“The human hand allows the mind to reveal itself.” – Maria Montessori

Art is one of the many ways children express themselves. When it comes to art, it is the process not the product that is important to the child. As adults our goal is to produce a product, but the child interacts with the world differently. The child works to develop self. The focus is on the process not the product. Once a child creates something, they do not feel the need to keep the product. It is the process that gives them satisfaction and inner joy.

In our Montessori environment, art materials teach each skill separately so that the children can combine them on their own: line drawing with crayons, holding and managing colored chalk, cutting without and with a guideline, stamping, working with clay, painting with watercolors, etc.  All of these skills will be mastered independently and then combined at the child’s discretion in some grand piece of artwork later on in their  development.

Apart from painting on the easel, we added a fun sensorial experience this week to tie in with our winter studies: ice cube painting! Children enjoyed creating different pieces of art work while combining colors, but the truly big point of interest of this exercise was to feel the coldness of the paint! They LOVED painting their hands and were mesmerized for long periods of time by the sensation on their hands!

Gluing is also a very popular work in our environment! Learning to use glue develops hand-eye coordination and fine motor planning skills. It also helps your child understand the sensory concept of stickiness.

On another note, we just want to express how very proud we feel to see how far your children have come (and keep working) on their independence, especially in the area of self care. Dressing oneself  into winter gear can feel overwhelming for any toddler but your children work with such focus on mastering the necessary skills, it’s just so great to witness! Keep encouraging this at home as well; you will be amazed at how much they can do.

In case you don’t know, I’ll leave you here with a demonstration on how we have taught your children to put on their coats all by themselves. We hope it comes in handy in those moments where your little one wants to “do it myself”.

Have a great weekend,

Mrs. Hood and Ms. Maria

In Montessori education, the term “normalization” has a specialized meaning. “Normal” does not refer to what is considered to be “typical” or “average” or even “usual.” “Normalization” does not refer to a process of being forced to conform. Instead, Maria Montessori used the terms “normal” and “normalization” to describe a unique process she observed in child development.

Dr. Montessori observed that when children are allowed freedom in an environment suited to their needs, they blossom. After a period of intense concentration, working with materials that fully engage their interest, children appear to be refreshed and content. Through continued concentrated work of their own choice, children grow in inner discipline and peace. She called this process “normalization” and cited it as “the most important single result of our whole work (The Absorbent Mind, 1949).”

The children in our environment are on a great path to “normalization.” Every morning we get to see its signs! We also watch with joy how children have internalized the routines, and transitions are more peaceful! They recognize their friends and feel comfortable sharing and working together. Deep friendships are developing, and expressions of love and care for each other are more evident.

On another note, we introduced a beloved work by all the children: a baby doll. His name is Juanito.  Through this work children practice grace and courtesy, gentleness, and a lot of patience since everybody wants to take care of the baby. Children enjoyed this work so much! Some of them cuddled Juanito with such care, others explored his body parts using it as an enrichment of vocabulary work. The fact that the baby can open and shut his eyes was a point of interest for many of the children. They worked together to make sure Juanito felt loved. They read, sang and kissed him. They walked him around and showed him the environment. He was even shown how to dance to “We Are the Dinosaurs” during our dancing time. Juanito is a busy baby! 

Another highlight is that the big easel is now in the environment and children have had a good time painting freely while working their hand-eye coordination, fine/gross motor control and creative independence! 

This week we explored two vegetables in our food tasting lesson: Beets and Carrots! With both, children were surprised about how long their stems and leaves were and how these vegetables grow underground! 

It was indeed a fun and busy week and that’s how we love it over here! 

Mrs. Hood and Ms. Maria 

“We must clearly understand that when we give the child freedom and independence, we are giving freedom to a worker already braced for action, who cannot live without working and being active.” (The Absorbent Mind, Chapter 8, p. 91.)

Even though it was a quiet and super short week, children enjoyed exploring the environment and sharpening their skills using different materials.

We can’t wait to see everybody back soon!

Love,

Mrs. Hood

Happy New Year, families! We hope you had a wonderful holiday break and you got some relaxation and meaningful time with your families!

Your children transitioned peacefully after the break and they arrived eager and ready to explore the environment and all the new works on the shelves. As we have officially entered the winter season we will be focusing on bringing it into the environment and enjoying different aspects of it.  Water and its different stages will be a main object for conversations and Sensorial experiences during this month.

In the language area younger toddlers were introduced to an object to picture matching work, focused on arctic animals. Children learned to recognize a harp seal, an arctic fox, a killer whale, a walrus, a husky, a caribou, a beluga whale, and a polar bear. Second year students continue using this material to remember animal names and explore other new details about them.

Another of the popular works this week was building up a snowman out of felt. Through this exercise children review body parts,winter clothing names and enhance their critical thinking skills deciding where these parts belong on the snowman.

We were also thankful for temperature to rise a little so children  had a blast playing and exploring outdoors! We can’t wait to be able to have good snow to build a real snowman together!

For food tasting, children explored Kale and Mango! We were so happy to see all our toddlers enjoy some natural kale chips and asking for more. Mango was also a hit among the majority of the class.

We can’t wait to have all our class back together!

Mrs. Hood and Ms. Maria