I've actually been changing things for awhile but I just haven't got around to posting about it. I just don't post here often. I think it is because things are working, yet things don't often change that much.
And the other reason is that I'm doing less with Montessori.
I still love it. I've used the method for YEARS with preschoolers. But I've found that lately, with this latest group, partly because they are mostly younger, mostly under 3s, that it just wasn't working for us.
So I have gone to more of a Waldorf feel for the younger kids here. We still do circle time and we still talk about numbers and shapes and colors during circle time, but much of the time is spent with free play using natural products. And I've put many of the Montessori-specific materials in storage.
I also do less with monthly themes, at least in terms of specific materials out on the shelves. I still do themes with the books I read each week and we do things like make watercolor hearts for Valentine's day. Oh and I still make the play-doh a different color every month. But most of the shelf work is more open-ended, natural materials.
We do more "natural" practical life too. I still have some practical life activities on the shelf, but not much. I have a transfer work, a polish work, a folding work, and the dressing vests right now. But they help me prepare meals and wash and dry and sweep too.
So I think the blog will change a little. It will mostly be pictures of the preschool kids doing whatever they are doing that week, and some specific posts about what the school-aged kids are working on.
I hope you come along for the new journey!
Showing posts with label waldorf. Show all posts
Showing posts with label waldorf. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Our Preschool Rhythm - 2010
We've settled into a rhythm for our days for the preschoolers (all of them are 2 years old. There is a 2.25 boy, a 2.5 boy, and a 2.75 girl.) And while there are some Montessori materials on the shelves, we also have some Waldorf Materials too and our rhythm leans toward a more Waldorf type of rhythm too.
Our Daily Rhythm
Arrival - Free Play - Coloring - Morning Circle - Scheduled Activity (painting, play-doh, making bread, cut and glue activity, or making soup - each child brings a vegetable from home to contribute to our soup) - Morning Snack - Outdoor Play - Lunch - Nap - Free Play - Outdoor Play - Dismissal
The baby is still on her own schedule, although she does tend to play nearby during our circle time, and we include her at the table when we are over there, as well as take her outside if she is awake during those times. She is coming closer and closer to napping at the same time as the 2 year olds too.
Our circle time consists of singing songs/finger plays, and then we talk about the letter of the week, sing our calendar song, and our weather song. Then each child has a "helper" job for the week - one child does our color of the month (this month is red), one child does our number of the month (this month is one) and the third child does our shape of the month (this month is circle). We sing a song for each of the helper jobs, and the helper does a little activity (like find something red, sing a song with the sandpaper shape, do that number of chants/claps/fingers, etc.) After helper jobs, I read a story.
During free play, the children can pick items off the shelves. If the child picks a Montessori material, the first time, I will give the child an individual lesson. It sounds very formal when I write it like that, but it is actually occurring quite naturally, in fact, more naturally this year than in other years.
The children are naturally incorporated in practical life activities instead of having lots of practical life activities to choose from on the shelves, although I do have a couple practical life items out on the shelves. The children help with such things as sweeping, wiping the tables, straightening up, and undressing and dressing themselves. The children also help with the garden during the summer/early fall and late spring.
We do have a dog, and the children help by telling the dog to go outside and to go back to "his" room to lay down as well as giving him water in the afternoon. We are hoping to get a fish soon too.
Our Daily Rhythm
Arrival - Free Play - Coloring - Morning Circle - Scheduled Activity (painting, play-doh, making bread, cut and glue activity, or making soup - each child brings a vegetable from home to contribute to our soup) - Morning Snack - Outdoor Play - Lunch - Nap - Free Play - Outdoor Play - Dismissal
The baby is still on her own schedule, although she does tend to play nearby during our circle time, and we include her at the table when we are over there, as well as take her outside if she is awake during those times. She is coming closer and closer to napping at the same time as the 2 year olds too.
Our circle time consists of singing songs/finger plays, and then we talk about the letter of the week, sing our calendar song, and our weather song. Then each child has a "helper" job for the week - one child does our color of the month (this month is red), one child does our number of the month (this month is one) and the third child does our shape of the month (this month is circle). We sing a song for each of the helper jobs, and the helper does a little activity (like find something red, sing a song with the sandpaper shape, do that number of chants/claps/fingers, etc.) After helper jobs, I read a story.
During free play, the children can pick items off the shelves. If the child picks a Montessori material, the first time, I will give the child an individual lesson. It sounds very formal when I write it like that, but it is actually occurring quite naturally, in fact, more naturally this year than in other years.
The children are naturally incorporated in practical life activities instead of having lots of practical life activities to choose from on the shelves, although I do have a couple practical life items out on the shelves. The children help with such things as sweeping, wiping the tables, straightening up, and undressing and dressing themselves. The children also help with the garden during the summer/early fall and late spring.
We do have a dog, and the children help by telling the dog to go outside and to go back to "his" room to lay down as well as giving him water in the afternoon. We are hoping to get a fish soon too.
Monday, July 27, 2009
A book review - The Developing Child
I found this book at my local library. It is written by Willi Aeppli (1894 - 1972) who was a master Waldorf Teacher in Switzerland.
I enjoyed this book, but I especially liked the first chapter titled "Sense and Nonsense in Education." Here are some quotes from that chapter:
"Every adult in a child's environment represents destiny, a stroke of good or bad fortune, which will have a decisive influence on that child's life."
"What is thus revealed as a necessity for the teacher? A philosophy of freedom, not as a theory, philosophical system of concepts, or weltanschauung but as a way of life, a capacity."
"The reason is clear," says Pestalozzi. "We have spelling schools, writing, schools, catechism schools only, and we want - schools for human beings."
Some of the other chapters include Teaching Writing (which involves teaching children stories that have characters that represent the shape of the letters or teaching pictographic writing.), Teaching Arithmetic (using natural items for concrete manipulatives), Local History in First and Second Grade (learning about familiar plants, animals, and other natural items in the environment), The Legitimate Path of Teaching (to adopt the goal to install in children the ability to cope with life, and approach all teaching opportunities with this goal in mind), Unscheduled Classroom Events, Transforming the Subject Matter, Teaching Botany and Zoology (Teachers must be able give their imagination free rein and to speak of plants and animals, clouds and mountains, in such a way that the child sees them as living beings), Teaching Grammar (using visual and other sensorial representations of parts of speech), Teaching History (begin with teaching about ancient myths and then ancient civilizations), The Main Lesson Block (a period of 3 to 7 weeks where the same subject is taught every morning from 8:30 to 10 am. This is a blessing to both the teacher, who can concentrate on a main subject and become completely at home with the material, and to the child, who can submerge himself in the world of a specific subject without being wretched out by another main subject.), and The Life and Soul Metamorphoses of the Human Being and their Impact on Education.
This book gives some examples of how to teach these items, but as with many Waldorf books, this is not a curriculum book. You would need to find other materials to really flesh out how to use these ideas in a practical, daily way. But overall, I thought that this was a very good book and helped me look at teaching in a different way.
I enjoyed this book, but I especially liked the first chapter titled "Sense and Nonsense in Education." Here are some quotes from that chapter:
"Every adult in a child's environment represents destiny, a stroke of good or bad fortune, which will have a decisive influence on that child's life."
"What is thus revealed as a necessity for the teacher? A philosophy of freedom, not as a theory, philosophical system of concepts, or weltanschauung but as a way of life, a capacity."
"The reason is clear," says Pestalozzi. "We have spelling schools, writing, schools, catechism schools only, and we want - schools for human beings."
Some of the other chapters include Teaching Writing (which involves teaching children stories that have characters that represent the shape of the letters or teaching pictographic writing.), Teaching Arithmetic (using natural items for concrete manipulatives), Local History in First and Second Grade (learning about familiar plants, animals, and other natural items in the environment), The Legitimate Path of Teaching (to adopt the goal to install in children the ability to cope with life, and approach all teaching opportunities with this goal in mind), Unscheduled Classroom Events, Transforming the Subject Matter, Teaching Botany and Zoology (Teachers must be able give their imagination free rein and to speak of plants and animals, clouds and mountains, in such a way that the child sees them as living beings), Teaching Grammar (using visual and other sensorial representations of parts of speech), Teaching History (begin with teaching about ancient myths and then ancient civilizations), The Main Lesson Block (a period of 3 to 7 weeks where the same subject is taught every morning from 8:30 to 10 am. This is a blessing to both the teacher, who can concentrate on a main subject and become completely at home with the material, and to the child, who can submerge himself in the world of a specific subject without being wretched out by another main subject.), and The Life and Soul Metamorphoses of the Human Being and their Impact on Education.
This book gives some examples of how to teach these items, but as with many Waldorf books, this is not a curriculum book. You would need to find other materials to really flesh out how to use these ideas in a practical, daily way. But overall, I thought that this was a very good book and helped me look at teaching in a different way.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Thursday: Waldorf - A Comparison To Other Types Of Education
A UK Department for Education and Skills report noted significant differences in curriculum and pedagogical approach between Waldorf/Steiner and mainstream schools and recommended that schools in the state sector could benefit from the following elements of Waldorf education:
- early introduction and approach to modern foreign languages;
- the combination of block (class) and subject teaching for younger children;
- development of speaking and listening through an emphasis on oral work;
- the good pacing of lessons through an emphasis on rhythm;
- the emphasis on child development guiding the curriculum and examinations;
- the approach to art and creativity;
- the attention given to teachers’ reflective activity and heightened awareness (in collective child study for example);
- and collegial structure of leadership and management, including collegial study.
(From Waldorf Education on Wikipedia)
============
At Montgomery Academy, I do try to use the emphasis of rhythm to our daily routine as well as to the rhthym of the year, and an emphasis on art and creativity. I also try to be reflective of the children's actions both during classroom time and the way that I approach my lesson planning.Monday, November 17, 2008
A Little About Waldorf
Today I will be posting about Waldorf Education. The differences in the method when applied to preschool-aged children and school-age (7-18) children is quite remarkable, so I will be talking about the two age groups separately. This information is taken from Understanding Waldorf Education: Teaching From The Inside Out and Beyond the Rainbow Bridge: Nurturing Our Children From Birth To Seven.
Rudolf Steiner, the founder of the Waldorf method, however did feel that all children need to be engaged in three distinct ways: head, heart and hands. Through multi-faceted, multi-sensory learning experiences, children develop three distinct capacities - for thinking, for feeling, and for intentional activity. So all teaching throughout childhood is done is a way to engage children in three different ways.
Rhythms are also an important component of the Waldorf method, although rhythms can also be incorporated in the home environment as well. Rhythms give children a sense of security. In schools, there is built into the schedule "breathing in" and "breathing out" times to maintain a balance for the children of active and thinking times. Rhythm is also a great aid to discipline. If children feel secure in knowing what is coming next, they are more willing to "go with the flow." Rhythms at home can include routines for waking up and preparing for the day, bedtime routines, and marking changing seasons through activities. For example, in the autumn, you can pick apples and bake apple pies. Celebrating festivals at home also builds memories for your children. When they see you preparing for a certain holiday, children are filled with thoughts of the celebration from last year. These holiday celebrations give them confidence that these special times come around every year.
Preschool
In early childhood, from birth until age 7, the young child is primarily active. It is through activity that the young child is most easily engaged and most easily taught.
In the Waldorf preschool the students enter a room that looks more like a home than a classroom - part kitchen, part playroom. The lighting is subdued, the curtains and walls a delicate color and the furniture simple and natural. Most toys and play structures are wood, and carpeting encourages children to find a place on the floor to play.
In the Waldorf approach, early academic instruction is absent. The children are placed in a learning environment that provides many natural opportunities for leaning. If children learn to count or to memorize a song or poem, it is out of their out impetus and occurs naturally when they are developmentally ready and not through direct instruction.
Play is a key component of the Waldorf early childhood program because it promotes well-rounded, three-dimensional development. Play develops emotional maturity through social interaction. Another benefit of play is the development of thoughtfulness and attention. The third beneficial aspect of play is activity. And when children are out of doors, nature can provide the toys - bark, acorns, leaves, flowers.
Work is also an important component of early childhood programs. The children participate in activities such as baking, cleaning and washing. Participation in work enables the children to learn important skills early on that are necessary for life. They learn to do their fair share and help others.
In addition to all the benefits of work to children, there is one factor that is a crucial aspect of the work done. Meaningful and purposeful activity done in the presence of young children also provides them with actions to imitate, an irrepressible urge in young children. It is through imitation that young children learn most of the time. Rudolf Steiner brings the importance of imitation into focus: "Two magic words - imitation and example - indicate how children enter into a relationship with their environment."
Grade School
Needless to say, the urge to be active does not disappear when a child enters first grade. Rather activity recedes in importance over time and is gradually supplanted by a growing inwardness during the grade school years.
For grade school, the day begins with an extended lesson, called the "main lesson". Students study main lesson subjects intensively for three or four weeks, and then new subjects are taken up. In the middle part of the day, classes that engage feelings - painting, singing, foreign language, as well as traditional subjects are done. The afternoon is a time when lessons require more activity, such as crafts, art and p.e. are schedule.
Letters
Children are introduced to letters in 1st grade through stories interweaving the spoken word with visual illustrations. Letters fill the room with sound, and will be painted large with fantasy before being drawn small. The letters are carefully drawn and written, accompanied by related words, and recorded in blank books. By allotting time for this work and by saving this work in bound books, the children are receiving the message that what they do is of great importance.
Teaching Through Art
Drawing, singing, painting and poetry have their regular place in the educational program. The teaching of any subject, from science to history, can be enlivened and enhanced by incorporating art into the instruction.
The Roles of Stories
A story, particularly a told story, engages children completely. It stills them outwardly and activates them inwardly, filling their imaginations with pictures depicted in the telling of a tale. Fundamental mathematical processes are introduced through tales about gnomes. Science teaching is also enhanced through stories.
The Role of Music
According to Norman Weinberger, a professor of psychobiology, wrote that "music has the ability to facilitate language acquisition, reading readiness and general intellectual development, to foster positive attitudes, to lower truancy, to enhance creativity, to promote social development, personality adjustment, and self worth. In Waldorf schools, there are music specialists who offer singing and instrumental classes (everyone plays a musical instrument), as well as the classroom teachers who incorporate music into all areas of the curriculum.
The Role of Handwork
Girls and boys take woodwork and learn to knit and sew.
Rudolf Steiner, the founder of the Waldorf method, however did feel that all children need to be engaged in three distinct ways: head, heart and hands. Through multi-faceted, multi-sensory learning experiences, children develop three distinct capacities - for thinking, for feeling, and for intentional activity. So all teaching throughout childhood is done is a way to engage children in three different ways.
Rhythms are also an important component of the Waldorf method, although rhythms can also be incorporated in the home environment as well. Rhythms give children a sense of security. In schools, there is built into the schedule "breathing in" and "breathing out" times to maintain a balance for the children of active and thinking times. Rhythm is also a great aid to discipline. If children feel secure in knowing what is coming next, they are more willing to "go with the flow." Rhythms at home can include routines for waking up and preparing for the day, bedtime routines, and marking changing seasons through activities. For example, in the autumn, you can pick apples and bake apple pies. Celebrating festivals at home also builds memories for your children. When they see you preparing for a certain holiday, children are filled with thoughts of the celebration from last year. These holiday celebrations give them confidence that these special times come around every year.
Preschool
In early childhood, from birth until age 7, the young child is primarily active. It is through activity that the young child is most easily engaged and most easily taught.
In the Waldorf preschool the students enter a room that looks more like a home than a classroom - part kitchen, part playroom. The lighting is subdued, the curtains and walls a delicate color and the furniture simple and natural. Most toys and play structures are wood, and carpeting encourages children to find a place on the floor to play.
In the Waldorf approach, early academic instruction is absent. The children are placed in a learning environment that provides many natural opportunities for leaning. If children learn to count or to memorize a song or poem, it is out of their out impetus and occurs naturally when they are developmentally ready and not through direct instruction.
Play is a key component of the Waldorf early childhood program because it promotes well-rounded, three-dimensional development. Play develops emotional maturity through social interaction. Another benefit of play is the development of thoughtfulness and attention. The third beneficial aspect of play is activity. And when children are out of doors, nature can provide the toys - bark, acorns, leaves, flowers.
Work is also an important component of early childhood programs. The children participate in activities such as baking, cleaning and washing. Participation in work enables the children to learn important skills early on that are necessary for life. They learn to do their fair share and help others.
In addition to all the benefits of work to children, there is one factor that is a crucial aspect of the work done. Meaningful and purposeful activity done in the presence of young children also provides them with actions to imitate, an irrepressible urge in young children. It is through imitation that young children learn most of the time. Rudolf Steiner brings the importance of imitation into focus: "Two magic words - imitation and example - indicate how children enter into a relationship with their environment."
Grade School
Needless to say, the urge to be active does not disappear when a child enters first grade. Rather activity recedes in importance over time and is gradually supplanted by a growing inwardness during the grade school years.
For grade school, the day begins with an extended lesson, called the "main lesson". Students study main lesson subjects intensively for three or four weeks, and then new subjects are taken up. In the middle part of the day, classes that engage feelings - painting, singing, foreign language, as well as traditional subjects are done. The afternoon is a time when lessons require more activity, such as crafts, art and p.e. are schedule.
Letters
Children are introduced to letters in 1st grade through stories interweaving the spoken word with visual illustrations. Letters fill the room with sound, and will be painted large with fantasy before being drawn small. The letters are carefully drawn and written, accompanied by related words, and recorded in blank books. By allotting time for this work and by saving this work in bound books, the children are receiving the message that what they do is of great importance.
Teaching Through Art
Drawing, singing, painting and poetry have their regular place in the educational program. The teaching of any subject, from science to history, can be enlivened and enhanced by incorporating art into the instruction.
The Roles of Stories
A story, particularly a told story, engages children completely. It stills them outwardly and activates them inwardly, filling their imaginations with pictures depicted in the telling of a tale. Fundamental mathematical processes are introduced through tales about gnomes. Science teaching is also enhanced through stories.
The Role of Music
According to Norman Weinberger, a professor of psychobiology, wrote that "music has the ability to facilitate language acquisition, reading readiness and general intellectual development, to foster positive attitudes, to lower truancy, to enhance creativity, to promote social development, personality adjustment, and self worth. In Waldorf schools, there are music specialists who offer singing and instrumental classes (everyone plays a musical instrument), as well as the classroom teachers who incorporate music into all areas of the curriculum.
The Role of Handwork
Girls and boys take woodwork and learn to knit and sew.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
I use mostly a montessori-curriculum but
there are many things that I love about other methods - I love the nature study from Charlotte Mason, the history studies from Classical, the natural, wood, and rhythm of Waldorf, and the art and projects from Reggio Emilia. I recently devoted a whole bookshelf to art supplies in the classroom, and the children are free to pick from it during work time. We also have an easel for painting, and a chalkboard.
One of the ideas in the Reggio Emilia philosophy is that children have one hundred languages, most of them that are not written and spoken in the traditional way, but in more of an artistic way, that they use to express themselves and to learn things. Here is part of a poem by Loris Malaguzzi, one of the main proponents of the Reggio Emilia philosophy in the 20th century.
The child is made of one hundred.
The child has
a hundred languages
a hundred hands
a hundred thoughts
a hundred ways of thinking
of playing, of speaking.
A hundred
always a hundred
ways of listening
of marveling
of loving
a hundred joys
or singing and understanding
a hundred worlds
to discover
a hundred worlds
to invent
a hundred worlds
to dream.
— Loris Malaguzzi
The Hundred Languages of Children Exhibit
I know that sometimes it may seem like the children are bringing home endless amounts of art. But it isn't just bits of paper and glue. It is also a record of how they are learning and acquiring knowledge.
-Mrs. F
One of the ideas in the Reggio Emilia philosophy is that children have one hundred languages, most of them that are not written and spoken in the traditional way, but in more of an artistic way, that they use to express themselves and to learn things. Here is part of a poem by Loris Malaguzzi, one of the main proponents of the Reggio Emilia philosophy in the 20th century.
The child is made of one hundred.
The child has
a hundred languages
a hundred hands
a hundred thoughts
a hundred ways of thinking
of playing, of speaking.
A hundred
always a hundred
ways of listening
of marveling
of loving
a hundred joys
or singing and understanding
a hundred worlds
to discover
a hundred worlds
to invent
a hundred worlds
to dream.
— Loris Malaguzzi
The Hundred Languages of Children Exhibit
I know that sometimes it may seem like the children are bringing home endless amounts of art. But it isn't just bits of paper and glue. It is also a record of how they are learning and acquiring knowledge.
-Mrs. F
Friday, August 29, 2008
Welcome!
This is my blog about our adventures in homeschooling and my teaching 5 children in a home-based Montessori preschool. I will celebrate my sixth year as a preschool teacher in January 2009.
This year I'll be my homeschooling my 8 year old daughter, hereafter referred to as Flower. We do a mix of Charlotte Mason, Montessori, and Waldorf.
Her 6 year old sister, hereafter referred to as Jelly Bean, will be attending the local elementary school this year but will do some at home learning occassionally and join us on some of our field trips.
Her 3 year old brother, hereafter referred to as Super, will be attending preschool with 5 of his friends. We have three friends who are returning and two new friends.
I'll be blogging about all things learning here, so that will be things like our classroom, various activities that we do, our schedules and routines, etc.
This year I'll be my homeschooling my 8 year old daughter, hereafter referred to as Flower. We do a mix of Charlotte Mason, Montessori, and Waldorf.
Her 6 year old sister, hereafter referred to as Jelly Bean, will be attending the local elementary school this year but will do some at home learning occassionally and join us on some of our field trips.
Her 3 year old brother, hereafter referred to as Super, will be attending preschool with 5 of his friends. We have three friends who are returning and two new friends.
I'll be blogging about all things learning here, so that will be things like our classroom, various activities that we do, our schedules and routines, etc.
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