As I shared last week, we are beginning our transition from a traditional preschool to a Montessori Inspired school. We will be using found objects, dollar store purchases, current toys & activities, created materials and a few traditional Montessori Works to prepare environments to enable our students to learn independently. We will be sharing these ideas with you through our Montessori Inspired blog posts over the next few months. We are excited to show you some of the things we have learned already.
A few of the principles and philosophies of the Montessori Method are following the child (observing their interests), prepared environment (order & beauty), control of error (successful learning), isolated quality (color, shape, etc), freedom within limits (choice), and independence (not helping a child do something they can do themselves). I love all of these and am constantly trying to encourage the students in these areas.
All of the materials in a traditional Montessori school are designed to be self-teaching. Children learn to solve problems, see natural connections in knowledge, learn skills related to practical living, and therefore, expand their imaginative thinking.
A few of the principles and philosophies of the Montessori Method are following the child (observing their interests), prepared environment (order & beauty), control of error (successful learning), isolated quality (color, shape, etc), freedom within limits (choice), and independence (not helping a child do something they can do themselves). I love all of these and am constantly trying to encourage the students in these areas.
All of the materials in a traditional Montessori school are designed to be self-teaching. Children learn to solve problems, see natural connections in knowledge, learn skills related to practical living, and therefore, expand their imaginative thinking.
I was looking around our classrooms to see what materials and activities we already had available so that we could start implementing these changes into our school now. I have started looking at everything through these "Montessori glasses". I found a container of color bears with sorting cups that I had purchased from Amazon a few years ago and pulled it apart to prepare my environment and put it on the shelf. Now when I first did this, I simply put them all in an old peanut container from Costco (we are really big on recycling and reusing everything). It worked ok but it wasn't very inviting and most of the time it just sat on the shelf unused.
One day I was sitting at a table and one of our students who just turned 2 came over with the container for help opening the lid. Since this was the first time I had "played" this game with this particular student, I asked if he wanted to learn how to play it. I simply laid out the cups and told him to pour the bears onto the table. I then picked up a bear & asked him what cup it belongs in. While this child doesn't know all the color names, he can distinguish between the colors. I continued to ask him with a few bears and then I allowed him to do the rest himself while I sat there. I also showed him how to clean it up and put it away. When he made a mistake I simply asked if that was right? I would point to the cup, picking it up, tipping it so he could see and he would correct his mistake (control of error).
This child has since gotten this game off the shelf to play every single day since we played it together. He always plays by himself and puts the game away when he's done. I was able to capture him playing this game earlier this week and it was just precious. I should also mention that I prepared the game a bit differently and this seems a bit more inviting. It has also solved a problem in that many of our smallest toddlers (just turned 1) are wanting to pull things off the shelf & dump them out but not being able to clean up after themselves yet (they just started attend our classes). The bear container is a bit harder to open and therefore even if the younger ones get it off the shelf, they can't dump it out.
One day I was sitting at a table and one of our students who just turned 2 came over with the container for help opening the lid. Since this was the first time I had "played" this game with this particular student, I asked if he wanted to learn how to play it. I simply laid out the cups and told him to pour the bears onto the table. I then picked up a bear & asked him what cup it belongs in. While this child doesn't know all the color names, he can distinguish between the colors. I continued to ask him with a few bears and then I allowed him to do the rest himself while I sat there. I also showed him how to clean it up and put it away. When he made a mistake I simply asked if that was right? I would point to the cup, picking it up, tipping it so he could see and he would correct his mistake (control of error).
This child has since gotten this game off the shelf to play every single day since we played it together. He always plays by himself and puts the game away when he's done. I was able to capture him playing this game earlier this week and it was just precious. I should also mention that I prepared the game a bit differently and this seems a bit more inviting. It has also solved a problem in that many of our smallest toddlers (just turned 1) are wanting to pull things off the shelf & dump them out but not being able to clean up after themselves yet (they just started attend our classes). The bear container is a bit harder to open and therefore even if the younger ones get it off the shelf, they can't dump it out.
As you can see, he would immediately know when he put the bear in the wrong cup. He would ask the same question, "is that right?" answer it, "Noooo" and then would correct it. He mainly did this because I was sitting there with him but he understood that it was incorrect and was able solve the problem all by himself. He loves this game so much that once he was finished, he cleaned it up but decided not to put it back on the shelf and instead played it again.
I call that a success!
I call that a success!
If you would like to purchase any of the materials that we used in this activity, please follow these affiliate links.
*disclaimer, I will receive 10% of your purchase as compensation for pointing you in the right direction.
*disclaimer, I will receive 10% of your purchase as compensation for pointing you in the right direction.
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Leave a comment below with some other preschool ideas you would like to see & join our new mailing list to receive bonus resources and reminders to visit when something new is uploaded.
Make sure you check out our Preschool Printables, Preschool Science, Preschool Crafts or the rest of our Preschool Montessori Inspired posts for more inspiration.
Here are a few to get you started:
Also, for more worksheets & printables packs, check out my new TPT (Teachers Pay Teachers) store. I am uploading things as I create them and I have a few teacher friends testing them out in their classrooms as well.
Leave a comment below with some other preschool ideas you would like to see & join our new mailing list to receive bonus resources and reminders to visit when something new is uploaded.
Make sure you check out our Preschool Printables, Preschool Science, Preschool Crafts or the rest of our Preschool Montessori Inspired posts for more inspiration.
Here are a few to get you started:
- Preschool Craft: Homemade Paper
- Preschool Crafts: Let's Go Fly A Kite
- Character Costumes: Dr Seuss
- Preschool Crafts: Cardboard Tube Snowmen
- Preschool Printables: Hidden Sight Words
- Preschool Printables: The Solar System Inner Planets PreK Pack
- Preschool Printables: Fun Facts About Apples
- Preschool Printables: Handwriting Practice - Uppercase
- Preschool Printables: Bonus Freebie - Trace a Shape
Also, for more worksheets & printables packs, check out my new TPT (Teachers Pay Teachers) store. I am uploading things as I create them and I have a few teacher friends testing them out in their classrooms as well.
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