Watch here for upcoming Coaching and After care items for specific workshops
Coming soon!
Birth -3 Workshop
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3-5 Workshop
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The importance of the work mat and allowing personal space for learning
Whether your student is just a baby or an adult we all need and deserve a space for our personal work, the mat idea, place mat, large floor mat, help with that purpose, as we discussed in class, using even the small wooden circles with a child's name or picture for the younger ones, also allows for a label maker to place on that work if work cannot be completed in the time needed before lunch or outdoor time. Never rush a child's work, allow time for them to settle into the work, the first minutes are normally the most chaotic, but the student normally settles down to a fine focus over the next 30 minutes or so, there is an energy, so do not force the child to switch from station to station, but to complete and explore the activities at hand.
An excerpt from: The NAMC Montessori Teachers Training, 2010
The Montessori Work Mat
'You could travel to a Montessori school anywhere in the world and you will see Montessori students working at floor mats as well as at child-size tables. The purpose of the floor mats and tables is to define the student’s workspace and to reinforce Montessori's principle of "freedom within limits". There is such an element of respect with having that defined workspace and it is something that the students take very seriously.
The Montessori preschool students are shown how to walk around the mats, how to place their work on the mats and how to respect one another’s personal workspace. They also learn that it is never okay to disturb a classmate’s work or join a classmate’s work unless permission is given by that student.
The Importance of the Work Mat in the Montessori Prepared Environment I always love the first few days of school when I present to my group how to roll and unroll a mat. I present with silence and preciseness and the students watch very intently. I show them how we carefully take a floor mat from the basket, hold it with two hands and set it down on the carpet. Once the mat is on the carpet, we carefully unroll it (despite many children wanting to flap it out in midair)! I then demonstrate how to walk around it (heel to toe), being careful not to step on the mat.
When I show them how to roll it up again, I pay great attention to keeping the sides even as I roll. I then admire my tightly rolled mat and use two hands to return it to the basket. I always choose a few returning Montessori students to go through the steps while the remainder of the group patiently watches and anxiously awaits their turn. We talk about the importance of placing our work on the floor mat (not our bodies) and the importance of walking around the mats (not on them). '
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The Outdoor ClassroomNature is the child's first classroom
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A Gallery of Ideas, we can expand on |