What do you teach 3 year olds??

Question

tomorrow is my first day as a teacher working at a Montessori school. and a dont know what to teach my kids. can someone give me some advise. should i make booklets for the kids? if so what should i put in it, and for how long should i teach them a number, letter, shape

Answer 1

Did you just find out that you were getting the job today? I hope you are generally more prepared. I am wondring why they hired you if you dont know about the age group you are in charge of.

Answer 2

First, a Montessori school usually requires that the lead teacher be trained in Montessori education - it sounds like you are not.  If you are about to start as an Assistant, fear not!  Your lead teacher will tell you what to do.  If you are in fact about to start as lead teacher at a "Montessori" school but are not familiar with the Montessori Method, it is not a true Montessori school and is probably more like a day care.  I hope you will be an assistant - for your sake!!  

A Montessori assistant's most important job is to help uphold the ground rules of the class room and make sure everyone is safe.  During work time, it is also very important to observe the children at length and to only get involved in their activities if they are harming each other or something in the classroom (and also circle time, transition times, lunch, etc)

There are many different organizations within the "Montessori" community: AMI, AMS, MEPI, too many to name!  But in any true Montessori school, regardless of "denomination," the child's learning experience will be through the environment, not through the teacher.  The teacher's main priority is to prepare the environment so that the child may interact with the materials and teach himself.  The teacher only teaches how to use the materials correctly and then backs away.  There are specific steps in each lesson and if a lesson is not done correctly the child can often tell this for himself and figure out what he did wrong - often without any intervention from adults.

I know this was long and probably didn't make a whole lot of sense - Montessori is a very deep philosophy which takes years to understand.  I recommend the book "Maria Montessori, her life and work" by E.M.Standing. It gives a good overview of the principles of the Montessori method as well as explains how she came to these ideas.

Good Luck!

Answer 3

Start with basic colors and shapes.  Get into letters and numbers in a few months.  Also, teach about things like:

seasons

weather

animals

world around us

my body (basic-hands, feet, neck, head, etc)

clothes

bathing and brushing teeth

picking up after themselves

good manners

holidays

different jobs in the community

handling feelings

helping at home

concepts like kindness, honesty, giving, obedience

safety

nutrution

Teach only one academic concept every few days(letter, number, color, etc.).  Review the concept for a couple of days to help them remember it.  Then add in some stories from simple books, singing time, game-playing and make-blieve time.

Remember, preschoolers need to learn a little each day, but they do most of their learning by the things they do in their play.  That's the best thing to remember-they need lots of time to pretend, sing and have fun.

Answer 4

take your time with the kids. reward them for doing something correctly like letting them lead the line or help pass out snacks at snack time. make sure they can correctly write their own names. Okay i babysat these kids and i tried to teach the three year old to make a "K" she was getting good but when she tried to make it without the dotted guide lines all she did was "K" like squiggles. hope that sorta helped emmy

Answer 5

Wow, montessori schools are strict, and I'm honestly surprised they hired you if you don't know anything about it. I teach Preschool, but it's not Montessori, however we are state quality approved and we are not allowed to use coloring sheets, copies of anything, and we cannot tell the children what to do or to make or to draw, so it get's kinda tough. You can teach them everything though, because I've learned that just because they are little, doesn't mean that they aren't capable. My class by the end of the year knows what a friend really is, knows how to treat people, knows how to walk in the hall and what type of behavior is appropriate. They also know their letters, colors, shapes, how to write their names, etc. and you just try to tie it in with everyday things. Trust me, you can turn anything into a great experience for a 3 year old. One time we had a parade around the whole center just because a child who was in diapers (which shouldn't of been) pooped in the potty. Needless to say, after creating such a "hoop-la" about it, he didn't need diapers anymore in the classroom. But I doubt they will do that in Montessori! Maybe you should try just a regular child center if you are just starting out.