***When I first began using the Montessori method I didn't truly understand what "follow the child" really meant. One of my mistakes was making Yn work on The Stamp Game for addition and substraction more than he needed to, INSTEAD OF following him. The right thing would've been allowing him to do more advance work as soon as he showed interest in doing so. I'm sharing this experience hoping that other readers would learn from this and to prove we never stop learning. What did Yn say during this process??? That he was tired of the Stamps, that he didn't like the Stamps, and that he didn't like Math. But, between the lines, he was really saying that he understood the material, that he was ready for more advanced lessons, and that he had a faster pace than mommy's. Now, who learned the lesson this time? Me! :)
Dimos esta presentación de división con el Juego de los Sellos para poder trabajar con el Tablero de Cuentas de División. Cuando este tablero llegó a casa él quedó fascinado! Trabajamos muy pocos ejemplos con los sellos ya que me demostró muy rápido que entendía el material. De hecho, hizo algunos ejemplos de problemas verbales de memoria cuando aún no habíamos trabajado las tablas de memorización.
***We did the division presentation using The Stamp Game so we could work on the Division Bead Board. He was fascinated by this board when it got home! We only did a few stamp exercises as he showed understanding the material very quickly. In fact, he did a couple of word problems orally without even having him memorize the tables.
Aquí ya está trabajando con el Tablero de División. Comenzó componiendo las tablas de división del 81 (divisor) y ya va por el 60.
*** Here, he's working with the Division Bead Board. He began by working on basic division equations in which 81 was the divisor. Now he's worked his way down to 60.
Y, por supuesto, este es Ym usando los materiales "de su hermano mayor". (De hecho, ahora que lo pienso tal vez no sea buena idea decir que este o aquel material es de uno o del otro. Esto puede ser limitante. Qué piensan ustedes?)
Aquí practicamos agarre de pinza, contamos cuentas, identificamos números con el tablero…
***And, of course, this is Ym using his "big brother's materials". (Now that I think about it, maybe it's not such a good idea saying a certain material is one of the kid's property. I'm afraid it could limit them. What do you think?)
***And, of course, this is Ym using his "big brother's materials". (Now that I think about it, maybe it's not such a good idea saying a certain material is one of the kid's property. I'm afraid it could limit them. What do you think?)
Here, we worked on pincer grasping, bead counting, number identification...
***...and forming geometric figures. I let him use the board in his own way, and observed him closely... (I think I lost a couple of neurons trying to figure out the right thing to do.)
No olvide visitar estos otros fabulosos blogs donde participamos:
***Don't forget to visit these other lovely blogs which we participate in:
One Hook Wonder {Montessori Monday}
Mommy Moment {Monday's Montessori Moment}
Joyful Learner {Joyful Learner Math Links}
Me encanta el trabajo que haces con Yn!!..Te FELICITO eres una mama ESPECTACULAR!! y en mi opinion...La escuelita es de tus dos peq. traviesos!!lol...entonces significa "como dice mi princesa"... que el material es de los dos, pero cada cual lo utiliza en su etapa o experiencia!
ReplyDeleteK-rinos
Karen
What a fab post - I agree totally - following the child is SO important! In my opinon, letting Ym use his big brother's materials is probably fine - BUT, I don't know that you would get that answer from a Montessori-trained teacher. I suppose it's possible that it sets a precedant for him expecting to always use works his own way instead of doing them as their presented, but I don't know. I'll be interested to hear what others have to say.
ReplyDeleteI have been trying tomake material decisions for my own children. At first I was going to skip the stamp game, but after reading this post, I can clearly see its importance. Thank you! By the way how long have you been working with your boys using the montessori method?
ReplyDeleteThank you all for reading my post and taking time in commenting back.
ReplyDeleteNicole:
I'm also interested in knowing what a Montessori-trained teacher would say about this. In my case, I allow him to use the material in a sensorial manner, as long as he doesn't misuse it. Also, I find that many times he's not interested in doing school work, except for these few moments he chooses these advanced materials. And these are my "woo-hoo" moments ;) I'm praying that things will get better in the future. :D How do you manage things with your 2 kiddos?
Discovering Montessori:
I began using the Montessori method on December 2009 with my 3 yo (when he turned exactly 3 yo) and this February with my 8 yo (he also turned 8 that month). I sometimes feel they are so behind but, looking on the bright side, we've accomplish so much with so little. We've been BLESSED!
I love Montessori Materials and have purchased the stamp game! Unfortunately, I still have to learn how to use them myself! Thanks for the reminder to follow the child. It's the only way to learn. Thanks for linking up!
ReplyDelete