Preparing DD for Montessori

[physmom]

We're thinking of sending DD to a Montessori full day preschool next year when she is 3.  The school actually has a younger age group from 0-3 but looking at the website it seems like it might be on the young side for DD.  Plus the school is a bit farther away so we're planning at the moment to send her to a daycare that is closer that seems to be a good fit for the time being (although it's not set in stone and we could switch her over earlier depending on a number of things).  Anyways, I was wondering if anybody has ideas to help DD get used to many Montessori principles during this year.  I saw a couple of videos online with great ideas about establish a Montessori like home environment (basically keeping shelves open for kids at there level that are clean and orderly in every room of the house).  We've started to do that as much as we can right now (we're in the middle of a move) but have at least made a shelf in the living room with all her food supplies, snacks, water etc.  She also has a number of shelves around the apt with her toys and now a little box next to the door with her shoes in it.  Does anybody have other suggestions of little things like that that we could do around the house to help her out? We've noticed that there's been a big improvement in her behavior just from these little changes (she's playing more with her toys independently and seems to have more stable moods because she's eating more snacks and drinking more water). 

ETA: Also, anything specific to look at when we're touring the Montessori school?  From the pictures online they have lots of low shelves with Montessori materials available, a garden area etc.  We're not going to be in the US so the schools aren't certified with AMI/AMS

Edited by physmom - 11/10/10 at 6:57am

[sapphire_chan]

There's another thread with a phenomenal list of questions Rose-Roget developed. The one thing I would add to that list, as I mention in the other thread, is to actually observe the class and see the specific teacher in action. Hopefully, it won't matter as much with a full Montessori school with certified teachers (even if they aren't AMI/AMS affiliated, there's going to be some sort of accreditation available)

As for prepping your dd, I've read posts in the Toddler forum where you talk about stuff you guys do. I'm pretty sure she'll be a-okay going into Montessori.

[Rose-Roget]

Here's the link to the thread with what to look for:  http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/thread/1254463/what-do-i-ask-look-for-during-our-tour-introduction

Sounds like you're doing everything right to prepare your dd for her M experience next year.  Many kids enter without that much preparation.  I'm pretty sure the teachers are trained to guide the children through their new environment, so it's not too much of a shock.  

[physmom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rose-Roget 

Here's the link to the thread with what to look for:  http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/thread/1254463/what-do-i-ask-look-for-during-our-tour-introduction

Sounds like you're doing everything right to prepare your dd for her M experience next year.  Many kids enter without that much preparation.  I'm pretty sure the teachers are trained to guide the children through their new environment, so it's not too much of a shock.

Oh wow, that list is awesome!!! It seems to cover everything I could ever think of.

Thanks! I guess it's not so much the transition itself but I see that even the small improvements we've made at home has made a HUGE difference in her attitude.  I guess I was just wondering if there were any other good secrets that Montessori was hiding. Actually one thing does come to mind... any suggestions on math manipulatives for the young crowd?  The ones I've seen are for fractions and we're definitely no where near there. On the other hand, she seems to be a big fan of numbers and I'd like her to have more access to something (no clue what, just in a very vague sense) that she could play with on her own. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by sapphire_chan 

There's another thread with a phenomenal list of questions Rose-Roget developed. The one thing I would add to that list, as I mention in the other thread, is to actually observe the class and see the specific teacher in action. Hopefully, it won't matter as much with a full Montessori school with certified teachers (even if they aren't AMI/AMS affiliated, there's going to be some sort of accreditation available)

As for prepping your dd, I've read posts in the Toddler forum where you talk about stuff you guys do. I'm pretty sure she'll be a-okay going into Montessori.

Thanks!!That list really seemed to cover everything.  We definitely want to visit the place because I know that some schools will use the Montessori name just to get students.  That being said this school *looks* like the real deal (obviously we want to talk to them first and ask questions) but it was the first Montessori school established in the city (it's 30 years old) and it is certified by the local Montessori community there.  I'm really hoping it looks as good as it does on paper because it goes up through the 9th grade and I'd be wonderful to have a place DD could grow up in.
 

[sapphire_chan]

It sounds wonderful, probably will be wonderful, but Rose-Roget has run into such a huge problem with a school that said all the right things and was just plain lying to her that I now feel like observation should be a mandatory part of school selection. So no one else gets blindsided by BS, y'know?

I made a spindle box for dd. She likes working on it with me. If your dd does matching well, you could do stuff like trees with spots for X numbers of leaves, pattern imitation with blocks or different shapes cut out of paper, and, of course, you can do baking together and discuss different volumes.

[physmom]

Originally Posted by sapphire_chan 

It sounds wonderful, probably will be wonderful, but Rose-Roget has run into such a huge problem with a school that said all the right things and was just plain lying to her that I now feel like observation should be a mandatory part of school selection. So no one else gets blindsided by BS, y'know?

I made a spindle box for dd. She likes working on it with me. If your dd does matching well, you could do stuff like trees with spots for X numbers of leaves, pattern imitation with blocks or different shapes cut out of paper, and, of course, you can do baking together and discuss different volumes.

What happened with Rose-Roget???  Anything I could look out for in particular? 

We called the school and were really, really impressed.  We both felt like it would be a wonderful fit for DD and the director took the time and explained everything to DH who is just not as familiar with the Montessori philosophy.  They actually have a lot of videos interviewing the teachers/alumni from the school on youtube and we saw them all and they also painted a great pictures of the place.  We're actually considering sending DD this year and skipping the daycare.  Our main concern before was that DD would be the oldest in the 0-2 class and might act out because of it but they said that if she was ready they'd be happy to move her up to the 3-6 class or provide materials that were more at her level.  They put a lot of emphasis on following the child's lead, which was our primary concern. 

That being said the biggest drawback is the distance.  On the map it's only about 10 miles away from our work.  However, we'll be living in a city with some crazy traffic and during rush hour that could end up being an hour... We also wouldn't be able to live right next to the school since it's not in the best neighborhood (not a bad neighborhood but close to one) so that's playing heavily into our decision.  There are two closer Montessori schools one of which is way out of our price range and the other has just no information online.  We're trying to figure out all the infinite possibilities with where to live and how to split the time difference because we both loved the school so much and had a really good feeling about it.  Also the school is really flexible so if it was a bad fit we'd only have to pay for a month. 

Oh, and thanks for the math suggestions.  I also found this website: http://growinginpeace.wordpress.com/math-manipulatives/ that had some more awesome ideas! 

[sapphire_chan]

The classroom her ds was in simply wasn't Montessori. The principal said all the right things and the school looked great, but the way the classroom was actually run didn't fit.

http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/thread/1267417/discipline-overkill For instance. And they weren't having full work cycles.

But Rose-Roget couldn't know that because the school refused to allow observations. (Another huge problem.) So make sure the school lets you observe the class your dd will actually be in. In fact, I would assume that a good Montessori would have a visit/observation as part of the application process.