1/27/14 — Montessori Work and Circle Time

| January 28, 2014 | 0 Comments
Have you ever heard any of the MACH staff talk about a work a child has done at school?  In case you are wondering what exactly this means, on the American Montessori Society website, work is defined as “a purposeful activity. Maria Montessori observed that children learn through purposeful activities of their own choosing; Montessori schools call all of the children’s activities “work.”  The materials used for these works allow the children to use to their own hands to teach themselves valuable information and important skills.  Even unrolling and rolling a mat is a purposeful activity for them to work on and an important skill to have for the remainder of their time in Montessori school.  You can practice at home with place mats, yoga mats, or hand towels.  You’d be surprised how much they enjoy this!
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In addition to doing works, another important part of our day is circle time.  If the weather allows for it we go outside after our morning snack and diaper change .  When we return to the classroom, we wash hands a sit down in a circle.  The children love this time of day.  Most of them will immediately go to the carpet and the more verbal toddlers of the group will start singing our “friends” song without even being prompted.  Perhaps some of you have heard your child sing this at home.  While patting our knees, we sing “[Jessica] is here today, [Jessica] is here today, we’re so happy that [Jessica] is here today” for each child.  After our first song, we practice our signs and counting, we sing LOTS more songs (many with hand motions), and now we’re beginning to read more stories with the help of our new felt board.  When a toddler first joins our class, he may not be able to sit for the entire length of circle time, but the attention span quickly grows and before we know it, he can sit for as long as 15 minutes.
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A lot of our toddlers were out sick last week and we hope everyone feels better soon.   If warm and dry enough, this week we will head outside any chance we get for fresh air.  We’ll be encouraging lots of hand washing and also be taking extra precautions to keep the toys, tables, chairs, and diaper area sanitized.

Ms. Casey leads the toddlers in circle time.

Ms. Casey leads the toddlers in circle time.

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Category: Toddler

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