“To have learned something for the child is only a point of departure. When he has learned the meaning of an exercise, then he begins to enjoy repeating it, and he does repeat it an infinite number of times, with the most evident satisfaction”- Maria Montessori – The Montessori Method

Children had a great time this week exploring and repeating some of the new materials in the environment. In a Montessori environment, repetition does not necessarily mean that the child has to engage in the same exact work over and over again. Anything that provides the child with practice of a previously learned skill, including extensions and games, is repetition. Dr. Montessori said, “Repetition is the secret of perfection.”

Through repetitive exploration your children are able to look at a material from different angles and explore it, letting it become part of their understanding of the world. At the same time, it allows them to self-critique: they look at how they are doing something and make slight changes in order to perfect the action, making it more efficient. The Montessori environment is designed to support exactly this kind of learning. Children choose their own work, allowing their interest to guide them to a choice. They are drawn by desire and that allows them to return to an activity with frequency, working with it until they have perfected it. It is, in fact, a developmental need. A common phrase you can hear in our environment is the children saying: “I want to do it again!” Dr. Montessori wrote, “When a child has attained this stage, of repeating an exercise, he is on the way to self-development, and the external sign of this condition is his self-discipline.”

On another note, children enjoyed exploring a ruby red grapefruit for food tasting. It was a fun and tangy experience! 🙂

With the goal of building confidence and encouraging verbal expression we also introduced a new game where the children get the opportunity to be the teacher and lead their peers during circle times. This week, children chose a song to lead and the boost of confidence was so visible to observe when the other peers would follow their lead! There were big smiles and giggling all around! It was precious! We will continue to add these types of exercises to our morning routines!

Your children are blooming and we are honored to witness it.

Maria Montessori used the scientific method to study children’s natural learning processes. She found that the child absorbs the culture they are in effortlessly and without fatigue between the ages of 0 – 6. Whatever the child is exposed to is internalized by the child and accepted into the child’s own being, imprinted on their soul. If a child is surrounded with music, the child will be a musical person. If a child hears their parents singing, the child will sing. If a child sees their parents dancing, the child will dance. She called this the child’s “absorbent mind.”

In addition to our music enrichment class every Thursday, children are exposed to meaningful music experiences everyday. They learn the names of the instruments they are playing and they learn how to properly play them. This week, we focused on the importance of being polite and waiting until everybody gets their instrument before selecting a song and grabbing their instrument to play! Children were directed to recognize hand gestures for tempo, dynamics, and their favorite: the closing of the song. They all love to hold their fists up and watch how everybody’s instrument stops at the same time! Their smiles say it all! We call this our “band time.”

Another highlight of this week was the introduction of a beloved work by all the children: a baby doll. Her name is Rosie. 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 cuddle Rosie with such a care, others explored her body parts using it as an enrichment of vocabulary work. They worked together to make sure Rosie felt loved. They read, sang and kissed her. They walked her around and showed her the environment. Some of them even gave her lessons. Children also role played by taking turns to be the baby and getting into the crib while other classmates took care of them. It was so precious! We want to thank Ms. Ulacco and Ms. Benoit for using their talents in making for us the beautiful baby’s crib bedding. Children loved this work! We can’t wait to present to them the feeding and bathing extensions of this work.

Based on our winter theme, we introduced in the language area 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, an arctic rabbit, a beluga whale, a polar bear, and they also received a lesson on what is an igloo.

For food tasting we explored hearts of palm. As children observed this food they asked if it was a cheese stick or a tortilla. 🙂 They learned that this vegetable comes from the inner core of a palm tree. At the moment of tasting it only a couple of children really enjoyed it and asked for more, however all loved the slimy exploration of this vegetable.

We hope you all enjoyed the long weekend, and this beautiful and unusual January weather.

Happy New Year! We hope you had a wonderful holiday break and you got some relaxation and meaningful time with your families! We are thankful for all of you and for the joy your wonderful children bring to our lives! What an honor it is to see them growing and blooming right before our eyes! We want to thank you also for your generosity through your gifts and encouraging words! Ms. Lizette, Ms. Maria and I love partnering with you through this adventure!

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. For the next month we will focus on our Winter studies, using water as a main object for conversations and sensorial experiences. This week we introduced one of the conditions of water that is truly magical: snowflakes. Children learned that even though snowflakes have in common symmetry and a hexagonal structure, the detailed structures of the snowflakes are totally different. I can’t stop thinking how the individuality of a snowflake is parallel to human life. Each one of your children are so unique and so precious and we are grateful we are able to “contemplate” them as they grow and continue to share their beauty.

At the end of the week, children enjoyed choosing their favorite stencil to paint their own snowflake, not forgetting the magical touch of glitter as the last detail.

Another highlight of this week was the addition of the rocking moose and the slide to our climbing structure. There is a sense of exhilaration in the life of a child when using slides, no matter how big or small they are. Apart from promoting balance, coordination, and spatial awareness, this exercise promotes positive social skills. Children learn to play together and take turns. Children learn to be patient and tolerant and they increase their communication skills.

As part of our Enrichment of Vocabulary curriculum we added opposites to our language works. It’s so great to see your children purposely observing and verbally communicating while enjoying finding the matching opposite cards.

For food tasting children seem to enjoy using all their senses in the exploration of a beet! Its leaves looked like hair for some of the children and the roots of it were fun to touch. Most of the children were not too enthusiastic about tasting this food, but at least some of them liked it and asked for more!

As we continue to enjoy our winter season, please make sure your child brings a labeled bag with winter gear inside. This includes: snow pants, waterproof mittens with mittens clips, snow boots, winter hat and winter jacket. Feel free to leave it in your child’s locker as we will use it, weather permitting.