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SIMS

| Montessori Teacher Training in Phoenix, AZ

Montessori Materials

Workshop – Food as an Educational Tool

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February 8, 2020, 9 am – 11:30 am

Cost – $30

Food as an Educational Tool

Food and food preparation provide valuable opportunities for educating children. Food is not just for survival and satisfying our physical needs, food is also part of our social life. Food is an educational tool that helps children to adapt to their family, culture, and community by offering sensorial experiences, enriching language, refining movements, encouraging independence, and, most importantly, feeling part of their community. Join us for a workshop where together we will explore different tools to help children to have a better approach to food.

RSVP Today – Space is limited!


About our Presenter: Gabriela’s Montessori journey began as a child. Her mother was a Montessori teacher, so she grew up attending Montessori schools in Mexico. It was only natural that upon reaching adulthood that she also decided to pursue a career in Montessori education. After completing her degree in Early Childhood Education, she earned the AMI Assistance to Infancy diploma. She would go on to work for more than 20 years in Montessori schools in Mexico and the United States.

Gabriela completed the demanding AMI Training of Trainers program to be named an AMI Trainer at the level of 0-3 Assistants to infancy. She began her first full 0-3 training in August with SIMS! She has also worked on 0-3 teacher-training courses in Denver and Taiwan. She serves as a lecturer, consultant and national examiner for AMI.

 

Material Spotlight: Washing a Table

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Have you noticed that young children often want to help with daily chores such as washing the dishes or wiping the table?

Children have a natural desire to be adult’s “little helpers” and carry out tasks they see adults doing.  The Montessori classroom responds to this desire by offering the child opportunities to engage in these activities independently.  The Practical Life area of a Montessori environment includes activities that may look like daily chores to an adult, but children find joy in accomplishing these tasks.  Not only do children gain a sense of functional independence and self-confidence, but they also develop the ability to carry out long sequences of activity, work with concentration, and further exercise the coordination of their physical body.

As the young child begins his experience in the Montessori environment, exercises are offered to the child that develop or refine a specific skill, such as using a spoon or pouring liquid.  Once these skills are mastered, other activities are introduced that combine the use of multiple physical skills.

One such activity, Washing a Table, is an exercise that combines a variety of previously developed skills. At first, children carry out this exercise (and others in Practical Life) for the pleasure of the process; for example, whether the table is dirty or not they will engage in the process of washing it.  The child may choose to wash the table over and over again just to fulfill his internal need of the process.  Later, the child shifts his interest to the purpose of washing the table.  For example, the child will wash the table because it is dirty.

So, if the young child is not washing the table because it is dirty, what is he gaining from this exercise?

Independence

The ability to carry out the activity completely on his own.  The child lays out the items needed for the activity, he fetches his own water, wets, scrubs, rinses, and dries the table, and replaces the items back on the shelf.  The child is allowed to repeat this activity as long as he wants.  Montessori believed that repetition is beneficial to mastering a skill and becoming master over one’s own movements.

  • “A child must carry out his work by himself and he must bring it to completion” (The Secret of Childhood, p. 197).
  • “Even if the child does not succeed in his effort, the adult should not interrupt his actions” (Creative Development in the Child, p. 31).

Coordination and Equilibrium

Children are naturally urged to move.  Practical Life activities give purpose and direction to his movements to expend his energies.  His movements during these activities provide a synchronous relationship with physical body and his brain to coordinate the two working together.

The child must be able to control and coordinate his own movements as he carries his materials across the room to a table and as he engages in the movements necessary to wash the table.  Have you ever watched a 4-year old carry large objects? There are often stumbles and spills, but as the child is able to practice these large motor movements without the help of an adult, he becomes master of his physical movements and gradually coordinates his body to work in harmony.

Developing a Sense of Order

Washing a Table is a long process with many sequenced steps.  The child is first shown how to do the exercise from the Guide, then he is allowed to carry out the activity on his own.  The child will find through his own experience that he must follow a specific sequence, otherwise he will be confronted with obstacles.  For example, if the child tries to put soap on the scrub brush without water, the soap will not spread onto the table.  This also shows the child a natural consequence, without having the adult interfere, which tells the child he has done something wrong.  The child comes to understand that in order for the soap to make bubbles, he must first have water.

Concentration and Repetition

Concentration can result from Practical Life activities as the child becomes engaged in a task the he can accomplish on his own, when materials necessary for the work are purposeful, and the activity lends itself to repetition. This activity allows for repetition of movements and lends itself to repetition with the same or other tables in the environment.

So, the next time we have the extra “little helper” at our side, let us remember how much the child is able to learn and develop through the Practical Life activities!

 

About the Author:

Tiffany Liddell is currently an AMI Primary Trainer in Training residing in Mesa, Arizona.  She completed her AMI Primary Training in 2005 and has since been a lead Montessori Primary guide in a charter school and her own private preschool.  She has been an active member of the Phoenix area Early Childhood community by facilitating professional development workshops and developing curriculum for a local community college.  Tiffany also supports the Southwest Institute of Montessori Studies (SIMS) Primary training courses as a course assistant.  Tiffany has been married to her husband for twelve years and has four children who all attended (of which two still attend) Montessori school and, in her spare time, enjoys cycling in the Arizona desert.

Big Work in the Elementary Classroom: Creating a Culture of Beautiful Work

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Don’t we all want a dynamic classroom environment in which there is a great variety of work going on?  Where the children are creating, researching, building, collaborating, thinking, learning, questioning, imagining, and following their passions?  Yes!  That IS what we want, an environment where our students are excited to learn and grow.

In a new environment, it takes time to build up to this kind of ideal, but it is definitely possible.  As guides, we have to create a culture of work in our environments.  In my environment, the students refer to it as “a beautiful work classroom”.  Beautiful work does not mean work that meets some artistic standard, rather it is big work decided upon by the student and pursued with thought, care, deliberation, and an investment of time.

How can we, as the guides, make this happen?  This is where the artistry of teaching in the Montessori Method comes in!

  1. Give the lessons. Give the lessons, give the lessons, give the lessons!  Without the beautiful lessons, there will be no beautiful work.  The psychological characteristics of the second plane child include “Imagination”.  Use this and give the lessons, tell the exciting stories, spark the interest, ask the thoughtful questions, and then sit back and let it happen.
  2. Set an expectation for work. Freedom in the classroom environment means freedom to WORK.  Not working should not be an option.  How they work, where they work, with whom they work, and what they work on are the freedoms we offer.  In a very young classroom, we may have to give examples of what follow up work to a lesson could be, but should be careful to not impose our ideas upon a child.  We all know their ideas are far superior to anything we could come up with.  After a lesson (on Types of Lines, for example), one could say, “I wonder how you could practice this lesson?  Perhaps you could make a book? A scroll?  A Poster? You could sew the lines and make a pillow!  How about using toothpicks? Q-tips? Yarn? Popsicle sticks? Or, you could bake pretzels and position them as lines!!”  Yes, I have had students bake pretzels and make lines & angles.  In fact, food & cooking are great motivators for big work.  We have had giant cookies for Parts of a Circle, layered cakes for Layers of the Earth, and even Pizza to practice fractions.

(Formation of the Universe Cookie, Four-Corners Cake, The work of Water Canyons)

  1. Provide the materials for big work. If we want big work going on in the classroom, we have to provide the materials for the children to work.  Large rolls of plain paper, huge pieces of graph paper, colored paper, colored pencils, gel pens, markers, paint, cardboard, glue, sequins, yarn, tape, book binding materials, popsicle sticks, canvases, glitter, “special” and beautiful paper…all these must be available to the students at all times (not just for art lessons) so they can think, create, and work  outside the “pencil-paper” box.

 

  1. Provide uninterrupted time for big work. If we have given the lessons, set expectations for work, and provided the materials, the students will be working!  It is at that time that we need to step back, let them work, and protect that work time.  If they are engaged in constructive and productive work, let them do it, no matter how long it takes.  The uninterrupted work cycle is specifically for this, to let the students do their work without interference.  The things they learn from working on their own are invaluable and cannot be taught:  independence, responsibility, collaboration, compromise, precision, revision, perseverance, dedication, and satisfaction of work done independently.  The beautiful work that come from this time is a bonus!

(Types of lines sewn on fabric, Sentence Analysis Folow Up)

Easy, right?  We can all have environments in which work like this is going on if we avoid the “Big Work Obstacles”.

 

  1. Big Work is messy! Creative, inventive, collaborative work is messy.  Let them do it.  It is not unusual to look up and see a disaster!  Have faith that the lessons we have given on how to clean up a work space will jump into action once the work is done.  If they don’t, give those lessons again!
  2. Big Work is expensive! All those materials required for their work can be expensive.  Hopefully we all have healthy classroom budgets and can make those materials a priority, just as we do the Montessori Materials.  If not, students can always bring things from home for their projects.  They can also hit the recycling bin as many treasures can be found there.
  3. Big Work takes time! As guides, we want to make sure that we give all the lessons we need to and sometimes it makes us uncomfortable to go too long without giving a child a particular lesson.  Have faith that their work is just as important as the lesson on “Adding Fractions with Unlike Denominators” is!

(Ireland Research Follow up, Tissue paper River, Paper-mache Grand Canyon)

Nothing brings me greater joy than those moments when I have no one to give a lesson to!  You know those times when you look around the classroom and you see that amazing hum of working students?  Where groups of children are working together on creative and inventive projects that display their understanding of concepts learned in a way that writing them down with paper and pencil never could.  That is what I strive for…an environment that is the opposite of a “paper & pencil” classroom.

Shahnaz Currim is an Upper Elementary Guide at Keystone Montessori School in Ahwatukee, Arizona.  Holding AMI Primary & Elementary Diplomas, she has been teaching in the Valley of the Sun for 26 years.  An avid hiker and nature lover, Shahnaz also loves to read, garden, travel, and spend time with her adorable Boxer pups.

Material Spotlight: Sandpaper Letters

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Boy tracing sand paper letters, Germany 1950. Photo courtesy of http://vsamerica.com/montessori

Way back, in the beginnings of the first Montessori school, the Casa Dei Bambini, Dr. Montessori had no intention of teaching the children to read or to write. Children were not typically taught these skills until they were around the age of seven years old.  She had prepared a rich environment full of purposeful motives of real life activity, also called the exercises of Practical Life, and special manipulatives to educate the child’s senses, the Sensorial materials.  She always held firm that communication and conversation were very important elements of the classroom and encouraged the children to freely speak with one another.  Dr. Montessori also sang and recited poetry with the children. This was all very natural and enjoyable for every child in the classroom.  And then the day came that she was asked, or rather implored, to teach the children how to read and to write.  This request was made by some of the mothers of the children.  These women knew how important it was to be able to read and write because they themselves could not.

After some deliberation, Dr. Montessori began the process of figuring out the best way for this to be done.  Knowing how the child needed to use their hands in their learning, she decided to have letters cut out of cardboard for the children to move and manipulate as they learned the sounds of the letters.  What was observed, was that the children enjoyed tracing the shapes of the letters as if they were writing them.  This led to another addition to the cardboard letters: sandpaper.  There was something about the combination of the texture, the movement in the tracing of the letter, and then verbalizing the letter’s sound all at the same time that made this activity irresistible!

Today, the sandpaper letters are still a favorite for children in Montessori schools around the world.  Children learn the sounds of the alphabet with ease using this material.  How powerful a lesson to be able to capitalizes on using the child’s sense of sight, touch, and their ear!  As in many Montessori materials, there is always more than meets the eye.  Now while the child is engaged in tracing these letters, he is also building a muscle memory of how the letter is drawn.  Cursive is preferable to print simply because there is no stopping and starting or need to pick up the finger to make the shape of the letter as in print.  The hand can flow naturally from start to finish for almost all of the letters when we use cursive.  Over and over the child traces during the course of the lesson while his muscles learn to make the shape.  Eventually, the he will have the opportunity to begin to write with chalk on a chalkboard.  More often than not, he progresses quite easily in drawing the letters.  All because of that tracing with the sandpaper letters.

One more important element to this lesson is that the sound of the letter is what is introduced, not the name of the letter.  There is only one reason for this: the sound of a letter will assist the child to later read, the name of the letter will not.  Once the child has progressed through about half of the alphabet, he is armed with some very potent information!  He knows the letter sounds, he can match the sound and the letter symbol, and he knows how they are formed.  This combination led to one of the largest discoveries ever witnessed in the Casa Dei Bambini-the young children began to spontaneously write.  This is a phenomenon we see today as well.  There comes a moment when the child writes a word all on his own, without prompting or help.  All because of one material that seems so simple in design, yet suited so perfectly for the child: the sandpaper letters.

Material Spotlight: The Binomial Cube

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When we hear the word Algebra, how many of us are taken back to fond memories of secondary school Algebra classes? We learned algebra through memorized formulas and variables plugged into graphic calculators.  This helped us calculate various functions, but overall, we were convinced that we would never use the information again!  Understanding that children learn through working with their hands, Dr. Montessori and her son, Mario, developed a material that could help make algebra understandable through a concrete and manipulative form.

One of the iconic materials found throughout the Montessori Primary and Elementary classrooms is the Binomial Cube. This material was initially intended for the elementary children for learning algebra.  However, Dr. Montessori observed that young children had such a fondness for this material as a puzzle that she included it in the Primary environment.

The Binomial Cube is found in the Sensorial area of a Primary environment, rather than the Math area, because the child works with this material in a purely sensorial way.  The child can explore the cubes, prisms, patterns, structure, and qualities of this material by manipulating the pieces with his hands.  In addition to using his sense of touch, the child uses his visual sense to discriminate the sizes and colors of the pieces.  By matching and assembling the pieces, he comes to know their relationships intimately.  He can draw from these experiences with the Binomial Cube in his future work in the elementary Math area with algebraic functions.

The Binomial Cube is a concrete representation of the algebraic formula (a+b)³ and is presented as such in the Montessori Elementary environment.  However, in the Primary environment, the Binomial Cube is introduced to the child as nothing more than an intriguing puzzle and the child finds pleasure in repeating the process of constructing and deconstructing it.  The series of following exercises allow the child to explore the material and become more familiar with the components and the internal anatomy of a cube.  The ultimate point of arrival for the child is when he covers his eyes with a blindfold and builds the cube without looking.  This mental stimulation fosters concentration and intellectual growth as the child works intently to solve the puzzle by constructing the cube.

The human mind is mathematical by nature.  The mathematical mind that Dr. Montessori discussed does not refer to the ability to count using arithmetic or compute calculations.  Having a mathematical mind means that we can use logic, judgment and reason and have the capacity to discern patterns and identify sequences.  This exercise supports the development of the child’s mathematical mind.  The patterns that are reinforced as the child works with the material support the child’s ability to create and discern patterns as he engages in comparing and organizing the pieces according to their color.  This material also supports the child’s reasoning and problem-solving skills through the process of building the puzzle, ensuring the pattern is the same as the picture on the lid and that it fits correctly inside the box.

Let’s briefly revisit algebra in a true Montessori fashion and try to replace our unpleasant algebra memories with something more comprehensible:

The Binomial Cube Deconstructed

Let’s call the length of one side of Red “a”.

Let’s call the length of one side of Blue “b”.

The Binomial Cube continues to be a favorite among most Primary aged children.  Children feel an appropriate level of challenge and a sense of accomplishment with each exercise.  At almost any given moment in the classroom, a child can be observed working with the Binomial Cube. Once the child has mastered the Binomial Cube, he feels the urge to continue with something a little more challenging – the Trinomial Cube – but we will have to discuss that material another day!

About the Author:

Tiffany Liddell is currently an AMI Primary Trainer in Training residing in Mesa, Arizona.  She completed her AMI Primary Training in 2005 and has since been a lead Montessori Primary guide in a charter school and her own private preschool.  She has been an active member of the Phoenix area Early Childhood community by facilitating professional development workshops and developing curriculum for a local community college.  Tiffany also supports the Southwest Institute of Montessori Studies (SIMS) Primary training courses as a course assistant.  Tiffany has been married to her husband for twelve years and has four children who all attended (of which two still attend) Montessori school and, in her spare time, enjoys cycling in the Arizona desert.

 

Nurturing the Young Child’s Artistic Creativity

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Creativity is part of our human expression.  Our ability to express ourselves creatively – through words, art, music, movement, etc. – is an aspect that sets us apart.  As parents or as teachers, we have a responsibility to cultivate the creative spirit of every child in our care.

Creativity is not something that is taught, rather it is something that is nurtured.  Following are some ideas and principles that should guide us in our goal to provide an environment that will foster and support the development of creative exploration and expression among the children.

Show the Technique and then offer Open Ended Exploration

Just as with any other activity in the Children’s House, our priority in offering art supplies should be to demonstrate the technique of how a particular art medium is responsibly used, and then fade away to allow the child to engage in open ended exploration with that supply.  For example, if I want to offer painting with water colors to the child, I would demonstrate:

  • how to lay out the materials that will be used
  • how to wet the brush
  • how to apply paint to paper (I shouldn’t paint a picture, I just need to apply a bit of color to the paper to demonstrate the technique)
  • how to clean the brush before applying a new color
  • how to change the water if it gets to dirty
  • how to clean everything up when I am done

Then I will invite the child to explore the paints in any way he wants.  If this means that he chooses to paint the entire page with all the colors until it is roughly the shade of mud, that is okay.  That in and of itself is an opportunity for learning. (What happens when I mix all the colors together?)

Process over Product

It is important for us as the adult to keep in mind that the young child often engages in work with a particular medium in order to practice with and explore the process of using it.   We should not get hung up on the generation of a product.  We should not ask the child what he has made – very often he hasn’t made anything – he is simply exploring the way paint covers a page.   We need to step away from our urge to get the children to produce something appealing.  The objective of creative work is exploratory thinking and doing, even if this is not evident to us in the end product.

Be a Responsive Adult

Being responsive to a child’s work is very different from offering praise.  When praise is used, a superior-inferior relationship is inferred.  It may cause the children to limit or alter their natural work in order to please the adult.  It robs the child of his intrinsic motivation to create.  The child may hesitate to do spontaneous or exploratory work for fear that it will not garner the praise of the adult.   Likewise, we never correct or criticize the child’s artwork.  Do not “show how” or enhance their work in any way.  Children become discouraged when they are made to feel that their work is inadequate or wrong.  We must respect the knowledge that young children should not be expected to draw and paint things as they appear to the adult’s sense of order and proportion. (e.g. “you know that a dog only has four legs…”) The young Child’s work is controlled by inner direction and not by visual observation.

A responsive adult shows that the child’s efforts and feelings are recognized and respected.  Our response to a child’s work should be given wisely, if at all.  Children who are working naturally and independently receive great satisfaction from creating and do not generally need our feedback.  Of course, some children seek out a response from the adult. In those cases, an objective observation is an appropriate response.  A few examples are:

  • “I noticed you spent a lot of time working on that drawing.”
  • “I see you used a lot of blue in your picture.”
  • “I can see many shapes in this collage.”
  • “Thank you for showing your work to me.”

Such nonjudgmental comments leave the children free to add their own thoughts or explanations if they so choose.

Strive for Maximum Independence

A main objective in Montessori education is to cultivate a sense of independence in the children.  It is the same with artwork.  This means that the child is not dependent on an adult to pursue his motivation to engage in art.  He should not have to ask permission, or request supplies, or feel compelled to copy the design of an adult.  We have to make sure that all of the supplies that the child will need to do the activity and then complete the clean-up process are assembled in one place and are ready and accessible for him to use.  This includes the mat to cover the table, the smock or apron he might wear, the sponge to use in cleaning up at the end, and any replacement supplies that he will need to replenish.   The child should feel a sense of independence in making his choice of work, carrying it out in any way he likes, and then completing the cycle of work.

Engaging in art work is a developmentally appropriate activity for all children.  Children are intrinsically motivated to engage in artistic activities.  Art stimulates repetition and deep concentration – manifestations that we desire to see throughout their work in the Montessori environment.  It responds to the child’s tendency to explore and it provides an outlet for creative and imaginative expression.  Over time working with art media inspires him to strive for improvement in his own manipulation and mastery of the materials as it offers immediate feedback to the child. Just as with all activity in a Montessori classroom, it brings together the work of physical and intellectual spheres.  We need to make it a priority to offer the child the opportunity to engage in this type of work at his own choosing and at his own pace, both at home and at school.

Love of Children and Personal Development

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Most Montessori guides and professionals come to work with children initially based on their love of children. While doing so they realize the methodology completely supports the child’s natural development in every way including emotional, social and intellectual. It is easy to love children, however, the impact our love and guidance can have on the future of humanity is profound. This deep love and passion must be at the forefront of all societal influences.

“Now, what really makes a teacher is love for the human child; for it is love that transforms the social duty of the educator into the higher consciousness of a mission.”  Maria Montessori

As an administrator the most rewarding part of working with Montessori professionals is having the opportunity to assist in supporting and guiding their professional development so they can best serve the child. The guide should be honored and elevated as the most important member of the school,  next to the children of course. Guides must be recognized by the school community for their high quality of training and their commitment to continued professional development.

Completing the Montessori training is a huge accomplishment for any teacher, however, this is just the beginning of the true learning process. The transformation of the adult will come as one works with the children, although it takes many years to perfect.

It is important for the administrator to find ways that the school community can support the development of a newly trained guide.  When possible, interning with an experienced guide or working as an assistant for a year can provide invaluable hands-on experience. If this is not possible, the new guide can be matched with a seasoned mentor within the school. This mentor should meet regularly with the new guide, to provide emotional and professional guidance in navigating the first years of working with children and parents.

One of the most important aspects of on-the-job training for the newly trained adult is to gain the necessary awareness of how best to ‘follow the child’.  The children teach us so much on a daily basis if we are alert and open to learn from them.  As an administrator I respect the continued need of all members of the school community to gain a deeper and richer understanding of the child.

Maria Montessori spoke extensively regarding the importance of continued personal self-study.

“An ordinary teacher cannot be transformed into a Montessori teacher, but must be created anew, having rid herself of pedagogical prejudices. The first step is self-preparation of the imagination, for the Montessori teacher has to visualize a child who is not yet there, materially speaking, and must have faith in the child who will reveal himself through work.”  Maria Montessori

There are also opportunities beyond one’s own school which can be maximized to support the development of staff.  Working with other AMI schools in the local Montessori community to share the deep and rich talents that exist within our own network can unlock many possibilities for enhanced learning.  Here in Phoenix we are fortunate to have an AMI training center.   Training centers might offer workshops or continuing education events that any Montessori guide can take advantage of.    Becoming active in a local alumni association also provides opportunities to engage on a regular basis with like-minded people, and to draw inspiration from others engaged in this essential work with children.

As an administrator I feel it is my responsibility to make continuing development possible for the Montessori guides of our school community.  This includes finding ways to raise the financial support necessary to support our teacher’s continuing education.   Attending annual refresher courses offered by AMI as well other non-Montessori workshops and courses can provide valuable insight and motivation to our guides.

The blend of continued learning, professional development and love of the child contributes to the success of Montessori professionals. From personal experience, this also develops into deep happiness and great personal satisfaction.  Our work is  the most important work:  to support the development of humanity.

Having been a Montessori Head of School for over 20 years, I have had the privilege of working with and learning from 100’s of Montessori professionals, parents and students. During those experiences, my passion, love and understanding of the human spirit and Montessori Method continues to increase due to the willingness to learn from others and the children.

Author Bio:

Sherri Sampson has over 20 years of experience as Montessori Head of School, having founded and developed two a highly successful Montessori schools in Arizona.  Sherri holds an AMI diploma in Primary and the Orientation to Adolescent Studies.

Creating a Reading Corner for your Classroom Environment (or Your Home!)

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Every Children’s House Environment (what we call the classrooms for children ages 3 – 6) will inevitably include a reading corner.  This cozy spot should feature a comfortable chair for the young child to settle into, adequate lighting, and a limited supply of quality picture books that will be rotated often.  So long as nobody else is currently occupying the space, a child may choose to sit and peruse the books in the reading corner whenever he likes.

From his first days in the Children’s House community, the young child will find this to be a comforting and welcoming spot.  When he is feeling a little overwhelmed in his new surroundings, the child will often retreat to the reading corner. It offers something familiar to him.  He is able to ponder the pictures in relative silence and solitude, sitting only slightly apart from the buzz of the busy classroom, but still a part of the overall community.

Early on in his experience in the classroom we will show him how to carefully handle a book, how to remove it from the shelf, how to gently turn the pages, and how to replace the book to its spot on the shelf when he is done.  We reinforce this as we model careful treatment of every book that is in our hands throughout the day.

We must think carefully about how we will display the books in the reading corner.  A traditional bookshelf that is full of books with only the spines pointing outward to the child is not enticing or inviting.  Small printed titles on the narrow spines of a book mean nothing to the young child who is not yet reading.  Too often this only prompts him to pull the books off the shelf to see what is on the cover in an attempt to find one that interests him, and results in a growing pile of books on the floor.  A much better option would feature a limited number of books that face forward, so that the child has a clear view of the books available.  In our training center, plate display racks serve this purpose nicely.  Other options might include narrow ledge shelves mounted to the wall, specially designed book racks available from educational supply vendors, or even spice racks.

When selecting the books to include in the reading corner, we choose books that feature quality illustrations and story lines. We seek out books that are grounded in reality.  The child under the age of 6 is deeply attracted to reality, as it is at this age that he constructs his understanding of the world around him.  It turns out that fantasy – ideas that have no basis in reality (fairies, talking trains, Pokeman, etc.) – do not serve the child in constructing this understanding.

We must remember that through all of his interactions and experiences, the young child absorbs impressions into his mind without a filter. Children take it all in, and accept it as truth. They often do not yet have the maturity of discrimination to tell the difference between that which is real and that which is not.  For the child under 6 we want to provide them with a deep and solid foundation of knowledge upon which they will build their understanding of the world and everything that is a part of it.

Once that clear understanding has been constructed in early childhood, they will enter the next phase of development at the age of 6 ready to leap into imaginative, fantastical fiction and other forms of creative writing. The power of their imagination will take flight. They will be well prepared to explore the mythologies, the folk tales and the science fiction that so interests the elementary aged child.

“…and every child should be able to experiment at first hand, to observe, and to put himself in contact with reality. Thus the flights of the imagination will start from a higher plane…”

~ Maria Montessori

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