Montessori Themed IDeas?

Question

Does anyone have some themes of what to do in there classrooms?

I have a list of themes of what I am going to do but its not much & am not sure of some of them, ANy ideas?

Answer 1

Holidays

Categories- Food example Vegetables/Fruits you find books on that subject and puzzles, those puzzles that have the children practice cutting fruit (the puzzles are attached using velcro), they can watercolor, color, cut anything related to vegetables and fruits.

Colors-pick two colors to focus on per week so you can cover all of them in one month

Shapes-pick a shape per week to focus on

Geography-reinforce continents

Art- have at least one medium -crayons, watercolor, painting, colored pencils,

Recycling; have children reuse paper bags, newspaper, milk lids, if you have a circle time reinforce the theme.

Find songs that relate to your theme to be used as whole group when children are not working individually.

Good luck...keep researching...

Answer 2

You might get more ideas here.

http://www.montessori-book.com

Answer 3

As far as a theme goes for a Montessori classroom, I think an interesting way to tackle this issue is "what do I want to learn about?"  Do you want to learn more about insects?  About a certain country?  About famous people that would interest the children?

Remember that goal in Montessori is a love of learning.  Find something you love learning about and spread that love of learning on to the children.

Sorry to reply to a previous answerer, but not sure her ideas would work well in a Montessori classroom.  "Pick a shape per week to focus on." I do not think that is a practical thing for Montessori.  It's probably better to focus on something more along the cultural studies lines.  If you focus on a square, the kids are just going to look at you with a "yeah, teacher, that's a square.  We know!" type of look.  With doing a few colors a week, that would again bore 95% of the class.  It goes back to the idea of "why would I have to prove that I already know something?"  If a child, after working with the materials, already has a firm understanding of what the colors are and can even organize the big color tablet box (light ---> dark), why should they be asked to sit through a presentation on what green is?  Also, who's to say that a child is ready to learn those colors?  Some of your early 3 year olds may not be ready to distinguish the colors quite yet and set name labels to them.  This is something that is better explored on the child's own time line.  I just don't see these ideas working well in a Montessori classroom as a theme.  It's adding nothing to the majority of your student's learning.

"Food example Vegetables/Fruits you find books on that subject and puzzles, those puzzles that have the children practice cutting fruit (the puzzles are attached using velcro), they can watercolor, color, cut anything related to vegetables and fruits."  Why would they practice cutting fruit with velcro attached when they have real fruit to cut and eat set up in the classroom?

"Geography-reinforce continents"  What about the Kindergarteners who know the majority of countries in the world?  Won't they be bored with this?  It's better to focus more on the cultural aspects of different countries.  If you are going to focus on Asia as a continent, focus on various customs, clothing, etc. of different parts.  Let them see that Asia is not just one giant culture, but a variety of cultures.

Montessori 3-6 Classrooms are organized in the following subjects.  You might be able to develop themes around other areas as well, but I have found that themes in the science or cultural area can incorporate so many other areas that they are the best subject areas to chose:

--Practical Life.  This involves skills for every day living that the child will experience.  Things such as pouring, folding clothes, cleaning, setting the table, washing dishes, or other activities.

--Sensorial:  The sensorial materials focus on the senses.  The child begins to develop a strong concentration in both the practical life and the sensorial areas.  The 5 senses are included.  With sight, they may focus on the color tablets.  With sound, the sound cylinders or the bells.  Smell has work such as the scented cylinders.  Taste really happens usually in the practical life area, with food preperation or snack.  A child develops a sense of touch through a variety of materials.  Size discrimination is also part of the sensorial area as a child learns to distinguish the difference between long and short, tall and short, big and small, and a variety of other dimensions.

--Social Studies:  There is a strong interest in geography in the 3-6 classroom.  Montessori geography starts, interestingly enough, with your own body.  Most people ask if it's science...and it is.  But if a child can first understand the "geography" of his/her body, the ideas of continents, countries, or states becomes much easier to understand.  The Montessori maps are designed to help children understand the world around them and they are great lead ins to cultural lessons.  Understanding and appreciating different cultures is one way thing that Montessori classrooms focus a lot of their time on so this will also be included in that area.

--Math:  The Montessori math materials are fantastic.  They start with a solid understanding of what the child is studying and move into a more abstract understanding.  A person who was in a Montessori school does not just have a theoretical understanding of what 1000 is.  They've actually held and felt 1000 and have a concrete understanding that starts from the time they are 3 years old.

--Language:  The language materials are, again, very sensorial based.  They also encourage movement in learning, which is important.

--Science:  Science materials are also in the classroom.  

Matt