2012 May Newsletter

“The hands are the instruments of man’s intelligence.” “The human hand allows the mind to reveal itself.”

~ Dr. Maria Montessori DATES TO REMEMBER: Celebrate Cinco de Mayo, Friday, May 4th Teacher Appreciation Week, May 7-11, Erin Stangland (emariesta@gmail.com) is coordinating  Mother’s Day Tea, Friday, May 11th, 7:30-8:30am (we promise to start on time!) Book Club, Sunday, May 20th, 1-3pm “The 7 Worst Thing Good Parents Do” Memorial Day BBQ Potluck, Thursday, May 24th, 4:30-5:30pm SCHOOL CLOSED, Friday May 25th, Teacher In-Service SCHOOL CLOSED, Monday, May 28th, Holiday   Thinking about the first half of the first plane of development – the years from 0-3 – one can only be amazed and astounded by what occurs.  The newborn, completely dependent on her mother for her food, and dependent on loving adults for transportation and physical care becomes capable of so much.  She can feed herself food from her environment.  She can scoot, crawl and walk. She can sit on a potty and learn to use it as she controls her sphincter muscles more and more.  She moves from a mostly visual exploration of her environment to a ‘hands-on’ exploration.  Wow!   What can we do to assist her in her exploration? In a safe and interesting environment first we must observe and then deepen the exploration.  For instance, a toddler who plays a drum with her palm can be shown to tap it with one finger. Or two. She can be shown how to knock on it (gently) with her knuckles. (A talent that will come in handy at many a closed door!)  Listening intently to the different sounds encourages her to try different approaches to her drumming … even though using the palm is awfully satisfying! This is also a wonderful opportunity to introduce language: hand, palm, knuckles, thumb, one finger, two fingers, loud, soft, gentle, knock, tap, slap … so many possibilities for language development as well as exploration of sound and controlled use and awareness of the body!     These opportunities present themselves throughout the day and through all activities.        Sometimes for our adult brains, these simple things are hard to find.  I remember as if it were yesterday though it was over a decade ago, when a toddler in my home was in the “what’s that?” phase of asking for the name of whatever he was pointing at.  He pointed to a painting over the fireplace – an abstract painting – and asked, “what’s that? (or more accurately ‘wazzat?’) and I was flustered until realizing that what it is is a painting.  It’s not the subject matter; it is a painting.   Because it was in view from where we spent a good bit of time, it wasn’t long before I could ask this mostly pre-verbal child, “where’s the painting” and he would look up and point to it.    Experiences like this simple one serve to remind that much more goes in than comes out during this time before spoken language reaches its full blossoming. Because this is so we want to offer well spoken names of the many items in our environments.  Certainly we don’t want to overwhelm but, just as in the visual realm we offer experiences with color tones (The Gobbi in the infant room, the color tablets in the Children’s House) we can offer more than ‘hand’ to the drumming toddler.  The hand, after all, is “the instrument of the mind” capable of doing so much.  It is to the hand that we offer an object for exploration and then it is to the mind that we offer its name, its parts, its possibilities.  The child in this first part of the first plane uses visual, auditory, and tactile senses to know her environment.  She gains the ability of expressing herself and works with her hands.  “Help me to do it myself” is the plea we hear from the child as her explorations and gained knowledge move her into the second half of the first plane of development and the Children’s House classroom.        For more information on Gio Bellonci who writes this portion of our newsletter,  visit her website Montessori In Motion