SHOW AND TELL
Bring a thing that helps keep us healthy.
Topic: Health Professions
The work adults do
The value is collaboration, which is to work together for the common good.
For science, we’ll explore experiments about our senses.
Outside, we’ll practice walking on a balance beam.
The songs we’ll be singing are Brush Your Teeth, It’s a Small World, Them Bones, Kumbaya, and Do Your Ears Hang Low?
For creative dramatics, we’ll pretend to be health care professionals.
Our art activities are glue overs, people rocks, toothy mouth, splatter bugs, and construction sticks.
For motor development, we’ll work on flexibility with yoga poses. For vestibular function, we’ll do log rolls, spelling with our heads, walking dizzy, and running in circles.
THE ABILITY TO CENTER
Sometimes a goal of children’s behavior is to withdraw. Although we may find this strange, in an encouraged child, it is defined as the ability to center. Linda Dunlay, the Marist College psychology department chair says, “Our ultimate goal as parents is to transform an infant who’s entirely dependent into a self-sufficient adult. Privacy allows kids to develop independence and individuality.”
From the very youngest age, infants demonstrate a need to withdraw by looking away for a few seconds. In Montessori, we are taught that adults should almost never disturb a child who is intent on a project. The infant who is babbling happily in his crib or who is fascinated by sunlight playing across the floor can be left to enjoy these private moments until he signals he needs attention. Toddlers want to declare their independence and then run back to the security of a parent they know will be there. They also love a safe place where they can be alone. This might be a sheet over the dining table or a pile of pillows in the living room. Older preschoolers like to assert their independence by developing a sense of ownership or “mine”. A special box of their own treasures is a form of privacy.
Around five or six, children may begin to ask for privacy. They may want to close the door while they bathe or they may not want you to get things out of their drawers. At this age, you’ll want to have a lot of patience to listen to your child as she really begins to share ideas with you. She may not have the vocabulary or the sophistication to get through a whole concept well, so you may have to listen to a lot of rambling. Practice “active listening” to solidify the relationship. During the teen years when kids become so much more private, you’ll be glad you learned these skills.
Everyone needs private time and space. You’ll have to role model this for your children. Be very clear about privacy rules, and obey them yourself. If your rule is to knock before entering a closed door, you must role model that behavior. If your rule is to respect other people’s possessions, you’ll have to be hands-off your children’s things. Very importantly, don’t be afraid to leave unstructured time in your child’s life. This time to reflect, to imagine, even to entertain oneself is an important learning. It’s a fine line to allow your child to be alone - but not lonely. Learn to be available. Parents need to be around, letting their children feel the push/pull between wanting independence and wanting to be connected. By establishing this balance, we develop the strong center our children need to keep themselves stable.
On the Calendar
Continue Learning – It may be understandable that when students are away from school for long periods of time like; summer vacations they may return back to school and have forgotten some or most of what they “learned” the previous semester. The same is even more profound with our young students. When students are away from the school they fall out of the routine, time once dedicated for school is replaced by something else. At the school we have seen over the years students who counted up to 100, or was mastering sounds of letters, when they return back to the school the information is forgotten the teachers start from the beginning and re-teach. When your child is out of school for more than a week consider sitting time aside to focus on what he is leaning at school. Counting the number of blue cars as you travel along the highways, or the number of people you see wearing pink while at the airport, if you are at the grocery store that could be an opportunity to sound out the first letter on the cereal boxes. Before you go on your vacation you might want to ask your child’s teacher for suggestions, it’s beneficial for all age groups even babies.
Control Of Error – The design of most Montessori materials gives students immediate feedback. This feedback is called “control of error,” this feature makes it possible for students to determine for themselves if they have done each exercise correctly. Children choose their learning activities within the range of their current abilities. Making mistakes is a vital part of the learning process. Discovery, investigation, and problem solving involve making wrong turns, getting stuck and trying again. Students are learning how to recognize an error and learn how to make corrections, becoming self-disciplined.
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