“If teaching is to be effective with young children, it must assist them to advance on the way to independence. It must initiate them into those kinds of activities that they can perform themselves and that keep them from being a burden to others because of their inabilities. We must help them to learn how to walk without assistance, to run, to go up and down stairs, to pick up fallen objects, to dress and undress, to wash, to express their needs in a way that is clearly understood, and to attempt to satisfy their desires through their efforts. All this is part of an education for independence”.

Dr. Maria Montessori

Toddlers are naturally eager to learn these things. “Do it myself” might well be the refrain for the toddler years! Our day-to-day lives often make for less-than-ideal circumstances to help our children achieve the independence they crave. Our homes are not optimized around a little person with a height of under three feet: Objects are hard to reach, too heavy, or too big for little hands to use. Our days are not set up to move at their speed: We rarely just happen to have ten spare minutes to wait while our almost two-year-olds put on their jacket!

Yet enabling a toddler to become more independent has huge short-term and long-term benefits. Power struggles decrease when a child feels more in control. Temper tantrums are less frequent when toddlers are busy doing things for themselves rather than resisting their parent’s efforts to do things for them! A child who feels capable because they can act in the world without needing to rely on grown-ups for every little thing is a child who is developing self-confidence.

We have introduced the routine of changing into indoor shoes at the beginning of the morning! At this point, most of the children have learned to recognize their space and continue to work hard in the skill of removing their shoes, coordinating their hands to get the new shoe on, and pulling and closing the velcro tabs. Your children have been working on the skill of taking their snack box from the snack shelf as well, carrying it and bringing it to their respective table, opening the box, and taking their snack out. In addition, they have been learning the importance of asking for help when needed and remaining seated while eating. These are big steps for little people, but your children have been absorbing the routines beautifully, and their skills improve daily.

Children received a lesson on water transferring this week. To make it even more interesting, we used a sea wool sponge for transferring. The “magic” of watching the water disappear and get inside the sponge is fun, but it’s even more fun when suddenly you squeeze the sponge and all the vanished water comes out. Children received two new vocabulary words when observing the bowls used for the transfer. They like to repeat them over and over: empty and full. At the end of the activity, they were encouraged to look for spills and wipe them up on the table with a towel and on the floor with a mop.

Continuing our apple studies this week, we explored a Granny Smith apple for our food-tasting lesson. Skin, flesh, stem, core, and seeds are vocabulary words we often repeat these days.

As an extra sensorial addition, we worked on an apple stamping art piece. Children enjoyed dipping the apple halves into different colored paints and stamping them all over their papers! They seemed very proud of their work!

We celebrated another birthday, and the children were, of course, really happy to celebrate, especially because they knew there was a special treat! 🙂

Lastly, children seemed to enjoy our new song, “Way Up High in the Apple Tree.” Children practiced the numbers one through five using their hands. As children are working on copying fingerplays and growing in language, feel free to practice it at home with your child.

Way up high in that apple tree. (Place left hand under right elbow and lift right arm with fingers open, forming a tree.)
Five red apples smiled down at me. (wiggle fingers)
I shook that tree as hard as I could. (shake right arm and hand)
Down came an apple! Mmmmm, it was good! (hide your thumb and pretend to eat an apple.)
Way up high in the apple tree, four red apples smiled down at me (count fingers)

Repeat the song until there are zero apples in the tree.

Have a great weekend,

Mrs. Hood and Ms. Mollie

One of the main highlights of our week was our first lesson on food tasting. As children grow beyond the infant stage, they begin the journey to independence as toddlers. Many parents notice this change in their children when it comes to mealtime, as they begin to hear a resounding “No!” when it comes to eating the foods they once loved and trying new ones. In order to help families, we have integrated food tasting into our toddler program as a way to ease children into the idea of trying new foods by teaching them all about the food and encouraging them to participate as a group.

This week, we introduced some delicious red apples!

Children were really excited to see the food-tasting tray covered, especially our second-year students, who knew what was coming. The children gathered quietly around the tray as they noticed there was a surprise under the towel. To keep the mystery going, I peeked under the towel and got the children really excited and curious! There were smiles and expressions of awe at the moment I finally removed the towel that was covering the apple. This fruit was presented as a whole first, then cut in front of them, presented as half, and then served individually. In our conversation, and as the children could touch the apple being presented, we included such adjectives as cold, big, smooth, red, and tasty to keep adding to our vocabulary. Children observed while I slowly picked up a piece of apple and placed it inside my mouth, tasting it slowly and dramatically, with the purpose of encouraging curiosity and expectation when it was their turn to taste. They willingly accepted my invitation, and they all enjoyed some yummy apples. This lesson is a favorite every year, and we can’t wait to explore all the different food items on our list each week.

This week, we also celebrated our first birthday in the classroom. It’s always a joy to see those smiley faces feeling seen and cherished!

By the end of the week, we gathered as a school and celebrated the International Day of Peace. Each year, the International Day of Peace (“Peace Day”) is observed around the world on the 21st of September. Established by the United Nations, Peace Day provides a globally shared date for all humanity to commit to Peace above all differences and to contribute to building a Culture of Peace.

On this day, Montessori schools from around the world join together to sing for peace. The song travels around the globe over a 24-hour period, starting with New Zealand and ending with the Hawaiian Islands.

Maria Montessori truly believed in peace education as she felt that world peace can only be achieved through education. In Montessori, we strive to give children the tools to live at peace with others and settle conflict in a peaceful manner.

While you enjoy some of your children’s pictures, we encourage you to put the volume up on this beautiful song and remember that each one of these little ones deserves to live in a peaceful world. So let’s work together for it!

Enjoy your weekend,

Mrs. Hood and Ms. Mollie