Math for the child is like all the other subjects found in the Montessori Tides curriculum, it develops from the child’s own interest and desire to learn. Many people misunderstand, at first, what it means for a child to desire to learn math at such a young age (3-6). They remember how they learned addition, subtraction and multiplication tables, hours upon hours of tedious and painful repetition.

Today this same boring method is still the approach in many conventional preschool and elementary school settings. I will never forget the day when my daughter was in 2nd grade and made an alarming statement, “I hate math as much as my teacher hates teaching it”. I can assure the root of her statement wasn’t the child’s lack or teacher’s lack. Clearly the school system had allowed math to take on the disguise of a requirement rather than a love.

Recently I read a great story about a marriage that demonstrates the difference between requirement and love. As silly as this may seem, my story is purposed to highlight this concept of requirement and love on an adult level.

A beautiful young woman married her childhood sweetheart. Immediately after the wedding on their honeymoon night, her husband revealed a list of duties and responsibilities he demanded that she fulfill as his wife.  She spent the next ten years trying to comply with all his requirements, but she never could measure up. Then one day, her husband dies of a heart attack.

A few years later, this wonderful woman married again. This time she married a real prince! He loved her and lavished her with affection. Many years passed, and one day as she was cleaning out her old hope chest, she ran across the list her first husband had given her on their honeymoon. As she reviewed his requirements, anxiety began to fill her heart. Then something remarkable happened. She suddenly realized all the demands she could never fulfill when she was married to her first husband had become the things she did naturally for years out of passion and love for her prince.

This is precisely how children learn at Montessori Tides School, out of a natural passion and a love for it. Maria Montessori said, “Of all things love is the most potent.” Giving a child a lifelong love for learning is our mission and has proven to be a more excellent way!

Over the next several weeks, we will take a MATH journey through every level at Montessori Tides School, beginning in toddler and ending in upper-elementary. We will show how each level builds off the other, moving the child from concrete to abstract.

Last week Ms. DeAnne, Lead Toddler Directress, kicked off our self-toileting series with an introduction to toileting. This week Ms. Johanna Porter, Lead Toddler Directress is giving us a clearer understanding of how we can support the child in developing awareness in relation to toileting.

If you are unable to view the embedded video below, click here.

It has been said, “Awareness is the prerequisite for growth,” and that is true for toilet learning as well. Awareness grows as the child collect and assimilates information. So our goal is not to see how quickly the child masters self toileting, but how we can successfully support the child in his formation of independent functioning, coordinated movement, language, and will.

Steps to help develop awareness:

Cotton diapers- Are the greatest tool in developing early awareness, starting from birth. If they are changed as soon as they are wet, the child gradually becomes aware of the contrast of wet/dry, and that dry is the preferable state.

Underwear- Disposable diapers are still commonly favored. In this case, underwear is the next greatest tool that we can provide for the walking child, because of the dramatic sensorial feedback underwear provides when the child urinates. Unlike the disposable diapers that quickly absorb the urine and pull the moisture away from the child, the underwear, even when a little padded, allows the urine to trickle along the legs and create a puddle on the floor. This shifts the child’s focus from what they were doing to the sensorial experience, and they look at the floor.

Language- The adult can further assist the development of awareness by naming what the child experienced. Simple correct language empowers the child to understand what is happening:
“I see that you’re wet.”
“You urinated.”
“There is urine on the floor”

And at the same time empower the child to take charge.
“Let’s get a towel (and spray bottle), so we can (spray) and dry the floor”
“Let’s get some dry clothes”

Many of our toddler students as young as 16 months eagerly choose underwear over a diaper. Ms. Johanna points out, “It seems they love how it feels, and the comfort it provides.” Our Toddler Program’s goal is not dry pants, but to support the child to unfold in their quest of independence.

The Montessori Tides prepared environment is equipped with special didactic materials that are, according to Dr. Maria Montessori, “keys to the world,” because she carefully designed them to make the world accessible to the child. They also aid the child’s psychic development toward functional independence. She found children who are “functionally independent” are happy, well-adjusted children that can think for themselves, do for themselves, and are disciplined enough to understand the consequences of their actions.

Dr. Montessori developed the Montessori Materials over 100 years ago. In 1907, in the first Montessori Children’s House, she began experimenting on the effective use of the materials by allowing the children to freely explore with them while she observed how they responded to them. Because their use had proven to be so successful, today Montessori Tides authentic school still uses these materials to implement the Montessori curriculum.

The initial use of the materials by very young children eventually developed into a system that now serves children in our classrooms from 16months and beyond. Though the materials vary in some degree throughout each stage of development, they all possess certain qualities that are unique to all Montessori materials, regardless of age.

1. Control and Error: This is the “self-correcting” quality of the materials.
2. Simple to Complex: The materials progress from simple to complex.
3. Concrete to abstract: The child is always given the opportunity to work with the concrete materials before he/she is presented the abstract concept.
4. Indirect Preparation for Future Learning: Every piece of equipment indirectly prepares the child for future learning
5. Treatment of materials: “How, Where, When”… Every child learns important lessons with the materials like, respecting others need not to disturb when working with materials, learning how to wait for a turn with the materials, putting materials back for someone else to use, and always respectfully caring for materials which belong to their community—all which teach great lessons for life

Montessori Math Materials (Photo from Raintree Montessori School at Circle of Inclusion)

Today’s parents are inundated with thousands of resources on Potty Training. This plethora of resources, representing so many people with differing back grounds and experiences, offers contradictory advice and too often leads parents to find themselves, delaying this developmental milestone. Add to the confusion over what or who’s advice to follow, the frustration so frequently experienced by parents who” just aren’t ready yet,” and the task of “training” can be transformed from a joyful  journey to a tedious and challenging experience.

The Montessori way to Toileting is a liberating approach, freeing both parent and child from pressure facilitated through the parent’s efforts, and allowing the process to be a natural one which grows out of the child’s interest, and a desire for independence and self-respect.  We are thus continuing to line up the prepared environment with the developmental needs of the child.

Montessori Tides wants to set you up for success and be your resource. In the video below, DeAnne Deleon , Montessori Tides Toddler Directress, kicks off our Toileting Series! Our toddler program is working diligently to prepare and offer guidance through this natural and joyful process. We hope you enjoy this introduction. Look ahead for more post on this series!

If you are unable to view the embedded view below, click here.

Focusing on the beginning of a new year with our growth in 2011, has been a great time of reflection and has also played an integral role in building our Montessori Tides community in order for Fall 2012 enrollment to thrive. We are taking necessary and as many effective steps as possible in getting the word out and demonstrating that we are ready to welcome new students through our doors. You might have noticed we are working at updating and revising communication vehicles such as website, newsletters, and advertisement. We seek plans to upgrade our outdoor learning environment to a more authentic Montessori environment like that of our classrooms. But contrary to other school systems, Montessori Tides idea of attracting and retaining students is really about attracting families.

To close our growth series, we frame not only where we are but where we are going in the community. To start we would like to convey our school community has never, nor will we ever be a community who details our growth based on numbers. In all our effort it is not the number of heads we are looking to see grow. It is a sense of belonging in the community that we are looking to grow into. In other words, we are striving to nurture a community of families who match our commitment to trans-formative education, so families can grow together creating a stronger sense of connectedness. Thus, Montessori education can remain authentic.

As I seek to mark the growth in the community as a whole, I mark belonging. What I’ve observed within these walls is because of this strong since of belonging each child feels, Montessori Tides is privileged to have an opportunity to provide the foundation for lifelong learning in every child who walks through our doors. As 2012 unfolds we are seeking to draw the whole family into this experience of belonging.

Below are a few detailed marks supporting a stronger sense of belonging found in our community and each one is directly tied to family support:

• Montessori Tides Children Foundation (MTCF) growth has brought positive endeavors into our community. Currently the foundation is actively bringing our school families together through fundraising events. But the goal is much broader. We see the foundation as a catalyst in which money is raised for non-profit and a vehicle to bring positive encouragement for parents to actively support both their child and the program on a whole, realizing that their personal investment is a key ingredient to success in any endeavor. We invite YOU!
• Community Snack is nurturing the child’s need and freedom to eat healthy and wholesome foods. Child participation is a priority in order to establish a lifelong foundation of healthy eating habits in each student. We believe food is not only best for you, but also tastes best, when it is prepared together, ate together, and provided by our families. Thanks to our parents support, children are growing in grace and courtesy and taste buds are being enlightened as children enjoy a wide variety of wholesome foods.
• Grants have enabled our school program to provide experiences we may not otherwise of gotten. Field trip grants allow the children to have direct connectedness with their studies outside the school community, and the garden grant has given our school a full garden, all the classrooms get to participate in caring for. For the elementary programs the garden provides hands-on application and a direct connectedness to botany studies. Firsthand, children are discovering the different plant cycles and how to distinguish the difference between  a flower and an edible plant. Thank you to our parents and volunteers, our school grants has enriched us beyond measure.

As children and parents discover they belong in our school community a significant impact is rising within our walls and is running beyond them.

A toddler is constantly growing in independence and responsibility, and a Montessori Toddler Directress is striking a balance between offering to help, and holding back when the child can do for himself. An important saying among Montessori communities is, “Every unnecessary help is a hindrance to development.” Montessori Tides prepared Toddler environment provides a child with both proper materials and experiences of discovering independently and thereby becomes confident.

Along with cooler weather comes jackets, so in the video below, our Montessori Tides Toddler Program, shares a child’s effort at the “jacket flip”. This method is used in the classroom because it allows the child to put on their coat almost completely independently. By also using this method at home the child can practice, and master their self-dressing skills.

Along with the video demonstration, I have also stepped out in words how to aid a child in putting on their own coat and foster independence.

1. The coat is laid out at the child’s feet upside down to them
2. They are able to insert their arms into the holes from the floor. “Put your arms in deep”
3. The coat is then lifted and swung over their head enabling their arms to slip down
4. “You did it”

If you are unable to view the embedded video, click here.

As you may have remembered from our last blog we are focusing on the beginning of a new year on our growth from 2011. Last time we marked the growth in the child at Montessori Tides School. This time we mark the growth in the school itself.

Detailing this growth goes beyond an outward or upward measure. After all, real growth begins inwardly. As I have watched the school progress throughout 2011, I believe there are definite milestones worth admiring. Two of these milestones we have already discussed and celebrated. First, was the joy of having our upper-elementary classroom restored. Second, in 2011 we celebrated our 25th year in Jacksonville Beach.

An old proverb states that “as the twig is bent, so grows the tree.”We know that early childhood training does, indeed, set the direction of a child’s life. We are currently seeing this played out in the school through the lives of 3 people here at Montessori Tides School.

Although, Ms. Hillary, our first mark of growth was not herself a Montessori student, her husband was. She has been assisting for 7  years and Montessori Tides is currently funding her in her pursuit of her Montessori Directress Certification. Mr. Brad stated, “Just like we want to see our students grow, we want to see our teachers grow.”

Our second mark is the return of a former student, Anna Porter, to Montessori Tides. Brad shared how unique Anna’s presence is at the school in that she has come full circle. Having been a former student here, she is now a substitute teacher. The value that was placed on her life here as a child, has brought her back to give the same value to those coming behind her.

As the writer of this blog I feel very much a part of this community because I, myself, was once a Montessori student. The value and training I once received as a child, I now see my own son receiving.

As I seek to mark the growth in the school as a whole, freedom is burning in my heart. I see freedom imparted into adults to reach new goals, for our young people to step into opportunities to give back what they have received and stretch for more; to see a new generation of Montessori children come full circle. I guess you could say it is the internal flame found in the child that continues to blaze a path for us all.

Montessori Tides School continues to stoke the flame. In the video below, Nancy Hatton, Lead Lower-Elementary Directress shares to you a living and breathing story about teaching the child.

If you are unable to view the embedded video, click here.

Brad Hatton shared once, “Montessori teachers don’t find Montessori, Montessori finds them.” I feel this quote speaks volumes to the kind of teachers Tides beholds…those who are filled with a great love.

One day while observing in Ms. Nancy’s classroom a child was visiting from a conventional school with no prior Montessori experience. On that day I had a very special thought explode in my mind about Ms. Nancy. “There is nothing she couldn’t take on and that I am convinced of.” I now understand fully there is not a child Montessori Tides couldn’t teach because they are teaching the child. How? It’s the freedom of the prepared Montessori environment with the prepared adult.

As 2011 draws to a close, it’s great to look back at a year as beautiful as it was extraordinary, detailing its many marks of growth. When gathering my thoughts to write this blog, I had a snapshot picture come into my mind.  In the snapshot I saw a hand marked measuring line. Similar to the one my grandmother has on the inside of her closet door. Each year she marked the height of her children, so she could see how much they had grown.This visual equivalent of growth began to resonate with me and I accepted to solely adopt this view is only the visible result of the unseen process that growth really is. When I think back to a family growth chart there is always a year or so where the measuring line appears the same, having an appearance of no visible growth in height. This is where we might find ourselves thinking, “we haven’t grown”.

The implication of this is a bit sobering. We can grow, appear as though we are not, yet completely be hardened by it if we miss the more profound stages found in the process of growing. To recognize growth there has to be a shift in our perspective. Although I think we could all agree to view growth only by one measure, that is by size or quantity, is hardly accurate. Fortunately Montessori Tides and passionates recognize growth can be marked in many different ways. When we recount the 2011 year we mark growth in the children, in the school, and in the community.

Marking growth through the lens of Maria Montessori encompasses the whole being of the child: physically, spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually. To record this growth in the child it takes great patients, observation, and an ever-present watching eye. (Keep in mind, a descriptive process that brings an empowering transformation.) Unlike conventional schooling where a teacher is confident in their trust in a curriculum and uses the above measuring line to determine whether appropriate growth has transpired in the allotted time, a Montessori Tides teacher is confident in the child and trusts the child will learn because they are capable. She uses her daily records to help align her with each child’s stage of development and allows the individual child’s process of growing to be her guide. In other words, the growth that has taken place in the child becomes visible and stems from an intimate relationship between a Montessori teacher and student.

Because of my recent experience, sitting in the walls of each classroom throughout 2011, I search my heart and mark the whole. The visible growth I’ve seen in the child is confidence. Children have gained confidence to solve problems, grow and develop at their own pace, be respected and give respect, work together, communicate, trust their inner drive, move, and to be independent. All which lay a healthy foundation for a lifetime of advancement in all areas of life, including but not limited to just academic achievement.

In closing, I leave you with a question. Have you ever thought about the confidence needed in a butterfly in order to break through its cocoon and see his wings for the first time? I have, and I bet you won’t find a height like this on any growth chart!

Look ahead for our next piece: Growth in the school.

When you use neutral colored shelves, instead of a toy box, they offer the possibility of displaying a toy in such a way that it attracts and lures the child to it. Each toy should be washed periodically and have all its parts. If a toy is difficult to store and keep neatly on the shelf, make an attractive box or use a colorful basket for it. Each toy that has removable parts should have a beautiful small box or basket for the storage of those parts. Using a wood awl and making a small hole in each piece can make marvelous handles, for wooden puzzles that do not have knobs. Put a little glue in the hole and insert a mini eye screw.

Toy rotation is a great system to implement for better use of toys. Children always tend to feel their toys are “new” when this system is employed. 8-9 toys is a sufficient enough quantity to have out on the shelves at one time. The others can be the “stored toys”. Of course, if the child asks for a stored toy, he should be able to play with it upon request. When this does happen, simply replace the stored toy, which was taken from storage, with a different toy on the shelf, and then put that toy in storage.

Books are best displayed face-up, so that the child can see the front cover of the book. This can be done on a display shelf that houses 6-7 books, or in a basket. The remaining books are stored away and rotated like the toys.

Resources for Toys and Books

Montessori Services
Michael Olaf Montessori
HearthSong
Melissa and Doug Toys
Constructive Playthings
Discount School Supply
Barnes and Noble (best local resource for books, educational toys, and CD’s)