Creating Emotionally Safe Environments

Part of my passion for Montessori environments is how respectful of children these environments are.  Not just where children are developmentally or academically, but also emotionally.  As a former traditional teacher,  my training for classroom management and/or discipline was very teacher directed and controlled.  In Montessori classrooms, we help support children as they go through challenging times with their emotions.  Helping children understand what they are feeling and helping them use their words in the midst of frustration, anger, or sadness, is a real life skill.   Children's emotions are respected-frustration, sadness, anger, joy, compassion.  Children, just as they are learning new skills everyday, are also learning how to experience, express and deal with their many emotions.  As they encounter new things in their world, they will experience new emotions as well.  As directresses and guides in the classroom, Montessorians take very seriously the tenderness of a child's heart and mind as they learn to navigate through social situations. Daniel Goleman discusses the importance of promoting, what he calls, emotional literacy in classrooms.  He says it's important for teachers to use opportunities of strife among children to teach children skills of conflict resolution, perspective taking and negotiation.  Goleman's review of research tells us that educating the emotions has a wider mission than preventing violence.  It teaches children to think differently about disagreements (Children Who Aren't Yet Peaceful by Donna Bryant Goertz).  

www.CMontessori.com

Children Who Are Not Yet Peaceful by Donna Bryant Goertz

I am being blown away and challenged by a book a friend recommended.  It's a collection of stories written by a woman who started a Montessori school in 1975 with 17 students and now has a functioning Montessori school housing 285 students from pre-primary to Middle School.  Her belief is that Montessori classrooms can serve as healing agents for all children, in particular children who (what she calls) 'eccentric', meaning children who may have some emotional, behavioral, or learning concerns.  My heart is relating deeply to what she says.  And, I am especially moved because we will be welcoming a child with special needs this Fall.  It gives me such hope to think of the power our classroom can have on all the children including this new student who has been written off by many.  We believe in children at Community Montessori.  The power of believing, hope, encouragement, patience, and safety can not be measured-it can't be tested on a scan tron and it can't necessarily be 'counted' in the traditional sense.  But, those of us who know the power of children and believe in their capabilities and gifts know this is BIG!  Here are a couple of quotes that I am soaking in from this author:

'Inclusion of more eccentric children (we all have one of these children or know one personally!) in our classes affirms the human worth of all children.  It provides an opportunity to learn emotional skills as well as academic subjects.  It is an unhealthy burden for a child to be seen as 'good' or 'bad'.  We must relieve every child of that burden and allow all of them to be works of art in progress.'

'A great challenge of any teacher is to distinguish between behavior that can and must be stopped immediately, behavior that requires a sure response that takes the child the first step toward outgrowing it, and behavior that is best ignored until later.  Not every behavior can be dealt with at once.  Our children need strong, flexible, authoritative, and patient teachers-neither permissive nor authoritarian-for sure progress in their learning and behavior'.

'We (teachers) must be true observers of human development.  We must see beneath the veneer of false acculturation and defensive addictions with which the child armors himself against the over stimulation of pop culture and the oppression of deadening academic programs.  We must be observers whose high intellect, sturdy sensitivities, and keen perceptions allow us to penetrate to the inherent and essential drives of a vital, healthy, and human child.  Once we have designed an environment as such, we must leave it flexible enough to fit the exceptional children.  We must stretch our imaginations and our creativity to the maximum, knowing that we will learn as we go, becoming more pliant, more creative, through the exercise of our highest human attributes.  We will become worth of the children we serve.'

She has left me pondering things in a wonderful way...I look forward to finishing her book and taking in her words of wisdom.

Concentration

Taken from Montessori Print Shop 
 
http://www.montessoriprintshop.com/
In order to learn, a child must first be able to concentrate.....but, you cannot force concentration upon him.

He develops concentration by fixing his attention on some task he is performing with his hands.

Observing your Child

Stop and notice how often you engage with your child.  Engaging is obviously important, but observation is also important.  I think in our fast pace world, we (adults) can engage too much-intervene too quickly-and 'fix' situations for our children when there may be an important lesson for them if we allow them the time and space.  It's important to sit back and observe your child.  I challenged myself to do this with my niece today at the park.  We try and spend one day together a week~she is so much fun to be with!  I could honestly just eat her up and engage/interact/talk to her constantly.  But, I sense and hear her say sometimes that she doesn't want me in her space. She doesn't want me to intervene.  She doesn't want me to figure it out for her.  We went to the park and I challenged myself to only respond if she prompted me to.  It was amazing to watch her run and play at the park quietly.  She would sing or hum to herself at times and go from the monkey bars to the swing to the merry go round without a thought or care.  In our classroom at Community Montessori, the teachers realize how important observing is and we learn so much about the children by just watching them work and interact with the environment.  But, to take that philsophy out into the 'real' world is more of a challenge.  I so enjoyed watching my niece today~there is something about allowing a child to really get to know themselves without so much conversation and intervening and asking questions.  There was one point she fell slightly off the monkey bars (they are small ones-made for younger children so she didn't fall far).  I so wanted to go to her and say, 'are you ok?', 'oh, you're ok' and whatever else I am so tempted to say.  But, she got up said, 'Oh, gosh', brushed her hands off and ran off to the climber.  She didn't NEED me to say or do anthing, nor did she ask me to.  There is something about allowing a child to tend to their own needs as well.  Lately, I have been saying to children at camp and my niece, 'let me know if you need help'.  That gives them the power/freedom to ask for help as well as respects their need to try and work it out on their own.  They may be attemtping to do something we know they can't do, but the trying and practicing is fruitful, and many times they will surprise us and be successful!  Keep in mind the important process happening inside the little ones body and brain at these tender ages. 

Oral Language in the Montessori Classroom

An observation that someone may have upon entering a Montessori classroom is that the children and adults are communicating in a respectful manner.  Oral language is important to the development of other language (writing/reading) for children as well as learning the social graces of the community.  Children do not come equipped knowing these things-it must be modeled to them and they must be allowed to freely practice and learn how to communicate with others.  At Community Montessori, we have a car line.  The children arrive and are picked up in a car line each day.  The teacher begins the day by greeting the child and the person who is bringing them to school.  It's important for teachers to acknowledge the child, ask them how they are, and then say please/thank you/goodbye to the person dropping off.  It's also important to make eye contact with the child.  There may be times that a teacher will ask the child to look at them when speaking so that they can be better understood.  Throughout the day, teachers and children interact with one another showing respect and a willingness to understand the child.  Since our classroom has 3-6 year olds, children are very often learning how to speak to one another.  Some children may be more shy, some may be in the early stages of speech development, and some may just need gentle guidance on what words to use when giving a message to a friend or teacher.  There was an incident yesterday where a child came up to me saying that a friend was touching her.  I brought the two children together, did some reflecting with them, and helped the child use her words to express what was bothering her to the other child.  The other child cheerfully responded with a smile, 'I'm sorry' and they ran off to play.  Many times conflicts that children are having are more with communication rather than the incident.  Helping children successfully speak, give messages, express emotions, and hear what others are saying, is a big step in their development and maturity.  Being patient and remembering they are learning can help parents have more successful conversations with children as well. 

First Week of Camp~Success

Just finished our first week of summer camp at Community Montessori.  We have 4 weeks scheduled this summer.  It's important for us to provide a fun camp experience, while still adhering to the Montessori principles.  Our theme was 'Farm Animals'.  There are two teachers who run camp each day.  Each day, we begin with showing two lessons to the children.  For the children who have not been in a Montessori classroom, this is a new experience.  It's amazing how after just one week, many of the new children are picking up the processes the procedures of things like rolling a rug, choosing and returning a work to it's proper place, pushing in their chair etc.  This week we talked about farm animals and had many works out with that theme-puzzles, stamping, punching, matching etc.  We spent an hour in the classroom, then had snack and headed outside.  Each day, we had something different going on.  We are enjoying community visitors including Lynn White from Butler County Water/Soil who showed the kids many different kids of soil, then invited them to paint with the mud!  We also had bubbles available for the children as well as paint to paint the big tree in our backyard-that was certainly a hit!  Even though summer camp is different from a regular classroom experience, I am amazed once again how quickly children get used to a routine with the freedom to make choices and be successful.  Looking forward to next week's camp-Reptiles!

Summer Activities

Summer can be a great time to continue learning with your child and extend their classroom experiences into the 'real' world.  Even though there is less structure during the summer, you can provide your own activites to make learning fun when school is out.  Here are some ideas:

*  In Cincinnati, we have so many wonderful places for children~the Cincinnati Zoo, the Cincinnati Museum Center, Kings Island,  parks such as Keehner Park, Ft. Liberty Park, Sharon Woods, and Winton Woods.
*  Check out your local library for different activites going on, or just visit the library and help your child check out a few books of their choice.
*  Children can write letters to grandparents, family members, or friends who live out of town.  Have your child write the sounds they hear in words they want to write and draw a picture to go along with the letter.
*  Visit local farmers markets to purchase fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables and involve the children in cooking.
*  Do some outdoor art activites~paint the trees or driveway with brushes using water, hang up big pieces of paper on the fence and allow your children to paint outside, make a nature collage using leaves, flowers, sticks etc., paint rocks, give your child a big bucket and help them make a lot of bubbles-give them things to scrub and allow to dry outside
*  Take a picnic lunch and visit Mom or Dad at work one day and eat outside.
*  Take your child fishing early in the morning to avoid mid day heat.
*  Make homemade ice cream  http://crafts.kaboose.com/ice-cream-in-a-bag.html
*  Go to a Reds game
 These are just a few ideas.  Please feel free to share on this blog if you have ideas of your own you think other parents would enjoy!