The Joy of Writing

First of all, apologies for my absence from the blogosphere. I had to take some time to develop the following joke, which I think is adorable! What is the Easter Bunny's favorite musical genre? (Answer: Hip hop!) That is well worth the wait, don't you think?

Regarding writing, our classroom is abuzz with authorship lately. It is contagious! Today, there are three large work rugs out that are covered from top to bottom with Moveable Alphabet letters. And that's just at the end of the day. There was a lot more writing done earlier that has since been packed away.

Allow me to tell you a bit about the writing process in a Montessori classroom. We begin when the children are very young with indirect preparation of the mind and hand for writing. To prepare the mind, we tell true stories, read and recite poetry and read stories that are reality-based. We take care to be accurate and precise with our language and to impart a lot of vocabulary to the children. We also encourage families to take their children on interesting outings. We display artwork on the walls. All of this serves to get the children talking and telling their own stories.

We play games that help to develop the children's phonemic awareness. They come to know that words are made of sounds. Some sounds are at the beginning of words, some in the middle and some at the end. When we speak of letters, we do not use the letter names that you hear in "The Alphabet Song." When we speak of the letter "a," for example, we don't say "ay," but rather the soft "a" one hears in the word "lamb" or at the beginning of "apple." "B" is not "bee," but just "buh." We trace beautiful letters cut out of sandpaper and glued onto thin boards. Each time we trace them we say the accompanying sound. When a child is later ready to write, it is easier to sound out a phonetic word like "dog" if one knows the sounds that those three letters usually make rather than their alphabetic names.

When a child knows a lot of letter sounds and is able to hear the individual sounds in a word, he/she is ready to write. Not with a pencil, perhaps, but with a Moveable Alphabet. This is a wonderful piece of equipment. It is a box with 26 or more dividers, each holding a stack of letters. If a child wants to write "mom", he/she can extract those three letters from the box and lay them on the work rug. Later, a child's hand will become developed enough that he/she can copy what they have written with the Moveable Alphabet onto a chalkboard and later, paper.

The hand is simultaneously being prepared for writing. We begin at a young age, using materials that have knobs to hold. Our puzzles and other apparatus are often knobbed. This helps the child get into the habit of bringing those three critical fingers together, similarly to holding a pencil. We use these same fingers when we sew (we love to sew!) or spread glue or paint with a little brush. We develop the habit of working from left to write and top to bottom in many of our washing activities. We wash tables, underlays, the floor and chalkboards with strokes extending from left to right. We start at the top of the area to be washed and work our way to the bottom.

At around age 41/2, we give the children pencils. They work on Metal Insets, geometric shapes that are traced and filled in with long strokes. At this time we instruct the children on the proper way to hold a pencil. We separate the challenge of pencil use from that of writing so as not to overwhelm the child with too many difficulties at once. We are in no hurry to see children using pencils. It is so easy for a child to develop a poor pencil grip and it is very hard to correct. We prefer to wait and allow the child to develop strength and dexterity through the indirect means described above before offering a pencil.

Once a child begins writing single words with the Moveable Alphabet and then recording what they have written onto a chalkboard or paper, the level of skill develops quite organically. They see each other writing lists of words, sentences, labeling vocabulary cards and writing stories and poems. The younger kids ask the older ones for help when they can't find a letter they seek. The older students inspire the younger ones and directly instruct them. Just today one child asked if she could show another how to do "research." They each read separate books, one about the life cycle of the frog and one about the life cycle of the butterfly. They then write reports about what they have learned. The older child was no longer required to use the Moveable Alphabet. She had been writing directly on paper for some time. When she learned, however, that her young protegee still needed the Moveable Alphabet, she said, "Oh! Then I will use one, too, so he doesn't feel left behind." The process is joyful and social. It is not about the resulting product, but about the complete absorption the children feel when they are doing something they enjoy that is meaningful to them. Like all the work in the classroom, the skills and knowledge gained is a secondary benefit. The primary benefit is the ability to self-regulate, be self-disciplined and to become centered by the power of concentration.

Additionally, Montessori children write before they read. Writing prepares them for reading. Often the first word they read is one they wrote themselves. The reading then develops organically, often effortlessly, just as their writing has.

Pauline and I will make an effort to blog more faithfully. We were distracted by fundraising, spring break and parent-teacher conferences. We know, though, that if we want people to follow us, we need to produce! We'll work on it.

Best regards,
Doni

Movie Time

In the classroom, we are regularly privy to information about the children’s lives outside of school. We have a special time as a group specifically for Telling True Stories and during this period the children share meaningful events with each other. Occasionally, a child will try to take this time to tell about the plot of a fantasy movie he/she has recently seen. I have often felt concern to know that some of the children are exposed to movies that are, in my opinion, inappropriate for their age.

In fact, as a professional educator of young children for the past 23 years, my distress is threefold. To begin, screen time of any kind is detrimental to the mental development of children under the age of six. The problem pertains to the process of neural connection in the brain. The light and movement which make movies, television and video games, even educational video games possible, short-circuits the optimal hardwiring of the highest-functioning areas of the brain. Contemporary brain research on the effects of screen technology on developing intelligence and mental well-being is being lead by Dr. Jane Healy. I recommend reading any of her many titles available at our local libraries. As studies show that 50% of an individual’s intelligence is formed by age 4 and 80% by age 8, it is crucial for our own children and for the betterment of society that we protect our children from activities that are so limiting to their optimum development.

The second factor that disturbs me about the viewing of movies, video games and TV shows by young children is that they are an immense distraction to the child once the viewing is over. Everything that a child is witness to must be processed by the child. A movie is so chock-full of images and ideas that it may require much of a child’s psychic energies and much of his/her time to digest it all. We see children who are missing out on group discussions, interesting activities, excellent literature, fascinating true stories told by dynamic speakers and much more because they are still thinking of the film they saw last weekend. They cannot participate in conversation because they cannot attend to the ideas of others, being so suffused in this entertainment they have consumed. The loss outweighs any gain.

Lastly, there is the issue of content. The children tell us which films they see and I know that many of them are not rated G. I think our students are marvelous and wonderful, but not necessarily any more advanced or sophisticated than the general population of children and probably not any better equipped to handle images that are frightening, violent, grim or disturbing. They also are unable to think critically about subtle or obvious sexism, commercialism, bigotry or the privilege of the pretty. And don’t get me started on the impertinence and sass that passes for wit. I think it is sometimes the case that in the interest of family unity, younger siblings are privy to screenings that are intended for and appropriate for older siblings. I caution against this compromise. These children are in their formative years. From what do we want them to be formed?

Now please don’t get me wrong. I enjoy my own favorites.  As a matter of fact, I enjoy some really trashy TV. Film is a wonderful art form. It can uplift us, inspire us, educate us and inform us. It is good for a laugh, a cry, an escape. There is no rush, however, in bringing this medium to children. Any TV show or film that a parent would wish to share with their child would be even more appreciated by a child over the age of six. The child would “get” more of the plot, character development, setting, humor, pathos and moral the film has to offer. After all, most of the silliness of a kid’s movie is funny because we, the adults, know how all the wackiness contrasts to how the world really is. To us, it is amusing, but to a child it’s confusing. A child who has lived long enough to have more real-world experience takes in everything on a higher level. Furthermore, by the age of 6 their character, their values and their idea of what is real and normal is significantly established. This provides them with the necessary “lens” when viewing material that is in opposition to those values and beliefs. Until the age of 6, the child lacks a filter. He/she is in the age of what Montessorians refer to as the Absorbent Mind. It takes in all and does not distinguish good from bad. What is absorbed is then used as building material for that child’s personality. This is all the more reason to eliminate questionable influences.

We live in a culture where entertainment is no longer commonly created by ordinary people for their own enjoyment. Most of us are now consumers of art and entertainment. We purchase our music, our stories, our myths and legends more often than we produce them ourselves. We owe it to our children to be wise and conscious consumers.

Best regards,

Doni

Remembering the Philippines

As our unit on the Philippines drew to a close last week, I asked only the oldest children, those who stay for the afternoon, to tell me their recollections of all that we had learned. Imagine my surprise when Ezra began by suggesting that there were a lot of snowplows in the Philippines! In fact, there are not! We had, however, been recently discussing how our school district closes down with only an inch or two of snow whereas in other parts of the country, they have snowplows, de-icer and superior driving skills and do not shut down unless there are feet of snow. Maybe that's where his impression came from.

The remaining impressions of the Philippines are as follows:
Dhabih - There are a lot of floods.
Madison - Rice is eaten at every meal.
Ian - People can grab spiky sea urchins with their bare hands.
Dhabih - Only 1/3 of the population have refrigerators.
Ezra - Tarsiers are cute.
Hazel - Tarsiers are also known as bush babies. (I haven't verified this. Could be, though!)
Raine - A bowl placed in a pan filled with water and buried in the ground keeps meat fresh.
Ezra - The Philippines are a really big archipelago.
Eliason - Many people do not own cars.
Madison - Many people do not have electricity.
Dhabih - Most people ride bikes.
Madison - Old jeeps from World War II were turned into buses called jeepneys.
Maggie Rose - The children greet their teachers by placing the teacher's hand on the child's forehead as a sign of respect.
Ian - Many children have jobs.
Raine - Many children live in a group home in a city from Monday to Friday, work or go to school and then visit their families on the weekend. This seems to be a good idea because children in Mexico sometimes do likewise.
Ezra - "Mabuhay" means hello.
Raine - The response is "mabuhah ma ha."
Raine - Many houses are built on stilts to avoid the flood waters.

We also really enjoyed the folktales of the Philippines that we read to the oldest children. It seems that no matter what continent they come from, these tales all place a very high value on a woman's physical attractiveness. We had a discussion about what other qualities might be important for a woman to have that are even more valuable than beauty. The children thought of kindness to animals, being smart, being helpful and having a good job. I asked them if their mothers just sat around being beautiful all day. They said no and listed many of the tasks their moms accomplished during the day. I think it is good to combat all the cultural pressure our girls are under to be beautiful. Sure, it's good work if you can get it! But the rest of us will have to explore our other strengths, too!

Best regards,
Doni

A Bird Funeral

Our school is blessed to be housed in a lovely church. The lobby area is flanked by floor to ceiling windows which provide a lot of natural light. Unfortunately, it is a regular deathtrap for our local birds. More regularly than we would wish, a student will greet us in the morning with the sad news of a little feathered friend prostrate on the ground at the building's entrance. We had such a situation this week. We collected the bird's body and we all examined her (or him). She was an Oregon junco. Pauline called attention to her specialized feet for perching and her conical beak for cracking seeds. She was so lovely.

Yesterday we buried her. We learned a wonderful song first thing in the morning in preparation for the funeral we had planned for our outdoor playtime. The song is "The Little Bird is Dead" by Patty Zeitlin and Marcia Berman from their "Spin, Spider, Spin" album. This is a wonderful collection of songs celebrating nature. I recommend it highly. Some of the lyrics tell us to "gather up some seashells, circle stones around. Place her in a silver box, lay her in the ground." And "gather us together, place your hand in mine. Shed a tear for she's not here to spend the summertime." Very nice.

We buried her, sang our song, placed a crocus on her grave and had a discussion about what the children think happened to us when we die. The conversation was wide-ranging and non-denominational. The Judeo-Christians were well-represented. Several children believed we went to heaven and met God. I mentioned the Buddhist belief in reincarnation and one child whose parents practice this religion said "Oh yeah! That's what I believe!" One child pointed out that the body of the bird would decay, become soil and nourish the plants. Then some children went off laughing and giggling, playing that they were in heaven with God eating unlimited cupcakes. This offended one child who felt this jovial attitude was inappropriate to the occasion. Essentially, it was like every other funeral I've attended minus the casseroles and dressy attire.

I'm so glad we got to honor this bird and demonstrate that she mattered to us. We will speak to the pastor of the church about placing some visual warning of some sort on those big windows. Perhaps if this bird's demise prompts us to protect others, her life will have meant even more than most.

Best regards,
Doni

Click this link and scroll down to see the latest additions to our auction list! http://philomathmontessori.org/events.htm

Learning to Read

Several of our children have recently discovered that they can read. It is such fun! The Montessori approach to reading is relaxed and follows the nature of the child. For one thing, our kids learn to write often long before they can read. First they learn that words are made of sounds. We play a game called "I-Spy" in which we hold up objects and say "I spy something that starts with mmm. That's right, monkey!" "I spy something that has an 'uh' in the middle. That's right. It's jug!"

Then we learn the letters. We refer to the letters by their phonetic sounds. We don't say "es" to name the letter S. We say "sss". For the letter B, we say "buh". When a child knows most of the sounds that the letters say and has a good phonemic awareness of the sounds that are in words, we introduce him/her to the Moveable Alphabet. It is a box with 26 divisions, each holding a stack of little cards with one letter printed on each. If one wants to write "dog", one sounds it out and places a little d, an o and a g on the work rug, spelling "dog". Now a child who is not ready to write with a pencil can still write words.

After writing for a while, a child often discovers that he/she can read, too! It is a wonderful feeling because the child has found this out independently. We usually do not have to teach children how to read. Their writing abilities have lead them to it indirectly. We teachers then help to refine their skills in various ways so that they can read words that are not strictly phonetic.

A new reader's eyes light up with wonder as they realize they can know another person's thoughts without that person speaking. Having taught themselves to read, their self-image is boosted. After all, if they can figure that out on their own, they must be pretty capable!

Love of Learning Auction Fundraiser Coming Up

This begins the official countdown to our annual Love of Learning Auction Fundraiser. In just 4 short weeks we will be in the midst of families and friends eating, playing, and bidding. And in case you're wondering about what you could be bidding on at the auction here are a few hints:

Gift Certificates from Gathering Together Farms and Troubadour Music, wine tasting and vineyard tour from Ankeny Vineyard, admission tickets to AC Gilberts Discovery Village, Maryhill Museum of Art, and the Lloyd Center Ice Rink, and a sea life cruise for 2 from Marine Discovery Tours.

Brian Irwin of Charlotte Guitars reports that he's making great progress on that one-of-kind guitar that we are raffling off. Tickets are available at Gracewinds and Troubadour Music and, of course, any PhMS family. You can follow his progress in photos at: http://www.charlotteguitars.com/current-project-2/