Community Montessori School

February 7, 2012

There are a lot of exciting things happening in the Toddler rooms this month, so we thought we would combine our February update!

The new playgournd slide has been installed outside; the children love it! A big THANK YOU! to everyone who made this happen. With this mild winter we are having (fingers crossed it continues) the children have been able to go outside almost every day. With that being said please, please remember to send your children with hats, gloves, and boots. We have room in their bins to keep an extra pair here if that is easier! Also, please remember to keep us supplied with the necessary clothing for changes. With all the damp weather, we are needing to change the children into new pants after they try out our new slide! It is fun, but can be messy!

We are also excited to say we are finished with one-time use paper products! The commercial dishwasher is here and ready to be used. The children will now be able to eat using real plates, bowls, cups and silverware! We already have purchased cups, plates, and bowls for the children to use and are asking if any families would be willing to donate silverware. The silverware needs to be ALL METAL so that it will not melt when washed. If you would be willing to donate and have any questions please feel free to email us. We would greatly appreciate it!

Another note related to the dishwasher is that we will be yet again be updating our snack list. Because we are able to use real dishware this offers us the opportunity to bake and do group snack preparation with the children. Instead of asking for all prepackaged food items we will ask for items that can be used for baking and different food prep. We are very happy that we now have this opportunity to provide a wider variety of nutritious food for your children as well as the opportunity for them to be a part of its preparation and clean up.

A few details we want you to be aware of in the toddler community are how we handle Valentine's Day. Because this holiday is very abstract, we will be incorporating Velentine's crafts on the shelf. We will not do a Valentine card exchange with the children, and ask that you not send in individual cards, We work on grace and courtesy, friendship and taking care of our friends each day, and we will continue to do this throughout the school year! Thank you for your understanding in this!

We were happy to see a few of our parents attend the parent education evening that we held last week. However, since so many of you were unable to attend , we thought that we would attach our speaking points so that you would have the opportunity to look through them and ask any questions. We sent home the fliers with some main points, but we wanted you to see all the ideas that we covered in the parent education night. As you continue your time at Community Montessori School, parent education nights are a really wonderful time to learn more about what happens in the classroom, ask questions and find out more about your child's development. We always encourage you to ask if you have questions!

We thank you for all of your help and support, and are so happy to see all the wonderful things that your children are doing!

Joselyn Modic, Bridgett McElroy, and Beverly Watson

The following acticle talks about the way in which we introduce new concepts to children in the Montessori classroom.

Montessori and the Three Period Lesson

Maria Montessori developed something called the three period lesson.

• Period one is the nameing period: "This is...."
• Period two is the asociation/recognition period: "Show me...."
• Period three is the recall period: "What is this?"

She divided the lesson into three parts so that language could be more readily absorbed and would be repeated many times before the child would be asked to recall it from his/her own memory. The third period is the most difficult and should not be asked until you have done many different repetitions with the first two periods.

If you have objects or cards, they should be moved and manipulated in the second period of the lesson so that the child is seeing them, touching them and moving them to different spots on a table or rug. This way they won't remember the objects in a specific order or in relation to one another. There is a good video on http://www.infomontessori.com/sensorial/three-period-lesson.htm that shows a three period lesson with three color tablets.

Also, remember when using this approach, it is essential to isolate one quaility that you are tying to teach (i.e. red, yellow, blue instead of red apple, yellow sun, blue sky). This helps learing happen faster and with much less confusion. Add movement to the three period lesson by asking your child to "carry the triangle around the rug" or "jump with the circle." Adding an element of fun and movement adds to their excitement and will help you to continue the lesson longer than making it a sedentary exercise.

Remember that it might take many different times to come back to a concept or vocabulary to get your child to recall from his/her own memory the words you are trying to teach. Repetition is key. Don't get frustrated, make it a fun game, and keep at it! The third period is the hardest one for the child, so stay in the second period as long as is necessary.