In the Montessori Classroom we teach lessons for each thing that we have on the shelf in the class. These lessons are usually taught silently unless you need to teach vocabulary words. Children have a hard time listening and watching at the same time. While we are showing something if we want to talk we stop showing, talk, and then go back to showing, to give the child a better chance to soak everything in. The reason we teach lessons is so they know how a certain thing is supposed to be used. You would not believe how many small objects and things like glass and knifes and other things are in a Montessori Classroom. The children learn so much from these things, for instance one of their favorite lessons is squeezing an Orange to get orange juice. First they wash the orange and then they cut it open with a knife. Because we teach the children how to use everything we can have so many more things in the classroom for learning that you probably would not naturally think of allowing a child to touch or be around.
In the Montessori Classroom one of the first lessons taught is The Pink Tower. The pink tower is a series of 10 blocks that increase in size by 1 cm on three sides all the way from 1cm cubed to 10cm cubed. We teach this lesson by bringing all the blocks to our rug (A Child's Space & Respect ) one at a time putting them down randomly. We hold the blocks on the top with one hand so we can really feel the difference in weight as we lift them. We sit at the rug and have the child sit next to us (usually on your non dominant side so they can see better). First I find the three largest blocks I compare them by putting my hand over them to see which is tallest. When I find the tallest I put it as the base of the tower. Then I find the largest out of the two remaining. I put it on top of the first block. Then I put the last of the first large three on the tower. Then I find the next three largest blocks and repeat until the tower is built. I put my hands near the base of the tower spread apart and narrow them together as I raise them up the tower. This is to help them visually see that it goes Larger to Smaller as it raises. I then verbally label the blocks.
I point at the bottom block and Say Big, then I point at the top block and say Small. This is all I will teach them then I will let them use the blocks by themselves until they can build it biggest to smallest. If they are younger this can take hours of playing with it over days, weeks or even months, depending on how ready they are. Other kids will learn it immediately. Usually they cant really do it right at first. It will be so tempting to interrupt them and show them the right way. Please try not to do this. It is so much better for them to understand on their own then have you show it to them. It may seem like you are helping them but if they learn it in their own they will remember it more and have a better understanding of it. (if they are really struggling, go ahead and teach them the first lesson again the same way)
Once they can build it from largest to smallest pretty consistently you start the next part of the lesson. Sit down with them while they are working on it and start with the largest and teach them big, smaller, smaller...smaller, smallest. When they understand this then start at the smallest block and teach them small, bigger, bigger...bigger, biggest.
We are constantly trying to teach children vocabulary abstractly (basically expecting them to just imagine it, or using our hands to gesture it). They will always learn best by using concrete examples. Something they can not just see but touch and feel. There are a million other things they can do with the pink tower these are just the first two lessons. If you are interested in learning more let me know and I will post some more. I will try to make a video (this is much easier to see than to read!)
If you don't like pink (like me) there is always the option of having natural wood which I think is beautiful!
No comments:
Post a Comment