“An interesting piece of work, freely chosen, which has the virtue of inducing concentration rather than fatigue, adds to the child’s energies and mental capacities, and leads him to self mastery.”
-Maria Montessori
The Moveable Alphabet
It is amazing to watch children as young as four writing on the moveable alphabet. The advantage of the moveable alphabet is that it allows children to express themselves before their handwriting is able to be read. Their hands are not yet fully prepared to write with a pencil but some already have the skills to sound out words phonetically... like octups (octopus) and pumkn (pumpkin).
Authors write about what they know.
A goal for kindergarte students is to compose a story of three related sentences. Here is a student who can write quite eloquently about playing with her sister. She is ready to write the next two sentences where she will add details to her story.
one day i got in the back yard and i play with sammy.
Sometimes authors write fiction.
You may have heard of the Three Tenors.
Here we have...
The Three Authors.
These three 4 year olds decided to be a "team!"
With just a little logistical help, they created a story with the title, "nevrland." It's about three "faree grls" who get trapped by "captin hook".
Stay tuned, there may be more to come.
Here we have...
The Three Authors.
These three 4 year olds decided to be a "team!"
With just a little logistical help, they created a story with the title, "nevrland." It's about three "faree grls" who get trapped by "captin hook".
Stay tuned, there may be more to come.
The Beauty of Concentration
When you come to observe your child at work, one of the things you want to watch for is your child's ability to concentrate for extended periods of time.
This is a photo of a first year student. He is completely focused on looking at the objects and which tops go with which bottoms. This lesson is called, Opening and Closing. It not only provides strengthening exercise for the fingers that will one day write but provides enough interest to support concentration. In this way, the Montessori Method enables even our youngest students to work independently throughout the morning.
A child fully engaged in meaningful activity is beautiful to observe!
This is a photo of a first year student. He is completely focused on looking at the objects and which tops go with which bottoms. This lesson is called, Opening and Closing. It not only provides strengthening exercise for the fingers that will one day write but provides enough interest to support concentration. In this way, the Montessori Method enables even our youngest students to work independently throughout the morning.
A child fully engaged in meaningful activity is beautiful to observe!