Montessori programs encourage creativity!
"Creativity flourishes in an atmosphere of acceptance and trust. Montessorians recognize that all children, from toddler to teenager, learn and express themselves in a very individual way.
Music, art, storytelling, movement and drama activities are integrated into American Montessori programs. But there are other things particular to the Montessori environment which encourage creative development: many materials which stimulate interest and involvement; an emphasis on the sensory aspect of experience; and opportunities for both verbal and nonverbal modes of learning."
Www.amshq.org.
Check out your nearest Montessori classroom and look at all the cool materials that encourage creative growth in your child!
Or come see Eden Cooperative Nursery School, A Montessori Environment!
Monday, August 15, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Summer reading!!
Here's some awesome books for your kids to get into this month!
Also, check out this link for summer reading lists by grade! Summer Reading
Also, check out this link for summer reading lists by grade! Summer Reading
Monday, August 8, 2011
Montessori Monday
Every Monday I'll be posting a story or article that is Montessori-related. The goal is to increase knowledge about this creative and forward-thinking method of educating children. The more I learn about the Montessori method, the more I love it, and I'm amazed that I didn't learn about it more in college, where my degree was based around education and child development.
Montessori Education Provides Better Outcomes
September 28, 2006—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, absence of grades and tests, and individual and small group instruction in academic and social skills. More than 5,000 schools in the United States, including 300 public schools, use the Montessori method.
The Montessori school studied is located in Milwaukee and serves urban minority children. Students at the school were selected for enrollment through a random lottery process. Those students who “won” the lottery and enrolled at the Montessori school made up the study group. A control group was made up of children who had “lost” the lottery and were therefore enrolled in other schools using traditional methods. In both cases the parents had entered their children in the school lottery with the hope of gaining enrollment in the Montessori school.
“This strategy addressed the concern that parents who seek to enroll their children in a Montessori school are different from parents who do not,” wrote study authors Angeline Lillard, a University of Virginia professor of psychology, and Nicole Else-Quest, a former graduate student in psychology at the University of Wisconsin. This was an important factor because parents generally are the dominant influence on child outcomes.
Children were evaluated at the end of the two most widely implemented levels of Montessori education: primary (3- to 6-year-olds) and elementary (6- to 12-year-olds). They came from families of very similar income levels (averaging from $20,000 to $50,000 per year for both groups).
The children who attended the Montessori school, and the children who did not, were tested for their cognitive and academic skills, and for their social and behavioral skills.
“We found significant advantages for the Montessori students in these tests for both age groups,” Lillard said. “Particularly remarkable are the positive social effects of Montessori education. Typically the home environment overwhelms all other influences in that area.”
Among the 5-year-olds, Montessori students proved to be significantly better prepared for elementary school in reading and math skills than the non-Montessori children. They also tested better on “executive function,” the ability to adapt to changing and more complex problems, an indicator of future school and life success.
Montessori children also displayed better abilities on the social and behavioral tests, demonstrating a greater sense of justice and fairness. And on the playground they were much more likely to engage in emotionally positive play with peers, and less likely to engage in rough play.
Among the 12-year-olds from both groups, the Montessori children, in cognitive and academic measures, produced essays that were rated as “significantly more creative and as using significantly more sophisticated sentence structures.” The Montessori and non-Montessori students scored similarly on spelling, punctuation and grammar, and there was not much difference in academic skills related to reading and math. This parity occurred despite the Montessori children not being regularly tested and graded.
In social and behavioral measures, 12-year-old Montessori students were more likely to choose “positive assertive responses” for dealing with unpleasant social situations, such as having someone cut into a line. They also indicated a “greater sense of community” at their school and felt that students there respected, helped and cared about each other.
The authors concluded that, “…when strictly implemented, Montessori education fosters social and academic skills that are equal or superior to those fostered by a pool of other types of schools.”
Lillard plans to continue the research by tracking the students from both groups over a longer period of time to determine long-term effects of Montessori versus traditional education. She also would like to replicate the study at other Montessori and traditional schools using a prospective design, and to examine whether specific Montessori practices are linked to specific outcomes.
Lillard is the author of Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius. More information is available at: http://www.montessori-science.org/.
Montessori Education Provides Better Outcomes
Than Traditional Methods, Study Finds
September 28, 2006—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, absence of grades and tests, and individual and small group instruction in academic and social skills. More than 5,000 schools in the United States, including 300 public schools, use the Montessori method.
The Montessori school studied is located in Milwaukee and serves urban minority children. Students at the school were selected for enrollment through a random lottery process. Those students who “won” the lottery and enrolled at the Montessori school made up the study group. A control group was made up of children who had “lost” the lottery and were therefore enrolled in other schools using traditional methods. In both cases the parents had entered their children in the school lottery with the hope of gaining enrollment in the Montessori school.
“This strategy addressed the concern that parents who seek to enroll their children in a Montessori school are different from parents who do not,” wrote study authors Angeline Lillard, a University of Virginia professor of psychology, and Nicole Else-Quest, a former graduate student in psychology at the University of Wisconsin. This was an important factor because parents generally are the dominant influence on child outcomes.
Children were evaluated at the end of the two most widely implemented levels of Montessori education: primary (3- to 6-year-olds) and elementary (6- to 12-year-olds). They came from families of very similar income levels (averaging from $20,000 to $50,000 per year for both groups).
The children who attended the Montessori school, and the children who did not, were tested for their cognitive and academic skills, and for their social and behavioral skills.
“We found significant advantages for the Montessori students in these tests for both age groups,” Lillard said. “Particularly remarkable are the positive social effects of Montessori education. Typically the home environment overwhelms all other influences in that area.”
Among the 5-year-olds, Montessori students proved to be significantly better prepared for elementary school in reading and math skills than the non-Montessori children. They also tested better on “executive function,” the ability to adapt to changing and more complex problems, an indicator of future school and life success.
Montessori children also displayed better abilities on the social and behavioral tests, demonstrating a greater sense of justice and fairness. And on the playground they were much more likely to engage in emotionally positive play with peers, and less likely to engage in rough play.
Among the 12-year-olds from both groups, the Montessori children, in cognitive and academic measures, produced essays that were rated as “significantly more creative and as using significantly more sophisticated sentence structures.” The Montessori and non-Montessori students scored similarly on spelling, punctuation and grammar, and there was not much difference in academic skills related to reading and math. This parity occurred despite the Montessori children not being regularly tested and graded.
In social and behavioral measures, 12-year-old Montessori students were more likely to choose “positive assertive responses” for dealing with unpleasant social situations, such as having someone cut into a line. They also indicated a “greater sense of community” at their school and felt that students there respected, helped and cared about each other.
The authors concluded that, “…when strictly implemented, Montessori education fosters social and academic skills that are equal or superior to those fostered by a pool of other types of schools.”
Lillard plans to continue the research by tracking the students from both groups over a longer period of time to determine long-term effects of Montessori versus traditional education. She also would like to replicate the study at other Montessori and traditional schools using a prospective design, and to examine whether specific Montessori practices are linked to specific outcomes.
Lillard is the author of Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius. More information is available at: http://www.montessori-science.org/.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Etsy Lovers!
Check out our Etsy shop here! One of my students is designing and creating purses and jewelery and we are putting them up for sale! Proceeds will go towards a charity of her choice, which will be announced at a later time (when she decides)! She's super creative, and all of her work is completely her own!
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
An authoritative style of parenting is more beneficial than authoritarian... what's the difference?
This was one of my undergrad professors at Alfred University. Dr. Lichtman is incredibly intelligent, and remains to this day one of my favorite teachers. As it says in the article, Dr. Lichtman was also one of the founders of the Alfred Montessori Preschool.
I got this article from Alfred University's site.
Lichtman authors new guide to parenting 8/01/11
His advice, presented in his new book, A Practical Guide for Raising a Self-Directed and Caring Child, runs counter to the current popular authoritarian parenting style advocated in Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.
"Many of the problems facing our country today stem from the way we raise our children," said Lichtman. Surveys show that parents are failing to teach their children appropriate values. In the past year alone, about 30% of teenagers stole, 60% cheated, and 80% lied about something important.
Also, about 50% admit to bullying other children.
His own experiences with what he calls "unhappy and poorly adjusted college students" prompted him to offer the parenting course and, eventually, to write the guide. Since its introduction in 1987, over 1,200 students have taken his parenting seminar.
With the media attention on the "Tiger Mother" style, Lichtman says he is concerned "parents will adopt a strict authoritarian style," even though the preponderance of research findings indicate "an authoritative style "- where parents offer guidance, not orders - works best for raising well-adjusted children to adulthood.
"Parenting is a complex and challenging task for which most people receive no formal training," said Lichtman. He compiled what he has learned as a psychologist, teacher, and parent into the guide, which received an Editor’s Choice award from iUniverse.
Lichtman earned a BS degree in psychology from Brooklyn College and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Maine. In addition to a long teaching career, he has been a chair of the department for 13 years, and has served for 10 years as an associate dean or acting dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.
He was one of the founders of the Alfred Montessori Preschool. He and his wife have two grown daughters.
I got this article from Alfred University's site.
Lichtman authors new guide to parenting 8/01/11
Alfred University Psychology Professor Louis Lichtman, with more than 40 years of teaching and research behind him, says children are most successful when they are "self-directed" rather than parent-controlled.
His advice, presented in his new book, A Practical Guide for Raising a Self-Directed and Caring Child, runs counter to the current popular authoritarian parenting style advocated in Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.
"Many of the problems facing our country today stem from the way we raise our children," said Lichtman. Surveys show that parents are failing to teach their children appropriate values. In the past year alone, about 30% of teenagers stole, 60% cheated, and 80% lied about something important.
Also, about 50% admit to bullying other children.
His own experiences with what he calls "unhappy and poorly adjusted college students" prompted him to offer the parenting course and, eventually, to write the guide. Since its introduction in 1987, over 1,200 students have taken his parenting seminar.
With the media attention on the "Tiger Mother" style, Lichtman says he is concerned "parents will adopt a strict authoritarian style," even though the preponderance of research findings indicate "an authoritative style "- where parents offer guidance, not orders - works best for raising well-adjusted children to adulthood.
"Parenting is a complex and challenging task for which most people receive no formal training," said Lichtman. He compiled what he has learned as a psychologist, teacher, and parent into the guide, which received an Editor’s Choice award from iUniverse.
Lichtman earned a BS degree in psychology from Brooklyn College and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Maine. In addition to a long teaching career, he has been a chair of the department for 13 years, and has served for 10 years as an associate dean or acting dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.
He was one of the founders of the Alfred Montessori Preschool. He and his wife have two grown daughters.
*************************************************************************
In his book, Understanding Parenting, Michael L. Jaffe offers some definitions of authoritative and authoritarian styles of parenting.
Authoritative parents are warm towards their children, but firm. Parents who use this style use reason and persuasion to gain the compliance of their children (it should be noted that these parents are not permissive, and when reason fails, they are willing to use power to gain compliance). They explain rules to their children, and encourage their children to be independent thinkers.
Authoritarian parents value obedience over anything else. They limit their child's freedom by imposing many rules, which they strictly enforce. These parents mainly use power to gain compliance ("Because I said so"). Parents who use this style do not encourage their children to be independent thinkers.
Authoritative parents are warm towards their children, but firm. Parents who use this style use reason and persuasion to gain the compliance of their children (it should be noted that these parents are not permissive, and when reason fails, they are willing to use power to gain compliance). They explain rules to their children, and encourage their children to be independent thinkers.
Authoritarian parents value obedience over anything else. They limit their child's freedom by imposing many rules, which they strictly enforce. These parents mainly use power to gain compliance ("Because I said so"). Parents who use this style do not encourage their children to be independent thinkers.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
We published a book!
One of my kids and I wrote and published a short children's book! This is so exciting! You can check it out here:
Click here!
...This link seems to be broken. I'll figure it out after we come back from hiking!
Click here!
...This link seems to be broken. I'll figure it out after we come back from hiking!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Jack
Today was our first session at Eden Co-Op! It went so well! Right when Jack came into the school, he just stared in awe at all the shelves of materials. I let him spend the first 10 minutes exploring the classroom before having him sit on the rug where I had prepared a workspace. I had him trace a few sand letters, telling me the names of each letter, what sound they made, and then I had him use the big sound board to help him name something that started with each letter. Ah, to have an unlimited amount of resources ready and waiting to be used... it was wonderful. After quickly going through Lesson 18 in the Teach Your Child to Read book, we worked on sounds and sorted miniature items according to whether they had the sounds "oo" "ee" "ie" "ai" and "oa." We then did some rhyming exercises, and right after this Jack decided he wanted to go back to exploring the room. I had him do one more activity (spelling words with Melissa & Doug See & Spell...he is too advanced for this normally, but it was a good confidence booster, which he needs sometimes), and then he read two pages out of Go, Dog! Go. He had some difficulty sounding out the words, which was frustrating for the both of us because I know he knows those words, and he just seemed as though he was itching to get up and explore. I then read him a chapter out of Captain Underpants and then let him loose. He worked diligently on some math materials until his mom came to pick him up... He didn't want to leave though, which made me smile.
Oh, another thing I wanted to note: after showing Jack's mom the classroom and describing the materials and the Montessori Method, she indicated that this was a school that would have been a good preschool for Jack, and he should have gone somewhere like this. Another smile. :)
Oh, another thing I wanted to note: after showing Jack's mom the classroom and describing the materials and the Montessori Method, she indicated that this was a school that would have been a good preschool for Jack, and he should have gone somewhere like this. Another smile. :)
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