Some good sites regarding Montessori teaching techniques or some good activities for 3 yr olds.?

Question

I dont have any formal training for Montessori teaching so the good websites that can really help me with what to teach and the activities for them.And help in formulating the weekly planner.

Answer 1

The weekly planner is a bit trickier, so let me start there.  It will take me quite a few paragraphs to explain what you need to do that.

What I suggest is having two types of papers.

The first one involves making a list of all the students and form it in a grid on paper.  Some people prefer to have the students sorted by age...other people by name....other people by age groups (all the 3s first, the 4s second, and the kindergarten last).  As you observe, write down what you see the students doing.  You can also use a coding system to tell if they've just started the work, have worked with it for a time, but not mastered it, and have mastered it.  I use a triangle system.  One line means they just started the work, 2 lines means they are familiar with the work, 3 lines means they mastered it.

On this sheet, you can also write down any specific notes that are important about the child:

"Left handed"  

"Worked with Susan all day."

"Worked alone all day."

"Has a 3 finger grip mastered."

The 2nd type of paper is just paper.  When you observe, choose a particular area of the classroom (practical life, math, cultural, etc.) OR choose a particular child you need to observe for whatever reason (you do not have many observations of that child, you have a specific concern, you just have some things you need to notice about the child).  Spend ten minutes simply observing.  Let your students know that it's your observation time and they will have to find time to solve their problems.  It might be better to have a separate chair to use that they know not to disturb you at that time.  On that paper, write down exactly what you see.  I usually interject a few subjective statements or questions, but I hilight them so I recognize it as something different right away.  Here are some notes I made when observing someone else's classroom a few weeks ago, just to give you an example.

"10:45 My focus changes to watch a boy doing sifting work (already in progress).  (This next part is hilighted because it's an interpretation of what I see happening) HE thinks it's a spooning work (end hilight) and is now pouring the grains into the bowl.  Pours what is left on the trey into the bowl.  

10:46 started scraping through the grains as if to look for something.  Picks up sifting spoon and watches grains fall through.  Does that 3 times.  Notices stuff is left over in the spoon and watches intently now.  Dropped one of the items and went after it.  Waited carefully for it to stop moving then picked it up.  3 finger grip.

10:50  Started doing work the "normal" way, but does not shake the excess out of the spoon.  Finished work and poured everything back into the main bowl.  Buries the objects."

Now, we can observe this child again the next time and see if he shakes the extra grains out.  If he does, we do not need to include that work as part of that child's lesson plans.  If he does not, we might want to just show it to him again to just help him perfect it.

So your "weekly lesson plans" with Montessori involve you seeing what EVERY child needs then presenting those things to those children.  You might take this child with 2-3 other children who have not seen this work and have never chosen it and present it to a group of 3 or 4.  Then someone else in the class will have a different presentation based upon their needs and interests.

As far as the activities, I would look at :

http://eiu.edu/~cfsjy/mts/_link.htm

Remember that there are many important things that a Montessori teacher does that you simply cannot get from a web site.  There are too many fine details that take a long time to learn:  When to pause during a presentation, how exactly to hold certain things based upon its intended purpose, the pace at which you present materials, etc. etc.  These are all learned through a lot of hard work and practice.

I also would not expect to get many results from just doing a few techniques in Montessori.  It is like having a burning house and asking your neighbor, "Hey...can I just borrow your garden hose?"  A little bit is better than nothing, but don't think you'll put out the entire fire with that.

Same thing here.  If you're using a little bit of Montessori, it is a good thing, but don't expect children to become independent learners necessarily.

Matt

Answer 2

this is where i want my lil one to go...

http://www.pinehillsmontessori.org/