Sixty Second Parent is a fabulous website, with tons of information for parents and educators. They recently had a post about developing written skills in young children.

So what can we do in Montessori to help develop written language skills?

• Children trace the sandpaper letters as they learn their sounds, to subconsciously also learn how to write the letters.
• Large arm movements at the chalkboard and easel provide the early movements that eventually filter down to those finer movements with the fingers and pencils.
• Sensorial activities have small knobs, which children hold with their writing fingers as they manipulate them (knobbed cylinders, geometric cabinet, etc.)
• Practical life activities help children learn control over their movements, while strengthening those fine motor skills.
• Metal insets teach children pencil control. Those small knobs on the insets also help children strengthen their pincer grasp.
• Children often have journals in which they can practice drawing and writing, either independently or through guided activities.
  
• Children phonetically spell words with the moveable alphabet, sometimes before they learn how to actually read them. This leads to later writing of the words with pencil and paper.
• Story dictation provides a chance for adults to model careful writing, and to help children connect those marks to actual words.

Here are a few links to some of my previously written articles that also demonstrate written language development in the Montessori classroom, as well as activities parents can do at home.

• Christmas Writing Activity for Kids: Christmas Cards
• How to Make a Grocery Shopping List with Your Kids
• How to Teach Writing Through Art
  
• How to Teach Writing with Magazine Pictures
• The Montessori Language Curriculum
• Partnering with Your Child's Teacher for Language
  
• Prepare Your Child to Write His Name
• Preschool Tracing Letters and Numbers Activities
  

A while ago I came across one of the coolest ideas for a garden. A sensory garden.

The senses go beyond the traditional five senses that you learned as a kid. Sure, you have to appease sight, taste, hearing, smell, and touch. But, there are also the vestibular, proprioceptive, and interoceptive senses. Vestibular means a sense of balance. Proprioceptive means a sense of self in space. Interoceptive means internal sensations, such as knowing when hungry, thirsty, needing to go to the bathroom, etc.

This fantastic post on Hartley's Life with 3 Boys teachers you how to easily create a sensory garden at home, to fulfill all of these senses. I would love to see such things being implemented in schools, as well. What a great sensorial project!

What do you think?

A new trend in Montessori classrooms is the "difficult" child. The kid who throws things around the room, runs around, slams into people, yells and screams, hurts others, seems inattentive, etc., etc......

These children don't fit our Montessori ideals. It is hard to get them constructively engaged in anything and it seems like they are not learning a thing. We begin to question whether or not they even belong in our program. Sometimes, their parents are willing to work with us. Other times, parents are in denial that there is anything going on, and they accuse you of not being able to handle their child.

Times like these, it is imperative that you take a step back, and draw on those observational skills that were emphasized so much in your Montessori training. It is highly unlikely that the child is being a pain to actually try to be naughty. No child really seeks out naughty behavior for the sake of being naughty. There is usually a reason behind it.

Sometimes that child is simply attention seeking, and has realized that the fastest way to get attention is to do something negative. Some children may have an underlying disorder, such as sensory processing disorder or even some aspect of the autism spectrum, such as PDD or Aspergers.

While you cannot diagnose children yourself, you can make numerous objective notes on what the child's behavior is. See if you can identify any triggers to common behaviors. Consult with other professionals in your school. Some schools are fortunate enough to have a school psychologist or social worker who can come in. These professionals must receive written permission from the parents before they can come in. Other teachers can often be of great help, as well. Lean on your community. Try different strategies. Consult with the parents, as they may be seeing the same things at home.

Read Chapter 3 of Maria Montessori's Discovery of the Child. In this specific chapter, she addresses disciplinary concerns and reminds us that some children seem more "wild" until they have normalized.

Remember the child's point of view. One of my friends uncovered this gem from the Onion, called "Adults Have Misclassified Me as a Handful." It is from the point of view of that four year-old little boy, who always seems to be in trouble, and it puts perspective onto those "difficult" children. They really just need some love and understanding.

I heard about a new blogging challenge in one of my writer's groups. It is from Tossing It Out: Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. The premise of the challenge is just what it says: write in your blog daily (except Sundays), with each day focusing on a specific letter.

I thought it would be fun to come up with a Montessori alphabet of sorts, and I am starting my brainstorming a little early. What are some of your favorite Montessori terms that I should try to cover? I can't promise writing on them all, but I can try!

I am also crazy, and trying to do this on two of my other blogs. Montessori Writer's Thoughts is a place where I can just write about whatever random thoughts pop into my head. Andi's Gardening Experiments is where I used to record my thoughts about gardening. Feel free to check those out, as well. I don't think I can come up with an A-Z on Andi's Book Reviews, nor Andi's Kids Books. Not this year.

The ultimate goal is to post on at least one of those three blogs each day. A couple of people signed up with multiple blogs to make it easier to come up with topic ideas.

Would you care to join us?

Earth Day is coming up in less than a month. This holiday perfectly fits into the Montessori philosophy, as it encourages children to care for their environment. It gets children outside into nature, which is so important to their development and concentration. It also helps them to enhance their observations of the world around them.

Here are some stories about things that other Montessori schools did for Earth Day last year. Perhaps you can become inspired by some of them. Please share some of your own upcoming ideas, also!

Flagstaff FoodLink

The Flagstaff FoodLink is counting on local schools to help teach children about sustainable, organic gardening. As children learn to grow their own food, they will take pride in it and are more likely to eat healthy foods. Some of the schools are planning on using the food grown in their gardens to feed their students. Teachers can also use the experiences to teach the plant life cycle in the science curriuclum. The local Montessori middle school was one of the participants.

Labyrinth

Students at Tulsa Montessori worked to plant 88 shrubs in a labyrinth. For now the shrubs are small, but when they mature, children can take pleasure in full body movements through this calming maze.

Ladybugs Released

Schools in Palmetto Bay released thousands of ladybugs for Earth Day, to control the aphid population as a natural pesticide. Schools participating included Alexander Montessori School and Winhold Montessori.

Planting 2 Million Trees

Brisbane had an ambitious plan to plant 2 million trees. Fig Tree Pocket State School and the Brisbane Montessori School helped to plant 1200 of them at the Brisbane Equestrian Centre.

Rainforest Alliance

Several schools in the Jacksonville area, including Discovery Montessori, worked with the Rainforest Alliance to bring about conservation awareness on a local and global level. One project included a giant art display at the Jacksonville Zoo.

Rain Garden

Sea Pines Montessori Academy in Savannah, GA created a Rain Garden last year. These gardens catch rainwater run-off, and use plants to filter pollutants out of the water.

School Gardens in Durham, Hosted by Chef

Jeff Ensminger, chef in Durham, is working on implementing school gardens at all 20 elementary schools in the district. His goal is to have four raised beds at each school, so that children can plant and harvest seasonal vegetables. They are more likely to eat food that they have grown themselves. But because state law prohibits the cafeterias from serving the school-grown produce, Ensminger hopes that they schools can possibly sell the produce. George Watts Montessori already had a thriving garden in place.

Have you ever used file folder games in your classroom? I remember when I started out, I bought all of the black and white masters from Carson Dellosa. Yeah, they are cutesy with smiley faces on them, but they seemed to serve the purpose I was seeking. My school at that time didn't have a lot of money and therefore few materials. I had to supplement somehow.

I kept finding even more file folder games all over the Internet. The only site I can remember, of course, is my favorite, ABC Teach. But you could easily do an Internet search to find more.

I haven't used any in a while, and I never did set them up as actual file folder games. I usually put the pieces on cards, to make them into matching and sorting activities.

You can even make your own. In this post on Our Journey Thru Autism, special education expert Joanna L. Keating-Velasco talks about making color matching exercises by using color swatches, and keeping them organized in a file folder game format. What are some of your favorite creations you have done with your class, file folder game or otherwise?

So many times, we teachers feel like we are at odds with our students' parents. Our recommendations seem to fall on deaf ears, or plans of action are not carried through at home. Parents who think that they can rule the Montessori curriculum, simply because they pay tuition, don't realize that they are causing more problems by negating what we are trying to do with their children. It's a problem I have seen and heard about, time and time again, both in and out of Montessori schools. How to make parents understand that we are on the same side, working together, to achieve their child's fullest potential?

I realize that parents pay tuition to have their children attend a Montessori school. This is a far cry from the days of the slums in which Maria started. But I feel that her requirements, shared in that inaugural address, should still be applied toward parents in modern programs. Here are quotes from Discovery of the Child:

"The mothers are obliged to send their children to the Children's House clean, and to cooperate with the Directress in the educational work....[T]he parents must learn to deserve the benefit of having within the house the great advantage of a school for their little ones."

The key part here is working with the directress in the education of the children. A little later it says, "[T]he mother must go at least once a week to confer with the directress, giving an account of her child, and accepting any helpful advice which the directress may be able to give."

Now, it would be difficult for parents and teachers to meet so regularly, given society's demands these days. Also, back then, the directress often lived right in the tenement with the families at the school. But the concept of regular communication is an important one here.

I explain Montessori education to my parents, try to answer all of their questions, and explain any concerns that I have. I send home regular, individual notes about a certain lesson or achievement that each child has had, at least once a week. I even cried with a mother once, when she witnessed her child's behavior in the classroom, as I begged her to help us.

What techniques have you found that seem to best help parents to trust your professional opinion? How do you make them understand what you are doing, and how to best support you at home?

A recent debate among the teachers at my school revolves around the impact of the home environment on the school environment. Now, ideally we try to create our classrooms in such a way that children can feel safe. We have different expectations in our classrooms that often differ from those at home. This means, the children should behave as we expect them to at school, regardless of how things happen at home. It takes a lot of time and patience on our parts, but it can be done.

But, what do you do when those home morals and values are so completely different from those of the classroom? I have had many parents who teach their children to fight back with fists, instead of using words, as we teach at the peace table. We have had parents who refuse to acknowledge any kinds of disciplinary issues that their children have in school, sometimes even giving their children some kind of reward upon leaving school. They have negated consequences established by the school, yet are permitted to stay and carry on. The child ends up learning nothing.

While doing my reading for the daily quotes on the Montessori Writer Facebook page, I came across this interesting part of the original regulations from the first Children's House, as shared by Maria in the Inaugural Address:

"If the child shows through its conversation that the educational work of the school is being undermind by the attitude taken in his home, he will be sent back to his parents, to teach them thus how to take advantage of their good opportunities." [Discovery of the Child]

Do we still have the right to send children away from our schools if their parents cannot accept and follow our philosophy?

I came across yet another article about children growing their own vegetables in a Montessori program. Granted, this article about Riddle Street Montessori is about a year old, but nonetheless it demonstrates how Montessori schools are bringing gardening back to their practical life programs.

These children, according to the press release, decided to answer First Lady Michelle Obama's call to reduce obesity by growing their own vegetables, and learning how to lead healthier lifestyles. They received assistance from a local greenhouse.

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1213502

I came across this great article from about a year ago, about a group of Montessori high school students who traveled to Belize. They are from the Meadow Montessori High School in Monroe, MI. They spent nine days down there, helping to build a sidewalk and to make repairs at a school. They also got some play time, walking up Mayan ruins, snorkeling, and more. It was truly a life-changing experience, and they shared what they learned with parents, teachers, and other students.

Then, there is one about a group of kids in Holden who raised money for the Heifer Project, to help families all around the world. They learned about money and geography, while raising the money to provide families with livestock, to give them a constant food supply.

Our kids need to be doing more community outreach programs. Granted, we can't all travel to Belize, and most of our kids are much younger. But, there are small things we can do around our own schools and communities to make a difference.

What does your school do to make a difference?

Read more about the Montessori Country Day School in Holden and the Heifer Project.

Read more about the Meadow Montessori High School trip.