. Push your heel down into your shoe. I’m pulling the sleeve over your elbow. As children grow older we can play games of imitation where they can mimic others’ body positions. Children love games like Simon Says which provide a playful way to hone in on body awareness. Obstacle courses are great for older children.

What Should We Avoid?

Children need so many opportunities for movement! However, we rely so much on car seats and other containers that we can inadvertently hinder our babies’ development of body schema by limiting their ability to move freely. We can take them out whenever possible and let them be on a blanket on the floor.

It’s also helpful to ensure children have clothing that promotes movement and allows children to use their hands and feet. In our worry about newborns scratching themselves, we cover their hands at a time when they most need to explore this amazing part of their body and develop an awareness of how their hands and fingers move in the space around them.

When babies have prolonged use of pacifiers, they can also begin to feel like the pacifier is part of their body, which leads to great upset when the pacifier isn’t available!

The key is to remember that children need sensory feedback to develop a healthy sense of where their body is in space and how they can move their various body parts in coordinated ways. This leads to a mind-body connection that builds a healthy self-image.

What is the Result?

When children have these formative sensory-motor experiences with their bodies, they develop a strong trust in the world and themselves. The self-confidence that emerges leads to a healthy integration of mind and body and an accurate and positive perception of body scheme and self-image. Ultimately this leads to a positive attitude towards life!

Looking Deeper: Understanding Needs Behind Behaviors

Mon, 10 Jun 2024 11:00:03 GMT

Now that we are transitioning into the summer months, it’s a good time to take stock of some family dynamics. Usually when thinking about how things are going, we focus on children’s behaviors. Yet reflecting upon ourselves and our actions can also be a helpful first step.

First Look at Needs

Psychiatrist Rudolf Dreikurs has explored how human behavior has a purpose. Sometimes we are aware of the purpose and sometimes it is unconscious. Through his work with children, Dreikurs described how to understand behavior by first acknowledging the needs a person is trying to fulfill.

At the most basic level, we all need food, sleep, love, and protection. Certainly, if children (or adults) are starting to act out in some way, the first question to ask is if they are hungry, tired, or not feeling well. Once those basic needs are met, we can consider what else might be at play.

As humans, our need for belonging, connection, or significance is a strong force. If we don’t feel loved or accepted, we may do something (often unconsciously) to get affection or attention, maybe lash out to get even with whoever doesn't seem to be noticing these needs, or perhaps even retreat into a discouraged mode.

Understand Mistaken Goals

Dreikurs identified how many behaviors stem from four mistaken goals: the desire for attention, the need for power, the hunger for revenge, and the assumption of inadequacy. If our goal is attention, the coded message behind the behavior is "notice me" or "involve me usefully" If we need power, our behavior sends the message that we need meaningful ways to contribute. If we are trying to get revenge, we are communicating that we are hurting or need our feelings validated. And when we assume inadequacy by giving up or wanting to be left alone, the message behind the behavior is that we need people to believe in us and show small steps toward success.

Although Dreikurs focused on children, the principles apply to us all. When we "act out," what are we trying to communicate to those around us? First and foremost, we should check and see if our basic needs are being met. Are we taking time to breathe? Are we eating nourishing food? Are we getting substantial sleep? If we are taking care of our basic needs, we can reflect upon what else might unconsciously be motivating our actions. Do we need someone to notice our efforts? Do we feel powerful in our lives? Are we doing work that matters? Are we holding onto a grudge? Are we discouraged?

Practice Self-Acceptance

Children need the adults in their lives to peer behind their behavior, consider underlying causes, and provide empowering support. As adults, however, we often need to do this for ourselves first. At the heart of the process is self-acceptance. We need to love ourselves unconditionally and give ourselves the time and space to attend to our unconscious motivations.

One of the first acts of loving kindness we can do is take care of ourselves, notice our own needs, and patiently honor our efforts. When we are clear about our own needs, we can then be more effective in interpreting our children’s unmet or unspoken needs.

Examine the Clues

Once we have given ourselves some grace, we can better pause and notice what might be behind our children’s behavior. If we’ve considered our own unmet needs, we can have more empathy for what might be unconsciously motivating our children.

A key to this is to see what emotions we feel when our children act out in some way. The Positive Discipline approach, which is based on Dreikurs’ work, offers a helpful tool called the Mistaken Goal Chart .

When our children display some sort of bothersome or upsetting behavior, we can use this chart to hone in on three significant clues that let us know what our children actually need.

The first clue can be found in recognizing what emotions our children’s behavior brings up for us. Do we feel annoyed and irritated, angry and challenged, hurt and disappointed, or hopeless and inadequate?

The next clue is how we react to the behavior. Do we coax? Give in? Fight back? Retaliate? Give up? Try to over-help?

The third clue is how our children respond to our reactions. Do they stop temporarily but then resume the behavior? Does the behavior intensify? Is there retaliation? Or just passivity?

Peel Back the Layers

By using the Mistaken Goal Chart, we can begin to peel back the layers and start to understand what beliefs may be underlying children’s behaviors. This process helps us also look at how we may be contributing to the behavior and what the coded messages mean. Once we understand all of those pieces we can shift our responses so as to better empower our children in proactive and helpful ways.

Rather than falling into unconscious patterns this summer, let’s first consider and acknowledge our own unspoken needs and proactive ways to take care of ourselves. Then, let’s take the same compassionate approach with our children. Often, we all just need to feel a sense of belonging, connection, and significance. Here’s to creating that together this summer!

Our Montessori Bookshelf: The Parent Corner

Mon, 03 Jun 2024 11:00:01 GMT

This summer is a great time to carve out a little adult time and disappear into some good books! While we certainly advocate for some mindless escape, we also recognize that all the extra time with family might mean you’d like some parenting resources, too!

With that in mind, we’re sharing a few of our recent favorite resources for parents and caregivers. While these aren’t specifically Montessori books, they are so aligned with what we do that we just had to share!

Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us About the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans

by Michaeleen Doucleff

While in the midst of parenting a feisty toddler, NPR correspondent, Michaeleen Doucleff was covering medical stories in remote areas of the world. An exhausted and slightly strung-out new mom, Doucleff noticed distinct differences in the parenting practices of cultures she visited and those she was trying to uphold in her home in San Francisco. So she shifted gears and immersed herself, with her two-year-old in tow, in three cultures — the Maya, the Hadzabe, and the Inuit, all of which excel in instilling confidence, kindness, and helpfulness in their children.

What Doucleff experienced and learned as she lived with families in these three cultures is quite simply profound. She saw firsthand how her host families interacted differently with her daughter, Rosy, who blossomed as a result. As Doucleff began to internalize different parenting practices, she also found that her relationship with Rosy transformed.

It’s worth noting that none of the cultures Doucleff experienced are frozen in time: the families have smartphones, children have plenty of screen time, junk food exists, and the kids still have to get out the door to get to school on time. However, a significant difference that Doucleff found is that the families’ parenting is grounded in thousands (perhaps tens of thousands) of years of tradition that support the gentle and kind growth of helpful, self-sufficient little humans.

One of the most endearing parts of the book is Doucleff’s vulnerability in sharing her parenting challenges. So often we want to keep those parenting fails tucked away within the confines of our home, and feel mortified when they rear their heads in the drop-off line or at a play date. Doucelff shares the messy details with honesty and in the process inspires a whole new level of compassion for what it means to parent in the Western world where we don’t necessarily have easy access to our extended families, a wide social safety net, and long-standing traditions that support our parenting journey.

With an engaging narrative flow, Hunt, Gather, Parent offers a clear organization of four core elements that comprise a common thread of what Doucleff calls a universal (non-Western) approach to parenting. Plus, in each section, she offers practical steps for trying out these different elements, including ways to “dip your toe” into the approach, as well as ways to “jump in.”

While Doucleff wrote the book to explore how to better connect with and support her toddler, the concepts and advice apply for all-aged children (and even work for teens and pre-teens!). The results are stunning. Even just dipping your toe into a few strategies is transformative.

If there is one book to make sure you read this summer, this is it!

13 Things Mentally Strong Parents Don't Do: Raising Self-Assured Children and Training Their Brains for a Life of Happiness, Meaning, and Success

by Amy Morin

So often we want to rescue our children, clear the path for their success, and ensure they are happy. But in the process, are we helping them develop the internal skills they will need throughout life?

After experiencing a series of personal tragedies, Amy Morin, a clinical social worker, psychotherapist, and foster parent, began thinking about what helps people be resilient. Ultimately this led to her book, 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do. As people read her book, she heard time and time again that readers wished they had learned the skills of mental strength and resilience from an early age. So she created this incredibly helpful guide for parents and caregivers.

Each chapter is devoted to what to avoid so that good, healthy habits can be cultivated. The 13 things mentally strong parents don’t do are:

They Don’t Condone a Victim Mentality
They Don’t Parent out of Guilt
They Don’t Make Their Child the Center of the Universe
They Don’t Allow Fear to Dictate Their Choices
They Don’t Give Their Child Power Over Them
They Don’t Expect Perfection
They Don’t Let Their Child Avoid Responsibility
They Don’t Shield Their Child from Pain
They Don’t Feel Responsible for Their Child’s Emotions
They Don’t Prevent Their Child from Making Mistakes
They Don’t Confuse Discipline with Punishment
They Don’t Take Shortcuts to Avoid Discomfort
They Don’t Lose Sight of Their Values

To make it manageable, Morin provides real-life examples and breaks them down to examine any underlying problems and key issues. She also provides a little self-reflective opportunity for readers to take a look at how these issues might come up in our personal and parenting lives, before then examining why we might be falling into some unhelpful patterns.

With a better grasp of what we are doing and why, Morin helps us look at how each approach can affect our children in the long run and what we can do instead. Every chapter is full of concrete techniques and steps, as well as troubleshooting guidelines and common traps. To drive the message home, Morin recaps each of the 13 points with what is and isn’t helpful.

If you need a straightforward, easy-to-digest guide to changing some parenting habits, this is the book for you!

No More Mean Girls: The Secret to Raising Strong, Confident, and Compassionate Girls

By Katie Hurley

Many of the books written to address the “mean girl” dynamic are geared toward pre-teens and teens. However, in her work, child and adolescent psychotherapist, Katie Hurley, observed more and more of this “mean girl” dynamic starting as early as age three. Even though they are in the midst of these interactions, our young girls don’t necessarily have the skills to cope with such sophisticated social challenges.

Recognizing that these difficult topics can also feel overwhelming for parents and caregivers, Hurley breaks down the components of how we can support our young girls in a variety of ways. In addition to digging into the bigger concepts – such as developing healthy friendships, distinguishing between likability and popularity, building an authentic self, having a voice and expressing yourself, and developing leadership skills and social responsibility – Hurley weaves in two key ways to practice concrete support through sections she calls “Parent-Teacher Conference” and “Girls Can!”

The Parent-Teacher Conference boxes offer key points to digest, look for, or try. They are incredibly helpful as touch-points throughout the book and offer an easy-to-access way to flip back and reconnect with essential elements of each chapter. The Girls Can! sections provide games and activities to try with the girls in your life, as well as ways to introduce concepts we might not be used to talking about.

While this is primarily a guide for parents of girls ages three to thirteen, so much also applies to our boys, especially those who are perhaps more sensitive. Incredibly practical and chock full of what to do, this is the type of book in which you’ll thoroughly dog-ear the pages!

An Expansive Experience: Music in Montessori

Mon, 27 May 2024 11:00:01 GMT

In Montessori, music is both interwoven into the curriculum and its own area of study. Like with the other subjects in Montessori, music begins sensorially, isolates difficulty through key lessons, and engages children in spontaneous forms of expression.

Sensorial & Connected Experiences

In our toddler and primary classrooms, we first offer sensorial experiences and impressions related to music. We encourage listening and awareness, perhaps hearing the snap of the snaps of the dressing frame or noticing the delicacy of the sound when placing a glass vase on a tray. The sound cylinders also help children distinguish fine gradations of softness and loudness. In the Silence Game, children become attuned to the many types of sounds around them when they sit quietly and listen.

Children are also able to link music and movement through the rhythm work in walking on the line activities, as well as simple activity rhymes, chants, and a wide repertoire of songs. In fact, we sing with the children every day because singing together is a powerful community builder!

We also offer children opportunities to listen to the music of various cultures. They love the challenge of identifying instruments by the sounds that they make, too.

Keys to Music

We use the bells in our primary programs, and the tone bars in our elementary classrooms, for music literacy (the reading, writing, and playing of music), as well as music theory, including notes, scales, chords, rhythm, melody, harmony, and form.

With the lovely Montessori bells, children begin to discriminate pitch by first playing individual bells, and then pairing and grading according to pitch. Next, they move on to naming the pitches and matching the pitches with their notes. Eventually, children learn the placement of the notes on the musical staff, as well as how scales and melodies can be written with notes on the staff.

In elementary classrooms, the work continues with the tone bars, as children learn about the degrees of the scale, intervals, the sequence of major scales with sharps and flats, key signatures, transposition, and the naming and notation of minor scales.

In Montessori, music is not a separate subject, only to be taught in a separate room by a specialist teacher. We want music to be an integral part of the daily life in the learning environment. As such, the Montessori music program provides keys to music that can be presented by any trained Montessori teacher regardless of musical background.

A Form of Language

Ultimately, music is a language of communication. Because music is a language, we think about music development as we do children’s language development and honor both the “spoken stage” and “written stage.”

Within the spoken stage, we may observe children picking away at bells or tone bars, striking notes without any apparent purpose. We treat this activity with respect as it represents the babbling stage of music.

The children eventually sing and play (on the Montessori’s bells and tone bar materials, as well as other instruments) and later they write and read music. Just like with the moveable alphabet for language, children can use a moveable alphabet for music notation to be able to write their own compositions. At this point, we often see children explode into music performance and notation, just as they explode into writing and reading.

While the bells and tone bars are used for many purposes, including work with music notation, they are first and foremost musical instruments and children love incorporating songs into classroom performances and sharing.

Expansive Program

In our primary and elementary communities, the music program is vast and includes music appreciation and history, singing, movement/dance, rhythm, pitch, intensity, timbre, form, style, listening, instrumental work, music theory, and the science behind the music.

By isolating difficulties and providing various preparation of skills, even our young children come to extemporaneous and spontaneous composition.

Music is part of culture and thus we want to ensure that our children have contact with the world of music. The future musicians among them will connect to their life’s path and their life’s work at an early age! Even those who don’t go on to study music develop an appreciation for and understanding of this important part of human culture.

The Power of Color

Mon, 13 May 2024 12:00:02 GMT

When you look inside a Montessori classroom, you’ll notice the general attractiveness and warm quality of the room. As you peruse the environment, you may also notice the array of colorful materials on the shelves and how they stand out in contrast to some of the neutral feel of the rest of the room.

These colorful learning materials are designed for beauty so that our young children will be drawn to them. However, this isn’t the only reason Montessori materials have distinct colors. The color-coding also helps with organization and structure in the learning environment, and perhaps even more importantly, plays an important role in facilitating children’s cognitive development and learning.

Creating External and Internal Order

In our toddler and primary classrooms, practical life—activities like scrubbing a table, cleaning a window, watering a plant, or creating a flower arrangement—are set up so that all of the objects for a particular activity are arranged by color. This way young children can rely on color cues to know what objects go together and to independently access supplies, like getting a dry apron.

Sensorial materials often use color to help isolate a quality and help children develop their perception. For example, when discriminating dimensions with the pink tower, all of the cubes are the same shade of pink. Color-coding is also used to help children pair two identical sets of materials, like when matching sounds with the sound cylinders.

These forms of color-coding help children with both the order in their surroundings and also in constructing an internal sense of order.

Integrated Throughout

The color-coding gets even more interesting as children move into more academic subjects, like language, mathematics, and even geography.

When our primary children begin to use puzzle maps, they start with the continent map, a two-dimensional representation of Earth, and the continent globe, which shows the planet as a sphere. The puzzle map and the globe show the continents, and each is painted a distant color: North America is orange, South America is pink, Europe is red, Asia is yellow, Africa is green, Oceania is brown, and Antarctica is white. As children begin to learn the physical representation of each continent, they also associate a color with that continent. All other learning materials that involve the continents–such as picture packets, information cards, or booklets–maintain this color scheme.

In the math materials, children learn to associate a quantity with both the number of beads represented and the color of those beads. The beads are the same size but change only by the number on the bead bar and the color. So a ten bar is always constructed of ten gold beads, a nine bar with nine dark blue beads, eight with brown, seven with white, six with light purple, five with light blue, four with yellow, three with pink, two with green, and one with red. This color scheme is consistent throughout all the math materials that use the bead bars, from the simplest lessons in the primary to advanced cubing and cube roots in the elementary and beyond.

Similarly, there is clear and consistent color coding in other materials and concepts, such as with the hierarchy of numbers to designate place value or the role of different parts of speech with the grammar materials.

Strengthening Neural Pathways

While this color coding does continue to help with organization and structure, now the color also helps children with their cognition and memory. Color has long been used as an effective tool in marketing, through brand recognition, consumer attitude, and purchasing decisions.

How the brain processes color impacts our children’s attention, comprehension, and retention. Dr. Maria Montessori may not have had all the current-day studies at her disposal, but she did recognize the power of color in the learning process.

We now know that color connects neural pathways and integrates different forms of intelligence, which allows learners to construct more consolidated meaning and make deeper cognitive connections with content.

When learning the quantity of six, children count the six light purple beads on the bar to determine the quantity of six. At the same time, neurologically they are creating pathways in their brain for quick and easy recall when they see the light purple bead bar so they can immediately think “six” in the future rather than having to count the beads.

Later, when children start to use the bead bars for advanced work with compound multiplication, the distributive law, squaring, cubing, and so much more, the neural connections they have are strengthened by both a clear and concrete understanding of the quantity and the associated color.

Leading to Abstraction

The color-coding in math, language, and other subjects, also helps children move from the very concrete to more abstraction and symbolic representation.

Because they learn to associate nouns with black equilateral triangles and verbs with red circles, as children analyze sentence structure they can begin to parse out the subject and predicate by using those two color-coded shapes and eventually even just the color.

With the understanding that our decimal system place values have associated colors–units are in green, tens are blue, hundreds are red–children can better conceptualize the pattern in the numerical hierarchies because unit thousands are also green, ten thousands are blue, hundred thousands are red, and then unit millions are green, and so on.

This color-coding also helps when we move into operations with larger numbers and quantities. When children move from very tangible representations of a bar of ten beads to represent ten and a square of one hundred beads to represent a hundred, they use small color-coded tiles with just the color and number. Thus children can manipulate a blue tile with 10 printed on it and a red tile with 100 printed on it, and (thanks to the neural pathways established) fully understand what those tiles represent as they add, subtract, multiply, and divide.

A Powerful Aid

The power of color is fully integrated throughout Montessori classrooms and provides an amazing aid to children’s cognitive development. In addition to helping memory and learning, the color brings beauty and appeal to our learning environments while also supporting children’s independence!

Walking on the Line

Mon, 06 May 2024 11:00:01 GMT

Our young children are developing their body control, concentration, and equilibrium. So in Montessori, we intentionally provide opportunities for them to practice these skills.

Dr. Maria Montessori was especially curious about helping children acquire equilibrium. She developed the “walking on the line” exercises after observing children's interest and delight in walking on curbs or along any line they could find.

What is Walking on the Line?

We first start by creating a designated place for children to practice the balance, control, and focus needed to walk along a line. The “line” is often in the shape of an ellipse and can be in the classroom, another indoor space, or even outdoors. The line can be temporary (e.g. chalked on the ground), slightly more enduring (e.g. created with fabric or electrical tape on the floor), or painted onto the surface for a more permanent line.

Walking on the line is a favorite activity and although it is mostly found in primary classrooms, elementary children also enjoy walking on the line challenges, too!

Preliminary Activities

The first activity on the line is simply walking on it with natural steps. That being said, we start with preliminary exercises to help children master small components to ensure success when multiple children are involved.

The first stage is learning how to come to the line. We introduce a signal (e.g. one drumbeat) and show children how to put their toes on the line and face towards the center when they hear that signal. Then we play a short game with the children. We might have them hop inside the line, then use the signal as an indication to come back to the line, or go for a walk and come back to the line, take a step backward and come back to the line, and so forth. All of this is to practice hearing the signal and coming to the line in the designated way.

When children can do this consistently, we may introduce another challenge. This time, with a new signal (perhaps two drumbeats), children learn how to make space so they can spread out on the line without touching their neighbors.

With this mastered, children are ready to learn how to turn to face the same direction. We often need to assist so children learn how facing the same way means looking at the back of their neighbor’s head (rather than at another student’s eyes). This new skill requires a new signal (e.g. rubbing the drum)!

Learning and practicing these various preliminary activities can take a series of days or even weeks. We take our time, rather than rushing the process, as children find delight with each component. Once they know all three signals, children love playing a game that incorporates coming to the line, making space, and turning to face the same direction.

Walking to a Beat

With these foundations in place, we introduce walking to a beat. Children know how to come to the line, space themselves out, and turn to face the same direction. Now they try to walk on the line with each step corresponding to the beat of the drum. When the beat stops, they stop. This is quite a challenge for our little ones, but also great fun.

As always, we make a game of the experience. We may offer little suggestions, or points of interest, to aid in their success. If we notice little feet moving off the line, we can suggest that children “follow the line” if. Or we may challenge them with different kinds of instructions: walk with your whole body, hold your chin up, relax your arms, or keep your body very still.

We also try to model a natural heartbeat rhythm for the children to walk to. When the beat stops, we teach the children to stop and turn to face the inside of the ellipse.

Walking with Changing Rhythms

When children are walking consistently to a beat, we let the children know we may change the beat and they can change their steps to follow the beat. We start with the natural beat, then introduce different modulations, from speeding up, coming back to a natural rhythm, slowing down, to coming back to the original beat. We always end with the natural rhythm, for it brings children back to a place of calm.

Equilibrium Exercises

With equilibrium exercises, we introduce challenges such as walking on the line heel to toe or carrying objects such as beads on a string, a container of water, an object on a tray, or a sphere on a spoon. Sometimes children try to walk carrying a bean bag on their head without the bean bag falling as they walk. As an added challenge, children can try turning their heads to the right and left.

We also introduce ways for children to adjust to a changed center of balance. In a “follow the leader” method, we start by walking with hands at our side, but then change and move them in the air, or on hips, or even hands on shoulders. While these adjustments may seem simple for adults, continuing to walk heel to toe while making these movements can take a lot of concentration and balance for our young ones!

Rhythm Exercises

When children have made good progress with their equilibrium, we can help them turn their attention to walking on the line with music. We may use the bells, tone bars, or prerecorded music, so children can walk on the line when they hear the music and stop when the music stops. We eventually introduce different types of music that inspire different types of movement, from walking to marching to galloping or skipping.

Alternating between the types of music helps children become attuned to how their movements change according to what they hear. We always end with a slow, sedate walk on the line to bring everyone’s heart rate and energy level down.

Movement as Expression

With all of the walking on the line activities, children begin to become more aware of what they can do with their bodies and as a result, develop more conscious control of their movement. Ultimately movement is an essential component of human expression.

Materials Spotlight: The Timeline of Life

Mon, 29 Apr 2024 11:00:01 GMT

Nothing quite captures the imagination of elementary-aged children more than the Timeline of Life. Developmentally our six- to twelve-year-olds can start creating temporal order and timelines are a perfect way for them to visually explore and understand the passage of time.

We share timelines as a key part of the Montessori Cosmic Education curriculum, through which we provide a holistic understanding of the universe, Earth's history, and humanity's place within it. The Timeline of Life is the first in a series of prepared timelines in Montessori elementary classrooms and it provides a series of engaging activities designed to help children grasp the vastness of time, the interdependency of all living things, and how human life is a continuation of much that has come before.

Presentation & Introduction

When we first present the Timeline of Life, we often share it in panoramic form, unrolling the timeline as we tell an overarching story. But one of the gifts of the timeline is that it can be used in multiple ways! We can also focus on one panel of the timeline and explore the pictures from a particular period or epoch, provide information about one specific organism across the timeline (e.g. the development and decline of the trilobites), delve into details about one picture on the timeline, or even just explore the various symbols, terms, and conventions used in the timeline.

Our presentation of the Timeline of Life can be a combination of a historical overview of the progression of life through the ages, an examination of the influence that life has had on the non-living parts of the world, and a corresponding examination of the influence that the non-living parts of the world have had on living organisms.

These presentations provide the children with the opportunity to sequence details of the story of life on Earth while also offering almost unlimited opportunities for more in-depth research throughout their years in the Montessori elementary classroom.

Highlights & Possibilities

The timeline visually illustrates several major milestones of life on Earth, including:

how life forms arose in the oceans,
the appearance of multi-cellular organisms,
the evolution of creatures with a spinal column and backbone,
how some plants and animals began to move onto the land,
the appearance of land-based plants with roots and stems,
how amphibians were succeeded by reptiles (who placed the water that their eggs required inside the eggs),
the emergence of flowering plants,
how birds and mammals were better able to deal with variations in the temperature around them and devoted more care to their young, and
how humans, with neither fur nor feathers, sharp teeth or claws, could use their hands, heads, and hearts to adapt to their environment.

After presenting Timeline of Life basics, we return to the material repeatedly to explore more details and offer new avenues of investigation. We might introduce more of the creatures on the timeline, the names of the eras and their etymology, the red lines showing linkages through the timeline, or the visual cues demonstrating the timing of the ice ages. We might explore the rising of mountain ranges, the deposition of salt and coal, the shapes of land masses throughout prehistory, the rise of flowering plants, and creatures (like the horseshoe crab) that appear now as they appeared in those ancient times. The Timeline of Life can inspire children to explore fossils and fossilization, and even embrace aspects of organic chemistry! As children become more sophisticated in their thinking, we present new facets of the timeline.

Children also enjoy using a blank timeline to see if they can recreate the Timeline of Life by placing loose pictures held in a folder or container for each era. When all of the loose pictures are correctly placed, the result matches the Timeline of Life. As a result, children often use the blank timeline to test themselves on how much they remember.

Children are often inspired to set up little Going Out trips to learn more about something on the Timeline of Life or create scale drawings of the massive and minute creatures they learn about from the timeline. Children also love to share their discoveries through carts, dioramas, models, and booklets.

Awe & Wonder

Above all, the Timeline of Life helps children grasp the wonders of deep time and the complexity of life that surrounds us wherever we look. They are fascinated by how long the earth went with no life to just how long it has taken for life to develop from proto-organisms to complex mammals.

In Montessori elementary classrooms, the Timeline of Life is not merely a subject of study but a source of wonder and inspiration. As they use the timeline, children are immersed in the rich tapestry of life's history and as a result, develop a deep sense of connection to the natural world and a profound respect for all living beings.

We invite you to schedule a tour to see how children embark on a lifelong journey of learning and discovery through hands-on experiences with materials such as the Timeline of Life!

Our Montessori Bookshelf: The Power of Plants

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 11:00:03 GMT

In Montessori, we want to ensure that children are immersed in the wonders of the natural world and biology is interwoven into daily life through experiences and more formal lessons.

Certain themes permeate our study of biology, one of which is the fact that all forms of life have needs, which must be satisfied if the organism is to be able to survive and reproduce. A top priority is the need for food. This is one way we distinguish plants from animals. Plants can make their own food. They have to satisfy their needs wherever they grow.

Our presentations help children appreciate how alive plants are! We want to help children identify the miraculous powers of plants, which leads to explorations of plant anatomy and the functions of parts of plants. Often children are then inspired to cultivate and care for their own plants.

Children are captured by the beauty and power of the plant world. Because they often love to pour through botany books, we’re sharing some of our favorites. We hope these books inspire more investigation, exploration, and perhaps even some home-based growing and gardening!

Flowers are Calling

By Rita Grey, Illustrated by Kenard Pak

This book is an excellent introduction or companion to Montessori lessons on the story of the flowers, parts of the flower, and how flowers ensure pollination. Grey weaves together a lovely narrative of what creatures do or don’t respond to flowers’ calls. The simple rhyming storyline appeals to the youngest children, while specifics about adaptations of particular flowers and pollinators can spark the interest of older investigators. The end of the book offers an invitation to children to look again at the flowers before them and offers insights into what children may see–color, pattern, shape, smell, and time of opening–and what those means in terms of the types of pollinators the flowers are trying to attract.

From Seed to Plant

By Gail Gibbons

Although seemingly simple in its illustrations and text, this picture book provides an excellent overview of multiple botany lessons we explore in Montessori classrooms: from pollination to seed dispersal, parts of a flower to parts of a seed, and more! This is a handy reference book for young children and a perfect introduction to complex concepts. Plus, a seven-step “From Seed to Plant” project at the end of the book is a perfect activity for young botanists.

Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas

By Cheryl Bardot, Illustrated by Jos. A. Smith

Although in picture book form, this is an excellent introduction for more advanced thinkers and budding scientists who are curious about genetics and/or botany. The story follows the life of Gregor Mendel, a curious young boy who, despite great obstacles, was able to continue his studies and eventually conduct elaborate experiments to better understand how species pass on genetic traits to their offspring. This fascinating story of perseverance and exactitude also overlays nicely with a study of botany. The author’s note at the end is worth a read, too!

Harlem Grown: How One Big Idea Transformed a Neighborhood

By Tony Hillery, Illustrated by Jessie Hartland

This true story by the founder and director of Harlem Grown provides an inspiring reminder of the power of people coming together to create change. A trash-filled lot across from a school gets transformed into a community garden. Little details in the story, like the protagonist’s wilting plant, offer a reminder that it’s possible to try again, with bountiful results! Additional resources at the end of the book offer steps for starting a garden anywhere, as well as websites and additional books for both children and adults.

Jayden’s Impossible Garden

By Mélina Mangal, Illustrated by Ken Daley

Sometimes it is the power of many that makes a difference and sometimes it is the power of a few. This story is about one boy who believes that there is nature amidst his city streets, how he finds someone who feels the same way, and what they create together by paying attention to the little things that bring them joy. The result? They highlight the beauty around them and can show others the magic of nature, right in the middle of their city. For children inspired by this story, there are instructions at the end (which require a bit of adult support) for inviting nature into our lives through recycled crafts, such as a coffee container planter and milk jug bird feeder.

Living Sunlight: How Plants Bring the Earth to Life

By Molly Bang and Penny Chisholm, Illustrated by Molly Bang

With classic Molly Bang vibrant colors, this picture book brings the complexity of how photosynthesis connects the energy of the sun and all living things on Earth into a format that even young children can enjoy. The text provides a perfect balance of being accessible to all ages and yet rich enough with scientific concepts to appeal to elementary learners. For those especially keen on the science, the authors provide a complete breakdown of the concepts with each idea connected to thumbnail images from pages throughout the book. And if that weren’t enough, the book provides a meditative, heart-centered message that can help readers feel both grounded in themselves and connected to the universe.

Miss Rumphius

By Barbara Cooney

Although not specifically about botany, this inspiring tale is a must-have for any home library. A little girl shares the story of her great-aunt Alice (or Miss Rumphius), a story with an underlying message of how one person can make the world more beautiful. After many worldwide adventures, Miss Rumphius realizes she can help the wind and birds spread lupine seeds. So she does. One of the most beautiful aspects of this story is how it weaves together the cycles of life with how we can inspire the next generation to continue making the world more beautiful, in whatever ways we can.

Plants that Never Bloom

By Ruth Heller

An excellent follow-up to The Reason for a Flower, this book explores the magical world of fungi, ferns, algae, and more. It references the ancient nature of some of these non-flowering plants and also the peculiar exceptions, such as gymnosperms. This picture book provides a wonderful launching pad for further studies of the plant world!

The Reason for a Flower

By Ruth Heller

In her rhyming prose and vivid illustrations, Heller takes us on a lively journey through the purposes and practicalities of flowering plants. She artfully blends text and image, while ensuring the information is precise and accurate. The Reason for a Flower is a wonderful companion to any study of flowers and at the very end plants a seed (pun intended) for the companion book, Plants that Never Bloom.

Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt

By Kate Messner, Illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal

From the creators of Over and Under the Snow, this picture book takes young readers on a seasonal journey through the seen and unseen of a backyard garden. While a child and her grandmother tend the soil, enjoy their harvest, and shift with the seasons, a whole host of organisms also do their work down in the dirt. This is a great way to introduce the interconnectedness of life and how humans are amongst many amazing creatures doing beautiful work. The end-of-book details about all the animals illustrated throughout the pages are an amazing bonus, too!

We hope these books inspire some outdoor exploration. You can download a printable list of these titles for your next visit to the bookstore or library. Also, if you’d like any inspiration for how to incorporate botany studies into your child’s life, come visit our school. We love to share more about what we do.

Let’s Go Outside: Benefits for Our Children (and Ourselves!)

Mon, 15 Apr 2024 11:00:01 GMT

Our world–and as a result our children’s world–is increasingly dominated by screens and schedules. As such, the importance of reconnecting with nature has become more important than ever.

Dr. Maria Montessori believed in providing children with an environment that encourages exploration, independence, and self-discovery. Central to Montessori philosophy is the concept of the prepared environment, where every element is thoughtfully designed to support a child's natural development. Nature, with its infinite wonders and stimuli, serves as the ultimate prepared environment, offering boundless opportunities for social interaction, emotional regulation, and self-awareness.

Social-Emotional Benefits of Outdoor Play

As humans, we are biologically designed to be outdoors. E.O. Wilson described this predisposition to connect to nature as the “biophilia hypothesis.” Numerous studies outline quantifiable benefits to being out of doors. Business Insider even offers “11 Scientifically Proven Reasons You Should Go Outside.”

For children, spending time outdoors promotes emotional well-being and resilience by providing opportunities for risk-taking and self-discovery. In nature, children can push their boundaries, overcome obstacles, and learn from their mistakes.

Think about the very act of climbing a tree. In addition to practicing courage and perseverance, children have the chance to trust their instincts, assess risks, and develop confidence in their abilities. The result? Children develop a sense of agency and self-efficacy, laying the foundation for healthy emotional development and positive self-esteem.

Another profound social-emotional benefit of outdoor experiences is the opportunity for unstructured play and peer interaction. In the natural world, children are free to engage in imaginative play, negotiate conflicts, and develop essential social skills. Whether building forts, climbing trees, or playing games, outdoor play fosters cooperation, communication, and empathy as children navigate social dynamics and collaborate with peers.

Time in Nature Promotes Self-Regulation

Time in nature also helps us heal. The children’s book, When Sophie Gets Angry – Really, Really Angry by Molly Bang offers a reminder about the power of going outside when we need to find some inner peace. In the story, Sophie, a young child upset by a sibling interaction, runs outside. Dis-regulated and angry she runs and runs until she can't run anymore. Then she cries. She climbs her favorite tree and the wide world comforts her.

When children hear this book, they hang onto every word, as if soaking up Sophie’s experience. Yet how often do we let our children slam the door, run outside, and seek solace in nature? How often do we, as adults, do this?

One reason why we can find solace in nature is due to being immersed in a unique sensory experience. From the soothing sound of rustling leaves to the calming sight of flowing water, the outdoors provides a multisensory environment that promotes relaxation, stress reduction, and emotional grounding.

Cultivating Inner Calm and Interconnectedness

By spending time in nature, children have an opportunity, like Sophie, to connect with their inner landscape while being immersed in an external landscape. This process cultivates a sense of belonging, purpose, and interconnectedness. As children explore natural ecosystems, observe wildlife, and experience the cycles of the seasons, they develop a profound appreciation for the beauty and complexity of the natural world. This sense of awe and wonder instills a deep sense of stewardship and environmental responsibility.

In Richard Louv’s book, Last Child in the Woods , he coins the phrase “nature-deficit disorder” to describe the costs of our alienation from nature. Think about your children. Do you see a difference after they’ve spent time outside? Maybe it’s the fresh air, or the room to run, or just the possibility they find in a corner of a grassy field. Think about yourself and the difference in your feelings when you take the time to be outdoors, even if only to take a stroll down the street as the day shifts to dusk.

In this age of trying to provide our children with the best opportunities, shouldn’t we be giving them more time outside? This spring is an excellent time to pay attention to those opportunities for children to connect to their place and just be outside. If you need fresh ideas for the children in your life, and even for yourself, Richard Louv’s recent book, The Essential Guide to a Nature-Rich Life: 500 Ways to Enrich Your Family’s Health & Happiness , is an excellent resource.

A Collective Responsibility

We have a collective responsibility to ensure that our children have ample opportunities to explore, discover, and connect with the natural world around them. By prioritizing outdoor experiences in education, we support children's social-emotional well-being, resilience, and sense of connection with nature and each other.

The Montessori approach to education emphasizes the vital role of the outdoors in children’s development and we invite you to visit our campus to learn more about the symbiotic relationship between Montessori principles, time in nature, and the profound benefits of outdoor experiences.

Setting up a Montessori-Based Space at Home

Mon, 08 Apr 2024 11:00:01 GMT

As parents, we want to nurture our young children's growth and independence. Because Montessori philosophy centers on supporting children’s natural development through a carefully prepared environment, we can turn to Montessori principles to help us create ideal home spaces for our toddlers.

Understanding the Montessori Philosophy

At the heart of Montessori is the understanding that children are active, self-directed learners. Dr. Maria Montessori observed how children thrive intellectually, emotionally, and socially when provided with a nurturing environment and the freedom to explore. A Montessori room embodies these principles by offering a space where our toddlers can engage in purposeful activities, make choices independently, and develop essential life skills.

Their Developing Personality

The interrelation between children and their environment is vital, as experiences in the environment help form our children’s personalities. During the first few years of life, children are forming an incredible number of neural connections and there is a continual feedback loop between a child’s genetic code and the environment.

A child’s genetic code determines how they interact with their environment, and then their interactions influence how the genetic code is expressed. As children interact with their environment, mental pathways form. Patterns in the brain are established and repeated experiences have a larger impact. Ideally, we want our children’s neural pathways to be healthy patterns of emotion and thought.

As such, our toddlers’ space should have both boundaries and opportunities that help them develop a healthy sense of security, order, and engagement.

Practical Tips for Creating a Montessori Room at Home

Choose the Right Furniture

We can begin by selecting furniture that aligns with our toddler's needs and capabilities. Opt for child-sized pieces such as low shelves, a small table and chair, and a low bed or mattress on the floor. These elements empower children to navigate their environment with ease, promoting a sense of autonomy and confidence.

Create Inviting Spaces

Designate distinct areas within the room to cater to various activities and interests. A cozy reading nook outfitted with books at eye level encourages literacy and quiet reflection, while open shelves with a few manipulative toys invite exploration. Be sure to also have ample space for movement. Try getting down to your child’s level to see how the space looks and feels from a child’s perspective.

Simplify and Declutter

Embrace minimalism in a toddler's room by paring down to the essentials. Make sure that each item has a designated place and that part of the routine is returning the item to where it goes. This cultivates your child’s sense of order. Over time, gradually rotate toys to help maintain interest and engagement.

Promote Independence

Foster your toddler's burgeoning independence by arranging the room to facilitate self-care and autonomy. Install a low mirror to aid in dressing and grooming activities. Provide accessible storage solutions for clothing and personal belongings. Incorporate a step stool in the bathroom to allow your child to practice handwashing, toothbrushing, and general self-care.

Include Natural Materials

Infuse the room with elements of nature by incorporating toys made from natural materials and limiting the amount of plastic and battery-operated items. Look for natural items that stimulate children’s senses and foster a deeper connection to the natural world. Opting for sustainable and eco-friendly options also promotes environmental stewardship.

Prioritize Safety

In order for your toddler to navigate the space independently, you’ll want to feel assured that the room is meticulously childproofed to eliminate potential hazards. Anchor furniture to the wall to prevent tipping, secure cords out of reach, and regularly inspect the room for any safety concerns.

Follow Children's Lead

Above all, honor your toddler's unique interests, preferences, and developmental pace. Observe their interactions with their environment and adapt the room accordingly. If you see them wanting to climb on a table or shelf, offer safe alternative climbing options. By tailoring the space to their evolving needs and abilities, we support their developing curiosity and engagement. In this process, they develop a sense of agency and self-confidence that will serve them well throughout life.

Creating a Montessori-inspired room at home doesn’t have to be hard! Plus, by thoughtfully curating the environment to align with your toddler’s developmental needs and interests, you lay the foundation for a lifetime of joyful learning and exploration. Embrace simplicity, foster independence, and above all, cherish the wonder and curiosity that define childhood. In a safe, inviting space created especially for them, your toddler can thrive, flourish, and become the best version of themselves.

If you would like some inspiration join us for a free workshop on May 10, 2024 - 4:00-6:00pm, Montessori in the Home. Register online: https://www.childrenstree.org/workshops

A Subtle Art: The Beauty of the Montessori Three-Period Lesson

Mon, 01 Apr 2024 11:00:03 GMT

In Montessori education, we have a subtle art for connecting children to new concepts, a technique we call the Three Period Lesson. This structured approach is designed to introduce and reinforce new concepts in a way that works with children’s natural learning tendencies. It consists of three distinct phases, each serving a crucial purpose in the learning process.

The First Period: Naming

In this part of the lesson, we focus on helping children create an association of the item or sensorial perception with its name. This is basically a statement of vocabulary, but its simplicity should not disguise the great importance of this period. Proper execution is vital to success and as such Montessori guides execute this part of the lesson with extreme exactitude. We take great care to avoid any peripheral information which would serve only to cause confusion. The emphasis here is on clear articulation and repetition, allowing children to absorb the information through auditory and visual cues.

If the lesson is focused on sensorial perception, we first help a child awaken that sense before giving any vocabulary. For example, if we are introducing a very young child to the vocabulary for temperature, we use a set of thermic bottles. We first isolate the hottest and coldest of the bottles. We feel the “hot” bottle, invite the child to feel it, and state: “This is hot.” Then we have the same procedure with the cold bottle, first feeling, then stating: “This is cold.” If necessary, we may repeat the experience, associating the bottle with its attribute: “Hot….Cold.” We take great care in pronouncing the vocabulary or attributes clearly and distinctly so that children can easily absorb the vocabulary. We also make sure to avoid any additional descriptions or explanations.

The purpose of the first period is to help children connect the sensory data stored in the right hemisphere of the brain with its precise language, stored in the left hemisphere of the brain. This neural connection fixes the perception in children’s minds and provides an index to the sensorial impression, making it accessible to the conscious mind.

The Second Period: Association

In this phase, we focus on having children recognize the object in correspondence to the language. It is a way for us to see if a child has been successful in the association of the perception with its name as presented in the first period. In the second period, we use the vocabulary in a series of lively and fun declarative commands that encourage repetition.

For example, if presenting large and small with a cylinder block, we might ask: “Which one is large?” “Which one is small?” “Put the large one here.” “Put the small one here.” “Show me the large one.” “Point to the small one.” This activity has a game-like feel and offers children the chance to repeatedly hear the vocabulary and associate it with the corresponding attribute or object.

During this period, we do not ask children to recall the vocabulary. Because there is active participation that reinforces the association between the name and the object or concept, this period is about reinforcement. It is the longest of the three periods and is the most important one in terms of serving as an aid to children’s memory. Every time a child hears the vocabulary and associates it with the corresponding attribute/object, it activates the necessary synaptic connections in the brain and strengthens neural pathways.

If a child is not successful in the second stage, we have two choices: return to the first period or gracefully end the lesson and offer it again another day. It might be that a child just needs more time to work with the materials sensorially. Regardless, if the child isn’t experiencing success at this stage, we recognize that we need to re-associate the sensory impression with the name. We don’t point out the error to a child, though, because that only serves to embarrass the child or cause them to feel defeated. Nor is it helpful to continue on with the lesson, for if the associations are not happening, more repetition would only serve to cause further confusion.

The Third Period: Recall

This last part of the lesson is just a quick test and serves as a verification that a child has successfully retained the association given in the first period. For the first time, we no longer provide the vocabulary, and instead, the child must produce it from their memory. We simply ask: “What is this?” If the child can successfully answer, then we can verify that the association has been created. If the child is not successful, we end the lesson by repeating the first period. This is not done as a means of correction, but to ensure the child leaves the material with an accurate impression.

Once the Three Period Lesson is over, we allow children to continue working with the material. Often we see that they have renewed enthusiasm for the material after making these new mental associations.

A Powerful Approach

By following this structured approach, we provide children with multiple opportunities to engage with new information and reinforce their learning through repetition and active participation. This approach is powerful and effective for three main reasons:

Respect for the Child's Learning Pace

The three-period lesson respects the individual pace of each child's learning journey. By breaking down new concepts into manageable steps, we cater to the diverse needs and abilities of children.

Promotion of Active Engagement

Through interactive questioning and hands-on activities, the Three Period Lesson encourages active engagement and participation. Children are not passive recipients of information but rather active participants in their learning process, leading to deeper understanding and retention.

Facilitation of Meaningful Connections

By associating new concepts with real-life objects or experiences, the Three Period Lesson helps children make meaningful connections between abstract ideas and concrete examples. This approach fosters holistic understanding and lays the groundwork for future learning.

Above all, the beauty of the Three Period Lesson lies in its simplicity and effectiveness. The technique is subtle yet consistent, the lessons are brief yet powerful, and the language is precise yet expansive. Ultimately, the Three Period Lesson empowers children to become active learners, capable of exploring the world with curiosity and confidence.

Why Do Our Children Do What They Do?

Mon, 25 Mar 2024 12:00:03 GMT

The scene may feel familiar. We sit down for a family dinner. Our youngest starts tapping their spoon against a bowl, fascinated by the sound it makes. Our middle child begins asking a series of questions: “What does it mean to get an education? Why do people go to school? Why was Malala shot? Why are there wars?” The oldest starts getting frustrated with the other two, wanting them to follow directions and have their dinner places in order.

In that chaotic moment before dinner, it’s easy for exasperation to take over. As adults, we might sometimes wonder what in the world propels our children. Really, what are they thinking when they try making holes by poking the table with a fork?

Innate Human Tendencies

We are born with innate human characteristics. We are hard-wired to explore, work, connect, and communicate. We crave order in our surroundings. We imagine possibilities. We create. We need to orient ourselves to what is around us, move our bodies, and wonder about the how and why. These human tendencies are unconscious, universal drives and they are at play from birth.

Thus, the newborn has familiar landmarks when hearing their mother’s heartbeat. If allowed to be on the floor, the infant will rotate their body and move in amazing ways. This drive to move propels babies into scooting, crawling, and eventually coming to that upright position that allows them to use their hands and explore the environment.

We recognize these needs in our infants, yet that vital life force is powerful for older children, too. When our child is exploring the noise of the spoon against the bowl, they aren’t trying to aggravate us. They are just exploring cause and effect, and delighting in the auditory result.

Awareness of Internal Drives

When we take time to remember that children are compelled by basic human tendencies, we can begin to explore those tendencies and, as such, help our children become their best selves.

Our home and learning environments can provide children with a sense of order. Knowing where one’s things go and how to help contribute to a task provides children with a sense of security and belonging. Just think about the feeling of uncertainty you can get when you visit someone’s home and don’t know whether to take off your shoes, where to hang your coat, or even how to be useful. By making sure our children feel welcome and purposeful and providing consistent routines, we help children develop an orientation to the world around them.

We can prepare our children for routines and offer accessible spaces that allow them to participate in the functioning of the day. They can help set the table, feed the cats, gather the laundry, prepare their lunches, and so much more. By participating in a meaningful way, they feel significant and ultimately more confident.

Our children’s constant questioning merely comes from a need for intellectual exploration. These big questions speak to their newfound mental ability to ponder expansive ideas about the world. As our children venture into new territory, either physically or intellectually, they benefit from opportunities to test their ideas and make connections to what they already know.

As social beings, we have to learn ways to collaborate effectively. The earliest humans had to cooperate to survive. An older child trying to force cooperation may just need some light support to find a way to communicate and connect with younger peers or siblings, rather than lapsing into exasperation.

Supporting Development

Human tendencies are unconscious, universal drives that support our adaptation to our particular time and place. We are hard-wired to adapt to our environment! The human tendencies – to orient, explore, order, abstract, imagine, calculate, work, be exact, perfect oneself, and communicate and associate with others – help aid this adaptation and really our ability to become our best selves.

In Montessori, our classrooms and curriculum are designed with these human tendencies in mind, with particular attention to how these innate drives manifest themselves at different stages of development.

We work to recognize, honor, and support innate characteristics in children so that we aren’t obstructing their important development. When supported in this way, our children can reach new heights.

Six Steps to Problem Solving

Mon, 18 Mar 2024 12:00:02 GMT

So often when we are bumping up against frustrating behavior from our children, we forget that one very effective way to work through the challenge is to include our children in the process!

Step 1: Identify the Issue

The best way to approach this is to first identify the challenge. Perhaps your child is having a hard time getting ready in the morning. Or maybe you are experiencing bedtime struggles. It might be as seemingly small as cooperation with brushing teeth. Or the issue may revolve around food: packing foods your child will eat, being willing to engage during dinner time, or eating a hearty breakfast before heading to school.

Whatever the problem, first identify it in one simple sentence. Hone in on exactly the challenge or conflict, so it’s easy to state clearly.

Step 2: Ask For Time to Talk

Then you’ll want to find a time when everyone is in a mellow mood, perhaps feeling particularly happy, or even just well-fed and rested. At this point, it’s important to check in with your child by asking something like: “Is now a good time for us to talk?” Or “I’d like to brainstorm with you. Is now a good time?”

It’s best to be at your child’s eye level and/or get together in a comfortable place that encourages connection. Then state the problem as simply and clearly as possible. It is especially important to avoid guilt, blame, shame, and exaggerations. One way to frame the conversation is to start with something like: “I have a situation that I want your help with.”

For example, if your child has been struggling with leaving the house on time in the mornings, you might try stating: “I’ve noticed that our mornings have felt stressful and rushed.”

You can then share the impact or how you feel: “As a result of rushing, I feel anxious and then start to get impatient and a little grumpy.” Followed by what you want: “I’m hoping we can figure out a new routine for our mornings so we can leave the house on time.”

Step 3: Listen to Your Child’s Perspective

After stating your take on things, it’s important to allow your child the space to share how they feel and what they want. All too often, we push our agendas, our perspectives, and our needs onto our children without opening up space and listening to what might be going on for them.

By sharing your perspective without accusation or insistence, and then asking for their feedback and needs, you are demonstrating that you are committed to a collaborative approach. After your child has shared what is happening for them and what they need, you can explore if brainstorming possible solutions could help.

Step 4: Brainstorm Together

If brainstorming seems helpful, get a piece of paper and create a list of ideas or solutions. If your child is younger, you can do the recording. Regardless, free up each other’s thinking by not criticizing or rejecting any ideas during this brainstorming process. Let your imaginations run free. If possible, try to model some “out of the box” thinking and make the process as fun as possible. It’s even okay to get a little silly: “I know! We could invent a robot that puts on your coat and gloves for you!” Offering encouragement can help, too. “That’s a great idea. I never thought of that.” Or “Oh, that gives me another idea!”

It’s important to not go into this process with a hidden agenda. Children are attuned to when we just want things to go our way. In the process of being open to ideas, you’ll likely find some unexpected solutions. Whenever possible, it’s also helpful to generate ideas in which both parties can win.

Step 5: Cross Items off the List

Once you’ve generated a list of possible solutions, go through the list together. Give your child the opportunity to first cross out any ideas that won’t work for them, and you can do the same. In this process, you can both talk about why particular ideas will or won’t work from your particular perspectives. After crossing out ideas, you’ll be left with some options. Together you can pick one of the suggestions, or a combination of ideas, as a solution to try.

Step 6: Test it Out

Emphasize that you can both agree to try the idea and then come back together in about a week to see if it is still working. You can write the agreement on a fresh sheet of paper and, if appropriate, both sign the paper to show a commitment to trying this new idea. Be sure to also thank your child for their cooperation! Be sure to also follow through with checking in with each other after trying out the solution for a week. If it isn’t working, review the list together and see if there is another idea worth trying.

Creating an agreement ahead of time model’s respect. The result? Our children feel more willing to cooperate because the process has been collaborative.

Curious to learn more about how to include children in a problem-solving process? Schedule a time to come in to observe and talk more!

Navigating Sibling Dynamics

Mon, 11 Mar 2024 12:00:01 GMT

As parents, we want our kids to get along. Yet sibling dynamics can vex even the best of us. We cringe at how much our children can hurt each other, then melt when we see them treating each other with kindness. Their fights can drive us crazy, causing us to worry about whether they will like each other as adults.

Fortunately, we can implement strategies to prevent problems between siblings, set the stage for healthy interactions, and practice some techniques for managing conflict in the moment.

One of the first steps is taking time to understand our children, ourselves, and the situation. Without taking time to assess these three aspects, we often end up interfering in sibling conflict, which may stop the fight in the moment but that may also inadvertently increase competition and misunderstanding.

Check-In with Ourselves

When conflicts arise, it helps to first check in with our own feelings. Having awareness of our mental and physical responses allows us to practice self-regulation. We can breathe in deeply through our nose and our mouth. We can pause before responding. We can even express our emotions: “I’m realizing that I’m not feeling very calm right now. Because I’m starting to feel upset, I’m going to take a minute to try to regain some control.” Our children don’t need us to get on the roller coaster!

Describe and Empathize

Another technique to help in the moment is to describe what we see and to empathize. When we describe what we see in a non-judgmental way, we help our children become aware of what they are doing. This allows them the opportunity to choose if they want to continue. The real key is to do this in a neutral way: “I’m noticing that both of you seem to really want to sit on the bean bag chair. Sometimes it can be hard to both want the same thing.”

Examine the Hidden Beliefs

When children exhibit behaviors, they have unspoken beliefs behind that behavior. To better understand our children and these beliefs, can start to reflect on any hidden messages. Some questions to consider include: Do our children feel like they need to win, be first, have an item, etc. to be significant in the family? Are they trying to determine their place in the family? Do they feel wronged in some way and want to cause hurt back to others? Do they feel they are being treated unfairly? Are they trying to fight back to have a sense of justice? Is fighting a way to assert power in the situation?

We don’t need to have answers to the questions but rather recognize that our children might be operating based on some mistaken beliefs. It’s important to remember that what happens to us isn’t as important as the beliefs we have about what happens to us. Our children just want to belong and feel significant and might need some support in developing new beliefs to feel accepted and important.

Shift the Beliefs

One way to shift their thinking is to practice putting children in the same boat. When we take sides in an argument or conflict (for example, by reminding an older child to be kind to their younger sibling or assuming wrongdoing in some way), we reinforce competition or hard feelings between siblings. Instead, we can give our children a choice or hold both responsible. If something has been broken, both can be involved in making repairs or amends. If they are fighting in the car, we can pull over and explain that we’ll be happy to get going again when they have resolved their conflict or have decided to stop arguing. If tattling is a regular occurrence, we can empathize and wonder how they will solve the problem together. We can also make sure we aren’t setting up situations that cultivate jealousy or competition by forcing sharing or putting one child’s needs before another’s.

Provide Special Time

Another way to help our children feel belonging and significance is to schedule special time. Our children need our undivided attention, yet so often as parents, we are pulled in so many directions. One way to address this is to commit to having five to ten minutes of one-on-one time with each child. Let your children know that this is time that you will be with them 100% and that they get to choose what you both do together during that time. Even if it is that activity that you just can’t stand, remember it is only for a short duration! Use a timer and stay committed to having the time each day. This undivided attention helps children feel secure and connected. The result? They are more cooperative with us and each other.

New Skills

Ultimately helping our children navigate sibling dynamics involves teaching new skills. We can help our children learn how to express themselves kindly and firmly, perhaps even practicing how to share concerns during family meetings. We can involve our children in finding solutions through problem-solving strategies. We can emphasize the value of different perspectives and needs by appreciating each child’s unique qualities and building gratitude into our routines.

What we model and promote in our families helps set the stage for how our children navigate not only sibling relationships but their interactions in the world. If you’d like to learn more about how we cultivate respectful, cooperative relationships and help children learn how to resolve differences with respect and kindness, come visit our school!

The Impact of Grace and Courtesy

Mon, 04 Mar 2024 12:00:03 GMT

In Montessori, we emphasize two words on a pretty regular basis: grace and courtesy. But what does grace and courtesy really mean? How are they an essential part of Montessori classrooms? And what role do they play in supporting the development of social relationships?

What is Grace? What is Courtesy?

Let’s first isolate each word. Google’s Oxford Languages defines “grace" in two parts: 1. simple elegance or refinement of movement, and 2. courteous goodwill. Courtesy is defined simply as: the showing of politeness in one’s attitude and behavior toward others. Stated another way, grace and courtesy comprise how we move through the space around us showing respect for ourselves and others.

Grace & Courtesy Lessons

In our toddler and primary classrooms, grace and courtesy are considered to be part of practical life learning and we devote significant time to grace and courtesy lessons. For example, the adults give explicit instruction on how to walk around someone’s work on the rug, how to wait your turn, how to offer help, how to tuck a chair under the table, or how to introduce oneself. These lessons are offered one-on-one or in small groups and we often use role playing as a technique for exploring the skills.

We are very careful about how we introduce grace and courtesy to children. If we see something that needs to be addressed, we try to avoid confronting the child in the moment and we never offer grace and courtesy lessons as a form of punishment or correction. We are careful about this because children are often embarrassed when corrected by adults on the spot. When this happens, they can feel disrespected and not safe, and thus much less likely to perform the act on their own accord.

In the Older Years

As children enter their elementary and adolescent years, our approach shifts slightly. Elementary-age children are more focused on their social interactions and are learning how to navigate the ups and downs of friendships. As such, much of the grace and courtesy work at this level provides children with tools for communicating directly and respectfully, sharing perspectives thoughtfully, and even being discreet about something potentially embarrassing. In addition, they are learning how to interact with the broader community as they arrange visits or interviews, conduct themselves according to the norms of different communities, and explore how to be a host or be a guest.

The Goal

The goal in Montessori education is that these acts of grace and courtesy aren’t rigid expectations, like insisting that children say please and thank you. Rather, they become part of how children want to be and interact. Dr. Montessori is quoted as saying: “…the essential thing is that [the child] should know how to perform these actions of courtesy when his little heart prompts him to do so, as part of a social life which develops naturally from moment to moment.”

Like all other exercises in Montessori prepared environments, we offer opportunities to regularly practice and repeat grace and courtesy skills. Because these experiences are part of the normal functioning of the day, they provide a respectful way for young people to learn expectations and for adults to provide scaffolding and assistance for social skills.

The Results

In time, as we offer these grace and courtesy opportunities and give children a safe place to practice, our young people eventually perform these skills independently.

When you visit our school, you’re likely to see two young children sitting together, one patiently showing the other how to tie their shoes. Or perhaps if you observe in a classroom, a couple of students might ask if you would like them to serve you tea or water.

Our children bring a sad classmate a tissue or rush to assist when someone has a spill. They tuck their chairs under tables so others don’t trip over them. They carefully place a tray upon a table. They greet each other and adults in the hallways. They hold the door open when they see someone coming their way.

In the process, Montessori children move beyond the basic niceties and think deeply about their impact on those around them. We’d love to show you this in action! Schedule a tour to see the ways that grace and courtesy help children recognize themselves as caring individuals within a supportive community.

Materials Spotlight: The Geometry Cabinet

Mon, 26 Feb 2024 12:00:01 GMT

Nestled on a shelf in Montessori primary classrooms you’ll find a small wooden cabinet with six to seven slim drawers. It may not look like much from the outside. Even when you slide out one of the drawers, you’ll just see six wooden square divisions each with a wooden inset with a small knob in the center. As you continue to pull out the different drawers, you’ll discover that each wooden inset is a series of geometric shapes: circles that vary in diameter, rectangles with the same height but varying in width up to the square, different triangles, regular polygons, quadrilaterals, and curved figures.

This is the Geometry Cabinet, an important and well-used material in Montessori primary (and elementary) classrooms. With a multitude of uses, this material serves to help children not only enhance their visual and muscular memory, it also provides a foundation for advanced geometry work as well as preparing children’s hands for writing.

Parents & Caregivers Can Serve as Guides

Mon, 19 Feb 2024 12:00:04 GMT

As adults, we often step into particular kinds of roles with children. We can be parents, aunts, uncles. We can be coaches, mentors, teachers. Each role has a set of expectations, often with an unspoken rule that the adult knows best and that children will learn from us.

Yet the roles adults can play in children’s lives can be much more nuanced. We can facilitate, suggest, model, and observe. The world can teach and the adults can serve as guides in a process of learning and discovery.

Be Curious

In the Positive Discipline approach, adults guide growth and learning by asking “curiosity questions.” The key is not to rely on scripted questions but rather to be genuinely curious, perhaps asking questions like:

How do you feel about what happened?
What were you trying to accomplish?
What did you learn?
How do you think you might use what you learned?
What ideas do you have for solutions?

Avoiding the question “why?” is also important as it can sound accusatory and can lead to a child feeling defensive.

Sometimes a young person in our life is struggling, perhaps lashing out verbally or doing everything they can emotionally hurt others. If we can wonder what might be behind their behavior, we can shift our approach. We can also be curious about what we want or need in the interaction. For example, sometimes when a young person is struggling, we just want to know how we can help that person feel better. If that is the case, we can ask the question full-heartedly: “What can I do to help you have a better day?”

Shift to Support

When we shift our roles and think about how to learn more about what our children are feeling, thinking, and exploring, we become meaningful guides. Rather than dispensing information, we can help children make discoveries. This is an essential part of what Montessori teachers do each day in our learning communities.

For example, elementary-aged children often make amazing connections in their learning. An elementary student can be ecstatic due to a discovery about the periodic table, as recently happened with a young learner: “Look!” she exclaimed. “Gold has the symbol Au, because the Latin name for gold is aurum. Au for aurum!” Because this young person had discovered this connection on her own, the knowledge was so much more invigorating and inspiring than had an adult instructed her about etymology and periodic table symbols.

Honor the Process

In How Children Learn, John Holt describes children’s process of learning: “The child is curious. He wants to make sense of things, find out how things work, gain competence and control over himself and his environment, and do what he can see other people doing. He is open, perceptive, and experimental. He does not merely observe the world around him. He does not shut himself off from the strange, complicated world around him, but tastes it, touches it, hefts it, bends it, breaks it. To find out how reality works, he works on it. He is bold. He is not afraid of making mistakes. And he is patient. He can tolerate an extraordinary amount of uncertainty, confusion, ignorance, and suspense.”

Children naturally want to figure out the world and themselves. Thus, we can be thoughtful guides through this remarkable world of ours. We can entice. We can inspire. We can show possible paths.

In our Montessori classrooms, we recognize the incredible power in children’s process of experimenting, observing, making mistakes, and experiencing the world around them. Rather than serve as the experts dispensing knowledge, we act as guides.

Curious to see how the role of adults can shift? Schedule a tour to see how we support children in nuanced ways: https://www.childrenstree.org/schedule-a-tour

Our Montessori Bookshelf: Cultivating Emotional Intelligence this Valentine’s Day

Mon, 12 Feb 2024 12:00:03 GMT

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and it’s a great time to highlight social-emotional skills. A great place to start is empathy. Showing care and compassion is critical in relationship-building and forming strong connections. The cornerstones of empathy are being able to understand and appreciate others’ perspectives and having a shared emotional response.

Books are a tremendous tool for helping our young people develop social-emotional skills. One analogy for why this is the case is how books can be mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. When we see our lives reflected in the pages of a book, the book is like a mirror of our experience. When we view lives and stories that are different from our own, books are like windows that allow us to see new vistas. When we feel transported into the story and feel empathy for the characters, books become sliding glass doors that allow us to step into new worlds of understanding.

To celebrate the social-emotional opportunities this Valentine’s Day offers us, we are sharing some of our favorite books that cultivate emotional intelligence. We hope you can share them with your children and explore how they are like windows, mirrors, or sliding glass doors!

Anh’s Anger

By Gail Silver, Illustrated by Christiane Krömer

Big emotional reactions can be hard to understand. This story helps illustrate how anger is just one part of us. If we can give that part the attention it needs, we can take care of the feeling rather than letting it control us. This story also shows the power of adults staying calm and controlled in the face of big feelings. Illustrated with handmade collages, the images create a textured representation of Anh’s experience. Note: Due to having the anger characterized as an external monster, this book is most appropriate for children aged five and up.

A Book of Feelings: Starring Sam, Kate, and Fuzzy Bean

By Amanda McCardie, Illustrated by Salvatore Rubbino

This story starts with two children, their dog, the love in their family, and the emotion of feeling happy. Then through the ups and downs of changes, arguments, loss, and more, we travel through a variety of emotions that emerge in children’s lives. Although the text and images are simple, the content moves into the complexity of what we can feel in our lives. The author shares some helpful questions to explore at the end of the book and an index identifies which pages highlight the different emotions: angry, cross, embarrassed, frightened, grumpy, happy, hurt, jealous, loved, loving, nervous, sad, shy, and upset. This is a book that can be revisited many times as children grapple with different feelings.

Because Brian Hugged His Mother

By David L. Rice, Illustrated by K. Dibble Thompson

With one act of kindness at the beginning of the day, Brian initiates a domino effect of good feelings and actions. Each act leads to different kinds of positivity which then leads to more kind actions! This is a great book to share to counteract when children get caught up in a cycle of negative feelings and actions. The best part is how all the goodness returns (like good karma!) to Brian at the end of the day. And because Brian goes to sleep feeling loved, he wakes up feeling great, which sets up the day to start with another lovely act of kindness!

Bravo Anjali!

By Sheetal Sheth, Illustrated by Lucia Soto

All too often girls are navigating how to balance doing something well with being liked. In this story, Anjali is shining in a traditionally male space, which brings taunts and disdain from her closest friend. Fortunately, an older girl reminds Anjali to never dim her light which helps Anjali stay true to her passion. In the process, she inspires a younger girl to see what is possible. This story is also an excellent one to share to help children understand what can be behind unkind behaviors and how it is possible to make amends after not-so-great choices.

A Friend Like You

By Frank Murphy and Charnaie Gordon, Illustrated by Kayla Harren

This celebration of friendships highlights the multifaceted nature of connecting with people and how we gain so much in the process. If you have young people in your life who are discovering what it means to make friends and, perhaps even more importantly, what it means to be a friend, this is a must-read. The vivid, diverse, and inspiring illustrations bring this book to life and also offer a vision of what is possible in this world!

Jabari Jumps

By Gaia Cornwall

With sweetness and simplicity, this book follows a young boy’s excitement and nervousness about jumping off a diving board. With support from his dad, Jabari works through some helpful tools for managing his feelings. The reassurance that it is okay to feel a little scared (plus ideas for how to help that feeling shift into something positive) is helpful for our little ones (and even for us as adults!).

Listening with my Heart: A Story of Kindness and Self-Compassion

By Gabi Garcia, Illustrated by Ying Hui Tan

So often children’s books focus on everything going right. Yet how we handle ourselves, including our self-talk, in the face of disappointments and mistakes is important for emotional regulation. This is a story of Esperanza’s day: from her excitement about her part in the play, to her awareness of spreading love and kindness, to her heartbreak when she feels like she’s ruined the play, to her realization that we also need to be loving and kind to ourselves. This story can be read again and again, during good days and days that stink. The resources at the end of the book are also incredibly valuable for helping our children develop self-compassion and positive self-talk.

The Many Colors of Harpreet Singh

By Supriya Kelkar, Illustrated by Alea Marley

Change is hard for children. When Harpreet Singh’s family moves, he has to leave the place he knows. As a result, the colors he uses to express himself fade into a white, colorless, shy need to not be seen. However, one small connection to a classmate changes everything for Harpreet. This story is an excellent reminder of the power of friendship and the importance of small acts of connection. The author’s note at the end also provides a window into why Harpreet’s patka (a specific style of turban for young boys) represents important values of equality.

My Cold Plum Lemon Pie Bluesy Mood

By Tameka Fryer Brown, Illustrated by Shane W. Evans

Navigating the ups and downs of family life can bring up all sorts of feelings. The shifting colors of one boy’s mood come to life in the jazzy prose of this book: from a gloomy gray when brothers get pushy, to gentle green from a little sister’s smile, to racing red to get home before dark. Despite the challenges, everything comes full circle as the family comes together. A bonus to this book is that the author is a Montessori mom!

Ruby Finds a Worry

By Tom Percival

This is a helpful picture book for young children who are struggling with any kind of worry or anxiety. The concept of a “worry” is materialized as a little fuzzy blob that grows over time and becomes ever-present for Ruby as she goes about her days. And the more Ruby worries about her worry, the larger it grows. Finally, Ruby encounters a boy sitting alone with his own worry. As Ruby and the boy express and share their worries, they realize that their worries shrink to the point of non-existence! Note: Due to having the “worry” externalized in a fantasy-based way, this book is best for children aged five and up.

Sometimes I Feel Like a Mouse: A Book About Feelings

By Jeanne Modest, Illustrated by Robin Spowart

Simple and straightforward, this picture book demonstrates feelings through similes. The text is large and clear with the emotion words highlighted in colors that coordinate with the feelings. This is a great introductory book for our younger children and helps set the stage for identifying and naming how we feel at different times.

When Sophie Gets Angry–Really, Really Angry…

By Molly Bang

This Caldecott Honor Book is a must-have. Molly Bang uses color and image to show the shift into surprise, hurt, and then intense anger at the unfairness of an interaction with a sibling. A volcano ready to explode, Sophie slams the door and runs straight into nature. It is here that cool colors begin to ease and soothe. She finds a place of calm that allows her to reenter her home with love.

We hope these books offer you and your children new ways to explore the many aspects of our emotional lives. You can click here to download a printable booklist . We also invite you to schedule a tour to see how social-emotional learning is woven into the fabric of Montessori classrooms.

The Capstone Years

Mon, 05 Feb 2024 12:00:01 GMT

There are key times in children’s lives when they can consolidate emerging parts of themselves before moving into a new area of growth and change. Two significant times of change for young people are around age six and then again around age twelve, the kindergarten and 6th-grade years. Both biology and Montessori theory offer insight into why these are significant times in children’s lives.

Montessori’s Planes of Development

Dr. Maria Montessori believed that children’s work is to construct the adults they will become. This is really important work! Adults can support children’s own self-construction, but not actually do it for children. Children are able to accomplish self-construction through their own activity and interactions with the environment.

Dr. Montessori’s observations of this self-construction led her to develop a theory of four planes of development. When looking at children’s development from a scientist’s point of view, Dr. Montessori found that development did not occur steadily but rather occurred in phases or planes. Dr. Montessori considered that the change in children, as they moved from one plane to another, was so profound that it resembled a rebirth.

Each plane or phase of development lasts for approximately six years: infancy (0 to 6), childhood (6 to 12), adolescence (12 to 18), and adulthood (18 to 24). The turning point around age six is when children are moving from infancy into childhood, and similarly, around age twelve they move from childhood into adolescence.

Biological Changes

Biologically, considerable hormonal changes are happening during these two transition times in children’s lives. While our society generally recognizes the biological shifts that happen as young people move into adolescence, we are less well-versed about what happens in our six-year-olds.

It doesn’t take much, though, to realize change is afoot! Think about what we see in terms of dramatic physical changes around age six: their teeth start to fall out, their hair gets coarser, they lose that baby-soft skin, and they start to become leaner and lanky. Similarly, our twelve-year-old’s are on the brink of adolescence, another period of dramatic physical growth and change.

However, there can be a gap between these physical signs of maturity and the cognitive and emotional development happening for our six-year-olds and twelve-year-old’s. Often children at these ages are moved too quickly into an environment that doesn't meet their needs and doesn’t honor the internal growth that still needs to occur. When this happens, they lose the environmental stability that allows them to develop a deeper sense of self-confidence and to truly consolidate the intellectual and emotional skills they have been developing over the previous years.

Capstone Years

In Montessori, we recognize the importance of these transitional years and intentionally design our learning communities to support young people during this time. The six-year-olds and twelve-year-old’s are the oldest in their classroom learning communities. They know the routines and expectations, they have secure relationships, and they get to help others who are newer to the classroom communities.

Because they aren’t trying to assimilate into a new environment, our six- and twelve-year-old’s can serve as leaders for their mixed-age classrooms. They can focus on challenging work and big personal achievements. By being with their younger classmates, they can see where they have grown and how they got to where they are now.

These are the capstone years, the final piece to complete the critical building-up that has been happening during the previous formative years. The level of mastery allows our young six-year-old and twelve-year-old leaders to integrate their social, emotional, and intellectual selves.

During these capstone years, children gain a sense of self-confidence and self-satisfaction from their ability to successfully navigate the bigger projects that were beyond their capabilities in the earlier years. Plus, they do so in a community of adults and peers who have shared in their learning experience over several years.

By having the opportunity to integrate their learning in a safe, stable, and secure environment, our young learners can do their important work of self-construction. We invite you to visit and observe in our classrooms, so you can see for yourself the significance of these capstone years. Schedule a tour or observation by calling 860-388-3536 .

Trust the Process: Montessori as an Intentional Approach

Mon, 29 Jan 2024 11:00:09 GMT

In Montessori, we focus on supporting children’s intellectual, emotional, social, and academic growth. A scientist first and foremost, Dr. Maria Montessori was interested in creating optimal learning environments so that young humans could reach their potential with as few adult-created obstacles as possible.

Thus, in Montessori, we think differently about the role of the adult and even how learning materials are used. One of the adults’ roles, for example, is to put children in touch with activities so that children can learn through doing. With this experiential approach, children can use their hands, engage through movement, and even make mistakes. The adults are not the dispenser of information or even the right answers. Rather, we help children learn how to learn, which includes understanding themselves as learners, figuring out how to use failure as a starting place for growth, and exploring the process as much as coming to an end product.

To achieve this, the Montessori method has a very intricate approach that relies on providing children with building blocks over the course of their educational journey. Montessori guides engage in an individualized, long-term process of introducing children to a series of skills and information, all to help children experience ah-ha moments. We know that when children discover something for themselves, they own that information deeply. Sometimes we’ve seen children feel like they are the first discoverers of a new piece of knowledge, a linguistic tool, or a mathematical trick.

For example, when children are learning the process of compound multiplication, we move them through a series of activities that connect their prior knowledge of place value, patterning they have experienced for years through different Montessori materials, and a color-coded system for quantities. As they work through steps that show how compound multiplication works, children often realize that they can take shortcuts rather than putting out and exchanging various colored bead bars on a material called the chequerboard. Once they start taking these “shortcuts” they are demonstrating that they have internalized the steps for multiplying multi-digit numbers. Sometimes in this process, children feel like they are discovering a fabulous secret or have invented a new mathematical method. However, we know that they are taking the necessary steps to abstractly compute the answer in a compound multiplication problem.

One of the gifts of a Montessori education is that children have the opportunity to discover so much in their own way and in their own time. Rather than rote learning or memorization, children are given the chance to make connections. Through multiple learning experiences, these connections become interconnections that create complex neural pathways that often show up later in life. There is a reason why a Wall Street Journal piece coined the term “Montessori Mafia” to refer to a number of former Montessori students who have gone on to become what could be called tech titans and engaged innovators!

If this process of discovery isn’t happening for some reason, Montessori guides are trained (and the materials are designed) to provide scaffolding so that children can still build upon prior knowledge and make progress toward mastery. Even so, sometimes extra support is needed and when this is the case, collaboration is key. Montessori works most effectively when there is a strong alignment between home and school. So, if a child needs some additional help or outside services, we work to coordinate with a tutor or support person so that everyone is working in alignment.

If you ever want to show your child a shortcut or introduce some outside-of-school practice, we request that you take a moment to check in with your child’s classroom teacher. It might just be that your child is on the brink of discovery. They could be at the culmination of years of carefully designed preparation. They might be just about to make an important connection or realize a significant insight. And when someone is on the edge of understanding, it is a tremendous gift to allow them to have their moment!

We thank you in advance for appreciating the intricacy of our approach and for connecting directly with us if you want to explore how to support your child(ren)’s learning. And of course, if you are interested in more about what happens when children can discover the process for themselves, we’d love to show you! Schedule a tour to see how Montessori students own their knowledge in powerful and profound ways.

In Support of Spoken Language

Mon, 22 Jan 2024 11:00:00 GMT

Our children’s early years are essential for developing strong language skills. So, in Montessori, we pay particular attention to how we support young children’s receptive and expressive language development.

The exercises we use to enhance children’s spoken language development don’t have a large physical presence on the classroom shelves because many are games or conversations. But the integration of these spoken language activities into a prominent part of children’s daily experience in our Montessori classrooms.

The Purpose

Young children are expanding their vocabulary at an astonishing rate: from recognition of about 50 words at age one, to about 1,000 words by age three, to at least 10,000 words by age five! We know that children absorb language effortlessly, so in Montessori we provide children with expansive vocabulary enrichment through a series of mindful oral language exercises.

We also recognize that the adult is the most important language material in the classroom, so we use precise language whenever we are communicating with children. We offer rich, full, and beautiful language because we know we are providing an essential foundation for children.

Our Favorite Activities

We keep oral language alive and lively through a variety of purposeful activities.

Classified Picture Books

We choose wordless picture books that focus on a theme that is familiar to children or that are classified around a sequence (e.g., Amanda’s day). In the classroom, we sit down with one child and take a “picture walk” through the book to help the child interpret the picture clues. The adult doesn’t tell what is happening and rather asks the child about what they see. This process not only helps children develop their expressive language skills but also sets the stage for future reading and story interpretation.

True Stories

When we tell true stories, we invite a group of three to five children to join us. Sometimes we use little cultural artifacts or objects as we share stories about everyday life, or we offer little snippets about geography, art, music, biology, and geometry. The key to these stories is that they are based in reality and are not fictional stories. In sharing these stories, we offer children interesting and rich language, as well as spark their interest and imagination!

The Question Game

For this activity, we gather a small group of children who have a common experience. Then we ask a series of questions about that event. Being mindful to solicit answers from a variety of children, we focus on asking questions that can form a sequence and illuminate details. We then summarize the story based upon the children’s responses.

Because children live in the moment and often don’t remember what happened yesterday, we try to do this activity on the day the common experience occurs. In addition to modeling how to tell a story and how to create complete sentences from one-word answers, we are also providing preparation for creative writing by taking an event and structuring it sequentially and highlighting details.

Conversation at a Picture

To engage children in this activity, we invite a small group to a piece of artwork on display and start a conversation about what the children observe in the picture. We focus on using “w” questions such as: What do you see? Where do you think they are? Why do you think…etc. We keep eliciting conversation by asking more questions: Do you see anything else in this area? Do you notice anything else about this scene? When the conversation begins to fade, we summarize the observations in a small narrative or story.

Reading Literature

We work to read quality children’s literature every day! When we do so, we highlight the book’s title, the author, and the illustrator. Under the age of six, children live in the present and are trying to adapt to the world around them. Because they are still too young to distinguish between fantasy and reality, we make sure to choose books that are grounded in reality.

Reciting Poetry

When reciting poetry, we do so from memory. We recite poems over a series of days and, just like with singing, children learn the poems by themselves and love to recite them. Children also absorb phonetic skills from any onset rhyme. Popular nursery rhymes support children’s process of learning to read!

Objects in the Environment

This activity is actually a series of games that follow a “listen and do” type format. After gathering a group of children, we explain that will say something to do and when a child hears their name, they get to do that action. We start with simple, one-step commands: Touch a shelf. Stand by a window. Walk around a table. We then progress both in complexity in terms of the types and categories objects as well as by offering double commands: Find a friend and shake hands. Choose a book and place it on a table. Play a bell and hum a tune. While quite fun, these games also have the added bonus of helping children develop their auditory memory.

Classified Pictures

For this work, we have collections of pictures representing categories of objects (types of transportation, furnishings, appliances, playground equipment, etc.), as well as cards with illustrations of geographical, geometrical, biological, and scientific terms (parts of a flower, land and water forms, polygons, etc.). When doing this activity with a child, we first name the classification (“These are all fruits.”) to help establish mental order. Then we play a little game to teach the vocabulary for the items pictured on the cards.

The Sound Game

The sound game helps children become aware of the phonemes in our language. We collect ten known objects on a tray and play an I Spy type game that isolates the beginning sounds of the objects, then later the ending sounds, and eventually the sounds in the middle of the words. The whole purpose of this game is to help children become aware of the sounds that make up words.

Spoken language activities are the foundation for children’s receptive and expressive vocabularies. In addition to enhancing their vocabulary and providing an overarching structure for future work in writing and reading, engaging children in language games also helps increase their listening and comprehension skills. Above all, we take the time to listen to children’s own spontaneous efforts to express themselves, so that they gain confidence in speaking and feel that their thoughts have meaning.

Come see (and hear!) all this spoken language work when you schedule a visit . We love to share what we do! Click here to schedule a tour.

Our Montessori Bookshelf: In Honor of MLK Day

Mon, 15 Jan 2024 11:00:03 GMT

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! In Montessori, we work to uphold the values of Dr. King. Both humanitarians, Dr. King and Dr. Montessori upheld a dream for humanity and believed reverently that peace could be realized.

In his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in 1964, Dr. King asserts: “Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”

In Education and Peace , Dr. Montessori states: “An education capable of saving humanity is no small undertaking; it involves the spiritual development of man, the enhancement of his value as an individual, and the preparation of young people to understand the times in which they live.”

Both Dr. King and Dr. Montessori recognized the profound personal shift required to support a societal shift toward peace and equity. To support this work, we offer some of our favorite books that highlight the legacy and vision of Dr. King.

Child of the Civil Rights Movement

By Paula Young Shelton, Illustrated by Raul Colón

The author, daughter of civil rights leader Andrew Young, shares a simple yet profound view of what it was like to live through the household experience of organizing, marching, and forming community. From the child-like “ah ha” moment of realizing Jim Crow wasn’t a bird to overhearing dining room conversation among some of the great civil rights leaders, this story brings the movement home to children. The “More About the People in This Book” section at the end is a helpful reference, too!

I Have a Dream: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Forward by Coretta Scott King

This presentation of Dr. King’s inspired speech from August 28, 1963, is all the more stunning with an overlay of paintings by fifteen Coretta Scott King Award or Honored artists. In addition to a short biography of Dr. King, the book also includes the African-American artists’ statements about their pieces. This is a perfect book to both read aloud and use to explore how art tells a story.

Let the Children March

By Monica Clark-Robinson, Illustrated by Frank Morrison

Told from the perspective of a young girl in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, the poetic verse of this story begins with Dr. King's call to action. Inspired and determined, the girl and her brother realize the children can march even if their parents can’t. The book is filled with hope, as well as images that don’t shy away from the pain and horror of the police response to the march. Moving and powerful, this story is an essential one to share. The Afterword and Artist’s Statement at the end are also helpful for older readers, as well as the creative timeline of events that spans the endpapers.

Martin Rising: Requiem for a King

By Andrea Davis Pinkney, Paintings by Brian Pinkney

A powerful collection of what the author calls “docu-poems” accompanied by rich sensorial images provides a narrative of the days and events leading up to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s death. Older children who have some knowledge of Dr. King’s life and legacy and who have perhaps begun exploring poetry will no doubt appreciate the artistry of Martin Rising. The author and artist's reflections at the end provide additional options to explore – performing the narratives aloud, searching for repeated visual symbols, and creating a play. This work of art is a must-have!

Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

By Doreen Rappaport, Illustrated by Bryan Collier

Collage illustrations combined with actual quotes from Dr. King carry the reader (or listener) through the rhythms of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life. From his early childhood days to his ministering to the long years of protest, this picture book flows powerfully through the arc of Dr. King’s “big words.” A perfect introduction to Dr. King for young children, the book’s simplicity makes the messages all the more resonant.

Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968

By Alice Faye Duncan, Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie

Nine-year-old Lorraine Jackson’s story of the Sanitation Strike in 1968 is both moving and informative. The book merges both the appeal of a picture book, the organization of a short chapter book, and the beauty of short poetic verse, and the level of detail is most suited for elementary ages. Dr. King’s profound influence is woven throughout the story, including the impact of his assassination and the reminder that “freedom is never free.”

My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

By Christine King Farris, Illustrated by Chris Soentpiet

Dr. King’s sister shares the story of their childhood, including the silly and the serious. Her firsthand account captures not only the joy of siblings growing up together, but also how formative experiences can set the stage for our future. This is a beautiful account to share with children of all ages and a powerful reminder of the potential each of us has to do something great in the world.

My Dream of Marti n Luther King

By Faith Ringold

Artist, Faith Ringold, weaves together art and story as she recounts a dream she had of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. While not a precise historical sharing, the story does provide plenty of opportunities for conversation about the Civil Rights Movement. For reference, there is also a timeline of Dr. King’s life at the end of the book, as well as suggestions for activities to help children explore and reflect on what they've learned.

Pies from Nowhere: How Georgia Gilmore Sustained the Montgomery Bus Boycott

By Dee Romito, Illustrated by Laura Freeman

This true story is a perfect illustration of how one person leaning into their strengths can have a big behind-the-scenes impact. Georgia Gilmore, a cook, heard about Rosa Parks’ arrest and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. She heard Dr. King speak and she decided she could “help the best way she knew how.” She made food and lots of pies and used the money to secretly support the bus boycott. The story continues with challenge and progress (and even Dr. King’s encouragement!). There is even a bonus recipe at the end for Georgia Gilmore’s Homemade Pound Cake!

We hope these books inspire you and your children as they have inspired us. We especially love how many of the books illustrate how meaningful change happens when many people are working together. You can click here to download a printable booklist. If you explore any of these books with your children, let us know what you think! We also invite you to schedule a tour to see how we work toward peace and equity.

“Our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative

change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.”

–Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Social Benefits: The Elementary Years

Mon, 08 Jan 2024 11:00:03 GMT

It is easy to focus on the academic benefits of Montessori education. In fact, an August 2023 meta-analysis of 32 studies highlights how students in Montessori programs, in comparison to students in traditional schools, show higher performance in language, math, general academic ability, and executive functioning. Clearly, the Montessori method has a powerful impact on student performance. Academic vigor, though, isn’t the only thing that matters in our children’s lives.

The social-emotional benefits of a Montessori education are also incredibly significant. This is especially apparent at the elementary level when children are figuring out who they are as social beings. The near-peer learning in mixed-age Montessori elementary programs helps our young people develop their collaboration strategies, problem-solving skills, and conflict-resolution techniques. Plus, Montessori environments support what our children are going through developmentally. We are working with human nature, rather than against the strong forces that drive our young people.

Collaboration

At the elementary age, it is all about the “we” because children of this age have a strong gregarious nature. They want to do things together and thus group work is an integral part of Montessori elementary classrooms. In the process of working together on projects, elementary students practice important communication skills and learn how to lift each other up in their group work. We want elementary children to know that collaboration will take us further than competition, so we help children learn how to support each other in sympathetic ways.

As they develop these collaborative skills, each individual comes to recognize not only the power of the group, but also what it means to belong to a group in a meaningful way. As children experience themselves as part of a group, they are engaged in important social construction.

Practice Society

This social construction can be seen as the way that elementary-age children begin to practice what it means to create societal structures. In Montessori, we sometimes think about elementary communities as “practice societies”.

It is “practice” because children are engaging in something they haven’t already mastered, which means they aren’t going to be good at it at first! We recognize that children need to work at creating their “practice society” and there will be gradual improvement. This also means that there will be mistakes, including conflict and hurt feelings. In Montessori communities, we have the time and space to support children as they work through this process. We value the importance of this social development!

The word “society” comes from the Latin root for companion. Thus, being in society implies having friendly associations with others. We want elementary children to find joy in associating with each other. During the elementary years, children benefit from real jobs that contribute to their community and begin to appreciate how to make sure everyone gets their needs met collaboratively. So, we support children in this work of forming a society based on joint cooperative work in a positive, productive environment.

Hero Worship

Elementary children look up to power, strength, and beauty in whatever form that occurs. Because they look toward heroes, we use the elementary years to introduce a variety of different types of heroes (even non-human ones!).

In looking toward heroes, children are thinking about how to actualize their own potentials. They become very observant of others. They love to research and look into the histories and stories of their heroes. They begin to recognize individual strengths and apply those to their own practice society, community, and family. They even begin to invite each other to work based on their strengths. As a result, individual children begin to feel truly seen. Eventually, they even begin to recognize that the strength of the group is their own strength. Hero worship drives all kinds of prosocial development.

Part of hero worship also involves stepping into leadership roles in the community, which means both learning how to lead and learning how to follow. Rather than just acquiesce, Montessori students develop a joyful obedience. They find joy in belonging to the group and being part of something together.

Building & Solidifying Skills

In the process of working with peers of varying ages, children make connections with different types of people and realize that learning can happen from those who are both older and younger! Through connection and conversation, children practice their patience, listening skills, and communication strategies. As classmates engage collaboratively on both projects and classroom responsibilities, they learn how to work toward one goal, lean into each other’s strengths, prioritize tasks, and organize their time. Part of this happens because in mixed-age elementary classrooms, students don’t have the stress of comparing themselves to peers of the same age. They have space and time to develop their skills, collaborate based on interests, and practice what they have recently mastered.

We see much of this social and emotional growth in how Montessori children interact with people both in school and out in the broader community. Because they have had the experience of adults as partners and allies, we see that Montessori graduates know how to seek help, ask questions, and generally converse with people of all ages.

But don’t just take our word for it! Come visit our school to see how our students are developing and practicing the social-emotional skills that lead to their success as thriving, whole people in the world. Schedule a tour today!

Toilet Learning Workshop

Thu, 04 Jan 2024 18:57:22 GMT

Parent Workshop: Toilet Learning: the Montessori Way

The Children’s Tree Montessori School in Old Saybrook is offering a parent workshop on toilet learning.

The workshop will be held January 26th. Caregivers will learn how to observe their child for signs of being ready to use the toilet, how to respond, and how to support them through the process. During the workshop parents and caregivers will have the opportunity to address any questions and concerns they have in supporting their toddlers.

This workshop is free and open to the public. Childcare with a light dinner is available at no additional cost. To sign up visit www.childrenstree.org /workshops or call 860-388-3536.

Why Intrinsic Motivation Matters

Mon, 01 Jan 2024 11:00:04 GMT

Think of a time when you did an activity because you wanted to do it–maybe weeding your garden, reading a book, taking a walk, or rearranging your bedroom. Your motivations arose entirely from within you. You likely felt pure joy or satisfaction in the very act of what you were doing. In these activities, you may have also felt a sense of meaning or purpose. Or maybe you felt like you were accomplishing something positive. This is the experience of intrinsic motivation. Stated another way, intrinsic motivation is when we engage in a behavior because it is personally rewarding rather than for an external reward or to avoid punishment.

Now contrast that experience with when you feel like you have to do something. Let’s imagine the same activities, but the impetus for doing them was different: weeding because you were stressed about the neighborhood association expectations, reading an assigned book because you got roped into a book club, taking a walk to keep up with a workplace exercise challenge, or rearranging furniture to make your house more attractive to a potential buyer. When you are motivated by extrinsic factors, rather than those from within, the experience is different.

Why Intrinsic Motivation Matters

In Montessori, we work to help children develop their intrinsic motivation. But why do we care so much about intrinsic motivation?

There are three main elements of intrinsic motivation: being able to act independently, feeling that one’s efforts matter, and developing satisfaction from the experience of mastery. We want our children to have these three experiences as they move through learning and life. When we are intrinsically motivated, we think and act with a sense of our growth potential and how we can have a positive impact on the world.

In Montessori environments, rather than handing out punishments and rewards, we encourage children to find and connect to internal motivations. In doing so, children develop a sense of autonomy, purpose, and mastery, all skills that contribute to high emotional intelligence.

In addition, intrinsic motivation is connected to having a growth mindset. When children have a growth mindset, they understand that they can learn from mistakes and that their abilities can evolve and grow. This leads to a willingness to embrace challenges and to see failure as an opportunity to learn. Some describe this as having cognitive hardiness, which is when we are motivated to work hard, try again, and incorporate new learning when facing challenges.

Extrinsic Motivators are Everywhere

All too often, children have a barrage of extrinsic motivators in their lives: from the seemingly positive external incentives like verbal praise (“good job!”), sticker charts, and grades, to more negative methods like punishments, time outs, and verbal reprimands.

Alfie Kohn, author of Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes , explains how incentives can seem to work in the short run, but that the strategy ultimately fails and can even cause lasting harm.

Research shows that extrinsic motivators work for the short term but that they don’t produce long-term change. For example, Mary Budd Rowe, from the University of Florida, found that students who were generously praised by their teachers responded to questions in an unsure voice, backed off from an idea as soon as an adult disagreed, were less likely to persevere with difficult tasks, and didn’t regularly share ideas with peers. Joan Grusec, from the University of Toronto, discovered that young children who received frequent praise for displays of generosity tended to be slightly less generous on an everyday basis than other children were.

Likely this backsliding happens because every time children hear “good sharing” or “good job” the actions they were doing become something that aren’t important in their own right. Rather their actions become a means to an end: getting praise. The actual value of the action becomes usurped by the adult response. In addition to creating praise junkies, we can actually rob children of the opportunity to have satisfaction and meaning because of what they have done. When we doll out external motivators, we encourage children to look to adults for approval or attention.

Lifelong Benefits

When children are intrinsically motivated, they want to do well because it’s the right thing to do or feels personally satisfying. As a result, they develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments. Furthermore, when facing bad days or setbacks, intrinsically motivated children can persevere. They are able to get back up when they feel knocked down. With this kind of cognitive hardiness, children are able to believe in themselves. They are confident in their abilities. These skills can last a lifetime and help our children find true success in the world.

Curious about what this looks like amongst a community of learners? Come visit the school and see how Montessori children use their intrinsic motivation in powerful ways!

Creating Family Rituals

Mon, 18 Dec 2023 11:00:02 GMT

During this time of togetherness, we have an opportunity to create family and holiday rituals with our children. In his book, Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living, anthropologist Dimitris Xygalatas explains how rituals provide balm for our anxieties, encourage our connections with each other, and help us find meaning in our lives.

Our children depend upon rituals, too. In fact, rituals provide our children with an awareness of family identity and positive experiences that help them cope with stress. When we have ritua ls in our lives, we can draw upon those connective times and rely upon an internal sense of having a web of support rather than feeling alone.

Rituals also help our children develop a growing sense of themselves as a member of a greater whole which promotes positive developmental outcomes. Plus, rituals can be great fun!

If you need some ideas for new rituals this holiday season, we thought we would share a few ideas.

Craft (or Re-Craft) Cards Together

Repurposing holiday cards is a fun way to go back through the greetings your family received and extend the spirit of the season. Children can cut out pictures from the cards, or even cut off the half without writing. These pieces can be pasted onto a blank piece of paper or cardstock to create a collage or new card. The half-cards can also be used as post-cards with a brief note or thank you jotted on the undecorated site.

This low-cost activity not only offers children a way to creatively express themselves, but it also can provide practice with several fine motor skills. If your child is not yet writing, they can dictate their message. Older children can learn how to make a homemade envelope and even practice writing the mailing and return address.

If children are really enjoying this process, they can also send homemade greetings to the nonprofit Cards for Hospitalized Kids for distribution (just be sure to check the site for guidelines, especially regarding glitter!).

Sing Together or Compose a Song

Music is a powerful way to cultivate togetherness and belonging. When we sing (and dance!) together we build trust and empathy, while also alleviating stress. The holidays offer so many opportunities for creating music. If you aren’t keen on traditional carols or songs of the season, another fun option is to gather different music-making tools, like different-sized bells or even glasses with different amounts of water in them. Experiment with gently shaking the bells or tapping glasses with a pen or similar item to create a little melody. If everyone likes the tune, play around with adding some words to describe a funny part of the day, tell a story of the holiday, or share about a favorite food!

Cook & Bake Together

Time in the kitchen is always a wonderful way to create some holiday memories. With extra time during days off, you can really revel in the experience of gathering ingredients, measuring, mixing, decorating, and even getting sudsy during the clean-up.

Young children might enjoy dipping pretzels or peppermint sticks in melted chocolate and then (before the chocolate hardens) twirling them in sprinkles. Or you have a favorite cookie recipe for the holidays. Your children can help make a batch and then package the cookies with a fancy bow to deliver to neighbors or to those working over the holiday (like firefighters, police officers, hospital staff, etc.).

Listen to or Share Stories Together

Storytelling captures our imaginations and transports us to other times and places. During the holiday season, we can create special moments when we come together and share stories, memories of past years or stories from our own childhoods. We can invite our children to share their stories, too! This kind of story time could be an opportunity to read treasured picture books aloud. Even older children will delight in the opportunity to revisit old favorites.

We can also create a scene like that of the days when families would gather to listen to a radio drama. Make it cozy and special with pillows, soft blankets, and special snacks. Bring the Alexa (or another device) to the center and listen to an audio story. Sites like Story Nory or Light Up Your Brain offer short pieces (roughly 5 to 10 minutes long) if you want to warm up to the story-listening experience!

Become a Tourist in Your Town

With all the holiday lights, it’s a wonderful time to have everyone get into pajamas, take a thermos or to-go cups of hot chocolate, and take a neighborhood driving tour with plenty of stops for sipping cocoa. For some added fun, you can rate favorite front-yard displays, create a scavenger hunt, or try to fill out homemade bingo cards . Playing some holiday music also helps set the mood.

Rituals are a significant part of our human experience and offer us ways to ground ourselves and form connections. As the holiday busyness subsides, let’s use these days together to connect with our children and create new family memories. Please also share your favorite rituals. We’d love to hear from you!

Keeping Holidays Happy with Kids

Mon, 11 Dec 2023 11:00:03 GMT

The holiday season is a busy and exciting time of the year for everyone. Holidays can have a great effect on children, as the time away from regular schedules can impact established routines. An overwhelming amount of gifts and too many activities can cause unnecessary stress and take away from quality time. Keeping these things in mind will make the season more enjoyable for your family.

It’s normal to be busy during the holiday season. We pack in visits with family, celebrations, parades, and other fun events. But with too many activities jammed into each day, this could prove to be overwhelming. Keep the individual tolerance level of your child in mind when planning your days.

Although it can be chilly this time of the year, kids are used to getting outside at least once a day for some fresh air. Outdoor time is also great for quality family time, as is including them in the extra activities of the holidays. Wrapping gifts, decorating, baking, and cooking are all excellent practical life activities that teach children life skills, and help them feel included in festivities.

Gifts are also a big part of many holiday traditions. But too many gifts can be overwhelming, so it is important to respect your child’s needs. If they want to play with a gift without opening more, let them. Or try different gift giving routines to break up holiday expectations.

The biggest impact of the holiday season is a disruption in daily routines. Children depend on a predictable routine, it reminds them that they are in a secure, loving environment. Keeping up with regularly scheduled nap times, meal times, and activities is all important in keeping the consistency that existed before the holiday season. Continuing to offer healthy meal choices and not allow too many sweets is important in keeping children calm, and prepared to handle some extra fun.

The holidays should be memorable and enjoyable. Slowing down the pace and continuing healthy routines for little ones will help them to keep up with the excitement. With less chaos and more focus on our children’s needs we can all have a great holiday season.

Family-School Partnership

Mon, 04 Dec 2023 11:00:00 GMT

Our children really thrive when home and school environments work cooperatively, communicate well, and share similar educational values and expectations. When families devote sincere effort to learning about Montessori principles and how to reinforce these at home, there are positive effects. We want to partner with you in support of your child!

What does a home-school partnership look like in action?

In order to reinforce and extend your child’s experience at school, we recommend exploring how to support your child’s independence and problem-solving, staying up to date with school-home communication, and learning about positive-based discipline.

Supporting Independence

To support independence, it’s important to remember that even the youngest child can engage in real-life activities around the house. They can help set the table, fold the laundry, feed any pets, and tidy a room. Older children can contribute to home life by participating in household chores such as loading and emptying the dishwasher, putting away groceries, gathering trash/recycling, preparing simple meals, and more elaborate pet care.

In this process, we want to provide children practice with self-care skills. This can range from putting on their own shoes, to picking out their clothes for the next day, to planning and packing their lunches. Providing children with these opportunities builds independence, confidence, and life skills. Even with very young children, the Montessori approach is “help me to do it myself.”

We also want to give our children the opportunity to overcome challenges. They might struggle to get their shoes on at first. Rather than swoop and just quickly do it for them, we can break down the steps and offer some simple verbal guidance: open the velcro first, pull here, open the straps, slide your toes into the shoe, push down, etc. With older children, this scaffolding may take the form of brainstorming how to communicate with friends about a social misunderstanding, or offering to draft an email together to the teacher to share what has been upsetting your child. When we provide support for problem-solving rather than “fixing” a problem, we help our children build self-esteem, their sense of purpose, and the determination to master life skills.

Communication is Key

Although staying up to date with communication seems like a simple step to staying in partnership, lives get so busy! To prioritize our children’s educational experience, we can take some simple steps to make sure we are in alignment and not working at cross purposes.

At the core, we want to maintain respectful, direct, and active communication with each other. This can be as simple as communicating with your child’s guide(s) in a timely manner about significant changes or events in your child’s life. Life outside of school has an impact on your child’s classroom experience, and communicating with your child’s guides will allow them to better support your child during times of transition or challenge.

Although conferences offer a lovely opportunity to collaborate, please remember that you don’t have to wait until regularly scheduled conferences! Please share observations and concerns about your child or their classroom experience directly with the child’s lead guide. Doing so allows the adults at school to be more responsive to your child’s needs in a timely manner. We want to know your thoughts and feelings sooner than later!

Another good step is to familiarize yourself with the handbook each year. It’s easy to think it only requires one read, but it’s worth revisiting the handbook annually to review school policies and remember important procedures and expectations. Similarly, reading communications from the school and classroom is an effective way to stay current about any updates or changes and to build a trusting partnership with your child’s classroom guides.

We want to hear and understand your perspective. We also want to share how we work to uphold the mission and vision of the school and Montessori pedagogy in a way that balances individual needs with community needs. Communication is key!

Practice Positivity

We work hard to model respect and positivity. To support this, we ask that you also model respect for your child. This can take the form of practicing positive discipline (read more about this on the Positive Discipline website).

Practicing positivity can also mean assuming the best intent. For example, if misunderstanding or conflicts arise, either at home or at school, as adults we can demonstrate respect. We can work toward resolution with graciousness and model being open to hearing another’s perspective. Children are watching and listening. If we speak of community members in positive terms, even if there is a concern or disagreement, our children will learn how to approach potentially tense situations with thought and care.

Thank you for being willing to understand and support the school’s policies, stay in communication, support independence, and serve as a role model for all children. We appreciate it when families are willing to learn about and trust the Montessori model of education. This awareness helps us work together to collaboratively support children’s development most effectively. Children thrive when they experience their home and school environments as being in sync!

One of the best ways to learn more about the Montessori experience is to observe. Call us to schedule an observation today!

Our Gifts to Children

Mon, 27 Nov 2023 11:00:00 GMT

The brain of a young child works differently than the brain of an adult. Sensorial experiences shape children’s brains, forming neurological webs that last throughout their life.

The fact that our interactions with young people help shape their future selves opens up an incredible opportunity. Each experience can be a gift. Often the simplest moments can carry the most meaning.

During the rush of this season, we have the opportunity to slow down and really be present with the young children in our lives. By being open to the wonder and delight our children experience, we gain new perspectives while also giving the best gift of all: our total attention.

This may mean taking a deep breath and momentarily turning off the chatter of the to-do list, squatting down to a child’s eye level, smiling, and just listening or seeing what they want to share. A helpful holiday mantra can be: Talk less. Listen more.

In addition to giving our full attention, whether for 20 seconds or 20 minutes, we can also offer to teach a young person a new skill. The key to these teaching moments is to focus on each distinct step so the skill is simple and attainable. Even very young children can be involved with tasks like setting the table, wrapping gifts, and tending to simple household maintenance. They appreciate being involved with routine activities and they want to contribute in a meaningful way.

Dr. Jane Healy, author of numerous books, including Your Child’s Growing Mind , reminds us that children need the opportunity to repeatedly practice activities that seem second nature to adults: “Self-help skills and household jobs are very important for the child to master–help your child, but encourage him to do it himself even if the job isn’t done exactly your way!”

When encouraging or supporting a child in trying a new skill or participating in a new task, be sure to take the child’s perspective into account. Showing how to do something is often the most effective and verbalized instructions can be kept to a minimum. In fact, it is best to not talk while showing something and to not show something while talking! This allows the child to focus on absorbing one kind of sensory input, thus keeping the information clear in their mind.

These kinds of ordered and clear experiences are key to a child’s development. “Impressions do not merely enter his mind; they form it,” explained Dr. Maria Montessori, a physician turned educator who spent intensive time observing children, making scientific notes, and thus coming to an enlightened understanding of childhood development.

Dr. Montessori observed how children respond positively to organization, both in terms of expected routines and physical space. Current research, such as that comparing the HOME inventory (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment) to longitudinal information collected in the Bayley Mental Development Inventory, shows that organized environments lead to higher intelligence scores.*

We all know that the holiday season throws our routines and even our physical settings a bit askew. With this in mind, children benefit greatly from adults in their lives maintaining a calm sense of order during this busy time.

In order to create a calm, ordered environment, we ourselves need to have balance and clarity in our own lives! Staying present in the moment, breathing deeply, and ultimately taking care of our own needs allows us to offer our best selves to the children around us.

What we offer to our children, in terms of our presence, special activities, or toys, can provide opportunities to aid their development. During this time of gift-giving, for example, we can provide objects that have an intelligent purpose and help children contribute in a meaningful way to the order around them. Child-sized, yet real, items are particularly valuable: cooking tools, building tools, yard tools, and even mops and brooms.

Children don’t stay young for long, and the early years are extremely formative. In her book, Understanding the Human Being: The Importance of the First Three Years of Life , Silvana Quattrocchi Montanaro explains the significance of a young child’s experiences: “Everything that comes from the environment is received, processed and stored in the brain cells with no effort using a form of unconscious absorption. This intense mental activity is always going on, even in prenatal life, and it characterizes ‘the absorbent mind’.”

For those interested in learning more about optimal environments for these “absorbent minds,” schedule a visit to our school. We can share more about setting up home environments that best support child development and show how our learning environments are specifically designed for neurological growth.

Knowing that the young children around us are absorbing everything about their surroundings, this season let’s give them our attention, meaningful ways to contribute to daily tasks, and a calm, ordered environment. As a result, we’re helping some remarkable young people as they develop into capable, caring young adults.

*For more information on this research, check out the book, Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius by Angeline Stoll Lillard.

The Stereognostic Sense

Mon, 20 Nov 2023 11:00:01 GMT

In Montessori toddler and primary classrooms, we offer specially designed materials to help young children refine their senses. In addition to the five senses—tactile (touch), visual (seeing), auditory (hearing), olfactory (smell), and gustatory (taste)—we also support children’s stereognostic sense.

What is the stereognostic sense?

The word stereognostic comes from the Greek words “stereo” which means “around” and “gnosis” which means “to know.” Having a stereognostic sense means being able to identify the shape and form of a three-dimensional object, and therefore its identity, through tactile manipulation without any visual or auditory input.

“They are very proud of seeing without eyes, holding out their hands and crying, ‘Here are my eyes!’ ‘I can see with my hands!’”
– Dr. Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method

Children develop a mental picture of an object through the use of touch and movement. This tactile and muscular experience allows them to recognize an object by feeling and palpating without seeing or hearing the object. Everything we touch helps form a memory.

Young children are absorbing everything, so the more experiences they have with objects and parts of their environment, the more accurate their perceptions will be. Thus, the combination of language (naming objects), the tactile experience, and muscular memory provides children with a more complete and precise understanding of the world.

Mystery (or Stereognostic) Bags

In our toddler and primary classrooms, we have special “mystery bags” or “stereognostic bags” to support the development of children’s stereognostic sense. These drawstring bags contain objects children have already encountered in their environment. We make sure children know the names of the objects, too.

The first bag we introduce has a set of four to six objects that belong to a classified group, such as kitchen utensils, art supplies, bathroom items, etc. These are real items that children have used in their lives.

The next bag has four to six general objects that are not grouped in any category (e.g. a comb, rock, sponge, funnel, cloth, etc.).

The third bag has three to four pairs of objects that are very different from each other.

The Experience

When we introduce each of these bags, we first show how to carry the bag and invite the child to take the bag to a table. We then carefully demonstrate how to open and close the bag and give the child a turn to try opening and closing. Next, we peek inside the bag and remove one item at a time, naming each object as we remove it from the bag and place it on the table. We also give the child a turn to feel each item. When all the objects are removed from the bag and lined up on the table, we name one and invite the child to place it in the bag. We repeat this until all the objects are back in the bag.

Then the fun begins! We explain that we are going to reach into the bag to find an item. Putting both hands into the bag (and without looking in the bag) we feel around and grasp an object. With some enthusiasm, we say the item’s name before we remove the item. Then we take the item out of the bag and show it to the child. Often the child watching takes great delight in the fact that we were able to name the object before seeing it. We repeat with the other items and then invite the child to try. When using the bag with the paired objects, the only difference is that we select one item, name it, remove it from the bag, and then try to feel for the matching item.

We regularly rotate the items in the bags so children have lots of opportunities to feel for what is in these “mystery bags”. Children find the experience to be absolutely delightful!

The best part is that when children try to recognize an object through touch alone, their brain receives the sensorial input and then forms a three-dimensional image that provides a more complete understanding and precise perception of the object.

“When the hand and arm are moved about an object, an impression of movement is added to that touch. Such an impression is attributed to a special, sixth sense, which is called a muscular sense, and which permits many impressions to be stored in a ‘muscular memory,’ which recalls movements that have been made.”
– Dr. Maria Montessori, The Discovery of the Child

The stereognostic bags are just one example of the many carefully designed materials we introduce in Montessori classrooms. We always love to have you come visit to see or experience these sensorial delights firsthand. Schedule a tour today!

The Origins of Language

Mon, 13 Nov 2023 11:00:01 GMT

Dr. Maria Montessori felt that in order to support children’s development of language, we first need to appreciate the evolution of language. In fact, the language today’s children use is a culmination of language evolution from the dawn of humans.

Languages have expanded and grown to match the complexity of our cultures. Because language is changing and evolving, children create their language as it exists in their environment. Although a child born thousands of years ago had no less potential for developing language than a child today, our languages have grown in fullness and complexity.

Evolution of Spoken Language

Although we don’t have any records documenting the beginning of spoken language, we can imagine that certain experiences or events drove humans to produce different sounds. Over time these utterances likely became internalized and came to represent an experience.

Language is necessary for humans to work together cooperatively. In his memoir, Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood , Trevor Noah relates his experience growing up in South Africa, where there are at least thirty-five indigenous languages, eleven of which are official languages. As someone who speaks seven different languages, Noah experienced first-hand how language can bridge divides: “Language, even more than color, defines who you are to people.”

Early humans developed language as a means of communication, but humans were isolated into small tribes or clans. Each group developed their own agreed upon communications. As populations increased and migration happened, communities came into contact. Some words got shared. Some new words were created. Etymology gives us the histories of the roots of words, and as such, historians can study the evolution of language and human migration through words and their roots.

The vocabulary of any language is related to the culture of that community. For instance, the Eskimo language has 27 different words for snow, while Hawaiians have no words for snow. Languages constantly evolve as new experiences emerge in our culture. Currently, we can see this in how words are added or removed from the dictionary. A couple of decades ago, for example, “Google” was not a verb!

Primitive spoken languages were primarily nouns interspersed with some adjectives, verbs, prepositions, and conjunctions. Primitive languages actually sounded a lot like how young children speak. As cultures evolved and became more complex, languages evolved their own vocabulary, grammar, and syntax.

Evolution of Written Language

At some point, humans also developed symbolic language as a way to record their thoughts. These records began as pictures, such as the cave paintings that date from over 30,000 years ago. In the beginning, the pictures were realistic and over time became more symbolic, moving from pictograph alphabets to phonetic alphabets. With a phonetic alphabet containing a limited number of symbols, people could begin to create any word. The birth of the alphabet greatly simplified the writing system. As civilizations evolved, expanded, and became more sophisticated, the expansion of language in written form became more universal.

The roots of modern American English reflect the diversity of the culture. While the English language originated in Britain, the Romans added a Latin influence and the French Saxons and Anglos added their own influences. As colonists came to America from different countries, they brought their language to a place where the Native Americans had their own languages. All of these influences were incorporated into American English.

This diverse history of the language is what makes it complicated and full of exceptions. Some words retained their original spelling while others were adapted and modified. This varied origin story explains why we can have a sound represented in so many different ways. Just think about the sound “sh” which can be represented in: shock, sugar, emotion, charade, social, and tissue.

Once humans developed a writing system as a way of recording thoughts, another skill had to be acquired — reading. If writing is recording our thoughts, reading is interpreting the thoughts of others.

Collaborative Problem Solving

Mon, 06 Nov 2023 11:00:04 GMT

So often, when we get really upset with our children, the first thing we want to do is solve the problem. Tell them what needs to happen. Take control. Sometimes even become a bit dictatorial!

In those times of frustration or anger, our rational thinking tends to take a back seat to our emotions. We forget what might be happening in our children's internal (and sometimes external) lives. We rush ahead instead of taking the time to help guide our children.

Yet our children look to us for assistance and support. When our children are struggling, they need us to show compassion, patience, and empathy.

Changing Our Perspective

Dr. Ross Greene, a clinical psychologist and author of Raising Human Beings , among other publications, makes an impassioned plea on his website, Lives in the Balance , asking adults to recast how we think about challenging behavior. When children are behaving in challenging ways, Dr. Greene explains, it is "because they're lacking the skills not to be challenging. If they had the skills, they wouldn't be challenging.”

Dr. Greene also emphasizes two vital themes to better support our children. "Kids do well if they can," he states, and, "Doing well is always preferable to not doing well.”

If we wholeheartedly embrace the fact that our children want to do well if they can, we can take what Dr. Greene calls a “dramatic departure from the view of challenging kids as attention-seeking, manipulative, coercive, limit-testing, and poorly motivated. It’s a completely different set of lenses, supported by research in neurosciences over the past 30 to 40 years, and it has dramatic implications for how caregivers go about helping such kids.”

How can we help?

It's worth noting that all children at some point demonstrate challenging behaviors. So how do we, as adults and caregivers, help children with these challenges?

The first step is to think about what difficulty a child is facing. The challenging behavior arises because of a difficulty. Listing specific difficulties helps us shift our thinking away from the behaviors that can cause us frustration.

Next, at a time when the behavior isn’t happening, we can find a time to connect and make sure it's a good time to talk. At that point, we can state what we've observed: "I've noticed it's been difficult for you to finish breakfast before we need to leave for school.”

The Empathy Step

Then (and this is key) we ask, “What’s up?” or “What’s going on?”

This statement of a non-judgmental observation, and then an invitation to share, initiates what Dr. Greene calls the Empathy Step. The Empathy Step is an information-gathering process in which we really try to understand the child's perspective and experience. We listen without reacting and ask questions or reflect back answers in order to peel back the layers of what is really going on for the child in those moments of challenge.

During this time of reflective listening and questioning, it's essential that our child is heard, really heard. All too often, we try to jump in too quickly with advice or solutions, without giving enough time and space for our young person to share valuable perspectives and insights. Just this process of listening can be incredibly healing. If a child isn't used to us really listening, or we aren't used to asking questions rather than offering solutions, check out this cheat sheet for how to get to the heart of the matter.

Assuming our child has been able to share what's really going on in those moments of challenge, we summarize what is distressing to them and share our own concern. For example, "I understand, and my concern is that I feel stressed and anxious when we are rushing to get out the door in the morning." We then invite our child to work together with us to find a solution that can meet everyone's needs.

Being Heard and Validated

When using this process with children, it’s often the case that we sometimes don’t even get to the last steps of stating a concern and initiating a collaborative problem-solving process. Sometimes it makes sense to listen to what our child has to share about what is going on and then let that really settle. Sometimes just the process of being heard is significant enough for shifts to occur for our child, as being heard helps them feel validated.

In those moments of frustration or upset, let's try to slow ourselves down and remember that the child in front of us wants to do well. Our job can be to listen and empathize. And in doing so, we can support that young person in solving problems, learning new skills, and becoming a more whole human being.

Halloween, Montessori-Style

Mon, 30 Oct 2023 11:00:03 GMT

Whether we are excited about the delights of Halloween or reluctant to face the excess of sweets, the holiday is upon us! In Montessori, we try to approach holidays as an opportunity to learn more about culture, which includes understanding the history as well as related traditions. As with other aspects of culture, we also think about how to give and show respect in a way that is developmentally appropriate. Above all, we keep in mind what makes sense for each child.

Teach the History

How did Halloween begin? This is an excellent time to explore the origin of Halloween with your child. Young children appreciate a very simple explanation that is linked to the rhythm of the year. For example: “Around this time, when the nights are getting longer and darker, different cultures have different ways of marking this shift from summer into winter. In our culture, one way people have celebrated the change of seasons is by dressing up and visiting neighbors.”

With older children, it’s fun to do a little research together into Halloween’s ancient Celtic origins. Telling a little teaser story can spark some interest in learning more. For example: “Did you know that Halloween began over 2,000 years ago? It wasn’t called Halloween then, though. Its name was Samhain (pronounced ‘sow-in’), which means ‘summer’s end.’ Back then winter was a dangerous time, so people got together to face some of the superstitions and fears, and also to play games and eat together before winter began. Let’s see what else we can discover about this celebration and traditions over time!”

If you are interested in learning more with your children, here are some helpful links for collaborative research:

The Origins of Halloween Traditions

This History of Halloween for Kids

Halloween History for Kids: Six Facts They Should Know

Practice Grace & Courtesy

It’s not often that we march up to multiple houses and demand treats! As such, we want to be thoughtful about how we introduce the practice of trick-or-treating to our children, uphold our family values, and model showing manners while having fun.

Young children will likely benefit from some demonstration before they jump into the experience. Role-playing with a family member, friend, or neighbor can set children up for success before they are in the awkward situation of standing before a stranger uncertain about what to do (or not do).

With older children (and their friends if they are trick-or-treating as a group), it’s also helpful to collaboratively review expectations such as walking on people’s sidewalks rather than marching through yards, only approaching houses with porch lights on, the protocol for knocking and/or ringing the doorbell, how to politely respond or engage when someone comes to the door, and what to say as you leave (e.g. “thank you” or “Happy Halloween!”). In addition, Halloween is an excellent time to review road safety around crossing the street and checking for cars.

Remember Developmental Appropriateness

Our young children are still distinguishing between what is real and what isn’t. As such, Halloween can be an exciting and yet sometimes disorienting time. Our language can help. Just like with toddlers when we say, “This is a picture of a giraffe” rather than “This is a giraffe” when we present a language card with a giraffe image, during Halloween festivities, we can be specific about how we talk about people in costumes or even decorations. For example, we might say, “Oh look, there is a person dressed up in a witch costume!” rather than “There is a witch!” Or we might offer some explanation if our children are hesitant, “Those bat and spider figurines hanging on the porch look so real, but when I look more closely I see how they are made of plastic. Can you see that, too?”

If fears do arise, acknowledge your child’s feelings, let them know it’s okay to feel scared, and make sure they feel heard and supported. The last thing we want to do is minimize our children’s fears. Sometimes this means making some modifications to the Halloween plans. Ultimately, we want to make sure the festivities are fun for our children. This might mean considering other options, like decorating pumpkins versus dressing up like zombies. Low-key or autumn-themed activities might be best if children are feeling anxious or fearful.

However your family chooses to celebrate the season, remember we have an opportunity to model respect and thoughtfulness, as well as the importance of having some fun! Let us know what you love to do this time of year. We would love to hear about your family’s favorite autumn and Halloween traditions!

Materials Spotlight: The Color Tablets

Mon, 23 Oct 2023 11:00:00 GMT

Young children are constantly absorbing information about the world around them! Some of it is very concrete, while some is abstract.

Color as an Abstraction

Think about the color red. Red as a quality does not exist in nature. Red can be represented in physical things, but you can’t bring “red” to another person. We can find a red apple, a red street sign, a red flower, but we can’t find just red. Red is an abstraction.

In Montessori environments, we are mindful of how we introduce young children to these kinds of abstractions. We try to represent the intangible quality in a physical form and to isolate it so that children can really focus on the quality and the language connected to that attribute. Every variable is held constant except for the one characteristic to experience and explore. We do this to give children the clearest, most precise images we can.

These materials that we use to introduce the abstract concept of color are called the color tablets because each color is represented on a tablet. The tablet with red looks exactly like every other tablet in our color box, except for its color. Each tablet has the same size, weight, and shape. The only variation is the color. This materialized abstraction allows us to put “red” in the child’s hands to experience and explore. The Montessori color tablets are organized into three boxes.

First Color Tablet Box

The first color tablet box is composed of three pairs of color tablets: red, blue, and yellow. These primary colors represent the extremes of color. With this first box we awaken children’s sensory awareness by introducing how to pair the matching color tablets. There are two of each variable and children find the mates. Cognitively it is easier for children to notice sameness than difference.

In this first stage, we also demonstrate how to handle the material and how to experience the sense. If a child can’t distinguish the extremes of the set, we get important information about their sensorial perception. Sometimes the child isn’t successful at this first stage because they aren’t yet comprehending the concept of sameness. Thus we must be very careful to let children know how we are pairing the items by finding the matching the tablet that looks exactly like the one we have selected first. This isn’t just random pairing, but rather is based upon a specific perception. Often children don’t spend too long with this first box of color tablets, although some young children will be drawn to the simple beauty of the three primary colors.

Second Color Tablet Box

With color box two, the focus is still on finding similarities, however, there are more variables. For example, color box two has primary colors and secondary colors, as well as brown, grey, black, and white. This adds more variables for children to search through to find the match and thus requires them to use a finer level of discrimination. When we add more variables, the differences between them become smaller and not as extreme. This challenges children’s exactness and precision.

Third Color Tablet Box

The third box of color tablets is divided into seven or eight compartments each with a gradation of one color from dark to light. Children begin using this box when they have been successful pairing with more variables because grading by shade requires a higher level of discriminating difference. Children’s attention has to be focused on a slight unit of difference. Is the blue just lighter than the last shade of blue? This is cognitively much harder!

Just these three steps are not enough to ensure the maximum amount of depth of experience with the materials. Thus, we extend work with the color boxes by offering language and memory games.

Language Extensions

After children have some experience with the material and we observe that they are successful in consistently pairing two colors together, we offer children language to accompany the abstraction. Language fixes the sensorial quality in their minds and aids memory and recall. We don’t want to give language to images that are not clear, because that confuses children. When children are successful pairing colors, we offer the names of the colors. Then when children are successful in grading the shades of a color, we offer the comparative terms (darker than, lighter than) and superlative expressions (darkest red, lightest red).

Memory Games

Memory games help children discover sensorial qualities in the world around them. In the first memory game, children put one set of the paired color tablets in one location and the second set in random order somewhere else in the room. The trick is to have the second location be just far enough away so as to allow enough time for children to retain a memory of the color. To play the game, children place a “memory marker” next to one of the color tablets lined up in the first location. They then hold that color, such as “red”, in mind and walk to the second location. There they find the red tablet and bring it back to place it by its mate. Children then move the memory marker to another color tablet and continue.

When children are successful with this, they can try a harder variation of this game in which they use a tray to place the second set of color tablets in scattered locations around the room. When children go to find the matching color tablet, they must retain the impression in their memory for a longer time and not be distracted by the other things they see as they walk around the room.

Children can also play a game of matching each color tablet to a material in the classroom. For this game, children use the memory marker to indicate which color tablet they are using. They then study the color tablet, leave it on the rug or table, and then search the environment for an object that has the same exact shade of the color. When they find the object, they bring it back and place it next to the selected color tablet.

Keys to the World

If we think about the world of color, we realize there are an infinite number of colors, shades, etc. We don’t give children every color of the world. We give the keys: the primary colors, then the secondary colors, then black and white, and a few other colors. Every other color is made from those keys!

The color tablets are one of the more lovely and inviting materials we use in the Children’s House or primary classrooms. Come visit our school and see how young children internalize these kinds of abstract concepts and, in the process, develop a refined sensorial ability!

Our Montessori Bookshelf: Captivating Chemistry

Mon, 16 Oct 2023 11:00:01 GMT

In Montessori classrooms, elementary students are able to study every fascinating thing under the sun (and beyond!). Montessori children are exploring the world, not the inside of a textbook.

That being said, there is structure to the Montessori learning environments as we provide the room for young people to explore threads and interconnections as they consume everything they can about the universe. In this quest to understand the physical world (past and present), children find themselves in the realms of astronomy, physics, meteorology, geology, and chemistry.

We thought we’d share some of our favorite books that support children’s fascination with the chemical world. While most of these books are most appropriate for elementary ages and up, younger children might also enjoy a few of them.

Chemistry for Curious Kids: An Illustrated Introduction to Atoms, Elements, Chemical Reactions, and More!

By Lynn Huggins-Cooper, Illustrated by Alex Foster

This is a helpful reference book for children who are just starting their foray into chemistry, as well as those who are further along in their understanding. Although the book is organized into chapters–States of Matter, Chemical Building Blocks, The Chemistry of Life, the Periodic Table, In the Lab, and Chemicals All Around Us–it’s quite easy to flip to different pages and peruse what draws your interest. The pages are chock-full of beautiful, colorful illustrations that draw attention to key concepts and the easy-to-access texts makes even dense information understandable.

Every Day, Chemistry

By Julia Sooy, Illustrated by Bonnie Pang

This picture book takes us on a little journey through a child’s day and how chemistry is part of just about everything we do. Younger children will enjoy this book’s engaging illustrations, while also taking in foundational information that will inform their elementary years. Older children can benefit from the big picture context of how chemistry doesn’t just happen in a laboratory, and is rather an essential aspect of life. The last few pages of the book provide some easy to access explanations about the difference between chemical reactions and physical changes.

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Elements: The Powers, Uses, and Histories of Every Atom in the Universe

By Lisa Congdon

After some introductory pages, this book dives into a visually appealing investigation into each element on the periodic table. The simple yet powerful illustrations accompany fascinating descriptions for hydrogen through fermium. Accentuated with little standout tidbits–like the element category, year discovered, who discovered by, and fun facts–the information is clear and easy-to-read and includes amazing historical details. Young researchers will love this book!

The Kitchen Pantry Scientist: Chemistry for Kids: Homemade Science Experiments and Activities Inspired by Awesome Chemists, Past and Present

By Liz Lee Heinecke

More than just a random collection of science experiments, this book offers a thoughtful expedition through time, highlighting 25 chemists from ancient history through today. Moving in historical order, each overview of a chemist is accompanied by a lush illustration and fascinating facts, as well as a step-by-step way to have a hands-on experience with the concept or their work. This book is a must have for kids who both love history and science!

The Usborne Illustrated Dictionary of Chemistry

By Jane Wertheim

This reference book is jam-packed with information and illustrations. For those who want to keep digging into the details, the bottom of each page references which pages to go to for more details about a term or concept. This higher-level reference book will definitely appeal to visual learners and provides excellent review or jumping off points for further research.

Women in Chemistry

By Mary Wissinger, Illustrated by Danielle Pioli

We want our children to ask questions about this world, and this book encourages just that! A girl’s question, “What is the world made of?” takes us along a path of inquiry that artfully weaves in women’s contributions to chemistry, foundational information about matter to ribosomes, and ultimately the power of curiosity. This book not only serves as an excellent introduction to chemistry, but also a way to center female scientists!

You can click here to download a printable booklist . If you explore any of these books with your children, let us know what you think! We also invite you to schedule a tour to see how children at our school learn about advanced concepts in a way that appeals to their interests and curiosity.

Honoring Indigenous Peoples’ Day

Mon, 09 Oct 2023 11:00:01 GMT

Hopefully, we have all been hearing and sharing more Land Acknowledgements, which recognize and honor the Indigenous Peoples who are the original stewards of the lands on which we now live. Acknowledging the land we occupy is by itself a small gesture. Yet this first step of showing respect and support can become more meaningful when coupled with informed action, authentic relationships, and work toward reconciliation.

To help ourselves and our children become more aware, informed, and accountable, we can start by sharing stories about the present-day life and culture of Native Peoples, celebrating indigenous activism, and learning about the history of the people whose land we live on.

All too often our children have unconsciously absorbed harmful stereotypes about Indigenous Peoples or that Native Americans only existed in our country’s past. Thus, we need to be very intentional about providing current, accurate, and respectful information on Indigenous Peoples’ Day and throughout the year.

Show Representation

Mainstream culture often presents native peoples as fierce, war-like, and to be feared, or sometimes in a more romanticized, puristic way. Children absorb these kinds of stereotypes through sports mascots, books, movies, and even place names. Non-native authors sometimes also unintentionally reinforce stereotypes or conflate different tribes’ cultures and histories.

Countering these messages takes conscious work.

An easy way to begin is by infusing our home and school libraries with books that show native people living in our current time period. Young children cannot distinguish between the past and the present and showing Native Peoples in current day settings disrupts the false narrative that Native Americans are a “people of the past.” One of the best sources we’ve found is Rebekah Gienapp’s list of indigenous children’s books.

In addition to reading stories and sharing books with more accurate representation, we can also incorporate books, art, and music created by American Indians. If you’d like some sources to help begin this journey, check out:

Native American Musicians We Should Know

Embracing Contemporary Native American Art as Contemporary Art

Why Study Native American Literature

Project 562: A multi-year national photography project dedicated to photographing over 562 federally recognized Tribes, urban Native communities, Tribes fighting for federal recognition, and Indigenous role models

Meet Indigenous Speakers and Learn How They’re Keeping Their Languages Alive

Through their own words, music, performance, and advocacy, Native American and Indigenous artists share important insights into their hopes, fears, traditions, and stories. In the process of taking in more respectful representation, our young people can offer more acceptance and experience more genuine appreciation.

Focus on Your Community

We can also accompany our children on a journey of learning about the original people who lived on the land we now occupy. This investigation is most suitable for children as they enter their elementary years, as it means digging into some history. In this process, we can help our children appreciate how there are multitudes of Native American nations and that each has their own language, culture, history, and traditions. As we learn about the Native Peoples of our place, we can then be more specific as we talk about native culture. For example, “This book is about the Mohican people.”

An amazing interactive resource that can help children also appreciate geography through a cultural lens is the Native Land Digital map: https://native-land.ca/ . Because the map does not show political boundaries, children can visually discover some of the fluidity of native territories and languages. The site also provides links to local Native American nations for more information.

Celebrate Activism

As we learn more about and honor our Native Peoples, it’s important that we and our children are also aware of indigenous struggles and victories. We can start by introducing one of the many movements for native rights . We can also find local events that feature Native Peoples and then ideally support those events that give back to the Indigenous community.

As we learn with our children, we can also explore ideas for making reparations. The Land You Live On: An Education Guide by Native Land recommends first honoring a nation by taking the time to learn how to pronounce a nation’s name correctly. Three options listed in The Land You Live On are:

Respectfully ask someone from the nation.
Check the nation’s website for a phonetic pronunciation on their “About” page, an audio recording of their name, or videos that include people saying the nation’s name.
Call the nation after hours and listen to their voicemail recording.

The Native Land Education Guide also encourages thoughtful reflection in order to make Land Acknowledgements more meaningful. Helpful questions provided include:

Why is this acknowledgment happening?
How does this acknowledgment relate to the event or work you are doing?
What is the history of this territory? What are the impacts of colonialism here?
What is your relationship to this territory?
How did you come to be here?
What intentions do you have to disrupt and dismantle colonialism beyond this territory acknowledgment?

On this Indigenous Peoples’ Day, let’s commit to having a greater consciousness and disrupting false narratives throughout the year. In this process, we can help our young people feel more empowered to provide support and take action!

FREE Positive Discipline Parenting Workshop

Mon, 02 Oct 2023 15:04:39 GMT

FREE Positive Discipline Parenting Workshop

The Children’s Tree Montessori School in Old Saybrook is hosting a free Positive Discipline workshop for parents and caregivers this October. Positive Discipline, founded by Dr. Jane Nelsen, is a parenting philosophy that focuses on building mutually respectful relationships with children.

During the workshop caregivers will learn how to modify behaviors and motivate their child with love and patience. If you are tired of power struggles, time outs, and negative consequences, this workshop is the perfect opportunity for you. Positive Discipline is appropriate for families with children of all ages, 0-teens and beyond. Come and find out how positive discipline can help your family!

This free workshop is open to the public and will be led by a certified Positive Discipline trainer from The Children’s Tree Montessori School on October 20th from 4-6pm. Dinner and childcare will be offered for free, donations accepted. Register online at www.childrenstree.org/workshops/ or call 860-388-3536.

The Children’s Tree Montessori School is located at 96 Essex Road, Old Saybrook, CT.

The Power of Three

Mon, 02 Oct 2023 11:00:02 GMT

In Montessori, the number three shows up a lot! We have the three-hour work cycle, three-year age spans, the three-period lesson, and the three-stage learning cycle. While there is considerable spiritual significance to the number three throughout human history, in a Montessori context, the importance of these threes is grounded in scientific observation of human development, characteristics and needs during different stages of growth, and how our brains synthesize information.

If you are curious about the three-year age spans, check out this past blog post: What is the Montessori 3-Year Cycle . This time we are going to focus on the learning process and how the three-period lesson and three-stage learning cycle meet young people’s needs for internalizing and synthesizing new information.

Three-Period Lesson

The three-period lesson model came from Édouard Séguin (1812-1880), a physician and educator known for his work with children with disabilities. Séguin used the three-period lesson to help children make an association between an object and its corresponding term.

The three-period lesson captivates young children and rouses interest. Dr. Maria Montessori began to use three-period lessons to help young children connect language to the perception of an idea, and ultimately create a permanent acquisition in their memory. There are three discrete stages to this approach.

The First Period: Naming

This first stage of the lesson is when we introduce vocabulary and help children make the connection between their experience and the language. In this first stage, we want to isolate both children’s impressions and the matching word.

At the infant and toddler level, we start with real objects or small replicas. With young children, we have about four objects in a basket. We pick up one object and name it. We then allow a child to have a turn feeling the object and having their own sensorial experience of the item. In the process, the child brings together the name and their sensorial experience. We continue this with each object, saying the name multiple times. For example, “This is the _____. You can feel the _____. You can place the ____ here.”

We also use a similar process for introducing vocabulary through language cards which have a picture of one isolated object on the card.

As children get a little older, we start introducing language for more abstract concepts. For example, if we are introducing tactile experiences, we offer children two different tablets that are identical except for one feature: one has rough sandpaper on it and the other has smooth paper. We feel the rough tablet and say: “It is rough.” Then the child feels the rough tablet. We repeat the same process for the smooth tablet.

The Second Period: Recognizing

This is the longest part of the lesson because we want children to have many experiences with the object or quality and its name. We rearrange the objects or cards and then ask children to place them in different locations or to point to a particular one. We might ask, “Which is rough?” Or say, “Place the _____ on my hand. Place the ______ here.”

We approach this second stage in a playful, game-like way although the goal is to cement the concept in children’s memory. If children make a mistake, we do not correct. Instead, we merely reinforce the correct vocabulary: “You handed me the picture of the cheetah.”

The Third Period: Remembering or Recall

We ask children aged three and older to recall the name that corresponds to the object by isolating the object or image and asking for its name: “What is this?" If children aren’t able to remember, we just try the three-period lesson again on another day.

We don’t use this third stage with children younger than age three because they might not yet be ready to produce the sound. Plus, this request for recall isn’t a great idea to use with children when they are in their oppositional stage (around age two)!

The Elementary Years

Elementary-aged children engage with new material in a similar, yet more sophisticated way. The learning process echoes the three-period lesson but isn’t exactly the same.

The first period involves a presentation by the adult, which can include the great stories, impressionistic charts, materials, experiments, and demonstrations. The focus is on introducing specific concepts, activating student interest, and providing a big-picture view before going into specific details. Rather than being vocabulary-based as with younger children, these lessons are intended to introduce elementary students to the wonder of the universe. In this first period, the adult gives only what is absolutely necessary for the lesson, so the students can move into their own exploration.

The second period is the longest part of the learning activity and is an exploratory phase of learning when students freely choose follow-up work. We want to see how far children can go with what they have learned, so the second period offers repetition with variation and encourages extension and elaboration of original concepts. Once they have done extensive work, students have reached the third period.

During the third period, the adults are discreetly and indirectly assessing children’s learning. Through conversation and observation, adults can see if the students can recognize the concept and perhaps apply it to a new or novel situation. Unlike with younger children, there is no expectation for students to perform or produce evidence of their learning. The onus is on the adult to observe and gather data that will help direct future lessons and even re-presentations.

In Adolescence

A similar learning cycle also exists in the Montessori adolescent community as a way to support learning, development, and self-creation for teens.

Similar to what happens in the elementary, this first stage is a lesson or experience offered by an adult. It is an invitation to work and contribute to community needs by addressing a specific, concrete issue. In the first stage, adults can also elicit student input by asking adolescents for options and choices about the work they want to do and how they want to do that work.

During the second stage, students engaged in freely chosen work that is activated by interest or a recognition of a need in the community. The adults are there for guidance as adolescents work with skills and ideas and begin to consolidate them. This stage can include research, experimentation, inquiry, data collection, discussions to enhance collective understanding, physical and practical work to accomplish a task, and consultation with experts. Throughout the second stage, the adults are looking for what draws students into the task, what keeps them working, and what drives contribution to produce, think, and question.

In the third stage, adolescents can offer what they learned by giving back to their community. Unlike in the elementary years when the adults are discretely observing for understanding, now there is an expectation that adolescents can produce a product at the end of their work. This sharing of knowledge and understanding is both a consolidation of concepts and skills, and a way to acknowledge that the work exists within the context of community. Products of the third stage can include a demonstration, publication, or implementation.

While these three stages take on slightly different forms from infancy through adolescence, the goal is the same: to effectively support young people as they integrate their learning. Come visit our school to see the power three!

The Absorbent Mind

Mon, 25 Sep 2023 11:00:02 GMT

Unlike other species that are born with a predetermined set of behaviors, human babies are born with a set of potentials. When a child is born, we have no idea if they will be a master musician or a creative chef. It’s pretty amazing when we think about it! Children are constantly creating the skills they need to become contributing adults.

Dr. Maria Montessori observed children from a scientific lens and over time she concluded that this kind of creative work could only happen with a mind that was different from the conscious adult mind. She realized that children’s minds operate in a fundamentally different way. In The Absorbent Mind , Dr. Montessori states:

“The child has other powers than ours, and the creation he achieves is no small one; it is everything. Not only does he create his language, but he shapes the organs that enable him to frame the words. He has to make the physical basis of every moment, all the elements of our intellect, everything the human being is blessed with. This wonderful work is not the product of conscious intention.”

Well before brain scans, Dr. Montessori discovered so much about how children’s brains function and she termed this special mental functioning, the absorbent mind. Her book, The Absorbent Mind , was one of the last books she compiled.

The words Dr. Montessori used to describe the child’s absorbent mind were chosen deliberately. The word absorbent implies “taking in” and integrating into the whole. What is absorbed becomes a part of what is doing the absorbing. Children take in their experiences and impressions which become part of the structure and content of their brains.

“Impressions do not merely enter his mind; they form it. They incarnate themselves in him. The child creates his own ‘mental muscles,’ using for this what he finds in the world about him. We have named this type of mentality, The Absorbent Mind.”

The absorbent mind is a superpower of children from birth to around age six.

Because children under six are absorbing everything in their environment, our actions need to reflect what we expect. If we want children to sit at the table to eat, we need to sit at the table to eat. If we want children to talk with quiet, calm voices, we need to talk with quiet, calm voices. If we want children to carry one item at a time, using both hands, we need to do so, too. The key is to model this behavior at all times. Children are absorbing indiscriminately. We may not think they are looking, but they are taking it all in!

We can share an example of this from a Montessori classroom. Once upon a time, a tall toddler teacher would always squat down in front of the low shelves to select a material to show a child. After squatting down, she would pick up the item she wanted to show. Although all the toddlers were at the right height to easily take the item, the teacher noticed that they would walk to a shelf, squat down, and then pick up the material. Even though this movement was much more difficult for the toddlers, they had unconsciously absorbed the steps the teacher had demonstrated: walk to the shelf, squat down, and pick up what you want.

So in our Montessori environments, we are very careful with how we move and what we do. When the adults want a snack, we follow the same procedure as the children. We wash our hands, use a plate, and sit at the snack table. Doing what we expect the children to do also gives us a wonderful opportunity to see how the process can be improved. By having snack and cleaning up after ourselves, we can experience the process. Are the dustpans easy to access and in a place that makes sense? Do the spray bottles work well for spraying and wiping the table? What parts of the process feel cumbersome? What flows well?

We can also look at our school and home environments from our children’s perspective. Sometimes it helps to even kneel or sit on the floor and look at a room from a child’s height. What do they see? What stands out from their vantage point? Is the space welcoming and beautiful? What attracts attention?

Our young children’s brains are hardwired to effortlessly absorb what is around them. Because our children are full of potential, we want to provide them with the best! Let’s start by taking a look at ourselves and our children’s surroundings. As we think about our children’s absorbent minds, we can work to provide them with clear, consistent images as we move through our days.

If you would like to learn more, please schedule a tour . We love to share how we support children as they are discovering what is possible!

Moving Away from How Was Your Day?

Mon, 18 Sep 2023 11:00:02 GMT

When we pick up our children from school, it can be so tempting to ask, “How was your day?” Often the responses are pretty lackluster.

As adults, we can likely relate. If a partner or friend asks about our day, our responses may be along the lines of fine, good, tiring, okay. Sometimes we just don’t feel like rehashing the day!

For children, there can also be an element of not always having the language to explain what they did or experienced. In Montessori environments, this can be even more challenging. How can a young child describe the sensorial experience of carrying each block of the pink tower to a rug and creating a geometric tower of cubes based on the decimal system? Or convey their emerging conversation with a friend during community lunch? Or relate their delight in discovering that ten 10s create a hundred squares?

As children get a little older, they are also starting to grapple with figuring out their relationships with peers, which involves so many social nuances. Younger elementary-aged children are still seeing these relationships in black and white. So their descriptions of the day may be pretty two-dimensional: someone was mean or nice, the day was good or bad (usually based on an interaction with a friend), etc.

It can be hard for children to talk about their experiences at school. However, if we shift our approach, we can often get more insight into our children’s experiences.

Ideally, we focus on connection first. When we see our children at the end of the school day, we can greet them in a way that conveys how happy we are to see them. They may be tired, need to fall apart a little, have a snack, or just have a little time for rejuvenation. Allow a little loving space. Each child has a different way they feel fueled, loved, seen, and held. That first moment isn’t an ideal time to ask about the day because our children are transitioning into being back in our care. Plus, there is a lot going on during that transition!

Later, when our children have settled into being with us or at home, and hopefully have had a snack or a little time to decompress, we have a chance to connect about the day. However, a word of caution: questions like, “How was your day?” or “What did you do today?” are so open-ended, they can also feel overwhelming to children.

Instead, when we focus on starting a conversation rather than digging for information, our children are more likely to open up. They also need to feel that we are completely present for their responses, which means putting down our phones, not focusing on getting everyone into or out of the car, or not being involved in something like preparing dinner. It helps when we can show with our body language that we are really listening.

In those times when you are ready to explore a conversation, we recommend trying some other kinds of questions. Here are 40 of our favorites. The first five work best for younger children.

What made you feel happy today?
Who did you play with today? What did you do together?
Who did you sit with at snack/lunch today?
What made you feel sad today?
What was your favorite activity today?
Did everyone have someone to play with today? Who played together?
Who brought the best food in their lunch today? What was it?
What was your favorite thing in your lunch box?
What games did you play at recess?
What is the most popular activity at recess? Is it something you like to do? Why or why not?
Did someone get in trouble at school today? What did they do?
What did you notice today that other people probably didn’t see or pay attention to?
What is something you did today that you’d love to do every day?
How did someone fill your bucket today? Whose bucket did you fill?
What made you feel worried today?
What made your teacher smile? Did anything make your teacher frown?
What were you grateful for today?
If one of your classmates could be the teacher for a day, who would you want it to be? Why?
What is your class or teacher’s most important rule?
Who do you want to make friends with but haven’t yet? Why?
What did you learn about a friend today?
If aliens came to school and beamed up three kids, who do you wish they would take? Why?
What did you do today that was helpful?
When did you feel most proud of yourself today?
What rule was the hardest to follow today?
Which person in your class is your exact opposite?
Who is the friendliest person in your class? What do they do to be friendly?
What did you do today that was creative?
Did your teacher read to the class today? If so, what was the story or book about?
What was the high point of your day? What was the low point?
Was anyone in your class absent today? Do you know why they weren’t there?
What is something you heard that surprised you?
What is something that challenged you?
What is something that you were super good at today?
What compliments did you get (or give) today?
How were you brave today?
If you could change one thing about your day, what would it be?
How was your day different than yesterday?
What superpower would have come in handy today?
What are you looking forward to tomorrow?

After a snack, over dinner, on an afternoon walk, or before bed, try starting conversations with these kinds of questions. Notice that most of them can’t be answered with one word.

In addition, we can also provide our own responses, which provides a model for our children and gives them some scaffolding as they are thinking about how to answer. For example, “At lunch today I sat with someone who just started working with me. We talked a lot about going hiking and I shared some of my favorite hikes.” Or “When I was about your age, we loved playing capture the flag. One of my favorite memories of this game was when…” Sharing parts of our day or some of our own school memories not only shows that we are interested in conversation, but it also gives our children a guide for how to begin.

Let us know how it goes to first connect and later start conversations with open-ended questions. If you have any conversation starters that you and your children especially love, please share them! You can also download this printable of our favorite 40 questions to keep handy for those opportune moments.

Family Challenge: Support Young Lunch Packers!

Mon, 11 Sep 2023 11:00:02 GMT

At the start of this new school year, we’ve been thinking about how to offer ideas for integrating Montessori learning at home. With this in mind, we'd like to present you with a family challenge. You can think of this challenge as your homework. Even though we don’t really assign homework in Montessori, we do like to collaborate to help children develop their skills and confidence!

Children in Montessori settings do a lot of food preparation. Food preparation is a big part of their practical life experience at school and a big part of becoming functionally independent in the world. So, our challenge is this: Rather than taking on the sole responsibility of preparing lunches for our children, let's make a commitment to move toward helping our children become their own lunch packers!

Seems Daunting?

Maybe you already have a quick and easy routine for packing lunches. Or maybe it feels a little bit like a drag you stumble through every day. Regardless, preparing lunch is a part of our daily lives. Many of us try to fine-tune lunch packing to make it as efficient and painless as possible. The thought of including our children in that process may at first seem completely overwhelming and impossible.

We recognize the challenge may feel uncomfortable, but bear with us! Not only does helping our children learn how to pack their own lunches help prepare them for important life skills, it also supports their Montessori experience in a pretty significant way. Plus, all too often we see children open up their lunch at school and complain that the food is something they don’t like or want. The side benefit of having children be part of the process is that they have some responsibility and accountability for what they bring. If it's food they helped choose, prepare, and/or pack, they know what they have!

Let’s break down the steps for supporting children as they learn how to prepare their food, pack their lunch, or even just be part of even putting items in their lunch bag or box. Keep in mind that this family “homework” challenge can even start with toddlers!

Shop Together

A wonderful way to enlist children’s involvement is by including them in some part of the shopping experience. Young children can be part of selecting certain food options off the shelf and putting them in the cart. Older children can help make a grocery list, figure out the cost of different items, and keep track of what is needed while in the store. Even a little bit of involvement in picking out lunch food options helps children have a sense of ownership and control.

Choice within Limits

In order to have a balance between wants and needs, it’s worth also weaving in some conversation about balancing different food groups and having plenty of healthy options. Some families have success with collaboratively creating a list of different choices within each food group. Decide as a family what you prioritize then list various options from food groups (e.g. grains, vegetables, fruit, dairy, and protein). It can help to create a visual guide so even young children can see what their choices are when thinking about what to plan for and purchase.

Accessibility

After coming home from the grocery store, children can be part of putting away the items they will be using to prepare and pack their lunches. Accessibility is key. Having a designated spot for lunch foods helps with the packing process. Low cabinet shelves or even low drawers work well. If possible, also find an easy-to-reach space in the refrigerator for perishable items. The blog, “How We Montessori,” has some great ideas on accessibility.

It can help to have clear containers so children can easily see their options. For example, after purchasing grapes, children can help wash them, remove the grapes from their stems, and then place the ready-to-eat grapes in a glass or plastic container to store in the refrigerator. Similarly, carrots can be washed, cut, and stored in water in a see-through container. If this system works for your family, even non-perishable items, like crackers, can be removed from their packaging and placed in a clear storage container with other accessible lunch foods.

Easy to Make & Easy to Eat

Young children tend to love having small portions with lots of variety. So when preparing food, think about how children can help with this step. They might like to help cut a sandwich into mini-sandwiches, peel and section a clementine, or slice some cucumbers. With a variety of different choices, children can try combining foods in different ways. They might like to sample a piece of cheese with their apple slice or see how cream cheese tastes on a cracker. Older children can create their own wraps, roll-ups, or sandwiches or choose some dinner leftovers to put into containers for the next day’s lunch.

When children are part of preparing food, there can be some mess involved. It’s good to allow a little time and space for spills to happen. We can show children how to clean up after themselves, while also remembering that the youngest children won’t necessarily be able to clean it all up themselves. When we collaborate in the process, we are helping our children learn how to do it themselves. Whatever path makes sense for your family, just remember that when children are part of the preparation process, they are more invested in trying and eating a variety of foods.

Plan Ahead

Because mornings can be rushed, it often helps to do a little planning ahead of time. Some families like to use the weekend to map out a lunch menu with their children. This can be posted in an easy-to-reference place in the kitchen. When it’s time to get the foods ready or put them in lunch containers, children can just look at the lunch plan for that day. Some families go as far as collaborating with their children to get as many lunch foods as possible ready over the weekend so that their kids can just put that day’s items into their lunch bag or box each morning. Other families might set up a routine so that children are part of emptying and washing their lunch containers when they get home from school and then can use that time to get their lunch set up for the following day. Children may even like to get their lunch packed the night before, store the whole lunch bag in the refrigerator, and then just grab the lunch and go in the morning.

Your kids are more capable than it may seem! Although the process may feel overwhelming at first, remember that you are helping your child learn valuable life skills and reinforcing their Montessori education. If you’d like to come visit the school to see children’s food preparation in action, schedule a tour. We would love to support you with this Montessori challenge!

The Significance of Being on Time

Mon, 04 Sep 2023 10:00:00 GMT

As we start the school year, we want to connect about a really crucial part of Montessori learning environments and how it affects your child, as well as the community as a whole.

First, it helps to remember that we are constantly working to ensure the Montessori learning environment is supporting your child’s development. To do this most effectively, we observe. In our observations, we are looking at what is working for children (and what isn’t).

These observations may lead to some changes. For example, we might adjust the arrangement of the furniture so that there is a better flow of activity in the room. Or we might recognize how an individual child needs a little extra time to watch friends before starting any activity. Sometimes we might realize that, as adults, we are walking around too much and distracting the children, so we slow down and take a few moments to sit calmly.

While much of the Montessori learning environment depends upon observing so we can make modifications to what we do, there is one aspect that is really sacrosanct: the three-hour work cycle.

Three-Hour Work Cycles & the “Flow State”

Dr. Montessori was a scientist and the Montessori method of education was born from her observations of children and how to support their optimum development. She even graphed patterns of activity for individual children and classroom communities. In her scientific study, Dr. Montessori found that children need a block of uninterrupted time in order to go through a rhythm of focus and consolidation. Children two and a half and older need at least three hours to move through these cycles of concentration. Often children’s most growth and meaningful work happens toward the end of a three-hour block of time.

We can think about this in relation to our current-day understanding of what it means to get into a flow state. Sometimes people describe a flow state as “being in the zone.” It’s when we are so immersed in and focused on what we are doing that a sense of time and our surroundings disappear. This concept of flow has been most clearly articulated by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Csikszentmihalyi was a psychologist whose studies of happiness and creativity led to his articulation of flow – a highly focused mental state that is conducive to creativity and productivity. Interestingly enough, when Csikszentmihalyi’s grandchildren started going to a Montessori school, he saw how Montessori learning environments allowed young children to achieve this state of flow.

Why is this significant?

In order to get into their own state of flow, children in our learning communities need a three-hour chunk of time. We have designed our morning arrivals and routines so that children can benefit from an interrupted morning work cycle.

Part of the morning schedule involves children having enough time to greet their peers and go through their routines without being rushed before they enter the classroom environment. When children are ready and in the classroom, the guides can begin focusing on giving lesson presentations and generally supporting children as they start their day.

However, if children routinely arrive late at the beginning of the morning, the adults’ attention needs to be split between greeting those who arrive late and attending to the children who have started their important work of the day.

This is also hard on the children who arrive after their peers have settled into their morning. When children enter a space where everyone is already connected and engaged in work, it is hard for them to connect with classmates and even know where to begin. This is especially challenging for those who really need to establish a social connection at the beginning of their day. It’s a little like awkwardly coming late to a party and finding everyone else in already established social circles!

In addition, late arrivals can be challenging for the community as a whole. The children who were on time and working often find it distracting when friends and classmates arrive. They might even lose focus on what they were leaning because they feel compelled to greet their friends. However, once everyone has arrived, the community is really able to settle. The adults aren’t trying to help children transition into the classroom and friends aren’t getting distracted by who is coming through the door. After arrivals are over, a gentle hum often comes over the room.

A World of Difference

Children need time to transition. Some children are relatively quick, while others take over 15 minutes to get their items put away, shoes changed, and so forth.

It makes a world of difference when our community members arrive on the early side, so that transitions can happen when a guide is able to be present to greet children and so that we can have everyone in the classroom at the start of the day.

We know that mornings can be hard. Believe us, we know. If we were able to just extend the morning if people arrive late, we would! However, children get hungry for lunch, we want to have plenty of time outdoors, and we also need to leave time for children who need to rest. Thus, we rely upon on-time arrivals for the very important three-hour work cycle. Having that uninterrupted block of time is vital to a well-functioning classroom and to individual children’s development.

Thank You!

Thank you so much for being attentive to on-time arrivals, understanding why having the three-hour work cycle is so important, and considering how you can help. If you would like to meet and brainstorm about routines that can support on-time arrivals, we would be honored to get to strategize with you. When we can meet one-on-one with families to support morning routines, we often find some really creative, healthy, win-win options! It can take time to figure out what is most effective for each child and family. It’s a constantly evolving opportunity and we look forward to the collaboration. Please schedule a time to come in and connect.

Establishing the Flow: Your Guide to a School Year Started Off Right

Mon, 28 Aug 2023 11:00:06 GMT

It’s that time of the year again. Over the course of the summer, and even with the best of intentions, some of our routines tend to dissolve and give way to relaxation and adventures. Which is great!

The school year is starting soon. Now is the perfect time to consider what your family will do to prepare for the transition back.

Unless this is your child’s first year heading to school, you’ve probably been through and considered all this before, but it’s always nice to have a little refresher. Read on for our tips to make the start of the school year as smooth as possible for everyone.

Sleep

Perhaps the most important bit to consider, your child’s sleep schedule is critical to their success. There are three elements to focus on: how much sleep your child needs, when that sleep should take place, and the quality of sleep.

So just how much sleep does your child need? It depends on the individual, but age plays an important role. Here are the AAP's recommendations on how much sleep children should get within each 24 hour period. (Times include naps.)

Once you know how much sleep your child should be getting, and what amount works best for them, figuring out bedtime is as simple as counting back, considering factors like when you need to leave in the morning and how long it takes to get ready.

Is their desired bedtime nowhere near their current bedtime? Take the transition slowly. Start by having them go to sleep just 15 minutes earlier, then another 15 minutes earlier every few days until you reach your goal.

As for quality of sleep? That’s all about creating a relaxing environment. A darker, cool room works best, and establishing a regular and soothing bedtime routine will help them drift off to dreamland easier. Keep the routine the same each night, whether that includes a warm bath, reading, or even using a little lavender-scented spray.

Schedule

We touched on this above, but creating a regular schedule is really important. When children know what to expect, they are much better equipped to take on the day. There will certainly be moments and days when routines are interrupted, but if we prioritize them most of the time, children benefit greatly.

Every family is different, but consider what you want your morning to look like. Some questions that will help guide you in creating a schedule:

What time should you leave the house to arrive comfortably at school/work?
What tasks could be done ahead of time (perhaps the night before) to alleviate the morning rush?
What is your child able to do independently, and what will they need help with?

The same basic concept goes for evening routines as well. As we mentioned in the section on sleep, a focus on calming rituals prepares your child’s mind and body for a restful night of sleep. If the steps remain the same night after night, bedtime will only become easier as the weeks pass by.

Emotions

It is totally normal for children (and even adolescents) to experience big emotions as back-to-school approaches. They may feel excited, anxious, apprehensive about being apart from you, as well as a wide range of other thoughts and feelings.

If your child feels distraught at all, it can be really hard for parents to see. For some of us, the natural reaction is to do whatever we can to minimize the concerns and help them move on. The very best thing we can do, however, is to acknowledge their feelings. When you notice behavior that is reflective of emotional tension, ask them how they’re feeling. If they’re very young, help them name their emotions. Acknowledge that these are normal ways to feel.

Validation is key here. Should we ease their fears a bit by talking about what to expect and addressing their concerns? Of course! But those talks may not erase their worries, and that’s okay. Let them know you recognize their emotions and that it’s okay to feel however they feel.

Parents can experience overwhelming emotions at this time, too. You may surprise yourself! If you’ve been able to spend extra time with your child all summer long, the thought of so much time apart can be hard (or not). Perhaps your child is starting in a new class or is beginning their final year and it has you thinking about how quickly they are growing up. Think of it as a great way to model what to do in the face of challenging feelings.

Expectations

Even with careful planning and the best of intentions, nothing ever goes quite as planned, especially when it comes to our children. Maybe the first day of school is creeping closer and you’re still struggling to get the kids into bed before 9:00. Maybe your eight-year-old is super nervous about starting at a new school. Maybe it’s a challenge to balance your own work schedule with morning drop-off.

Whatever you do, expect the unexpected. Know that we are here to support the children and families in our community. The first couple of weeks at school may be bumpy, they may be smooth, or (most likely) they’ll be somewhere in between. We hope you and your child are looking forward to the start of a new year, and we can’t wait to see you all again!

Participation in Practical Matters

Mon, 21 Aug 2023 11:00:02 GMT

In our daily lives, we do so much to maintain our surroundings, as well as care for ourselves and others. As adults, we take these activities for granted. Young children, however, yearn to participate in practical matters.

Everything we do to care for the environment, ourselves, and others make up what can be called "practical life" activities. In a Montessori home or school environment, practical life activities help children learn about cultural norms, while also helping them develop internal motivation, intellect, and body coordination.

Purposes of Practical Life

With this in mind, we can really think about how practical life activities have two purposes: one is external and one is internal. The first purpose is to help children engage in something meaningful and real. For example, washing a table leads to a clean table. The second aim is to help children develop their internal worth and sense of competency.

Practical life activities help children become psychologically and physically independent. By the time 24-year-olds begin life on their own, they should be able to provide for themselves, be responsible for their actions, plan for their future, and perhaps even help support others. The little things we do early in children’s lives set them up for later success.

As children engage in purposeful work, they develop a sense of being an important part of the family or community. By beginning to help take care of their personal needs, they also develop a sense of accomplishment.

In a Montessori environment, children have a place where practical life activities are carefully prepared and presented to support emerging independence. The sink is at children’s height. The faucet is easy to turn on and off. The soap container holds just enough soap to wash hands. Children can perform activities that were perhaps previously done for them.

Practicing Self-Care

The practice of self-care can begin early in children’s lives by approaching tasks with an attitude of collaboration. Even if a baby can’t do an action, they can have a sense of participating. We can invite this participation by saying things like, “I’m going to put on your shirt. Let’s put your arm through the sleeve.” As we allow for more and more collaboration, children’s active participation gradually increases. Opportunities for collaboration can be as simple as offering something in front of a child rather than actually putting it into their hands.

Caring for Surroundings

In addition to self-care, a Montessori environment provides numerous ways for children to care for their surroundings. In order for children to be successful in this process of caring for their surroundings, we thoughtfully prepare the environment. Child-sized tools give children an opportunity to participate successfully. Their work must be real work, rather than activities to just keep them busy. Plus, the impact on the environment needs to be clear. If the plants need water, then children can water the plants. If the floor is wet, children can mop the floor. If a table is dirty, children can wash the table. Through real and meaningful activities, children develop a strong sense of belonging within a community.

Supporting Practical Life at Home

Parents often ask how to support their children’s practical life work at home. One easy and meaningful strategy is to create routines that help children care for their surroundings. They can clean up toys at the end of the day, set the table for dinner, or put dirty clothes in the laundry basket. The preparation for these kinds of activities isn’t elaborate and merely requires carefully selected items or furniture: a basket in the laundry room for dirty clothes, a special shelf for toys, or a low drawer in the kitchen prepared with items for setting the table.

When thinking about how to create practical life activities, consider the following:

Will the activity help develop independence and coordination of movement?
Can it be done independently?
What skills are needed?
Will this activity allow repetition?
Is it culturally appropriate and necessary?
Is it beautiful?
Is the material child-sized?
Is it logical?
Is it safe?

With these guiding questions in mind, we can create simple yet purposeful ways for our children to learn how to care for themselves, those around them, and their surroundings. In the process, children observe what is essential and then make the activities their own. Plus, as they internalize the procedure, children start to realize how capable they are! They put their whole focus into their work and experience great satisfaction in completing the activity. Meaningful engagement in practical life activities allows children to develop a strong sense of belonging and ultimately flourish into their fullest selves.

During these summer days, take a look at where your children might be able to contribute to the daily rhythms of the household, or even take more ownership of their own routines for self-care. Children will begin to imitate adult actions, which leads to them performing tasks in their own unique ways.

Keep in mind that this process is not completely linear, as some days children need more support than on other days. At this point, we can offer loving assistance while still upholding a sense of their involvement: “I see your clothes are still on the floor. Let’s pick them up together.” We all can use a little help sometimes!

From infants to adolescents, our young people are quite capable and benefit greatly from participating in practical life activities. If you would like some inspiration for how children are involved in caring for themselves, their surroundings, and others, please browse our website and be sure to read our free Montessori at Home booklet: www.childrenstree.org/flipping-book

Supporting Independent Sleep

Mon, 14 Aug 2023 11:00:01 GMT

In Montessori, we talk a lot about independence because we want to help children in their process of becoming capable young people! For our youngest children, this means supporting them in mastery of basic functions such as eating, toileting, and sleeping. Supporting independent skills in these three areas is pretty significant because these are parts of life where children ultimately have complete control over what does or doesn’t happen. So it makes sense for us to avoid setting up obstacles in these areas and instead help children develop skills that will build up their confidence.

Our Language Matters

The language we use is indicative of our goals. For example, when children are learning to use the toilet, we make sure our language reflects that process. We aren’t “training” children like we might train a pet. We are helping them learn life skills so they can be well-functioning humans who understand cultural norms. In fact, we even call what we do “toilet learning” because children are learning how to take care of their bodily needs by using the toilet.

Similarly, when thinking about children and their sleep, we are not “sleep training” like we might crate train a new puppy. Rather, we are supporting children’s natural process of learning how to settle themselves, self-soothe, and eventually fall asleep independently.

Importance of Sleep

With more and more research about the role sleep plays in brain development, growth, and learning, we have a responsibility to educate ourselves about how best to promote healthy sleep hygiene. A 2007 study states “that the most fundamental requirements for healthy growth and development in young children include a) loving support and protection by parents/caretakers, b) adequate nutrition, and c) adequate sleep.” A 2020 review of sleep and early brain development details how “sleep plays a critical role in learning and memory, emotional regulation, and related brain structure development.” Establishing healthy sleep practices in the early years is critical for our children’s development. So how can we best do this?

Focus on Four Factors

In order to help our children have trust in us and strengthen a secure attachment, we need to provide safe boundaries. This includes helping them learn what is acceptable and what isn’t in regard to sleep. Just like we hold boundaries for dental hygiene, we can uphold healthy sleep habits, too!

To promote healthy sleep hygiene, we can focus on four factors:

establishing an environment that is conducive to sleep,
maintaining regular routines,
providing suitable associations for the onset of sleep, and
upholding limits while making adjustments throughout childhood.

Sleep Environment

To create a place that is conducive to sleep, it can be helpful to think about our own sleep needs. Are we more likely to fall asleep in a bright, noisy, active environment, or in one that is dark, quiet, and calm? The same applies to our children. A comfortable sleep environment should be dark because sleep hormones are triggered by darkness. Plus, natural and blue-based artificial light stimulates alertness. Black-out blinds or curtains (as well as aluminum foil over the windows in a pinch) help immensely. The designated sleep space, whether a bedroom or other area, should also be calm, quiet, and free of distractions like toys or other interest-provoking items. Finally, it’s best if the room temperature is slightly cooler.

Regular Routines

Our children depend upon us to establish healthy and consistent routines, including times for rest. When children stay up past their nap or bedtime, they can enter into an overtired zone. At this point, they experience a stress response, which leads to the release of adrenaline and cortisol. This influx of chemicals causes a “second wind” and children can become even more energized and awake, despite their intense need for sleep.

To avoid this vicious cycle, it’s important to learn our children’s sleep window, which is the time it is easiest for the brain to switch to sleep. Children actually give us cues as to when they are in a window for sleep. They might begin to have some difficulty listening, lose focus, or become a little more irritable. Some children may rub their eyes, go for a comfort object, or seek contact with a caregiver.

Every child is a little different, but when they start to indicate they are in a sleep window, it is time to wrap up the routine. The process should be very simple, for example, pajamas, toileting, teeth, one story, a hug, and a kiss. It’s better for extensive reading and a long bath to happen before the sleep window because these activities can very easily push children past the window of opportunity and lead to them entering the overtired zone. A predictable, simple pre-sleep routine allows children to unwind and feel secure in knowing that sleep is happening next.

Sleep Onset Associations

When children fall asleep, they form associations with the conditions that are present at the time when they actually drift off. So if we rock our children, read to them, or even snuggle in their bed next to them until they fall asleep, our children learn that they need that condition to be present in order to fall asleep. This also means that as children awake slightly during normal sleep cycles, they look for the same conditions they had when they first fell asleep. If children can’t recreate those on their own, they become dependent upon adult intervention, which can then can lead to more frequent night wakings.

Thus we need our children to go to bed when they are drowsy but still awake, so they can develop appropriate sleep onset associations. We can sing a song, read a book, or rub their back. However, we need to end any of these activities before our children actually fall asleep. We need to leave them while they are heavy-eyed but not yet asleep! Transition objects can help children, too. Some might like a special blanket, doll, or stuffed animal, which they can use to self-soothe as they drift off to sleep.

Limits & Adjustments

Sleep patterns change throughout early childhood and beyond. So while children need us to be consistent, they also need us to understand developmental changes. It can help to use resources like the Sleep Foundation to check on recommended hours of sleep for different developmental stages.

As children get older, they also get more sophisticated in trying to prolong the bedtime routine or keep us engaged when actually we should be stepping out of the process to allow them to fall asleep on their own. Work collaboratively with your child to establish or reestablish the routine (and the limits). Write down the routine and revisit it before bedtime. Stay calm and consistent.

Children are hard-wired to test the boundaries and are just checking to make sure we are going to stay true to the agreement. If you feel like you are going to break down and not be able to uphold the agreement, find someone who can be your backup or reinforcement. If you are doing bedtime alone, find a friend who you can text or call and who will remind you about staying true to what was established.

Above all, make sure you are taking care of yourself! If you are sleep-deprived it is much harder to hold limits or think clearly about the long-term goal of helping children become independent and capable young humans. If you ever want to talk or need support, we are happy to help. We love to share resources and support families!

Making Amends

Mon, 07 Aug 2023 11:00:00 GMT

Mistakes are a part of life. We all make them. Hopefully, we even learn from them!

Intellectually we probably understand that mistakes are part of our children’s process of learning and growing. Yet as parents and caregivers, it can be hard to know how to handle situations when our children don’t do the right thing.

Think about those times when your child is rude, breaks something, or hits a playmate. In those moments, we all too often want our children to immediately apologize. However, apologies can quickly become an easy and surface-level response. Plus, our children might not (yet) feel sorry for what they did.

Although apologies can be a good first step, they are just that…a first step. Really it is the process of making amends that is the most meaningful.

Making Amends

How do we support children who have made a mistake and aren't sure about how to make amends? Genuine apologies certainly aren't easy, but it's a lot easier to apologize for a mistake than it is to fix it. Diane Gossen's book, Restitution: Restructuring School Discipline , provides a framework for helping young people learn from their mistakes and hopefully make the right choices in the future.

The definition of restitution revolves around the restoration of something damaged, lost, or stolen, which basically means restoring what was affected to its original state. When we make mistakes, it can feel like squeezing too much toothpaste out of the tube. Getting the excess back in can feel impossible. Yet the process of cleaning up and restoring what we can is how we make things right again.

Recipe for Restitution

Gossen's recipe for restitution is designed to help the mistake-maker experience a healing process, which can be considered self-restoration. According to Gossen, the process of making things right again should include the following components:

The person(s) affected by the mistake will feel that the restitution is acceptable and appropriate.
The restitution will require effort.
By making amends, the mistake-maker will be discouraged (or at least not encouraged to repeat the mistake.

For the process to be really exceptional, three other characteristics may be involved:

The restitution will be logically connected to the mistake.
The process will connect to a deeper understanding of the big picture of how people treat each other.
The experience will actually strengthen the mistake-maker.

In supporting the process of making amends, we must be very careful to refrain from criticizing, inducing guilt, or expressing anger. Also, we must not feel like we are overextending ourselves. The person trying to fix the mistake must own the process.

Opportunities

If we are attentive to opportunities for our children to make things right, we can approach mistakes differently. For example, if your child has been rude to someone, take some time after the fact to hear what your child was feeling at that moment. Perhaps they were upset about something that happened prior. Or maybe they were just hungry. The key is to let your child know that you are genuinely curious about what they were feeling. In the process, you can acknowledge and affirm those feelings. Likely your child already feels remorse for how they behaved. The next step is to brainstorm ways to make amends for those actions. Often children want to start with an apology, so it’s worth exploring if they want to apologize with words or with actions. From the apology, you can start to dig into how to make things right. For example, think together about how the relationship can be repaired so that the other person feels secure and safe, rather than uncertain or hurt.

Perhaps your child, in a fit of frustration, ends up dropping a plate on the floor. When it shatters, the trick is to not react. Rather, let your child feel the intensity of the moment. Take some deep breaths. Offer to help and yet be clear that all the broken pieces need to be cleaned up so they don’t cut anyone’s feet. The process may be long and effortful. Yet your child’s care of the broken plate is part of the experience of making amends. Later, you can acknowledge how hard your child worked to fix the mistake.

A similar process applies if your child hits a playmate. Staying non-reactive is especially important in these moments, as we are modeling how to stay in control when emotions get heightened. Check-in with the hurt child to make sure they are okay. Then wonder about and acknowledge your child’s feelings. “You seemed really frustrated and then you hit. It can be hard when we have big feelings. It’s also not okay to hit.” There is no shaming or forced apology. Just a clear translation of what happened. When your child feels calm and grounded, you can offer some ways to make amends. “I wonder how we can show your friend some kindness.”

Younger children need our support in working through these steps. They often will need some modeling or suggestions for restoring the relationship or repairing the damage. As our children mature and internalize the restitution process, they will need less guidance and perhaps only a bit of gentle support.

If you are curious about how all of this works amongst a community of children, please schedule a tour of our school, www.childrenstree.org/schedule-tour . We would love to share how we help children embrace mistakes as part of their learning!

Our Montessori Bookshelf: Wordless Picture Books Part 2

Mon, 31 Jul 2023 11:00:01 GMT

Because we love wordless picture books so much, we wanted to share a few more of our favorites. If you are exploring wordless picture books for the first time, or have been enjoying them for quite a while, we hope you enjoy this collection.

If you are looking for some new ways to “read” wordless picture books, we offer these tips:

When you first look at the book, think about the experience as a picture walk. Notice and discuss the illustrations and details, especially how they tell a story of what is happening.
The next time you explore the same book, take time to name what is happening on each page. This is a little bit like constructing the outline of the story.
The third time you “read” the book, narrate the story as if you were reading text.
After these experiences, invite your child to use their own words to tell the story of what they see.

These steps strengthen children’s ability to be storytellers. As they “read” wordless picture books, they build the skills for their own future story writing.

Just a quick reminder that the books we are sharing are grounded in the real world. There are some wonderful fantasy-based wordless picture books for older children, too. Our two-part collection is appropriate for any age!

A Ball for Daisy

By Chris Raschka

This award-winning book shows a bit of life from a dog’s perspective. The story begins with Daisy, the dog, and her big red, beloved ball. When Daisy goes on a walk and another dog plays with (and bursts) the ball, Daisy tries to still use it but to no avail. The kindness of children shines through and Daisy gets a new ball (as well as a new friend).

Float

By Daniel Miyares

A simple origami boat leads a young boy on a neighborhood adventure. The story begins with a bit of rain and puddles of fun. But what happens when the boat drifts away and through the grate? The arc of the story, as well as the use of color in this book, bring a resounding sense of a young child’s struggle, the support that allows for resilience, and the joy of possibility.

Found

By Jeff Newman and Larry Day

This lovely story of loss and connection begins with a girl gazing sadly out her window and a little dog in the rain. The simple line drawings, with just the right splash of color, give us clues about the girl’s own lost dog as she brings this new pup into her care. We witness the two bonding only to discover that this dog is someone else’s lost pet. The story unfolds with the girl’s internal struggle (brilliantly illustrated), her decision to return the dog to its owner, and her discovery of another dog wanting to be found.

The Lion & The Mouse

By Jerry Pinkney

Based on Aesop’s fable of the same name, this richly illustrated book uses every space on the page to show the expansiveness of the African Serengeti and the power of relationship. The story begins when a mouse escapes an owl, only to find itself on the back of a lion. Given the gift of freedom, the mouse returns the favor when the lion gets caught in a trap. The illustrations are enhanced by the sounds in written form. The squeaks, growls, roars, and scratches remind us of the power of communication in all its forms!

Mirror

By Jeannie Baker

Inspired by her travels and the idea of seeing ourselves reflected in those who could be considered strangers, Baker has created two stories within one book: one set in southern Morocco and the other in her home of Sydney, Australia. Each story follows a family throughout their day, from waking up to meals to errands to time as a family. The lives of the boys in each story may look very different, yet Baker offers a delightful challenge to find what connects them.

That Neighbor Kid

By Daniel Miyares

When a new boy moves in next door, a young girl’s curiosity gets the best of her especially after he uses planks from the fence to create a ladder up a tree. When she goes to investigate, she discovers not only a new friend but also the power of collaboration. As they create a treehouse together, even the leaves of the tree come to life with color and joy.

Click here for a downloadable PDF of this booklist! We hope you and your children enjoy these books as mu ch as we do!

Montessori at Home: Caring for Pets Montessori-Style

Mon, 17 Jul 2023 11:00:00 GMT

The summer months can be a wonderful time to integrate some Montessori principles and practice into our home environments. With that in mind, our focus this week is on how to care for pets, Montessori-style.

Montessori classrooms regularly have pets as part of the community for a number of reasons. When children have contact with the natural world, especially when they are part of taking care of living things, they develop a deep reverence for life in all its forms. In addition, as children are learning how to independently care for themselves, they can apply their skills to caring for an animal, leading to increased self-control and responsibility. Becoming aware of and attuned to another being’s needs supports the development of increased empathy and compassion.

“Children have an anxious concern for living beings, and therefore the satisfaction of this instinct fills them with delight. It is therefore easy to interest them in taking care of plants and especially of animals. Nothing awakens foresight in a small child, who lives as a rule for the passing moment and without care for the morrow, so much as this.”

— Dr. Maria Montessori, The Discovery of the Child

Daily Care

If you already have a pet or pets at home, encouraging children’s participation in their daily care is a good place to start. The easiest first step is giving a pet food and water. Even young toddlers can do this! The key is having the correct amount of food prepared in an easy-to-dispense container. The container can be placed on a tray or consistent place that is available for your child to access, carry to the pet’s food bowl or space, and then pour or place for the pet.

If the pet is a fish, a small dish for the food can work. A hermit crab might need a small piece of fruit stored in a container that can be easily opened so the fruit can be retrieved and placed into the habitat. Whereas a larger animal like a dog or cat, will likely need a portion of food in a container that can be poured into their food dish, or, in the case of wet food, scooped out and transferred to the food dish.

The same approach can be applied to refilling a water bottle for hamsters or gerbils or pouring water into a water dish for larger pets. Ensure your child can access the water source and has a child-sized pitcher or measuring cup that holds just the right amount of water for your pet.

Break it Down

To make the process most successful, it’s best to think about breaking down the steps and making sure the materials are accessible and child-friendly. Does the container open easily? When pouring does the food or water come out from one place so it goes where intended? How far is the reach to get food into a habitat? Look at everything from your child’s perspective and anticipate any obstacles.

After figuring out the best materials and set-up, the next step is to show your child how to complete each part of the process. For young children, always make sure there are a limited number of steps. It can help to have a visual guide available, too. For example, if the pet needs to be fed once in the morning and once at night, you can have a picture that represents this. The visual guide can be laminated or put in a sheet protector and hung at your child’s eye level. Older children can use a dry-erase marker to check off when they have fed the pet.

Cleaning or Grooming

The same practice can be applied to other parts of pet care. Perhaps the food area needs to be cleaned by washing the dishes, wiping a mat wiped, or sweeping spilled food. The learning process can be incremental. In the beginning, maybe your child is just misting something like a hermit crab habitat but over time learns how to clean the enclosure, too. Other animals might need their bedding replaced or washed. If a pet needs a bath, a young child can be part of filling the tub with water or scooping water for rinsing. Eventually, children can take ownership of more and more of the process. If your child is ready for more responsibility, they can also learn how to independently clean or groom your pet. From brushing to bathing, children can be involved in various aspects of pet care!

Interacting & Playing

Learning how to interact with pets offers children opportunities to learn how to read non-verbal cues and anticipate needs. In treating animals with care, children get to practice grace and courtesy which helps them extend these skills throughout all their relationships. We all appreciate gentle touches, soft approaches, and respectful care!

Different pets require different kinds of toys and handling. Children can be involved in creating some play items for particular pets, such as toys on a string for cats to chase or making a yarn pull for birds. Children can get creative with finding things around the house for a pet to use, like recycling toilet paper rolls for gerbils to chew. Older children can research healthy treats or training tips.

Children can take on other responsibilities, too, such as taking a dog for a walk or being involved in training. Even small animals can often experience different levels of training, such as parakeets learning how to make certain sounds or to perch on a finger. Having books and resources available for children to learn more about their pets is another nice extension and cultivates more curiosity about what living things need and how to provide for them.

Ultimately, children like to be involved in the care of their pets. It is important for them to feel the connection with their beloved animals, and foster the feelings of responsibility and self-confidence that come with it.

If you would like some inspiration for how to support your child’s care of pets, let us know! We are happy to share our experience with having pets in our classrooms.

Transformations: Montessori & Stage Theory

Mon, 10 Jul 2023 11:00:00 GMT

Trees start out small and then generally keep their form as they get progressively bigger and stronger. Children, however, change so much as they develop. Think about the transformations that happen from a newborn baby to a running toddler to a nine-year-old playing soccer to an adolescent driving a car. They almost don’t even seem like the same being as when they began!

Prior to the mid-1800s, people considered human development to be linear. A child was considered to be like a young adult who just got older and bigger, like a tree. However, the study of psychology changed the way we look at human development. Psychologists began to realize that humans pass through a sequence of different stages at different ages. This understanding of development as a progression was termed Stage Theory.

Origins of Stage Theory

Stage theories were popular during the time that Dr. Maria Montessori was developing her pedagogy. Stage theories take development and break it down into characteristically distinct stages assigned to specific ages. The theory assumes that certain characteristics are going to be developed during each stage. Stage theory also postulates that because certain aspects of development are supposed to happen during a particular stage, there are some innate powers available to individuals during that time. Those innate powers help individuals acquire the developmental progress for that stage. Stage theories also imply that there is also going to be a sequence to development and that stages can’t be skipped. The outcomes of one stage become the foundation for the following stage.

Examples of Stage Theory

A number of Dr. Montessori’s predecessors, contemporaries, and students were likely influencing her work, and likely she was influencing theirs. Some key individuals include:

Jean-Jacque Rousseau , of Geneva, postulated a stage theory of development in his book, Emile (1762). Rousseau presented an idealized “natural man” who was uncorrupted by modern society. He also proposed a system of education formulated around a specific pedagogy for each stage of life and the particular characteristics of each stage of human development.

Sigmund Freud , of Austria, constructed a stage theory to describe the psychosexual development of humans. He described personality development as a series of stages and he believed that early childhood was the most important stage, with the individual’s personality being formed by about the age of five.

Erik Erikson , a German-American who also earned a Montessori certificate, proposed a theory describing eight distinct stages of development. He felt that how individuals face the challenge in each stage determined the outcome of the stage. He focused on the psychosocial aspects of humans.

Jean Piaget , of Switzerland, also developed a stage theory that described the psychosocial aspects of humans. Piaget proposed that children go through four stages of cognitive development.

Lawrence Kohlberg , an American, was likely influenced by Piaget but focused on moral reasoning and the stages of moral development.

Gail Sheehy , author and journalist, has documented stages of adult life and has written numerous books about stages, or what she calls passages (e.g. Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life).

Montessori’s Model: Planes of Development

Dr. Montessori didn’t develop stage theory but used this construct to help her better understand human development. What is different about Montessori’s stage theory is that it doesn’t focus on a particular aspect of development. Rather her framework is holistic and incorporates physical, social, emotional, and intellectual development.

Dr. Montessori called her holistic stage theory the “planes of development.” Each plane is a distinct psychological learning period that spans about six years: birth to six, six to twelve, twelve to eighteen, and eighteen to twenty-four. Each plane is characterized by the physical and psychological changes that take place, as well as the environmental needs of each plane.

Dr. Montessori observed how the differences between each plane were so dramatic that the shift from one stage of development to the next was metamorphic. The same individual emerges from each plane, unrecognizable from the individual they were when they entered the previous plane.

Characteristics of the Planes of Development

Dr. Montessori passionately describes how education needs to follow these periods of development, so as to be sensitive to the rebirth that is happening for each individual.

“The child does not grow in a uniform way day by day, at the same rate. In growth there are crises, somewhat like the metamorphosis of the insects….In fact, it is the child himself who will be the guide of education.” – Dr. Maria Montessori, The Four Planes of Education

The metamorphosis that happens in different periods of growth demonstrates the unique needs, behaviors, and characteristics of children at different ages.

Since each developmental plane is distinct, it follows that the needs of individuals will also be distinct. Plus, at each stage children require different things from their environment. Furthermore, the successful completion of one phase sets individuals up for successful development in the next stage.

Dr. Montessori was an optimist and didn’t see this need for successful completion of each stage as being fatalistic. She thought that missed opportunities within a plane of development could be overcome with conscious effort and work. Granted, this development wouldn’t happen as easily as if it happened at the right time, but Dr. Montessori thought that if individuals applied themselves and worked, they could overcome some of these obstacles. The work accomplished outside of an intended plane, however, would never be as fully integrated as if it had happened during its intended time.

Montessori’s Unique Approach

When Dr. Montessori developed her theory on the planes of development, she didn’t describe development in a culturally specific context or time. She described universal aspects of human development in all cultures.

Two other aspects set Montessori’s work apart from stage theory. One was that she focused on what is normal development for children rather than what is abnormal. Also, she not only articulated her theory of the planes of development but then went a step further and developed an educational approach that supported it.

In Montessori, everything we do for children–all of our methods, materials, and environments–is reflective of our understanding of the planes of development. We understand the needs of children in the different stages of their development and know we have a profound responsibility to support those needs.

We would love to have you schedule a tour to see how we create environments for the specific needs of children at each stage of their development!

Adolescence: Time of Transformation

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 11:00:01 GMT

Adolescents have such power and potential. They can achieve so much when they have a supportive space that helps them develop their incredible abilities and ultimately realize their possibilities.

The book, The Teenage Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Survival Guide to Raising Adolescents and Young Adults , shares a helpful analogy for understanding adolescence: “...the teenage brain is almost like a brand-new Ferrari: it’s primed and pumped, but it hasn’t been road tested yet. In other words, it’s all revved up but doesn’t quite know where to go.”

To best support adolescents who are all primed to go but don’t yet know where, we can work to better understand their developmental characteristics and needs.

Time of Transformation

The first three years (ages twelve to fifteen) of adolescence are comparable to the physical and cognitive transformation that happens from zero to three. Adolescents are forming themselves, physically and psychologically, into the adults they will become.

This is a transition from childhood into adulthood, evidenced by dramatic bodily changes. The relative calm and stability of the previous years shifts to a more tumultuous time. During this period of intense change, adolescents’ health becomes more fragile. They require more sleep and are more prone to acne, depression, bulimia, anorexia, mono, etc. As Frances E. Jenson, MD, and Amy Ellis Nutt explain in The Teenage Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Survival Guide to Raising Adolescents and Young Adults: “Adolescence is a time of increased response to stress, which may in part be why anxiety disorders, including panic disorder, typically arise during puberty. Teens simply don’t have the same tolerance for stress that we see in adults. Teens are much more likely to exhibit stress-induced illnesses and physical problems, such as colds, headaches, and upset stomachs. There is also an epidemic of symptoms ranging from nail biting to eating disorders that are commonplace in today’s teens.”

Adolescents need a special kind of care and protection during this time of transformation. Like caterpillars that need a chrysalis in order to metamorphose into a butterfly, adolescents need a protective space for reconstruction.

Neural Changes and Emotional Needs

The adolescent brain is also undergoing dramatic changes, from neural pruning when unneeded neural synapses are removed, to an increase in myelination which allows for faster neural transmission.

Due to these dramatic physical and cognitive changes taking place, adolescents can have difficulty concentrating and staying focused. This also leads to a decrease in their organizational skills and judgment, as well as a reduction in their executive functioning abilities like working memory, flexible thinking, and self-control. Because of this diminished executive functioning ability, adolescents often make decisions based on emotion. Their brains are relying upon the limbic system rather than their developing prefrontal cortex.

Thus, adolescents can experience strong and tumultuous emotions and it can be a struggle for them to gain mastery over these emotions. As such, adolescents need time for personal self-reflection, and yet this need exists in the midst of an intense desire to be within and accepted by a group.

Rational and logical expression can be challenging during this time, thus adolescents also need creative outlets for releasing and exploring emotions, thoughts, and any conflicting experiences. Creative outlets can include dance, writing, art, music, sports, etc. In addition to providing an expressive outlet, physical activities also release endorphins and help regulate hormonal balance.

Finding Equilibrium

Because adolescents are working to integrate their new physical and emotional selves, they need as many opportunities as possible to integrate manual work (work of the hand) and academic work (work of the head). In addition to experiencing an equilibrium in mental and physical activities, adolescents need opportunities to explore their personal identity in the context of their social identity.

Like younger children, adolescents are somewhat ego-centric. After leaving the elementary years of calm and confidence, early teens become self-conscious and are highly sensitive to peer acceptance. This results in a sensitivity to the looks, comments, or actions of others, which is further complicated by adolescents having difficulty reading facial expressions. It’s no surprise, then, that our teens often imagine that someone is upset with them or thinking negatively of them. Close relationships and feeling accepted by their peer group become extremely important to balance these feelings.

Being Valued

Because this is a time of extreme vulnerability, adolescents need to be treated with understanding and respect. They want to know their value, their role, their contributions, and their worth. Adolescents benefit greatly from opportunities to contribute to their community in meaningful ways. This is best achieved through adult-level work. When this contribution is acknowledged by their peers, adolescents feel valorized, or recognized, which leads to a bolstering of their self-confidence.

Having choices is also a vital component of adolescents’ work. This opportunity to make a choice about what to do and when to do it provides teens with a strong sense of empowerment and allows them to practice making constructive choices.

Role of Adults

Adolescents need the guidance and support of adults. They also rely upon and appreciate the opportunity for side-by-side work. We can shift into more of a supportive, coaching role with our adolescents, which can more easily be achieved when we are working alongside each other. Adolescents relish this opportunity to collaborate in what it means to be an adult by engaging in adult-level work.

This side-by-side work also offers us, as adults, the opportunity to respectfully share information and teach skills, without risking offending our adolescents. In “Three Ways to Change Your Parenting in the Teenage Years,” Christine Carter explains: “When we give our adolescents a lot of information, especially when it is information that they don’t really want or that they think they already have, it can feel infantilizing to them. Even if we deliver the information as we would to another adult, teenagers will often feel disrespected by the mere fact of our instruction.”

Respectful treatment connects to adolescents’ need to feel a sense of justice and personal dignity. While elementary-aged children focus on distributive justice (e.g. fairness), adolescence is a time when young people begin to grapple with and understand restorative justice, social justice, and economic justice.

Adolescence is a period of dramatic growth and change. Although the dramatic physical changes that accompany the onset of puberty can rock the stable foundation of elementary years, if we understand adolescents’ needs, we can help our teenagers emerge as empowered and full of creative energies.

A Supportive Summer

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 11:00:00 GMT

The summer months can sometimes feel like a long stretch, especially when we are trying to figure out how to keep our children engaged, or at least entertained. However, if we think about the big picture of what children really need, it can be easier to think about activities that will satisfy those needs and support natural development.

What Do Our Children Really Need?

When Dr. Maria Montessori first began working with children, she approached her work with a scientific mindset. She observed tendencies, needs, and behaviors of human children the way a scientist might observe animals in the wild. In this way, Dr. Montessori was able to identify inclinations young humans have toward particular behaviors or characteristics. Some of the tendencies Dr. Montessori observed include:

to explore
to orient
to have or create order
to work
to strive toward self-perfection

Let’s take a look at these human tendencies in relation to how we structure summer days with our young children.

Exploration

Humans have a need to explore. Early humans needed to explore their environment to discover where and what to eat, to find shelter, etc. Our infants, babies, toddlers, and young children explore in order to adapt to their environment and learn about the world. From our infants’ early days when they explore using their senses (smelling, tasting, hearing, and then tracking with their eyes) to when our babies grasp, slither, scoot, crawl, stand, and walk, children under the age of six are sensorimotor learners. They have to explore using movement and their senses to make sense of their boundaries of self.

Exploration may be one of the easiest parts of summer. With the warm weather and long days, there is ample opportunity to find new parks, traverse new trails, or even just see what happens when you wander down the sidewalk with your child. The key is to focus more on the process than the destination. A simple nature walk may be long in duration but short in distance. For example, young children will appreciate the time and space to stop and explore what is happening with the busy ants in the sidewalk cracks.

Incorporating different senses and movements makes exploration most meaningful for children. Get creative! After a trip to the farmer’s market, collaborate with your child to create a colorful array of foods to sample together. Pick a few places outside where you can lie down with your child, listen, and gather sounds. Share what you heard. Draw pictures of what you think made the sounds. Or maybe go on a scent journey around your yard or neighborhood. See what smells you can find!

Orientation

Orientation is needed to find our way. In order to be able to explore, humans have needed to be able to orient themselves. We need to put ourselves in relation to our surroundings in order to find our way around in a new environment. Disorientation comes from not being secure in our surroundings. The process of orientation is a process of creating relationships: where or what am I in relation to this place?

Young children have a need to orient themselves to culture (through customs, food, language, etc.), as well as routines and places. They need to know what life is like so they can adapt accordingly. We can support this orientation by introducing our children to the routines, customs, and expectations of the summer months.

If regular library visits will become part of the summer routine, take time to visit the library space and orient to different components of the building (the bathroom, the checkout counter, the reading nook, etc.), as well as norms of behavior within the library walls. If you’ll be outdoors picnicking or connecting with friends for lunch, taking a few moments to make sure your child knows what to expect can make all the difference.

Order

We rely upon order in our environment, from segmenting 24 hours of a day to having laws that lend order to our communities. Order helps us have a sense of safety, control, and stability. For children, order is essential. They need constant points of reference to be able to orient themselves to the world. Children need to be able to anticipate the day. If we change the order of events, that can throw our children off balance. In fact, it’s not uncommon to see some regression in our children when change happens.

How do we create order during the summer, a time when schedules can be less constant? Building a little time into the morning routine to go over the plan for the day is one easy way to help children feel secure about what to expect. While slightly older children can grasp an overview of the week, especially if presented in visual form, younger children live more in the moment. They depend upon a regular rhythm. So even if summer schedules shift, it’s best to try to keep some regular touch points to ground the day. Even if the time gets adjusted slightly, keeping true to things like rest time after lunch or bath before bedtime, helps young children feel like the day has a predictable order.

Work

All of us have a natural tendency toward activity. Work is the way we achieve a purpose or result through mental or physical effort. Our children want to contribute in meaningful ways to the work of our lives. This is most successful when we can build in time for our children to accompany us with household chores or general maintenance.

During the summer months, much of this kind of work can happen outdoors–washing the car together, watering the garden, cleaning outdoor furniture, or sweeping the patio. Whatever you decide to offer, make sure you’ve tested out the tools to make sure they work. For example, can your child squeeze the sponge and reach down into the bucket of soapy water? Can your child carry the watering can? How much water comes through the hose when it is turned on? By paying attention to a few details, we help our children experience successful work and contribution.

Self-Perfection & Repetition

Mastery is achieved through bringing our work to completion and often this requires a great deal of repetition. This tendency for perfection is what has allowed for the advancement of human civilization. Becoming more proficient requires repetition, exactness, and a quest for self-perfection. We can see children perfect their skills as they learn to walk and talk. They keep trying until they achieve mastery.

To help our children master what they set out to do and then be able to advance, we can be sensitive to how our young children are observing movements around them and perfecting the movements they see through repetition and precision.

Summer is a fabulous time to focus on large gross motor activities that perhaps couldn’t happen as easily during the colder months. Find a space outdoors for your child to practice walking along a line or a board lying flat on the ground. Or create little obstacle courses for your child. This can be as simple as creating chalk circles to hop in, then crawling under something, before finally tossing a bean bag into a bucket. Or you can blow bubbles that your child can chase and try to catch (or pop!). Follow your child’s lead in terms of what is engaging and allow them plenty of time for repetition.

As we move into the summer months, keeping these tendencies in mind can help us provide satisfying experiences and opportunities for our children.

Equity Q&A with Britt Hawthorne

Mon, 12 Jun 2023 11:00:00 GMT

Britt Hawthorne is an antiracist educator, teacher, speaker, visionary, and advocate. She is committed to raising a generation of antiracist children by centering families of the global majority and fostering equitable learning environments for students and children of all ages and backgrounds. We recently had a little Q&A with Britt and we are delighted to share this with you!

Britt is the author of the highly-anticipated, New York Times Bestseller, Raising Antiracist Children: A Practical Parenting Guide . The book is an interactive guide for strategically incorporating the tools of inclusivity into everyday life and parenting.

Your book, Raising Antiracist Children, is subtitled: A Practical Parenting Guide. Practicality seems so important for busy families. With this in mind, what do you see as important priorities? Where do you suggest families begin?

Begin by fostering brave spaces at home. Brave spaces are intentional spaces focused on coming together with a new understanding. For example, I grew up with narrow racial and cultural representation. Many books in my childhood home featured white or Black main characters. Hardly ever did the books in my home represent Latino, Native Hawaiian, Native American, South Asian, or Hispanic characters.

I know our commitments live in our actions. So, I shared my concern with my partner and we discussed how this lack of representation caused misconceptions to persist. We could then prepare a home environment that shows we value diversity. Because we’re fostering brave spaces, together we can reflect, discuss, and choose what we want for our children.

What are some priorities or practices that you uphold in your family?

I lay out five parenting principles in Raising Antiracist Children: A Practical Parenting Guide. One of the parenting principles is that we believe children have the desire to learn. Learning means we welcome questions, mistakes, and new understandings.

Therefore, we create curious moments with our children by asking questions.

“I wonder if there are more white people in the world or people of color?”
“Have you ever wondered why Europe and Asia are considered separate continents?”
“Do you hear people talking about race? What do you hear?”

We also respond with curiosity rather than fear, silence, or frustration. Here are some examples:

“Oh, you’re noticing that you have larger eyes than she does. I wonder if she has eyes like her mom, like you?”
“That’s a curious question. I wonder where we could find the answer together. I bet a book from the library could tell us more about it.”
“Thanks for asking me. I don’t know the answer, so I’m just as curious as you. I can do some digging to figure it out. I’ll let you know what I find over dinner.”

When you think about this ongoing work, how do you see it connected to Montessori philosophy and/or practice?

The Montessori philosophy has everything it needs to serve every child, regardless of background. Amelia A. Sherwood said it best, “Montessori education has the ability to liberate the child!” As Montessorians, we deliberately practice this cycle of spiritual preparation: take care of ourselves, take care of others, and take care of the environment. Those three commitments are the same commitments antiracists and liberation workers use to guide their work.

And it’s not just about wondering how we can care for ourselves, others, and the environment. It’s creating the time and offering the resources to be culturally affirming, intentional, and purposeful in our work. That’s why you can go into almost any Montessori environment and witness practical life, grace and courtesy, and community care happening. While we might use different words, we describe very similar practices.

What are some resources you recommend for families and educators?

For parents and grownups, I recommend Raising Antiracist Children: A Practical Parenting Guide by Britt Hawthorne (me!) with Natasha Yglesias.

Here is a list of books for learners:

Bodies Are Cool by Tyler Feder
My Face Book by Star Bright Books
Together: A First Conversation about Love by Megan Madison, Jessica Ralli, et al.
You Hold Me Up by Monique Gray Smith
The Antiracist Kid: A Book about Identity, Justice, and Activism by Tiffany Jewell
Eyes That Kiss in the Corners by Joanna Ho
Flying Lessons & Other Stories edited by Ellen Oh
The Assignment by Liza Wiemer

We hope you’ve gathered some helpful insight from Britt about how we can collaborate to move the idea of educational equity from goal to reality. Britt partners with action-orientated educators to create classroom environments that are inclusive and equitable for all learners. And most importantly, she’s rooting for you!

To learn more please visit britthawthorne.com .

The First Six Years: Conquests of Independence

Mon, 05 Jun 2023 11:00:01 GMT

As caregivers and parents, we have a bit of a bittersweet role. While we want to keep our children close, we ultimately need to support their path toward independence.

We expect dependence at the beginning. Yet our newborns take their very first step toward independence at birth. Once born, they have to breathe on their own. And rather than get nutrition through the umbilical cord, they use effort to begin latching on or suckling.

Throughout their first six years of life, our children achieve so many milestones of independence. Let’s take a look at some of these conquests of independence. You can use this framework as a guide and reminder of how we can support our children as they grow and develop.

Birth to One Year

The first conquest of independence is birth which comes with the cutting of the umbilical cord. At this point, infants must breathe and gain nutrition on their own. Even our expression “It’s time to cut the cord” indicates the shift to increased independence.
Movement is another acquisition of independence in the first year as children begin to use their arms and legs, sit up and crawl, and move from one place to another. With this increased locomotion children no longer need to be held or carried.
Our children also begin to feed themselves. Even in the beginning when babies are nursing, we want them to indicate hunger. The weaning process and shift to using the weaning table supports this path to independence. As our children begin to eat and drink on their own, it is important to have foods and tools they can use independently (e.g. a shot glass for water, finger foods, etc.) rather than having an adult putting a utensil or bottle in their mouth.
Children can also start to practice basic use of utensils. Having utensils that are child-sized and functional is key to independent use.
In addition, our children need the opportunity to develop the ability to be by themselves. To become independent, they need to practice separating from their caregiver(s). Healthy separation depends upon healthy attachment, and our children need the chance to have some time without adult engagement.
Around the end of the first year, children begin to develop language to communicate their needs. Prior to this time, they are able to use other methods to communicate: crying, cooing, smiling, etc. This communication is the beginning of social skills and children’s ability to relate socially to others.

One to Three Years

During this time children can walk confidently and begin to run and climb. Once children can walk, they can begin the process of becoming independent in toileting.
They become more independent with the use of their hands, which become tools for exploration. Because of this, children no longer need to rely on others to hold and carry items.
Language use allows children to begin to express themselves independently.
Children can start to become independent in dressing themselves.
They begin to be able to use simple tools (crayons, sticks, cups, utensils, etc.).
They become more capable of caring for their own personal hygiene (brushing their teeth, washing their face, brushing their hair, etc.).
Children become more proficient with and capable of carrying their own items.
They have the capacity to clean up after themselves (putting away belongings, folding clothing, wiping spills, sweeping crumbs, etc.).

As children get older, they need opportunities to develop their will. Thus, during this stage of independence, it is really important that children can make choices. Making a choice means they are acting for themselves and exercising their will.

From Three to Four and a Half

If it hasn't happened already, children experience separation from the family (e.g. going to school). To be able to separate from one’s family is a new skill of independence. For children who haven’t been able to be by themselves, this is a harder process. During this time, children realize they can survive and trust others, which is a significant step in independence.
Children develop a wider range of social skills.
Children’s motor and visual skills become more developed and refined.
They are able to engage in more games (e.g. catching and throwing a ball).
They have finer manual dexterity (using individual fingers) as well as refined fine motor skills (when all fingers are working in unison).
Children begin to develop the ability to use language to express their emotions. They can learn a multitude of words to be able to express feelings.
They can use utensils and tools to prepare their own food (which ideally happens prior to age three). Research shows that children involved in preparing their own food are more likely to try diverse foods.
Children learn to master fasteners (zippers, buckles, bows, etc.) and thus the self-care involved with dressing and undressing.
They can contribute to their community and care not only for themselves but also for the environment through simple responsibilities like setting the table, folding towels, etc.
They are more independent in caring for their own hygiene needs.
Because their vocabulary is expanding, children can use words to express emotions, as well as to better express their thoughts.

Four and a Half to Six

Children have more social independence and can not only do for themselves but can also use acquired skills to help others.
They become more independent in their social skills so they can internalize and apply the social norms of their community (e.g. pushing in chairs, greeting visitors, communicating that they need space, etc.).
Children become proficient in dressing themselves and can help younger peers with the dressing and undressing process (e.g. getting dressed for going outdoors).
They acquire the capacity to have empathy and compassion.
They have a basic understanding of quantities and how they are represented, instead of just mimicking or rote counting.
Children begin to recognize and use the symbols of our language (e.g. expressing themselves through writing or interpreting the thoughts of others through reading).

These conquests of independence are ultimately about becoming functionally independent. Young children are in a process of mastering different aspects of their lives and they need us, their caregivers, to support them in this process.

Our children are so capable and they benefit when allowed to move toward increasing independence. If you’d like to see how our Montessori environments set children up for success, please schedule a tour! Click here.

Supporting Our Adolescents

Mon, 29 May 2023 11:00:00 GMT

Tanesia R. Hale-Jones is a Montessorian, educator, social activist, poet, artist, and parent, who believes deeply in the importance of community engagement and teaching young people to be global citizens. Tanesia serves as Jr. High Level Director and Adolescent Guide at Escuela del Sol Montessori, where she guides 7th and 8th-grade students and oversees a team of teachers and community partners. Tanesia lives and works on Tiwa Territory in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with her 18-year-old, two cats, and many house plants. She recently shared some of her insights from her many years of working with adolescents.

As a Montessori adolescent guide (and a parent of an adolescent), how do you see the role of adults needing to shift for teens? What is your advice for caregivers of adolescents?

It’s important to remember that our children aren’t living their parents’ adolescence. I talk to so many adults who had a traumatic or really emotional adolescence. Think back to being an adolescent and that moment of recognizing being connected to something bigger than ourselves. This is both really inviting and also pretty terrifying because it means leaving something behind. Adolescence is marked with a kind of grief of separating from family and yet wanting to separate. It isn’t as dramatic as people or movies sometimes make it out to be, but there is a separation that happens and a yearning for something bigger. I always reminded parents that this experience is really normal and healthy. Our job is to hold space for it to happen.

Also, watching someone going through their adolescence brings up a lot for parents, including our own feelings or insecurities. So the invitation is to do your own work. There is a healing process to go through–either by yourself or with partners, friends, or whomever you have in your adult community–that can allow you to be really present for the young people in your life.

There is also value in meeting it all with humor. That doesn’t mean laughing at our adolescents, but rather being able to recognize that you don’t have to get on the roller coaster with them. You can respond, acknowledge, and listen well. This means asking curiosity questions and pulling away from the need to fix it for them, which is hard because we don’t want them to be in pain. We love them so much. We long for them to be safe and whole. Yet we need to hold a space for curiosity.

My own adolescent is leaving their adolescence at the age of 18. They have been a beautiful reminder that can I be in the presence of someone else’s growth and that I don’t have to do anything about it. I can witness it and support it. Supporting that growth is the gift I can give.

How can we, as caregivers, support our adolescents while also giving them the space they need? Do we hold space or give space?

I think it is both. So many parents talk about how their adolescents just want to be in their rooms. Parents of one of my students told me how they were going to be away and realized their adolescent was old enough to be home alone. The parents checked in and found out their child was so excited about having the day to themselves. Their adolescent had a day of feeling respected and trusted. They had that space.

We can also hold space because when our adolescents do emerge, they often want cuddles and tenderness. Often we can be surprised by that need. But we can just be really present with and accept what they need right now. It might be something very different in the next moment! So just hold it now. It is precious. These moments are like building blocks for the emergence of their adult self.

With this awareness of how teens are building their adult selves, what is your take on how important electronics and social media are for our adolescents? How do we stay aware and sensitive to teens’ need to connect through social media platforms while also being aware of the challenges of social media channels?

A lot of younger adolescents have grown up in this [high-tech] world and there is a learning curve for adults and parents. I think about how to stay interested in what adolescents are interested in. What are they listening to? What are they watching? In some ways, it’s about getting ahead of it all. For example, so many songs are sampled, so I often go back and ask if they know who wrote the original song.

With social media, it’s so tricky. I talk with parents about this all the time. I think a lot of it is about really being honest about who social media was designed for and the repercussions of it for adults and young people. We can help our adolescents examine the content they look at and help them build a critical lens. Building critical awareness and visual acuity about who is being represented leads to great conversations about equity, race, and gender roles and appeals to an adolescent's desire for justice and personal dignity. We can engage in conversations about what they are getting out of the content and what it says to other people.

This process isn’t about changing their minds. That’s not really the point. The point is that we are teaching our adolescents to be critical thinkers about what they are consuming and why they are consuming it. We can ask, how does it make you feel? We can explore other moments when they felt that way and how to amplify those moments as well. Do you feel connected? Great! Are there other experiences or activities that make you feel just as connected? It is about teaching discernment, critical analysis on multiple levels, and visual acuity.

In some ways, it is also about rooting back to the values you hold as a family and maybe even helping your adolescent to develop their own personal values. This can be hard, especially if our adolescent’s values start to become different from our family’s values.

How do you approach these kinds of difficult conversations with adolescents in a way that is respectful of adolescents’ emerging adulthood?

It goes back to what I said earlier: you have to do your own work. Difficult conversations can be tricky even when we are communicating adult to adult. When confronted with difficulty or tension, what do we do? I have been practicing stepping toward the conflict or conversation, not with an “I’m going to win” approach, but rather with curiosity. I can explore what is going on for me in that difficult moment. When I am shutting down, how can I turn toward that experience with curiosity? What is getting activated in me when my adolescent says something triggering?

We can respond by asking questions: What does this mean to you? What do you mean by that? For example, there are many young folks who are pushing the rigid boundaries of gender and trying on new pronouns. This is both identity formation and also discarding, putting on, and taking off. We can just ask questions and then not get too precious about the answers. If we can tell they are trying something on, we can explore how to be less attached to their process of experimentation. For me, it is always about coming from a place of curiosity and entering from a place of wonder. This is different than getting stuck in a place of thinking that what our adolescent does or says means I have failed as a parent.

We want what is best for our children and want them to be successful. Sometimes that means looking at what we think success is. What does the world need from our adolescents? What is the world asking of them? These two things can be really different. So that means looking at the reality that young people are met with and then being willing to be open.

I have students who range from having no phones to having TikTok accounts and starting YouTube channels so they can be YouTube stars. As their teacher, I can feel myself getting precious about it and wanting them to be something like an inventor of healing technology! But really, social media can be fun and silly. So I ask questions about it. Which ones do you like? What do you like about them? Oh, that little sample of a song came from a whole song. We could listen to the whole song together!

My kid loves memes, which can be so snarky. But there is something really cool about memes and the way they have distilled culture and humor. I think about how there is something clever here. I see the process as my kid understanding their own humor better and being able to critique society in a way that is pithy and ridiculous.

Both as a parent and a teacher, I’ve tried to step into adolescents’ world. I often say, “I love that for you .” I don’t have to like it, but I can start to get why they like it.

Sometimes adolescence hits and it takes everybody by surprise. With that in mind, do you have any recommendations for entry points or resources for families and caregivers?

There is so much written about adolescent brain development, which has been helpful. The work of Sarah-Jayne Blakemore is really powerful. She has a great TED talk and short articles, as well as her book, Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain .

Britt Hawthorne’s book, Raising Antiracist Children: A Practical Parenting Guide , is really, really great and she posts nice videos that are short and to the point.

I do think there is something valuable to articles that Montessori adolescent practitioners have published through the years. They are really powerful tools. I will often choose one or two to send to my families during the school year. It’s about rooting back to who these young people really are. This helps me to remember where they are and what they need. Then I can reflect more accurately on who I need to be for them.

I think being outside and doing projects is important. Resources for this can range from engaging with local and national parks or restoration projects–things that inspire them to connect with the land– to going to farmers' markets. Adolescents need things that make them feel a little adult and also are opportunities for them to be independent.

There is something really great about connecting adolescents to support groups if they need that. For example, where I live we have a transgender resource center that is gender-affirming. There are also resources like GLSEN [Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network] and GSA s [Genders & Sexualities Alliances], depending on what kids need. I also think therapy is great for adolescents! Especially when you can find people who are good at working with adolescents. It can be nice to have another person to talk to who isn’t your family.

Any other last thoughts?

Adolescence brings up a lot for the adults who are offering love and care. But it is a magical time to witness. It’s really fun to watch. There is a tenderness of exploring what the end of something means and how young people are beginning something that they don’t have any clue of how to begin. It is such a liminal space. As adults, we are very much in our thinking brains and can’t really imagine hanging out in a liminal space. However, think about being in the presence of something that is yet to be! That is the invitation that Montessori gives.

Adolescence is a very internal time. Sometimes adolescents externalize their experience, but often it is very internal. We realize that there is so much happening. Accept the invitation of being curious, playful, and joyful with our young people. Enjoy it and remember what a gift it is to be witness to this process.

Memory, Learning, and Montessori

Mon, 22 May 2023 11:00:02 GMT

Memory is such a critical component of learning. We perhaps take this for granted without fully understanding how memory works and how to support our children in the process of creating and retrieving memories.

What is memory?

Memory is essential to being human. Our brains have evolved to remember what is most meaningful. That being said, we also tend to forget things! Interestingly enough, not remembering is often just a case of not giving our brains enough input to support the creation and retrieval of the memory.

How are memories created?

We take in a great deal of information through our senses. This perception includes the

sensory, emotional, and factual components of experiences. In order for any of that information to become a memory, our brains have to create and connect all those bits of information into a pattern of neural activity. That pattern persists in a structural change that is created in our neurons. This pattern can later be re-experienced (or remembered) by reactivating the neural circuit.

There are four steps to this process of creating a memory:

Encoding
Consolidation
Storage
Retrieval

Encoding is basically just the process of capturing information through sights, sounds, emotions, the meaning of what we perceive, and what we pay attention to in the moment. This information is changed into a neurological language.

Consolidation is the brain’s process of linking activity into a single pattern of connections and associations. Consolidation is a time-dependent process and it can be disrupted or impaired. If a new memory is in the process of consolidation and something interferes, then the memory can be lost or degraded.

Storage is a pattern of activity that is maintained over time through chemical changes in neurons and create physical/structural changes in the brain. Then through retrieval, we reactivate the same connections so we can revisit, recall, or recognize what we learned or experienced previously

All four of these steps have to happen to create a long-term memory that can be consciously retrieved.

Why is this significant?

If we want to remember something, we need to notice what is happening. This requires perception and attention. We might perceive something, but if we don’t actively give it attention, the neurons activated during perception won’t be linked and a memory won’t be formed. In other words, memory is not like a video camera. Our memory can only capture and retain what we give our attention to.

When children (and adults, too!) forget things it is because they didn’t give it attention in the first place. It’s worth noting that paying attention isn’t always easy for the brain. We pay attention to things that are interesting, new, emotional, or important to us in some way. Those are the details our brain captures. The rest we ignore and forget. Paying attention requires a conscious effort. We have to wake up the brain and become consciously aware to remember something.

Memory & Montessori

With all this in mind, we can see how learning is going to be most effective when our children have a connection to the content. Basically, it’s easier for children to learn things that they are interested in. In a Montessori classroom, children have the freedom and opportunity to focus on learning information and skills that are personally exciting and inspiring. As a result, the process feels less like school and more like play.

Also, remember how the formation of memories depends upon the process of consolidation (something you read just a few paragraphs before)? Well, because consolidation can be disrupted by any interference, it’s important for children to have uninterrupted time to engage in their learning. They need to be able to focus without having to regularly shift gears. In Montessori, a three-hour work cycle allows children to settle into their learning and fully consolidate the information they are encountering. They have the time and space to allow their brains to link their activities into a pattern of connections and associations.

Focusing on the Positive

If you’ve ever heard the reminder to water the flowers rather than the weeds, you’ll appreciate the power of paying attention to positive experiences. There is a neurological reason why this matters. If we invest our attention toward positive things, those are the experiences that we will consolidate into memories. If we pay attention to the negative, that is what we will synthesize and store. We find what we are looking for because that is what we paid attention to in the first place!

Again, this is applicable to Montessori education where we focus on what children are doing right. Plus, we use opportunities to reteach skills so children can be successful and experience a positive feedback loop. As a result, children can enjoy learning, which then becomes self-perpetuating as they find engaging activities, interesting information, and meaningful accomplishments throughout their lives.

If you are interested in learning more about memory, be sure to read Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting by Lisa Genova.

A Montessori Dictionary: Elementary & Adolescent Terms

Mon, 15 May 2023 11:00:16 GMT

As is often the case, specialties or practices have their particular lingo. Montessori is no different! In this Montessori Dictionary post, we’re focusing on a few terms (some familiar, some far from familiar) that apply to the elementary and adolescent years. When possible, we’ve included some quotes from Dr. Maria Montessori. We encourage folks to take a look at her work. Dr. Montessori was a woman well before her time and her books continue to be a source of inspiration!

Cosmic Education

“Since it has been seen to be necessary to give so much to the child, let us give him a vision of the whole universe.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, To Educate the Human Potential

Dr. Montessori developed Cosmic Education as an educational approach for children in their elementary years. This approach is based on the needs, tendencies, and characteristics of children ages six to twelve, and provides an awareness of the interconnectedness of all things, as well as a sense that the universe is ordered, governed by rules, and is inspiring. Cosmic Education also provides an understanding that all we know and learn is built upon the great work of those that came before us in the whole of human history.

“If the idea of the universe be presented to the child in the right way, it will do more for him than just arose his interest, for it will create in him admiration and wonder, a feeling loftier than any interest and more satisfying….his intelligence becomes whole and complete because of the vision of the whole that has been presented to him, and his interest spreads to all, for all are linked and have their place in the universe on which his mind is centered.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, To Educate the Human Potential

Erdkinder

Dr. Montessori’s vision for adolescence was to have a land-based program where adolescents can engage in meaningful work that balances intellectual and physical pursuits. This program is ideally a residential farm school in a country setting where adolescents can pursue the real work of the farm and create a community separate from their families. This kind of work allows adolescents to cultivate social and economic independence through valuable experiences in social organization, economic vitality, and intellectual pursuits.

“This means that there is an opportunity to learn both academically and through actual experience what are the elements of social life….We have called these children the ‘Erdkinder’ because they are learning about civilization through its origin in agriculture. They are the ‘land children’.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence

Imagination

Imagination allows us, as humans, to understand and shape the world in significant ways. Dr. Montessori emphasized that children have great imaginative power that is essential to their self-construction and human development. Imagination is what has allowed humanity to make advances, create, invent, and work through problems that have not yet been solved.

Imagination is the superpower of elementary-age children. They have built up their sensorial experiences and impressions during their early years and are now able to use this foundation to imagine through time and space. Thus, a great deal of the elementary curriculum appeals to the imaginative ability of children ages six to twelve.

Occupations

Occupations are opportunities for adolescents to try on adult-level activities and work that integrates the mind and the body. These experiences are focused and purposeful and allow adolescents to experience how they can contribute to their society. Often adolescents will ask, “What will I use this for?” They deeply want and need to use their knowledge to make an impact in the world. Occupations can range from beekeeping to bookkeeping. They are practical experiences, typically connected to the land or other non-academic pursuits.

Plan of Study and Work

“…the aim should be to widen education instead of restricting it.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence

At the adolescent level, Montessori education is based on a general, holistic program of study that integrates with work on the land, production and exchange, and support for the developmental needs of adolescents. This general plan includes:

the moral and physical program that emphasizes how adolescents should be treated as vulnerable growing young humans;
a syllabus and methods for education, which includes activities and methods for self-expression, cognitive and intellectual development, and preparation for adult life; and
practical considerations for prepared environments, ways for adolescents to be involved in economies, and varied and supportive adult involvement.

Psycho-Discipline

To understand the term psycho-discipline, it can be helpful to look at the two parts of the word. The prefix, psycho, means relating to the mind or psychology, and comes from the Greek for “breath, soul, and mind.” Discipline is a branch of knowledge. Thus psycho-discipline is the knowledge that is presented according to the psychology of the learner.

In Montessori, we focus first on the whole young person and figure out how to support the characteristics and needs of that individual and where they are in the stages of development. As such, the learner connects to what they are learning because they are naturally engaged with, and own, their process of learning. The learning process ultimately helps the individual’s process of self-construction.

“Education should not limit itself to seeking new methods for a mostly arid transmission of knowledge: its aim must be to give the necessary aid to human development.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence

If education in the “disciplines” is to aid human development, the focus becomes on the individual and their holistic growth, rather than solely on the content.

Please be sure to schedule a tour of our school so you can see how Montessori education aids human development, inspires the imagination, and gives a vision of the whole universe!

Our Montessori Bookshelf: Wordless Picture Books

Mon, 08 May 2023 11:00:30 GMT

Even though they don’t have a written narrative, wordless picture books can be an essential part of young children’s language development. These books have pictures but no text and are often classified around a theme or sequence that is familiar to children. In our toddler and primary classrooms, we have two or three of these books on a shelf at any given time and rotate them throughout the year. Because young children are still distinguishing between what is real and what is of the imagination, we also make sure that the books are plausible, rather than focused on fantasy or imaginary themes. Really, we just take care to choose books that highlight the wonderful world as it really is.

As our students get older (even into the elementary years), we use wordless picture books to help with storytelling, sequencing, and making predictions. Taking a “picture walk” through the story helps children interpret visual clues and helps lay the foundation for becoming better readers.

After children have had time to explore a wordless picture book, we may ask them to share their interpretation of what is happening in the story. Children love dictating the story for an older peer or adult to scribe, creating speech bubbles, or even writing their own narration to accompany each page.

When “reading” a wordless picture book with your child or children, you can describe the illustrations, ask questions about what they see, and even encourage narration of a story to accompany the pictures.

Anno’s Journey

by Mitsumasa Anno

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/1076038

This classic book with its full-page, detailed illustration shows the progression of one person’s exploration across a European countryside. The discerning eyes of children find all sorts of delights and connections across the pages. In addition, Anno has woven in treasures for more advanced searching, such as scenes from famous stories and paintings, as well as numerous cultural references. This is a wordless picture book that children can easily lose themselves in for an extended period of time.

A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog

by Mercer Mayer

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/654093

This book is part of a collection of perfectly sized books for little hands. Each title ( Frog on His Own, Frog Goes to Dinner, One Frog Too Many, and A Bog, A Dog, A Frog, and a Friend ) provides an illustrative journey of all sorts of backyard adventures, often spurred on by the frog who hops into a heap of trouble (or fun, depending upon one’s perspective!). Particularly pleasing is the ease and comfort of the boy in his outdoor ramblings.

Here I Am

story by Patti Kim, pictures by Sonia Sánchez

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/17658592

With its more complex story line, this wordless picture book is probably best suited for slightly older children, although the vivid and textured illustrations appeal to any age. The story follows a child immigrating from one country to another and portrays the emotional journey of what it means to move from loss into a feeling of belonging. After your child consumes this lovely tale of connection, be sure to take a peek at the author’s moving letter at the end at the end of the book.

I Walk with Vanessa: A Story About a Simple Act of Kindness

by Kerascoët

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/35758098

The story begins with images of a young girl, Vanessa, moving and starting at a new school. The other children go about their day not really noticing her. But then the pictures zoom in to a scene as they all leave school, when a child is scary and mean to Vanessa. Another child notices, though, and eventually realizes she can take the initiative and walk with Vanessa to school. This one small act changes everything for Vanessa (and maybe even the boy who was being unkind). The author also shares some resources to help children and adults when confronted by bullying behavior.

In the Pond

by Ermanno Cristini and Luigi Puricelli

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2114487.In_the_Pond

In the Pond is a must have book for those young nature lovers who can’t get enough of seeing ecosystems in action. Each page highlights a section of the pond and provides an elegant piece of the puzzle of life moving through the water, hovering at the edge, and slipping into the scene. At the end of the book, we get to see the whole array of pages put together, complete with a key identifying each of the 33 organisms represented.

Inside Outside

by Lizi Boyd

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/15015619

The pages of this book take us on a seasonal journey moving back and forth from inside a child’s home and the backyard. This delightful book features small windows that show the dynamic link between these two spaces, while also providing a new view or focus on particular details that might at first be easy to miss. The clever illustrations highlight a child’s experience in all its glory and, although the pictures are simple, they provide enough richness for multiple trips, back and forth and back again.

One Little Bag: An Amazing Journey

by Henry Cole

https://www.goodreads.com/fr/book/show/44575061

The book begins with a picture prelude of a tree being harvested, transported to a paper mill, and transformed into a paper bag. This bag becomes part of a child’s experience of growing up, sharing love, and creating family. This love story of sorts is also a moving reminder of the importance of conserving the resources of our precious planet. And the author’s note at the end isn’t to be missed!

Pancakes for Breakfast

by Tomie DePaola

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/309554

This simple story line shows a woman waking up to the thought of enjoying pancakes. The pages follow her process of checking the recipe, preparing the ingredients, and bumping up against the challenge of missing key elements from the recipe. This requires her to gather eggs, milk the cow, churn the butter, and even go to a neighbor who has tapped some maple syrup. With all of these obstacles almost overcome, she encounters one more big one. But that doesn’t stop her from enjoying some pancakes! One of the delights of this book is how it incorporates words as part of life: from the recipe book, to labels on the dishes or containers, to the final picture hanging on the wall at the end.

Sidewalk Flowers

by Jon Arno Lawson and illustrated by Sydney Smith

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25928556-sidewalk-flowers

One girl’s walk home with her busy (and slightly preoccupied) dad becomes a tribute to how even the smallest of acts can bring kindness and color into others’ lives. In the process of noticing small details, the girl collects sidewalk flowers and shares the beauty with those she passes who most need a little love and care.

Wave

by Suzy Lee

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3171606-wave

The line drawings and blues of the ocean perfectly capture the childhood experience of running to the beach and dancing with the ebbs and flows of the water. Seagulls stand by while a girl goes through a series of interactions with the waves. From initial stand offishness to full-fledged immersion, the girl and the wave (and even the seagulls) go through a kind of transformation, which is enhanced by the blues that begin to wash across each page as the story unfolds.

Window

by Jeannie Baker

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/1401164

Through one window, we witness a story of change. What begins as a lush, tropical backyard eventually becomes a bustling neighborhood. Within this story is also the transition from babyhood to childhood to adulthood and even parenthood. From the items on the windowsill to the various kinds of interactions outside the window, Baker’s collage constructions provide not only a textured story, but also host of fascinating details.

Download a PDF of this booklist! We hope you and your children enjoy these books as much as we do!

Pandemic Impacts on Older Kids and Teens

Mon, 01 May 2023 11:00:06 GMT

While there has been a certain amount of awareness of how COVID has impacted young children, we thought it would be helpful to shift our attention toward those in their elementary and adolescent years. While the impacts may manifest differently, those in the middle of their school years also experienced considerable disruptions from COVID. From increased anxiety and physicality to challenges in social interactions and work engagement, elementary-aged children and adolescents are facing their own share of struggles.

Social Development

Those who experienced the start of the pandemic during their elementary and early adolescent years were at home during a time when developmentally they needed to connect with peers and figure out their social identity. It’s during this time that our kids develop their own sense of individuality within the context of community. This interplay amongst peers allows older children to both develop their ability to communicate with others while processing how their individual actions impact those around them. The result? Our young people begin to learn how to practice empathy for others while also advocating for themselves.

During the locks-downs and distancing from COVID, many children missed out on key formative experiences, like how to join a group, how to invite others into a group, and even how to have positive conversations. Without some of these skills, navigating social situations, especially those that involve more than one other person, can be trickier.

Even children’s awareness of others’ physical space has been impacted, perhaps due to maintaining six feet of distance or even having more time in close proximity to screens. As children have been able to be together again, the boundary line of what is too close or what is too physical is something they are having to discover.

Direct instruction and guided practice can help. Elementary-age children love to role-play, so even acting out different scenarios can be beneficial. To foster developing friendships and healthy peer interactions, have conversations with your children and teens about the qualities of a good friend and how to be a good friend to others.

Regulating Emotions & Managing Anxiety

During the elementary time period, our children are developing their emotional skills, which provide an important base before young people enter their more tumultuous adolescent years. Major emotional skills mastered during this stage include how to adjust to different rules and social norms for behavior, understand others’ feelings, acquire more control and management of emotions, and develop strategies for patience and general adaptability.

In addition to not having as much opportunity to flex these social-emotional muscles, so much was outside of our children’s control during the early COVID years. As a result, more young people have developed increased anxiety, which can manifest in a multitude of ways.

For some children, just the transition into the school building and away from parents or caregivers can cause anxiety to flare up. For others, trying to figure out how to interact with peers in-person can be anxiety-provoking.

To help, we can focus on communication and collaboration. This can range from recognizing and discussing emotions when children are calm, to remaining open and empathetic when strong emotions surface. It’s essential that, as adults, we model emotional regulation so our young people can see how we use coping strategies, like taking deep breaths or stepping away from a situation, rather than just reacting.

We can also be sure to address our kids’ behavior rather than their emotions. This helps young people understand the distinction between their feelings and their actions. For example, if someone feels angry, that is just a feeling, which is neither good nor bad. However, if someone acts on that feeling by hitting another person, the behavior of hitting is unacceptable. When we handle disciplinary situations, our responses can help our kids begin to internalize that it is okay to experience a range of emotions and that they have choices and limits in terms of how they behave.

Involving our children in the conversation is essential. They might need help voicing or expressing their emotions and anxieties so worries don’t stay hidden inside where they can easily proliferate. Most importantly, we need to help ensure that children don’t keep avoiding whatever is causing them stress or anxiety.

Getting Back Into the Rhythm

Healthy routines are important for older children and teens, who need structure and predictability to offset the stress associated with the changes they begin to experience in their social lives, their bodies, and even their emotional experiences. With all the disruptions of the pandemic, we need to be especially sensitive to the importance of following through and following up. Our children need us, as adults, to hold consistent, firm, and kind boundaries, so that they can feel secure and settled.

From regular sleep and predictable mornings to completing chores and finishing assignments, routines can be the guide. With older children and teens, we also need to engage in respectful, curious conversations about what causes them to feel stressed, tired, or overwhelmed. Ideally, we are encouraging our young people to take an active role in planning routines that will help them manage themselves better. If we brainstorm with our kids and write down the plan together, we can more easily revisit what is going well and what might need to be modified. Also be sure to celebrate the wins and compassionately communicate if something isn’t working well.

Above all, our young people need our patience and understanding. This requires us, as adults, to practice our own mindfulness and grounding so we can be present and supportive. If concerns arise, we can work in harmony to compassionately identify possible problems and strategize practical solutions.

To see how we support students' emotional regulation, social development, and intellectual engagement, come visit our school. We love to share what we do! Schedule a tour here .

Observation to Instruction

Mon, 24 Apr 2023 11:00:19 GMT

Do you see your child throwing their clothes on the floor in a heap? Maybe leaving things out on the kitchen table? Interrupting during mealtime?

It’s so tempting in these moments to jump in, perhaps correcting or reminding (often for what seems like the umpteenth time).

One of the keys to a Montessori approach is taking the time to observe what is happening, noting what you see, and waiting for an opportune time to teach what to do rather than what not to do.

Supporting Undeveloped Skills

For example, a Montessori teacher saw that a child new to the classroom was regularly cutting to the front of the line as children prepared to wash their hands. Other children were getting quite upset with this young friend’s tactics to get to the front of the line.

Instead of reprimanding the child, the Montessori teacher observed that he wasn’t acting maliciously. He just seemed to not yet have or know the skills to line up successfully. At a quiet moment, the teacher connected with the young boy and let him know that when there is a line, we just go to the end of where the line is forming. Grateful for this information on social graces, the child then happily started going to the end of the lines. It turns out the child just didn’t know the expectations!

It can be so tempting to jump in when we see something happening that we don’t like. Yet as long as children aren’t hurting others, their surroundings, or themself, we practice observing and determining what children still need to learn to be successful.

Observation is Key

The heart of the Montessori method is learning how to observe children in an objective and meaningful way. Adults learn how to look rather than merely see . In order to look without judgment, expectation, or preference, adults work on developing a deep inner awareness. This requires that we observe to understand rather than see something and jump to conclusions.

Thus Montessori education is focused on the natural emergence of young humans at their own pace. The role of adults is to prepare the environment and support children in their optimal development. In order to do this, we have to become constructive observers. We focus on waiting and observing, rather than intervening right away.

How This Can Work at Home

This is something that we can try at home, too. Perhaps your child is throwing their clothes on the floor in a heap. Rather than scold or lecture in the moment, try taking a deep breath and making yourself a little note to remember to circle back to the undeveloped skill. Later, when everyone is relaxed and content, take the time to connect with your child. Let them know you want to show them how to either put their clothes in the laundry basket or fold and store them for later use. Practice these options together. Finally, thank your child for taking the time with you to learn this skill.

Or perhaps you can go over the steps to loading dishes in the dishwasher. Or how to wait for a pause in the conversation. The trick is to observe for the need and wait to give instructions. Children want to do well. Often they just need us to observe, pause, and later take the time to show them how to be successful.

This doesn’t mean that our children will always remember how to do what we’ve shown. Sometimes they’ll need a smile and a gentle reminder. Sometimes they’ll need us to cycle back and demonstrate something again. The key is remembering to observe, rather than reacting in the moment.

The Montessori Approach

Through observation, Dr. Maria Montessori discovered how children’s character is formed through experiences in the environment, how children adapt to their culture, and how children have sensitive periods for acquiring all sorts of important skills.

Observation allows us to provide children with opportunities to become competent and capable. Come observe this for yourself! Click here to schedule a tour today!

Discipline: The Positive Way

Mon, 17 Apr 2023 11:00:11 GMT

We are often asked about how we handle discipline in Montessori. It’s a great question because we think differently about discipline. Ultimately, we want our children to develop self-discipline and to understand how to balance being an individual within a community. We know that children need to have a sense of belonging and significance; they want to feel and be capable in the world. In the process of learning how to use their power constructively, we understand they will make mistakes along the way.

In thinking about discipline, it can be helpful to consider how we, as adults, want to be treated when we make a mistake. If we start arriving late for work, for example, how would we want our supervisor to respond? Imagine if we were reprimanded, especially publicly. We might slink into discouragement, feel resentful, or even lash out. Or maybe our supervisor doesn’t hold us to expectations of timeliness and we eventually don’t even feel the need to get to work promptly. However, if our supervisor kindly and quietly reminds us about arrival time expectations, perhaps even checking in about what is going on in our lives, their warmth and understanding can inspire us to do better.

Our children deserve and need the same kind of respect. They do best when they are encouraged rather than punished or pampered. Yet often we get caught in a cycle with our children. We punish or cajole. Our children rebel, maybe get back at us, or perhaps retreat. Things get worse. We may react and lay out more consequences, as if making life more miserable will help our children make better choices. In reality, we are all more likely to do better if someone supports us to figure out what went wrong and how to make things right.

Positive Discipline is a program designed to encourage children to become responsible, respectful and resourceful members of their communities. Based on the best selling Positive Discipline books by Dr. Jane Nelsen , Positive Discipline employs non-punitive methods for teaching valuable social and life skills in a manner that is respectful and encouraging for both children and adults.

The practice of Positive Discipline aligns well with Montessori philosophy and helps us shift from being punitive or reward-based to being kind and firm at the same time. Positive Discipline is a respectful approach that acknowledges that when children feel worse, they do worse, and when children feel better, they do better.

To balance being kind and firm at the same time, while also ensuring that we are supporting our children in healthy ways, we can listen to what we sound like when we communicate with children. Are we issuing directives or asking for cooperation? Are we forging relationships or cutting off connections? Are we brashly belittling or kindly reminding?

One way to become more aware of talking with our children rather than to our children is to practice the Positive Discipline principle of connection before correction. Connection before correction means that we focus on creating closeness and trust instead of distance and hostility. If we notice a child has left their coat on the floor, it’s most effective to first connect with them in a loving way before reminding them to clean up after themselves.

Basic brain science explains why this is the case. Scolding, nagging, lecturing, blaming, shaming, yelling – all cause the recipient’s brain to shift into “flight, fright, or freeze” mode. Children (and adults, too) function best when they feel safe, trusted, and accepted.

Connection before correction can be as simple as first getting to a child’s eye level and smiling before addressing the need at hand. Or perhaps it’s saying, “I love you, and the answer is no.”

Other ways of making a connection include active listening, spending special time together, validating feelings, asking questions, and giving hugs. Effective connections are made when everyone involved feels significance and belonging.

When children feel a connection, their sense of belonging and significance increases. Often this connection is enough to stop misbehavior and facilitate cooperation. The real bonus is that when we take the time to first connect rather than correct, we actually end up feeling better ourselves. Everyone benefits.

Positive discipline practices are an essential component of how Montessori communities function so effectively. We would love for you to come to visit our school and see how we are kind and firm at the same time, how we practice connection before correction, and how we see mistakes as opportunities to learn.

Join us on April 28, 2023 4:00-6:00pm for a FREE workshop on Positive Discipline led by Co-Head of School and certified trainer, Nicole Atwood. Childcare and dinner included. Register for this workshop by clicking here .

The Positive Discipline book can be purchased on Amazon, click here .

Caring for Community

Mon, 10 Apr 2023 11:00:05 GMT

Part of being part of a community is participating in the daily routines to care for our surroundings. In Montessori, we provide numerous ways for children to participate as community members.

Children love being able to help care for their environment through real and meaningful activities. In the process of helping maintain and care for their classroom and school, children develop a sense of belonging. They begin to feel at home.

Laying the Groundwork

In order for children to be successful in this process of caring for their surroundings, adults do a lot of behind-the-scenes preparation. We make sure we have materials ready that are both real and child-sized. Because young children learn from (and love!) repetition, we also want children to be able to continue working with the materials as long as they desire. This might mean having just the right amount of polish for cleaning the mirrors, or vases for arranging fresh cut flowers, or cloths for wiping the tables.

Real Outcomes

The activities we provide in Montessori environments are real work, rather than something to keep children busy. As such, the outcome of the activities must be clear and necessary. If the plants need water, children can water the plants. If the floor is wet, children can mop the floor. If a table is dirty, children can scrub the table.

Because our young people are learning how they can have an impact on their environment, adults work hard to not redo what children just did. Thus, if the table is still dirty, the adults leave it as is. Perhaps later another child can be invited to clean the table, but the adults refrain from swooping in and cleaning the table afterward.

Types of Activities

In order to determine appropriate care of the environment activities for the classroom, we observe children and also consider what practical maintenance needs to happen each day. If there is an easel with paint, we create a material for washing the easel. If there is an easel with chalk, we offer an activity for washing the chalkboard.

The specific kinds of activities depend upon community norms, the greater culture, the climate, and even the length of the day. Regardless of these variables, the activities always have an intelligent purpose and are part of the everyday, regular part of what happens in the community.

Individual Satisfaction to Community Impact

At first, children will pursue the activities for their own satisfaction. They will clean a table to enjoy the process of creating soapy bubbles and wiping them off the table. Later they will realize how they are caring for the environment in ways that benefit everyone. They will want to scrub a table because they see it is dirty and they want it to be clean. This realization causes children great joy. They love to contribute to the greater good!

To help children develop this awareness and sense of belonging, it is nice to acknowledge something a child has done that day to contribute to the community. However, we must tread lightly in this process so that children maintain a sense of doing the activity for themselves and the community, rather than for adult praise.

Responsibility

Ultimately, care of the environment activities help children learn how to be responsible for their actions. If a plant needs to be watered, and it isn’t watered, eventually the plant will die. We can offer children the opportunity to water the plant, but if no one is willing, there is a tangible and natural consequence. Children learn that their actions matter and they take great pride in being capable contributors.

Presentation

Before presenting these practical life activities, we work carefully as adults to practice the steps, ensure that the activity makes sense, analyze our movements, and be confident that the presentation flows. Once we create the activity, practice it, and present it, we step back and observe children working with the materials. In the process of observation, we ask questions like: Is this activity working? Do I need to change anything? Do I need to change some of the steps? Do I need to take out unnecessary steps? Does the activity need to be removed?

Ultimately though, children will observe what is essential in the activity and make it their own unique process. As children internalize the procedure, they will start to realize how capable they are. They will put their whole focus into the work and experience great satisfaction in the process of engaging with meaningful work in the community. They will develop a strong sense of belonging, and ultimately flourish into their fullest self.

Support at Home

As parents, we are often curious about how we can support our children’s Montessori experience at home. One of the best ways is to create care of the environment routines and activities at home. Children can clean up their toys at the end of the day, set the table for dinner, or put dirty clothes in the laundry basket. We don’t need elaborate preparation, but rather carefully selected items or furniture: special shelves for toys, a low shelf or drawer prepared with items for setting the table, or a basket in the room for laundry.

Taking a little time to think through the steps involved and what children will need to be successful goes a long way. As adults, we move through daily activities without having to think about what we are doing. Young children, though, are learning how to master their movements. Thus, when we are presenting how to do something, our children need us to slow down and really isolate each step of the process.

Significance and Belonging

For children, learning how to care for their surroundings is a remarkable gift. Through this meaningful work, children develop a strong sense of belonging and significance. They see how their contribution matters. Come visit our school to see how even our youngest children care for their community and develop personal purpose!

Independence: The Significance of Food

Mon, 03 Apr 2023 11:00:13 GMT

Throughout history, human survival has depended upon finding, preparing, and consuming different kinds of food. It is certainly understandable why food is a central part of our lives!

In Montessori, we recognize that food plays a bigger role in our young humans’ development. While nutrition is key, food also represents so much more! Therefore, we offer children the opportunity to use food as a way to develop a richer understanding of the world, master abilities to function independently, and develop a rich language for communication.

Understanding the World

As children develop their relationship with food, it’s important that they get to experience food in its natural state rather than only prepackaged. During the sensitive period for refining their senses, young children need to be able to explore their food sensorially so they can experience the taste, texture, smell, appearance (uncooked and cooked), and even any sound food might make.

In Montessori environments, we offer children opportunities to see and taste fresh foods, and even experience creating homemade breads and soups. Rather than opening a can or package, we start with natural raw ingredients and let the children put all the pieces together so they can see the steps involved in making different foods.

Whenever possible, we also try to give children meaningful connections to nature and its bounty, including when foods are in season. It’s a bonus when we can have fruits, vegetables, and herbs growing in planters or in the outdoor environment! Our goal is for children to develop a connection to food and its growth cycle throughout the year. In the process, children can learn about the parts of plants we eat: leaves, stems, roots, seeds, and flowers.

As children get older, they become more involved with the production and exchange aspects of food, from purchasing ingredients to preparing whole meals for others.

Mastering Abilities & Movement

When children are preparing food, we start with basic skills such as cutting, dicing, peeling, grating, and juicing. As children gain more dexterity and skill, like holding and using a knife, we move toward teaching more complex skills, such as how to prepare the ingredients when following a recipe, or how to operate kitchen appliances such as toasters, openers, coffee makers, juicers, mixers, etc.

Whether using simple or complex equipment, children need items that they can learn to manage on their own. As such, we provide kitchen items that are sized appropriately. So children can master their movements and abilities, the kitchen tools must work for children and not cause unnecessary obstacles. Through plenty of repetition with food preparation and the varied kinds of tools involved, children begin to coordinate their movements and refine their skills.

Developing Language

While children are working with food preparation activities, adults take care to use precise terminology to name the ingredients, materials, and actions involved. When we do this, we help increase and expand children’s language and more permanently fix the concepts in their memory.

Table setting also offers a wonderful opportunity for language development. For the youngest children, we can say, “We need four plates.” Then together the adults and children can count to four. While our youngest children may not have an idea of the concept, they will set the plates one to one and lay the foundation for future math work. Table setting can also be an indirect lesson about prepositions. In a very natural way, we can ask children to put the spoon next to the plate, or to the right of the plate, or a napkin on top of the plate. The word “preposition” is never spoken but the experience gives children exposure to the concept of the function of a preposition in a sentence.

As children get older, we can introduce more complex language and also offer opportunities for them to interpret recipes, write their own instructional steps, and even tap into the expressive creativity involved with food preparation and presentation.

Cultural Importance

Where we live in the world dictates how and what we eat. Different cultures have disparate expectations about cooking or consuming. Yet in all cultural groups, people have explored and experimented with food. This makes sense, of course. People have needed to know what they can eat, if food needs to be cooked to be edible, how foods can be combined, and how our bodies might react to particular foods or food combinations.

Food also plays a key role in rituals and customs, from people coming together socially to religious ceremonies to relying on food for medical purposes. All cultures have some kind of beliefs about both the significance of food and different foods’ ability to make our bodies feel better or worse.

With all of the cultural richness woven into food, bringing in family traditions, customs, favorite recipes, and rituals around food can enhance the classroom community’s experience and provide a culturally responsive school-family partnership.

Food preparation is an essential part of our learning communities and a significant part of our children’s development. Please schedule a time to visit the school, see this work for yourself, and perhaps even share a bit about your own culinary traditions!

Going Out: An Expansive Elementary

Mon, 27 Mar 2023 11:00:10 GMT

At the elementary level, children want to know the how and why of everything. As a result, they have a strong drive to explore the world beyond their immediate family and even their classroom or school. New interests compel elementary-age children to explore anywhere and everywhere! Plus, they are creating their ability to function in society. In order to achieve this, our elementary children need to acquire new skills.

One of the ways Montessori elementary programs help six- to twelve-year-olds develop these new skills is through something called “going out.” Dr. Maria Montessori developed the idea of “going out” both literally and figuratively. She recognized how, developmentally, elementary-age children needed to go out the door of the classroom and that the door should open into the wider world.

What is Going Out?

Imagine that a group of two, three, or four children have been studying something in the classroom. They have exhausted all of the resources in the class or school library and are eager to learn more. For example, a group of children may have learned about falcons. They want to interview a falconer and see some falcons up close. Or maybe a couple of students have been interested in mice, so they visit the local pet store to learn about the care of rodents. Students who just researched the Titanic may discover a nearby museum with a display about the Titanic, so they arrange a visit. Children learning about a period in history might visit a local theater’s costume shop to find clothing from that time period and recreate what someone would wear. The options are endless.

Purposes of Going Out

This small group experience serves elementary children’s need for independence, collaboration, and experience. They need new opportunities for intellectual stimulation. They are curious to learn more. They want to learn everything about the universe and the universe won’t fit into our classrooms!

In addition, elementary children need to be social and collaborate. In preparing for a “going out” experience, students get to work together in an authentic and meaningful way. In the classroom, they share resources, make group decisions, delegate and divide labor, take responsibility, and celebrate each other’s success. Inevitably conflict can arise and can be a necessary and important part of their work. With support, children practice respectful problem-solving. So with all this practice, they are ready to apply these skills outside of the classroom through their “going out” experiences.

“Going out” trips also require a new level of self-discipline. Children must make decisions and take action. In order to have a successful outing, they have to organize their thinking, themselves, and each other. They also must demonstrate a high level of responsibility, as individuals and as a group.

Different than a Field Trip

Although field trips are important and delightful, they are quite different than the “going out” experience. Field trips involve the entire class and are often planned and executed by an adult. The “going out” trip, however, involves a small group of children who want to learn more about something they are studying or investigating. Those children are then responsible for all of the logistics of the “going out” trip. The outing is conceived, planned, organized, and carried out by this small group of children who have a mission to learn more.

The responsibility for setting up a “going out” experience can require a variety of skills ranging from letter writing, sending emails, filling out forms, making appointments, finding transportation, reading schedules, budgeting for the day, making a phone call, speaking to different kinds of people, using electronics respectfully, packing supplies, confirming appointments, and following up with acknowledgments or thanks.

Sometimes children may need little mini-lessons about particular forms of decorum related to their “going out” — how to enter a theater, how to conduct an interview, how to write a thank you note, how to show you are listening, how to pay an admissions fee, etc. These are all vital skills that help our children prepare for how they will enter society.

A Community Effort

A successful “going out” program requires the support of the whole school community and the community at large. Sometimes parents or school staff offer to transport children. Being a “going out” driver is very different than being a field trip chaperone. A “going out” driver relies upon the children to share the directions, where to park, and what to do. If the children have neglected to check the hours of the place they are visiting, and they arrive to find the doors locked, the driver merely waits for instructions from the children about what to do next. This requires a great deal of adult self-restraint and an understanding of the aims of the program!

The children take on the challenge and expectation of what is expected. They want to be capable and they want to know what successful entry into society requires. When they find out what the rules are, they feel more secure in the world. Over time, as children develop connections and relationships out in the greater community, they also pave the way for future “going out” trips.

Support at Home

The spirit of “going out” can be supported at home, too! Think about the various activities that happen in our daily routines and how our children can take on some ownership or responsibility. For example, going to the grocery store can become its own “going out” experience. Part of the planning and preparation can involve sitting with our children to peruse the weekly sale flier to map out some menus for the week ahead. Children can make a list of what to buy and even estimate how much it will cost or try to work within a predetermined budget. Before leaving for the store, they can gather what is needed: reusable bags, the shopping list, snacks so no one shops hungry, etc. Or perhaps a recent weekend hike sparks curiosity about a particular subject, like rock slides or mushrooms. Children can find out the hours of the local library, talk with the librarian about their interests, and initiate the process of checking out or requesting some resources.

Elementary children are capable of so much, physically and mentally. Thus, we want to acknowledge their potential and offer keys for our children to unlock new experiences and step into the wonderful world beyond the school. The best part? Not only does the “going out” experience meet elementary students’ developmental needs, it also promotes a future full of good citizenship and responsible community members.

To see this work in action, please schedule a tour . Our doors are always open!

Looking on the Positive Side

Mon, 20 Mar 2023 11:00:17 GMT

Our brains are hardwired to look for problems and generate solutions. In The Neuroscience of Change , Kelly McGonigal, a health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University, explains how this brain state has been helpful for human evolution so we can improve our state of being. Looking for what’s wrong, however, often prevents us from seeing what is good in the present moment.

Because of our negative bias, we can easily become focused on what children need to do better: pick up their clothes, get ready faster, be quieter, solve math problems better, make less mess, and on and on. As a result, our children can easily be bombarded by what they are not doing right.

Clear Feedback & Encouragement

In Montessori environments, we focus on offering clear, accurate feedback and encouragement, which includes acknowledging children’s work and effort. We want children to develop an internal drive so they can be independent, responsible, thoughtful learners and community members.

To support this development, our feedback and encouragement are focused on what is happening for children internally. We acknowledge what children might be feeling and the effort involved. Instead of the focus being on what the adult is feeling, we reflect upon children’s experiences. So rather than saying “I’m so proud of you,” we might say “You look very proud,” or “You worked so hard. Congratulations!”

Phrases of encouragement or positive feedback work best when backed up by evidence. For example, “I noticed how your friends looked relieved when you offered to help sweep up the spilled rice. They seemed to really appreciate your kindness.” Or “I saw how you looked frustrated and then how you took a deep breath. You showed a lot of self-control at that moment.”

State the Positive

Developmentally, young children need to hear requests or reminders framed positively. They need to know the expected behavior and they need us to state what we expected to see. If we say, “don’t hit,” young children cannot easily differentiate between the commands “hit” and “don’t hit.” The last word they hear is “hit,” so that is the image that lasts in their minds. Thus, statements like “don’t run” or “don’t hit” aren’t as effective for our young children.

Rather than saying what not to do, we focus on the behavior we want to see. Statements like “walk, please,” “touch gently,” or “please talk quietly” offer a clear and positive image of what to do. Children hear how to be successful and thus can more easily be successful.

Catch Them Doing Something Right

In addition to these clear directions, we can recast children’s self-image by acknowledging times they are making a good choice. In doing so we are providing our children with positive attention. All too often children get attention when they are engaged in behaviors we don’t like. Children then quickly learn that they need to act out in some way if they want attention. To counter this trend, we need to catch our children doing something right.

Building a Foundation

If we are caught in a cycle of only seeing the negative, one way we can change our outlook is to make a list of all the things our children have done right over the course of a day. When we start noticing and acknowledging the good stuff, we help create a positive feedback loop. Young children also love hearing a story about their day that highlights the positive choices they have made.

In Different Learners , Jane M. Healy, Ph.D., offers a strong reminder about the profound influence we have on our children: “One thing brain research tells us – loud and clear – is that the way we raise and teach our children not only helps shape their brains, but can also influence or even alter the way genes play out their roles.”

In this season of new growth, let’s offer positive reminders and in-the-moment acknowledgments to help our young people develop successfully. By doing so we will also be helping ourselves see the world in a more positive light.

We also encourage you to come to visit our school to hear how the adults and children in our community interact with each other in positive ways!

Pandemic Impacts & Optimal Child Development

Mon, 13 Mar 2023 11:00:09 GMT

We’ve enjoyed some return to normalcy after the intensity of the early COVID years. However, it’s important to remember that our young children are still living with some of the impacts of the changes we all experienced. One of the reasons the COVID years have affected our children is because so much critical development happens in the first few years of life.

While home is an incredibly nurturing place, many of our children were limited to only being at home which led to fewer opportunities for socializing and learning different kinds of relationship skills. To further complicate the scene, many of us were also trying to juggle our own changes in work and life.

With all this in mind, we’ve been focusing on identifying some impacts of COVID and sharing strategies to support optimal development in our young children.

Socializing with Peers

During the early COVID years, children didn’t have as much time to be around others, especially other children. Even when we could be with other people, we all needed to maintain a physical distance.

Yet children learn how to navigate social situations through play. Think of the rough and tumble romping of wolf puppies. It is through those interactions that the pups strengthen social bonds and learn how to navigate social status in the pack. Similarly, during interactive play, children learn to negotiate, share, wait for a turn, follow the rules of a game, and consider others’ feelings.

Our children now have an intense hunger for socialization while their socialization skills are still developing.

To support their social development, we can:

provide plenty of opportunities for unstructured imaginative play with peers
observe to see if children are hanging back or avoiding interactions
offer gentle help for joining into play or suggest phrases children can use to ask to participate
recommend tasks they can do to help the group
identify real-time emotions
model positive communication

Before intervening, though, it’s also important to give time and space for children to negotiate and problem-solve. Children learn best through opportunities to make some mistakes and, just like with the wolf pups, the learning might look a little messy at first!

Connecting to the Real World

Many of our children have had a lot more screen time over the past few years. According to Carlota Nelson, director of the documentary Brain Matters , too much screen time can impact children’s concentration and focus, reduce their ability to control impulses, and affect their capacity for empathy.

Young children need lots of opportunities for concrete, tangible, hands-on play. They need to use their bodies and hands to manipulate the world around them. Plus, multi-sensory experiences help children develop strong neural pathways.

To help this real-world connection, we can:

provide more time in nature and green spaces
incorporate more movement, exercise, and free play into the day
play board or card games with our children (or just play with them!)
make sure to practice and model face-to-face interactions and eye contact
engage in healthy human touch
reduce passive screen time

As an added bonus, these pursuits also provide children with more opportunities to experience a language-rich environment. As we know, the amount and quality of language children experience have a direct correlation with the rate of their language development. Thus, they need plenty of experiences to develop their language skills through listening to and interacting with a variety of people around them.

Developing Independence

Being home more with our children led to lovely family time, however it also may have increased our children’s reliance upon our presence while decreasing their tolerance for uncomfortable situations. Yet as children grow, they need opportunities to develop independence. These experiences are immensely important for children to build a sense of self while also increasing their self-esteem, frustration tolerance, and perseverance.

Rather than shield our children from challenging situations, we can make sure they have practice with experiences that can be a little anxiety-provoking. Anxiety is a normal human feeling and helps our bodies prepare us for something that might be hard. So our children can gain practice in how to regulate themselves, they need opportunities to be a bit out of their comfort zone.

To develop our children’s confidence, we can:

expose our children to experiences that can produce a little healthy anxiety
create opportunities for children to talk and share their thoughts
engage in warm, responsive conversation (with lots of listening!)
experience and discuss stories or situations together
teach practical life skills for self-sufficiency
include our children in household chores

As children become more confident, they are better able to handle transitions, experience less anxiety, and become more flexible. If you need any more convincing, Psychology Today references a study showing that children who started contributing to family chores at age three or four were more likely to have successful relationships, engage in rewarding careers, and be more self-sufficient in their lives.

As we shift into more regular routines after the intensity of the pandemic, let’s use this time to bring out the best in our children.

“We then become witnesses to the development of the human soul; the emergence of the New [Human], who will no longer be the victim of events but, thanks to his clarity of vision, will become able to direct and to mold the future of [human]kind.”

– Dr. Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind

We welcome you to visit the school to see firsthand how we support our future leaders, the young children, as they develop their independence, strengthen their social bonds, and make lasting connections with the wonder of the world. Schedule a tour today.

What is the Montessori Three-Year Cycle?

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 20:55:25 GMT

When visiting a Montessori classroom, it can at first be surprising to see children of a range of ages in one room. Visitors often ask how children of very different sizes and abilities can all be supported and challenged in one classroom. There are many factors, but one reason the mix of ages works so well in Montessori is because we have “three-year cycles.”

What is a Montessori Three-Year Cycle?

In Montessori, children typically enter a classroom as the youngest children and then stay in the same learning community for at least three years. Over the course of those three or so years, they cycle through a rhythm of growth and development.

When children first come into a new classroom it is a bit like what happens when transplanting a perennial flower: they need some time to establish their roots and initially don’t show a great deal of external growth. This first year in a classroom is when children are exploring their environment and making sense of their new community.

During their second year, children are more established and, like perennial flowers, they often show more growth and blossom a bit more. This is when children are experimenting in a learning space where they feel comfortable and established.

By their third year, children are the experts in their community. Similar to perennial flowers, children’s growth becomes exponential and abundant. They truly blossom. The children who have benefited from a three-year cycle show what happens when they have had an opportunity to establish their roots, extend themselves, and then have the time and space to bloom in exciting new ways.

Evolving Roles

Because children in Montessori classrooms are with each other for a series of years, their learning community becomes a family. As they move through the years together, children get the opportunity to play the role of the youngest, middle, and oldest child, and experience the responsibilities and opportunities that come with those roles.

The younger children look up to their older peers, quickly learning through observation how to behave, what is acceptable, and even what to look forward to in terms of advanced work. The oldest in the class serve as mentors, leaders, and even teachers. As the older students master certain skills or materials, they have the opportunity to share what they have learned and in the process are able to synthesize their learning. Through this mutually beneficial process, children move through the process of developing aspiration, building confidence, and demonstrating mastery.

Consistency of Community

By having a consistent community for at least three years, children are able to build a foundation that serves them in multiple ways. In addition to having time to gain mastery, children establish long-term relationships with their peers and the adults.

With their training and sensitivity to developmental needs, Montessori teachers understand individual children’s learning styles, rhythms, and needs. They can tailor their presentations to the individual, recognizing where and how to help children stretch beyond their comfort zones. As a result, children are able to feel secure enough to take risks in their learning.

One of the additional benefits is that over the course of multiple years, a meaningful and supportive partnership develops between families and the Montessori guides. A consistent community provides support that empowers our children and families.

Zone of Proximal Development

The three-year cycles of Montessori mixed-age classrooms provide children with scaffolding to work in collaboration with a skilled teacher and more knowledgeable peers. Supportive learning environments allow children to make connections that they wouldn’t necessarily be able to make on their own. Psychologist Lev Vygotsky called this scaffolding the “zone of proximal development.” As children grow within their zone of proximal development, they develop more confidence and are able to practice new skills and abilities. They have social support through meaningful, purposeful interactions with others.

As children solidify their learning and consolidate their knowledge, they experience new possibilities for growth in a family-like learning community. This mixed-age experience is an essential component of what we do and our three-year cycles make it possible.

Come see the benefits for yourself! Schedule a tour to get a first-hand glimpse of this three-year cycle in action.

Materials Spotlight: The Bead Chain Cabinet

Mon, 20 Feb 2023 12:01:10 GMT

Visit any primary or elementary Montessori classroom and you’ll immediately notice a stunning display of colorful glass beads hanging in an open cabinet. Children (and adults!) are drawn to the order and elegance of the bead chains. Beyond their initial aesthetic appeal, the bead chain material offers an amazing array of intellectual opportunities for young children to those in their elementary years.

Color-coding

One of the brilliant aspects of the Montessori math materials is how they provide children with multiple ways to make neural connections. For example, each of the bead bars represents a quantity and each bead bar is also color-coded so that the quantity is connected to a color: a bar with two green beads represents two, a bar with five light blue beads represents five, a bar with eight brown beads represents eight, etc. This color coding allows the child’s brain to establish multiple quick ways to understand the quantity: the number of beads, the color, and the size.

Appealing

In Children’s House, young children are attracted to the beauty and fragility of these colorful, glass beads. Long before they are ready to use the bead chains, young children can learn how to dust and care for the beads. They develop a respect for the materials and understand how special they are. Often young children will watch in awe as their older classmates learn how to carry, lay out, count, and label the bead chains.

Linear & Skip Counting

As they practice counting the bead chains, four- and five-year-olds solidify their understanding of teen numbers, as well as quantities from units, to tens, to hundreds, to thousands. Eventually the focus of work with the bead chains shifts from linear counting to skip counting, as children begin to focus more on the labels that indicate the end of each bead bar. For example, on the 100 chain, children label and name 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, etc. Children can also layout, count, and compare the 100 chain and 1,000 chain side-by-side, providing the sensorial experience of the different quantities laid out in a linear fashion.

Multiplying

As children move into their elementary years, they are solidifying their skip counting in relation to mastery of multiplication. They love to quiz each other by turning over some of the labels to see if their friends can figure out which of the multiples is missing. So for the short chain of multiples of seven, for example, they might turn over one label to see if their friend can figure out the missing multiple: 7, 14, 21, __, 35, 42, 49.

The bead chains are also used to provide an impression of common multiples, which is critical for future work with fractions. Children lay out two long chains side by side, label the chains, and then find all the common multiples, and also begin to intuit the concept of the lowest common multiple.

Squaring & Cubing

The other fascinating aspect of the bead chains is how they geometrically represent the concept of squaring and cubing. Children learn how to fold up the bead chain so that it creates a square made up of four rows of four: 4 x 4 = 16.

This work can continue with the long chains, each of which creates the cube of numbers one through ten.

In addition to the hanging chains of bead bars, the bead chain cabinet also contains beautiful squares of each number, which can be stacked to create cubes, as well as the actual cubes for each number. The squares and cubes can be used for explorations with powers of numbers as well as more advanced work when students start to explore working outside of the base ten number system.

As children move into more advanced mathematics, they will often briefly revisit this foundational material to cue their memory when working with exponents.

Spiral Curriculum

The bead chain materials provide a perfect example of the spiral nature of the Montessori curriculum. From early linear counting, cycling into an understanding of multiples, to preparation for squaring, cubing, and base number work, children come back again and again to the beauty and breadth of the bead chains.

We invite you to visit The Children’s Tree Montessori School to see the bead chains for yourself! Schedule a tour today: www.childrenstree.org/schedule-tour .

Art for Self-Expression

Mon, 13 Feb 2023 12:00:39 GMT

Numerous theories and lots of research expound upon the importance of artistic expression. For young children and adolescents, art is an especially crucial form of personal expression. As such, children need to experience their own process rather than to produce a piece that someone else wants. In Montessori, we also have sensitivity to different expressive needs throughout different stages of development.

Process vs. Product

For young children, the process of making art is much more important than the product. When infants and toddlers are engaged in art activities, they are expressing feelings that they may not yet have words to express. Thus, during these early years, we focus on offering young children a variety of different artistic mediums.

When children are using different art materials, we first provide opportunities to work with larger spaces and then later move into the smaller more refined possibilities. For example, we start with painting at the easel, then as children develop more coordinated hand movements, we offer smaller paper or objects to paint.

Use of Tools

In addition to introducing different kinds of materials, we also show young children how to use different tools. We show how to use just a little water and the tip of the brush with watercolor paints. We explore different techniques with crayons. We introduce various tools–like knitting needles, crochet hooks, or looms–for fiber arts. Whatever the form of art, we offer the tools required for successful expression through that form.

We also open up a range of possibilities for children to explore. For example, in introducing clay, we show how to carefully get out the clay, how to use different techniques such as forming coils and slabs, how to cut, carve, or roll the clay, and how to store it when finished. We may also show examples of clay sculptures, whether in books or museums. With all of this information, children have a range of inspiration when they decide to work with clay.

Adult Response

To support young children’s artistic expression, we offer objective comments: “Oh how interesting…the lines go up and down,” or “I can see you used a lot of red and blue paint today.” We want to be very careful with what we say so we don’t give any indication of judgment, either good or bad. Young children do not yet have the language to explain their art. Therefore, we want to make sure our comments don’t inadvertently create expectations for children.

In Montessori, adults don’t insist that children express themselves artistically, or tell children what to express. When children choose some form of artistic expression, adults allow them the freedom to be with themselves while in the process of creating art. With this in mind, children’s artwork is individual, creative, non-competitive, and often connected to other subjects. We don’t expect children to learn to imitate adult creations or turn out products that all look alike.

Into the Elementary Years

From six to twelve, children began to use art in a more cognitive way. Often elementary-aged children began to want their artwork to be very realistic. They may focus more on the finer details of a particular piece of art rather than on the overall composition. As a result, children of this age can become discouraged if they feel their art “doesn’t look right.” Their determination is relentless. Because they will often insist upon realism, even at the risk of giving up on their artistic ability, we offer many different sub-skills to help children refine their techniques.

Art in a Montessori elementary classroom is often connected to students' intellectual pursuits. When studying Ancient Egypt, students may want to create a portrait in profile or a model of a pyramid. If they are immersed in learning about a country, they might learn about the symbolism of the flag’s colors and sew a sample flag.

All of this work is aided by the fact that children of this age love big projects. To support their artistic and intellectual pursuits, we provide elementary students with a kind of mini-studio so they can access the materials they need to create big projects and share their learning with their peers.

Through Adolescence

During adolescence, young people need even more opportunities to form, shape, express, and clarify their inner thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Artistic expression can be a vital outlet during this turbulent time, and can allow adolescents to not only reach a better understanding of who they are but also to be able to connect deeply with others through shared expression.

Questions of identity and fitting in weigh heavily on adolescents. Without ample opportunities for expression, these already perplexing questions can fester. Adolescents need creative outlets to keep their spirits vibrant!

In addition, expressive opportunities allow adolescents to merge their emotions with their intellect. It’s best to have a variety of avenues for artistic expression: instruments and tools readily available to pick up, an art studio to transfer complex feelings into visual art, or opportunities for dramatic interpretation of academic content.

Vital Form of Expression

In Montessori, we feel strongly that young people need artistic outlets so they can have balance in their physical, emotional, social, intellectual, spiritual, and creative development. A Montessori environment supports the development of the whole person, thus allowing children to explore their personal creativity.

Art is a vital form of expression throughout different stages of growth. Through art children can express what they are feeling, elementary-age students can integrate their learning and refine their skills, and adolescents can better understand themselves and their connections to others. Creating art can allow our young people to reveal feelings that they could perhaps not express in words. Thus, we offer children a variety of art mediums and different experiences, as well as the freedom to choose and experience the form they have chosen.

As always, we invite you to come to visit our school to see this artistic expression in action!

Independence: The Foundation of Freedom

Mon, 06 Feb 2023 12:00:21 GMT

In order to be truly free, we need to be able to make our own choices, which means having the skills and abilities to then act upon our choices. Without independence, we can’t truly be free.

As children’s independence grows, so does their opportunity for freedom. They have more choices available and more to consider. The freedom children experience in our prepared learning environments is directly related to their independence. Over multiple years in their classrooms, children feel like masters of their environment and younger children look up to them as if they have superpowers.

In order for children to develop this freedom and independence, we make sure that the following opportunities are present in our classrooms:

To Choose Their Own Activity

Even at a young age, children have ideas of what they want and don’t want to do. This independence will only increase when children have opportunities to make decisions. In Montessori classrooms, we provide opportunities to make choices, but it is not a free-for-all!

The classroom is set up with a variety of activities designed to meet developmental needs. Children are free to choose any material they have been shown or that they have the ability to do. Thus, children must have the skill before being able to choose.

To build this ability to make a choice, we start by offering children choices about very simple things. When an activity has two parts, we might ask: “Would you like to carry the box or the tray?” Then we give another opportunity to make a choice: “Lovely! You may carry the tray to any table that you choose.”

Over time children develop the ability to make increasingly more complex choices and they build the skills that allow them more options in their learning environment.

To Work Without Interruption

Once children choose an activity, they are free to do it for as long as they like without anyone else (adult or child) interfering with their work. In this way, we protect children’s focus and concentration. As a bonus, because the materials are self-correcting, children don’t need an adult for validation.

The adults in Montessori classrooms work to protect children who are actively engaged in purposeful activity from interruption (even if this is a three-year-old washing a table and water is pouring off the table!). If children get interrupted a lot, their concentration becomes broken which can result in them not wanting to take risks or engage with challenging learning material.

The experience of being interrupted can happen a lot to children. They try to start doing something and someone comes along and stops them or finishes it for them. Yet children need to be able to deeply dive into activity in order to develop concentration and focus.

To Move Freely

Children are free to move about the classroom. Rather than having an assigned table or workspace, they can choose to work where they want and also with whom they want. They have the liberty to get up and move, get a drink when thirsty, or go to the bathroom when needed. If there is a group activity in the classroom, children are even free to choose whether or not they want to participate.

To Communicate With Others

Children also have the freedom to communicate. They can speak to whomever they want and when they want, as long as it is not disturbing their own or others’ work. This freedom is a gift to children who are often asked to be quiet and not to talk. Children in our learning environments have the freedom to speak and the ability to be heard, which means that the adults in the classroom make it a priority to be respectful when children want to communicate something.

To Work at Their Own Pace

Unlike in traditional environments where children move together along the same path (this half hour is story time, this is math time, etc.), Montessori children have the freedom to work at their own pace. To facilitate this, our schedule is specifically designed to offer large blocks of uninterrupted time so children have the freedom to spend the time they need on the activities they choose.

Working with learning materials is how children are developing themselves. They need time to reflect and integrate what they are learning. Therefore, children also need to be able to repeat an action as often and as long as they would like to do so. When children are new to Montessori classrooms, we sometimes need to let them know about the opportunity to work at their own pace and rhythm by reminding them, “You can do this for as long as you like!”

Limits

In order to support this foundation of freedom, Montessori classrooms have a few basic limits that support independence. In addition to ensuring that children aren’t distracted or interrupted in their work, we help children learn that materials can only be taken off the shelf and must be returned to their proper place on the shelf. These basic rules are clear social signals to children as to when a material is available for use: when a material is on the shelf it is available, and when the material is not on the shelf, it is not available.

Children are also part of restoring materials so that they are ready in their proper place. In the process of making the activity beautiful for the next person, children learn how to replace wet towels with dry towels, how to dry drips of water off a tray, or how to replace anything that was consumable. When the materials are restored and returned to their proper place on the shelf, then children can access the materials independently.

Development of Independence & Freedom

As children gain skills and abilities, their independence increases and so do their choices. Activities are available and ready for use so that children are not dependent upon anyone to get things for them. Children can choose where they do their work. The lessons we offer are designed to provide just enough information for children to continue the activity independently. We offer these liberties in harmony with children’s skills, abilities, and level of independence so they can experience a variety of freedoms in their learning community.

Curious about how this all works? Schedule a tour to see how independence and freedom are interconnected! https://www.childrenstree.org/schedule-tour

Our Montessori Bookshelf: Mathematical Thinking

Mon, 30 Jan 2023 12:00:32 GMT

As humans, we are predisposed toward order, exactness, and precision. With this tendency to abstract and imagine, we could be said to have a mathematical mind. Children, young and old alike, are drawn to numbers and mathematical ideas.

For thousands of years, math has been a part of the human search for meaning. We have long tried to quantify our natural world. From carbon dating artifacts to analyzing voting trends in politics, from understanding traffic patterns to examining climate change, math continues to be an integral part of our search for understanding.

Learning to think in mathematical terms is an essential part of becoming a person adapted to our time and place. Math is such an integral part of our lives and we feel that it’s vital to ensure our children are not only in touch with mathematics but also captured by the beauty and wonder of math in our world.

With this in mind, we pulled some of our favorite books that promote mathematical thinking for young children through early adolescence.

Counting Is for the Birds

by Frank Mazzola Jr.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2850143-counting-is-for-the-birds

Written in rhyme, this picture book can be used in different ways with young children. Some may just enjoy the story and illustrations, others can clue into the counting aspect of the book, and older children might explore the ornithological details provided on each page. This is the kind of book that you can revisit again and again with your children!

4,962,571

by Trevor Eissler, Ruth Chung, Bobby George, June George

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12054759-4-962-571

Written by a former Montessori parent, this picture book is a lovely introduction to and extension of the concept of place value. A young boy wants to see how high he can count, so he figures out ways to create groups of numbers so he can count to four million, nine hundred sixty-two thousand, five hundred seventy-one (and beyond!). Plus, anyone who has been in Montessori will appreciate the color coding of the numbers in the title!

How Much, How Many, How Far, How Heavy, How Long, How Tall Is 1000?

by Helen Nolan, illustrated by Tracy Walker

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/1471736.How_Much_How_Many_How_Far_How_Heavy_How_Long_How_Tall_Is_1000_

Children at the end of their primary years or those who have recently transitioned into elementary will definitely appreciate this exploration of the quantity of 1,000. Full of thought-provoking questions, this picture book takes readers on a journey through how a 1,000 can be represented in so many different ways – and how that can change our impression of the size of the number.

One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale

by Demi

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/417181.One_Grain_of_Rice

This stunningly illustrated picture book provides both a moral tale and an example of the exponential power of multiplying by two. After a raja in India has hoarded rice for his own benefit, a young girl returns some spilled rice to him and as a reward requests only one grain of rice, as long as the raja doubles what he gave her the day before over the course of 30 days. By the end, she has more than enough rice to share with all the starving villagers, as well as the goodwill to support the raja in continued kindness.

Anno's Mysterious Multiplying Jar

by Masaichiro Anno, Mitsumasa Anno

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/596697.Anno_s_Mysterious_Multiplying_Jar

For those who love Anno’s Journey , this is a must-read, but this time the illustrations and text take the reader on a mathematical journey through factorials. Then to show what happened mathematically, the Annos (father and son) illustrate the multiplication in a graphic way that fits so well with what children experience with the Montessori math materials.

Mathematicians Are People, Too: Stories from the Lives of Great Mathematicians, Volumes 1 & 2

by Luetta Reimer, Wilbert Reimer

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/1629218.Mathematicians_Are_People_Too

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/443990.Mathematicians_are_People_Too

This collection of short stories dramatizes conversations and lives of mathematicians throughout history and can easily capture the imagination of elementary-aged children who love the power of a good story. The stories can stand alone or be jumping-off points for further mathematical or historical investigations. We love the glossary at the end, the short biography at the start of every story, and the fact that female mathematicians are fairly well represented in these two volumes.

The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure

by Hans Magnus Enzensberger, illustrated by Rotraut Susanne Berner, translated by Michael Henry Heim

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/91358.The_Number_Devil

This is the perfect book for older elementary-aged children who aren’t quite sure they want to still love math. A boy meets a number devil in his dreams who leads an exploration of all sorts of fascinating aspects of numbers. The wildly fun and irreverent approach (led by the devil) makes even complicated math feel accessible. The whimsical illustrations certainly help, too! And for those wanting to go back and reference helpful information, there is a “Seek-and-Ye-Shall-Find List” (aka index) at the end of the book.

Doodle Yourself Smart . . . Math

by Helen Greaves, Simon Greaves

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/13235749-doodle-yourself-smart-math

For elementary children and adolescents who like to play around with mathematical thinking, this is a fun activity-style book that appeals to mathematicians and artists alike. Each page offers beautiful space for playing around with the problems (and yes, there are answers in the back for those who just need to know if they got it right!).

The Man Who Counted: A Collection of Mathematical Adventures

by Malba Tahan

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1160800.The_Man_Who_Counted

Those who like a good mathematical challenge, combined with a taste of the adventure that comes with travel, will love this series of chapters that form a bit of a novel. Each chapter of this book can stand alone or work as a cohesive whole as the narrator and the “man who counted” move through the Middle East. They encounter a slew of social problems that are solved with a sophisticated level of number sense that feels both mystical and matter-of-fact.

Click here for a downloadable PDF of this booklist! As always you are also welcome to come visit the school and see how we support mathematical thinking for all ages.

Toilet Learning: The Montessori Way

Mon, 23 Jan 2023 12:00:17 GMT

As parents we quickly learn that children have control over three things: eating, sleeping, and toileting. Rather than engage in power struggles, however, we can help children develop the skills they need to manage and gain mastery over these essential aspects of life.

In Montessori learning communities, young children learn how to prepare snack, fall asleep without assistance, and dress themselves. In addition, they learn how to control their sphincter and stay dry. This process, which we call “toilet learning" or “toilet awareness” takes time, yet it is a vital part of becoming independent.

Because we are helping children with an important aspect of their independence, we try to avoid the terminology of “toilet training.” After all, we aren’t training our children like we might train a dog! Rather we are helping children feel the success of becoming fully independent as they become masters of their own body functions.

The process takes time but doesn’t have to feel daunting. Here are some key aspects of toileting the Montessori way.

Establish Body Awareness

Toilet awareness starts at birth. From the earliest days of life, we talk to our infants about what is happening as we change their diapers. We might say, “Your diaper is wet from your urine,” or “I am wiping your poop off your bottom.”

To help our infants become aware of being wet or soiled, it’s best to use cloth diapers. Disposable diapers are very effective at wicking away moisture, which leads to children not connecting the act of eliminating pee with the feeling of being wet. As children shift into toddlerhood, they can begin to wear cloth underwear.

Useful phrases:

“Does your diaper feel wet or dry? Is there poop in your diaper?”
“Your underpants feel so heavy! You must have had a lot of pee come out.”
“I see you are squatting down and pushing. Your poop is coming!”

Collaborate

When a child is wet, we help them to the bathroom and collaborate with changing out of their wet underwear. We allow them to sit on the toilet to see if any urine is left that can be pushed or released into the toilet. Then once they have on dry underwear, they return to their activity.

Children need to feel involved in the toileting and changing process. They can assist in getting the clean underwear or diaper and putting any soiled items in their appropriate place. This gives children the feeling of some power or control in what is happening.

Useful phrases:

“You can hold your shirt up while I pull down your pants.”
“You can open the Velcro on this side of your diaper and I’ll open the Velcro on that side.”
“I’ll have a turn to wipe your bottom, and then you can have a turn!”

State the Facts

We are careful to stay matter of fact through the toileting process. Going to the toilet is a very natural thing to do, so we treat it as such. When children have wet or soiled their underpants or cloth diapers, we show them the dirty pair of underpants or diaper and where it should go. When appropriate we may even deposit feces from their underwear or diaper into the toilet. Children very quickly begin to associate and understand the process. Even when they begin to use the toilet successfully, we avoid clapping and celebrating and instead stick to the facts.

Useful phrases:

“Everyone poops!”
“Pee and poop go into the toilet.”
“It’s time to try sitting on the toilet.”
“Your underpants are wet. Let’s change into some dry underpants. Do you remember where to find your dry underpants in the bathroom?”
“Look, there’s some pee on the floor. Please bring me the clean-up bucket from the bathroom so that we can dry the puddle.”

Keep it Light and Friendly

Children are very sensitive to adults’ emotions, even when we try not to show them! Thus we make sure to have a positive, light, and friendly attitude toward the toileting process. Our approach helps children feel comfortable with their normal bodily processes. So we make sure to avoid any facial expression, comment, or tone of voice that conveys disgust or dislike, frustration or impatience. We stay relaxed and positive, so children can feel that way too.

Useful phrases:

“We can always change into dry clothes!”
“Everyone used to wear diapers—even Mommy and Daddy! Now we can use the toilet. You can, too!”

No Tricks or Treats

We offer the toilet, but we never force children to sit on the toilet. We also avoid asking children if they would like to sit on the toilet. There is a happy middle in which we suggest that they sit on the toilet or let them know it is time to sit on the toilet. Ultimately, we trust that children will incorporate this part of daily life into their routine. Young children love the consistency of routines, so we ensure, from the very beginning, that toileting is a regular part of the day.

Bribing, reward charts, and punishments may have short-term results, but do not work for the long-term goal of helping children develop independence, self-assurance, and mastery of this essential part of their humanity. We allow children the time to be successful. Rather than scolding or over-congratulating, we know that children will learn through experience and feel proud of their accomplishments.

Useful phrases:

“It’s time to sit on the toilet.”
“You peed in the toilet. You did it all by yourself.”

Respect the Process

Often when adults change children it is all done so quickly that children aren’t even aware of their bodily functions. Rather than rushing, we take time to explain what is happening and offer opportunities for collaboration.

It’s showing the utmost respect to children when we help them learn how to do something for themselves. When children are able to respond to their body’s needs, they are one step closer to being fully functioning, independent young people.

More Resources

Review our booklet on Toileting the Montessori Way: https://www.childrenstree.org/toilet-learning

Join us on Friday, January 27 from 4-6pm for an in person workshop on Toileting the Montessori Way: register here: https://www.childrenstree.org/workshops

Montessori At Home: The Baby’s Room

Mon, 16 Jan 2023 12:00:34 GMT

When children come into our lives, we want to make sure we offer them the very best. Yet our children develop so quickly and their needs change so dramatically!

By having a clear, yet simple, plan we can prepare a bedroom space for our young children that not only supports optimal development but also helps us, as adults, feel prepared for each stage of development.

Clear Spaces

The child’s room should have boundaries that will help them be comfortable and thrive. One way to do this is to create a space that only has what is needed, with specific areas for each type of activity. For example, the child’s room needs to have areas for:

Physical care
Sleeping
Feeding (until weaned)
Moving

Although these spaces will shift a bit as our children develop and their needs change, we can prepare a room that is consistent yet easily adapted for each stage of development.

Above all, the child’s environment needs to be practical, beautiful, ordered, and safe, and at this stage, also needs to meet the parent’s or caregiver’s needs.

From Zero to Five Months: Birth to Weaning

Because young infants are adapting to a new world outside the womb, they need consistent points of reference to feel secure. This sense of security and consistency–with furniture, people, and daily routines–allows our newborns to feel able to explore their surroundings.

Physical Care

During these first months of the child’s life, the physical care area in the room has furniture and items for diapering and dressing. At this time the adult is the whole world for the child, so it is best for the changing table to be set up so the adult is at the baby’s feet so they can see the adult talking (describing what is happening, naming body parts, etc.).

Sleeping

Ideally the sleeping area has a low floor bed that provides an unobstructed view of the room and freedom of movement. Because this bed can stay consistent as our babies grow, it can help to start with a large-enough mattress (e.g. twin bed size). With room to move, babies will start to slither and eventually will be able to freely crawl into bed.

Feeding

The feeding area begins as a space designed for nursing mothers and babies to bond during breastfeeding. The space thus needs to be peaceful with a comfortable chair and a table or shelf with everything the feeding adult needs to have close at hand.

Movement

This area has three key elements: a mat, a mirror, and a low, open shelf. A hook in the ceiling above the mat can be positioned for hanging and rotating Montessori mobiles. A mirror mounted on the wall allows babies to begin to see themselves and their movements. A low, open shelf can store manipulative materials. Eventually babies will start slithering to the shelf to get these developmental aids.

From Five to Twelve Months: From Weaning to Walking

The room doesn’t need to change dramatically during this time and only needs a few, key modifications.

Feeding

The feeding area still has the adult chair for breastfeeding and snuggling, although during this time children begin the weaning process. This important separation process allows children to form their personal identity.

The weaning table and chair are important new additions to the room. This small, wooden table is very heavy and stable, with rounded edges and a beautiful place setting. In addition to a small, stable, supportive wooden chair for children just learning how to sit upright, the parent or caregiver has a stool so they can also sit and offer some of the first foods.

Movement

To help children be able to pull up and cruise, we can add a bar to the mirror and eventually remove the mat. An ottoman in the movement area can be a used for crawling around, pulling up on, and cruising around. The ottoman could be the same footstool used with the nursing chair. As children begin to cruise and walk, it’s nice to also include a lighter weight table, chair, and stool that they can push and move around themselves.

From Twelve to Thirty-Six Months: The Walking Child

Walking is an incredible accomplishment in human development. Rather than using their hands to aid in transportation, children can use them to transform their surroundings.

Sleeping Area

The bed can stay the same (or a little higher since they can now use their hands and whole body to climb onto it).

Feeding Area

At this point, the feeding area can shift completely to the family eating area.

Physical Care Area

As children learn to walk and develop more muscle control, they will eventually shift from needing diapers to using the bathroom for toileting, or at least transitioning to standing diaper changes in the bathroom. We can thus remove the changing table and replace it with a small wardrobe with a mirror, so our children can see themselves dressing.

Movement Area

Once children don’t need the assistance of the bar, we can remove it, as well as the mat and the mirror. It’s important to remember that children’s furniture should be proportionate to their mental and physical strength, so they are challenged, but in a way that allows for successful mastery with some effort. Above all, the furniture should be child-sized.

General Considerations

It is important to keep in mind that children have their own developmental paths. With this in mind, the above changes in the room should be done only after thorough observation of how our children are developing.

Children’s awareness of their environment begins at home, later expands to school, then to the community and local culture, and then beyond to their country and the world. The experiences children have in these environments become part of who they are, so we want to take care to prepare the best spaces possible!

Learn more by scheduling a tour today: www.childrenstree.org/schedule-tour

The Montessori Prepared Environment

Mon, 09 Jan 2023 12:00:40 GMT

In Montessori, we talk a lot about the “prepared environment.” Really, though, this concept of a prepared environment isn’t limited to Montessori. In fact, from the earth’s biosphere offering an array of support for life, to the fragrant and colorful flowers existing to lure pollinators, to a woman’s uterus preparing each month for the implantation of a fertilized egg – prepared environments are all around us!

A prepared environment has three essential purposes:

to offer protection,
to provide nourishment, and
to stimulate growth.

In Montessori, a prepared environment is a place for children that is specially designed to appeal to their sensitive periods for learning, as well as their fundamental human tendencies. When designing these prepared spaces for children, we take into consideration how to ensure children feel protected and nourished, so they can reach their potential. Basically, the Montessori prepared environment is a place where children can feel at home as they develop their inner selves and outer skills.

One of the ways we offer children safe, home-like learning environments, is through our attentiveness to how the physical space is set up to meet children’s developmental needs. The classrooms have small, easy-to-move tables and chairs, as well as plenty of windows that let in bright, inviting light. Large open floor space allows children to work on the floor on rugs and move freely about the classroom. Low, open shelves display orderly arrangements of beautiful materials which invite children to engage with an array of learning activities.

The materials on the shelves are quite aesthetically appealing and have been developed out of trial and observation in schools all over the world. The beauty of the materials and the classroom appeals to children’s development of an aesthetic sense, while the arrangement of materials from concrete to abstract provides children with a solid sense of order.

In addition to being beautiful, the materials in the environment are real and purposeful. Containers for items even offer different textures and sensorial experiences. Because the materials are authentic, they offer children clear guidelines regarding use and misuse. Fragile items help children learn how to handle items with control and care. Plus, having access to beautiful, breakable treasures conveys an essential message of goodwill and trust.

In the beginning, adults assist children in getting their bearings in the classroom and teach the precise use of each material. The children then have the freedom to choose what they do and to focus for long periods of time.

Although adults are not the focal point in Montessori classrooms, adults are of prime importance. While they may have an outward appearance of passivity, the adults are acutely alert to what is happening in the classroom community. In addition to this presence and awareness, adults in Montessori classrooms must prepare themselves in profound ways. They have extensive intellectual and practical training to be able to link children with different aspects of the learning environment as well as with the breadth and depth of educational materials. Because the adults model how to have a peaceful environment where everyone is respected and able to work without distraction, they also must prepare themselves on a personal and spiritual level.

In addition to this psychological safety, Montessori prepared environments also focus on the importance and value of living things and outdoor spaces so children can keep and develop their connection to nature. Ideally, the classroom includes a garden area in which children can sow seeds, care for living things, and participate in harvesting the fruits of their work. The indoor and outdoor spaces often blend together with plants and animals as integral aspects of the classroom. In Montessori, we consider this connection to nature to be an essential part of education.

The connection to nature both in and out of doors, the arrangement of open space with child-sized furniture, the ordered and aesthetic materials, and the centrality of children with adults offering background support, all provide children with the protection and nourishment they need to develop independence and active engagement.

Children in Montessori prepared environments love their learning spaces! Come visit our school to see how the classrooms appeal to children on so many levels as they engage with their community and construct their understanding of the world.

Learn more by scheduling a tour today: www.childrenstree.org/schedule-tour

The Importance of the Kindergarten Year

Mon, 02 Jan 2023 12:00:07 GMT

The Importance of the Kindergarten Year

It’s that time of year again…

Schools and parents alike are planning for next school year. If your child has been in a Montessori class for a year or two, you may be thinking ahead to kindergarten. Many public school systems offer kindergarten, and many parents are curious about this transitional year. This post is meant to highlight the important reasons why a child benefits from that final year in the primary classroom cycle.

Why should your child stay in Montessori for the kindergarten year? Consider the following:

Montessori inspires children

Does your child love school? The aim of Montessori education is not just to deliver information, but to encourage their existing curiosity and wonder. All children are born ready and eager to learn; it is our job to show them how amazing our world is. We want them to ask questions and search for the answers.

If we can give children this gift at a young age we are setting them up for a lifetime of success and happiness.

They will get a chance to practice leadership skills

Most Montessori classrooms host an age span of three years. During the first year or two of the cycle, children are familiarizing themselves with the materials while watching the older children who begin to master their environment.

The third year gives children the opportunity to be role models. They are able to take on more responsibilities in the classroom and often help guide younger students. Kindergartners even give lessons to younger students (which has the added benefit of displaying their mastery of skills.)

Children in Montessori get to work at their own pace

Montessori teachers strive to meet children right where they are, in every area. We truly “follow the child”, giving lessons and guidance according to the individual’s needs, not the needs of the whole class.

Perhaps your child is a strong reader and needs someone to provide them with advanced books that are still appropriate for their age. Montessori teachers have the flexibility to do that. Maybe your child needs a bit more guidance in math. Montessori primary classrooms are structured to include lots of individual and small group lessons, so teachers use that time in whatever ways best meet the needs of each child they serve.

Montessori uses formative assessment, not standardized tests

Children in Montessori classrooms don’t have to worry about high-stakes standardized tests. The english word assess is derived from the latin assidere, which literally means ‘to sit by’. Montessori classrooms rely mainly on formative assessment, a style of gauging student understanding that reflects the original definition of the word.

Formative assessment is done continuously throughout the learning process - even mid-lesson! This allows teachers to adjust instruction in the moment so that learning is constantly tailored to meet children’s needs.

In conventional classrooms, lessons are often firmly defined prior to instruction. The information is delivered to a group of children, and they may later be given a summative assessment to check for their understanding. This data may be used to drive future instruction, or it may just be used to support a grade given on a report.

In classrooms that rely heavily on formative assessment, a teacher can change course while they are in the process of teaching. If students demonstrate prior knowledge or quick understanding, the lesson can be extended and additional information can be included. If children appear to need more support, the teacher can repeat the material or give other supplemental information. Montessori teachers take copious amounts of notes to constantly document these interactions.

The spiraling curriculum comes full cycle

The Montessori curriculum is forever spiraling back on itself. Children are exposed to skills for the first time in very concrete ways, which is why the classrooms are stocked with so many beautiful materials. These materials help the hand teach the mind, and learning first in this physical way helps make important connections in the brain.

The concrete lessons are repeated in new ways, each time moving further toward abstract concepts. By the time the spring of the kindergarten year rolls around, children are finally solidifying so many of the ideas and skills they’ve been practicing for years.

Learn More & Come see for yourself!

On January 27, 2023 from 4 to 6pm there will be a FREE information session on what to expect in kindergarten and elementary school at CTMS. Childcare and dinner will be provided, learn more and register here: www.childrenstree.org/workshops .

One of the best ways to truly understand how a Montessori classroom works is to come in and observe. We encourage you to make an appointment to sit in a classroom and watch the children in action. Keep an eye on those kindergartners - you will be amazed at what you see!

Roles & Goals: The Montessori Guide

Mon, 26 Dec 2022 12:00:24 GMT

Our society knows teachers. Teachers give information. Teachers provide an education. Teachers instruct.

In a Montessori classroom, however, the role of the adult is rather nuanced. The adult is there to facilitate, suggest, model, and observe. The materials teach. The adults advise.

Those of us accustomed to traditional models of education may find this odd or even worrisome. How can we expect our children to learn if the teachers don’t teach?

Traditional vs. Montessori

Because the Montessori model is quite different from traditional education, the adults responsible for providing a Montessori experience have very different responsibilities, skills, and abilities than those of teachers in a traditional method.

Historically children have been seen as blank slates or empty vessels that just need to be filled with information or knowledge. The teacher’s role has been to fill the vessel, to teach. Because the teacher passes information, correction, and validation to the student, the teacher is the material for learning.

Rather than seeing children as empty vessels, Montessori teachers see a bundle of potential just waiting to be realized. As such, the focus is on discovering these hidden potentials in children and supporting their development. This happens most effectively when children are actively engaged in their learning process.

In the traditional model, a teacher needs a number of tricks, including a system of rewards and punishments, to keep children focused on learning. But this framework of grades and evaluations isn’t actually necessary for children to learn.

In Montessori, we see the deep intellectual, social, and emotional engagement that happens when children get to learn through their own activities. Children get to use a variety of hands-on materials to explore, discover, and internalize key concepts and skills. Montessori teachers introduce how to learn from the materials in the classroom. As a bonus, because children are active participants in their own learning, they don’t have to sit passively while remaining focused on the teacher’s activity.

Roles & Goals

So, if a traditional model demands that the teacher’s presence is active and the student’s presence is passive, what does it look like in a Montessori classroom? When you look in a Montessori classroom, at first it may be hard to find the adults because the role of the Montessori teacher should be (or appear to be) a passive one. You may see an adult observing the room or particular children, inviting a child to a small group or one-on-one lesson, or sitting with children who are using the learning materials.

Sometimes it can be clear that the adult is presenting a lesson. In these moments, the adults do look a lot like teachers, just working with a small group rather than the whole class. Yet during these brief presentations, the goal is rarely to dispense information. Montessori teachers don’t want to teach the trick for compound multiplication, the names of all the countries in South America, the characteristics of mammals, or the function of a verb in a sentence. Rather, the goal is to give the children just enough of the lesson to pique their interest or capture their imagination. We want them to return to the learning materials again and again so that they discover the mathematical proof, scientific concept, geographical boundary, historical connection, or grammatical rule on their own.

Teachers vs. Guides

Because this goal and the role of the adult are so different, we often refer to our teachers as guides. This change in terminology shifts our thinking. Montessori teachers don’t lead a class from the front of the room. Our guides provide paths for children to learn that the quantity of 10 feels bigger than the quantity of two, that nouns name things, that equivalent fractions really fit into the equal space, or that 82 actually forms a square!

Montessori guides are acutely aware of how to support children on these varied and delightful paths of progress. Like the rudder of a ship, our guides allow children to embark on a journey of discovery while offering adjustments and changes to the course as needed. The result? Children flourish as active, creative, curious thinkers.

We’d love to have you come to visit our classrooms to experience how we guide children in this remarkable world, encourage active engagement, and support a life-long love of learning. Schedule a tour today

Time for Togetherness

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 12:00:08 GMT

During the holiday season, we can unintentionally become a bit edgy or stressed. Routines change. We might travel or have out-of-town guests. While our children may feel excited about the holidays, they also can feel the changes in family routines or shifts in family dynamics.

If we are getting together with extended family or friends—no matter how loving, patient, and well-meaning—having additional people mixed into the scene, especially during the holiday season, can add additional layers of stress. Often our children absorb this unspoken stress and their behavior may shift as a result.

Perhaps we see more meltdowns, an uptick in neediness, an increase in whining, more resistance, or a surge in sibling conflict. If our children start to show attention-getting behavior, we can remember that they are sending an important message about unmet needs. It’s like they are waving a red flag to indicate we should shift our focus!

Step 1: Connection

The first step is connection. Children want to feel a sense of significance and belonging. So even a few minutes of loving attention can refuel children who are feeling disconnected. Depending upon their age, this could mean snuggling together on the couch, collaborating on coloring a picture, taking the dog for a walk together, doing a project together, or even shooting hoops. The most important thing is that the focus is on being together without distractions.

Step 2: Preparation

Once we’ve established that connection and our children feel secure and satisfied, we can discuss changes that occur during the holidays. Will bedtimes be different? What will shift about meals together? What kinds of activities will likely happen?

In preparing ourselves and our children for time with extended family and friends or changes to expect during the holidays, we can consciously reflect together about what routines will shift, what traditions we want to honor, and what joys and challenges the time may bring.

Our children like to be prepared and have a sense of what to expect. Involving them in the discussion, planning, and preparation can alleviate not only their anxiety but also our own angst.

Mapping out the days on a family calendar provides a visual guide for the changes in routine. A whiteboard works well, easily allowing for modifications if the plans become overwhelming. Take time to have conversations about what activities are most enjoyable for everyone. Then cut back on those that are not essential.

Step 3: Mindful Involvement

When we are in the midst of being amongst friends and extended family, the experience of collecting snippets and stories of favorite holiday experiences can be a bonding experience for everyone. Part of the ritual of coming back together around the holidays can include sharing, and even documenting, different memories of past times together. This kind of sharing offers everyone a way to reorient and reunite. The recollections can even be collected in a kind of family memory book that can be pulled out when everyone gets back together again.

Children and relatives also want to help. Intentionally enlisting extended family to support children’s involvement can create a win-win for everyone. Some possible collaborative activities include food preparation (scrubbing potatoes, mixing dough, tearing lettuce for a salad), making simple decorations, setting the table, folding the laundry, and even dusting and tidying. We all feel more settled when we feel useful and engaged.

This holiday season we have an opportunity to consciously create new rituals and opportunities for our children, our friends, and our extended families. Rather than rely upon old patterns perhaps learned from previous generations, let’s plan our time of togetherness and mindfully prepare ourselves and our children.

Power & Potential: The Sensitive Periods

Mon, 12 Dec 2022 12:00:01 GMT

Have you ever noticed how sensitive young children can be to changes in routine? Even the slightest schedule adjustment can throw things off. On the positive side, young children also have an incredible ability to internalize the order of their daily activities. They intuitively know when something is supposed to happen during a regular day.

It’s also pretty amazing how quickly young children absorb the intricacies of language, how they progress so seamlessly from sitting to crawling to walking to running, or how they can be so focused on tiny details and objects.

During these times in their lives, children seem to be compelled by an irresistible force. Think of the little one who wants to climb up the steps again and again. We can try to stop them, but they are undeterred! And despite the great effort involved, the activity almost seems effortless to them.

In Montessori, we pay close attention to these periods of time when children show intense focus on mastering a new skill, creating deep understanding, or refining their abilities. We call these times “sensitive periods.”

What are Sensitive Periods?

To paint the picture of sensitive periods, Dr. Maria Montessori used the example of newly hatched caterpillars. These young caterpillars hatch from eggs in protected nooks but are drawn toward the light where they can eat soft, young leaves at the ends of branches. The young caterpillars aren’t aware of the fact that going toward light will provide them with a food source. Rather, they are responding to a biological impetus. Once that need is satisfied, the caterpillars no longer have the desire to move toward bright light. That sensitive period is over and they shift into the next stage of their development.

Like the young caterpillars, young children in a sensitive period become incredibly absorbed with acquiring or mastering a new skill and hone in on the activity that aids their development. Neurologically, this is the time when groups of neurons become more active than others and establish key neural networks in children’s developing brains. These windows of opportunity are transitory and marked by children’s passionate focus on mastering a skill or characteristic.

In Montessori we focus on four main sensitive periods:

Order
Language
Refinement of the Senses
Movement

Sensitive Period for Order

The sensitive period for order is most intense from birth to three years of age, although it does continue through age six. When children are under the influence of the sensitive period for order, we see their intense interest in the order of things, both in routines (time, order of events in day, etc.) and in their environment. Young children can show great distress if this order changes.

As adults, we can appreciate that order makes our lives easier; planning our meals and picking out clothes ahead of time makes our week flow more smoothly. Organization and order are a convenience and make us more efficient. But young children need orderly environments in a different way. The order in their surroundings or routines becomes the basis for their relationship with the world. If that foundation of order is changing all the time, it’s like trying to build a house on a shifting foundation. Lots of changes in the environment or schedule cause children to have to constantly adapt, which diverts their energy away from other necessary forms of their development. When children have a predictable and ordered environment, they feel secure, trust their environment, and establish an internal order.

Sensitive Period for Language

Children are effortlessly absorbing language from birth. The first three years of life are focused on the development of spoken language and the last three years are focused on the expansion and refinement of language, including writing and reading. During this sensitive period, children are learning the intricacies of the language spoken around them. They hear sounds and begin to try to imitate them. They hear the rhythm of phrases and sentences. They begin to internalize the nuances of grammar.

Because children are absorbing all aspects of language, they need rich language experiences. Thus, we want to provide lots and lots of vocabulary by naming real things in the environment and engaging in meaningful conversation, even with our infants!

Sensitive Period for Refinement of the Senses

Young children are learning about their world through sensory experiences. The sensitive period for refinement of sensory perceptions starts at birth and begins to fade around four and a half.

This sensitive period does not make children’s eyes see better, ears hear better, or tongue taste better, but it does help children distinguish between finer and finer differences. Children who have access to sensorially rich environments can begin to refine their senses, have clearer perceptions, and be able to organize and classify their impressions. Neurologically, this sensitive period is when children are creating neural networks that help them interpret their environment through visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and tactile perceptions. An enriched experience gives children the opportunity to develop powers of sensory discrimination, like perfect pitch, that will last throughout a lifetime.

Sensitive Period for Movement

Movement is how children come into contact with their environment, express their developing personality, and develop their independence. So much movement development happens from birth, and then, from about ages two and a half to four, children focus on refining their movements.

Children in this sensitive period benefit from having their movements directed toward some purposeful aim. For example, children want to imitate and participate in daily life, like cooking and preparing food. As parents, we often give our children play kitchens. With no other options, children will play with the pretend kitchen for a while, but this doesn’t satisfy them for long. They are much happier preparing real food for themselves and those around them. Meaningful activity, like food preparation, helps children refine their movement, adapt to their culture, and contribute to their community in a purposeful way.

Power & Potential

Although “sensitive periods” refer to the particular times when children are most open to developing a particular skill or trait, the name is a profound reminder. We need to be sensitive–treading mindfully and with great care–to the power and potential of these periods of development.

During the sensitive periods, children develop the skills and characteristics of order, language, refinement of the senses, and development and refinement of movement without apparent effort. Once the sensitive periods have faded, children can still achieve and develop certain characteristics, but they have to do so using work and effort. Plus, the skill or characteristic isn’t as fully integrated and absorbed. Think about how hard it is to learn a second language as an adult!

Most delightfully, when children are in a sensitive period and their needs are met, they experience deep inner joy and a sense of satisfaction. We invite you to schedule a tour by clicking here so you can come visit our school and see this joy and satisfaction in action!

Shifting from “Stuff” to the Spirit of the Season

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 12:00:17 GMT

All too often the holiday season becomes about “stuff”–presents, decorations, more presents. How do we wean our children away from their focus on getting gifts and instead shift attention to the spirit of togetherness, generosity, peace, and goodwill?

It can be helpful to hold a family meeting and talk about everyone’s feelings about the holidays. We can ask our children about what, besides the gifts, they really like about the holidays. Often memories start to emerge: making gingerbread cookies with Grandma, taking a walk together as a family, ordering take-out Chinese and days-worth of leftovers.

From those memories, you can start brainstorming about what to establish as part of your family holiday tradition, perhaps even exploring new ways to enliven the winter season. Could a family hike followed by hot cocoa be a regular ritual? Coloring and cutting holiday-themed place settings? Decorating cookies to distribute as gifts?

In discussing the holiday, you can also introduce activities that involve giving and service to others. All sorts of studies detail the mental and physical health benefits of selfless service. The term “helper’s high” refers to the chemicals released in our brains when we engage in giving behaviors. Children can be very intrigued by learning about different charities, especially those that are local or important to their families. Part of the process of gift-giving can include choosing a charity and giving a gift in your child’s name or even having your child play a part in delivering the gift.

Another approach is to focus on giving gifts that are really experiences: a trip to a museum, a weekend family adventure, certificates for favorite excursions, cash and a coupon for an outing to the arcade, a day trip with a friend to the trampoline park. Whatever the experience, the focus is giving the gift of doing something, and ideally doing something together, rather than owning an object.

Brainstorming about the types of gifts or experiences we share with friends and family during the holiday season helps open our children up to the idea that gifts don’t have to be an item purchased at a store or online. As you explore this idea with your children, you can offer options such as:

DYI/Handmade Gifts
Care Packages
Video Gifts/Electronic Messages
Experiential Gifts
Gifts of Quality Time
Skill Sharing Gifts
Donation & Support Gifts
Food Gifts

Children can be involved in creating care packages or gift baskets, video collages or audio greetings that can be sent to grandparents, favorite dry goods recipes in mason jars, and coupons for activities or quality time.

We have enough things in our lives. Even if our youngest children aren’t quite ready to give up the idea of getting material presents, we can model both how gifts can take on many different forms and how we can bring more of ourselves to the holiday gift-giving experience.

Likely our children won’t remember a particular toy they unwrapped in 2022, but they will remember what they did with those they love and how they felt while doing it. Perhaps just planning a different kind of giving this year can bring less stress and more joy. What better gift than that?

Mutual Respect & Making Deposits

Thu, 17 Nov 2022 12:00:03 GMT

Montessori classrooms depend upon a web of mutual respect. This culture of respect is established from the very beginning: from how the classroom is arranged and sized for the children, to how we greet each other at the start of the day, to how the adults refrain from interrupting children’s concentration. Dr. Maria Montessori emphasized that, as adults, we must have the utmost respect for children, because they are in the process of constructing themselves and are the hope for the future of humankind.

Mutual respect does require maintenance, though. As Montessorians, we are always tending to the emotional environment of the community. One way we do this is by continual practice of different ways we can show grace and courtesy toward each other and our surroundings. We do know, however, that situations arise when tensions start to run high, misunderstandings proliferate, and irritation takes over. We are all human, after all.

Because it’s helpful to have some support when things start to fray, we thought we’d share a strategy that can be helpful when frustrations, fallings-out, or rifts are on the rise.

First, imagine a scenario in which there is a small slight. A look from across the room. A forgotten request. Not listening to what is being said.

Usually, this isn’t such a big deal. However, if we are feeling particularly annoyed or frustrated by something that happened previously, we might mutter about how we can’t believe so and so did that again, how could they look at us like that, how they never pay attention, and on and on.

Our response tells a lot about how we are feeling about the other person involved.

If we find ourselves in a situation where a progression of misunderstandings and misinterpretations is causing a rupture, it can be a good time to pause and consider the concept of an emotional or relationship bank account.

Dr. Stephen R. Covey explores the idea of an emotional bank account in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families, and Sean Covey introduces the relationship bank account in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens. The essence of this “bank account” is that we have different connections with the people in our lives, and between each of us we have an unseen measure of how we are connecting. We can visualize that measure as a bank account. Just like with a bank account, we can make deposits or withdrawals.

When we greet a co-worker in the morning with a smile and a compliment, we are making a deposit. Over time, with lots of deposits, a large cushion of goodwill is created in our relationship bank account. When a large cushion is there, our co-worker is likely to be understanding when one morning we scowl and barely mumble, “morning.” They might wonder if we are okay and want to do something to help us feel better.

But let’s imagine that instead of making regular deposits into our relationship bank account, we have either not taken the time for a kind greeting, or perhaps have been complaining about something they’ve done. These little acts end up draining our relationship bank account, like multiple small withdrawals, until there is little to no cushion of goodwill between us. If that’s the case, when we scowl and mumble, “morning,” the other person might react with anger and frustration, fed up with our attitude and ready to retaliate.

In simple terms, our relationship or emotional back account is like a cup that gets filled or emptied.

When exploring this idea with young children, it can be helpful to draw or get a real cup, fill it up while imagining different acts of goodwill, then empty it while exploring little thoughtless or unkind acts. Children love to brainstorm different ways to fill the cup, perhaps even creating a poster or drawing together to have a visual reminder.

Older children are often intrigued by the connection to a financial bank account. Even the logical exploration of deposits and withdraws can help older children shift out of the emotional centers of their brains, which then allows them to approach a potentially tense situation with more calm and clarity.

If your children would benefit from a graphic image of making deposits or filling a cup, or what it looks like when lots of withdraws mean we don’t have a buffer of goodwill, feel free to download this image of a graduated cylinder to use to show filling or emptying our emotional bank account. Sometimes having a visual really helps solidify the concept for children.

Really, though, we can use this strategy in all of our relationships. When we can think about the little acts of kindness, honesty, patience, and unconditional love and acceptance as being ways to build up our relationship bank accounts, we can more easily shift gears in how we relate.

Ultimately, this practice can allow us to become more mindful of the actions between us. We can look across the room with warmth. We can acknowledge a mistake and work to make amends. We can listen with acceptance.

When we make deposits, we connect and cultivate goodwill. These deposits happen on a regular basis in Montessori classrooms. We invite you to come to visit our school to experience this mutual respect for yourself!

Meeting Adolescent Needs

Mon, 14 Nov 2022 12:00:42 GMT

As we adapt, learn, and exist in the world, we rely upon unconscious, innate drives that help us orient, explore, work, order, calculate, imagine, abstract, communicate, repeat, and self-perfect. In Montessori we call these “human tendencies” and we take care to observe how these tendencies show up in different ways at different stages of development.

As young people enter adolescence, it becomes even more critical for us to consider how these aspects of being human show up. When we recognize these internal drives, we can better ensure that we are effectively supporting adolescents’ process of self-construction during a vulnerable and dynamic time in their lives.

So, let’s take a look at each human tendency and consider how to support adolescents’ characteristics and needs.

Orientation

During adolescence, young people need to orient themselves to their new bodies and the new ways their brains are functioning. Sometimes adolescents don’t even quite know who they are from one moment to the next. This can be easily seen in those times when adolescents swing from child-like behavior to adult-like behavior. They also need to orient to a different learning environment, including understanding the new adults in their lives, as well as a new social/peer community. They are trying to figure out boundaries: of their space, their body, and their minds.

As a result, adolescents need orientation to rules and responsibilities. In Montessori adolescent programs, adults support this orientation by providing time and space for training and introduction. When starting a new skill, introducing a new concept, or even starting a new school year, adolescent guides are sensitive to the orientation process that needs to happen and also to the fact that adolescents’ executive function skills are still developing.

Exploration

Adolescents are also navigating issues of their own identity and exploring how they feel comfortable in their world. This normal, developmentally appropriate process can lead to a great deal of creative exploration. They will often want to try on new kinds of self-expression, sometimes through physical presentations such as the fashions and hairstyles they choose or create for themselves.

During adolescence, young people may also explore (or continue exploration of) where they are on the gender spectrum. They seek safe, judgment-free settings in which to see how it feels to be identified in different ways. As a result, they need supportive adults through this dynamic process of identity development.

Adolescents are also exploring new capabilities and their own bodies. They want (and neurologically need) to take risks. Adolescent guides provide opportunities for healthy risk-taking, perhaps through a ropes course, a backpacking trip, or even through big physical expressions, while also being sensitive to the physical and psychological disequilibrium that can happen when adolescents are re-orienting and exploring who they are and what is possible.

Work

This exploration of what is possible connects to adolescents’ ability to engage in really hard work. If they feel connected to the purpose of the work, if it has personal or social value, they can take on big incredible tasks. When they feel this connection, adolescents will easily take on a challenge, even something as monumental as moving a whole building, and do so with vigor. If they have an investment in the activity, they will work relentlessly to see that it happens.

Adolescent guides support these experiences of purposeful work that has a real impact. This often means working side-by-side with adolescents to get the work started and to help them find a connection to why the work is important. Sharing their own passion for the work is another way adults can support adolescents’ engagement. Likewise, adolescents can dig into hard intellectual work, again if it has meaning and purpose for them and their social group.

Imagination & Abstraction

Often adolescents’ imagination will aid them in the process of big work. Undaunted by limits, they can imagine better, more innovative ways to get something done. To support this, adolescent guides allow room for failure and mistakes, so that adolescents can experiment and learn from the process. Adults can also allow adolescents room for putting what they imagine into action, rather than focusing on an adult agenda or needing to move things along more efficiently. Adolescents’ ability to think abstractly can help in this process of creating new possibilities.

Adolescents are abstracting patterns and social norms. They are able to start thinking about their own thinking (metacognition). Adolescent guides offer opportunities to connect these new abilities to intellectual pursuits. This can also be an amazing time for adolescents to explore forms of self-expression and appreciate the abstractions that can be found in forms of art. Often adolescents are even creating their own form of language or social norms with their peers.

Adolescents’ imagination can also manifest itself in their focus on what others may think of them. This tendency to think there is an “imaginary audience” watching them all the time or to imagine that they are center stage in an experience, can be challenging for young adolescents. Adolescent guides offer opportunities for adolescents to experience and understand different perspectives, while also considering how sensitive adolescents can be in moments of feeling like the spotlight is on them or that they are misunderstood.

Order

Although adolescents may not seem like they need order, they still need the consistency of routines and order in their environment. They benefit from having all the tools back where they belong at the end of their work: the kitchen utensils back in the correct drawer and school items back in their storage space. How that space or drawer looks may not be completely ordered, but adolescents will experience the value of being able to access kitchen tongs when they need tongs!

Similar to how toddlers need the comfort and order of a regular routine, adolescents also need to rely on an ordered schedule, especially when so much is changing for them internally. It’s worth noting that adolescents might have a completely messy and disorderly room, but then will go through a period of redefining themselves and creating a space that matches a new persona they want to convey.

Repetition, Self-Perfection, & Calculation

The tendency for repetition or exactness can often be seen in adolescents’ desire to play the same guitar chord over and over or to jump up and touch the door frame each time they pass through. They are experiencing new abilities and being able to repeat and make those

abilities more precise can really appeal to them. This also relates to the tendency to self-perfect. Adolescents want to perfect that one move to sink the basketball into the net. They want to get the drawing of a character or a face just right. They may also need to repeat or perfect a way of connecting to their social group–a joke that the group bonds over, a funny dance move, a line from a movie–and this repetition reinforces that they belong to the group. They are also calculating constantly: where do I fit in, how do the connections through social media accounts show my status in the social hierarchy, how can I fine-tune my appearance to convey changes in my identity?

Association & Communication

The need for association and communication is paramount for adolescents. They want and need to learn in association and communication with their peers. They work things out together and need to debate and discuss. Adolescent guides provide healthy opportunities for this through seminars or Socratic dialogue, so adolescents can learn how to listen respectfully, hear others’ perspectives, and communicate their own thoughts. Adolescent guides also honor adolescents’ need to connect with others, being sensitive to the constant talking that often needs to happen for adolescents to work through ideas or feel connected to their peers.

Ultimately, adolescent guides are observing these tendencies so they can make sure the learning environment matches adolescents’ social, emotional, moral, and physical needs and characteristics during this critical time in their development.

As we work toward our goal to open an adolescent program in 2024 let us know if you’d like to learn more about how our program will help young people on their journey to adulthood!

Sensorial Superpowers

Mon, 07 Nov 2022 12:00:23 GMT

Young children are in a powerful process of creating an understanding of their world and where they fit in. To do this, they rely upon their senses as an interface to the world. Everything that comes into young children’s minds comes through their senses.

During the first few years of life, children are absorbing sensory input without any discrimination. Then around age two-and-a-half to age three, children begin to bring images from their subconscious into their consciousness. They begin to work with these images and in the process embark on an important journey of building their intelligence.

The Sensorial Materials

To support this development, Montessori programs offer carefully designed sensorial materials that follow a formal, systematic approach. The materials isolate each sensorial quality and offer children what Dr. Maria Montessori called the “keys to the world.” In addition, the sensorial materials support children’s classification of impressions and lead to clear levels of conscious discrimination. If children have these experiences in the formative period of brain development, they establish a foundation for a lifetime of order and precision, as well as logical, reasoned thinking.

How do sensorial materials accomplish all of this? Well, they have some really significant purposes!

Sensorial materials support children’s classification and categorization of sensorial impressions.

For young children, the first three years are like collecting impressions and throwing them into a closet. The images or concepts are a bit of a hodge-podge jumble, thus to go in and access what is needed from this unorganized collection can be a challenge. Because this warehouse of impressions doesn’t have order or classification, children need to develop mental organization so their collection of impressions becomes useful.

The sensorial materials help children to classify and categorize all of the impressions they have absorbed and unconsciously stored since birth. When children interact with the sensorial materials, images come out of their unconscious memory and come into working memory. As children use the materials, these impressions become part of their conscious memory. When children become accurate in distinguishing sensorial differences, we give language for the images, which then helps the concepts become fixed in children’s minds.

Children aren’t born with organized brains that have predetermined categories, so this neural organization has to be built up through experience.

Sensorial materials support children’s refinement of their sensorial perceptions.

It’s important to understand that sensorial exercises don’t make children’s ears hear better, eyes see better, or tongue taste better. Rather, the materials help children develop powers of discrimination so that they can analyze smaller and smaller degrees of difference.

When we take in sensorial input, everything goes into our brain. Then the brain has to make discriminations, a skill which develops through experience and the process of making finer and finer discernments. The materials offer children a clear means for starting to classify and to increase their perceptive powers, both of which are important mental abilities.

Sensorial materials support children in the development of abstractions.

What do we mean by abstractions? An example of an abstraction is the notion of “red.” Red as a quality does not exist in nature. Red can be represented in physical things, but we cannot bring “red” to a person. Red is a quality. It is an abstraction.

Children may have some abstractions already in place, but when they are young the number is limited purely due to the fact that they haven’t had a sufficient amount of experience to develop the abstraction. Furthermore, children don’t typically get to experience sensorial qualities in isolation. The Montessori sensorial materials isolate each quality and give children the opportunity to have enough experience to develop abstractions.

Because we, as adults, have a lot of experience in the world, it can be hard for us to understand what children need to create abstractions. To better understand the significance of abstractions, imagine being told about a quince. If you haven’t had a quince before, it is hard to pull up the image in your mind, much less what it tastes like. If you hear a description that a quince is a fruit, you are able to pull up an idea of what a fruit is. Then if you hear that a quince is in the same family as an apple and pear, you can pull up an image that brings you closer to imagining the fruit and perhaps even the type of skin it has.

But without these experiences and the organization of images, children can’t pull up the same level of abstraction. Imagination helps us, as adults, to be able to do this: pull up images in our minds of something haven’t experienced before based on abstractions. In order to imagine, we must have abstractions. This area is most related to the development of intelligence.

Sensorial materials support children’s development of accurate and discriminating recall of perceptions.

The materials engage children’s memory, help them access information from their memory, and support them in using their intelligence. Memory is a tool of the intelligence, but because children aren’t born with memory, they need support with developing it. While children do have an unconscious memory, they have to take the impressions they have absorbed and build memory from them. The sensorial materials help this process.

Memory needs practice and experience to become stronger; it is only increased through activity. We want children’s memory to be strong and thus we provide lots of experience with the materials and variations with the materials. With each sensorial material, there are many ways to extend the activity and help children with recall.

One significant strategy is giving language to each perception. The language is based on what is isolated in the materials–thick/thin, large/small, long/short, right-angled isosceles triangle/right-angled scale triangle, rough/smooth, heavy/light, ovoid/ellipsoid, bitter/sweet. The vocabulary is extensive and rich, and ultimately fixes the perception in children’s memory.

The second strategy we use is playing games which challenge children to hold the perception in mind for longer and longer periods of time. They might put each of the pink tower cubes scattered about the room so that in rebuilding the tower of cubes from largest to smallest, they have to remember the size of the previous piece in searching for the next largest cube. Some of the sensorial games also help children notice particular qualities in the environment, rather than just in the materials. One favorite is searching for items in the classroom that have exactly the same shade of each of the color tablets.

Through repeated experience with the sensorial materials, children develop clearer and more accurate perceptions and create reference points that they can use throughout life. Dr. Montessori talks about the possibility for children to develop touchstones, a sort of fixed, accurate reference by which this quality can be accessed. These points of reference can provide a lifetime tendency for order, precision, and recall, for example hearing the note of G without any other reference or being able to look at a pane of glass and know if it will fit into the window frame.

Sensorial materials help children develop life-long tendencies towards order and precision.

We don’t know what touchstones might develop for each child, but Dr. Montessori says that touchstones developed during these early years will remain with children throughout their whole life. If children can get accurate discriminations while in this time of sensitivity to sensorial input, this precision will remain with them into adulthood. Of course, children’s unique interests will also lead them to their own level of proficiency.

Functionally, this tendency toward order and precision will be important as children move into more academic work in language and math. They will be able to access powers of discrimination that will aid them in future endeavors.

Sensorial materials also provide indirect preparation for further study.

This indirect preparation means that we are taking advantage of children’s spontaneous interest and activity and thus planting the seeds for other areas that children will explore as they get older. When we introduce shapes–from a decagon to an ellipse to a quatrefoil–through the geometry cabinet, children visually discriminate the shapes while also tactilely experiencing the shapes by tracing around them. Multisensory input is stronger than input through just one sense. Tracing the shape also helps to prepare children’s hands for writing. To write, our hands have to be able to follow a form. This is how the sensorial materials provide indirect preparation for further academic study.

Sensorial materials support the development of children’s memory and intelligence.

Dr. Montessori talks about the sensorial area as being most strongly related to the development of intelligence. Working with sensorial materials requires a very different engagement from the practical life work of washing hands or scrubbing a table. Practical life activities help children with coordinating movement and following a sequence with a logical beginning, middle, and end. Sensorial materials don’t have the same kind of logical sequence. They are open-ended and exploratory. Children have to consider each piece and how it works in relation to the other pieces. In working with the red rods, for example, children have to examine each rod’s length in relation to the other rods. Thus, children have to make a reasoned distinction every time they move a piece of material. This process engages the intelligence and elevates children’s level of awareness. In addition, children then have to hold the images in their mind, which helps their memory.

Having an ordered, classified mind is also the foundation for intelligence. When children struggle in more academic areas like language and math, we take time to consider how to better support their mental order and classification. When the mind isn’t prepared well, academic work can be difficult to do. However, if children can recognize and distinguish between a trapezoid and a parallelogram, they will be more likely to be able to distinguish two other shapes like “g” and “q.” When children have a lot of experience recognizing shapes through sensorial materials, they are more able to recognize the shapes they encounter in letters. Sometimes we go back and explore if perhaps children recognize the shapes but don’t have a strong memory. We then use sensorial games specifically designed to help different forms of memory (auditory, visual, etc.).

The sensorial area serves as an important foundation for more academic work because language and math are completely based on abstractions. Words represent concrete things but the words themselves are abstractions. The sensorial area is critical for providing the foundation for abstract thinking.

Outcomes

Although the sensorial materials may look relatively simple, they provide so much! When children use these materials, they are refining their powers of discrimination, creating an ordered mind, enhancing their memory and recall, categorizing their impressions, and building a foundation for rational thinking and intelligence.

As children achieve these skills, they experience life with an increased level of richness, becoming aware of the lovely details of their world. With a prepared mind, children can see things in a new light and with new enthusiasm. This is perhaps one of the most delightful outcomes of children’s work with the sensorial materials: they develop a whole new appreciation of the life around them–dimensions, shapes, smells, sounds, textures, tastes–which is what gives life value and beauty.

We hope you can come visit our school, experience the sensorial materials, and see how children get to develop their sensorial superpowers!

The Power and Potential of Sleep

Mon, 31 Oct 2022 12:00:06 GMT

We work so hard to provide the best for our children. When they are young, we may try to find innovative toys, sign up for parent-infant programs, or research brain-boosting foods. As they get older, we might enroll them in enrichment programs, pursue assessments, or invest in tutors. But what if the best thing we could do was completely free, within our own household, and could provide a lifetime of benefits?

More and more research reveals the purpose of sleep and the importance of getting enough of it. Sleep provides the power behind a multitude of important aspects of our lives, especially for our children. Sleep not only enriches the ability to learn, memorize, think logically, and consider choices, but also provides emotional recalibration and allows for inspiration and creativity. Furthermore, in addition to a slew of physical and mental health benefits, sleep allows the immune system to work most effectively.

Here’s the surprising thing, though: our children typically aren’t getting enough of it (and neither are we!).

A 2014 poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) shows that the majority of school-aged children aren’t getting the recommended amount of sleep (although over 70% of parents believe they do).

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) also reports that 25% of children under age five don’t get adequate sleep.

Why does this matter?

In Montessori, we believe in understanding the whole child as a developing human being. We prepare learning environments to meet the needs and characteristics that children have at each stage of development. We carefully observe how children are interacting with each other and their surroundings. We also partner with families to support children in achieving their full potential. Understanding the role sleep plays in this development is critical.

Cognitive Ability

In Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams, sleep researcher Matthew Walker, Ph.D., describes that “a tired, under-slept brain is little more than a leaky memory sieve, in no state to receive, absorb, or efficiently retain an education.” If we want our young people to have the most benefit from their learning experiences, it’s essential to consider the role that sleep has in brain development. A lack of sleep prevents the formation of lasting memories. Whereas a full night of sleep allows the brain to continue to improve skill memories (e.g. playing a section of music on the piano) even without further practice. “Sleeping on it” is just the thing our children need!

Emotional Regulation

On an anecdotal level, we know how our children can be cranky and irritable after a bad night’s sleep. Studies have also confirmed how sleep deprivation affects the emotional centers of the brain. Basically, without enough sleep, our brains revert to very primitive patterns of reactivity. In this state, it’s hard to understand the broader context of a particular event or action, which can lead to inappropriate emotional reactions. The sleep-deprived brain experiences dramatic mood swings and the rational control centers of the brain essentially lose control. It makes sense then, how lack of sleep can lead to aggression, bullying, and behavioral challenges in children across a range of ages.

Symptoms

In addition to these behavioral problems, sleep deficiency symptoms in children can appear as an inability to maintain focus and attention, distractibility, irritability, moodiness, and even depression. Often, we see these symptoms but don’t consider the role that sleep (or lack thereof) might be playing in children’s lives. To further complicate matters, the symptoms of sleep deficiency can look a lot like ADHD symptoms.

With all this in mind, it’s worth taking a pause when children are exhibiting challenging behaviors, bumping up against intellectual or academic challenges, or struggling socially or emotionally. Before jumping to other conclusions, we should be asking if they are getting enough sleep.

Connection

We care about your child’s development and want to partner with you to provide your child with the best environment for their growth and learning. Come see how we consider the whole child and work with families as partners!

To Learn More

For more information about how much sleep is needed at each stage of development, visit The National Sleep Foundation.

For information about healthy sleep hygiene for children visit Sleep Foundation .

And if you want to learn more about the science behind sleep, be sure to read Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams , by Matthew Walker, Ph.D.

Toothbrushing for Toddlers!

Mon, 24 Oct 2022 12:00:01 GMT

In Montessori, we put a lot of emphasis on young children learning basic self-care skills. A big part of self-care is something we do every day, at least twice a day: brushing our teeth! This is a tricky one, though, because we want to teach independence while also ensuring that our children’s teeth are clean and cavity-free.

Because COVID has brought about some shifts in the practical life activities that traditionally happen in our early childhood classrooms, we thought we would combine a “materials spotlight” with a little “how to at home.”

It’s important to remember that when we introduce toothbrushing, we are not only helping young children develop lifelong oral hygiene habits, but we are also helping them develop a sense of capability. As parents and caregivers, we partner in the process so that years later our children haven’t become dependent upon us for a necessary skill.

In showing and supporting toothbrushing, we want to really isolate and slow down each part of the process. As adults, we often move quickly through the activity. We don’t have to think about the separate steps of what we are doing, because we can rely upon habit and muscle memory. Young children, however, are consciously working through each component. Thus, we have to be very intentional about demonstrating the procedure. In the process, we also highlight what we call “points of interest” which are like little benchmarks that focus children’s attention and help them remember key components.

As with all practical life activities, we want the experience to be meaningful and embedded in a real-life context. Thus, we introduce toothbrushing when it makes sense: after eating!

After enjoying a snack or a meal, we invite a child to the sink to brush their teeth. We often make a point of noticing that we have just eaten and want to clean our teeth, so the child makes the connection of why we are going to use a toothbrush.

Small travel-size toothbrushes work well for children. The toothbrushes can have a case or small enclosure for the toothbrush head and some way to designate which brush belongs to which child (such as a photo of the child). We start by modeling taking our own toothbrush out of the holder and placing it on an empty tray.

Depending upon the child and their age, we might have the child try each step right after we show it. Or if the child is a little older, we may show a series of steps and then invite the child to try. One of the gifts of Montessori is that we can tailor each activity to a child’s needs and temperament.

After the child takes their toothbrush and puts it on the tray, the adult selects a toothpaste container and shows how to open and close it. Because we want the child to only use a small amount of toothpaste, it can be helpful to prepare individual portions of toothpaste. Contact lens holders work quite well for this.

After demonstrating how to select, then open and close the toothpaste container, the adult places it on the tray with their toothbrush and invites the child to select their own toothpaste container, open and close it, then place it on the tray. One critical detail is closing the toothpaste container. We aren’t ready to use the toothpaste yet, so having the container closed helps communicate that we aren’t ready to use toothpaste. We are just making sure that the child knows how to access the toothpaste.

At this point we are getting everything set up, so we want to have the layout prepared for all the steps, including rising our mouths with water after toothbrushing. In the classroom setting, we’ll often have a small pitcher of water and small glasses turned upside down, but at home often just a small glass will suffice. Ideally, the glasses look different from regular drinking glasses because this water will be used for rising rather than drinking. Because this process often happens in the bathroom, small stainless-steel cups work well. Regardless, we next select a glass or cup and pour a small amount of water from the pitcher into it so that the cup is about 1/4 full. We place the cup on the tray with our toothbrush and invite the child to pour water into their own cup and place it on the tray.

Now that everything is set up, we open the toothpaste container and leave it open on the tray. We pick up our toothbrush and wipe bristles into toothpaste. It can be helpful to show how to hold the toothpaste container with one hand while getting toothpaste on the bristles of the brush.

We then place the toothbrush down on the tray and use both hands to close the toothpaste container. The child can also have a turn preparing their toothbrush with toothpaste.

The materials are ready, so it is time to demonstrate brushing teeth! This is best done slowly and with a wide-open mouth. We start on one side, perhaps the left, brushing our top teeth with clear, deliberate downward strokes. We then pause and brush underneath those top teeth. Pausing again, we then move to the back of our left top teeth with downward strokes. Staying on the same side, we brush our left bottom teeth with upward strokes, then the tops of those teeth, then the backs. We pause between each section and repeat on our right side.

At the end, we brush our tongue lightly. Then we place our toothbrush onto the tray. With almost a bit of exaggeration, we make sure the child sees that we need to spit the toothpaste into the sink. After ridding our mouth of the excess toothpaste, we then pick up the glass and take some water into our mouth. We swish the water around and around and then spit right into the center of the sink, repeating if necessary. It’s nice to also have a small cloth or hand towel to model drying our mouth after this process.

We rinse the toothbrush under the faucet for a few seconds and tap the toothbrush on the side of the sink to get excess water off the brush. Then we invite the child to have a turn with the toothbrushing, spitting, and rising.

At the end, we return our toothbrush to its holder. One at a time we take the used items, the toothpaste container and the cup, to the dirty dish cart to be washed. After the child takes their used items to the dirty dish cart, or at home perhaps another appropriate place, we invite them to brush their teeth whenever they would like to clean their teeth.

Depending upon the child’s engagement while presenting this activity, we may determine different points of interest by using a pause, slightly exaggerating the movement, or merely showing our own intense interest. Some possible points of engagement for toothbrushing can include getting toothpaste on the toothbrush, the downward or upward brushing strokes, swishing water to rinse our mouth, spitting into the sink, or tapping the toothbrush on the side of the sink.

In a school setting, the adult will model and allow the child to practice brushing teeth independently. At home, it’s also best to establish an understanding that at key times, for example in the morning and in the evening, the adult will be taking a turn to help ensure the child’s teeth are clean. For example, during the evening routine, the child gets a chance to clean their teeth, and then they know you, as a parent or caregiver, will then do a final toothbrushing for them. This can be done by putting your hand over the child’s and continuing the brushing process after the child is done, or by just asking the child to hand you their toothbrush when they are done so that you can have a turn brushing their teeth.

The important thing to remember is that we want to support young children as they build the manual dexterity necessary for this important self-care skill. Just like we wouldn’t do all the coloring for them when they want to use crayons, we don’t want to do all the toothbrushing for them when they are learning to use the toothbrush. We want to give the message that they are capable and can practice cleaning their teeth. At home, we also want to make sure they understand that because dental hygiene is so important, we will also have a turn making sure their teeth are clean.

We hope you have great success at home! Let us know how it goes. And if you need some inspiration, you are always welcome to schedule a tour to see how we support children’s development of self-care skills, as well as their sense of capability.

Our Montessori Bookshelf: All About Geography!

Mon, 17 Oct 2022 01:30:19 GMT

In Montessori we love to explore how our language shapes our thinking, so we often explore the etymology of words. The word geography comes from the Greek geo, which means earth, and graphein, which means to write. So, geography can be understood as a description of the earth and all that occurs physically upon it.

Although we name geography as a distinct subject, in Montessori geography is really woven throughout children’s learning experiences. These are some of our favorite books that support what children are experiencing in their geography explorations and that also encourage their natural curiosity about the world.

Land and Water

Water Land: Land and Water Forms Around the World

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/35795941

By Christy Hale

This picture book shows the visual relationship between land and water forms by using cut-out portions of the page. Turn the page and a lake becomes an island! The simple yet lovely illustrations of humans interacting with the water and the land are accompanied by one word on each page that states the vocabulary: lake, island, bay, cape, strait, isthmus, etc. This is a perfect book for young children beginning their journey in geography!

Political and Physical Geography

Maps

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17262382-maps

by Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinska

This is the perfect tome for children beginning to learn about continents and countries. The sturdy pages give the book a sense of weighty importance, and each page reveals treasures upon treasures. The book offers an overview of the world, then focuses in on each continent and key countries within the continents. Presented in map form, the pages also illustrate animal and plant life, as well as cultural traditions and interesting facts. Both an amazing reference guide and a key to further exploration, this book is rich in visual appeal as well as in content.

Maps of the World's Oceans: An Illustrated Children's Atlas to the Seas and all the Creatures and Plants that Live There

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43521921-maps-of-the-world-s-oceans

By Enrico Lavagno and Angelo Mojetta

This illustrated atlas combines an enticing visual overview of the world's oceans with easily digestible bits of information about what is found there. Easily a jumping-off point for a slew of research, this book is a must-have resource for any child interested in history, marine biology, or really just cool facts in general.

Cultural Explorations

This Is How We Do It: One Day in the Lives of Seven Kids from around the World

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/31423417

by Matt Lamothe

Based on seven real children around the world, this book depicts a day in each of their lives. The illustrations and short text of the children’s lives are shown side-by-side, so it’s easy to explore the similarities and differences in how they live: their families, what they wear, their school, what they eat, how they enjoy their evenings, where they sleep, and more. Designed to appeal to a range of ages the book provides large, simple text for each part of the day, as well as short descriptions for more confident readers. Younger children are also fascinated by the pictures of young people engaged in a variety of activities. Best of all, the book offers a delightful reminder of what unites us.

The Earth

How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/578870

By Faith McNulty, Illustrated by Marc Simont

Elementary children love this book! The simple illustrations are just enough to spark their imagination as the text takes them on a “what if” journey that starts with finding a soft place to start shoveling. The adventure continues with finding fossils, drilling, perhaps finding oil or a geyser, using a jet-propelled submarine, and eventually resurfacing on the other side of the earth. The best part is that the story perfectly dove-tails with the elementary geography lesson that introduces the layers of the earth. Despite the imaginative aspects of How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World, the book is firmly grounded (pun intended!) in fascinating scientific information presented in just the right way to appeal to elementary-aged children.

Life Story: The Story of Life on Our Earth from Its Beginning Up to Now

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/30939

By Virginia Lee Burton

Set as a play, complete with a program detailing the cast and characters, Life Story progresses through scenes from the earth’s beginnings, through the prehistoric eras, to the seasons of human life. This book perfectly illustrates the passage of time and appeals to the elementary-aged child imagining the emergence of the universe and their own place in the story.

Earthshake: Poems from the Ground Up

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1096972.Earthshake

By Lisa Westberg Peters, Illustrated by Cathie Felstead

These 22 poems offer whimsical yet scientific scenes all about planet earth: from wind to quartz to lava to water. Reading these poems reminds us that we can revel in the love of language while also learning about our world. As a bonus, the endnotes provide a bit more context and information about each of the 22 topics.

Other Books to Explore

If you and your children are super excited about these titles, here are some other geography books we recommend!

Land and Water: Landforms & Bodies of Water

By Eve Heidi Bine-Stock

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55072240-land-and-water

Wake Up, World!: A Day in the Life of Children Around the World

By Beatrice Hollyer

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/312628.Wake_Up_World_

Let’s Eat!: What Children Eat Around the World

By Beatrice Hollyer

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8940.Let_s_Eat_

The Shortest Day: Celebrating the Winter Solstice

By Wendy Pfeffer, Illustrated by Jesse Reisch

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/331130

Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea: Marie Tharp Maps the Ocean Floor

By Robert Burleigh, Illustrated by Raúl Colón

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25785790-solving-the-puzzle-under-the-sea

Ready for the Universe: Geography for the Elementary Age

Mon, 10 Oct 2022 01:30:27 GMT

When children enter a Montessori elementary classroom around age six, they have undergone a great transformation. Whereas they previously wanted and needed to explore their immediate environment on a sensorial level, now they want and need to explore by using their intellect and imagination.

The study of geography takes on a whole new meaning at this age when children are fascinated by the smallest particles and the largest stars. They want to know why the seasons differ in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. They are curious about what made the Grand Canyon. They want to know why ocean currents affect the weather.

This desire to know why propels children to discover relationships and functions, not just learn facts. They are also fascinated by the extreme and the outstanding. They are drawn to the very large and the very small. They ask Why? What for? How is this related?

The Universe

Elementary-age children have a consuming interest in everything! To cater to this all-embracing thirst for the reasons of everything, we begin with the universe. One of the earliest lessons we introduce is the story of the universe. From this first story, children are delighted by a myriad of lessons and activities which fall under the general heading of ‘geography.'

Beginning with the universe gives elementary children a big-picture context. In Montessori, rather than encountering bits of disconnected knowledge, children learn about the order and harmony of the universe, as well as the relationships that exist between all things.

“If the idea of the universe be presented to the child in the right way, it will do more for him than just arouse his interest, for it will create in him admiration and wonder, a feeling loftier than any interest and more satisfying. The child's mind then will become fixed and can work. The knowledge he then acquires is organized and systematic; his intelligence becomes whole and complete because of the vision of the whole that has been presented to him and his interest spreads to all, for all are linked and have their place in the universe on which his mind is centered.” — Dr. Maria Montessori, To Educate the Human Potential

Constructing Understanding

Dr. Montessori observed that children around the world tended to ask similar questions at this age. The geography presentations and lessons support these fundamental reoccurring questions.

Our goal is to help elementary children have an explosion into understanding. However, this kind of understanding does not come from adults explaining everything.

Instead, we give children experiences and just enough information so they can find out more and make associations. When children make their own connections, real and lasting understanding happens. Even better, the children respond with enthusiasm and excitement!

Geography Topics

Children in a Montessori classroom do not encounter subjects grouped under curricular headings. Subjects are integrated because children are building their minds. They are exploring their world, rather than the chapters of a textbook. Although there is a structure in the classroom environment, children have the opportunity to explore different many different aspects of geography including:

● Space, Earth, and the Universe

● Composition of the Earth

● Nature of the Elements

● Sun and Earth

● Work of Air

● Work of Water

● Life on the Land

● Interdependencies

● Economic Geography

The lessons we present, and the resulting children’s explorations, lead into astronomy, physics, chemistry, meteorology, geology, and more. For example, as we look more closely at how the earth revolves around the sun, children learn about solstices and seasons, climatic zones, and flora and fauna found in particular regions.

Aids to Understanding

For each topic, we provide imaginative aids, often in the form of stories, colorful impressive charts, and a variety of experiments. Many of these instructive aids have been selected to provide impressions, not just facts. The aim of our geography presentations is to intrigue the children and spark their imagination. We want them to be inspired to find out more!

We concentrate on giving key information, discussing reasons, and illustrating details, all of which draw children’s attention to certain phenomena. Once interest is there, children want to learn as much as they can. It is as if we are giving elementary students keys to knowledge and understanding. Once they have the keys, they can open doors and continue their explorations.

Geography is a vibrant aspect of the Montessori elementary and generates spontaneous, active, self-renewing interest! A love of learning blossoms in the children, and many develop a lifelong fascination with elements of geography. We invite you to visit our school and see this love of learning firsthand! To schedule a tour click here .

Grasping the World: Geography for Young Children

Mon, 03 Oct 2022 01:30:09 GMT

Between mass media and family travel, young children are exposed to all sorts of language about their planet. They may hear phrases like “going around the world,” “as the world turns,” or “the other side of the world.” Young children absorb this information yet still need concrete experiences to help make sense of what “the world” even means!

Over 100 years ago, Dr. Maria Montessori observed how younger children were drawn to the globes that older children were using. Through careful observation, Dr. Montessori came to understand how young children crave a concrete understanding of concepts like the world, the earth, and the globe.

Concrete Materials

In Montessori, we offer concrete materials so children can experience accurate representations of these abstract concepts. We start by providing a small globe. The land surfaces are covered with fine sandpaper and the water surfaces are covered with smooth blue paint, so children can tactically explore the distribution of land and water surfaces over planet earth. With the globe, children get to literally grasp the shape of the planet and have a richer understanding of phrases like “going around the world.”

Montessori classrooms also have a second globe to show how the land surfaces are divided into continents. Each continent is painted a different color (green for Africa, red for Europe, orange for North America, pink for South America, brown for Oceania, and white for Antarctica). The color coding of the continents stays consistent throughout all the materials, which helps with association and retention.

We also have a set of materials so children can learn about different kinds of land and water forms. Children can pour water into beautifully created models of an island, lake, peninsula, gulf, isthmus, strait, cape, bay, archipelago, or system of lakes. The water flows into the water area (painted blue) and moves around the land area (painted brown). As children learn the names of these land and water forms, they also explore folders with photographs of actual land and water forms from around the world.

Once children have grasped this concept of the land and water distinctions on the globe, we show them a flat puzzle map divided by the Eastern and Western hemispheres with each continent (color-coded as above) as a separate puzzle piece. This continent puzzle map gives children the chance to see all of the continents at once as they look on a two-dimensional map.

We also offer maps of each continent to show the political partitions formed by countries. Each puzzle piece is a country, with the knob for picking up the piece located at the country’s capital. Children initially use these puzzle maps in a very sensorial way, taking the maps apart and putting them back together. As children engage with this experience, we begin introducing the names of the continents and then the countries. Young children absorb this vocabulary effortlessly and delight in learning the names of all the countries. As children get older, they also enjoy taking on additional challenges, sometimes even closing their eyes, feeling all the way around the puzzle piece, and then naming the country!

Cultivating Appreciation

Although this is all rather impressive, it’s important to remember that our purpose is not to turn children into walking encyclopedias. Even when children may come to rather astonishing intellectual skills, these abilities are a by-product. Our purpose is to offer young children activities to help them understand their place in the world, become aware of the oneness of humanity, and appreciate the incredible variation among people that results from physical geography and humans’ creative efforts and inventions.

To help in this effort, we share collections of pictures of human life organized by continent. These pictures offer impressions of different modern cultures, lifestyles, and traditions. The pictures reflect commonalities of human needs and the great variety of ways humans fulfill these needs. The photographs highlight regional food, farming, shelter, transportation, daily life, traditions, and the physical geography represented in landmarks, climate, flora, and fauna.

As children develop a relationship with the world around them, they may also explore more about the different places in the world, including climates, plants, and animals. Often children love to begin creating their own maps by carefully tracing the puzzle map pieces and coloring and labeling the continents and countries.

In Montessori education, children absorb a great deal of geography skill knowledge. But our focus is on giving children the opportunity to develop a constructive and creative relationship with the whole world, as well as a love for how our planet offers a diverse home to the whole of humanity. Schedule a tour to see this love of geography in action!

Focused on Friends (or Frenemies!)

Mon, 26 Sep 2022 01:30:07 GMT

During their elementary years, it can seem like our children are only focused on friends (and frenemies!). We hear about what happened at recess or who they sat with at lunch. They come home with elaborate accounts of being wronged. It’s easy to begin to wonder what they are really learning at school!

In Montessori we always try to understand what is happening developmentally, so we can address children’s needs and offer the best forms of support. When we consider our six- to twelve-year-olds, it’s pretty apparent how they are intensely focused on peers!

Physical Changes

As children approach the age of six, it’s easy to see the physical changes of middle childhood. Their hair becomes coarser. They lose that soft baby skin. Their first teeth begin to fall out. Their bodies become more stretched out. It is as if our children literally become rougher!

In addition, they have incredible physical stamina and can ride bikes, swim, climb trees, and play games from dawn to dusk. This newfound toughness means they are less likely to make a fuss over scrapes, bruises, or falls. Often neatness and cleanliness no longer seem to matter and we may find ourselves offering multiple reminders to comb hair, change clothes, brush teeth, or even take a shower.

A Focus on Friends

In addition to these physical changes, elementary-age children are also shifting how they relate to others. They are developing their moral compass during a time in their lives when their thinking is still pretty black and white. As a result, they are regularly trying to evaluate what is happening with everyone around them. This is when tattling can take center stage. When they come to report someone else's actions, it’s often their attempt to figure out if the choices others made were right or wrong. Elementary children are trying to make sense of the rules, including how a group is organized: who leads, who follows, and what sacrifices need to be made.

In addition, elementary-age children begin to want to extend themselves beyond their family structure. This is when we start to see them separate from us as parents. They might walk ahead on the sidewalk or be reluctant to hold hands. What was previously a long goodbye at the start of the day shifts to a quick wave as they head down the sidewalk. They want to stretch beyond the bounds of home, and even past the school walls. They seem to constantly ask for playdates and sleepovers. Sometimes it can be hard to keep up with what is happening in their social world!

All of these shifts are part of normal development. In fact, it’s not just nice for elementary-aged children to be involved with their peers: it is essential for their social-emotional development. This is when children are trying to figure out who they are in relation to their friends.

Montessori Support

In Montessori, instead of working in opposition to this development, we use it to our advantage. Rather than relegate this social time to lunchtime or recess, we give lessons to small groups of children and encourage collaboration. When you come to visit our elementary classrooms, you might see a handful of children working through the steps of long division together as they navigate if 23 goes evenly into 2,425, or two students constructing the unfolding of events on an American History timeline, or a guide supporting four children sorting nouns by whether they are common, proper, abstract, or concrete.

For elementary children, there is incredible value in working with peers. Social learning comes first and foremost and opens the door for intellectual and academic pursuits. A reluctant writer can be inspired by a friend who wants to create a story together. Seeing classmates construct the periodic table can lead to an interest in learning about elements as building blocks of matter. Joining a group researching ancient Egypt can spark a lifelong joy of digging into history.

In Montessori, we also recognize that elementary-aged children need to go out beyond family and school bounds in order to practice taking steps in the broader world. To support this need, we offer opportunities for students to organize excursions based on their interests. A small group might arrange an interview with a local historian, visit a museum to see a style of art they have been studying, or even organize a trip to the store to gather supplies for a project.

At Home Support

Even though it can be hard to embrace some of the changes that emerge in the elementary years, it’s a great time to celebrate this new level of independence. Elementary-age children are more capable than ever before! The key is finding jobs and responsibilities that appeal to their sense of no longer being a little kid.

At home, we can explore opportunities for running an errand, which can start as simply as sending our kids to a different aisle in the grocery store to fetch an item from the list, or delivering a note to neighbors down the street. Eventually, they might want to take on additional jobs or responsibilities, like weeding the garden, mowing the grass, or stacking wood. Their physical stamina can be a gift as they take on bigger work at home.

When your child comes home complaining about the latest social event at school, take a deep breath and remember it’s developmental! Acknowledge their feelings and resist the temptation to want to solve the social drama of the day. Being a thoughtful and reflective listener allows our children to process and reflect on what they are experiencing in their little practice society.

If something sounds particularly concerning, it’s helpful to ask if they would like some help in solving whatever is coming up for them. Sometimes our kids just want to vent or air grievances, not unlike the times we may come home from work and just want to complain a bit. Yet it is also helpful to let our children know we can support proactive and respectful communication and problem-solving.

Although it may seem like our elementary children are only focused on friends, it’s a natural and healthy part of their development. In many ways, they are experimenting with and practicing what it means to live in a society. Our patient understanding and support will serve them well and provide hope for the future.

Schedule a tour and observation of our elementary classroom to see this support in action!

Achieving Economic Independence

Mon, 19 Sep 2022 01:30:13 GMT

Adolescents exist between two worlds: they are no longer children but they aren’t yet adults. On this bridge to adulthood, adolescents need opportunities to develop real, meaningful, adult-level skills. They aspire to do what adults do. They are curious about how to make their own way in the adult world.

As adults, we are part of an economic system. Even if we aren't using money to buy something, through our work or our hobbies we produce or consume aspects of culture. In this way, economics is about the web of interdependence we have with other people. We all depend upon the work and activity of others.

Economics and Interactions

If we look at economics as how people offer value in their interactions, as well as the production, distribution, and consumption of services and goods, we can really think about economics as how we organize ourselves in society. Because adolescents are building the skills for stepping into the adult world, it’s important to consider how they are developing their ability to navigate this economic aspect of adult life.

How many of us had the opportunity, as adolescents, to develop the skills necessary for economic independence? How would our lives be different if, as adolescents, we had a support system so we could figure out a fair and reasonable cost for goods we produced, faced the reality of a profit and loss statement, or found our way in navigating the paths of spending, saving, and sharing?

Road to Achieving Economic Independence

Dr. Maria Montessori realized the importance of adolescents developing these kinds of skills. In From Childhood to Adolescence, Dr. Montessori made a bold statement about our approach to education and its impact on the greater society. She stated it clearly: “The essential reform is this: to put the adolescent on the road to achieving economic independence.”

So in Montessori adolescent programs, we offer our emerging young adults the opportunity to learn key skills of production and exchange. We sometimes call this “microeconomy.” The basic idea is that adolescents need opportunities to produce goods and services, and work with money and monetary systems, so they can develop an understanding and appreciation for how economies work and their own role in economic systems.

Real, Meaningful, and Purposeful Work

This experience can take many different forms depending upon the community. Whether running a farm stand or a holiday marketplace, adolescents get to learn key skills. They learn to balance profit and loss. They discuss and determine how much money should be reinvested into the business to help it grow or how much money should be reinvested in the greater community. They respectfully listen to their customers’ needs and concerns and incorporate that feedback in useful ways.

In order to have these learning experiences, adolescents need real, meaningful, and purposeful work. Just like young children need to actually prepare food rather than play with a pretend kitchen set, adolescents need actual experiences in creating a business plan, keeping track of income on a spreadsheet, and balancing a budget. They need to practice accounting work so they can build the skills for their own economic independence. They need to have the thrill of handfuls of cash and then face the responsibility of keeping track of those earnings. They need the experience of paying for replacement materials when they have overused key supplies. If they have developed some savings and want to invest the money, they need to find opportunities that align with their values.

Preparing for Adult Life

Too many of our young people enter the world of adult lives without having experienced their role in an economy (perhaps other than being consumers!). Economic independence is a key part of preparing for adult life. We want our adolescents to step into maturity with confidence that they can independently navigate their new responsibilities and roles. If we give adolescents the opportunity to learn how to have a sound basis for their economic decisions, imagine where they will be when they are adults and make decisions that affect broader aspects of society!

Materials Spotlight: Montessori Mobiles

Mon, 12 Sep 2022 01:30:17 GMT

In their first weeks of life, babies begin to focus their eyes and track objects. These small acts of visual control provide an important foundation for newborns who are building their neural networks. To set infants up for success, we offer a series of specially designed mobiles to aid this development.

Each Montessori mobile is created with particular characteristics to help babies further develop their sense of sight, depth perception, concentration, hand-eye coordination, and more. Plus, newborns love them!

Essential Characteristics of Montessori Mobiles

Montessori mobiles follow a progression that parallels infant development. The first mobiles have a visual focus and begin with basic shapes. They progress to include more complicated objects and eventually become interactive and tactile.

The first mobiles are simple and light enough to allow them to flow with gentle air currents. In order for infants to have the best visual experience, a mobile should be hung so that it is about 12 inches in front of them rather than directly above. When babies are lying on their back, there should be a visual line at about a 45-degree angle from their eyes to the mobile. This particular placement allows infants to see the whole mobile moving.

Each mobile has visual components designed to help infants track the objects and sharpen their vision. Then after these opportunities to follow objects visually, infants begin to have more arm and hand control and might begin to reach and grasp objects nearby. To support this new ability to reach and grasp, the mobiles take a slightly different form and thus need to be easy to grasp, colorful, and safe for children to mouth.

Progression of Mobiles: Visual

The first four mobiles–the Munari, Octahedron, the Gobbi, and the Dancers–provide babies with meaningful visual experiences when they are just recognizing shapes and then later identifying colors.

The Munari

Newborns can only see black and white, so the first mobile we offer does not have any colors and is composed of black and white shapes with contrasting borders and a hanging glass sphere. The hanging glass sphere reflects light and captures infants’ attention. Named after Bruno Munari (1907-1998), an Italian architect who created a series of mobile sculptures that created patterns of light and shadow, the Munari provides newborns the possibility to begin to focus on one object and experience the difference between light and shade.

The Octahedron Mobile

Children start seeing color around two months of age and this mobile introduces primary colors, as well as three-dimensional objects. The traditional mobile has three octahedrons–one red, one yellow, and one blue–made of glossy, reflective paper. Light reflects off the shiny paper and attracts the infants’ attention. Although other simple geometric shapes can be used, it’s best if they have straight lines. When the shapes move, their movements simulate a circle. Although typically introduced around two months of age, the mobile can be used as early as one month of age, because some babies may already be seeing colors and those who aren't may be encouraged to see the new colors.

The Gobbi

We introduce this mobile around one or two months of age, but after the Munari and Octahedron. The Gobbi is made of five spheres hanging from a horizontal rod. The spheres are covered with embroidery floss and have graduation of one color from light to dark and hang in a progression on a 45-degree angle so that the darkest sphere is lowest and the lightest sphere is highest.

The Gobbi was designed by Gianna Gobbi (1920-2002), Dr. Maria Montessori's assistant in the early 1950s. Created specifically for a Montessori environment, the Gobbi helps babies begin to see a gradation of colors and sharpen their visual abilities.

The Dancers

This mobile is made with light, metallic paper of two different colors. The paper is cut into shapes and hung in a way that resembles four dancers. The parts move with the slightest current of air and light plays off the mobile as the dancers spin around.

This mobile moves faster, has parts with two colors, and has shapes that aren’t as definite due to each part within the dancer moving separately. These new visual components help babies with depth perception and focus as they track the different movements of the shapes.

Progression of Mobiles: Tactile

The next four mobiles–Stylized Wooden Figures, Three Colored Spheres, Bell on a Ribbon, and Ring on a Ribbon– represent a shift toward objects that babies can not only track visually, but also reach for, potentially grasp, and also even pull. For that reason, these mobiles need to be attached very securely!

Stylized Wooden Figures

The first of these visual and tactile mobiles is made of light wooden shapes that are ideally realistic figures that could actually fly and move, such as birds, butterflies, or airplanes. If they are painted, the paint should be non-toxic.

In addition to being at an angle for the child to see, this mobile and the subsequent mobiles also need to be hung at a distance where the child can stretch and be able to grasp the items.

Three Colored Spheres

Made from interlocking circles that form an impression of a sphere when they spin, this mobile is a more tactile version of the Octahedron mobile. Each of the three spheres is a primary color (painted with non-toxic paint, of course), which makes the spheres very contrasting. Because they are made from interlocking wooden disks, the hanging objects also provide babies with four sides that are relatively easy to grasp.

Bell on a Ribbon

The Bell on a Ribbon is a wonderful mobile to use when babies begin to spend more time on their stomachs, or even when they start to be able to sit. Because of this change in the children’s positioning, the mobile height may need to be adjusted.

In the beginning, babies will hit the bell by accident, then they will gradually begin to try reaching for the bell to make the sound again. When babies make contact, the bell moves and they must work harder to grasp it. The bell can also be enclosed inside a crocheted covering.

The ribbon should be attractive enough to see, but not so colorful as to distract attention away from the bell. Although attached securely, the bell should still be large enough to not be a choking hazard.

Finally, for added interest, babies can also be positioned so the bell is at their feet so when they kick it will jingle!

Ring on a Ribbon

This is the last of the mobiles in the Montessori progression and helps babies use more precise movements in order to be able to grasp the moving ring. This simple wooden ring hanging from a ribbon or elastic offers so much benefit as babies reach, grasp, release, and try again. After babies are able to grasp a thick ring, the ring can be switched out for a slightly thinner version. Older babies may also use this material to pull themselves up.

Setting the Scene

In setting up an environment for newborns, one of the key areas is a place for movement. The movement area includes a mat and a hook on the ceiling for hanging the mobiles. It’s ideal for the movement area to have a mirror next to the mat, especially because babies are developing the ability to hold and control their heads. As such, they can look at the mobile in the mirror if they need to have their heads to the side.

Montessori mobiles are meant to be used in a movement area, rather than above a changing area or sleeping area. Interacting with the mobiles is important work for babies and they need prepared space for that work. The area should have natural light and enough airflow to move the mobile, while also being warm enough to be comfortable.

To make it easier to exchange the mobiles, an elastic band or ribbon is attached to the ceiling or off the wall (perhaps with a hanging plant bracket or something comparable). To make it easy to switch out the mobiles, the end of the ribbon or elastic band has a securely attached key ring. The ribbon attached to each mobile also has a ring, so the two rings can be slid together when it’s time to hang the mobile.

Because babies are really engaged when they are focusing on and reaching for mobiles, we want to be sure to allow them to concentrate. Before making a change or interrupting in any way, we take time to observe and wait for when focus shifts and babies show signs of being finished. We start by offering the mobile for short periods of time and then take a break if babies seem to be overstimulated. The best time to use the movement area and the mobiles is when babies are fed and well-rested.

Montessori mobiles offer so many benefits for our babies. During their time with mobiles, infants practice visual tracking, develop their fine and gross motor skills, strengthen their intentional and coordinated movements, and learn how to execute a planned action. Although seemingly simple, these materials for infants are incredibly profound!

From Independence to Interdependence

Mon, 05 Sep 2022 01:30:02 GMT

In Montessori, we talk a lot about independence. However, one of the lesser known or understood aspects of Montessori is that independence isn’t the end goal.

As humans, we are each wonderful, unique individuals. But we don’t exist in isolation. We live amongst other wonderful, unique individuals! In order to effectively live in community with other people, though, we need to be able to function independently. Said another way, before we can offer help to others or make ourselves useful, we need to be able to meet our own needs.

How can we be independent and interdependent at the same time?

We all want to make choices for ourselves, exercise our liberty, and be responsible for our own lives. At the same time, we also want to be part of something. We are designed to be both independent and be in community. These two needs are not mutually exclusive, but in fact, operate in relationship to each other. We have an innate desire to be autonomous and to belong.

When we develop the ability to act for ourselves, make choices, control ourselves, and accept responsibility, we are able to be functioning, contributing members of society. We can see what needs doing and do it because we have the skills to do so. We can work with others to create solutions or produce goods and services. We can be part of a community by acting and taking responsibility for our actions, each able to contribute because we all have the skills to do so.

What does this have to do with children and Montessori education?

From a very young age, children are trying to exert control over their lives. Children are trying to gain functional independence from birth to about age three. In Montessori classrooms, we offer all sorts of opportunities for young children to develop skills that help them take care of their basic needs. But we don’t stop there! We also provide so many ways children can care for others and for their surroundings.

Once children have mastered pouring from one pitcher to another, they are able to pour water into a vase and arrange flowers to beautify the classroom. After they learn how to sweep, they are quick to notice a spill and rush to get the dustpan and dust brush so they can help. When someone is struggling to zip their jacket, they take pride in sharing their newfound skill in service to someone else’s needs.

As children move into the elementary years, this service to others often takes on a slightly different form, in part because elementary-age children are developing their intellectual independence. Thus, their contribution often involves applying these newfound intellectual skills. They might notice a classmate struggling to figure out the steps in a math problem and offer support. Or when friends are in conflict, they might provide some mediation to help each party listen to the others’ perspective.

In adolescence, young adults are ready to work toward being socially and economically independent. They want to figure out their place in society, grapple with real problems, and contribute in a useful way. Thus, Montessori adolescent programs offer teens the chance to develop and feel secure in their own abilities while also collaborating in real and meaningful social endeavors. In the process of running a small business, for example, adolescents are applying their intellectual skills from marketing to mathematics, while also navigating how to communicate with customers and collaborate with classmates.

Why is this important?

As humans, we want to achieve independence and belonging. Being independent is about learning the skills to be able to contribute in a meaningful way. All the little conquests of independence–throughout each age and stage of development–matter! When our infant reaches to grasp an object, our two-year-old demands to put their shirt on themselves, our eight-year-old argues about just and fair rules of a game, or our adolescent insists they can solve a problem with their peers, we can remember that these acts of independence are laying a foundation for our children to become part of an interdependent, harmonious society.

Independence is just a step. Interdependence is the ultimate goal.

Welcome to Primary 2022-23

Thu, 01 Sep 2022 21:12:23 GMT

Cedar & Oak Room Welcome

The primary team is excited to welcome this year's 3-6 year-old classes to the Cedar & Oak rooms for the 2022-23 academic year.

We recognize that in order to be successful in school, the children need support from both the home and school. We know a strong partnership with you will make a great difference in your child’s education.

We kindly ask that:

1) Your child arrives on time

2) Eats a good breakfast

3) You inform us if there are any changes or challenges

4) Your child leaves toys at home or in the car

We are looking forward to meeting with old and new friends, and as we settle into this new year we will be learning about Australia & Oceania.

Welcome to Elementary 2022-23

Thu, 01 Sep 2022 20:13:42 GMT

Willow Room Welcome

The elementary team is excited to welcome this year's class to school for the 2022-23 academic year. During the plane of development that lasts from age 6-12, children want to know how the world works and where we are in space and time. For this reason, the entire cosmos is our curriculum. As is tradition, for the first 8 weeks of school our cultural lessons will focus on taking a big view of history. We will start with the creation of the universe by studying the big bang, the life cycle of stars, and the creation of elements. We will learn how Earth changed from a series of volcanoes, to the supercontinent Pangea, to the world we know today. Next, we will study the coming of life, from the earliest unicellular organisms, to a world underwater, to dinosaurs, to the plants and animals that we know today, including modern humans. Finally, we will study the advances human society has made over time, especially as we developed language and mathematics. Each of these topics will be studied on field trips as well as within the classroom.

As we engage in this study, we will work to cultivate our students' natural curiosity, teaching them how to explore and research areas of personal interest to them. Children will have the opportunity to visit our new research center, where Ms. Sam will give children lessons on the research process and teach them many creative ways that they can show what they have learned. Whether they want to write a comic, create a timeline, embroider a diagram, perform a skit, share their findings with the local senior center, or something else entirely, children will be guided to use their own learning styles to engage with big ideas in ways that are meaningful to them.

We are looking forward to a great year!

Welcome to Toddler 2022-23

Thu, 01 Sep 2022 15:15:49 GMT

Maple Room Welcome

We are happy to welcome back all our returning toddlers and families and extend a warm welcome to all new toddlers and families for the 2022-23 school year in the Maple Room. We look forward to a peaceful, productive, and respective partnership with you to ensure our Maple friends can become independent and confident little, but mighty, human beings.

We know a strong partnership with you will make a tremendous positive impact on our toddlers’ growth. As partners, we share responsibility for our toddlers’ success and try our best to support them. The first two months of the school year are a time of excitement with nervousness for many toddlers and parents. In Maple room, gaining confidence and cultivating resilience is a critical foundation to establish for their long-term life success, especially at the beginning of the school year.

We generate a safe and carefully planned environment to help toddlers develop foundational habits, a love of learning, and skills that last their lifetime to achieve these goals.

From the beginning of the school year, we kindly ask you that our toddlers:

1) Arrive at school on time

2) Eat a good amount of food

3) That you inform us if there are any changes or challenges (Please use paper notepad, text classroom phone, or message through ProCare)

4) Leave toys at home or in the car

As toddlers make a flawless transition to school, they will feel empowered and learn how to do things independently. In the Maple room, teachers focus on each toddler’s needs and prepare materials and activities for the individual. We create areas in: practical life, language, sensory, fine and gross motor, and care for self and others and their environments. Our Maple friends are encouraged to be exposed to various social and emotional learning, art, math, science concepts, and culture. Toddlers will use hands-on materials for learning, exploring, and discovering the world around them with their senses.

Throughout the toddler year, practical life activities encourage our toddlers to take care of themselves and class environments with size-appropriate tools. For example, washing hands, using the toilet, gardening, dusting, mopping, sweeping, washing dishes, and feeding classroom pets. We also have weekly “Sign language,” “Music Together,” and “Spanish” teachers that will visit our classroom to increase their verbal expression, boost their language skills, love of music, and expose them to a second language and culture.

Lastly, here is a sample of our class schedule:

8:30 Morning drop-off

9:00-9:15 Outdoor time (weather permitting)

9:15-9:25 Transition to the classroom (changing shoes, washing hands, and potty)

9:25-11:00 Uninterrupted work period

11:00-11:10 Transition to the outdoor (diaper/potty and changing shoes)

11:10-11:45 Outdoor gross motor activities and free playtime

11:30-11:45 Half-day pick-up window. Full-day toddlers Transition to the classroom

11:45-12:15 Lunch, clean up and prepare for nap

12:15-2:15 Nap

2:15-2:45 Transition to the outdoor and outdoor gross motor activities and free playtime

3:00 Full-day pick-up

We are very excited to get to know our toddlers and their families.

The Legacy of Dr. Maria Montessori

Mon, 29 Aug 2022 01:30:09 GMT

To honor Dr. Maria Montessori’s birthday on August 31, we want to reflect back on her life and her profound influence on how we see and honor children’s potential.

Many educational systems start with adults having an idea of what is best for children. The Montessori approach, however, began with Dr. Montessori being intensely curious and observing children’s growth and development.

It’s worth remembering that Dr. Montessori was first and foremost a scientist. In fact, Dr. Montessori was one of the first female physicians in Italy in the late 19th century. Specializing in pediatrics and psychiatry, she had regular contact with working-class and poor children through free clinics at the University of Rome’s medical school. Through these initial experiences, Dr. Montessori theorized that children are born with incredible learning potential and an intrinsic desire to explore, discover, and learn about their world.

In 1900, she was appointed director of a University of Rome program for developmentally delayed children considered uneducable. After observing the drab conditions of the institution and the children’s attempts to find anything of sensory interest, Dr. Montessori began studying the importance of sensory experiences in cognitive development.

She then spent two years teaching the children and directing the work of teachers in the institute. Eventually, Dr. Montessori’s developmentally delayed students were able to pass the standard tests of Italian schools. Her response? She stated that if children with developmental challenges could pass the tests, the traditional schools of the time should be able to get dramatically better results with typically developing children!

This experience caused Dr. Montessori to want to examine how education could support, rather than stifle or repress, children’s development.

In 1907, Dr. Montessori had her opportunity. She was invited to coordinate daycare in the slums of San Lorenzo for working-class children too young for public school. Dr. Montessori began by teaching the older children how to help with everyday tasks. She also introduced practical skills of everyday living, including hygiene and self-care. Gradually, Dr. Montessori incorporated manipulative puzzles and activities to assist children with learning different skills and concepts. The children were drawn to the materials and reveled in the process of beautifying themselves and their surroundings. Each day the children’s behavior improved, and they eventually begged her to show them more, including how to read and write.

As she prepared the space and the adults supporting these previously unkempt, unruly, and uneducated children, Dr. Montessori saw an incredible and seemingly spontaneous kind of learning and work happen. The children became calm and peaceful. They took care of themselves and their surroundings. And they developed concentration and a love of learning.

Dr. Montessori was fascinated. Building upon her previous work, she continued to experiment and design unique learning materials that nurtured children’s natural desire to learn. News of this success in San Lorenzo soon spread through Italy and eventually dignitaries from other countries began visiting to see this miracle firsthand.

Around age 40, Dr. Montessori left a doctor’s career and a professorship at the University of Rome to continue her work for children. Throughout the rest of her life, she offered courses and lectures, wrote books, and trained educators, all the while insisting that the focus be on children, rather than on her.

Through scientific investigation, the study of available research, trial and error, and observation, Dr. Montessori saw that children across cultures and countries flourish in a setting that provides just the right support at critical times of development.

Because Montessori education is focused on the science of human development, the approach has withstood the test of time and culture. Today the Montessori approach has been implemented in approximately 20,000 Montessori schools around the world, with more than 3,000 in the U.S. alone. With over 100 years of practice, Montessori has worldwide recognition as an educational approach that helps children achieve their fullest potential.

We invite you to come to see this legacy in action! Contact The Children’s Tree Montessori School in Old Saybrook, CT today.

What is Practical Life?

Mon, 22 Aug 2022 01:30:02 GMT

When you visit a Montessori school, you’ll likely hear the phrase “practical life.” We thought it might be helpful to provide a little more context so we can share why practical life is so important to what we do.

First, let’s break apart the phrase. “Practical” can mean the actual doing or use of something. The term “life" can be described as living things and their activity. So, when we combine the two terms, we can think of “practical life” as activity that is focused on doing something useful.

In Montessori, we offer young children useful activities that serve a real purpose. Children have beautiful child-sized materials that allow them to wash tables, dust shelves, polish silver, prepare food, and so much more. Although most traditional early childhood programs have a play area that includes cleaning items or kitchen toys, these items are for pretend, imitation, and play rather than for actually cleaning or cooking.

But why does a toddler need to polish their shoes or do laundry with a scrub board? Are the tasks drudgery? Isn’t childhood an age for play? To answer these questions, we need to look at what is happening during childhood, which is what Dr. Maria Montessori did over 100 years ago.

Origins of Practical Life Exercises

The exercises of practical life began in order to serve a very practical need. Dr. Montessori had responsibility for children who were being destructive in a building in the slums of Rome. The proprietors needed to take care of the building, yet the children were rather wild and unkempt. As a physician, Dr. Montessori knew the importance of hygiene in preventing illness. Thus, one of the first things she did was to offer basins of water and cakes of soap. Then Dr. Montessori showed the children how to wash their hands and faces.

What happened was unexpected. Once the children washed their hands and faces, they didn’t stop. They kept washing. They did it again and again. Dr. Montessori said the children repeated the activity as if driven by some kind of imperceptible force. Instead of stopping them, like adults are apt to do, Dr. Montessori watched. She wanted to see what would happen. With curiosity, patience, and powers of scientific observation, she observed a need that went way beyond washing hands. From these practical beginnings, came a very significant discovery for Dr. Montessori.

Montessori’s Discovery about Children and Work

Dr. Montessori discovered the fundamental difference between work as adults experience it and work as children experience it. Often, as adults, we think of work as bringing on fatigue. However, Dr. Montessori observed how work for children is energizing.

Young children have an intense urge to do things! Think about the crawling infant who is completely compelled to try to get up the stairs, so matter how many times we bring them back down or try to block the steps.

Typically we, as adults, stop children from doing certain activities because we think the action is too tiring, too difficult, too dangerous, too messy, or because it will be more efficient and faster for us to do it ourselves.

Yet young children have a compulsion to engage in activities with a huge amount of effort. In fact, young children will become quite distressed when their activity is interrupted.

Understanding Children’s Motivation

Young children’s goals for doing activities are not practical ones. They aren’t motivated by having clean hands or a polished candlestick. Dr. Montessori discovered that young children’s motivation to work and gain independence is part of their process of constructing themselves. They are motivated to interact with their surroundings in order to create who they are as humans. Children are working to coordinate and refine movements, gain independence, master sequences of activity, and essentially create their future personalities. It’s easy to tell when children are in this stage because they will do an activity repeatedly, even in one day or in one sitting. This is what Dr. Montessori observed when she offered basins of water and cakes of soap to the children in San Lorenzo.

Gradually, around the ages of four and five, children become fueled by a love and appreciation of their surroundings and their community. They want to put their skills to use! While the youngest children will wash a clean table ten times, slightly older children will wash a table once because it is dirty. Often older children will notice a something that needs attending to, like a lot of dirty cloths in the laundry basket and want to wash the items to make sure everything is clean for the next day.

Making Activities Accessible

In Montessori settings, we make sure that the processes of everyday living are accessible to children. Items are sized for the children because it’s hard to sweep when the broom is larger than one’s body! Children also get to see and participate in steps that are often not visible to them, like what happens in the dishwasher. Thus, when we offer children the steps of washing dishes, we are gifting them with the awareness of each step involved: how we go from dirty dishes to clean dishes includes wetting the dishes, scrubbing them with soap, rinsing the dishes, and finally drying them.

We also slow down the movements involved so that children can see, absorb, and practice each necessary skill. When children can practice each step slowly and intentionally, they learn how to do things like unbuttoning or buttoning their sweater or tying their shoes. Having time and space to practice the activities allows children to be active participants in taking care of themselves and their community.

Some Outcomes of Practical Life Activities

How can getting oneself dressed or scrubbing a table help with children’s development? Practical life activities help children develop critical skills like intelligence and memory, concentration and focus, awareness and self-confidence, self-control and self-discipline, and the ability to problem-solve and think rationally.

When even the youngest children are following a complex series of steps in order to accomplish something like washing a cloth, they are developing their memory and intelligence. They see how to set up the basins of water, wet the cloth, get the soap, scrub, rinse, hang the cloth the dry, repeat, and then clean everything up when finished. Then they hold that sequence in their minds in order to do the activity themselves. In the process, they are also developing their capacity for logical ordered thinking.

In addition, when working on practical life activities, children strengthen their ability to reason. They have to consider things like whether they need to apply more polish or if the table is completely dry. As such, children begin to develop an awareness of their impact which also creates self-confidence. When they see that the table is dirty after pitting cherries and get the table scrubbing activity out, they have taken a step along the path of becoming logical problem-solvers.

Through the exercises of practical life, children also increase their self-control and self-discipline. Some of this self-control comes from the ability to put the needs of the community ahead of their own needs. A toddler who scoops avocado to make guacamole to share at snack may want to eat the avocado right away. However, they delay gratification in order to serve friends during snack time. Children also learn to put things away when they are finished using them, which helps establish a life-long habit of self-discipline.

We also offer challenges that help children develop skills that will lead to more concentration and focus. We might pose these suggestions as questions: Do you think you could wash this table without spilling a drop of water anywhere? How many times can you spoon the beans back and forth without spilling any? Offering these little points of consciousness provides children with a challenge that helps them strengthen their ability to concentrate and persevere, while also helping them refine their fine and gross motor skills.

From their very humble beginnings, the exercises of practical life provide children with so many benefits! In addition to developing the foundation for executive functioning skills (like task initiation, self-control, organization, planning and prioritizing, and holding information in working memory) practical life activities help children develop a deep love and appreciation for their surroundings and for those who live in their community.

Practical life activities are the cornerstone of Montessori classrooms. We invite you to come to see this remarkable work in action! Click here to contact The Children’s Tree Montessori School in Old Saybrook, CT for a visit.

Movement Matters!

Mon, 15 Aug 2022 01:30:01 GMT

In Montessori, we honor children’s movement, even from birth! One reason why we focus so much on movement for young children is that healthy movement development in the first two years of life can provide our children with considerable benefits in the years to come.

So, let’s take a quick look at the science to better understand how to support our infants and toddlers during this critical time.

Movement & Myelination

At birth, movements are spontaneous and reflexive, like sucking and swallowing which are essential for survival. These early reflexive movements originate from the spinal cord and brain stem, but soon movement matures from the head down.

Our brains depend upon our sensory nervous system to share information about the surrounding world. This information actually shapes our brains’ connections and neural pathways.

For infants, these neural connections are just forming. As electrical signals move from one area of the brain to another, as well as down through the spinal cord to the rest of the body, they need smooth passage along what are called axons. Axons basically act like electrical wires conducting electrical signals.

Those signals need to be transmitted quickly and efficiently. Just like electrical wires need insulation so the electricity isn’t dissipated, axons need insulation, too! For more rapid passage of these electrical messages, axons become insulated by a layer of lipids and proteins, a process called myelination.

Babies are born without much myelin, which explains why their reaction times are so slow and movements so effortful. But with each experience and repetition, the myelin sheaths around axons get thicker. Myelin essentially greases the wires and allows signals to travel along the axons faster and more effectively.

More myelination in infants’ motor systems allows them to lift their heads, reach out, roll over, crawl, and eventually walk and run.

Mobiles for Movement

Within the first weeks of life after birth, babies begin to learn to control their eyes which means some of the first myelination happens with infants’ eye muscles.

To support this development, we provide carefully designed and placed mobiles, which help babies develop their visual capacities for focus and tracking. Changed as developmentally appropriate, mobiles offer newborns the opportunity to focus on an object, track it, perceive sensory details, and eventually attempt to reach for it.

When infants begin to reach for the mobile, we begin to offer something slightly different, like a bell hanging from a ribbon. Babies will try and try again, with great concentration and focus, to move their arms so as to make contact with the object and cause it to move or make a sound. They thus discover the relationship between sight and touch.

At first, physical contact with a hanging bell or ball may appear haphazard. Yet infants are seeing the item and making a muscular effort to connect with what they see. With repeated practice, infants are actually developing the myelin coating that will make their future efforts to reach and eventually grasp more efficient and successful.

Safe Space for Movement

For similar reasons, infants need space for movement. Often, we’re more apt to hold our infants or keep them in carriers. However, babies benefit from having space to move, and almost slither, their bodies on the floor. When you create the time and space for these slow whole-body movements, you’ll see that infants will often slither their bodies around in a clockwise direction!

When infants attempt to slither and move, they are very focused. This concentration allows them to start connecting how the mind and body work together. In Your Child’s Growing Mind: Brain Development and Learning from Birth to Adolescence, Dr. Jane Healy offers an important reminder: “After birth, physical activities are one of the child’s main means of advancing physical, intellectual, and emotional growth, so you should encourage many forms of body movement.”

Clothing also matters. In order to safely move their bodies, babies need clothing that doesn’t restrict their movements. Comfortable fabrics with forgiving elastics are best. Light clothing around the arms and legs offers more opportunities for movement and exploration. It’s also best to allow babies to have bare feet so they can have more sensory input and more traction as they begin to move.

Hands Send Information to the Brain

In addition to gross motor development, which will eventually progress from slithering to crawling to walking, infants are taking in information about the world through their hands.

In this process, babies develop an awareness of the connection between what they observe and what they touch. Sensory experiences begin to be linked to their mental development. Although little mitts are adorable and seem useful to keep infants from scratching themselves, it’s much more beneficial for babies’ development to have their hands uncovered.

Eventually, children begin to use their hands to not only take in information about the world but also to begin manipulating things in their surroundings. To help this development of hand movements, our little ones need purposeful activities that allow for exploration and the development of different types of hand grasps.

Children’s development of their hands is directly connected to the development of their brains. The brain sends a signal to the hand, and the hand moves and sends a sensory message back to the brain. With this new information, the brain can guide the hand in new ways, thus allowing the hand to discover more information by performing the new direction. And the feedback loop continues!

Gross Motor Skills Start with Tummy Time

While infants are developing these fine motor skills through coordination of their hands, they are also developing gross motor abilities. Early on babies need sufficient opportunities to develop large muscles, in particular their truck and neck. Thus, time lying on their belly is important, as this provides the opportunity for infants to push up with their arms and develop a stronger torso and neck.

Tummy time “push-ups” with the arms while in the stomach position are key in forming needed coordination and strength for all of their subsequent large-muscle development. Then, as infants develop enough torso and neck control to push themselves into a seated position, they free their hands for further exploration and development.

A similar process occurs when toddlers are able to move from cruising while holding on to objects for support, to walking without assistance. Suddenly they are able to move through their environment and use their hands for purposeful endeavors.

From “tummy-time” to rolling, to sitting up, to scooting, to crawling, and eventually, to cruising and walking, our young children are beginning to explore their world and develop their sense of self.

Developing Purposeful Movements

Dr. Maria Montessori explains that, as children gain strength through these activities, they begin to look toward those around them to imitate our actions and learn how to be a member of society. Children are interested in what we do and how we do it. They want to use their bodies in new and purposeful ways.

From the first days after birth, when a newborn can only control their eyes to see a mobile to when they move their hand and make contact with a bell hanging on a ribbon, these experiences help children recognize that they can control their movements. The sensory feedback helps strengthen an impulse within children to look or to try to move. Every experience involves movement. The more infants move, the more myelin they form, and the stronger their ability to act according to their own volition.

Movement Matters!

Sensorial experiences are vital for the development of movement and children use their movements to extend their understanding of the world. They see, hear, touch, and taste. The more they use parts of their body to explore their world, the more their movements become refined and the more they are able to make sense of their surroundings.

Children need the opportunity to explore, practice, and repeat movements through simulating and purposeful activity in a safe and supportive setting. Through these repeated experiences, our infants and toddlers develop their muscles, perfect their movements, and ultimately perfect themselves.

Although every child follows a typical timetable in terms of developing motor skills, their surroundings can either hinder or promote the acquisition and mastery of these abilities. Providing appropriate opportunities offers our children the chance for repeated practice and thus speeds the myelination process. Ultimately, as children develop their motor abilities, they come to recognize themselves as competent, capable, and unique individuals.

Want to see some competent, capable, and unique children moving through well-designed learning environments? Contact The Children’s Tree Montessori School in Old Saybrook, CT today to schedule a visit!

End-of-Summer Bucket (and Book!) List

Mon, 08 Aug 2022 01:30:00 GMT

In Montessori, we believe that learning isn’t just something that always happens in school. Children are naturally curious and want to discover, explore, and learn. By the end of the summer, they are often eager for opportunities to expand their awareness and engage in something meaningful. So why not use these last weeks of summer as an occasion to soak in experiences that will feed your child’s sense of wonder!

To inspire some end-of-summer adventures, this week we are combining the idea of a summer bucket list with our curated book list!

If your child is older, you can share or post this list and offer a challenge to see how many items they can accomplish before school begins. For younger children, you can use the list as a source of inspiration to enjoy some special time together.

We’ve included some of our favorite titles under each bucket list item. Heading to the library to gather books on the topic can inspire further exploration or even spark some interest. Although most of the books included are picture books, wordless books, or early readers, even older children can be inspired by a book left out on the kitchen table! Be sure to click on the book title to access the Goodreads description.

Happy adventuring!

Climb a hill or a mountain. Explore a new hiking trail.

Hike by Pete Oswald

The Hike by Alison Farrell

Walk, bike, or skate along a bike path.

Along a Long Road by Frank Viva

Canoe or raft on a local river.

River by Elisha Cooper

The Raft by Jim LaMarche

Explore a nature area near your house.

I Took a Walk by Henry Cole

Nature Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of the Natural World by Julia Rothman

A Walk in the Woods by Christin Couture

Climb a tree.

Just Like Me, Climbing a Tree: Exploring Trees Around the World by Durga Yael Bernhard

The Magic and Mystery of Trees by Jen Green, illustrated by Claire McElfatrick

Learn how to use a compass and map to find your way.

How to use a compass for kids (and adults too!): Your Little Guide to Becoming an Expert Navigator With a Trusty Compass by Henry D Bridges

My Heart Is a Compass by Deborah Marcero

Learn how to pitch a tent, make a fire, and cook breakfast outdoors.

S Is for S’mores: A Camping Alphabet by Helen Foster James, illustrated by Lita Judge

The Kids Campfire Book: Official Book of Campfire Fun by Jane Drake and Mordicai Gerstein, illustrated by Heather Collins

Toasting Marshmallows: Camping Poems by Kristine O’Connell George, illustrated by Kate Kiesler

Make sandcastles on the beach.

A Day for Sandcastles by Jonarno Lawson, illustrated by Qin Leng

Make mud pies.

Mud Book: How to Make Pies and Cakes by John Cage & Lois Long

Mud by Mary Lyn Ray

Search for invertebrates in seaside rock pools or woodland streams.

What's in the Tide Pool? by Anne Hunter

A River by Marc Martin

Build a fort or lean-to in the woods.

Fort-Building Time by Megan Wagner Lloyd, illustrated by Abigail Halpin

A Kids' Guide to Building Forts by Tom Birdseye

Spend some hours making dams and bridges on little streams.

Streams and Ponds: My Nature Sticker Activity Book by Olivia Cosneau

All the Water in the World by George Ella Lyon, illustrated by Katherine Tillotson

Build, Beaver, Build!: Life at the Longest Beaver Dam by Sandra Markle, illustrated by Deborah Hocking

We're Going to Build a Dam by Gillian McClure

Try catching frogs.

ribbit by Jorey Hurley

a boy, a dog, and a frog by Mercer Mayer

Try catching fireflies in a jar.

Fireflies by Julie Brinckloe

Fly, Firefly by Shana Keller, illustrated by Ramona Kaulitzki

Learn how to identify a few constellations and how to find the North Star.

Wishing on a Star: Constellation Stories and Stargazing Activities for Kids by Fran Lee

Glow-in-the-Dark Constellations by C. E. Thompson

Zoo in the Sky: A Book of Animal Constellations by Jacqueline Mitton

Once Upon a Starry Night: A Book of Constellations by Jacqueline Mitton

Learn where north, south, east, and west are in relation to your home.

The Compass Rose and Cardinal Directions by Caitlin McAneney

Maps and Globes: A New True Book by Ray Broekel

Maps and Globes by Jack Knowlton, illustrated by Harriet Barton

Watch the Perseid meteor shower (which peaks August 11-12).

Meteor Showers (True Book: Space) by Jane Kelley

Exploring Meteor Showers (Discover the Night Sky) by Brigid Gallagher

Build a birdhouse (here are some good reasons why!).

Bird House by Blanca Gómez

Building Birdhouses (How-to Library) by Dana Meachen Rau, illustrated by Kathleen Petelinsek

The House I'll Build for the Wrens by Shirley Neitzel, illustrated by Nancy Winslow Parker

Ask your parent or grandparent to teach you how to whittle a piece of wood.

Forest Craft: A Child's Guide to Whittling in the Woodland by Richard Irvine

Whittling Projects for Adventurous Kids by Floris Books

Be able to name the local birds in your neighborhood (use binoculars, learn to recognize bird songs, etc.).

Backpack Explorer: Bird Watch: What Will You Find? by Editors of Storey Publishing, illustrated by Oana Befort

Bird Watch by Christie Matheson

My Awesome Field Guide to North American Birds: Find and Identify Your Feathered Friends by Mike Graf

Have You Heard The Nesting Bird? by Rita Gray, illustrated by Kenard Pak

Learn the names of the trees on your property or in your area.

Backpack Explorer: Discovering Trees: What Will You Find? by Editors of Storey Publishing

Trees (Field Guides for Kids) by Andrea Debbink

Collect something and make a little museum at home (shells, rocks, feathers, postcards of natural wonders, etc.).

What’s in Your Pocket? Collecting Nature’s Treasures by Heather L. Montgomery, illustrated by Maribel Lechuga

The Amazing Collection of Joey Cornell: Based on the Childhood of a Great American Artist by Candace Fleming, illustrated by Gérard DuBois

Rocks in His Head by Carol Otis Hurst, illustrated by James Stevenson

Keep a Nature Journal.

The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon by Jacqueline Davies, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

A Seed Is Sleepy by Dianna Aston, illustrated by Sylvia Long

Dig for worms.

An Earthworm's Life by John Himmelman

Yucky Worms by Vivian French, illustrated by Jessica Ahlberg

Go fishing.

Over and Under the Pond by Kate Messner

H Is for Hook: A Fishing Alphabet by Judy Young

Go for a night hike with a flashlight.

Flashlight by Lizi Boyd

Night Walk by Sara O'Leary, illustrated by Ellie Arscott

Pick fresh berries and bake a pie.

Wild Berries by Julie Flett , translated by Earl N. Cook

Pie for Breakfast: Simple Baking Recipes for Kids by Cynthia Cliff

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

Shifting from Summer to School

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 01:30:08 GMT

Transitioning from Summer to School

Although it can be hard to think about the end of summer days and the return to routine, there is value to getting back into a consistent schedule. Steady, well-thought-out routines help our children develop good habits that can last a lifetime. In addition, the consistency of routines can decrease stress, ease anxiety, and reduce irritability (for both children and parents!).

Ideally, the transition from summer to the school year can happen gradually so your child can gently adjust to the skills and schedules that will allow for a smooth start on the first day. Here are a few things to consider as you begin this shift.

Casual Conversation & Calendars

We’ve found that it helps to begin by casually talking about the start of school. While out shopping, you can notice aloud how stores have back-to-school items and comment about how it’s almost time for the school year to begin. Because young children live in the present, it is important to keep the time frame general.

If you do talk about school with your child, it’s best to try not to build up false expectations about what they will do in school. Modeling curiosity and openness can go a long way. If you drive by a school, for example, you can wonder aloud: “I wonder what children in this school do after they walk in the door.” Or “I’m so curious about what kinds of activities children enjoy doing during their school day.”

Older children who have a solid concept of linear time can benefit from having a family calendar that is visible to everyone. They might want to mark off a countdown to the first day, or help set some benchmarks for getting back into a normal sleep schedule.

Sleep Routines

One of the hardest parts of coming out of vacation mode can be shifting back into a school sleep schedule. Rather than just expecting that everyone will adjust on the first day, it’s best to gradually transition into the school-year bedtime and wake-up routine.

If late bedtimes have become the norm, it can be most effective to start the process about 10 to 14 days prior to the first day of school. First determine what time your child will need to wake up in order to have a peaceful, unhurried morning. You can then start waking your child up a little earlier each morning. In addition, you’ll want to have bedtime begin a little earlier each night. Making these changes in 15-minute increments works best. The goal is for your child to begin getting rested and refreshed at the wake-up time you’ve determined.

We recommend establishing an age-appropriate bedtime and sleep routine. Having a calm mind at bedtime and developing good sleep habits, has long-term benefits for your child. For more information visit the Sleep Foundation .

Morning Routines

Having enough time for a calm, consistent morning routine decreases stress and anxiety for everyone. Plus, children really appreciate having some ownership over the process.

To prepare, you can make sure your child has clothing and shoes that are easy to put on and take off. For younger children, you can have two outfit options available so they can choose what they want to wear. Older children can select their clothes the night before and lay them out for the next morning.

It can also help to collaborate with your child to create a visual schedule of what needs to happen each morning: getting up and out of bed, getting dressed, eating breakfast, brushing teeth, preparing lunch and snacks, etc. You can add images to the schedule and even turn it into a checklist. If you laminate the schedule or checklist, children may appreciate using a dry erase marker to check off each item they have completed.

Preparing Snacks & Lunch

Having snacks and lunch prepared ahead of time can ease a great deal of morning stress. Even the youngest children can help get their snack and lunch food ready. Sometimes having everything ready the night before is easiest, so all children need to do is put containers in their lunch bags to be ready to head out the door. That being said, with enough advance preparation and plenty of time built into the morning schedule, preparing lunch and snacks can easily happen in the morning.

To support children in making their own lunches, we just need to make sure to have some healthy options prepared and accessible. This can mean having a low section of the cupboard or refrigerator designated for child-friendly snacks and lunch options. You can do some minimal food prep–like hard-boiling and peeling eggs, slicing up chicken breast, or chopping vegetables–and then have the items ready in small, easy-to-open containers.

If you pack your own lunch alongside your child, you can also model choosing healthy foods and serving sizes.

Stay Organized

Your child (and you) benefit from a sense of order and predictability. Thus, we recommend dedicating and preparing a space in your home for all school necessities, such as backpacks, lunch bags, shoes, etc. Ideally, this space for school items is attractive and child-sized. Having low hooks or a small shelf near the door can allow your child to develop a strong sense of capability and independence.

Even before school begins, you can practice coming home and putting everything where it belongs. Your child can be in charge of hanging their backpack on a low hook and even putting their lunch containers in the sink or dishwasher.

If the space gets a little disheveled, you can take a few minutes together with your child to tidy up the items and appreciate how much better things feel when everything is in its place.

The transition from summer to school year can be an opportunity to establish teamwork and collaboration with your child. So that your child can be an active participant in the process and so that you don’t end up taking on all the stress, remember to ease into the new routines, allow time and space to prepare consistent systems, and provide just enough support for your child to experience some independence and success in the process. The result? Healthy habits and a more peaceful practice for everyone.

Want a quick reference for the transition from school to summer? Download this one-page printable!

Materials Highlight: Geometry From the Start

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 01:30:01 GMT

When many of us think of our geometry education, we have thoughts of identifying shapes in kindergarten, and then taking a class or two in high school.

The truth is, children are fully capable, and enthusiastically prepared, to learn so much more at a much younger age. While we can’t possibly cover our entire curriculum in one short article, we’ll share some of the highlights. It begins (perhaps unsurprisingly) in our primary classrooms.

Geometric Solids

Pictured above, the geometric solids are our students’ first direct exposure to geometry through Montessori. The solids are displayed on a shelf and are contained by a basket or tray. The adult invites the child to a lesson and asks them to retrieve the shapes. They then look at each one. The lesson may go something like this:

The guide picks up the cube, feels each side, and hands it to the child. The guide states, “This is a cube.” The cube is placed on the work rug.
The process is repeated for each solid in the basket.
Depending upon the child’s readiness, they may continue, with the guide asking questions like, “Where is the cylinder?”
After the child has had some time to interact with the material independently for a while, the guide will again sit with them and assess their understanding. This is done by holding one sold at a time and asking the child to name it.

There are many fun extensions associated with this material. One favorite includes putting the solids on a mystery bag or using a blindfold so the child has to guess and identify by touch alone.

Geometry Cabinet

The geometry cabinet is used in primary and lower elementary classrooms, although differently in each. What begins as a lesson in identifying basic shapes and discerning between their sizes evolves into complex identification and blending of skills. Some of the skills this material helps us teach our students aged 6-9 include:

● Types of triangles (acute scalene, acute isosceles, right scalene, right isosceles, obtuse scalene, and obtuse isosceles)

● Quadrilaterals (trapezoids, a rhombus, and a parallelogram)

● Regular polygons (pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, octagon, nonagon, and decagon)

● Curved figures (curvilinear triangle, oval, ellipse, quatrefoil)

● Rectangles

● Circles

Constructive Triangles

Beginning during the primary years and continuing through lower elementary, the constructive triangle boxes are another child favorite. A series of boxes teaches a variety of concepts.

Triangle box: Used to show how different types of triangles can be combined to make other triangles, also indirectly teaches fractions concepts
Large hexagon box: Used to show how triangles can be combined to create other figures, including a hexagon, rhombus, and parallelogram
Small hexagon box: A continuation of the same basic concept as the previous box, but this time triangles are used to create rhombi, a trapezoid, and another configuration of a hexagon
Rectangle box: Triangles are used to create a square, rectangle, and other quadrilaterals
Blue triangles boxes: While the previous boxes utilized different colors for different types of triangles, they are all painted blue here. This is basically an extension of previous work and allows children an opportunity to rely less on previously helpful visual clues. There is also lots of opportunity to use the blue triangles to create more complex geometric figures.

Classified Nomenclature

Once some of the more basic skills have been mastered by the child, sometime during early lower elementary, they move on to engage with the classified nomenclature. As with all other Montessori work, this is a step toward abstraction; they are no longer relying heavily on the wooden materials they can hold and manipulate, rather they are using drawings, booklets, charts, and labels.

This work can become rather in-depth and continues into upper elementary. A very broad overview of skills includes:

● Fundamental concepts (point, line, surface, solid)

● The study of lines

● The study of angles

● Plane figures

● Study of the triangle

● Study of quadrilaterals

● Study of regular polygons

● Study of the circle

These studies are not short lessons like the child has experienced previously. They are multi-layered and can take months to complete. For example, the study of angles may begin during the second year of lower elementary, but continue periodically through the years until the child reaches sixth grade. Concepts include:

● Parts of an angle

● Types of angles

● The measurement of angles

● Constructing angles

● Relationships between two angles

● Two lines and a transversal

● Constructing and copying an angle

● Bisecting an angle

● Operations with angles

Beyond all these amazing materials, it’s important to note that there is a lot of crossover when it comes to Montessori subjects. One perfect example is a favorite grammar work of third graders called the Detective Triangle Game. While its main intention is to practice using correct adjectives, this is done by way of sorting a multitude of triangles, with different colors, types, and angles.

Want to learn more? Please reach out if you have any specific questions and want to have a conversation. As always, we believe the best way to truly understand what goes on in a Montessori classroom is to sit quietly and observe in one. Contact us today to schedule a visit.

Books for Art Lovers

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 01:30:01 GMT

What would our world be without art? We rely on it to record our history, to express our thoughts and emotions, to communicate, to protest, and to pass the time. Flexing our creativity feels good, and admiring the artwork of others has the potential to evoke a range of experiences.

Maybe you already love visual art. Perhaps your child has expressed some interest. Or maybe you’re just looking for some new good books to read together. No matter your reason, we’ve got you covered. As always, we’re including titles for readers of all developmental levels, as well as links to learn more.

Board Books

My Favorite Color

by Aarom Becker

Becker is a Caldecott winner, so you already know this book is going to be gorgeous. Kids change their favorite color all the time, and this book celebrates the glorious spectrum of hues with fun semi-transparent segments.

ABCs of Art

by Sabrina Hahn

Imagine a classic children’s ABCs book combined with beautiful classic works of art, and that’s what Hahn has created. From Cezanne to Stubbs, with all the Hokusai and Monet we could wish for our infants and toddlers wedged in between, you’ll love this book as much as your little one.

Picture Books

Ablaze With Color: A Story of Painter Alma Thomas

by Jeanne Walker Harvey, illustrated by Loveis Wise

Art and creativity had always been a part of Thomas’ life, but it wasn’t until her 60s that she chose to pursue it as a career. This book covers the racial injustices faced by Thomas and her family, as well as the strange and beautiful journeys our lives take.

Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras

by Duncan Tonatiuh

José Guadalupe Posada, the Mexican artist known to many as Lupe, enjoyed using a variety of artistic mediums for a variety of purposes. From lithography to engraving, political cartoons to the Calaveras drawings he became famous for, art was always a part of his life.

Winner of the Robert F. Sibert Medal and a Pura Belpre Honor Book.

Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michael Basquiat

by Javaka Steptoe

Winner of the Caldecott Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award, Steptoe’s biography of Basquiat highlights the idea that art doesn’t need to conform to be beautiful.

Middle Grade

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

by E.L. Konigsburg

Claudia talks her brother into running away with her, and they end up secretly living in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The two then get caught up in solving the mystery of a statue, and eventually realize they’re better off facing their problems at home.

Many Points of Me

by Caroline Gertler

Georgia stumbles upon a drawing made by her father (a famous artist) before he died. She struggles to find meaning in the drawing, which seems to leave her out. Her quest to discover answers leads her, like the characters in our other middle grade recommendation, to the Met.

Nonfiction

Drawing From Memory

by Allen Say

Say is another Caldecott winner, and this book is a fascinating autobiography complete with illustrations and photographs. Artists and their passions aren’t always supported, and we are all sometimes met with challenges that seem insurmountable. Say shares his journey, and how he managed to stay true to his dreams.

Fun and Easy Crafting with Recycled Materials: 60 Cool Projects That Reimagine Paper Rolls, Egg Cartons, Jars and More!

by Kimberly McLeod

The title says it all. Some of the projects include toilet paper tube owls, 3-D hot air balloons, scrap paper trees, pirate hats, and a castle.

A World of Animals: Learn to Draw More Than 175 Animals From the Seven Continents!

by Rimma Zainagova

This book is perfect for animal lovers, geography lovers, and art lovers! Containing interesting factual information about the continents and zoology, there are lots of simple step-by-step drawing instructions that kids will love.

Graphic Novels

Before They Were Artists: Famous Illustrators as Kids

by Elizabeth Haidle

A gorgeous anthology of shortened artist biographies, this book explores how artists’ lives during their early years. How is creativity nurtured, and what is it like when an artist is just beginning to discover their passions? Artists include Hayao Miyazaki, Trove Jansson, Maurice Sendak, Yuyi Morales, Wanda Gag, and Jerry Pinkney.

Doodleville

by Chad Sell

Drew loves to draw, and somehow her creations actually come to life. This is great, until she draws a monster. She relies on her artistic friends to help her solve this tricky problem.

Young Adult

Making Comics

by Lynda Barry

Barry is an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she teaches students about art and discovery. This book is essentially her curriculum; it encourages students to see drawing as a means of expression and communication, and to stop worrying so much about artistic talent.

Drawing Dragons

by Sandra Staple

If your teen loves drawing and fantasy worlds, this is the perfect pick for them. Along with specific instructions for learning to draw a variety of dragons, this book gives some very helpful information about drawing techniques in a general sense.

Little Felted Animals: Create 16 Irresistible Creatures with Simple Needle-Felting Techniques

by Marie-Noelle Horvath

Your heart might just melt flipping through these pages. Learn to create a felted polar bear, sheep, dalmatian, and much more with detailed instructions and information about the materials needed to get started.

Mending Matters: Stitch, Patch, and Repair Your Favorite Denim and More

by Katrina Rodabaugh

Clothing repair and design meets slow fashion meets artistry. Rodabaugh’s book inspires readers to grab their old torn jeans, some contrasting thread, and make something beautiful.

A Fresh Look at Chores (5 Tips)

Mon, 11 Jul 2022 01:30:11 GMT

We’re guessing you’ve probably already heard that chores are good for kids. You remember dreading them when you were a child, you’ve likely tried to implement them at home, and may have experienced varying levels of success. You have probably come across those adorable, and actually, incredibly helpful charts that list what’s appropriate for children at different ages.

You may have even experienced (like we have) life being unpredictable and throwing things off course, with your previously established chore routine left completely forgotten.

Consider this article a reminder about the amazing benefits chores can have for kids and their families. Our five tips may even give a little fresh perspective.

Consider what is developmentally appropriate

So, maybe you haven’t seen the cute little lists we referenced above? Here’s a great one if so, or even if your child is older and you want to revisit. Keep in mind that every child is different, but this is a pretty good general guide. The idea is not to make your child do everything they are capable of every single day, but it does serve as a helpful guide in knowing what is possible. Lists like these are a good starting point in developing your own routine at home.

It can be truly amazing to consider what our children are actually capable of, but we do want to balance that knowledge with not giving them tasks that are beyond their abilities. If we push independence in a specific area too soon, we are likely to cause frustration and a sense of failure. Focusing on the right tasks will bring success, build feelings of confidence, and set the stage for more challenging tasks in the future.

2. Build a routine

Children thrive on routine. When they know what to expect, everything runs more smoothly. It gives them a sense of safety and predictability, and it makes things so much easier for everyone. Once an expectation is set, there’s rarely a need for nagging.

Routine looks different for every family, and it’s important to find what works for you. Some ideas in case you’re looking for inspiration:

● Use visual lists as nonverbal reminders. This might be a simple sticky note for older kids, or a picture list for kids who aren’t reading yet.

● Be super consistent in the beginning. Putting in the work at first isn’t always easy, but it pays off in the long run.

● Start when your child is young. Kids aren’t as excited to help out when they get older, so establishing routines early is helpful.

● Allow for time to complete the tasks, considering that it takes children longer to complete them - especially when they’re first learning.

3. Follow their lead

Younger children - meaning up through at least the lower elementary years - actually want to do chores. The key is to pay attention and notice what they’re into. Some really want to do laundry while others love sweeping and mopping. It really doesn’t matter what they’re doing to help; the key is to find ways to integrate children into our regular household tasks. We all have chores we prefer over others, and children are no different. While it’s true we all have to do tasks we don’t enjoy sometimes, there’s nothing wrong with basing your chore system on the tasks your child does like to do.

Many children just want to be by your side. This makes things really simple. If you’re cooking dinner, give them a cucumber to chop. Doing laundry? Hand them a pile of washcloths to fold (even toddlers can help with that!). Vacuuming the car? Make it their job to clean out the back seat area first.

4. It’s okay to help them out

As much as we push for cultivating independence, we can’t expect our kids to do everything all the time. It can be easy to forget that. Perhaps it’s their responsibility to clear the table after dinner, but you know they’ve had a tough day. It’s okay to jump in and do it for them. We need to remember that building good habits and skills is important, but so is modeling what we do for the people we love.

During the elementary years children seem to lose all sense of order and leave a trail of mess in their wake everywhere they go. When you have called them back to pick up for the 27th time in the day and you’re frankly tired of it, it’s okay to just take care of that empty milk carton they’ve left on the counter. You’ve probably made your point, and they probably won’t even remember they ever left it there in the first place. They really are doing their best, and it’s totally fine to help them along the way.

5. Frame chores as a contribution

The chores we give our children should not be a punishment. They shouldn’t even be a set of mundane, hard-to-tolerate tasks enforced upon them. Chores are a way to contribute to the family. We can teach our children about everything that needs to happen to allow a household to run smoothly, and then we make sure they understand that it shouldn’t all fall on the adults.

Our children want to be a part of what we do. They want to help. It feels good to really be a contributing member of the family.

We will leave you with a quote from Dr. Maria Montessori you may find inspiring:

"Therefore this work which has built up civilisation and which has transformed the earth is at the very basis of life and is a fundamental part of it. So much so, that it is, as we say, even in the child. Work has existed in the nature of man as an instinct even from birth itself.... The study of society will be held to be a study of the life of the child which shows us in an embryonic stage this profound tendency of humanity and the mechanism by which society is built up." (Dr. Maria Montessori, 'Child’s Instinct to Work', AMI Communications, 1973, 4, 9)

Independence Day, Montessori Summer Vacation-Style

Mon, 04 Jul 2022 01:30:01 GMT

For many people in the United States, July fourth is a time for cookouts and fireworks. We get together with family and friends, enjoy our favorite potato salad, and spend some quality time in our backyards.

As adults, we know there’s a whole lot more to the day than that.

Whether you’re reading this on Independence Day, or sometime after, everything we mention below is still totally relevant and applicable. And even though we are well into summer vacation, we know many of our families never step out of Montessori mode. If that describes you, read on.

Do a deep dive into the holiday’s origins

We often rely on books to help us teach children, and this situation is no exception. A quick trip to your local library will be all you need to find an armload of age-appropriate reading material. The main points you’ll want to cover include:

● Why did early Americans feel the need to break free from England’s rule?

● What was the process like to establish the United States?

● Why do we celebrate on July fourth?

Searching for relevant pictures, articles, and videos online can help enrich kids’ experience, as can visiting historical sites if you happen to live in certain parts of the country.

Consider different perspectives

The establishment of the United States, along with large chunks of its history, aren’t exactly celebratory for some groups of people. Again, it’s helpful to lean on books to share this type of information, and especially books that are written by authors who represent the group they are teaching about.

The land we now refer to as the United States of America was inhabited by many nations of Indigenous people for thousands of years before Europeans arrived. The native perspective is that the land was stolen, and this was followed by centuries of forced relocation and mistreatment.

Another important perspective to consider is that of black Americans. The US economy originally relied heavily on the enslavement of people from Africa, and our nation’s beginnings are rooted in some pretty horrific practices that continue to have rippling effects even today. Most of us are very aware that race is at the forefront of modern American society, and the issues we still need to address have their beginnings in America’s earliest days.

Do young kids need to know every detail about what has happened in our history? Of course not. As always, keep what’s developmentally appropriate in mind. It is important to note that our children are much more aware, and studies show they develop biases much earlier than most adults realize.

Explore independence days in other countries

It would be impossible for us to list each country around the globe that celebrates an independence day; the list is just too long! Take a look at this unofficial compilation if you’re curious.

Here are a few fun highlights:

● Bastille Day is July 14 and celebrates the beginning of the French Revolution. The French love their parades and fireworks, but they also have a special tradition of opening fire stations for community dance parties.

● Bolivia begins its two-day celebration with grand parades on August 6.

● India celebrates its independence from Great Britain on August 15 by flying colorful kites.

● Who else could we imagine celebrating their independence with surfing races than Australia? Theirs takes place on January 26.

● Norway celebrates on May 17, and children are front and center. There are children’s parades around the country, as well as special parties in schools.

Help your child develop their own independence

As Montessorians, we believe all humans have the right to freedom and independence, and this includes children. Note that freedom does not mean the right to do whatever you want, whenever you want. In a community, whether it be a family or a global society, our choices should never encroach on the freedoms of others. For adults, this often takes the forms of laws or social norms. For children, it’s all about the concept of freedom within limits.

What can you do to help nurture your child’s independence? If you’ve been a Montessori parent for a little while, you may already have a basic sense of where to start. It’s a huge topic, which we could never fully summarize here at the end of this article, so instead we’ll include a few ideas and starting points.

● Learn as much as you can about child development. Utilize books, articles, and ask questions of people you know. Lean on us at the school as a resource.

● Practice observing your child. Our tendency is often to jump and help or react. Wait. Notice. Reflect. What does your child really need?

● Follow the child. We all have preconceived ideas of what our kids need and how they will progress; it’s only natural. The important bit is to be mindful of this fact, and to examine the moments in which you could potentially inject your expectations onto them, and then don’t do it. This is way easier said than done.

● Give your child choices whenever you can. This might be as simple as offering your toddler two shirts to choose from, or it might be as difficult supporting your adolescent as they reject the college you wish they would attend.

● Embrace mistakes and failures. This means on the part of you and your child. You’ll both make them, and they’re always opportunities for growth and learning. No one is born knowing everything, and it’s only through our errors that we become more complete human beings.

We hope this article has been fun and informative. Please know that we value you as important members of our community. We are grateful that you care so much about your child’s learning experience. And we wish you all a celebratory holiday with your loved ones.

Summer, Montessori-Style

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 01:30:05 GMT

Summer is a great time to relax a bit, have fun as a family, and enjoy some new experiences. If you’re looking to continue your child’s Montessori experience at home during these warmer months, you have come to the right place. We believe in keeping it simple, but here are some tips you might appreciate!

Take a Deep-Dive Into Personal Interests

Is your child into dinosaurs? Ancient Egypt? Horses? Summer can be the perfect time to help them explore these interests further. The key is to find ways to work their passions into the types of things you were already going to do anyway. A few places to start:

● Ask your local librarian for help finding both nonfiction and fiction books that would appeal to your child’s interests.

● Figure out if there are any relevant day trips you could take to get in-person experiences (museums, farms, historical sights, parks, etc.)

● Find ways to bring your child’s interests into the kitchen. You might find yourself recreating various cultural dishes or baking up some panda-shaped cookies.

● Turn family movie night into a learning experience with a documentary.

Connect With Each Other

Find ways to reconnect. During the regular school year, life can get busy. Embrace the slower pace of summer and reevaluate how you and your child can spend meaningful time together. This will change as they get older, as will your common interests.

As with all things Montessori, just remember to follow the child.

If you have an infant, toddler, or preschooler, your together time will include lots of cuddles and caretaking. It’s almost easiest at this age, because our youngest children rely so heavily on our presence. (Just remember to take a little time for yourself!)

As your child gets older, continues to develop their independence, and socializes increasingly with their peers, there will naturally be more changes in how you interact with each other. Spending time outdoors together is a favorite for many families, as is creating regular traditions (like the family movie night we mentioned earlier).

Get Outside! (Of Course)

We know you won’t be surprised to hear us encouraging this point! During the school year, kids get outside every day for recess. Now that they’re home more, it’s critical to ensure they’re still getting this time. Combine their needs with the gorgeous weather, and you’ll find endless opportunities.

For the little ones: go to a playground, take a walk in a local park, or just sit out in front of your house. They will delight in watching a bug crawl by, smelling the scent of flowers, and feeling the dirt on their bare feet.

For older children and teens: the possibilities are endless. Keeping their developmental needs in the forefront of your mind will make them much more likely to be enthusiastic. This could include making time outside a social activity with their friends, giving them choices of activities, and making it a regular part of their daily routine.

Read, Read, Read

Kids may take a break from academics in the summer, but reading should never stop. It’s important to find ways to make reading a part of the daily routine, no matter the age of your child. For pre readers, find a time you can sit together each day to read a book together. For older kids, carve out plenty of time for them to read on their own daily. A few tips to keep the reading going:

● Let your child see you reading for enjoyment. They want to model their behavior after you, and this can be very powerful.

● Get excited about books. Make sure your child knows they are important to your family.

● Don’t push emerging readers too hard. Give them access to books, read to them, but recognize that they need to feel good about books.

● Ask for help when it comes to book-resistant tweens. Some kids seem like they don’t want to read, when in reality they would rather read about their specific interests, or stick to a very specific genre. Let them immerse themselves completely in the types of books they love; they’re getting something important out of them and will evolve eventually.

● Bring books along for the ride. When you go for outings, keep a few in your bag. You never know when a quiet moment of boredom will arise, and you will be prepared.

Explore Your Community

Feeling connected to your community is good for all of us. Start small and see where your efforts take you.

For young children, their community might be just their neighborhoods. Walks will give them a sense of familiar “landmarks”, neighbors, and neighborhood workers. Recognizing that gorgeous garden down the street or waving to the mail carrier every afternoon are little things that help children recognize they are part of a bigger group of people who live and work together.

As your children get older, you might expand upon their experience. Explore what makes your town special, whether that means checking out historical landmarks, buildings or institutions of importance, enjoying annual festivals, or participating in community events. Service experiences are always a good idea. This could mean joining a town clean-up effort or volunteering with a local organization.

Do you already have fun summer plans in the works? We would love to hear about your Montessori summer, whatever that looks like for your family. Enjoy the time together!

Why Do Families Make the Switch?

Mon, 20 Jun 2022 01:30:07 GMT

There are many different reasons why families choose Montessori for their child. Some enroll when their child is young and stay the course. Others discover it a bit later on. Others, still, leave their Montessori school and end up returning a year or two later.

Why do parents gravitate toward this unique method of education? Here are a few of the main reasons we have seen frequently in recent years.

They’re Wary of High-Stakes Testing

Many educators like to think of the field as a pendulum that swings back and forth over the decades. Sometimes regulations and trends tend toward restrictive measures, while other times everything is more flexible.

Right now in the public sector, the focus is on standardization and testing. The results of high-stakes tests given to students can affect school funding, oversight, and the way teachers are made to educate their students. As for the children, they feel the pressure of these tests, and this often gets in the way of joyful learning.

When we hear about teachers feeling forced to “teach to the test”, it’s not a myth. This might not happen everywhere, but it absolutely happens. Many parents, understandably, want a different experience for their children.

They Value Recess and the Outdoors

With the abovementioned emphasis on standards and pressures of state oversight, certain elements of the school day have fallen to the wayside in some places. It is not uncommon in recent years for a school to discontinue programs in the arts, or to drastically reduce the amount of time dedicated to children’s time outdoors. Many kids have a shocking fifteen minutes of recess time each day.

Research has shown that frequent breaks and adequate access to outdoor green spaces dramatically increases children’s ability to concentrate and engage deeply with their work. Private Montessori schools aren’t typically bound to the same pressures as public schools, so we are able to continue offering our students opportunities we know are best for their development.

At The Children’s Tree Montessori School, our elementary classroom includes an adjacent outdoor classroom that children are free to use during work periods. When arriving at school the elementary students have a 15-minute recess, a mid-day outdoor lunch (weather permitting) and recess, as well as an end of the day recess. In addition, enrichment programs are often held outdoors and there are weekly field trips, many of which are held outdoors.

They’re Looking for a Different Social Environment

“Social Emotional Learning” has - shockingly - become a negative concept in some areas, with districts outright banning even the mention of this type of work.

To us, learning shouldn’t just be about math and reading. Academics are absolutely important, but so is learning how to be a kind and empathetic human being. Montessori schools are able to take time out of the day to teach in the moment when conflict occurs, as well as include regular, planned lessons that teach children how to care for their emotions and interact with their peers in a healthy manner.

A big part of being successful involves how you interact with others. Our children will grow up to work with people at their jobs, in their communities, and even in their personal relationships. It takes a lot of practice to build the skills needed to handle various relationships in a manner that serves everyone involved.

The elementary years, in particular, can be a tumultuous time for some kids; they gravitate toward their peers, but they don’t always know how to manage conflict. That’s where we come in. We read stories, use role-playing strategies, and teach conflict resolution skills so that our students have all the tools they need to use when something comes up on the playground or in the classroom.

They Want Their Child to Love Learning

School shouldn’t be a necessary evil. It shouldn’t be something children have to endure. It should be a place where adults help children cultivate a deep and passionate joy for learning about the world around them. Children should be encouraged, inspired, and celebrated as they learn at their own pace.

Montessori schools aren’t about forcing children to memorize facts. We want them to feel in awe of the world around them and have the skills to search out information they need or want. We teach the basics in fun ways that kids can’t resist, and we give them a wide variety of science, history, and geographical information. Montessori schools honor the fact that as human beings, we have unique talents and interests, and we make time for each of our students to further explore areas they are drawn to.

The Traditional Classroom Structure Isn’t Working for Their Child

Although many schools are beginning to change, there is still a long way to go. Sitting in rows of desks and listening to a teacher lecture the whole group at a single pace isn’t a model that works for most kids.

Kids need to be able to move around. They need to be able to get help when they’re struggling, and zip ahead when they need more challenges. Education should never be a one-size-fits-all approach, because in reality, one-size fits very few.

In Montessori environments, children are free to sit where they like. This may be at a table, on the floor, by themselves, or with a group of others. Their needs may change from one minute to the next, and that’s perfectly okay.

We believe children - even very young children - should have autonomy over their own bodies and basic needs. If they’re hungry, they should have a snack without having to wait another hour for the scheduled lunch time. If they’re thirsty, they should be able to get themselves a cup and some water. If they need to use the toilet, they shouldn’t need the permission of an adult. We believe there are ways to create structures that allow for children to attend to these basic needs independently and safely. We don’t feel the need to exercise control over these types of things.

Are there other reasons families choose Montessori? Absolutely. These are just a handful of what we hear from parents. If you’re considering Montessori for your child, we encourage you to come to our school and take a look. We would be happy to give you a tour, set you up with a classroom observation session, or meet to discuss your situation and answer any questions you may have.

Choosing a path for your child’s education is deeply personal. Know that we are here to support your family and are welcoming new families to join our community. To learn more and schedule a tour visit www.childrenstree.org/schedule-tour .

Montessori vs. Daycare: 5 Key Differences

Mon, 13 Jun 2022 01:30:00 GMT

Many families rely on childcare while their children are still young. Figuring out the best place to drop your little one off every day is a big decision. Parents want to ensure their child spends their days safe, comfortable, and happy, and under the watchful eye of well-trained and competent adults.

Daycare is the obvious choice for many folks…that is, until they become aware of other options.

If you’re reading this article, it’s likely you are one of those parents who is trying to figure out the best possible placement for your child. Allow us to highlight five key differences between a typical daycare center and a Montessori school.

An Emphasis on Education

Montessori goes beyond the reaches of a typical daycare facility. While daycares focus on watching and caring for children, Montessori schools do this and more by creating an environment focused on children’s learning.

We believe education starts at birth. Children’s days should be filled with play, as that is how they learn, but we create space for them to play in ways that enrich their development.

We don’t fill our classroom with whatever toys look fun; we carefully prepare an environment with materials that have been developed after careful scientific observation and used for over 100 successful years. These materials are still games and toys from the perspective of the child, but they tend to have much different effects on them from a learning perspective.

2. A Natural Environment

Most daycare environments are filled with bright colors, plastic toys, and maybe even a cartoon character or two.

Montessori environments eschew any type of commercialism or characters. They utilize natural materials like wood, plant fibers, and even glass. Natural tones are favored over bright and loud colors, and soft and natural lighting is evident.

Montessori classrooms intentionally bring the natural world inside, with plants, found objects, and pets. Children are directly involved with the care of living things in the classroom.

Daycares may have bright posters on the wall, whereas Montessori environments favor a minimalist approach and examples of art displayed at the level of the child’s viewpoint.

3. Specially-Trained Guides

The training of a Montessori guide goes far beyond the training of a typical daycare worker. To care for young children, both must meet certain requirements such as first aid training, passing a background check, and some knowledge of working with children.

Montessori guides, however, continue far beyond the basics. Most have college degrees, with many obtaining advanced degrees. They have completed rigorous Montessori credential training, which includes comprehensive instruction on child development, intensive lessons to help them present Montessori materials correctly, work in Montessori philosophy, and so much more.

We encourage you to ask your local daycare facility about their teacher training requirements and compare them to Montessori requirements while you explore your options.

4.The Sense of Community

When your child is enrolled at a Montessori school, it’s so much more than a place to drop them off each morning. The whole family is welcomed as a part of the school community, and special events and traditions work to solidify this sense of community.

Montessori parents are often eager to connect with one another; we all seem to have a sense that a strong community contributes greatly to the wellbeing of our children. It’s helpful to have other parents to ask questions, hear about experiences, and even socialize with.

Montessori schools are also unique in that we welcome parents into the classroom. In fact, we encourage regular observation. The children are used to adults sitting quietly in a corner of the room, so the practice is unobtrusive, and really gives adults a clear picture of the type of work we do. Many parents walk away from observations in awe of the engagement of the children and the depth of the work/play they show.

5. Development of Practical Life Skills

We believe that learning is so much more than academics, which is why Montessori environments intentionally include practical life lessons. Practical life learning is incredibly appealing to young children as well, as they look to adults in their lives and want to emulate the work they see them doing. Some of the types of skills they develop in our environments include:

● Toilet learning (for infants and toddlers)

● Food preparation

● Care of the environment (cleaning skills)

● Plant and pet care

● Fastening various types of clothing

● Tying and lacing

● Care of self (washing, brushing, etc.)

● Grace and courtesy lessons: interacting appropriately and politely with others

We hope this article has been helpful and informative. To learn more, we encourage you to visit various types of settings in person and ask to observe in the different classrooms. Not only will you notice stark differences, we think you’ll find yourself impressed with the scope of skills covered in a Montessori class (as well as the absolute joy of the children who you see there).

Please reach out to Children’s Tree if you have any questions or would like to schedule a visit. We would love to meet you and your child. Schedule a tour today, click here .

A Pride Book List

Mon, 06 Jun 2022 01:30:05 GMT

Happy Pride Month! June is the month we celebrate the history and contributions of LGBTQ+ folks, and we are thrilled to share this special book list with you all. Whether someone in your family is LGBTQ+ or not, we could all benefit from reading these amazing titles. As always, regardless of your child’s age or reading level, we have tried to include a little something for everyone: from picture books right up through young adult fiction and graphic novels.

We hope you find one or two books to enjoy on this list, and if you have any you think others should know about, please share!

Picture Books

The Little Library

by Margaret MacNamara, illustrated by G. Brian Karas

Jake's class is so excited about the new school library…but not Jake. Jake isn’t a huge fan of reading, but he manages to make a connection with the new (nonbinary) librarian, and he discovers something he’s passionate about. Over the course of the school year, Jake’s perspective on reading changes, and he finds a special way to say thank you to Librarian Beck.

Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope

by Jodie Patterson, illustrated by Charnelle Pinkney Barlow

Penelope is named after his grandmother, but nothing feels quite right. He knows deep down that he’s a boy, but everyone else thinks he’s a girl. This makes him angry, and he feels unseen and unheard, until he talks to his mom. His fifth birthday is his chance to tell his loving family, and the next day at school, he confidently walks in with his new (to the rest of the world) identity.

Harriet Gets Carried Away

by Jessie Sima

Harriet loves costumes, and she wears them everywhere she goes. As she gets ready for her birthday party, she and her two dads realize they need to run some last-minute errands. Her imagination gets a little carried away, and she finds herself on an adventure with penguins, an orca, and some helpful pigeons.

Children’s Nonfiction

Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope

by Jodie Patterson, illustrated by Charnelle Pinkney Barlow

People of Pride: 25 Great LGBTQ Americans

by Chase Clemesha, MD

Easy-to-read mini biographies, each accompanied by a photograph, share some of the most influential LGBTQ+ Americans’ lives. Additionally, there is a list of more notable people kids may want to learn about, a historical timeline of relevant events, and a glossary of helpful terms.

Rainbow Revolutionaries: 50 LGBTQ+ People Who Made History

by Sarah Prager, illustrated by Sarah Papworth

One of the coolest parts of this book is the colorful world map that shows the birthplaces of each person listed in the book. Prager wrote the book specifically to increase representation for youth: “When I was growing up, I didn’t know that LGBTQ+ people had changed the world, I wrote the book to make sure you never have to think that.”

Children’s Graphic Novels

Wait, What?: A Comic Book Guide to Relationships, Bodies, and Growing Up by Heather Corinna and Isabella Rotman, colored by Luke B. Howard

Probably best for middle schoolers and up, this title says it all. Comprehensive, body positive, encouraging, and inclusive, this is a must-read as your child gets a bit older.

Snapdragon

by Kat Leyh

Snapdragon is named after her mother’s favorite flower. She finds herself suddenly helping out the neighborhood “witch” and learns that not everything is as it first seems. Untangling family rumors, characters revealing true identities, and people showing their different sides, this book is magical, sweet, and entertaining. A variety of queer identities are represented.

Middle Grade Fiction

The Best at It

by Maulik Pancholy

A Stonewall Honor Book, The Best at It features a diverse cast of characters and exposes readers to different cultures and identities. Rahul is a very relatable and likable character who has set out to figure out just one thing he can be the best at. Motivated by his grandfather’s advice, he is determined to meet his goal, while trying to also stay true to himself.

Birdie and Me

by J. M. M. Nuanez

Jack and her brother Birdie are dealing with the aftermath of their mother’s death. Their uncles share the responsibility of caring for the kids, but when they go to live with Uncle Patrick, things begin to change. Uncle Patrick doesn’t accept Birdie’s love for gender-noncomforming clothing, and when Birdie begins being bullied at school, Jack steps into the role of protective big sister.

Both Can Be True

by Jules Machias

Ash is nonbinary. Daniel often feels overwhelmed by his emotions. Somehow they both end up working together to save a dog, but Daniel doesn’t realize who Ash truly is. Their friendship evolves, and they have to figure out how to accept each other - and themselves.

Young Adult

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

We typically try to recommend newer books, but this classic just cannot be left off the list. A sweet story of two teenage boys who meet and become fast friends. Over time, their relationship shifts, although it takes them each different amounts of time to recognize and acknowledge their feelings. They go through tragedies together, navigate major life changes, and depend upon their supportive families as they find their way.

The Girl from the Sea

by Molly Knox Ostertag

A graphic novel that takes classic selkie folklore but makes it queer-friendly. Morgan meets Keltie, and her whole life begins to change. She faces family upset, environmental problems, and a first love she never anticipated.

Elatsoe

by Darcie Little Badger

This book fills two much-needed niches: Indigenous experiences and asexual experiences. Blending fantasy and reality, this book is well-loved by teens.

Beyond the Classroom: Montessori Extending Into Adulthood

Mon, 30 May 2022 01:30:42 GMT

Montessori: it’s not just for children. What was originally created as an educational model for preschoolers in Italy has expanded significantly over time. Today, more and more adults are noticing there is potential for application far beyond the Casa dei Bambini. Whether you’re interested in learning more for yourself, or learning more about how Montessori education is trickling into various parts of our society, plenty of interesting changes are happening around the globe.

Training and Degrees

It may surprise you to learn that many people first hear about Montessori education through the lens of being a Montessori parent. The more people discover about the method, the more they become curious about the model, and this leads to many seeking their own Montessori credentials and eventually becoming guides.

Have you thought about Montessori education for yourself? If so, there are a number of options.

To become a Montessori-credentialed guide, it’s important to enroll in a training program recognized by a major Montessori organization. Two of the most respected are AMI (Association Montessori Internationale) and AMS (American Montessori Society). To learn more about affiliated training programs, visit their sites directly:

About AMS-Affiliated Teacher Education Programs

AMI Teacher Training | Association Montessori Internationale

Are you more interested in higher education? There are a number of programs offering master’s degrees in Montessori Education, and many include online options. Here is a great list for exploring education options for adults.

Montessori in the Workplace

People all over the world are beginning to recognize that the general philosophy of Montessori is extremely applicable in the workplace. If a model works well, why can’t it be applied elsewhere? Montessori schools are effective. They create an atmosphere of joyful learners that contribute to their communities. What if we modeled our workplaces to reflect these successful classroom environments?

Digital marketing professional (and Montessori mom) Amanda Shelley has some thoughts on what effective modern workplaces look like. Perhaps unsurprisingly, she draws comparisons from the different types of schools available to our children. She shares these ideas in this article .

Sophie Bryan, another Montessori parent and award-winning HR consultant, advocates for bringing Montessori principles into the workplace in order to drive innovation and employee freedoms. She believes this benefits both employees and the organizations they work for. Bryan explains these ideas in her TEDx talk and gives her thoughts on how we might make changes in our workplaces.

Shelley and Bryan are just two of many leaders currently advocating for a shift toward more Montessori-inspired work environments for adults.

Montessori in Prisons

Brian Walsh leads education programs in two prisons in Washington State. He and his wife also own and operate a school together. This diverse experience led him to draw conclusions about the similarities between the two environments, and use those experiences to create innovative solutions.

In this TEDx Talk Walsh shares the ways in which education in prisons is a smart investment, but also how we can make it effective by implementing some of the same principles as we do in children’s Montessori schools. The whole video is compelling, but jump to minute 8:14 if you’re short on time.

What might we consider when developing educational programs for incarcerated individuals? How can we create safe and appropriate tools and environments, while giving students control of their learning? Walsh has found solutions to these questions, and has found them to be highly successful.

Montessori for People with Dementia

The application of Montessori principles to care for people with dementia is becoming more and more extensive.

There have been numerous studies and academic papers published indicating Montessori principles are effective when applied to dementia care.

AMI even has a division of their organization dedicated to this emerging branch of study.

If you are the caretaker of an individual experiencing dementia, considering basic Montessori principles will help make your life easier as well as giving the individual an increased sense of joy and independence. Strategies will naturally change depending on the development and stage of memory loss. Some thoughts:

● What needs are not being met in the environment? How might small changes create a sense of independence?

o Label doors throughout the house with words written on index cards or sticky notes.

o Lay out necessary items to complete a task: clean clothes to change into after a shower or items to put together and eat a simple no-cook breakfast.

● What are the individual’s interests? How might those be incorporated into the environment?

o Leave out books and activities around the home for the person to notice and engage with. This might include puzzles, magazines, or even a broken alarm clock with simple tools to tinker with. If the person was creative earlier in life, leave out art supplies. If they loved music, make the songs they enjoyed available for them to listen to.

● What changes can be made to the home to create a built-in structure of safety? Are there simple ways to prevent potentially harmful situations? This is the application of ‘freedom within limits’. Once dementia progresses to a certain point, it’s not safe for a person to be completely independent. The key is to consider how to create an appropriate level of freedom.

5 Traits Nurtured In the Montessori Environment

Mon, 23 May 2022 01:30:24 GMT

When we choose a course of education for our children, we ask ourselves a lot of questions. At some point, we begin to wonder how various models align with our own personal values. What’s really important? What should the goals of education be? What do we want our children to gain from the experience?

It all depends on why and how the methods were developed. What were the initial goals when a particular approach was conceived? What do current practitioners value? These are important questions to consider.

In a list like this, you might be expecting one of the items we feature to be independence. While it’s true that we work hard to build a sense of independence in the children we guide, we talk about it so much we figured it might be nice to focus on some of the other traits that are nurtured in a Montessori environment.

When it comes down to it, Montessori educators care deeply about the academics we teach, because we are curious people who are fascinated with the world around us. But we’re passionate about other things, too. We want the children in our care to go out into the world feeling good about themselves, caring about others, and excited about what they do. That’s what drives our work. That’s what makes us feel so strongly about what we do.

Without further ado, here are five traits Montessori educations nurtures in children:

Kindness

Interpersonal skills are some of the most important skills we can teach our students. They can learn all the math and language arts skills out there, but if they can’t interact with other people their lives won’t feel overly fulfilling. More than that, we think humans can accomplish so much more together than individually, so we may as well learn to get along with one another.

The very structure of the Montessori day allows for time dedicated to planned and spontaneous lessons about kindness. We read stories that teach children how to handle hard situations. We use role-playing games to make the work fun. And when a conflict happens in the classroom or the playground? We teach children skills in the moment. How do we handle our own emotions? How do we communicate with someone we disagree with? What does it look like to disagree but still respect one another?

Sometimes the work consists of giving children the script to work through solving issues. Sometimes we enlist the help of the whole group, discussing problems and asking for solutions without targeting individuals.

2. Powerful Work Ethic

The Montessori approach focuses on intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation can be effective in small doses and with short-term goals, like when you don’t want to do the dishes and reward yourself with an iced coffee afterward. Those types of rewards, however, are not particularly effective at cultivating a deep motivation to learn or help others.

Some people find it shocking that Montessori schools don’t give grades, have tests, or hold award ceremonies. The real world doesn’t function like that, so why should we teach children one type of motivation and then expect them to switch to something else as adults? Are employees evaluated at work? Absolutely. The thing is, they’re not receiving grades; they receive narrative feedback that highlights their areas of strengths and what they might improve on. We do the same with our students.

You’ve likely heard the argument that instead of saying “good job” to our children, we should replace that with observations such as “I notice you worked really hard on that. How does it feel to complete it?” Putting the emphasis on a person’s efforts, rather than our judgment of their accomplishments, helps nurture a developing sense of internal motivation.

Rather than focusing on accolades, our students grow with a desire to solve problems, gain insights, and pursue their passions.

3. Creativity

Put simply, Montessori encourages creativity in two main ways: we incorporate the arts whenever possible, and we give children a chance to find their own solutions to problems.

Montessori guides integrate art education in countless ways. Here are just a small sampling of what may happen in classroom during the course of the year:

● Drawing, labeling, and painting maps

● Listening to music or learning the traditional dance of a culture being studied

● Using collage to review and label the external parts of a fish

● Reading biographies about influential artists

● Teaching sewing or weaving as practical life

As mentioned, the other side of creativity involves the way we encourage our students to think. We do not simply feed them all the answers. We give lessons, sure, and provide students with factual information. But when they run up against a problem we don’t race to give them the solution. Whether it be social, academic, or something else altogether, we ask guiding questions that lead the child to generate their own possible solutions.

This, we believe, is one of the keys to developing innovative mindsets.

4. Joyful Learning

When it comes to creating joyful learners, intrinsic motivation and creativity are a pretty good start. Combine that with copious amounts of freedom and gorgeous autodidactic materials, and you have an environment that kids simply cannot resist.

We think learning is fun, or at least it should be. Otherwise, what’s the point? We really are invested in helping our students become adults who love to learn and pursue learning independently for the rest of their lives. Even the most basic of skills can be delivered in ways that are exciting. Take the Montessori positive snake game for example: it’s a game, and it involves making snakes out of colorful groupings of beads, then eventually transforming the snake until it’s entirely gold. But what’s it really about? Learning how to exchange smaller numbers to make ten in preparation for multiplication work.

5. Service-Mindedness

We believe it’s of critical importance to give our children a sense of the world as a whole and to really see the ways in which everything is connected and interdependent.

This belief is embedded into our curriculum, and most easily seen in our history lessons. In lower elementary, children learn first about the beginnings of our universe, followed by the formation of Earth, then the evolution of life on our planet. Later on, they explore early humans and early civilizations. It isn’t until adolescence that they begin to learn about more recent periods in history.

This is intentional. We believe learning about those who have come before us instills a sense of gratitude and dedication to others.

We also make a point of launching student-driven service projects. These tend to start small, and may focus on the school community. As students get older, their capabilities and visions expand outward into the greater local community. These projects look different every year, because they’re student-led.

These five traits are really just a glimpse of some of Montessori’s most revered values. There are plenty more. Want to see for yourself? Call us to schedule a tour or observe in a classroom, 860-388-3536 or schedule online at www.ChildrensTree.org .

What’s a Work Period? Your Questions Answered

Mon, 16 May 2022 01:30:10 GMT

"The mind takes some time to develop interest, to be set in motion, to get warmed up into a subject, to attain a state of profitable work. If at this time there is interruption, not only is a period of profitable work lost, but the interruption produces an unpleasant sensation which is identical to fatigue.”

-Dr. Maria Montessori, What You Should Know About Your Child

Consider, as an adult, what it takes for you to do your best work. What must your environment look like? What do you need from others? What constraints do you need removed in order to meet your goals?

Dr. Montessori spent years observing children as they played. She quickly recognized that immense learning takes place during play, leaving it reasonable to call it the child’s work. Left without interruptions, she witnessed pure magic.

Children, even very young children, have the capacity for intense concentration. They have the innate ability to work through problems and develop solutions all on their own. They want to do these things. And what’s even better? They do it with a sense of self-satisfaction, not because they feel pressure or expectation to.

What Montessori realized is that we, as adults, sometimes need to get out of kids’ way. We often imagine they require more help than they actually do, or that we must offer rewards or incentives to ensure they do their schoolwork, but those assumptions are misguided. What children really need is time, respect, and an environment in which they may focus deeply on their work.

Thus, the work period was born. Generally spanning about three hours long in the morning, this precious time is a cornerstone of Montessori education.

How does it begin?

The start of the work period varies, but typically it begins as children arrive in the morning. For some classes, on some days, and during some parts of the year, there may be a whole class morning meeting or circle time at the start or end of the work cycle.

A typical day begins with the child hanging their belongings on a designated hook, changing their shoes, and greeting their teacher as they walk into the room. They may say hello to a friend or two, take a moment to transition, and then select a work from the shelf. Others may be so eager to begin, they waste no time at all and go straight to the material they have been thinking about since the day before.

Prior to age six the child will likely work by themselves, but near their peers, most of the time. They may lay out a work rug, set up their material, and delve into a deeply concentrated state. They use the materials in the way they have been taught, then clean up and replace everything when they are done.

As children older than six, due to their development and desire for social connection, the start of the day can be a bit noisier and more chaotic. They still get to work rather quickly, although it’s often in the form of group or partner work.

What do the adults do?

A Montessori classroom typically has two adults present: the guide and an assistant. The assistant busies themselves with ensuring the room stays neat and orderly and that everything the children need is available to them. If children need help or redirection, the assistant is quick to engage while still allowing the child to maintain an appropriate level of independence.

This allows the guide to focus on two main tasks: observation and presenting lessons. During the work period lessons are not given to the whole group; individuals or small groups of children work with the guide to learn or review skills and materials. This is done as unobtrusively as possible. Adults in a Montessori classroom do their best not to interrupt the work of a child. If they need to speak with a student, there is often a non-verbal structure in place, such as leaving a name tag beside the child as they are working. This alerts the child to check in with the guide whenever they complete the task they are focused on.

Do children really focus the entire time?

Not usually! Can any of us truly focus for three hours straight without breaks? We definitely don’t expect our students to, either. This is one of the reasons our environments are designed for students to meet their own needs independently, when the time is right for them. If they feel hungry, they are welcome to have a snack. If they need to use the restroom, they don’t need to ask permission. Even if they just need to get up and stretch their legs or look out a window - we do not prevent children from doing these things. Allowing for breaks lets us all focus better in the long run anyway.

There is one interesting phenomenon worth mentioning here. Sometime around 10:00-10:30 in the morning, toward the end of the work cycle, classroom communities often experience what we refer to as false fatigue. Like clockwork, the volume of the children’s voices will rise, there is noticeably less engagement with the materials, and fewer children are sitting in one place - rather they seem to be wandering around the room. The adult instinct is to ring a bell or clap and make a plea for re-engagement, but we have learned to hold back. False fatigue is a normal part of the flow of the day. If we pause, observe, and wait even two or three minutes, we will see the children find their way back into their work. It can be pretty amazing to observe.

What might one work period look like for an individual child?

This article has probably already given you a fairly good idea of what this might look like. Once the child completes their first work of the day, they begin another. This repeats for the duration of the morning, but is fractured by any number of other activities. The child will likely have a lesson or two with their guide while the rest of their classmates continue working independently. At some point, the child will get hungry, have a snack, and clean up after themselves. They may take several water breaks, socialize with friends, or even spend some time watching a squirrel climb a tree outside.

In short, the work period is a way to honor the child’s way to balance focused learning with meeting one’s own needs, on one’s own timetable. It’s a way to show the child we trust them, and our students absolutely rise to the occasion.

Curious to see what a morning work period looks like in action? We would love to have you visit. Reach out today to schedule a time to observe. 860-388-3536, www.ChildrensTree.org .

Materials Highlight: The Word Study Cabinet

Mon, 02 May 2022 01:30:07 GMT

Each month we highlight one of the amazing Montessori learning materials here on our blog. This week we take on a well-recognized feature in any lower elementary environment: the word study cabinet.

Typically housed in a tower of tiny labeled drawers, groups of cards allow children to study an important area of language, and to do so independently.

The Presentations

Perhaps it is easiest to start by listing the skills covered by the word study materials:

● Compound words

● Prefixes

● Suffixes

● Homophones

● Homonyms

● Homographs

● Synonyms

● Antonyms

● Contractions

● Syllabication

One of the most important parts of word study happens before a child even touches a drawer of cards. A small group of children gather with a guide, usually on the floor around a work rug. The teacher often has any number of supplies that may include strips of paper and markers, a small chalkboard or dry erase board, prepared booklets, charts, and so on. What the teacher brings varies depending on the lesson - and there are many!

Many of the skills listed above require more than one lesson to be given to each child over time, as their understanding increases. Each of these lessons can look very different.

Here is one way the concept of contractions might be presented to a child:

Using the movable alphabet materials, the guide lays out the letters for a group of words, appearing as follows. (Note the red used to isolate the apostrophes.)

she is she’s

can not can’t

you have you’ve

who would who’d

will not won’t

After reading through the words, which the children recognize from speaking, the guide defines the task of an apostrophe. The children are asked what else they notice, and they eagerly point out the missing letters.

The guide asks the children to take a deep breath, pointing out how the ribs expand and contract. They say that to contract means to become compressed, or smaller, and then they are able to tell the children that these types of words are called contractions.

Continued Work

Once the child has a basic understanding of the skill, they are asked to progress through the drawers independently. For example, after having received the above mentioned contraction lesson, the child begins with contraction drawer 1. This may not happen until the next day when the child is independently selecting materials during the work cycle.

The child takes the drawer out and lays out all the cards. They see before them a group of words much like the one the guide had laid out using the movable alphabet. The child gets to work matching, and the nature of the material ensures they match correctly, or else the final cards would not make sense.

The child records the words in their notebook, cleans up the cards, and puts everything away. The next time they’re ready for independent word study work, they move on to contractions drawer 2, and so on, until the guide recognizes the need for a new lesson or skill.

Extensions

Sometimes, a child may progress through the drawers more quickly than expected, or they may have extra enthusiasm for the subject area. To provide more excitement and challenge, the guide will have a file of black line masters intended to give children more practice with the same skills, but using pencil and paper instead of the material.

Perhaps surprisingly, these are essentially worksheets! While it is rare to find a worksheet in a Montessori classroom, their novelty is just what is needed in some situations, and they can provide a nice transition for the lower elementary child who is moving away from the heavy reliance on physical materials.

Want to see the word study materials in action? The best way to learn about Montessori is to spend time in the classroom. Call us today to schedule a tour or observation, 860-388-3536 or schedule online at www.ChildrensTree.org .

Biographies in Contemporary Children’s Literature

Tue, 26 Apr 2022 16:27:05 GMT

Biography books for children have come a long way from the dull accounts of people’s lives that many of us read when we were young. Today’s young readers are captivated by learning about other people, whether they be major historical figures or not. The art of the memoir has changed how we tell the story of a life, and that style of writing has slipped itself beyond just autobiographies and can be found in mainstream biographies as well.

It’s impossible to list all the amazing books we would like to in this brief article, but please consider them to be a tiny slice of what’s available. As always, we provide links for you to learn more about each title, and we have sorted the books into different categories making it easier to find something suitable for readers of all ages. Enjoy!

Picture Books (primary and lower elementary children)

Picture book biographies are incredible works of art. The illustrations are gorgeous, and the writing grabs the attention and wonder of young children and the adults who read to them. There are countless beautiful books out there; these are just a few titles that have been recently published.

In these books, children can learn about important human perspectives at a developmentally appropriate level. This includes the tragedy of the Holocaust, thriving with a disability, working hard to achieve one’s goals, preservation of native culture, dedication to social justice, and more.

● Nicky & Vera: A Quiet Hero of the Holocaust and the Children He Rescued by Peter Sís

● Unbound: The Life + Art of Judith Scott by Joyce Scott with Brie Spangler and Melissa Sweet, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

● Niki Nakayama: A Chef’s Tale in 13 Bites by Jamie Michalak and Debbie Michiko Florence, illustrated by Yuko Jones

● Child of the Flower-Song People: Luz Jiménez, Daughter of the Nahua by Gloria Amescua, illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh

● Song for Jimi: The Story of Guitar Legend Jimi Hendrix by Charles R. Smith Jr., illustrated by Edel Rodriguez

● The Faith of Elijah Cummings: The North Star of Equal Justice by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Laura Freeman

● Ashoka the Fierce: How an Angry Prince Became India’s Emperor of Peace by Carolyn Kanjuro, illustrated by Sonali Zohra

Children’s Biographies (elementary and middle school children)

The first two books in this section of our list are appropriate for lower elementary-aged children, while the rest are middle grade fiction best suited to upper elementary and middle school.

Just as with the picture books above, these cover a wide variety of important and interesting topics. They explore the lives of artists and their inspirations, living with a disability, how animals can make a profound impact on our lives, the complicated experience of living between two cultures, and life as a black child in the Jim Crow South.

● The Story of Frida Kahlo: A Biography Book for New Readers by Susan B. Katz

● Hokusai: He Saw the World in a Wave by Susie Hodge, illustrated by Kim Ekdahl

● Normal: One Kid’s Extraordinary Journey (Young Reader’s Edition) by Magdalena and Nathaniel Newman

● How to Be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals by Sy Montgomery, illustrated by Rebecca Green

● While I was Away by Waka T. Brown

● Defiant: Growing Up in the Jim Crow South by Wade Hudson

Graphic Novels (these particular titles are suitable for elementary children)

As we have mentioned before, graphic novels are appealing to many children, but they open doors for some. Pictures help increase our understanding of context within a story, and graphic novels present literature in easier-to-consume “bites”. Accessibility is important, and getting kids to read, in whatever way works for them, is a great thing.

These three books happen to be about famous figures, but they have a nice way of presenting biographical information to children in an interesting and memorable way.

● Albert Einstein and the Theory of Relativity by Jordi Bayarri

● Wildheart: The Daring Adventures of John Muir by Julie Bertagna, illustrated by William Goldsmith

● Seen: Rachel Carson by Birdie Willis, Rii Abrego, and Kieran Quigley

Young Adult Biographies (high school)

High school students are typically ready to consider heavier topics. They have a deep sense of justice and the motivation to make change. This makes it the perfect time to introduce them to how life is sometimes messy, complicated, and unfair.

Themes include growing up black in America, immigration and war, surviving sexual assault, and being falsely accused and imprisoned. One of the books - Passport - is a graphic novel that details the author’s life growing up with parents who work for the CIA.

● Accused: My Story of Injustice by Adama Bah

● Passport by Sophia Glock

● Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson

● We Are Not Broken by George M. Johnson

● Call Me American: The Extraordinary True Story of a Young Somali Immigrant (adapted for Young Adults) by Abdi Nor Iftin

Elementary School News Spring 2022

Tue, 26 Apr 2022 14:02:37 GMT

"How often is the soul of man - especially in childhood - deprived because he is not allowed to come in contact with nature." ~Maria Montessori

It is a joy to work with children in an environment where they are not only allowed but encouraged to explore the natural world. In the Willow Room, our elementary children have the opportunity to work daily in the outdoor classroom, to eat lunch outside as a community, and to take frequent field trips outdoors. Children during the elementary years want to better understand how the world works. By immersing ourselves in nature, the children's natural curiosity can inspire future investigations.

Recently we took a field trip to Dancing Daffodils, the pick-your-own daffodil farm at Halfinger Farms. The children learned about the many kinds of daffodils, including those with a split corona. This was an exciting entry-point for our children to launch our botany unit. It is much more exciting to learn about the parts of a flower by dissecting a daffodil yourself at the farm than it would be to memorize the names of parts on a worksheet! Children were especially surprised to learn that they should not pick any of the daffodil leaves at the farm, because after the plants have flowered the leaves help move the nutrients back into the bulbs. Learning this information while holding a dissected daffodil bulb in their hands made the information that much more impactful.

Since then, we have learned more about plants and how they fit into our biosphere. We began with a study of the Biosphere Nesting Boxes , which allow children to see how the struftures of our universe fit together, starting with our galaxy and moving all the way down to atoms. Some kids were naturally drawn to the idea (popularized in Carl Sagan's Cosmos) that systems look similar at the micro- and macro- level. Others were interested in how plants fit into the food chain and impact all of us. To explore that further, we submerged a freshly picked leaf in water and observed the bubbles of oxygen emerging from it. We then learned about photosynthesis and modeled the reaction that takes place.

Depending on their particular learning styles, children can engage with the ideas and questions that arise for them during these lessons in many ways. Some children have enjoyed creating watercolor paintings of flowers and researching information about the flowers that they painted. Many children have been drawn to working with the parts of a plant cell puzzle, while others have wanted practice modeling photosynthesis using molecular models.

We will continue building off of these learning experiences throughout the spring, both inside and outside of the classroom. We look forward to learning about plant classification and the many hikes we will take to see what plants we can find and classify on our own. Not only will students enjoy time outdoors, but they will build a deep understanding of botany as well as the intrinsic motivation to complete further research in class. What better reason to read and write than to answer our own burning questions?

A Critical Element of Language Development

Tue, 26 Apr 2022 13:54:47 GMT

Connection and Conversation in Montessori Toddler Classroom

Children are in a critical sensitive period of language development, especially when their spoken language develops naturally during the toddler years. Children work independently, observe others, explore and discover freely, and express their needs, curiosity, and creativity in the Maple room. Our class environment safely and carefully supports children to connect with people and materials around them.

Making Connections

The Maple community is a place in which respect for the independence and character of children is paramount. Teachers are consistently calm, gentle, soft-spoken, patient, and trusting. Teachers demonstrate respect and compassion by using eye-contact, kneeling to the child's level, addressing children by name, and watching and listening to their gestures and languages, not to mention that they speak and explain before touching or moving the children. Making the connection includes but is not limited to naming, guiding, modeling, describing, discussing, or conversing; Meaningful relationship occurs during the process.

Interaction and Communication

Teachers provide language-rich space where children are encouraged to use proper vocabulary rather than baby talk so that children are exposed to and develop a broad language. Throughout the day, with many activities and carefully designed routines, teachers guide children in communication with each other by manipulating and lessons with various materials, role-modeling, singing songs, reading books, and movement activities.
Our Maple Friends are working to express their own thoughts and emotions and share experiences. They also learn about every object in their surrounding environment and understand how things work. Every day, they seek to help effectively in challenging moments to practice and improve communication skills and connect to the world around them.

Conversation from the Beginning

In Maple room, teachers believe that our children learn skills by practicing; The conversations with Maple friends provide them not only language but also the modeling of conversational etiquette and flow. It is also a way to learn the confidence to express their mind/heart. Through this process and practice, children learn the functions of conversation –self-expression, storytelling, cooperating, clarification, problem-solving, and conflict resolution. In the classroom, teachers aim to converse with children throughout the day, primarily upon arrival, between a child's tasks during the work period, snack, and lunch table. Any object in the environment, indoor or outdoor, event or thoughts/talk from a child often becomes a valuable and captivating topic.

Important Tips during the Conversation

Accurately and truthfully speaking to the child is crucial to building their effective language skills. Maple teachers model speech; We try to be precise and echo back correct grammar and pronunciation in everyday conversation. Also, children get the opportunity to learn with exact names for every item in the environment; Baskets and trays on the shelves contain various pictures and objects, exposing a child to new and exciting things. In addition, stories give children a memorable learning experience, especially true stories. The stories provide details of the world and establish their understanding of the concepts of time, sequence, and place. Storytelling is a daily part of Maple room, and anything can support our friends' inspiration from the real world and a sense of community.

Primary News Spring 2022

Tue, 26 Apr 2022 13:15:32 GMT

With the coming of spring, we have been excited to share the signs of seasonal change that we notice! The children are loving the warmer weather and spending time outside, even in the rain! Spring-related topics that we are learning about include eggs, birds, lambs, weather, and growing seeds and plants.

We have been learning about Europe, including focusing on many different countries, such as Ireland, Norway, Russia, France, and Spain. We have been reading stories, learning about the flags, singing songs, and exploring cultural objects from many different places in Europe.

Holidays that we have learned about and celebrated were Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, and Passover. We often involve food preparation in our holiday experiences, and the children prepared strawberries and whipped cream in the Oak Room, made fruit kebabs in the Cedar Room, and chopped apples, walnuts, and dates to make charoset for Passover in the Cedar Room. We loved celebrating Earth Day!

Our older friends have started spending time with the Elementary class to help prepare them for their transition next year. It's hard to believe that our school year is almost over!

ALA Youth Media Awards! (A Book List)

Mon, 25 Apr 2022 10:12:28 GMT

Each year, the American Library Association announces its Youth Media Awards in January. These highly anticipated awards include the prestigious John Newbery Medal and Randolph Caldecott Medal, but there are also many more high-profile selections.

Here we share each of the books that won in the 2022 Youth Media Awards. It’s important that we note there were many outstanding books that may not have won, but received honors, that are not listed here. There were also other winners, such as digital media awards and author and illustrator recognitions, that we could not fit into this article. We have included a link at the bottom of the page if you’re interested in learning more about these and others.

The best way to organize these titles for the purpose of this article is into three categories: picture books, middle grade fiction, and young adult literature. You and your child may have already read some of these books, but we hope you can also find something new and wonderful to discover together. Enjoy!

Picture Books

Watercress illustrated by Jason Chin

Winner of the Randolph Caldecott Award for the most distinguished American picture book for children. Written by Andrea Wang.

Winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature (picture book winner). The award promotes Asian/Pacific American culture and heritage and is awarded based on literary and artistic merit.

Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Floyd Cooper.

Winner of the Coretta Scott King Book Award recognizing an African American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults. This book won both the King Awards for author and illustrator.

The Me I Choose To Be illustrated by Regis and Kahran Bethencourt

Winner of the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award. Written by Natashia Anastasia Tarpley.

My City Speaks by Darren Lebeuf and illustrated by Ashley Barron

Winner of the Schneider Family for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience. Winner of the award for books for young children (0 to 8).

¡Vamos! Let's Cross the Bridge illustrated by Raúl Gonzalez

Winner of the Pura Belpré Youth Illustration Award. The Pura Belpré Awards honor Latinx writers and illustrators whose children's and young adult books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience.

The People's Painter: How Ben Shahn Fought for Justice With Art by Cynthia Levinson and illustrated by Evan Turk

Winner of the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award for most distinguished informational book for children.

Fox at Night written and illustrated by Corey R. Tabor

Winner of the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for the most distinguished beginning reader book.

Herizon written by Daniel W. Vandever [Diné], illustrated by Corey Begay [Diné]

Winner of the American Indian Youth Literature Award (picture book). The American Indian Youth Literature Awards identify and honor the very best writing and illustrations by and about American Indians and Alaska Natives. Selected titles present American Indians in the fullness of their humanity in the present and past contexts.

The Passover Guest by Susan Kusel

Winner of the Sydney Taylor Book Award (picture book) for outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience.

Middle Grade Fiction

The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera

Winner of the John Newbery Medal for outstanding contribution to children’s literature.

Winner of the Pura Belpré Children’s Author Award. The Pura Belpré Awards honor Latinx writers and illustrators whose children's and young adult books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience.

A Bird Will Soar by Alison Green Myers

Winner of the Schneider Family for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience. Winner of the award for books for middle grades (ages 9-13).

Temple Alley Summer by Sachiko Kashiwaba

Originally published as “Kimyōji Yokochō no Natsu,” in Japanese, and winner of the Mildred L. Batchelder award for an outstanding children’s book originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States, and subsequently published in English in the United States. Illustrated by Miho Satake, translated by Avery Fischer Idagawa.

Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff

Winner of the Stonewall Book Award (children’s)- Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award given annually to English-language children’s and young adult books of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience.

Healer of the Water Monster by Brian Young [Diné]

Winner of the American Indian Youth Literature Award (middle grade book). The American Indian Youth Literature Awards identify and honor the very best writing and illustrations by and about American Indians and Alaska Natives. Selected titles present American Indians in the fullness of their humanity in the present and past contexts.

Amina's Song by Hena Khan

Winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature (children’s literature winner). The award promotes Asian/Pacific American culture and heritage and is awarded based on literary and artistic merit.

How to Find What You're Not Looking For by Veera Hiranandani

Winner of the Sydney Taylor Book Award (middle grade book) for outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience.

Young Adult Literature

Me (Moth) by Amber McBride

Winner of the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Author Talent Award

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

Winner of the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults.

Winner of the William C. Morris Award for a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens.

The Words in My Hands written and illustrated by Asphyxia

Winner of the Schneider Family for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience. Winner of the award for books for teens (ages 14-18).

How Moon Fuentes Fell in Love With the Universe by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland

Winner of the Pura Belpré Young Adult Author Award. The Pura Belpré Awards honor Latinx writers and illustrators whose children's and young adult books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

Winner of the Stonewall Book Award (young adult)- Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award given annually to English-language children’s and young adult books of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience.

Winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature (youth literature winner). The award promotes Asian/Pacific American culture and heritage and is awarded based on literary and artistic merit.

Ambushed! The Assassination Plot Against President Garfield by Gail Jarrow

Winner of the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults.

Apple (Skin to the Core) by Eric Gansworth [Onondaga]

Winner of the American Indian Youth Literature Award (young adult book). The American Indian Youth Literature Awards identify and honor the very best writing and illustrations by and about American Indians and Alaska Natives. Selected titles present American Indians in the fullness of their humanity in the present and past contexts.

The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros

Winner of the Sydney Taylor Book Award (young adult book) for outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience.

Descriptions of the awards were taken from the ALA site.

Click here to learn more about the winners and honorees of this year's ALA Youth Media Awards.

5 Ways to Take Learning Outside

Mon, 18 Apr 2022 10:10:12 GMT

It’s that time of year again. The temperature is rising ever so slowly, the daylight is gracing us with its presence a bit more each day, and it feels like the world outside is waking up.

Spring does something amazing for us all.

While we believe in the importance of finding fun ways to be outside all year round, spring seems to pull us there without the need for any convincing.

Parents often ask us how they can support their child’s education at home. We don’t recommend going out and purchasing Montessori materials or recreating what goes on in the classroom environment. The home environment is an entirely different experience, which brings with it a set of unique joys and learning opportunities.

One great way to help children learn is to enrich something they are already doing. Without further ado here are our 5 tips to bring learning outside:

Exercise is Self Care and Practical Life

Montessori has a strong focus on practical life, and practical life really boils down to three critical elements: care of the self, care of others, and care of the environment. Considering the first of those three, we believe that spending time outside is one of the most important ways to care for ourselves.

Perhaps one of the most obvious benefits of being outside is the act of literally soaking up the sunshine. Sometimes we forget that being outside is literally necessary for our bodies to create the vitamin D we all need. Many studies have also shown that spending time outside in green spaces has positive effects on our mood.

Another amazing benefit of being outside? Exercise. Children’s outdoor play enables them to joyfully move their bodies, keeping themselves healthy while having fun. When we encourage our kids to play outside, we’re supporting their healthy development - both physically and mentally.

2. Bring On the Botany

A major portion of your child’s Montessori science curriculum focuses on biology, and it all starts with plants. There are two ways you might approach supporting this work at home (or maybe you’ll even want to tackle both): exploring the natural plant life that lives in your area, or gardening.

One way to start is to go to your local library and check out some books. Look for titles that focus on plants, their life cycles, or how they interact with their environments. It might be helpful to borrow titles that reflect your own local ecosystem. Read these together at home, then go out for a walk and see what your child notices. Find a local trail, pack a few snacks and a water bottle, and see where the day takes you.

As for gardening, some families choose to keep it small, while others go big. It doesn’t really matter; whatever works for you will help enrich your child’s understanding. Gardening can be simple: Pick up a tomato plant from your local garden center and keep it on your porch. Have your child help water and care for it. They will naturally observe the changes in the plant as it grows and take great delight in the moment they first see a green tomato emerge from where there was once a flower.

Another simple way to try gardening? Purchase one or two small pots (or use whatever containers you have on hand) and plant some seeds. You can pick up some packets of herb or flower seeds just about anywhere this time of year, or you could even use seeds from inside fruit you eat at home. Plant a few with your child, care for them together, and wait for the tiny plant to emerge.

3. Animals Are Everywhere!

Studying animals is a lot like studying plants. Obviously there are countless differences between the two, but our approach is similar.

For younger (and even older) children, books are the perfect place to start. We love to read about animal migrations, adaptations, life cycles, and how they interact with one another and their environments. Field guides are valuable resources as well. One fun idea is to place a bird feeder outside a window of your home and leave a bird field guide available for your child on the windowsill. Elementary-aged children will especially enjoy looking up different species and learning about them in real-time.

For older children and adolescents, try using an app like Seek. This allows them to tap into their love for technology and devices, while finding ways to pull them outside more and learn about various organisms while they’re at it. The app is simple: users point the phone’s camera at a living thing, and recognition software identifies it for them, as well as gives basic information about the plant or animal. Kids can snap photos of their finds and make a game out of tracking their findings in the app as well.

4. Math On the Go

While the great outdoors very obviously lends itself to scientific areas of study, even math is more fun when you’re not sitting at a desk.

Try this: grab some sidewalk chalk and make a hopscotch-style game with numbers in each square. Kids can jump from square to square and skip count or recite their math facts. Since repetition is one of the keys to memorizing math facts, any small way we can utilize to make this practice fun is absolutely worthwhile.

With young children who love to collect small objects (rocks, pinecones, acorns, etc.), you can help them count or group their findings.

As children get older, walks and hikes might incorporate discussions and observations of metrics such weather, distance, and time.

5. Literature en Plein Air

We saved the simplest for last. Grab a blanket and some books. Go outside and find a sunny (or shady) spot. Sit, relax, and soak up that warm, fresh air while you and your child read together.

Have you found any other fun ways to bring learning outside? We always love to hear your experiences, and it helps us find new ways to support other families. Enjoy!

Practical Life for Older Children

Mon, 11 Apr 2022 09:48:20 GMT

When people think about Montessori schools, some of the most prominent materials that come to mind are the beautiful practical life opportunities in our primary environments. There are small wooden trays with pouring and transferring works. There are whole lessons dedicated to the arrangement of flowers. The children prepare their own snacks and wash their own dishes. They use special frames that teach them to tie, buckle, and snap.

Those practical life materials at the primary level are so important. They are also very visible, because they take on the form of a standard material on a shelf, so it can sometimes appear that practical life is a part of our education for children up to age six, but not after.

What happens when children reach the elementary years and beyond?

The work of practical life does not stop, nor does it become any less important. It does, however, take on different forms and blend into the rest of the program somewhat. The following skills are critical steps toward becoming an independent adult; we ensure to present them when the child is ready. Is learning to tie one’s shoes any more or less important than learning to balance a budget? Of course not. Both are necessary but are best presented at different times in our lives.

The following are just a sample of some of the practical life skills taught to our older students. Often embedded into the curriculum, they still help kids reach independence milestones.

● Time Management

No one is born knowing how to manage their time. First, it takes a good sense of time as well as the ability to set goals and follow directions. Once a person has those basic skills mastered, they can gather tools to help them meet their goals within a set time.

In our elementary classrooms, this often begins with a work plan. Work plans can take on many forms, but at its most basic, the plan sets forth a list of tasks that are to be completed over the course of the day or week. Students have some choice in regards to the order they will complete the tasks and how they will go about doing so, but the expectation is set.

Do children take their work plans and successfully complete them all the time? Absolutely not, but that’s where the time management learning comes in. Let’s assume a child is getting their language work done each day all week, but on Friday it becomes obvious that they have not done much in the way of math. This happens - frequently - and our guides make sure to work with students (rather than dictate to them) to find ways to resolve the issue.

When a guide notices a pattern of unfinished work, they will sit down and meet with the student. These meetings are not punitive. The child understands this as the culture in the classroom has been set. The guide might ask the child why they think the math work isn’t getting done. Is it too challenging? Is it too easy? Is it just something they don’t particularly enjoy? What does the child need to make sure it gets done?

Sometimes a child will be able to reflect and suggest a solution. Other times, they might need some ideas from the adult. They may need a refresher lesson, or to be challenged a bit more. They may need to commit to doing their math first every day just to make sure they don’t avoid it. Regardless of the course of action, time management is a constant and fluid area of work for all students as they age, and will serve them well in adulthood.

● Development of Social Skills

Learning how to engage with others isn’t always easy. During the lower elementary years, children are transitioning from enjoying mostly parallel play in their primary classrooms, to developing deeper friendships for the first time. It’s only natural that conflict will arise. As children age and go through the upper elementary and adolescent years, puberty and a developing sense of self and individuality creates more opportunities to relate to peers in new ways.

One of the most wonderful gifts of the Montessori classroom is the blocks of flexible time. Many schools have blocks dedicated to specific subjects, and these time periods are rigid and centered on whole-group lessons. In a Montessori environment, where there is more flexibility, it’s simple to call a class meeting whenever it’s needed. If the children come inside from recess, for example, and there has been a conflict - there’s no need to jump right into that planned science demonstration. It can wait.

Class meetings are a great way to help children resolve conflicts. Our guides manage to create problem solving structures without pointing fingers at individuals. Rather, they ask students to generate solutions. This approach empowers children, normalizes conflict, and lets them practice a wide variety of strategies even when they’re not the ones experiencing the conflict.

Of course, a class meeting isn’t always the solution when emotions are running high. Most classroom environments have a dedicated space a child can choose to go to cool down; all classes ensure the individual’s needs are met. Sometimes this entails a micro mediation session, allowing everyone’s thoughts and feelings to be heard and acknowledged.

● Self Care

Self care is a never-ending process, and really consists of a series of daily and other regular and periodical practices. Once children reach the elementary years, they have mastered many of the basics, but they are ready to start learning more nuanced and progressively more difficult skills.

Nutrition is something we never stop teaching our students, regardless of their age. Food preparation is part of this, but it does take on new forms as children age. Every classroom has different ways of incorporating food prep and nutrition education. Some create special snacks together for birthdays, others explore cultural cuisines from around the world. Children continue to hold autonomy in making choices about their own food needs; they decide when to eat snacks, but are responsible for doing so within certain parameters (such as how many children may use the snack table at a time, cleaning up procedures, etc.).

Physical activity and exercise continue to be important throughout our lives as well, and healthy habits built early make a difference. Some classes take walks together, others explore yoga. The possibilities are endless, but the goal is the same.

Lastly, stress management is introduced. Stress and frustration are a normal part of life, but there are things we can do to manage their intensity, frequency, and our reactions to them. Children may learn a wide range of techniques in the classroom, including breathing strategies, meditation, mindfulness, and more.

Remember that while practical life work is critical for the primary years, it is certainly not the end. This work continues for our students into elementary, and will continue as we add our adolescent program. A great list for age appropriate chores is available for download by clicking here.

Want to learn more? Contact us to have a conversation about Montessori education or to schedule a visit. 860-388-3536.

Material Highlight: Dressing Frames

Mon, 04 Apr 2022 09:42:28 GMT

So much of what we do in our Montessori environments is with the goal of the child’s independence in mind. They may need our support sometimes, but children are capable of much more than many people realize.

Each of our environments has ways of implementing practical life skills and practice activities that are developmentally appropriate and engaging for the children that will use them. While children of all ages benefit from practical life work, it tends to be the most obvious and discussed in the primary classroom. This is likely because between the ages of three and six, children are achieving physical autonomy for the first times in their lives. Their days revolve around finding ways to be physically independent from the adults in their lives.

What could be more empowering to the primary child than being able to dress themselves?

Enter: the dressing frames. Simply put, this series of materials was created so that the child is able to practice a wide variety of closure methods that they will encounter on all different types of clothing.

It all begins with a tall, narrow, wooden stand. This stand was developed to store and display twelve separate wooden frames in a way that is accessible to the children without taking up excessive floor space in the classroom. This four-sided tower has enough space for three frames on each side.

Each frame is made of wood with fabric attached to create a surface. On each frame two separate pieces of fabric meet in the center with various types of fasteners for the child to learn about and use. These include:

● Small buttons

● Large buttons

● Bow tying

● Lacing (pictured in the photo above)

● Hook and eye

● Safety pins

● Snapping

● Zipping

● Buckling

● Side-release buckling

● Shoe lacing

● Hook and loop

When the child first begins using these materials, the guide will give a lesson just as they would with other academic materials. Montessori lessons are very methodical and deliberate, and they include lots of modeling each step of processes.

The guide begins by inviting the child to join them for a lesson. The pair walks over to the wooden stand, and the guide tells the child what the material is called and selects the first (small button) frame. They continue on to sit at a table with the frame in front of them. After letting the student know what the lesson will be about, the two continue in silence. The guide demonstrates how to hold a button carefully between two fingers while pulling the fabric taught with the other hand. They slowly insert a portion of the button into the hole and demonstrate how to carefully pull it all the way through. This continues with each button as the guide works their way down the frame.

Part of any work in a Montessori classroom is leaving the material ready for the next user, so the guide then demonstrates how to undo each button from its hole. At this point, the child is very likely eager to have a turn of their own, and the teacher slides the frame over in front of them. The guide will remain for a moment to observe, but if the child appears to be working without needing assistance, the adults will let the child continue. If assistance is needed, the adult is there to model again.

The child will continue to work with the small button frame periodically until they have mastered it. Depending upon the child and their individual development, this could take hours, days, weeks, or months. Whenever they are ready, the guide will help them by giving a lesson for the next frame in the series. These steps continue until the child has had an opportunity to master all twelve frames, and therefore is prepared to fasten and unfasten a variety of their own clothing.

Being able to dress oneself is a huge step in independence. The frames may seem so simple to us as adults, but to the child, they are a key to becoming their own individual. We are so lucky to be able to aid them on that journey.

Improving Toddlers’ Transition to a New Classroom: Using Attachment Theory

Fri, 04 Feb 2022 12:03:41 GMT

This action research sought to answer “What impact does a teacher’s insight about transition and attachment theory (Bowlby, 1982) have on a toddler’s transition into a new school?” The research was conducted in a Montessori school in Connecticut with 4 teachers, 11 new toddlers, and 11 parents. The researcher intervened with a teacher focus group examining their belief about transition. The data tools included teacher surveys and focus groups, parent checklists, observations on transition behavior, and interactions and program structures section of the infant toddler environment rating scale (ITERS). The findings showed that the intervention enhanced teachers’ confidence and positive attitudes toward the transition process, improving quality of care. The results also indicated that building a trusting community, partnership with parents, and improving teachers’ resilience would shorten toddlers’ transition, and their caregivers’ emotional support. Future researchers should concentrate on parent feedback, satisfaction and trust levels from parents about their toddlers’ adjustment, relationship between home and school, and transition to primary classroom.

To read the full paper by Yoonju Um click here .
To view the presentation by Yoonju Um click here .

Benefits of enrolling your child in a Montessori School

Tue, 01 Feb 2022 12:00:50 GMT

The Montessori approach has been around for a long time. Today, the understanding of this method is growing, and it’s gaining popularity as parents are becoming more aware of the benefits that it can have on their children.

What is a Montessori school?

Montessori is a system of education that provides holistic education by emphasizing the child’s physical, intellectual, and emotional development. It focuses on the process of learning rather than the tools used to teach.

Montessori schools expose their students to a wide range of activities, such as fine arts, sports, language development, social interaction & cooking, etc. Moreover, they provide sophisticated educational materials.

What are the Benefits of Having your Child Enroll in a Montessori School?

The following list some of your child’s benefits when enrolled in a Montessori school.

Development of Self-Discipline

This is one of the most important aspects that your child can gain from being in a Montessori school. Children learn to set goals, stay focused, and complete tasks that they may find difficult at first. This skill is crucial for your child as they grow older and will serve them very well in their future life. If your child is struggling with a school course, you may ask the teacher whether they have encountered this problem before. In many cases, the children struggle because they do not understand why they need to achieve the desired outcome and have not developed the discipline to work hard enough to complete their assignments or projects.

In some cases, the parents are responsible for the child’s poor performance in school because they have not helped their child set goals and develop strategies to complete tasks. You can help your child with this at home while they complete their assignments. You can get them started by outlining what they need to do and then working with them to complete these tasks. To gain good results, make sure that you give your child both encouragement and praise when they succeed at something that they find difficult at first.

2. Development of creativity

Children learn to be creative through their activities. They are encouraged to use

their imagination and think outside the box when completing tasks or activities. If a child can think creatively, this will help them in many situations later in life, such as business, research, writing, etc. Studies have shown that creativity has many benefits.

Montessori is one of the best environments for children to be creative and learn skills. Montessori naturally teaches creativity, opposed to teaching it unnaturally. The environment is designed with a lot of freedom and allows the child to express themselves through their environment, such as what they are eating, what they are doing, how they arrange their objects, how they organize a room, etc. The child is encouraged to express themselves freely in their environment, and in turn, they learn how to think creatively on their own.

Educating children is the goal of the Montessori classroom. There are many different types of learning opportunities for children, which Montessori incorporates into its teaching strategies. The curriculum includes arts and crafts, music, practical life, language development, math, and science, all through hands-on experiences.

3. Strong problem-solving skills

Children in Montessori schools can develop their problem-solving skills through the course materials exposed. In addition, the child will learn to be flexible and adapt to different situations.

They will learn new forms of learning and ways of achieving things without an immediate answer.

As the children advance in their Montessori classes, they will be exposed to new materials and activities to promote their learning experience. They will also analyze situations and determine if they need assistance in completing a task. In addition, they will learn how to work independently with little supervision from the teacher.

Students who attend a Montessori school will solve problems through hands-on activities. Children are also encouraged to analyze learning situations and find practical applications for their acquired information.

Montessori Methods also promote creativity and original thinking. Therefore, children can learn about different things through doing, opposed to just listening or looking at pictures or reading materials.

4. Emotional development

Children can express themselves through the materials they see and their activities. This allows them to develop their emotions, communication, and problem-solving skills.

Children who attend Montessori preschools can explore, experiment, learn and grow physically, intellectually, and emotionally. Even though Montessori preschools do not limit children to play materials, they still have a carefully planned curriculum filled with activities that facilitate physical growth while teaching cognitive learning skills.

Play activities are used in the curriculum to help the child learn how to listen and express themselves. This is important because the child will develop a strong foundation for emotional intelligence. A child’s confidence increases by feeling free and exhilarated during the activities.

5 . Social development

Children are encouraged to interact with one another when in a Montessori school instead of being segregated. This helps them develop their social skills, empathy, kindness & compassion for others, etc. Other benefits are not walking around under stress, and their attention span is longer. It is also better for their health and mental acuity.

They learn to learn healthily and make meaningful social connections.

Some parents may worry that their child will be too close with other children or too involved with friends, but this is very beneficial. Montessori doesn’t want her child to be isolated from others. It’s about balance & development, not isolation from others.

This is especially true when it comes to toddlers. Toddlers need constant social interaction with others, not just their parents.

6. Language development

Montessori schools expose children to multiple languages, and they are encouraged to use these languages while they are there. This will help them in the future as they will communicate with people worldwide without any issue.

A child who learns in a multicultural environment like this will learn how to respect, accept, and appreciate differences, which will be invaluable for their future success.

In addition to the language skills, a child enrolled in a Montessori school will develop social skills that are vital for the future. They will learn how to interact and engage with people around them. This is something that they would not learn in a traditional school setting.

Because they get to play with children worldwide, they will grow to be open-minded people who do not have any prejudices.

7. Learning at their own pace

A Montessori school does not expect children to be at the same level as their peers. They are encouraged to learn at their own pace and go through the materials they need to achieve what they want. This eliminates the feeling of competition between children in a non-Montessori school.

The Montessori curriculum teaches children essential life skills. Children can realize that their environment is more than just a place to learn and interact with other children and adults. All of these aspects contribute to each child learning at their own pace. They will not compete with their peers, but instead, they will see another person as someone of equal value, which all Montessori students can appreciate.

8. Improved behavior

Children can develop independence and a sense of responsibility by participating in these activities. This will help them become more responsible in the future, and not need to depend on parents and adults for everything. In Montessori schools, there are a lot of opportunities for children to participate in activities, which will give them a sense of purpose.

An example of an activity is the Cleaning Cupboard. In this activity, the school gives children a specific time to clean the cupboard. When they finish cleaning the cupboard, they get a reward. At this time, children learn to organize themselves and make decisions without any help from adults. Another example is independent work time. Children will pick the activity they want to do during their lesson.

9. Enhanced motivation

Children in a Montessori school are constantly encouraged to work hard and push themselves to achieve more. The children also have the opportunity to participate in different competitions, etc. This will give them a sense of accomplishment and make them want to work harder. They will learn that hard work can pay off, even if they don’t get their desired results right away. This makes the child want to work even more challenging, so they will not be discouraged.

Committing to something is also an important attribute taught in a Montessori school. When the children undergo activities they will understand that if they don’t fulfill their commitment, it will cause them to let down their teammates and the team as a whole. This causes them to consider the team and acts to motivate the children.

Children in a Montessori school should follow the rules set for them. They will only be allowed to interact with certain people during certain times, and they must adhere to these rules completely. This instills discipline in the children and helps them understand why some rules are important.

10. Higher self-esteem

Children in a Montessori environment can see the fruits of their hard work, which will give them a sense of accomplishment. This will make them believe in themselves and achieve anything as long as they put their mind to it.

Montessori schools are places where children learn to develop strong self-awareness and not feel bad about themselves if they don’t get something right away. They learn to be rational, and their values will be well developed. Children will set their own goals, and they will not be afraid of failing. Children who graduate from a Montessori school will develop healthy self-esteem.

When a child understands that they can achieve anything as long as they put forth the effort, it will help them grow into self-confident adults.

The Montessori schools’ curriculum is designed to carry the child towards his or her internal motivation. This is so that the child learns to be a self-motivated learner and understands what he or she wants and what skills he or she needs to achieve. Montessori schools can cultivate a child’s life-long learning ability while lifting his or her motivation towards academic success.

Author bio
I’m Andrea Gibbs. Born, raised, and still living in New York. I’m a work-at-home mom with a background in business development, strategy, and social media marketing. I’m a blog contributor at Montessori Academy to motivate and educate other parents about how they can get their children ahead of the game in school.

Elementary School News Winter 2022

Fri, 21 Jan 2022 11:48:54 GMT

Returning to school after vacation, I was struck by a major difference between my experience in a traditional public school and my experience at Children’s Tree. When working in traditional schools, conventional wisdom among teachers is that children have difficulty returning to school. They need a lot of support returning to the routines of the classroom, and children are unmotivated to work for a few weeks as they would rather still be on vacation.

This couldn’t be further from the truth in our classroom. The children returned to school eager to learn and showed the most independence that we have seen all year. The very first day back, they immediately got to work. Children wrote research papers, conducted experiments on simple machines, and learned about Western Europe. Children practiced their cursive handwriting, eagerly modeled word problems, and explored kinds of angles.

One of the reasons for this difference is that Montessori students are encouraged to follow their passions and learn about content that is personally meaningful to them. Dr. Montessori observed that during each developmental stage, children go through “sensitive periods” during which they naturally feel driven to master particular skills. While younger children may be drawn to small objects or to numbers, during the Elementary years, children become especially interested in developing big ideas about the world. They are interested in history, culture, justice and morality, and how the world works.

Over the past few months, the children in the Willow Room have been studying these topics through our study of Europe. Many of the students have been particularly interested in learning about Ancient Greece. Through reading Greek Mythology, we had the opportunity to learn about how to analyze the message or theme of a story. Other students have taken a more scientific approach, investigating simple machines that formed the basis for ancient technology and which are still used today. Still others enjoy learning about the geography of Europe or about the animals that live in each biome.

Building off of our interest in simple machines, the students are headed to the Eli Whitney Museum and Workshop on January 25 in order to construct their own inventions out of simple machines. Some students have also begun the process of designing inventions for an upcoming Invention Convention. They have been enjoying all of the hands-on learning opportunities that a Montessori school is fortunate enough to offer.

"If you are interested in learning more about what the elementary school is like at Children’s Tree please join us on January 26 or 27 to learn more. Click here for information and to RSVP."

~Ms. Lena

Why Your Voice Tone Matters?

Fri, 21 Jan 2022 11:39:34 GMT

“How does the caregiver’s tone of voice impact children’s wellbeing?”

Children are reflections of what we say and do at home and in the classroom. It starts inward with the caregivers being mindful of their tone and word choice to the children. As a Montessori teacher, I attempt to keep my voice consistent in the classroom without expressing frustration or anger (Yes, I do express those at home. LOL). I have observed children “redirect” their peers in situations where I have just done so. It has also encouraged me to look at my tone of voice and body language. I have found that when I talk slower, I am able to think more about each word that I say and how I say it, especially to my young students. It is definitely a challenging but rewarding journey. Particularly as a teacher, my tone of voice is essential not only for speaking to the children in a caring yet authoritative way, but also for treating each child as equal without bias. All of our actions, words, and tones are model behaviors for the children who will be aware of the differences that are present among themselves. When I see multiple children calling out a particular child, first, I remember looking at our actions myself and any other adults in the environment and reflecting on our behaviors. ‘Are the children mimicking what they have seen and heard from other children and us?’

It is critical to continuously look inward and see how we caregivers may have influenced children’s behavior. It is up to us to set it right and treat each child with respect and professionalism. Over the years, I have learned to modify and integrate my voice with my natural speaking tone. Most importantly, I remember to step back and listen to myself and decipher my tone. “How was my voice today?”, ”’When did it slip into my non-Montessori interactions?”, “Why and how did people, especially children, react to it?”. I ask you, my beloved parents, “How were your voices?”

More about “TONE OF VOICE”

https://montessoritraining.blogspot.com/2010/02/importance-of-tone-and-voice-level-in.html?m=1

https://www.themontessorinotebook.com/what-i-learned-from-a-speech-coach/

Preschool News Winter 2022

Fri, 21 Jan 2022 11:37:56 GMT

We are finishing up our studies of the continent of Asia. We looked at the animals, flags and foods associated with Asia. One of our parents celebrated and shared the Japanese New years traditions with us. We learned about Hanukkah and Christmas and the children made homemade latkes, they grated potatoes, beat eggs and mixed it all up to make delicious Latkes. They were flipping holiday pancakes and decorating them. We had fun learning about what animals do in winter, if they migrate, adapt or hibernate.

Looking forward we will move our focus to the continent of Europe starting in February. The children will also be learning about constellations, astronomy. In life science we will look at teeth and the heart. The children are very fortunate to have Ms. Edie come in to do lucky listeners weekly. The children are really enjoying their daily food preparation in the Oak room. Exploration of new food items are added monthly. The children are partaking in enrichment with music, sign language for everyone and art, circus yoga for the older children.

Absorbent Mind and Sensorial Work for Toddlers

Fri, 21 Jan 2022 11:33:04 GMT

“Education is a natural process carried out by the child and is not acquired by listening to words but by experiences in the environment.”
-MARIA MONTESSORI in ABSORBENT MINDS

Dr. Maria Montessori described the child’s mind between birth and six years old as an “Absorbent Mind.” She also called this time the “Sensitive Period” of development. During the sensitive period, children are deeply interested in specific subjects; therefore, children can acquire particular abilities related to those subjects. During this period, teachers and parents often notice that the children are intensely interested in repeating specific actions to refine their skills. New skills will then emerge from this repetition. It is a window of great opportunities for learning and building independence and confidence for the children. The question that arises is how can we support children to optimize their potential?

“The senses are gateways to the intelligence. There is nothing in the intelligence which did not first pass through the senses.”
-ARISTOTLE

In the Maple classroom, the purpose of sensory activities is to support the children in their efforts to figure out the many varied impressions given by senses. Sensorial materials are specifically designed to help the children develop discrimination, order, broaden and refine the senses; work with these materials develops and refines the “five senses”—seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling—and builds a foundation for speech, writing, and math (AMS Montessori Terminology.) Each scientifically designed sensory material isolates a specific quality such as color, size, shape, etc. By doing sensory activities, the children can focus on various characteristics and learn to sort, classify, order, and develop the vocabulary to describe objects they experience in the world around them. Also, these materials help prepare them to be logically aware, and perceptive people.

Children receive impressions through their senses from the moment of birth. Sensory activities focus on developing sensory perception. However, we rely heavily on visual and auditory perception to acquire information as adults. Our Montessori toddler program offers a multi-sensory approach to learning, encouraging the children to use the optimum combination of senses for learning. Using the senses easily, with refined distinctions, increases the productivity of the quality materials. For example, the Pink Tower activity compares the visual qualities of “large” and “small,” highlighting the comparative attributes of “large, larger, largest” and “small, smaller, smallest.” In addition, it can be a gross motor activity in our toddler classroom by moving them from one spot to another. Also, it can be a stereognosis sense activity by putting a couple in a mystery bag or using a sensorial blindfold. A variety of games for each material extends the primary lesson. In the toddler community, teachers often develop sensory work to the Math-concept activities and create Art projects.

Sensory activity ideas for parents:

https://thetoddlerplaybook.com/montessori-sensory-activities/

https://montessorikidsuniverse.com/sensorial-activities-at-home/

Free Montessori resources and activity ideas for parents:

https://www.themontessorinotebook.com/free-resources/

Just Because it’s Cold Doesn’t Mean that the Fun has to Stop!

Thu, 09 Dec 2021 11:22:28 GMT

With the first snowfall of the season upon us, it might be more difficult for kids to be spending time outside since the temperature is dropping and the daylight is dwindling. However, it is still just as important for kids to be getting their activity time in, whether it is to just get that energy out before bed or to spend quality time with their families.

If your child is a snow bunny like I was (and still am), it might be easier for you to just send them outside to build a snow fort or a snowman. I know this is not the case for everyone though, and finding exciting things to do inside is just as important in the winter months. Although sometimes the cold might mean that they just want to sit inside in front of the tv, there are plenty of energy exerting activities that can be done inside as well.

Instead of turning the tv on and playing a show or movie, try turning on some music and encouraging a dance party, or if there is a play date going on, a game of musical chairs! I know that not all kids will be into music and dancing so there are plenty of other options for them too. These activities can include anything from baking, to drawing or painting, to even just an old fashioned pillow fort.

It can be very easy to get caught up in work and running errands and everything else that life throws at your family, but spending quality time together should not be put on the back burner. Sometimes it can be difficult to think of activities to accommodate the colder months that are family friendly, and can get you, the parents, involved as well. However, there are plenty of things that can get everyone out of the house. Bowling, ice skating, going to see a movie, or even just driving by some holiday lights can create great memories.

If you and your kids would rather spend family time indoors, as I’m sure is the case for many people, there are plenty of things that can get everyone involved. Something as simple as a movie marathon with some popcorn and snacks or playing the family’s favorite board games are some great options for not letting quality time slip through the cracks.

Try to enjoy the snow and stay safe!

The Children’s Tree Montessori School is a private school located in Old Saybrook, CT. The Children’s Tree Montessori School has classrooms for toddlers, preschool, and elementary school.

Keeping Holidays Happy with Kids

Mon, 25 Oct 2021 11:18:12 GMT

Preschool News Fall 2021

Mon, 25 Oct 2021 11:15:06 GMT

The Primary classrooms have been busy settling into routines, having lessons, and loving the time outdoors with friends.

We’ve been learning a lot in the last couple of months; the days of the week, months of the year, and grace and courtesy lessons to name a few. We also have a composting bin, as our classrooms love to do food preparation. The peeling, slicing, washing and coring of fruits are a favorite practical life activity.

Our studies have also included Europe and the season of fall. Learning about objects that sink and float are a lot of fun, and a little wet. And we have been learning about vertebrates and invertebrates.

The Oak room has been lucky to have Ms. Edie for Lucky Listeners. She reads with the children every week. If you are interested in doing Lucky Listeners with the Cedar room, please let us know! The elementary students have also been visiting the Primary classrooms to read with us.

Our enrichment classes have begun and we are enjoying the sign language, art, music, martial arts, and yoga.

Looking ahead we will be learning about upcoming holidays, the continent and flags of Asia, observing the differences in heavy and light, and what animals do in the winter months.

Elementary School News Fall 2021

Mon, 25 Oct 2021 10:59:38 GMT

Dr. Montessori wrote, “Let us give the children a vision of the universe. The universe is an imposing reality and the answer to all questions.”

In the Willow Room, the elementary students have had a busy start to the year, as developing a vision of the universe is a tall order! They have spent these first few weeks immersed in the tradition of the Great Lessons. These lessons are a series of five highly ritualized stories that Montessori elementary children engage with year after year, which serve as a jumping off point for the rest of the curriculum. Through these stories, children are introduced to the Coming of the Universe and the Earth, the Coming of Life, the Coming of Humans, the Story of Language, and the Story of Numbers.

Each year, children develop a more nuanced understanding of these concepts, as they investigate new questions that interest them. This year, some children have been especially interested in how the life cycle of a star connects to chemistry, while others have been curious about the evolution of life on earth from the Cambrian Period to today.

While the Great Lessons provide an incredible opportunity to think about the scope of the universe from within the classroom, we often take our study beyond the classroom walls as well. Already we have gone on a nature scavenger hunt at the Canfield-Meadow Woods Nature Reserve, experienced a train ride on the Shoreline East, taken a tour of the Acton Public Library, and set up a classroom bank account at Guilford Savings Bank. Through each of these experiences, we see how to apply what we learn in class to our experiences in our own community.

Practical Life in the Toddler Room

Mon, 25 Oct 2021 10:50:59 GMT

Practical life is such an important area of the toddler community in Montessori education. Practical life activities help the child develop independence, concentration, and a sense of order. Through the activities, the child develops self-confidence for mastery of the other more advanced areas of the Montessori classroom. There are different categories of Practical Life that revolve around ‘Care of Self’, ‘Care of Environment’, ‘Grace and Courtesy’, and ‘Control of Movement’. All these activities help your child learn how to engage in purposeful work. Many are fundamental exercises that the child needs to master to be able to live comfortably in the real world.

Practical Life Activities at Home: Skills will last a lifetime
There are many Practical Life activities you can do at home to allow your child to be involved. Helping load the dirty laundry and unload, pressing the start button, sorting the clothes (socks, pants, shirts, ect.) or even putting away their own clothes. In our classroom the toddlers love loading and unloading the small dishwasher and would be capable and willing to help do this at home. Pet care is another great way to let your toddler feel important; scooping the food, pouring new water, cleaning the pet bowl, brushing your pet are all great things your toddler can help with. Plant care is a fun activity, just set them up for success (small watering can and accessible water source). Helping in the kitchen is one of our favorite Practical Life activities. There are so many things your toddler can do to be involved in the kitchen, for example food preparation. Scrubbing veggies for dinner is a great engaging activity, when they are more involved they are more likely to try it. They can also help set the table for dinner. Self Care takes a lot of practice (washing their hands, brushing their teeth or hair, getting dressed, ect.).

“Help me to do it all by myself”

At first it won’t be perfect. They need your help until they have mastered any Practical Life skill, but they will never get there unless you provide them with opportunities to practice. If your child is showing an interest in wanting to try a Practical Life activity (wash their hands, brush their teeth, dress themselves, help in the kitchen, or with your pets) let them try even if it means they put their shoes on the wrong feet. Any time your child can experience just a little bit of success is going to go a long way with their competence and confidence. It is important to prepare the environment for success (low tables, shelves, and materials accessible). We want to empower them with the tools they need. Toddlers want to be involved and help, it’s important to model behaviors and expectations. You will be surprised what these little ones are capable of doing. As they get older they will be able to practice different and more challenging activities.

Great book full of ideas and activities: ‘Teach me to do it myself’ by Maja Pitamic

Website with ideas on Practical Life activities:

https://www.montessoriservices.com/ideas-insights/parents-practical-life

Raising Readers: Parent Workshop 10/28

Mon, 11 Oct 2021 10:43:07 GMT

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Annual Bishops Frozen Pie Fundraiser

Wed, 29 Sep 2021 10:41:34 GMT

The Children’s Tree Montessori School Annual Bishops Frozen Pie Fundraiser begins October 7, 2021. Order pies by November 5th for pickup on November 22nd at the school, just in time for the holidays! To download the order form click here .

Why Montessori School Homework is Minimal

Tue, 28 Sep 2021 10:39:38 GMT

Children in Montessori classrooms are granted many freedoms. They have the freedom to move about the classroom with purpose, to speak with each other, to choose their work, and to choose with whom they work. Lessons are given to the child, suggestions are made. The child has the responsibility to be working and to meet the expectations of society. Such expectations include the ability to read, write and do math. The teacher guides the child through observing his interests, preparing the environment, and following the Montessori curriculum in each subject area.

In addition to following the Montessori curriculum, emphasis is placed on practicing the interpersonal skills of compassion and respectful communication. Every minute of their school day students are exposed to lessons of grace and courtesy, and conflict resolution. Children 15 months “young” learn to use their words, rather than action. The students in the Primary classes discuss issues as they occur and make suggestions of how they could have resolved them better. Once the children are in the Elementary and Adolescent programs they have learned how to navigate many sticky situations that arise inside and outside of the classrooms, and they have learned to show kindness and respect to each other. The adults in a Montessori setting strive to set the example by being positive role models.

What does all this have to do with homework? Montessori Schools do not typically assign daily homework. Dr. Montessori believed that if we do not dictate the work of the child in class, then it does not make sense to dictate the work they choose at home. Therefore, traditional homework is kept to a minimum. Montessorians feel that children spend all day in the classroom learning and need their afternoons and evenings to pursue their personal interests, interact with their families and relax.

Parents know that we encourage activities which constructively direct a child’s pursuits during home hours, while nurturing their interests and building family bonds. A fundamental truth permeates Montessori’s work: children are desperate to learn. In a Montessori class, children are motivated to discover why and how things work. Therefore, homework, in a Montessori sense, is work that the child does at home, as an extension of his or her educational exploration.

Many activities may constitute homework, including household chores. Responsibilities at home help the child develop language skills and cultural awareness. Making math a real part of the home environment (pairing socks and counting by twos; dividing a pizza into equal pieces; shopping and making change) and giving the child a voice in family decisions are important to the child’s perception of math concepts and economic geography. Reading with and to your children every day will result in quality family time and confidence building.

The quality of education has become a charged topic of late, with several recent films and documentaries addressing the educational system. The question remains: Will more homework raise academic achievement and test scores? Much has been said about overly programmed after-school schedules; too much homework that steals family time; and an approach to learning that emphasizes memorization and test scores over real understanding and critical thinking. Let’s consider spending quality time with our children, inspiring their natural curiosity and love for learning.

The above article appeared in the Lake Forester. Follow this link to view the article on the MSLF website.

Your Capable Child

Wed, 21 Jul 2021 10:27:06 GMT

Any child who is self-sufficient, who can tie his shoes, dress or undress himself, reflects in his joy and sense of achievement the image of human dignity, which is derived from a sense of independence.”

–Dr. Maria Montessori, founder of the Montessori Method of Teaching

Dr. Montessori recognized that understanding one’s place in the world, and being able to function as part of a community, is an important part of being independent. Children can grow up feeling empowered in their ability to make choices and do things independently. When children feel trusted by adults, they learn to trust themselves, growing to become happy and productive members of their families and communities.

Montessori educators encourage independence, even in their youngest students. In a Montessori environment children as young as toddlers can be seen putting on their own shoes, choosing work, assisting in laundry, snack preparation, and even cleaning up after themselves.

So how can families help develop independence in the home? It starts by recognizing how capable children truly are. They are able to do much more than we often realize. With some encouragement and modeling they eagerly rise to a challenge. When a child is shown how to do something, and then they are allowed to do it on their own, it boosts their self-esteem more than any amount of verbal praise ever will.

Below are some helpful tips to help prepare your home environment.

Coat and shoe racks should be easily accessible.
Send children to put their coats and shoes on 10 minutes before you’d like to leave.
Leave child-friendly cleaning supplies within reach.
Turn spills and messes into lessons on cleaning up after themselves.
Put pre-portioned snacks on low shelves.
Allow children to pack, or help pack their own lunches, offering pre-approved choices.
Clothing racks and dressers should be within reach to put away clothing, or make clothing choices for the day.
Ask for help to put away groceries, load or unload the dishwasher, washing machine, and dryer.

For more information on setting up your home to be more child friendly, download our free ebook, Montessori in the Home by clicking here .

Montessori in Your Home

Mon, 21 Jun 2021 10:17:30 GMT

To download our book about Designing a Montessori Home, click here .

Outdoor Exploration with a Montessori Twist

Tue, 25 May 2021 10:15:27 GMT

With summer upon us, make sure to get outside and enjoy the beauty around us. Nature calms us, and has the ability to reconnect us with the earth. Over 100 years ago, Dr. Montessori recognized the importance of nature.

“ Let the children be free; encourage them; let them run outside when it is raining; let them remove their shoes when they find a puddle of water; and when the grass of the meadows is damp with dew, let them run on it and trample it with their bare feet; let them rest peacefully when a tree invites them to sleep beneath it’s shade; let them shout and laugh when the sun wakes them in the morning as it wakes every living creature that divides its day between waking and sleeping.”

-Dr. Maria Montessori

Young children learn through their senses. This quote from Dr Montessori above embodies how rich their experiences can be. Many years later the memories of walking barefoot in sand from my own childhood are still so strong.

Here are 10 ideas for Montessori inspired outdoors activities:

Treasure Hunt – take a basket with you on your adventure to collect leaves, acorns, shells, sticks, rocks, stones, and pine cones. make a list of pictures and work together to find all the items on your list. It could be in your yard, at the park, in the forest, or any outdoor place you have access to.
Notice Nature – watch insects at work, droplets on leaves, the smell of rain, the colors of the sunset, the view from the mountains, the stillness of the lake or the ripples, the movement of the ocean, the wind in the trees, grab a magnifying glass to explore close up.
Garden– you don’t need a lot of space to grow your own. You can set up a potting station with some soil, a scoop and some seeds. Have a watering can at the ready. Get adventuresome and start composting by adding your food waste to a compost bin or worm farm. Your children will learn in a very natural way about the food cycle and returning nutrients to the soil.
Notice the Calm – find a place to sit and watch the clouds, to sit in silence, or just to breathe.
Build your own hut, fort, play house, and obstacle course with friends and neighbors. Do a search for how to make a sunflower house or better yet head down to RJ Julias and order Sunflower Houses: Garden Discoveries for Children of All Ages by Sharon Lovejoy.
Move – climb trees, balance along walls or tree stumps or logs, hang from branches, swing from a tire, ride a balance bike, kick a ball, jump rope, dance, chase each other, run fast, and walk slow.
All weather exploration – there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing. So get some great all-weather clothing and shoes and stomp in those puddles, get out each and every day.
Make Art – use mud, water, leaves, flowers, moss, soil, seeds, grass and whatever other interesting pieces you can find. Lay them into patterns, make them into shapes, or work together to make a face or an animal.
Make Music– hang in the garden old pots and pans, bells, and any other objects that make some sound when banged. Find some sticks to make some music.
Anything to do with water – spraying the windows, filling a bucket and painting bricks with a brush, running through a sprinkler, making rivers with sand and water, or using a water pump at the playground.

Whether you prefer the beach or the forest, the mountains or a lake be sure to take time to enjoy nature each and every day. You and your children will return refreshed and joyful.