Montessori Self-Help Skills Part 1

Montessori Self-Help Skills Part 1

     As we begin this new school year and we have some new faces, I thought it would be appropriate to write my welcome back post on self-help skills.  I recently had a teacher ask me for advice on how to teach parents the skills that the kids should be working on and how to help them be successful.  That is a great question and one that has many answers.  To make this more understandable for all I will make a list of skills that they should be working on and how we work with them at our Montessori school based on their planes of development.  Every child is different, so it is also important to take into consideration individualization. 

1.   5 reasons why self-help skills are essential

a.     Children Learn by doing.

Research has shown us time and time again that children learn best through doing not by being told.  For children to learn how to do a task for themselves, we must allow them time to practice it and let them make their mistakes.   

b.     Children need and thrive on small successes

If you are constantly doing everything for your child, you aren’t giving them the opportunity to succeed on their own.  When they accomplish these little tasks, make sure to get excited about what they did.    

c.      Self-help skills are problem-solving skills

Sadly, the world we live in today is fast paced, and everyone wants everything instantly.  Because of this, we are losing our problem-solving skills.  Teaching children to do things themselves at a young age enables them to use problem solving and critical thinking skills.  These skills will be vital to life and will help them have greater executive functioning skills which will assist them in school as well. 

d.     Independence builds self-confidence!

Self-confidence doesn’t happen overnight.  You will notice as children get older their lack of confidence can hinder them in many ways.  It is our job to build them up and give them the skills they need to prepare them.  Once a child becomes for independent they will be more confident and ready to tackle the next task.

e.     Independence teaches them responsibility and breeds good habits.

We all want our children to be responsible and have good practices.  Unfortunately, in our fast and overscheduled lives, we don’t take the time to teach our kids how to become responsible.  This is why it is so important to learn these skills when they are small.  They will thank you, and you will thank yourself. 

    2.   Ages and Stages of Self-help Skills

a.     Self-help Skills for Babies (crawlers) to 12 months

            Tell you when all done eating with sign language

            Put shoes and socks away

            Put own bib in laundry basket

            Wash face and hands with a wipe

            Feed self, finger foods and a snack

            Hold a spoon and toothbrush

b.     Self-help Skills from 12-18 months

Wash hands and begin to make “bubble gloves.”

Start practicing dressing self with practical life lessons

Brush Teeth (with help)

Start brushing hair and doll hair

Drink from a lidless cup

Eat independently with a fork

c.      Self-Care Skills from 18 months- 2-year-olds

Take off pants/shorts with elastic waist

Learn how to put on and take off shirt

Continue washing hands and making bubble gloves almost independently

Put clothes in a drawer

Take off and put away shoes

Brush own hair

Hang up coat and look for name with picture

Begin family style eating with scoops and pouring small amounts

Use a napkin at meal times

Learn how to wipe up spills

After eating scrape plate in trash and put dishes in dish tub or sink

d.     Self-Care Skills for 3-year-olds

Begin dressing boards to practice using Snaps, zippers, and buttons

Dress self without snaps, zippers, and buttons

Put on coat, snow pants, hats and mittens

Put on shoes

Put away some of their own laundry in specified drawers.  (label for more direction)

Learn beginning cooking (measuring, pouring, mixing)

Begin pouring water/milk/juice from a pitcher

Wipe up own spills (keep small squares of shammy or towels within reach)

Family style eating which includes setting the table and serving self.

Learn first and last name and what town they live in

Fold socks and put away

Ask to be excused from table and push chair in

Once fully potty trained learn to wipe bottom correctly without assistance

e.     Self-Care Skills for 4-year-olds

Begin learning to tie shoes

Master the dressing boards

Put sheets on cots and fold blankets

Start learning more advanced cooking skills (cracking eggs alone, spreading butter and jam, cutting banana slices)

Learn to wash dishes

Learn to sweep and mop

Memorize phone number and address

Can wipe bottom correctly

f.      Self-Care Skills for 5-year-olds

 Learn emergency numbers and what to do in case of a fire

 Master dressing independently

                 Brush hair independently

                 Brush teeth independently

      Replace toilet paper roll if finished

      Understand and choose weather appropriate clothing

      Master tying shoes

      Learn the food plate and how to make healthy food choices

      Use the sink to wash fruits, veggies, plates, cups

      Learn how to use microwave (with supervision)

      Learn more cooking skills (peeling vegetables, chopping ingredients with safe knife)

      Learn how to place small items in oven using mitts (with supervision)

This blog post is part one of two.  Part two will go into ideas and tips for teaching self-help skills.  I also want to hear from all of you on what you would like to know.  I have thousands of pictures of works, classroom environments, lessons and parent tips.  The hardest part for me is deciding what to write on. 

Top 10 Tips for Potty Training (without frustration)

There comes a certain phase in every parent's life that will involve potty training.  Love it or hate it, this is a fact of life.  As a mother of 4 and preschool director with over 17 years of childcare experience I can tell you that no one is an expert in this area.  I will also tell you that no child will be going to college in diapers.  In this post I will give you my potty training tips along with a few other tips from fellow parents and teachers. 

  This unfortunately is a hard and disappointing fact for some.  I see this VERY often in preschool.  Parents will want their child potty trained to move them up to the next class, to save on tuition, save on diapers, to get them into school, to fit in with the rest of the kids his age ect.  Let's be honest, nobody loves buying and changing diapers.  However, if you attempt to potty train a child who isn't ready it will be a LONG and frustrating road for you and your child.  Your child will let you know when he is ready.  Readiness isn't something that is determined by age.  Some children will be ready at 18 months and some at 3.  Just as each child will learn to crawl, walk and read at their own pace they will also be potty trained when ready.  It is our job to catch those signs of readiness and act upon them. 

Independence, is the first sign of readiness.  If your child is beginning to dress himself, wash his hands and help clean up then it is a sign of independence.  Another sign is dry periods.  If you child wakes up from nap dry or goes a few hours and has a dry diaper it is a sign of strengthening bladder control.  Not wanting to be dirty and noticing the feeling of a dirty diaper is a strong sign of readiness and a good opportunity to gain vocabulary skills to help the child communicate potty words.  I believe that verbal skills also need to be present.  The child needs to be able to express when they have to go potty or that they are going potty.  The final and possibly most telling sign is when a child will hide or even go into the bathroom to go poop in his diaper.  This shows an awareness of what is going on and a need for privacy. 

  Potty training needs to be a team effort and something that all parties involved are totally prepared for.  If your child attends preschool or daycare you need to communicate with the teacher that you plan to begin potty training and work as a team with the teacher to come up with a plan.  Chelsea from my school told me "It is difficult if the parents don't tell us what's going on at home so we can't mimic it at school and work as a team."

 


Get your house, your car and your self ready.  Set up a designated potty area for consistency, buy ALOT of underwear.  I do not recommend pull ups other than nap time.  The child needs to feel wet and dirty.  If you have a lot of carpet or furniture that can easily stain I would suggest that you put the underware on then have a pull up over it.  That way the child will feel wet but it won't get all over the house.  I always packed a potty chair, plastic bags, wipes, Clorox wipes, changes of clothes and potty treats in my car because you never know when you may need it.  We used the car potty often in our potty training years.  Make sure you always have a watch, timer or clock to keep track of the last time he went potty. 
 

This will be frustrating and it WILL NOT happen over night!  Ashlee a mother of 4 and teacher said "potty training my children was the hardest part of parenting so far.  You constantly feel defeated!"  This is so true but trust me you are not alone and this too shall pass!  If your child feels rushed or belittled he will regress or rebel all together.  Melissa teacher and mother of 4 told me that she learned that it is ok to take a break and try at a later time to save her sanity and that of her family members. 

  A great way to start potty training is to stay home all weekend and set up an area that you will spend most of your time.  Put out tarps or mats if you don't have hard floors.  When I was potty training I put the potty chair in the living room on a mat and let my child stay bottomless for the entire weekend.  Set a timer, drink a lot of liquid and go potty every 45 min. 


 Read books about going potty, have your child go in the bathroom with you ect.  Jaymie a mother of 2 and teacher told me an experiment that she did to show her daughter what happens when she had a full bladder.  She filled up a cup all the way and walked quickly across the room.  Obviously, the cup spilled.  This is how she explained that if you wait too long the go potty your bladder would be full and leak or spill. 

  Sometimes boys are afraid that their parts will fall off in the potty.  It will help to show them pictures of their anatomy and that they are attached.  A few kids will not want to sit long enough.  It is a good idea to have a basket of books by the toilet, sing songs and make this time fun and special.  If it is a positive experience than kids will relate that to going potty. 


This is extremely important that you teach your child to wipe themselves and wash their hands themselves.  Parents think that their children simply "can't" wipe themselves so they do it for them.  When in reality this is crippling your child and will cause problems later in their preschool years.  As parents it is vital that we teach our children independent skills.  To teach a child to wipe you show the child by placing your hand on his and talk about what you are doing while you are modeling it.  The next time you allow them to do it while you supervise.  Encourage them to keep wiping on a clean part of the paper until their paper comes out clean.  Also, tell them to wipe from front to back. 

 You can reward but not too much.  You want your child to be proud and learn with out too many rewards.  More importantly, just be positive, encouraging and excited!  This is a huge step for your child and it deserves to be praised. 

How to teach children to be thankful

How to teach preschoolers to be thankful.

What does it mean to be thankful?  That is a big word for preschoolers.  How do we teach them to say thank you, show thankfulness and mean it?  From the time that children can speak we teach them to say thank you.  It becomes expected and automatic but does it mean anything?
I think that in order to teach children to be grateful we have to model it.  Just like everything else in their world they have to see it to believe it.

November is a great time to teach gratefulness.  Here are a few practical steps to teach your young children.

1.  Give to others often.  Find out who is in need and what they need, involve your children in blessing a family.  Make cards and gifts that do not cost any money.  Allow your children to give the cards and gifts to the family.  Reflect with your children on how it made them feel to bless others and how they thought that family felt to receive those blessings.

2.  Model gratitude in your everyday life.  When you are at the grocery store, a restaurant, with your spouse.  Let your children hear your say thank you and why you are thankful.  Then talk about it with them.  Say things such as:  "wasn't that nice of the grocer to bag our groceries for us and help us load the cart?" or "Didn't that waitress have such nice manners when she brought us our food"  Remember our children are always watching and learning from us.  If we have an ungrateful attitude they will pick up on that.

3.  Teach them how to express their gratitude.  In the hustle of life I have failed to do this lately.  I haven't taught my own children the importance of thank you cards and notes.  I haven't taken the time to sit down and model being thankful in this way.  I think this is a skill that is slowly dying today and needs to be revisited.  Who doesn't love to receive a thank you note?  It makes what you did seem like that much more of a blessing.  Even small toddlers can draw a picture or scribble some lines to show their thanks.

4.  Talk about your blessings.  Sometimes children forget all that they have to be thankful for.  They are born very self centered and we need to teach them to look outside of themselves to see all that they have to be thankful for.  This is also an area that you can model for them.  We have a thankful tree every November and we write on leaves the things that we are thankful for.  It starts out
 generic but as the month goes on it becomes much more specific and thoughtful.  We also have love letters in February.  Each of my children has a mailbox by their door.  Through out the month we write love letters to each other and put it in their boxes.  The letters start out with I love you because.... It is a fun way to show why we appreciate each other.

5.  Honor and love your family!  This is a biggie for me.  I feel like today with our busy schedules and all of our activities that we forget to stop and honor our family.  We need to visit our loved ones, call them, skype, facetime.  Whatever you need to do and teach our children to do the same.  Our family is what makes us who we are and we need to remember that and stay in touch.

I hope these simple steps to gratitude will help you focus on what is important this year and maybe remember it for years to come.  Have a blessed holiday with your families and friends!

Rachel Supalla

Montessori Geography: Exploring Africa Part 1

 

There are many different areas in a Montessori Classroom.  This is one of the many reasons why I love the Montessori method.  It appeals to my ADHD, multitasking brain!  One of my favorite areas of the classroom is the Geography and science center.  We basically have a whole room dedicated to Geography and Science at our school.

 

 Over the course of three years we will visit all 7 continents and dive into an exciting theme unit on each continent.  Most of the time when we study a continent the unit goes in many different directions and takes on a life of it's own.  We add math, art and language extensions to our Continent studies and the children transform their works and personalize them to go along with their interests.

  

I often find that by studying geography and social studies the children are able to learn and absorb so much more based on the fact that their interest levels are so high!  It is exciting to be a part of.  Through out the year I will add our various continent studies and extension activities.  Our first continent study of the year is Africa.  We began the year by introducing all of the continents, learning the continent song and what the continents look like.

Here is our Continent map I purchased this map from www.alisonsmontessori.com along with several other Montessori supplies.  Then we studied the shape and landscapes of Africa.  We made a bubble map about Africa and we added more facts daily as we learned more.  We studied the African animals because the landscapes of Africa are so diverse we discussed the different landscapes first and the habitats of different animals that lived in Africa.

 We extended our African animal studies with math works, language works and art.

For language we talked about crocodiles and we had a drawing workshop to label the crocodile.  This is our Crocodile art project.

  Here are our different math works.  We made animal patterns, we sorted animal, we counted animals and we counted coconuts and palm trees.  

In our language center we had three part cards to label African animals.  

In Part 2 of our African Continent study I explain our ancient Egypt unit.  I have missed blogging and I can't promise I will be a regular blogger but I will try to sneak it in as I can!  Thanks for stopping by.

Rachel Supalla :)

Show me the money! Montessori money math!

Sensory math!  Sorting coins that are "hidden" in water beads.  

Show me the money!!  I mean really, who isn't excited about money?  Kids included.  It is natural for children to have a desire to learn about money.  It is a part of our everyday lives.  We should take this opportunity to teach them about something when their interest is high.  I like to introduce money around President’s Day.  We start with a discussion about Washington and Lincoln and that leads into learning about pennies and quarters.  

Another good time to build excitement about money is on St. Patrick’s Day when you can go on a search for the money at the end of the rainbow.  

This is when you can introduce the nickel.  We start with sorting coins, nickel , quarter and penny.  I use clear water beads and hide the coins to sort in the water beads.  After they have mastered that I add in the dime.  The next step after they have mastered coin sorting is to introduce the coin values. 

I do this by making it a Montessori counting work, I use sandpaper numbers to help reinforce the value of the coins and have objects to count to reinforce one to one correspondence.  

At the end of our money unit we celebrate with a PJ day and snack money store.  Each child brings in a snack and I pass out coins for them to count out to buy snacks.  

This was a fantastic learning experience and super fun to top it off!!  Have fun showing the kids the money! 

Back to Montessori School

Back to Montessori School

Going back to school is always an exciting time for teachers, moms and children.  With all the excitement how do teachers plan for phasing in the Montessori curriculum?  This year was especially challenging for me because we have the most new students we have ever had.  We only have 4 2^nd year students and no elders (Kindergarteners) so the remaining students are all brand new to the Montessori Method.  When I am starting out the year my practical life shelves are empty with nothing but trays on them.  This year I am trying a new method of color coding trays and shelves to help with classroom management.  Carrying the trays, walking the line while carrying the tray and returning the empty tray to the correct shelf has all been a part of my phasing in process this year. 

My math shelves start out with basic Montessori materials, sorting, counting and shapes.  Right now we have our back to school sensory box out as well.  

Our science shelves are empty with the exception of a nature tray for exploring. 

Our line activities begin during circle time and then we extend the line to the bathroom and eventually the main flow of the classroom has a line.  While planning walk the line activities I always make sure to incorporate the theme, fun songs and activities to go along with it.  The children do not know that while we are singing fun songs and doing different arm movements or sounds that they are mastering walking the line in the process.  Dr. Jean www.drjean.org and http://www.jackhartmann.com/ are two great artists that I use for line songs.  

It is incredible how valuable these simple phasing in activities are.  Usually around week 4 you can walk into the classroom and see the children working on mats, walking on lines, carefully carrying trays with glass pitchers and bowls on them, and using grace and courteousy with their friends and teachers.  I do not think the Montessori Method can work without proper time for phasing in.  Let me know how you phase in your curriculum or classroom management for back to school.  I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback.