As toddlers grow they become more observant and helpful with the activities that parents do every day. These are what Maria Montessori calls Practical Life Activities. One important aspect of practical life is food preparation. Make your kitchen safe and accessible to your toddler. One can have a low drawer for their own utensils that they use, have a special place in the fridge for their food and drink that they can serve themselves. To allow toddlers to help
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This article in the Economist explains how positive parenting techniques will teach children to solve their own problems whereas “negative” discipline like time outs and naughty corners rob the child of the opportunity to make choices and learn from mistakes: IN THE old days parents followed a simple rule: spare the rod and spoil the child. These days less violent forms of discipline are favored. Supernanny, a television toddler-tamer, recommends the “naughty step”, to which
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A series of studies, has shown that children can solve math problems better if they are told to use their hands while thinking. Another study suggested that stage actors remember their lines better when they are moving. This article, published in the Boston Globe, examines the link between movement and cognition: When you read something confusing, or work a crossword puzzle, or try to remember where you put your keys, what do you do with
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If you missed our Parent Education Night on how to use Montessori Compass, here is a tutorial explaining how to stay informed about your child’s progress.
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There are many instances in Dr. Montessori’s work where she explains why she “eventually…gave up either punishing or rewarding the children”.(1) She explains that this method is “always a form of repression”(2), and is based upon our – in her opinion tragically erroneous – belief that children “come into the world bad and full of naughtiness.”(3) She found, after careful observation, that both punishment and reward were equally ineffective tools for supporting the type of
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A study comparing outcomes of children at a public inner-city Montessori school with children who attended traditional schools indicates that Montessori education leads to children with better social and academic skills. The study appears in the September 29, 2006 issue of the journal Science (see article full text; available free through Montessori-Science.org). Montessori education is characterized by multi-age classrooms, a special set of educational materials, student-chosen work in long time blocks, a collaborative environment with student mentors,
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This week the children of the Willow Room made a delicious treat: Pumpkin Bread. They baked a sugar pumpkin, scooped out the soft pumpkin flesh with spoons – what messy fun – and pureed it in a blender ready to use for making pumpkin bread. They then ground their own flour, soaked it in yogurt overnight and baked the pumpkin bread the next day. Since it was so much fun, we want to share the
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