and suddenly it all made sense

The child in this photo has been practicing letter sounds and symbols at school for over 2 years.

He's blended, rhymed, segmented, traced, matched...

I spent the last year searching for new ways to keep him interested and excited about language.

{Sometimes I get fired-up about something - like reading, and I have to remind myself, "Follow the child, Anne, follow the child!"}

Believe me, I was following this child!
He would drop everything to play a language game!
He would invite me to play language games!
{The kid loves to rhyme so much, he was named "The Rhyme-Master" at the end of the school year potluck.}

The pieces were all there, but they hadn't quite fit together yet...

Until today!!!!!!!!!!!!
He was like a word-building maniac!
{He told me he was going for the Guinness Book of World Records.}

The way he worked - with joy, pride, and purpose,
gave me goosebumps.

I just wanted to share this feeling, and to say,
{I'm sure you already know this!}
it is SO important to have patience with children...
you never know when or where they'll reveal their gifts!

ski day #1 & #2

hike, hike, hike

excited dog, excited husband
{I'm excited, too.}

Weeeeeeeeee...

...eeeeeeeeeeeee!!!


Rosie
{the abominable snow-dog}

LOVE!

busy hands

cleaning up a big spill
The children serve themselves milk and water at lunchtime.
It can be challenging, as an adult, to witness a big spill...
but it's all part of becoming independent!
{We use a lot of cloths around here!}

...3 thousand, 4 thousand, 5 thousand...
the big display
{a representation of the decimal system from 1 - 9,000)

sharpening pencils
{Hey! Isn't that the same kid from the big spill? - Yes, he's a busy guy!}
The new pencil sharpener is still the cat's meow...
from 6 inches to 1 inch in less than a 60 seconds.
{We've been having a lot of discussions
about sharpening pencils too short!}

playing a bell...
and listening until the beautiful sound is all gone.

matching color tablets
to things in the environment...
{"Look! The pink tower is pink! Our favorite color!"}

building words
with the movable alphabet
{It's important to remember that when a child builds a word,
she's not necessarily able to read it yet.}

Here's a photo of what my busy hands made this week...
a new hat!
Perfect for all these snowy days we're having around here.
If you're curious about the pattern I used,
I bought it here.
{Yes! I actually bought a pattern. I'm pretty sure it was worth it.}

models?

As I cleaned the classroom this afternoon, I couldn't stop thinking about these pink tower/broad stair extension cards. Some teacher, somewhere along the way made them. They feature drawings and photos of various structures that can be built with the pink tower and the broad stair. They are super-worn out, and I can't decide whether I should make new ones or just get rid of them all together.

Here's my internal debate:

In my classroom, we try not to put out models with art lessons.
One of Bev Bos' (Don't Move the Muffin Tins) rules for preschool art teachers is to avoid models. Here's what she has to say about it:

By models, I mean those things you have made for the child to copy. Never make a model to show a child. In the first place, it's insulting. It's like saying, "You don't know what a turkey looks like, so I'll show you." I've heard teachers say, " Well, I always tell them they can make theirs any way they want, even if I make a model. " This isn't a solution. I know how inadequate I feel trying to copy any product made by someone much more skilled than I.

Does this apply to these cards? Do they stifle creativity and intimidate the children?

Not all children use them when they build with the pink tower and the broad stair. I've always felt that the children who do use them are inspired by all the possibilities, but maybe they should be making these discoveries on their own.

I took an art education class last spring, and when the instructor found out I was a Montessori teacher, he told me that one thing had always bothered him about Montessori schools. He couldn't understand why we had pictures to go along with the long red blocks. He was referring to the long stair, aka the red rods. (We have extension cards for this lesson in our classroom, too, they just didn't make it into the photo.) I couldn't give him a good answer then, and I still can't!

What do you think?

a broad stair variation

A little broad stair background:

• The broad stair is a Montessori material from the Sensorial area of the classroom.
• It consists of 10 rectangular prisms, varying in height and width (from 10 cm to 1 cm).
• When the child builds with the broad stair, he experiences the concept of width in a concrete way.

Top 2 favorite things to do with the broad stair:

1. roll a marble down the stair (It makes the most fabulous sound!)
2. build creatively with both the broad stair and the pink tower (There's a relationship between the two materials!)

What in the world is that child in the picture doing?

He's using a straw to blow a puff down the broad stair, of course!
He's having a blast, and he's...

• concentrating
• stimulating his facial nerves and muscles
• changing the focus of his eyes from near to far
  
• improving his balance
• strengthening the connections between the hemispheres of his brain

This is all according to HANDLE, of which my knowledge is very limited - I should just go ahead and take a class already!
What I do know is that the child in the photo is someone who rarely concentrates. He's usually the one rolling around in the middle of the classroom. (The one I feel like I'm constantly nagging...)

But, look at that photo, can't you just feel his concentration?
He LOVES using a straw to blow things like puffs and feathers down the broad stair.
I love seeing him engaged and successful. :)