Teaching Your Child Through Nature

In the Montessori school environment, it is believed your child deserves individualized learning. Every child is unique, and your child’s interests and needs are respected and honored at Montessori, so they are able to receive the best education. Through this respect, your child will be encouraged to explore and learn about the world around them. You can follow the Montessori approach by teaching your child through nature and allow them to explore their world at home.

Children learn differently than adults, and during their first six years, they will learn effortlessly from their environment. They are able to soak up impressions like a sponge during this age period. Maria Montessori, the founder of the Montessori Method, believed when children are young, they have inner aids that help with their development. This age is when the mind is absorbent and called a ‘sensitive period’ in their growth. During this time in your child’s life, you can teach them great lessons through nature found near your home.

Allow Freedom

Your child will need to be allowed freedom to explore outdoors and indoors. You need to display a positive manner, and while ensuring they are safe, let them find what interests them. Through your guidance and your child’s independence and self-direction, you will help them learn about their environment. These will be both valuable and important lessons that will stay with your child throughout their life.

Practical Life Activities

When children are in their preschool years it is important you emphasize practical life skills and implement sensory activities. This means you will show them how to take care of their environment outside as well as inside the home. You can help your child develop concentration, independence, and coordination through activities that will refine their senses. This learning process will indirectly help your child to prepare for later academic learning. Maria Montessori believed in creating a connection between children and nature through the care of plants and animals. By allowing your child to have hands-on experiences with nature, you will create an opportunity to expand their knowledge and respect for objects and living creatures in their personal environment.

Allow Personal Development

It is important to allow your child to develop at his or her own pace. Let them continue to examine and interact with objects as long as their interest is genuine. There should be no competitions, rewards, or punishments attached to their learning process. When you and your child are beginning an activity, demonstrate first how it should be completed – don’t automatically assume they will know appropriate behavior. Understanding your child needs to develop a sense of satisfaction of the work they perform when it is done well will help you create a learning environment to advance your child’s learning potentials.

Following the Montessori principles will help your child naturally develop positive skills and traits to build a strong foundation in life. Your child will develop independence, self-discipline, and they will display a love of learning.  At Montessori School of Newark, students are introduced to nature early in the learning process. Following the Montessori method, teachers encourage students to explore on their own and at their own pace.  Contact us today to see how Montessori education can be a fit for your family.

Fun Valentine Crafts for 3 to 5 Year Olds

Valentine’s Day is a great reason to get your preschoolers working on some fun craft projects. Not only can they get their creative genius out, but they can create fun gifts for friends and family. Here are some fun ideas for your 3 to 5 year olds to try out this Valentine’s Day.

Fun Valentine Craft Ideas for Your 3 to 5 Year Olds

• Valentine Wreath – This Valentine wreath is a great hands-on craft activity. It may take a little preparation on your end depending on your child’s scissor skills. You will need a blank cardboard wreath or circle and construction paper cut into heart shapes. Glue the construction paper onto the cardboard and attach some ribbon at the top.
• Valentine’s Butterflies and Bugs – Kids love bugs and butterflies so why not turn them into cute Valentine’s decorations. You will need felt and sequins for this cute craft. Cut out hearts and small circles with the felt. Use glue to attach the pieces to make a butterfly or a caterpillar using the hearts for the body and circles for the heads. Use the sequins for eyes and decoration.
• Keepsake Card – If you are looking to make cards for your family, a cute keepsake card is the way to go and your child will love getting their feet messy. For this project, you will need cardboard, markers, and pink or red paint. Cut out a large heart with the cardboard (large enough for your child’s feet and words). Have your child step into the paint and then onto the card. You can now write a cute poem, verse, or note around the painted footprints.
• Pom Pom Painting – Some cardboard or rigid paper, small pom poms, a wooden clothes peg, and paint is all you need for this cute project. Cut out a heart shape or a butterfly. Then have your preschooler dip the pom pom into the paint, pressing down onto the card.
• Bee Mine Valentine Bee – For something different, let your kids create a bumblebee for friends and family. You will need construction paper in bright yellow, black, and pink. The bright yellow paper will be the body and the head; you will need an oval and a heart shape. Cut out black stripes with the black construction paper and a pink heart from the pink paper. Have your child assemble the bee using glue. Then add the heart to the body at the end. On the heart, write Bee Mine! This is simple and cute, and kids will use those important fine motor skills to assemble the bee.

Here at Montessori School in Newark, we believe that arts and crafts are an important part of your child’s education. If you are looking for a preschool where your child can learn and discover the world at their own pace, contact us today to schedule a tour and learn more about the Montessori approach.

Five Montessori Books to Have This Fall

With fall upon us, it is time to start looking for fall books for your children and to choose activities to keep your little ones busy. If your child is attending a Montessori School or if you are planning to take a tour, you should look for activities for your child that will fit in with the Montessori philosophy, which is “Help me do it myself.”

Best Fall Books For 2 ½ to 6 Year Olds

Reading a few of these books each night will help instill a love of reading in your child Each of these books are classics that one day, you child will read to their children.

• Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney: This is a book about a woman who wanted to travel the world, live by the sea, and make the world more beautiful. During her travels, she scattered lupine seeds all around. The real Miss Rumphius is known as the person who helped the lupines bloom all along the coast of Maine.
• All By Myself! by Aliki: This is a book that teaches kids to be independent. The rhyming story tells how it is important to button, write, paint, zip, rub, and scrub. It is wonderfully illustrated.
• In the Small, Small Pond by Denise Fleming: This book will give your child an idea of what it is like to be a frog throughout all the seasons.
• Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic: Each letter of the alphabet for fall items are covered from acorn to zero.

Montessori Activities

The Montessori School encourage children to learn by doing. It will give the child a sense of accomplishment, and it is the Montessori way.

• Creating a Sense of Order: Teaching your child to create a sense of order will help them use their decision-making skills. It will also help them learn organization skills. One activity is the animal match-up. You would need a set of plastic animals and photos to go along with them. Encourage your child to match the animal with their picture and let them do it on their own.
• Sorting: Sorting is an excellent activity that your child can do on their own. Take a paper plate with 4 compartments. Put three different types of cereal, crackers, or chip, and put them all together in the larger compartment. Encourage your child to separate each different food in its own compartment. When they are done, they will have a great snack to eat.
• Water Play: Having your child pour water from cup to cup and pitcher to cup will help them learn how to pour their own drinks. You can give them a cloth to teach them to wipe up their own spills.

Reading and doing things on their own is a great way for your child to start learning; it is also the Montessori way. If you want your child to get the best education possible, set up a tour with the Montessori School in Newark and see what it is like for yourself.

Your Child’s Zzzz and Learning

Whether your child has trouble getting to bed on time due to a busy schedule or your child finds it hard to settle and stay asleep, lack of sleep can be a detriment not just to your child’s health but to their ability to do their best in school.

While your child may seem happy enough living on such little sleep other areas may become impacted. When it comes to a lack of sleep and school , here is what you may want to keep an eye on.

How Your Child’s Sleep Effects Their Learning

Here are the main concerns when your child has not had enough sleep then heads off to school.

• Planning and Organization Skills – A tired brain can be an impaired brain. If you have ever stayed up all night or only slept for a couple of hours you likely understand how you can feel foggy. This can impair the part of your brain that is responsible for problem-solving, planning and organization. A child may spend more time looking for things they lost or trying to work out how to prioritize issues at school.
• Attention and Focus – Micro sleeps are when your brain waves lapse into a sleep like pattern you are still awake but you space out. This causes your child to get distracted, lose focus and zone out missing important pieces of a lesson.
• Mood and behavior – Being overtired can cause even the best-behaved child to become impulsive, moody or hyperactive. Many children that are tired let their tempers fly or work themselves up into a state that can be hard to reverse. This can get your child in trouble in class and can be challenging for the staff to handle while looking after the rest of the class.
• Memory – Your short term and long term memory need sleep to help it function properly. When you have not had enough sleep you may not be able to access those parts of your memory and you may remember the things you need to remember more slowly or not at all.

Your Child and Sleep

As you can see above being tired can cause several problems for your child while at school. While each child is different there are some general guidelines that focus on how much sleep your child should be getting each night.

• Infants: A nap of at least 3 hours during the day and 9-10 hours at night
• Toddlers: A nap of at least 2-3 hours during the day and 9-10 hours at night
• School Age Children: 9-11 hours a night
• Adults: 7-8 hours a night

By following these general guidelines, you can help your child do better at school.

The staff at Montessori Newark want to help your child earn their full potential, schedule a tour with us today and learn how we can help your child grow and blossom in every area.

Why Your Child Needs Time to Focus

The work period, giving kids between two and a half to three hours to work and learn, is one of the keystones of Montessori philosophy. The length of this work period is important because it allows kids to learn and gives children time to focus on the task.

Have you ever wondered why the work period needs to be so long? Here is a breakdown of how your child develops focus during this extended period of time.

The Montessori Work Period

Montessori philosophy was developed by Maria Montessori, based on her extensive research and experience as a teacher. She found that children needed an extended period of time to work independently in order to buckle down and really focus. Kids go through several distinct phases during the work period, the last of which shows the development of true concentration. Allowing for a work period of 2.5 to 3 hours therefore helps teach kids not only the topic at hand, but also the valuable skill of focusing on a task.

Warming Up

Think for a moment about how you start a day at work. If you’re like most people, you prefer to “warm up” by getting started with an easy task, such as checking email.

Children are the same way. When she observed children during an extended work period, Maria Montessori found that they tended to start out with an easy task. Once they accomplished that, they moved on to a slightly more difficult task. These “easy” tasks often include things they’ve done before, making them familiar — a good “warm-up.”

False Fatigue

After the first couple tasks are completed, children tend to get a little restless. An inexperienced teacher may feel this means the children’s focus is expended and it’s time for a new activity, but Montessori philosophy holds that it’s simply time for a break before the real work begins.

You probably operate the same way: After warming up by checking email and completing some light work, you take a break to get coffee, use the restroom, or go for a walk before really buckling down. Children need this break too, but they also need the time after the break to help them learn to focus.

The Final Phase

After the short period of restlessness that occurs during the “false fatigue” stage, the children are refreshed and ready to tackle the most important and challenging work of the day. Children tend to choose more challenging tasks during this stage, and pursue them with a deeper, almost unbreakable focus.

The Montessori Philosophy

The work period is one of the most important things that a Montessori curriculum can offer your child. Having between two and a half and three hours to work allows children the opportunity to learn important skills, such as focus, that will carry them through the rest of their schooling and adulthood.

To find out how our Montessori schools can help your child achieve these skills, contact us today and schedule a tour.

Preschool Interview Questions

What to Ask and Look for When Choosing a Preschool

As a well-informed parent, you understand the benefits of sending your child to a quality preschool. The prospect of going to preschool excites your child. Now, you must take the time to find the right preschool for both you and your child may be overwhelming.

The first step in the process requires research of preschools in your local area. Searching for a quality preschool must occur before your child is ready to go. Searching months ahead of time can help alleviate any stress in finding the preschool of your choice. If you wait, the preschool program may be full.

After you narrowed down your list of potential preschools, start writing down interview questions. As parents, you will want to find out as much information about the preschool as possible. Interview questions for the director are the best way to start.

15 Preschool Interview Questions

Preschool intake interviews can last as little as 15 minutes to over an hour. Spending extra time with the director will allow you to gain valuable insight into the program. Quality preschools base curriculum and teaching methods on well-established guidelines for learning.

1. What are the preschool’s educational principles or philosophy?
2. Do you provide opportunities to enhance cognitive, physical, social and emotional development? Ask for examples.
3. Is the preschool accredited? Or licensed?
4. How long has the preschool been in operation?
5. What experience and educational background does the preschool teacher currently have?
6. What is the adult to child ratio in the preschool room?
7. How many children are in the preschool room?
8. Am I able to observe the preschool room?
9. Do you allow unscheduled visits after my child is enrolled?
10. Does your child need to be fully potty-trained?
11. How do you handle discipline issues?
12. Is there a schedule nap time? Or rest time? Or individual quiet time?
13. What are your fees?
14. How long is the waiting list? Is there a full or part time slot available for my child?
15. What are your hours of operation? Holiday schedule?

Each question should be answered in full to your satisfaction. As parents, you want to know everything about the curriculum and teachers prior to placing your child in the preschool. Do not hesitate to ask more questions pertaining directly to your child’s interests. The purpose of the preschool interview is to find the right fit for your child’s development.

Only parents can determine which preschool is right for their child. Touring our Bay Area Montessori School may be the best way to determine if our preschool program is the right fit for your child and family.

Nurturing Self-esteem in Children

As a parent, you want your child to grow into a happy, confident individual. Beginning at a young age Montessori instructors provides the resource tools to nurture a child’s self-esteem. Independence is a focal point in the process. When a child has a good self-image, the positive characteristics will carry over into other areas of learning and development.

Developing a Positive Self-Image

A positive self-image at an early age can actually contribute to self-esteem as an adult. The Montessori learning environment strives to provide the right resource tools to develop a sense of self. The learning activities and opportunities act as an integral part of the core curriculum. With the Montessori practice of a multi-age learning environment, children have the opportunity to participate in various activities.

Teach the Concept of Force and Motion to Preschoolers

Preschool children are innately curious and are at the perfect age to start learning about force and motion. There are several ways in which you can teach a preschooler about this concept. Best of all, you can do it in a way that is fun and interactive. 

Go to the Playground

Teach children about force and motion through play equipment at the playground, such as the teeter tooter, the swing, and the slide. For instance, by pushing a child on the swing set, you can show that applying force makes the child and the swing move. You can also sit on one side of a teeter-totter while the child sits on the other side, and show him what happens. 

Move a Ball

Place a lightweight ball and a meter stick on the floor. Ask your preschool child to move the ball to the end of the meter stick without using her hands or feet. Pick her brain on ideas how to do this and then show her that blowing on the ball can make it move. Don’t forget to have your child move the ball by blowing on it. This is a great way to teach your child about invisible forces. 

Categorize Objects

Utilizing a chart paper, list several motions, such as slide, bounce, roll, and fly, and give the child pictures of various vehicles, toys, and animals. Ask him how each object moves, and have him glue each picture under the appropriate category of motion. 

Play with Toy Cars

As a preschool child plays with toy cars, explain to her how the cars move. You can use building blocks to create ramps, and use the action of the car going down the ramp to explain force and motion.

Introduce Magnets

Show the child the power of magnetic force. Take a stick, tie a string to it, and then tie a magnet to the end of the string. Glue magnets to the back of pieces of construction paper cut as fish, and ask your child to “fish” using the magnetic fishing pole. 

If you would like more information about Montessori School in Newark or would like a tour of our Newark preschool, please don’t hesitate to contact us. 

Tips to Help Your Preschooler Learn to Read

It’s an exciting time as you watch your preschooler learn to read. This is a huge milestone in his or her life and one in which you can be instrumental in helping your child achieve. Make note of the following tips to help your preschooler learn to read. 

Read to Your Child

Show excitement, such as talking in funny voices or making animal noises, when you read to your child. This is a great way to let him see that reading can be fun. After all, if your child enjoys storytime, learning to read won’t seem like a chore. When reading to your child, run your finger under each word as you read it so that he can put the print with the word. Take time to look at the pictures and discuss how they go with the story. Make time to answer questions about a book and even after your preschooler learns to read, continue reading to him. Children can still understand and appreciate books that may be too hard for them to read and can help your preschooler develop his vocabulary. 

Listen to Your Child Read Out Loud

Listening to your preschooler learn to read is a great way to foster confidence in her reading ability. If your child comes to a word and asks for help, tell her the word right away. Don’t force her to sound it out. If your child interchanges a word in the story, don’t correct her if the meaning remains the same. Pay attention to when your child is tiring of reading and don’t force her to continue. It’s very important to praise your child for reading and the progress she has made. 

Make Time Daily

Make an effort to read with your child on a daily basis. For instance, many children enjoy bedtime stories as part of their nightly routine and this also helps your preschooler learn to read.

Have Books Easily Accessible

Keep books in your child’s room and make the room conducive for reading. For instance, a comfortable chair, a bookshelf, and a lamp, encourage reading. 

Choose Books Your Child Likes

Reading is much more enjoyable if your child enjoys the content. Repetitive reading of a favorite book may result in your child learning the words and also help your preschooler learn to read. If this is the case, encourage your child to complete the sentences that she knows. 

Skip the Vocabulary Drills

You want learning to be fun and drilling your child on letters and words likely isn’t much fun. Rather, think about what interests your child and find a way to make a game out of learning, which is a much more enjoyable way to help your preschooler learn to read. 

If you’d like to learn more about Montessori school or are interested in your child attending this type of school, contact us at Montessori School in Newark for a tour!

Requirements to Become a Montessori Preschool Teacher

Are you concerned about your child’s education in the public school system? Have you wondered if the best choice for your child is a Montessori setting? Learn about the Montessori difference and how this type of environment could just be the right answer for your children.

Choosing the Montessori System

Becoming a Montessori preschool teacher generally requires more education and training than is required to teach in regular public schools. Most Montessori teaching candidates have a Bachelor’s degree since that is required by the state licensing boards and preferred by Montessori, However, the Montessori system does not require the college degree to be in the area of education because after a college education, they train their candidates in how to teach. Montessori schools are places where people are knowledgeable in a wide variety of areas instead of only in education. In Montessori classrooms you will find artists, scientists, mathematicians, philosophers, and of course, educators, all united in their desire to help children learn and grow to their full unique potential.

Certification Requirements

After college, qualified applicants generally work with an accredited Montessori training center for another year of graduate study and training in the Montessori teaching method. Applicants choose to focus on a particular age range and train to teach Montessori in groups of varying ages vs. the one-year divisions you find in a traditional school setting. After the graduate study year and training are completed, there is also a supervised practical teaching experience required to become a certified Montessori teacher. There is also testing to demonstrate the applicant’s proficiency in the Montessori style.

The Montessori Difference

The Montessori educational system takes children very seriously and provides much more personalized guidance than the public education system. Because the system uses guiding and directing rather than lecturing, it can be a better fit for children who tend to be hands-on learners.. It allows teachers freedom to teach in their own style while they help students learn in their own way too. Focusing on the learning needs of the individual child rather than grades or testing helps bring out the best in children.

Montessori is for You

Come tour our Newark Montessori school today and see how the Montessori system can work for your children and help you create a brighter and better future for them.