An Example Lesson

The below is from The International Montessori Council and gives an example of a lesson plan used in Montessori Education.

Science for Everyday - Nature Walk

Tuesday, 19 September 2006 22:52 | Written by Erin Galvin Gutierrez

Lesson Plan: Nature Walk

NAME OF ACTIVITY: Nature Walk

AREA: Science/Observation/Classification

MATERIALS: A large piece of paper to make a giant graph on (the kind of paper you can get on a roll works best or tape together large pieces of construction paper!). Magic markers to label the rows and columns once you are ready to graph. You want the graph to be big enough to lay on the floor and hold all of the objects you collected on your walk.

AIMS: To get the children to look at the world around them. Observation! To introduce graphing/charting.

PREPARATION: Matching/Sorting

PRESENTATION BY THE TEACHER:

Presentation: Tell the children you are going on a nature walk to look at the environment outside. You probably want the children to buddy up for safety sake. Give them each (or each buddy team) a brown paper bag for collecting specimens. Explain that a specimen is a sample or piece of something that you find interesting or want to know more about. You may want to put a limit on how many samples each child may collect (3-5 is usually a good amount!). When you go out be sure to ask the children about the weather and what they notice, take a minute to discuss the weather: What does the sky look like? Is it sunny? Are there any clouds? Also ask about things you may see or point out things that they might not notice; Does anyone see any animals? Is there water around anywhere? Do you see any other people?
Once you are back in the classroom get out your big paper graph and lay it on the floor in the middle of the children. Use the top row for your column headers. Label with the names of the objects you found. Use the bottom row for tallying your columns. How many of each item do you have? Explain that one way to figure out what you collected is to graph it. Ask one child to empty the contents of his bag onto the floor. Take the first item and either have the children tell you what it is or you may tell them. In the first box on your graph paper write the name of that object (ex: acorn). Now have the child place his object in the box directly under the label. Ask the other children if anyone else has the same object. Have them place their same objects in the other empty boxes in the column. Continue until you have graphed all or at least a representative sampling (at least one item for each child) of what the class collected. You may have them bring home what you cannot graph or use it to make a new matching/sorting activity. Once your graph is full, have the class count what you have collected and write in the numbers in the empty box under each column. You may want to display your graph for a while or use it as work. Let the children remove the objects and re-graph them. Discuss what you have found.
Is it a plant?
Is it living or non-living?
What do we know about this object?
What do we want to know?
Do you have these objects in your yard?

Language: none at first, then environment, specimen, graph, categorize, and the names of the objects you collected.

VARIATIONS: You do not always have to collect things! Sometimes you may just want to go on a nature walk to observe and discuss the weather, the seasons, the things you see! This is a good way to discuss how to be “environment-friendly”. Explain to the children that if we always collected things from nature when we went out walking, then those things would not be there for us and others to enjoy and observe next time. This is a difficult concept to get across to small children, but it is one that should be introduced and reiterated often! It is okay to collect samples sometimes but not all the time!
What did we find?
How many things did we collect?
How many different things did we collect?
What could we do with what we collected?

EXTENSIONS: Go out with a specific thing to collect; different types of leaves, rocks, or grasses. You could press the plant specimens in a leaf/flower press (or between wax paper and some heavy books) and make a booklet out of your collections. A three ring booklet that can be added to is best.

SOURCES: Erin Galvin
By E.G. Gutierrez

Two Things

So we have noticed two things so far. Tristan still says he is happy to be going to school and when we pick him up, he does not want to go home. 

But this morning, he didn't want me to leave. I gave about 6 hugs and kisses, checked out the fish and the gerbil, and looked at the snack table with him! I was freed when Ms. Suzanne asked Tristan to come help her with setting up. He went to help happily enough and there were no tears.  It seems like he just wants a playmate more than he doesn't want me to go.  It may be because we get there so early and there are no other kids in the class yet so maybe he feels a little lonely? But as soon as he is given something to do, he seems fine. So we will keep a watch on that and see what happens. I am going to have my husband take him into the class tomorrow and see if it is just me!

The other thing we have noticed, two nights in a row, is that he is wide open after we pick him up. He talks a mile a minute about anything and everything and doesn't stop moving. I don't think it is a bad thing - it seems he is just more outgoing and more active. He has a ton of energy and he does not want to sit still. We will keep an eye on that too - I am certain they are not feeding him straight sugar or caffine so I have to think it is just an "opening up" of his personality. He really is talking quite a bit more and he is also not so shy of people he doesn't know.  He says "hello" more readily and talks to them.  

Lunch was a success yesterday. Of course, he did get to take Chick-fil-a nuggets to eat. The only thing he didn't eat was some cheddar cheese. I think it is a little too sharp for him.  So today - some more nuggets, apple cinnamon muffin, blueberries, applesauce and a breakfast bar (because I know he will eat that!). I am positive I need to find a way to get some veggies in somewhere. I need to look for a book on hiding good stuff in foods kids will eat!  
 

4 Goals for Myself as a Mother for 2011

One of the blogs I read is Life...Your Way.  Today's post asked us to write down our goals as mothers for 2011. So I thought I would share and see if any others out there had their own set of goals for themselves as mothers or any other area of your life that you want to concentrate on.

Here are 4 that I came up with for myself:

• Stop what I am doing, and look and listen completely, when Tristan is trying to speak to me. Sometimes, I forget that whatever it is I am doing at that particular moment is really not nearly as important as my child. Even if he wants to talk to me about his dolphin-mountain goat picture.  I never ever want Tristan to feel like he has to yell or act out or beg for my undivided attention.
• Break the yelling habit.  I will admit that when I get busy, late, or overwhelmed I have the habit of yelling, when I think I am not being heard or Tristan or my husband are not moving as fast as I think they need to move.  (See above about yelling to get attention!) I need to remember to take a deep breath and change my own reaction to things. This will be a tough one - Tristan seems to have selective hearing most of the time. He is in his own world, and getting his coat and shoes on is not generally at the top of his list.  But I need to remember that he has no idea about the concept of time or being late or even just the idea that someone somewhere is waiting on us to get there. My husband on the other hand...lol
• Become more organized. I am, I like to think, relatively organized. I try to get things ready the night before and have the things we need set out for us to grab on the way out the door. But there is more I could do to make mornings and even evenings a little smoother. My "planner" is steno book and the calender from the school. And I am planner junkie - I have tried them all! But nothing so far seems to be the perfect fit. I have heard that the planners on erincondren.com are excellent. We are on a tight budget this year as we try to work out paying tuition and bills and life in general, but as soon as I can save the money, I think I will try one.  
• And lastly, I want to continue this blog and continue to learn all I can about the Montessori Method so I can help my son learn and grow into the young man I know he can be. I want him to remember that his mom was always interested in what he was working on and that I was always able to help when he needed it. I need to be able to understand the reasons behind why he works with sandpaper letters and block towers so that I can help and encourage that at home. I am lucky because Tristan's school has Parent Ed nights every month. I will be attending those as often as possible to learn what I can do to further his learning and education.

So that is what I will be working on in 2011! Maybe not necessarily resolutions - there seems to be so much pressure associated with resolutions- just goals to work towards.  How about you?

Results from Scientific Study on Montessori Method

The below is from The International Montessori Council and discusses the results from a study done on the Montessori Method.

 

New Scientific Study Supports the Montessori Method

Thursday, 05 October 2006 09:27 | Written by Tim Seldin 

Dr. Angeline Stoll Lillard has clearly summarized the research that explains why, after 100 years, the Montessori approach to education continues to be a phenomenal worldwide success.

A study comparing outcomes of children at a public inner-city Montessori school with children who attended traditional schools indicates that Montessori education leads to children with better social and academic skills.

The study appears in the Sept. 29, 2006 issue of the journal Science. You can read more in a specical article and interview with Dr. Lillard that was published in the Fall 2006 issue of Tomorrow's Child magazine. Click here to download the PDF of that article.

Montessori education is characterized by multi-age classrooms, a special set of educational materials, student-chosen work in long time blocks, a collaborative environment with student mentors, absence of grades and tests, and individual and small group instruction in academic and social skills. More than 5,000 schools in the United States, including 300 public schools, use the Montessori method.

The Montessori school studied is located in Milwaukee and serves urban minority children. Students at the school were selected for enrollment through a random lottery process. Those students who "won" the lottery and enrolled at the Montessori school made up the study group. A control group was made up of children who had "lost" the lottery and were therefore enrolled in other schools using traditional methods. In both cases the parents had entered their children in the school lottery with the hope of gaining enrollment in the Montessori school.

"This strategy addressed the concern that parents who seek to enroll their children in a Montessori school are different from parents who do not," wrote study authors Angeline Lillard, a University of Virginia professor of psychology, and Nicole Else-Quest, a former graduate student in psychology at the University of Wisconsin. This was an important factor because parents generally are the dominant influence on child outcomes.

Children were evaluated at the end of the two most widely implemented levels of Montessori education: primary (3- to 6-year-olds) and elementary (6- to 12-year-olds). They came from families of very similar income levels (averaging from $20,000 to $50,000 per year for both groups).

The children who attended the Montessori school, and the children who did not, were tested for their cognitive and academic skills, and for their social and behavioral skills.

"We found significant advantages for the Montessori students in these tests for both age groups," Lillard said. "Particularly remarkable are the positive social effects of Montessori education. Typically the home environment overwhelms all other influences in that area."

Among the 5-year-olds, Montessori students proved to be significantly better prepared for elementary school in reading and math skills than the non-Montessori children. They also tested better on "executive function," the ability to adapt to changing and more complex problems, an indicator of future school and life success.

Montessori children also displayed better abilities on the social and behavioral tests, demonstrating a greater sense of justice and fairness. And on the playground they were much more likely to engage in emotionally positive play with peers, and less likely to engage in rough play.

Among the 12-year-olds from both groups, the Montessori children, in cognitive and academic measures, produced essays that were rated as "significantly more creative and as using significantly more sophisticated sentence structures." The Montessori and non-Montessori students scored similarly on spelling, punctuation and grammar, and there was not much difference in academic skills related to reading and math. This parity occurred despite the Montessori children not being regularly tested and graded.

In social and behavioral measures, 12-year-old Montessori students were more likely to choose "positive assertive responses" for dealing with unpleasant social situations, such as having someone cut into a line. They also indicated a "greater sense of community" at their school and felt that students there respected, helped and cared about each other.

The authors concluded that, "when strictly implemented, Montessori education fosters social and academic skills that are equal or superior to those fostered by a pool of other types of schools."

Lillard plans to continue the research by tracking the students from both groups over a longer period of time to determine long-term effects of Montessori versus traditional education. She also would like to replicate the study at other Montessori and traditional schools using a prospective design, and to examine whether specific Montessori practices are linked to specific outcomes.

Lillard is the author of Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius. More information is available at: www.montessori-science.org

For a copy of the study in the journal Science, call 1-202-326-6440, or email: scipak@aaas.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Second Day Success

So the second day went well again. I am so relieved! Lunch was another bust though. Tristan ate his breakfast bar, yogurt and cheese. The delicious nutella and grape jelly sandwich went untouched, as did the grapes and surprisingly the blueberries. Will have to keep working at it. Trying cold chicken nuggets tomorrow and of course yogurt, cheese and a breakfast bar.  

Today Tristan came home with all kinds of art work - one picture was a "dolphin mountain goat" in blue finger paint! He was very proud of that.  So another good day at Countryside Montessori School.  Hopefully, we will get into a good routine and Tristan will continue to flourish at his new school.  

A post tomorrow on a study between a group of kids who had a Montessori education and  a group who went to traditional school. 


Good night all! Talk to you tomorrow!

Second Day

For a long time now, everyday Tristan would wake up and say "Are we going to school"? and I would "yes" and I would always get the "OOOOHHHHH, I don't want to go to school". This morning he asked his usual question and when I said "yes", he said "YEAH". That one reaction is enough to make my day. 

I am so happy that he wants to go. When both parents work, as so many of us do, you generally have no choice but to take them somewhere.  But to take him somewhere he wants to go, is a whole different story.  It was always so hard for me to leave him at his other school, crying, screaming, begging me to stay. He was always fine after a bit but to leave with the thought in my head that he thinks I am abondoning him, always broke my heart. And today, I got none of that - no tears and no begging. I got a "Bye, Mommy". 

He had a great day yesterday. The teacher told me this morning that he did just fine and had no trouble.  Parent-teacher conferences are on the 21st so I guess we will get more detail then about his progress over the 3 weeks that he will have been there.  I will be so interested to hear about what they see in him and how he learns.

Today, I packed his lunch with less input from the peanut gallery. Grapes, Crasins and blueberries. A yogurt, a slice of cheese and a little nutella and grape jelly sandwich in the shape of a dinosaur. Did you know that nutella and grape jelly tastes EXACTLY like a grape Tootsie Pop? We will see what comes back in the bag today. And I finally wised up to the lunch process. I put all his cold stuff in one tupperware so that it could easily be put in the fridge at school. I pulled out the label maker and made labels with his name and the date on it to put on the tupperware and yogurt.  And I have realized he has a hard time opening the tupperware by himself so I have to find other ways to send his food - ziplocs I guess but the thought of using thousands of ziplocs a year makes me cringe a bit.  Let me know if you have any ideas about what to send for lunch and/or creative ways to pack it.

So far so good as of Day 2! I will start posting some more curriculum and other posts soon but will also keep you updated on Tristan's thoughts and progress!

Tristan's Thoughts on the 1st Day

I picked Tristan up this afternoon with great anticipation. But no need! In Tristan's own words " I had a great day!".  He seemed to enjoy his day and said he couldn't wait to go back tomorrow. Whew! 

Lunch was another story - looks like he ate his yogurt and some cheese, oh, and a half a breakfast bar! Everything else was still in his lunchbox.  Oh well - lunch will be trial and error, a learning experience. 

His teacher was already gone when I got there, so I will speak to her in the morning for a report on how he actually did yesterday. He came home with a "pterodactyl" that he cut out. When I asked him if he took a nap, he said "yep and I took off my socks and shoes to go to sleep.  That is a new experience because at his other school he always slept with his socks and shoes on. And he must have put his own shoes and socks back on, because his shoes were on the wrong feet! 

We are off to bed now! Will give another update tomorrow! Hopefully the "newness" will not wear off and his second day will be as good as the first! Have a great night!

First Day!

First day at Tristan's new school today! He did so well! Last night, we packed his lunch. He wanted blueberries in every container and nothing else. We compromised on blueberries in one container, yogurt in another and cheese and crackers. He refused all offers of an actual sandwich so we went with cheese and crackers instead.  He also took fruit snacks and a breakfast bar and some extra cheese just in case.... the boy loves cheese. He must get it from me. 

We left the house at 7:05am and got to the school right at 7:30am. When we went in, we happened to see the director of the school and she walked us to Tristan's classroom. He was the first student to arrive. I was very happy about that as it gave him time to get acclimated to the class before lots of kids got there.  He remembered his teacher's name, Ms. Suzanne and said hello to her. She already had his little cubby labeled with his name on it and he was so excited to see it. He put his things away in the cubby, we put his extra clothes in his little plastic box (also already labeled) and he put his lunch on the shelf for lunches.  He was very busy looking around at everything. There is a class gerbil named Chocolate. Ms. Suzanne got the food out to feed him so Tristan could watch and Chocolate  scampered right out and Tristan stood there entraced. It came time for us to go, so I kneeled down and had the "be a good boy" speech with him. I got my squeeze and sugar and went out the door.  There were no tears, no clinging, no sadness.  He was so busy looking around and deciding what to do first, he wasn't worried about what I was doing! When I snuck a peek back in the room, Ms. Suzanne was showing him around. 

As I sit here writing this, I wonder how his day has been and what he is doing now. I wonder if he actually ate his lunch and if so, how much?  I would not be surprised to see it all back in his bag, except the blueberries!  Has he made any friends, is he having a good time, is he worried I won't come get him? I wish I could be a fly on the wall so I could watch him all day long.  But it is part of growing up I suppose and for my part, I guess learning how to let go. 

I will update again with his thoughts on the first day and let you know whether or not he changes his mind about how happy he is about his new school! I can't believe it is finally here and we are "living" what we have only thought about for months.  The routine will work it's way in and we will all get used to the new things!

Tomorrow is the BIG day!

So tomorrow is the big day! Tristan starts his new Montessori school. Kids who stay for lunch are asked to bring a place mat so I have that ready to go as well as a change of clothes for him to keep at school. I will pack his lunch tonight and we should be all set.  He has been excited about it so far - we will see what happens tomorrow morning when reality sets in!  I will post again tomorrow and let everyone know how it went! Have a great Sunday! See you tomorrow!