The Golden Week in Japan: Study and Service in the Montessori Classroom

A look at The Golden Week in Japan provides a special opportunity for geography and cultural activities in the Montessori classroom, while also encouraging the possibility of service and philanthropy for your students. The Golden Week includes four national Japanese holidays and two weekends. It becomes a very busy time in Japan when Showa Day, Constitution Day, Greenery Day, and Children’s Day (Kodomono-hi) are all celebrated. This year the weekends are not as well placed as usual, though Showa Day is April 29th, Constitution Day is May 3rd, Greenery Day is May 4th, and Children’s Day is May 5th.

Showa Day celebrates the birthday of former Emperor Showa. Constitution Day celebrates the day in 1947 that the new (post WW2) constitution was implemented. Greenery Day honors nature and the environment. On Children’s Day families pray for their sons’ health and success (a special day for daughters is held annually on March 3).

While your Montessori students explore the geography and culture of Japan, you can open your discussion with the recent natural disasters that have affected Japan, its people, and the world. You may have already discussed this with your students and/or they may have already heard about the events. Learn more about how people around the world are extending their help and support to the Japanese at this time of need.

As an extension to your exploration of The Golden Week, encourage your Montessori students to plan and organize a Showa Day, Constitution Day, Greenery Day, or Children’s Day celebration of their own. They can begin with researching customs that are part of the Japanese celebration and finding ways to incorporate themes and ideas into their own events.

If your students decide that they would like to help the people of Japan, parents and the administration of your Montessori school may be invited and encouraged to participate in the celebration with a small donation. At the event, your students could serve food they have made that is inspired by Japan. Donations could be accepted for the food to further your students' goal to contribute to the Japan relief effort. Students could also create artwork inspired by Japanese culture or the customs of The Golden Week holidays (for instance, the samurai dolls of Children’s Day, paper lanterns or a mobile of origami) and then auction off the art in a silent auction.

• Golden Week
• American Red Cross Donations

Related NAMC blogs:

• May 5 Offers Two Cultural Celebrations for the Montessori Classroom
• The Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan
• Show Your Appreciation with a Children’s Day

The NAMC 3-6 Culture & Science teaching manual provides a rich curriculum for exploring our natural world and its history, and our place in this amazing universe.

North American Montessori Center: http://www.montessoritraining.net/

Teaching Civics in the Montessori Classroom: Voting

Impress upon children the truth that the exercise of the elective franchise is a social duty of as solemn a nature as man can be called to perform; that a man may not innocently trifle with his vote; that every elector is a trustee as well for others as himself and that every measure he supports has an important bearing on the interests of others as well as on his own. ~ Daniel Webster, The Works of Daniel Webster (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1853), Vol. II, p. 108.

The Age of Enlightenment brought with it the basic tenets of equality and social justice. These ideas spurred both the American and French Revolutions. The American colonists sought their independence by suppressing the rule of the English monarchy and putting the governing power back into their own assemblies. The French revolutionaries, however, sought to abolish their own government and social structure and forcibly create a new one. Both the United States and France were interested in democracy – a government in which the citizens of the country elect their officials in hopes that those officials represent the voice of their constituency.

Today, more than ever, the world’s governments are seeing more demands from their citizens. The political uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya once again demonstrate humanity’s need for justice and freedom from sovereign regimes.

1. Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. 2. Everyone has the right to equal access to public service in his country. 3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held in secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures. ~ Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Article 21 (1948)

On December 10, 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations drafted and adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This doctrine clearly states that, for the first time in history, fundamental human rights were to be universally protected. While the right to vote is now viewed as a fundamental human right, it is not upheld in many parts of the world.

As part of the Montessori Peace curriculum, it is important that elementary Montessori teachers not only teach their students about this fundamental human right, but how the voting process works, how to be an informed voter, and how to cast a vote as well in order for them to become fully informed and active citizens.

Lower elementary Montessori teachers can discuss and encourage voting by conducting polls at circle time. Explain to the children that they can only raise their hand to vote once. Then, ask a question such as “For our Friday art activity, would you rather make kites or paint butterflies?” Then, invite all those who would like to make kites to raise their hands. Select a student to count and tally the number of votes. Next, invite all those who would rather paint butterflies to raise their hands. After the votes have been tallied, announce the results. (Hint: This is also a good time to encourage good citizenship by talking about appropriate responses if your choice did not win.)

Canada is currently in the midst of a federal election campaign, with voters going to the polls on May 2. The next US federal election will take place on November 6, 2012. These are great opportunities for your Montessori upper elementary students to observe a real election taking place.

Upper elementary Montessori students can be more involved in actual elections. NAMC’s Upper Elementary US and Canadian History manuals provide lessons on the democratic process and structure of respective governments. Students can research candidates and their campaigns. They can watch televised debates and review them together as a class. At the end of the campaign, a mock election can be held to see if the class voted the same way as the nation. The National Student/Parent Mock Election project has put together an extensive curriculum for grades preschool through high school that offers even more ideas: http://www.nationalmockelection.org/curriculum.html

There cannot be peace as long as there is oppression in the world. Understanding the importance of a citizen’s right to vote for government leaders as a fundamental human right is a giant step toward helping our children in their “education for peace”.

Other NAMC blogs:

• Teaching Civics in the Montessori Classroom
• Montessori Cultural Activity: Democratic Elections in India

The NAMC History manuals provide lessons on the democratic process and structure of respective governments.

North American Montessori Center: http://www.montessoritraining.net/

Montessori Insights and Reflections of a Preschool Student’s First Year

Spring Is Here – Planting a Flower Garden

Spring is such a wonderful time of year and every day the children notice something different -- bulbs sprouting leaves in the garden, tiny buds emerging on the tree branches, and new birds visiting our bird feeder. With spring in the air, it is the perfect opportunity to provide children with a variety of different planting activities and it is amazing how much they enjoy them. Gardening encourages children to learn about the world around them and instills in each of them a love for nature. It provides them with the opportunity to experiment and it promotes social interactions as they compare, discuss and describe to one another what they are doing and what they observe.

Today we spent an hour or so planting primulas and pansies. Each child chose their favorite plant and had the opportunity to dig a hole for their plant, gently remove it from its pot and then place it in the hole and cover it up with soil. Their squeals of delight when they spotted the roots was music to my ears and the care they took when digging the hole and replacing the soil was adorable. Then their job was to fill up a watering can with water and give their plant a little drink.

My four-year-old student, Jordan loves to work in the garden and is the happiest when his hands are covered in dirt! He was so excited about our planting project and new exactly which primula he wanted to plant. He chose the red one and picked the perfect spot to plant it over by the fig tree. While digging his hole, he came across two earthworms and I heard him explain to a friend how the worms are helpers for the soil and how we always need to respect earthworms. Jordan carefully placed the worms by his red primula and said, “Perfect, now my primula won’t be lonely and the worms will help it grow.” --Another beautiful Montessori moment!

The NAMC 3-6 manuals provide a full selection of botany activities, complemented with nomenclature material on CD-ROM.

As much as possible, NAMC’s web blog reflects the Montessori curriculum as provided in its teacher training programs. We realize and respect that Montessori schools are unique and may vary their schedules and offerings in accordance with the needs of their individual communities. We hope that our readers will find our articles useful and inspiring as a contribution to the global Montessori community.

North American Montessori Center: http://www.montessoritraining.net/

Montessori Insights and Reflections of a Preschool Student’s First Year

Learning About Birds, Part 2 of 2

As mentioned in Part 1 of this series, in the weeks that followed our Montessori classroom visit from Charlie the Congo African Grey Parrot and Horton the Citron Crested Cockatoo, we have learned songs and finger plays about birds and have implemented a number of different bird activities to extend the theme and enrich our Montessori preschool students’ learning experiences.

A few of the extensions we have implemented in our Montessori preschool classroom include the following:

Learning About Birds - Extensions:

Feather Sorting: Charlie and Horton’s owner brought in a picture of each of the parrots as well as a collection of their feathers. I decided to create a sorting activity and my Montessori students have really enjoyed it. The child places both pictures on a mat and then sorts the feathers by looking at the picture and deciding whether the feather came from ‘Charlie’ or ‘Horton.’

Eggshell Collages: We sent home a note to our Montessori parents asking them to save well washed, clean eggshells and dye them with springtime pastels. The children then used a mortar and pestle to crush the dyed eggshells into small pieces and then used glue to apply the eggshells to construction paper eggs.

Parts of a Bird Puzzle: I absolutely love the Montessori Botany puzzles and the Zoology puzzles and the Parts of a Bird puzzle has definitely been a popular one over the past few weeks. The children enjoy naming the different parts, tracing the parts as well as matching them up on the control poster.

Parts of Bird Nomenclature: The children have also enjoyed learning about the parts of a bird and the function of each of the parts. They have created their own books, posters as well as labeled their own drawings.

Feather Painting: On the art shelf in our Montessori classroom, we created a painting tray with different types of feathers, paper and paint. The children have had great fun experimenting with different paint consistencies and types of feathers.

Bird Watching Basket: This has been a very popular activity with the students and was extremely easy to create. First, I printed pictures of birds that are found in our geographic region and created a poster of those birds, which I later laminated for added durability. I decided to print and laminate 10 bird identification posters and I keep them in a large basket along with several pair of binoculars. When we go outside, I bring the basket out with us and the children enjoy using the binoculars to search for birds and to find the matches to those on the bird identification posters. It is amazing how quickly they have learned the names of the different birds and can identify them based on certain key feature. We definitely have several bird-watching enthusiasts in our Montessori class!

Birdseed Collages: For the art shelf, we created a tray with bird seed, paper and white glue. The children enjoyed drizzling glue onto the paper and then sprinkling the birdseed over the glue. Some of the designs were very unique and no two were alike!

Bird Craft: I cut out several different bird templates on colored poster board and the children have used them for collages, sponge painting, and have especially enjoyed gluing on feathers to make their birds come to life!

Bird Sorting: Using tongs to pick up little penguins and sort them according to color has definitely been a popular activity with the children, especially the younger ones and the tongs are wonderful tools for refining their fine motor control.

Bird Clothespins: I was so excited when I found little bird clothespins at my local dollar store and knew exactly what I wanted to do with them. Inside each of the three colorful eggs, I placed 4 or 5 bird clothespins. The student’s job is to open each egg, remove the clothespins and clip them around the edge of the “nest” (basket). This activity always seems to be in use and again is wonderful for strengthening a young children fingers!

Robin's Eggs: After looking at pictures of a robin’s egg, we decided it would be fun to make our own robin eggs. I cut several eggs out of poster board and the children painted them blue and sprinkled them with sand to give them a specked effect!

Bird Finger Plays: The children have enjoyed learning different finger plays and I have included a few of the favorites below.

Birdie Finger Plays

Five little birds without any home,
(raise 5 fingers of right hand)
Five little trees in a row.
(raise right hand high over head)
Come and build your nests in our branches tall
(cup left hand for nest-right fingers in)
We'll rock you to and fro.
(then rock both hands)

________________________________________

Here's a nest for Robin,
(Cup hands to form nest)
Here's a hive for Bee,
(Fingertips together to form hive)
Here's a hole for Rabbit,
(Fingertips together to form hole)
And here’s a house for me.
(Interlock fingers, knuckles up, for house)

________________________________________

Two little birds sat up on a wall,
(two fingers placed on each shoulder)
One named Peter, one named Paul
(raise both fingers)
Fly away Peter, fly away Paul
(wiggle fingers as you move arm behind your back in arc.)
Come back Peter, come back Paul.
(bring hands in front, one at a time)

________________________________________

Two little blackbirds,
(hands closed with thumbs straight up for birds)
Sitting on a hill,
One named Jack,
(wiggle one thumb)
The other named Jill.
(wiggle other thumb)
Fly away Jack
(toss one hand at a time over shoulder)
Fly away Jill.
Come back Jack
(bring back hands one at a time)
Come back Jill.

________________________________________

Up in the sky, the little birds fly.
(flutter outstretched hands)
Down in their nests the little birds rest.
(lower hands into lap)
With a wing on the left, and a wing on the right,
(wave left hand, then right)
The dear little birdies sleep all night.
(fold hands under cheek)

________________________________________

A nest for Ruby Redbreast (cup hands)
A hive for Betty Bee (2 hands form a hive)
A hole for Jackie Rabbit (circle with thumb and index finger)
And a little bed for me (hands together on cheek and close eyes)

Related NAMC blog:

• Learning About Birds, Part 1 of 2

  North American Montessori Center: http://www.montessoritraining.net/

Montessori Insights and Reflections of a Preschool Student’s First Year

Learning About Birds, Part 1 of 2

Birds are a wonderful theme to implement with young children and springtime is the perfect time of year to do so. As a Montessori teacher, I understand the importance of beginning each new theme with a concrete, hands-on experience and I decided the perfect way to do that would be to invite one of our Montessori parents for a classroom visit, along with her two parrots.

We were visited by Charlie, a Congo African Grey Parrot and Horton, a Citron Crested Cockatoo and the experience definitely sparked in the children an interest in birds and provided the perfect beginning to our theme! The owner of the parrots was extremely knowledgeable and the children learned so much. They learned what the parrots eat, how they eat their food, the importance of their beaks, how their wings work, and they especially enjoyed hearing their unique sounds.

Our Montessori preschoolers were particularly interested in the fact that the bones of a bird are hollow and that they have no teeth to help them glide and fly with ease. One child put up his hand and said, “No wonder I can’t fly----my teeth and bones are too heavy!” ... so cute! Charlie and Horton were wonderful guests and the children are still talking about them!

In the weeks to follow we have examined a variety of feathers under a microscope and explored a real bird’s nest using a magnifying glass. We have learned songs and finger plays about birds and have implemented a number of different bird activities to extend the theme and enrich each child’s learning experiences. A few of the extensions we have implemented in our Montessori preschool classroom are provided in Part 2 of this series.

Related NAMC blogs:

• Learning About Birds, Part 2 of 2

The NAMC 3-6 Culture and Science manual is rich with zoology and botany activities.

As much as possible, NAMC’s web blog reflects the Montessori curriculum as provided in its teacher training programs. We realize and respect that Montessori schools are unique and may vary their schedules and offerings in accordance with the needs of their individual communities. We hope that our readers will find our articles useful and inspiring as a contribution to the global Montessori community.

North American Montessori Center: http://www.montessoritraining.net/

Earth Day in the Montessori Classroom

On April 22, over one hundred countries will participate in Earth Day. Earth Day has been celebrated annually for over forty years. This year Earth Day’s theme is “A Billion Acts of Green.” Individuals and businesses around the world will make pledges and commitments to live in a more environmentally friendly fashion. Begin a discussion of Earth Day and “A Billion Acts of Green” to involve your Montessori students in activities that incorporate math and environmental education.

With your students, start a master list of activities they can do that are environmentally friendly. You can either start with a goal number in mind (100? 500? But probably not a billion), or keep listing to see how many you can come up with. To reinforce the math component, you can encourage your Montessori students to track the activities on the classroom list with bead chains, unit cubes or other math materials. As the list grows, students can group them by fives, tens, etc.

Once your Montessori students are satisfied with their list, you can begin a discussion on what to do with your new and wonderful ideas. Your students might want to implement one “green” idea a day at your Montessori school. They could do this as a class or individually. They might wish to explore doing their activities for one month or incorporate one daily until the list is exhausted. Use this discussion to explore how many days are in a month and/or how many days it would take to do an activity a day, etc. This process is also a great way to encourage daily habits, and to identify other activities that are ideal for monthly, bi-annual, or annual events. Perhaps bi-annual or annual events can extend beyond the Montessori classroom and school into the neighboring community!

Your students can also challenge another classroom or the school community as a whole to also complete a daily activity to help the earth. In addition to math and environmental education, your students could strengthen their language skills by documenting their green acts on posters, in a blog or school/parent newsletter, or by writing a book for the Montessori classroom and school.

One small act can lead to a billion ... and a better world. Enjoy exploring the possibilities with your young Montessori citizens!

• http://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2011
• http://act.earthday.org/
• http://www.earthday.org/node/164

Other NAMC blogs:

• Montessori Practical Life Activity for Earth Day
• World Water Day 2010, March 22: Montessori Classroom Opportunities
• Earth Day 2009: Celebrating Peace and Environmental Awareness in the Montessori Classroom
• Celebrating Earth Day in the Montessori Community
• World Environment Day Ideas for the Montessori Classroom

The NAMC teaching manuals provide a rich curriculum based on Montessori’s philosophy of Cosmic Education and Peace, emphasizing the interrelatedness of humans and all species.

North American Montessori Center: http://www.montessoritraining.net/

Montessori Insights and Reflections of a Preschool Student’s First Year

Montessori-inspired Easter Activities

With Easter just around the corner, we decided to enrich each area of our Montessori preschool classroom with Montessori-inspired Easter activities and the children have been thoroughly enjoying them! I have always found that seasonal activities help to renew a child’s interest in the classroom and the ideas for enriching a Montessori environment are endless!

I have included below some examples of activities that are currently in our Montessori classroom community, and I hope you enjoy them.

Sensorial

Sound Shakers: At the dollar store I bought a package of plastic Easter eggs and filled them with different materials (salt, rice, pebbles, beans, etc). I then used the glue gun to seal the eggs closed and placed the eggs in a basket on the Montessori Sensorial shelf. The children have enjoyed shaking the eggs to try and pair together the eggs that sound the same … a great way to refine a child’s auditory sense!

Color Tablets: A fun activity that I have been implementing for years incorporates the color tablets and it is a cheerful way to reinforce color recognition. First the child places the color tablets (Box 2) on a floor mat and pairs the 22 tablets together. While the child is pairing the tablets, I take the basket of 11 plastic eggs that match the colors of each color tablet (red, yellow, blue, green, orange, purple, pink, brown, black, white, grey) and hide them throughout the classroom. The student then chooses one color tablet from the mat, identifies the color and then searches the classroom to find the matching egg. Each time the correct egg is found, it is brought back to the mat and placed together with the corresponding color tablet pair.

Practical Life

Tongs and PomPoms: The following transferring work is done with an egg carton, colored pompoms and tongs/tweezers. Colored dots have been made with felt markers and placed inside the carton. My Montessori students are encouraged to match each pompom to the correct colored compartment. In a left to right motion, the child uses the tongs/tweezers to transfer the colored pompoms into the egg carton.

Egg Flipping: I created eggs out of fun foam and the children enjoy using a spatula to flip over each of the eggs in the miniature frying pan. This is a great activity that focuses on wrist control.

Transferring Foam Eggs: I found a wonderful package of sparkly foam eggs at my dollar store and the children love them! They enjoy using tongs or a spoon to transfer the eggs from one basket to the other. It is a great activity for promoting concentration and refining a child fine motor control and hand/eye co-ordination.

Transferring Colored Bunnies: I came across these little bunnies in a thrift store and they are the perfect size for a transferring activity. The children enjoy using tweezers or tongs to transfer the bunnies from the basket to fill up the ice cube tray.

Spooning Eggs: Spooning is a wonderful activity that encourages hand-eye coordination and helps the Montessori preschool student to focus on spooning without spilling. For this activity the child uses a spoon to scoop the egg beads into the silicone egg mould.

Tongs and Bunny Tray: This is another entertaining tonging activity which has been very popular this year. The bunny tray was found at a garage sale and the child’s job is to pick up each egg with the tongs and transfer it to the bunny tray until all of the eggs have been transferred … it is far more challenging than it sounds!

Math

Cards and Egg Counters: An extension of the traditional Montessori ‘Cards and Counters’ activity whereby the child places the numbers 1 through 9 in the correct order on a table or floor mat and then counts out the correct quantity below each numeral.

Duck and Rabbit Addition: I found the cutest little duck and rabbit erasers at the dollar store and wow, have they inspired many of the Montessori students in my class to practice addition! Students simply place the first quantity in the first dish, the second quantity in the second dish and then put both quantities together in the third dish to show the addition process. The child counts out the quantity of ducks/bunnies in the third dish and notates the answer.

Art

Decorating Foam Bunnies: The children have had fun using a glue stick to decorate their foam bunny with cotton, markers, sequins and other materials.

Paper Plate Bunnies (idea from: Cardboard Bunny Mask): I provided each child with a paper plate and two rabbit ears. Each student’s job is to draw the eyes or cut out the eyes and then draw or add the whiskers, the nose, the mouth and anything else the child wants to add (you may wish to include pipe cleaners, buttons, etc. to the material for this activity). Many children enjoyed creating their own bunny mask and we certainly are enjoying our Montessori classroom full of bunnies!

Paper Cup Chicks and Bunny (idea from: Amazing Moms): On the Montessori classroom art shelf was a tray that housed the supplies for creating either a paper cup chick or a paper cup bunny: beaks, googly eyes, feathers, ears, pipe cleaners and pompom noses. The children glue on each of the items of their choosing and create an adorable Easter/springtime keepsake!

As much as possible, NAMC’s web blog reflects the Montessori curriculum as provided in its teacher training programs. We realize and respect that Montessori schools are unique and may vary their schedules and offerings in accordance with the needs of their individual communities. We hope that our readers will find our articles useful and inspiring as a contribution to the global Montessori community.

North American Montessori Center: http://www.montessoritraining.net/

Studying Artists and their Works in the Montessori Classroom

We cannot “teach” a child to be an artist, but as Dr. Montessori says, we can help him develop:
An Eye that Sees
A Hand that Obeys
A Soul that Feels
Shared with permission of The Joyful Child Montessori Company: (http://www.blogger.com/www.thejoyfulchild.us)

Maria Montessori wanted children to be surrounded by objects of beauty. Starting at birth, she admonished parents and care givers to use beautiful objects and toys to stimulate the baby’s senses. Reproductions of great masterpieces were to hang on the walls at children’s eye level rather than have them inundated with commercialized cartoons. She advised that the home be a perfect balance of beauty and order, with each piece carefully chosen not only for its function but also its form.

Teaching art appreciation is an important part of the Montessori art curriculum. Beginning in the Montessori 3-6 classroom, children are ready to hear stories about great artists. Art books, such as Mike Venezia’s The World’s Greatest Artists series can be place on your art shelves for children to read through at their leisure. They can also be used for whole class instruction on artists and techniques.

Using Marc Chagall as an example, there are a variety of lessons and activities that can be done with young children. After reading about Chagall, talk to children about how he used childhood memories and images to come up with his beautiful, dreamy, and mysterious artwork that we call surrealism. Discuss his use of bright, pure colors as well as his use of arbitrary color for ordinary objects as well as his use of unusual size. Talk about how he uses size and color to make objects seem important and to draws the viewer’s attention to it. Afterwards, using tempera paints, watercolors and crayons, allow the children to create their own works of art imitating Chagall’s style.

Be sure to check your local art museums for Chagall exhibits. There are several Chagall Museums worldwide. The Kohl Children’s Museum also rents a traveling Chagall exhibit that may be of interest to your community.

As the poet, John Keats (1795 – 1821) once said:

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness…

Children who learn to appreciate the beauty of artistic works open their souls to the beauty and goodness of humanity and will strive forever to protect it.

Other NAMC blogs:

• Painting in the Montessori 3-6 Classroom

The NAMC Lower Elementary manual Introduction to Health Sciences, Art and Music contains great introductory activities in Art, including lines, shapes, proportion, perspective, light and shade.

North American Montessori Center: http://www.montessoritraining.net/

Exploring the Boston Marathon in the Montessori Classroom

Did you know that the Boston Marathon is the oldest annual marathon in the world? Every year the city of Boston hosts the event on Patriots’ Day, which is the third Monday of April. This year the marathon will take place on April 18. Tens of thousands of runners, both amateur and professional, flock to the New England city to participate in the road race which happens to be one of the five World Marathon Majors. Why not use this current event as a springboard to math, history, and geography activities in your Montessori classroom? There’s plenty of information that can be explored in detail, whatever the student’s particular area of interest.

For example, the first Boston Marathon was held in commemoration of the fabled run from the Battle of Marathon to Athens, by the Greek soldier and messenger, Pheidippides. A study of this event can lead to further exploration of the origin of the word marathon, and how the concept has evolved into a global competitive sport.

Suggested Activities for the Montessori Classroom

Math

Questions for your students: How long is a marathon? What is its measurement in feet, miles, meters and kilometers?

Activity for your students: Ask your students to map a marathon route of their choice in your town using a map.

Boston and U.S. History

Questions for your students: What important events in U.S. history have taken place in Boston? When was Boston founded? What are some interesting historical facts about Boston? What is Patriots’ Day?

Activities for your students: Create a timeline of Boston’s history. Create a game show for other classmates about Boston’s history. Explore the history of Patriot’s Day

Marathon History

Discuss the inspiration for the Boston Marathon (the 1896 Summer Olympics) and when the marathon began (1897).

Activities for your students:

Research a past participant of the Boston Marathon and share their special story with classmates. For example, Dick and Rick Royt , a father and son team that race together despite Rick’s cerebral palsy, Students might also be interested in the scandal of Rosie Ruiz in 1980 or the death of Cynthia Lucero in 2002.

Geography

Activities for your students:

Students can locate and research the five cities of the World Marathon Majors (Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, and New York City). Students can compare and contrast the climates, languages, animals, etc. of each of the five cities. Using clay, paper, and other materials, students can create a topographical map or diorama of the race course in Boston, including notable Boston locations such as Copley Square and Heartbreak Hill.

Related web information:

• Official Website for the Boston Marathon
• History - Athens Marathon
• Patriot’s Day
• Boston Marathon Man - Johnny Kelly

North American Montessori Center: http://www.montessoritraining.net/

A Focus on Peace at Pesach – Montessori Activity Ideas

Jewish Passover (also called Pesach) is an extremely important holiday in the Jewish faith. Pesach marks the event of Moses leading the children of Israel out of persecution in Egypt in 1313 BCE.

In 2011, Passover will start at sunset on Monday, April 18th and will continue for 7 days until Monday, the 25th of April. Passover offers ample opportunities for Montessori students to explore and learn history, geography, culture, current events, and practical life surrounding cultural celebrations. Here are previous NAMC blogs that offers Montessori student activity ideas for Passover:

Jewish Passover: Connecting Montessori Activities with Cultural Celebrations

This year, you might consider a new activity such as a seder (a precise, ceremonial dinner) of peace!

Although the story of Passover may not appear to be a story of peace, it reminds us that we are the peacemakers of our world today. We can demonstrate tolerance, acceptance and respect for one another through our actions. Creating a seder of peace with your students can be a positive action to this end. Seders are special meals held during Passover, and you can learn more from the link provided below.

Begin a discussion with your Montessori students about peace and brainstorm whom they might know of who needs peace right now. They might think globally with warring nations or other nations in need such as Japan, locally with food banks or other community outreach services, or in their own classroom or school where children can participate in activities around character virtue, grace and courtesy, etc.

Encourage your Montessori students to choose a particular focus for your seder of peace. Your students might collect donations for their cause. They can also give well wishes before their meal. Another possibility is individual or group presentations or storytelling about peace before, during, or after the seder. Special table settings and cutlery may represent the peace theme. When planning the menu, students may choose to go with traditional seder foods such as matzoh, beitzah, and zeroah. Other menu options may include a menu related to the students’ selected peace theme or cause. Perhaps a combination of each would tie the remembrance of Passover with the new peace theme chosen by the students.

Your Montessori classroom can be an inspirational place for children to learn about and from history, and to apply that learning toward a more peaceful world. Enjoy exploring the possibilities with your young citizens!

Related web information:

• Festival of Freedom

North American Montessori Center: http://www.montessoritraining.net/

Montessori Insights and Reflections of a Preschool Student’s First Year

Sing Peace Around The World Project

For me the song, “Light a Candle for Peace” has so much meaning in my classroom and it is a song that we sing regularly which always creates a very calm tone during circle time. I am so grateful to Shelley Murley for composing such a beautiful song with so much meaning behind it. For those of you who don’t know who Shelley Murley is, she is a Montessorian as well as a talented composer from Vancouver, BC, Canada. In 2009, Shelley created a worldwide singing project to celebrate the United Nation’s Peace Day on September 21. She composed the piece called Light a Candle for Peace and it was sung all around the world by various Montessori schools. Starting with New Zealand, schools around the world sang the song over a 24-hour period, and it ended with the Hawaiian Islands. The project took place again in 2010, and will continue in 2011, so keep September 21 in mind and have your students participate in this global peace project! The lyrics to the song are so simple and I encourage you to visit her blog, which has a wonderful little video about the project and clips of children singing this beautiful song from schools all around the world. You can also download the song and lyrics for free.

If we are peaceful, if we are happy, we can smile and blossom like a flower, and everyone in our family, our entire society, will benefit from our peace. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

As much as possible, NAMC’s web blog reflects the Montessori curriculum as provided in its teacher training programs. We realize and respect that Montessori schools are unique and may vary their schedules and offerings in accordance with the needs of their individual communities. We hope that our readers will find our articles useful and inspiring as a contribution to the global Montessori community.

North American Montessori Center: http://www.montessoritraining.net/