First lets start with respect. Montessori is not just all lessons and circle time. It is also about Grace & Courtesy, which begins with the respect of the parent or instructor. The number 1 rule is do not interrupt a concentrating child. It is disrespectful and also the number 1 mistake parents make with their children. No matter how bad you want that picture or want to step in to help when they are struggling it is better to leave well enough alone and let them work through whatever they are doing. If they need help, they'll ask for it. This is an important milestone to gaining their independence. If I accidentally interrupt Delores to come to a meal because I don't realize she is in the middle of something she will tell me or Josh "I'm concentrating," and we apologize and leave her be. She shows up 10 to 15 minutes later, but no harm is done other than her food getting a little cold. This is why you don't see as many pictures of Lydia as you do Delores. She is more easily distracted by my phone and will leave her activity the second she sees my phone.
Of course it is equally important for the children to respect each other and their things.
Here Lydia is watching Delores do her lesson quietly without touching. If she touches she must leave Delores and do something else. She can try again once she has completed another activity. This takes a lot of practice and self control from a two year old.
Next we have some beginning sound work. We've been working on the sounds of the "b," "c," and "d," for about 6 weeks now. Last week Delores started recognize and pointing out the letters in text so I set up this activity.
She has to match the object's beginning sound with the letter. Then she went on a scavenger hunt to find objects that beginning with those letters. She brings them back to the mat and matches the object with its beginning sound. Here she is finding a cup. "Cup starts with the letter 'c.'"
Now onto our activities from Friday. Last August I made and tried introducing the miniature number rods to Delores and she just couldn't grasp the concept.
The child has to place the rods in order from longest to shortest and then they learn what rod represents what number which is the first step to sandpaper numbers and numerical beads. Delores has been showing some interesting in reading numbers so I knew it was time to give it a try again so we could move onto the sandpaper numbers so she could formally learn the name for each number. This time she did beautifully. Again, it's all about working in that window of opportunity.
In this picture she discovered the smallest block is the same size as the space between each rod.
Here she doing the 2nd part of the 3 period lesson "Can you point to number 4?"
Mixed up
"Can you show me 2?"
We worked all the way up to 9.
"Can you put 9 on your head?" We only did three at a time but she breezed through them. Each time you master one or two or three at a time you mix the previous ones back in to make sure they haven't forgotten the rest. After we were done with 9 she said she was tired and we put them away. I have no doubt we will be moving onto sandpaper numbers next month.
Lydia enjoyed the frobel bag. The frobel bag is an opaque bag with objects inside that the child already knows the names of. Many sources suggest using geometric solids (3D shapes) in the frobel bag, but I decided toys would be a better fit since she doesn't know the names of the geo solids yet. The child puts their hand in the bag, feels around and then guesses what is in the bag all without looking in the bag and then pulls out the object. The purpose of this sensorial activity is to refine the stereognostic sense, which is the ability to determine the shape and weight of an object by touching or lifting it. After the child has had some practice with this activity you can work up to 10 different objects. Three is a good start for any two year old though.
"Minnie Mouse!"
Here Delores is taking a turn giving the lesson. In a Montessori classroom it is not uncommon for an older child to give a lesson to a younger child. It reinforces the lessons in the older child and promotes his independence. The instructor is to try and fade into the background as much as possible while the children carry on in their world and form their own community.
"Yay sissy!"
So we had another successful week despite an under the weather child. When I look back it really does amaze me at how far they have come and how much they've learned in just 3 months. I can't wait to see what is left to come.
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