Expectations for an older child's first months in Montessori?

[SomedayMom]

OK, maybe I'm just a bit overzealous...

My son will be 5 in a month. He had been in a traditional playbased preschool for 2 years before Montessori became available to us.

I have a conference with his teacher on Friday, so that will probably help. I visited his class today and watched him work. I am overall very happy.

However, some of the work he was doing (math) seemed behind where he is intellectually. I just don't know if that's because he needs to get used to the materials or that his guides don't know he really needs to move on. I was told it was the 4th time he did this particular work and he did it very quickly and easily and without the enthusiasm he usually has for his numbers. He was working on teens when he is able to count past 100 and do addition and subtraction. Or maybe my understanding of the progression is just not that great. I AM new to this.

Do you think it would be normal for a child who has to get used to the method/materials to seem more behind in a certain skill set? In his case math (everything else he seems to be advancing with very well).

You can totally tell me I'm crazy

[mamadebug]

Hopefully, it is a child driven environment and so he is choosing to do the same job 4 times. The Montessori philosophy talks about how children will do something until they really get it. For some kids, they only need to do something once and for some kids, they need to do it 10 times or 100 times. It's fine, and is actually fulfilling some inner need of theirs, if THEY are choosing to do it over and over (as opposed to a teacher directing them to it).

About using materials that seem "below" them.... It could be that the teacher is just seeing what he is capable of. It could be that because many of the materials build on top of themselves, he needs to know how to use the material at an easier level before he can use it at a higher, or more challenging, level. Or, it could be that the teacher doesn't really get where he is at. I would just ask at the conference, and then you'll know why he is doing what he is doing.

[ADirrim]

It is so fun to observe your child in school! I am glad to hear he is doing so well and making such an easy transition.

I hesitate to reply because I am sure that the conference you will have with the guide will do more to clarify the issue. I am, obviously, just speculating but I had a couple of thoughts:

During the independent work cycle, children do a variety of lessons- some of which are not right at the edge of their ability (it's pretty similar to an adult at work- you might begin your day by tackling your most challenging project and then decide to do simpler tasks like returning phone calls); Montessori herself distinguished between what she called "the phase of preparation" in a child's work cycle (where they are doing shorter, easier works) and "the phase of serious work" (where the child spontaneously chooses a lesson which requires their maximum effort). Montessori guides observe children closely during the work cycle (even charting which lessons the child selects, how long and how successfully they use the material, and the child's demeanor after they finish the lesson). Montessori believed that younger children generally begin the work cycle with easier lessons, culminating in their serious work, whereas older children generally begin with their most difficult work. by charting a child's work cycle one could observe the development of order (self-discipline and concentration) in the child. It may very well be the case that more challenging math materials have been presented to your child, but that he choose to do some simpler lessons (and, depending upon how long your observation was, it might even be possible that he did some of the more challenging lessons earlier or later in the work period).

Additionally, Montessori materials are designed to encourage repetition (even repeating familiar lessons which the child has mastered can assist children in solidifying their knowledge) and many of the materials incorporate subtle concepts. You say that your son counts to 100 and does addition and subtraction; does he recognize numerals 1-100 out of order? Is he able to correctly associate the quantities 1-100 with their corresponding symbols? I ask because I am guessing, based upon your post, that your son was doing the teens board (two long wooden boards with which the child makes the numerals 11-19 and correlates them to their quantities with glass bead bars).

I can think of a few reasons why the guide might believe this materials would be useful to him, even if he could count further. The teens board will teach your child to recognize and correlate the quantities 10-19 with their corresponding symbols (many children can rote count, or orally count, beyond what they can count with 1-1 correspondence and may not be able to recognize the symbols out of order or correlate them to their corresponding quantities). Additionally, even if he was already able to do that, the Teens Board also provides an introduction to the decimal system (the idea that teens are composed on one ten and a specified quantity of units) which the child will build upon in the next lessons in the sequence, introduces the bead materials (which the child will ultimately use to count to 1000, skip count, and memorize multiplication facts), and should reinforce his knowledge of addition (10+1=11).

Honestly, it seems to me to be a pretty good starting point to the math progression (and a really solid understanding of the teens board will certainly benefit him in later lessons). It sounds to me like your child's guide had good instincts.

Abigail Miller
www.bloommontessori.com
www.bloommontessori.blogspot.com

[SomedayMom]

I did notice their teachers (he has 4 in the room right now...29 kids) are giving suggestions of what they might choose, if they aren't choosing easily. He chose his first work and it was fairly simple and one of the teachers suggested he add something else to it, which he did. One teacher suggested he work on that math again. He then chose to do some practical life work and to lay out the solar system. So, it seems kind of give and take. The kids do a lot of choosing, but the teachers also seem to make some suggestions. My kid is the type of kid who will do whatever the teacher suggests too.

However, I spoke too soon as he had another work period this afternoon and this evening when he finally wanted to tell me about the rest of the school day he was very excited to tell me he had done the 45 layout and then helped one of the younger kids with it. So, there you go

I cross posted too...thank you! That makes a lot of sense to me. I am so new to this and really figuring things out. This school has really been great for him. He used to absolutely HATE writing his name. He would say the S was too hard. And within 2 weeks he was wanting to write his name on EVERYTHING. His has made such huge improvements there. He loves school and he is clearly making advancements. But it is hard to watch and really know what is going on. That is why I chose to do it a few days before the conference I'm looking forward to what they have to say

And yes, he was doing the teens board He does recognize all of his numbers out of order, but the point about the decimals didn't hit me at all (I'm still learning too ).