Montessori Pathways' News

January, 2012



Notes from Miss Alena

 

       I would like to start off by extending a warm welcome to three new students: Kyra, Anshu, and Cooper. Welcome to our Montessori Pathways family! Montessori Elementary School in Crystal Lake, Lake in the Hills

 

       After a very hectic December, we were able to slow down a little in January. The month started with our Parent Evening on the interrelation of language and science. There was a lot of new information presented on the relationship between the two areas and it was great to hear parents relating back how they’ve been applying this information in their homes.

 

       I would really like to share a moment from our Montessori classroom with you. One afternoon, during snack time, the children were sitting on the line and finishing their snack. One of our students warned the kids next to her that if they continue to be very active, they will knock over her cup with water (which indeed happened not even moments after her warning). My initial, instinctive reaction was typical of any adult--the "uh-oh, now what?"

 

       The child's response to my reaction with her eyes (“What's the big deal?”) was awe-inspiring. She then stood up and said, "Not a problem. I can get a floor cloth," which she proceeded to do. After she successfully cleaned up the area, she looked at me and proudly said "What's the problem, Ms. Alena?" All I could think was "love it!!!!" There were no bounds to my excitement! This is exactly what the Montessori environment strives for: the ability to easily solve any problem and have a sense of self-confidence.

 

       I also wanted to share a personal story of Montessori being seen in the home. The kindergarten club had been voting on a name for a new snowy owl that was moved to the Lincoln Park Zoo. Alex decided to share this news with us. But when we asked him more information about the owl (Where was it born? How old was it?) he did not know, and left for a while.

 

       He then returned with more specific information and when we asked him where he found it, he said “It was easy. I just looked on Google.”

 

       I’m lucky that I can observe my child not only as a mother, but as a teacher, which reassures me each time that the Montessori Method is what our children need. This drive to search for information is something that is supported with the Montessori Method.

 

        In a Montessori class, children are not simply fed information from the teacher, but learn how to find the necessary information that is interesting and important to them. This research skill starts to develop in the Primary (ages 3-6 ) class and is the main focus of the Lower Elementary, because this is an important skill in today’s society.

 

       Although I never taught him how to look up information online, he learned through observation and was able to utilize it in order to find answers that were of interest to him.

 

       Another day, when watching a Disney Channel show, he heard the words “whole” and “hole” and said “Did you know those are homonyms?” To my knowledge, this is part of the elementary curriculum, but as he said, they were learning about them in kindergarten club. Not only was he able to retain the information, but also apply it, which is specific to the Montessori Method.

 

       It is so sad that I could not have a chance to be a Montessori student, but I am so happy that my son can.

 

        Warmly,
        Miss Alena

 

 

 

Working with Montessori materials:
 The Snake Game

 

 

 

       The Snake Game is a Montessori math material that introduces the child to the concept of remainder. A child who has worked extensively with a work called handful exchange is presented with The Snake Game. Handful exchange gives the child a concrete activity to practice changing 10 ones into 1 ten, 10 tens into 1 hundred and 10 hundreds into 1 thousand. This concept is often taught in traditional schools as carrying when doing an addition equation. Handful Exchange gives the child the understanding behind why we are carrying in a very hands-on way.

 

Montessori Elementary School in Crystal Lake, Woodstock, IL        The Snake Game begins with a child laying out a horizontal free form “snake” using the colored number bead bars.

 

        The child will also set up a special set of remainder beads that she will use as she proceeds with The Snake Game.

 

Montessori Kindergater School in Crystal Lake, Cary, IL         The child begins on the left side of the snake and begins to count each individual bead, when she gets to ten she stops. She places her counter upright wherever she stopped within the colored bead segment. She then gets one gold 10 bead bar to exchange for the ten she just counted. Then she counts the remainder of the colored beads within that segment to the right of her counter, this is her remainder. She finds the correct remainder bead from her remainder beads and places it with the golden ten bar. She removes the counted colored bead bars and then begins counting again from one, beginning with the remainder bead. She continues on counting to 10, exchanging and finding the correct remainder until she had transformed her entire colored snake into a golden snake. If a remainder exists, it is the head of the snake.

 

       The Snake Game is usually presented to children in their third year (Kindergarten) as they have the focus and fine motor skills to manipulate the materials with ease and have grasped the concept of exchange. This hands-on approach and very visual approach allow the children to really understand the mathematical concepts of exchange and remainder.

 

       More advanced versions of The Snake Game (multiplication, division and subtraction) are introduced in the Montessori Elementary classroom.

 

 

Miss Jocelyn

 

 

 

 

Working with Montessori materials:
 Roll Work

 

       Roll work is one of several activities on the shelf which highlights the decimal system and place value. Montessori Preschool School in Crystal Lake, Woodstock, IL
  • The child begins by setting up the “bank”. The bank consists of ones, tens, hundreds, and (rarely) a thousand.
  • The child then can take one bead from the bank for himself.
  • He sets the numeral one next to his bead, representing the quantity he “owns”.
  • He records how much he has on special place value paper in designated colors.
  • He then can take another bead from the bank for himself, turn over the old number, get the new number which represents his quantity and record the new number.
The child repeats the process “forever”.