Once children have begun to write letters, they are quickly motivated to apply that knowledge to useful, meaningful activities. But a child who wants to write a lot may not yet have the attention span or endurance to write for long. It falls, then, to the creative Montessori teacher to identify opportunities for children to write things that are important to them, without overwhelming them with more writing than they may be able to complete. Enter the nomenclature cards. The

In the complicated web of Montessori materials, we see basic skills reinforced across multiple domains and through various activities. Especially in the essential coordination of fine and gross motor skills, Montessori materials embed meaningful opportunities for practice across the classroom, from carrying simple trays to balancing cumbersome buckets of water, from grasping large knobs to managing tiny tweezers. While we seek to support children's developing coordination of

It's a sort of curious activity to watch: a young child, mesmerized, repeatedly transferring some small object from one container to another and back again. Maybe the containers are filled with pom poms or small rubber pellets. Maybe the tongs are large and wooden or maybe they're tiny tweezers. But the child is absorbed, intent on her work, just moving the items back and forth and back again. There's no magic in the material, nothing about it that changes the nature of child

Once children have begun to write letters, they are quickly motivated to apply that knowledge to useful, meaningful activities. But a child who wants to write a lot may not yet have the attention span or endurance to write for long. It falls, then, to the creative Montessori teacher to identify opportunities for children to write things that are important to them, without overwhelming them with more writing than they may be able to complete. Enter the nomenclature cards. The

In the complicated web of Montessori materials, we see basic skills reinforced across multiple domains and through various activities. Especially in the essential coordination of fine and gross motor skills, Montessori materials embed meaningful opportunities for practice across the classroom, from carrying simple trays to balancing cumbersome buckets of water, from grasping large knobs to managing tiny tweezers. While we seek to support children's developing coordination of

It's a sort of curious activity to watch: a young child, mesmerized, repeatedly transferring some small object from one container to another and back again. Maybe the containers are filled with pom poms or small rubber pellets. Maybe the tongs are large and wooden or maybe they're tiny tweezers. But the child is absorbed, intent on her work, just moving the items back and forth and back again. There's no magic in the material, nothing about it that changes the nature of child

We know that part of our work as Montessori teachers is to observe children. We observe to understand their development, that we may better prepare for that development in the materials and lessons we offer in the environment. Before we introduce writing as a lesson, we need to observe the child’s physical and intellectual development for signs of alignment. That is to say, each new lesson should be aligned to the observations we’ve made of the child to whom we’re offering it

Once children have begun to write letters, they are quickly motivated to apply that knowledge to useful, meaningful activities. But a child who wants to write a lot may not yet have the attention span or endurance to write for long. It falls, then, to the creative Montessori teacher to identify opportunities for children to write things that are important to them, without overwhelming them with more writing than they may be able to complete. Enter the nomenclature cards. The

"Can I see your shelves?" What an odd question. And, yet, if you spend much time with Montessori teachers, you'll almost inevitably hear them asking each other about how they prepare their shelves. You'll see them kneeling down in front of each other's shelves to see which materials are color coded or to open box lids to see what's inside. A visiting Montessori teacher comes to observe your classroom? You'll enjoy a brief moment of eye contact before they start glancing aroun

It's a sort of curious activity to watch: a young child, mesmerized, repeatedly transferring some small object from one container to another and back again. Maybe the containers are filled with pom poms or small rubber pellets. Maybe the tongs are large and wooden or maybe they're tiny tweezers. But the child is absorbed, intent on her work, just moving the items back and forth and back again. There's no magic in the material, nothing about it that changes the nature of child