Montessori Writer

It’s inevitable that in the summer you can’t help but think about what you’re going to do when you go back in the fall.  You toss ideas around in your head, but keep telling yourself that you’re not going to think about it until it’s time to get ready to go back.  At least that’s what I do.

But then the packet comes.

You know which one I’m talking about:  the packet with your class list, and information from the administration?  And you’re thrust into that mental preparation…..

What do I do?  I usually end up reading bits and pieces of Montessori books, looking for nuggets of inspiration.  I’m particularly fond of Montessori From the Start:  The Child at Home, from Birth to Age Threeby Paula Polk Lillard and Lynn Lillard Jessen.  It’s a great way to remind yourself of Practical Life, and of how much those little three year-olds are capable.  (Especially when faced with a year like I am going to have, with over HALF of my class being 3!  YIKES!)

I also like to revert back to Maria herself.  I can get re-inspired by her stories.  I remember why I got into Montessori teaching in the first place.  Of course, you can sometimes feel a little depressed that your classroom isn’t like that.  But, you have to take it all with a grain of salt.  Even Maria, herself, had a bad day every once in a while!  She was human!  Dealing with many humans!  But when trying to sell a program, you don’t mention all of the faults and problems.

Another way to become reengaged is to work on writing Montessori articles.  A while ago, I asked people to send me a few Montessori questions.  I’ve been trying to process answers for them, to ease myself back into the Montessori groove.  More to come soon.

So, what do you do to prepare for the new school year?  How do you reengage with the Montessori philosophy?  Please share with us, so that we can all inspire each other!

Food preparation is a fundamental part of the Montessori practical life curriculum.  But in this day an age of increasing food allergies, how can we safely prepare the environment?

In my classroom, almost half of the practical life shelves are devoted to food preparation, with special cooking projects done on a regular basis.  Thus far, we have been fortunate enough to not have terribly dreadful food allergies.  A sibling of one of my students had such a serious allergy to peanut butter, that we had to prevent it from being in the classroom.  Apparently he once had peanut butter (not at school) and simply breathed on his sister, sending her into anaphylactic shock.  So, he couldn’t even risk having it in the classroom, in case it got on his clothing.

We sent out notes and mentioned it in the newsletters, to remind the parents in my classroom to not send in any peanut butter.  If someone did, then the food item was sent home.  If it was at lunch, that child simply moved to a different table.

I’ve had students in the past in my class who were actually the ones suffering from the food allergies.  One child had such a severe peanut allergy that the entire wing of the school had to become a peanut-free zone, in case of cross-contamination.  Another child was allergic to almost anything:  wheat, soy, citrus, eggs, milk, etc.  He was simply supposed to avoid those foods.  We could tell if he snuck a cracker at snack time, because he would immediately break out into a rash and couldn’t sleep at nap time.  (His parents felt sorry for him and would let him try “normal” food every once in a while, because they thought he was missing out.)

So, how do you handle food allergies in your classroom?  We are informed prior to the child starting (most of the time) of any and all allergies, and plan accordingly.  Some schools have given up the food preparation aspect of the practical life curriculum, which is sad because of all the skills it teaches.

Perhaps as a possible solution, I can offer up the following book, upon which I stumbled when researching online.  Lisa Lundy, who suffers from food allergies herself, and has three children with serious food allergies, spent years researching food allergies and came up with a cookbook.  All of her recipes are wheat-free, gluten-free, milk-free, casein-free, lactose-free, egg-free, peanut-free, tree nut-free, and coconut-free.  They could provide for a unique variety of food preparation and food tasting activities int he classroom.

Her website is www.thesuperallergycookbook.com.  The book is called The Super Allergy Girl Cookbook, ISBN 9780979754203.  I’m interested to hear what you think.

In one of my latest adventures, I am reviewing books for a site called Bookpleasures.com.  One of the first titles that was sent my direction was Learning Disabilities:  Understanding the Problem and Managing the Challenges by Etta K. Brown.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a reference to Maria Montessori in the chapter about Sensori-motor integration, specifically the fine motor aspect:

One hundred years ago, Maria Montessori advocated the fundamental need to teach handwriting before reading.  She gained worldwide fame for teaching Rome’s “mentally retarded” street urchins how to read by the time they were five or six years old.  Extensive brain research now validates her position.  The phenomenon lies in the fact that the brain receives extensive physiological stimulation during the handwriting process, which helps ready the left brain for reading. As an interactive sensory process, training in handwriting ensures further brain growth, which increases its capacity for language development and language-based learning. [p. 161-162]

She provides the website  Retrain the Brain as her source for this information. 

I checked out this website.  It is interesting, as it is yet another place that condemns the use of Ritalin in the ADHD child, and encourages the use of multi-sensory techniques to teach handwriting.  I also like how it uses music while the children are writing.  New ideas for this upcoming school year…….writing to Mozart…….hmmmmm.

 Anyway, we’ve always got to love when we find further justification for what we do, outside of our own Montessori world, right?

If you’re interested in learning more about Etta K. Brown, her book, or her services, you can visit her website.

One of my goals with this blog is to start a conversation with my readers.  I want to share my experiences, and have you share yours as well.  I like to initiate discussions, like we did with the glass vs. plastic debate.  By working and sharing together, we can keep Maria’s dream going.

I have already sent out requests on Facebook and Twitter for questions to be addressed either via blog or via article.  A few responses have come in, and I would love to have some more!  Leave a comment below, or send me a DM on Twitter @andreacoventry.

Questions so far:

Do you have any articles on the assistant’s role in the classroom?  I am training 2 new ones.

What are issues related to Montessori kids who are ahead of their age peers?

Making transition from Montessori to “regular” school.

I would also like to hear other questions that you are regularly asked by parents, for you to share inspirational reads, to be directed to your favorite websites, etc.  I’ll even take general parenting and family questions, even if they aren’t related to Montessori. 

If you would like to be credited for your question, with a link back to any of your own writing works or other websites, please let me know how to accommodate you!

Thanks!