http://montessoriwriter.today.com Your guide to Montessori education and writing online. Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:26:21 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en This time of year is always difficult, whether you are a Montessori educator, or teach in public, private, or parochial schools.  Though the majority of our society seems to celebrate Christmas, there are other holidays within the same season.  Most of our multicultural schools have children from many walks of ... http://montessoriwriter.today.com/2009/12/18/holiday-celebrations-in-the-montessori-classroom/ As we all know, I have a thing for Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam - they make me happy.  We listen to contemporary music frequently in my classroom in the afternoons.  Today, we were listening to Jack Johnson In Concert.  Track 12 came on, which is his duet with Eddie ... http://montessoriwriter.today.com/2009/12/11/out-of-the-mouths-of-babes-part-2/ My assistant came up with a great holiday project this year. They kids are making their faces into ornaments. First, they have to look in the mirror to determine what shape their face is, then choose a corresponding shape from the metal insets. They then trace the shape on a ... http://montessoriwriter.today.com/2009/12/11/self-reflective-holiday-project/ When working with young children, it is inevitable that they are going to say somethings that cause your jaw to drop or to have to duck so that they don't see you laughing. In the last two weeks, my kids have notoriously contributed some verbal jewels that I just need ... http://montessoriwriter.today.com/2009/12/10/out-of-the-mouths-of-babes-part-1/ We have noticed in my classroom this year that it is more difficult than ever before to get the parents to sign up for anything. I can understand not necessarily wanting to sign up for an email list - but that is only so that the room parents can easily ... http://montessoriwriter.today.com/2009/12/08/getting-parents-to-sign-up-for-stuff/ With parent-teacher conferences just around the corner, I can't help but think about all of the different record-keeping methods I have used over the years. My first school had detailed checklists for each area, specifying skills and certain works within each.  Progress was noted with the Mastery Triangle.  Each "grading period" ... http://montessoriwriter.today.com/2009/11/14/recordkeeping-in-the-montessori-classroom/ Sorry that I've been gone for a while!  It's been interesting trying to find the balance between the writing world and the full-time teaching world, while simultaneously launching a book reviewing career.  I was also fortunate enough to have finally received some new partner calls from AC, which broadened my ... http://montessoriwriter.today.com/2009/11/08/im-back/ Different schools have different methods of acclimating new children to the classroom each year.  I previously mentioned how my school sets up one-on-one meeting times for parents and children who are new to the classroom.  The following day, the phase-in process begins. We start with just the kindergarteners on that first ... http://montessoriwriter.today.com/2009/09/16/phase-in/ Today is that day that I met my new students, or at least most of them.  One thing our school does is we set aside a special day where new children come in for a one-on-one session in the classroom.  Parents get to come with them for that time.  In ... http://montessoriwriter.today.com/2009/09/08/meet-and-greet/ As most schools are doing, we are making adjustments and preparations for the predicted mass outbreak of the swine flu this fall.  Unfortunately, I feel like some of these preparations are going to drastically reduce the effectiveness of our Montessori curriculum.  (And I will welcome any suggestions for activity substitutions, because ... http://montessoriwriter.today.com/2009/09/03/practical-life-v-h1n1/