The Absorbent Mind

"...education is not what the teacher gives: education is a natural process spontaneously carried out by the human individual. It is acquired not by listening to words, but by experiences upon the environment."
                                                                          -Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind


Room 101 has been gaining momentum with our community building, exploring and learning. Our work cycle continues to grow longer. It is a beautiful sight to see your children's focus and concentration. I am the director or guide in the classroom. I give the children presentations to spark and entice their own interests. I am getting to know your children through the works they choose and within our daily conversations.

According to Montessori, children have an absorbent mind, which unconsciously absorbs everything in their surroundings. By exposing the students to the grand scale of everything that surrounds them, the child intentionally chooses what interest them. The child then develops order, focus and concentration to help him/her make sense of information. This focus is called "The Sensitive Period". This is a phase when your child has a vulnerability to learn a specific skill. This is why sometimes children repeat things over and over again. =) In Montessori, that repetition is celebrated! 

This week, I have given several presentations in all the areas of the classroom. When you check out the pictures below, you will see most of our students chose the Sandpaper Letters and Moveable Alphabet. The works ranged from exploring letters through name tracing to building CVC words with the Moveable Alphabet. A Sensitive Period to Language Arts, perhaps? 

Follow your child. Engage them in conversation about the works they do in class. I will make sure to name the works in the pictures so you have an idea of what the different activities are called.

"As soon as children find something that interests them they lose their instability and learn to concentrate."
                                                                       -Maria Montessori

Sophia A. gave the Collage Work her full attention.

Noah and Leslie practiced the decimal places with the Bank Game.

Jena admired her hard work!

 Sandy, our bearded dragon, has captured Winter's attention.

Xitlali  explored shapes using the light table.

Zoe worked hard blending CVC words using the Vowel Tree.

Dylan was concentrated on his illustration.

Kindergarten students and the 9 Layout Presentation.

Some of our 5th graders helped us clean Digger's (guinea pig) hutch.

Zeia gave Digger some loving hugs.

Sasha made connections between the Pink Cubes and the Brown Prisms.

Audrey and Sophia R. worked on the 20 Board.

Maya and Winter explored the coconut tree while reading, "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom."

Natalie worked on letter formation and sounds using the Sandpaper Letters and Sand Tray.

Audrey and Ibrahim matched letters and initial sounds with the Sound Boxes.

Ivan and Garvit shared a book and some laughs.

Noah and Charlie discussed the Parts of an Apple Work.

Julieta scrubbed Apples.

Cameron and Audrey challenged themselves by taking 2 Sound Boxes and mixed them together.

Winter worked on the Bubble Making Work while Frances cleaned up her Sponge Squeezing Work.

Daniel chose to work on the 9 Layout independently.

More Videos

Hello, Room 101 families!

I had so many parents tell me they enjoyed the video of the children doing a turn and talk. I am posting 2 new videos here. The first one is our International Day of Peace celebration. The second one is a turn and talk about the apple orchard. They used their prior knowledge about the topic. That being said, don't forget that we are having our first field trip on Tuesday, September 26th.

International Day of Peace

Apple Orchard Turn and Talk


Happy Weekend!

                                                                                                   

                                                                                                      Always, 

                                                                                                      Ms. Guerrero

Care For Self, Others and the Environment

"Education cannot be effective unless it helps a child to open up himself to life."   
                                                                                   -Maria Montessori

In a Montessori classroom, the care for oneself, others and the environment is everywhere. This idea is practiced throughout the day. Children are able to learn how to independently take care of themselves with tasks like rolling their rugs, using the bathroom or serving themselves snack. Our students are also growing to becoming a part of a community. They are learning to see others' perspective, work on negotiating projects and resolving a conflict. These students realize that their classroom is their own. They will grow to take care of it. They will continue to invest their time and efforts keeping it beautiful and in order.

In Room 101, we discuss and practice care daily. We are learning ourselves, our relationships with our peers and the value of our home away from home.

I'll end this post with this powerful quote. Wow!

"Children are human beings to whom respect is due, superior to us by reason of their innocence and of the greater possibilities of their future."
                                                                                  -Maria Montessori



Watch this as Room 101 practice how to share their ideas during a Read Aloud turn and talk.

Watch this to see Maya and Eliza negotiate a game of "I Spy."

Amelia walks carefully so as not to spill her water work.

Frances wipes the table from a spill she made doing the Sponge Squeezing Work.

Sasha is sweeping some leaves.

Look At What We Can Do!

Room 101 was very busy last week! Children met new friends, learned new procedures and received so many presentations. I can already tell that our class is an inquisitive bunch! They were all eager to start working. 

This week, we will continue to practice our routines and procedures. I will also be showing more presentations especially to the new students. They are working hard in completing the work cycle. They are practicing how to choose a work, identify if it is a rug or table work, choose a work space, work and then put the materials away for the next user to go on to the next task. This process is practiced daily by your children. It has so many components that range from planning to respecting others. Through out the school year, this cycle will become extended into a long period of time. At our school, the uninterrupted work cycle is 2 hours (approximately).  

Please check out this article with a brief explanation of the work cycle (This one talks about the typical 3-hour cycle in Montessori.)

Also useful is this website for some common Montessori terms I will use in our blog.

**Teacher Assistant Update: We welcome Mr. Nick in our classroom! We are excited to have him join our class while we wait for Ms. Castillo. I will send more info on Mr. Nick later on today.

Please find below some of the children working towards a longer work cycle:

Santi is focused and concentrated on his work!

Children are choosing independent work based on what they have been presented.

Garvit is matching some famous landmarks in the world.

Stefan is proud of his creation!

Ibrahim explores his face during an activity at Kindergarten Time (Self-Portrait), while Noah works on his.

Leslie is adding details to her self-portrait.

Kindergarten is fun according to Daniel and Natalie. =)

Can you hear the busy buzz of Room 101?

I am presenting the Pink Cubes. You can see some of our friends are eager to try the work!

Leslie and Sophia R. playing, "I Spy" while building their vocabulary.

Some Things About Nap

Hello, families-

We survived the first week of school together! We made it, yeah! 

The children are getting acclimated with their new environment. To some, this is their first experience of a "big school." There were several crying episodes throughout the day but this is all normal. The crying tends to happen during transitions, when the children think that they are transitioning to dismissal. Not to worry - your children will build their capacity to sustain the longer day. Thank you parents for giving your children the chance to work on their independence. It is so inspiring to see parents hold back their own tears during drop off. A quick drop off builds your child assurance that you trust the adults you are leaving them with. This results in your child's ability to get over their separation anxiety. Once again, thank you, parents!

Since we are talking about independence, I would like to share some of my insights of yesterday's nap transition. Some children did not have their things labeled. This became a challenge because our class shares a nap room with Room 103. When the children are awaken from nap, they have assigned corners in the nap room to drop off their things. Some of the blankets and pillows were mixed up because the students are still learning this process. Teachers and teaching assistants found it difficult to figure out whose items were left behind. We also noticed that some children had full sized pillows that were difficult for each child to transport with the rest of their things. These factors prevented the nappers from learning how to "make their cots" and pack it away to go home on Fridays.

Montessori education is very big on independence and learning how to do things on your own. One of my jobs is to make sure that I set a Prepared Environment to facilitate my students' success. From the very beginning, I need to make sure that I have thought of every detail. I need to make sure I do not expect a child to do something that he/she is not capable of. With nap, I am going to need your help. I will assure you that I will have a solid procedure for nap so your children will independently pack their own things.

Please find below some things that I suggest:

• Each napper should have a small pillow, a small blanket and an optional fitted (crib sized) fitted sheet.

• Please make sure that these items are labeled.
• Please ensure that the items are able to fit a reusable bag. If you don't have one, I can provide you with one. Please label this bag. Note that the bag is easily carried by a child to and from the nap room. (See pictures)
• As pictured, your child will be instructed to place the bag under their cots.They will have the bag safely put away so that the same bag will go home on Friday. Please reuse the bag and send the same bag to school on Monday.
• A big pillow plus the other nap items will discourage the children to be responsible of packing by themselves.



"This is too big! I can't fit this in my bag. I can't see where I am going!"

This bag has a blanket, pillow and fitted sheet inside.

• Last year, The students carried their nap things at dismissal. Since we have a tight doorway, I am placing the bagged items along the wall in the hallway for quick pick up when you sign out your child. If your child goes to after school, I will send their nap bag with them. Please don't forget to find it with your child when you pick up at J at School.
• If you provided your child with a roll away blanket with a pillow attached, please practice rolling it up at home. I will also practice this skill with your child at school.

Thank you very much for your support. I hope that you find this procedure easy. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to email me at ctguerrero@cps.edu

To end this post, I would like to inspire you with some on my favorite Montessori quotes on independence.

"The greatest gifts we can give our children are the roots of Responsibility and the wings of Independence."

"Montessori is an education for independence, preparing not just for school, but for life."

"Children are as independent as you expect them to be."

"He who is served is limited in his independence."

  

                                                                                           Always,

                                                                                          Mrs. Guerrero

Welcome to School Year 2017-2018

Welcome, everyone! 

It's a new school year and it's quite exciting! Yesterday, our school had a New Family Orientation. I got to meet new parents and we had great conversations about the Montessori Philosophy and school procedures. Today, the children were able to tour our classroom. Everyone was very enthusiastic to be there! We sang songs, played a game and read a book. They were especially interested with the guinea pig and our fish.

I feel so happy getting to know our new friends. I can't wait for Tuesday! While we wait, please enjoy the pictures of this year's classroom set up.

"Free the child's potential, and you will transform him into the world."

                                                                                             -Maria Montessori

Our classroom all packed up in the summer. 

We finally got a new rug!!!

See you on Tuesday, children! =)