Margaret Jarrell, Author at Greenspring Montessori School

Developing Rich Language with our Toddlers

Developing Oral Language - Greenspring Montessori School

Rich oral language is a building block for strong literacy

Learning to be – this is every toddler’s goal. It is both simple and richly complex. Between the ages of 2 and 3, the child is newly aware of possessing their own identity separate from their family, and they are ready to truly be that person, with full independence.

A critical element of this self-realization is the ability to communicate. The toddler is beginning to understand conversational language and they are working to express their own thoughts, experiences, and feelings. They are yearning to label every object in their environment and know every detail of the work they find in the classroom. They are reaching for the words to seek help effectively in moments of struggle. In the Montessori method, we approach the toddler’s sensitive period for learning oral language strategically to help ignite their understanding of language and the world.

Developing Skills in the Toddler Classrooms:

Attention
Auditory memory
Indirect preparation for written language
Self-confidence with increased vocabulary

Early conversation is essential for child development

One of the most crucial elements of a toddler’s journey in language is conversation. In Montessori, we believe that the most powerful way to learn a skill is through practice, and conversations provide the ultimate “learning by doing” experience. The conversations that toddlers have with adults in the classroom provide them with richness – the knowledge that they are respected and seen, they feel valued for their opinions and feelings, and an opportunity to practice articulation with someone who can echo words back to them with exact pronunciation. These conversations provide them with a model of conversational etiquette and flow. It is through conversation that the young child learns the confidence to express their heart. Through this process, toddlers learn the functions of conversation—conflict resolution, self-expression, storytelling, clarification, and so on. In the Montessori classroom, we aim to converse with children throughout the morning—upon arrival, between a child’s tasks in the work cycle, and especially at the snack table. Any item in the room, event in our day, or thought from a child becomes a worthy and captivating topic.

Directive vs Expressive Language

Conversations between adults and children are spontaneous and natural in our Toddler classrooms, with the adults focusing on receptive and expressive language. Receptive language refers to what children can understand, such as following directions. Expressive language refers to what they can communicate with words and/or gestures. Adults minimize directive language (e.g., “Put your shoes here. Sit down. Wipe your nose.”) to provide space for meaningful, rich conversation.

Toddler Language Development - Greenspring Montessori School

The gift of music

We also use poems and songs to introduce new language to children. Rhythm and cadence can help children hear words more clearly. Poetry and music can also bring concepts to the child’s mind in a manner that connects them with his heart. We often give toddlers the option to sing or review poetry as a group, and these activities are available in the classroom for individual work or lessons.

With all these language tools in his belt, the toddler is ready to take on the world and build himself into the world citizen that he was meant to be. He will take with him all his accurate knowledge, confident self-expression, and the songs in his heart, and will approach the world with compassion and curiosity.

Speak clearly and truthfully to the child

Accurate language is another crucial tool for building a toddler into an effective communicator. Children create themselves from the tools they are given, so it is fundamentally important to communicate with children clearly and accurately. As we model speech, we enunciate as precisely as possible, and echo back correct pronunciation of the child’s mispronounced words in natural conversation. Beyond enunciation, we strive to give the child exact names for the elements of his environment and a detailed understanding of his world. In our Montessori environments, we provide children with exact names for every item in our environment, and for each of its parts. Baskets on the shelfs contain unique pictures and objects, exposing the children to new and interesting things.

Additionally, true stories give toddlers a unique learning opportunity. They provide details about the world the child would not otherwise have, as well as an understanding of the concepts of beginning, middle, and end. These stories help children understand how life happens in the real world – an understanding that they desperately crave. We also gift children with the opportunity to tell their own stories. Nothing is more beautiful than hearing the story about his baby sister that he is bouncing in to tell us. Storytelling is a daily part of our community life, and anything can serve as inspiration, from our family and friends to our breakfast.

Toddlers have a need to understand the world, and part of that is learning to differentiate between facts and opinions. In our classroom, we introduce both concepts on a daily basis. We let the child know that the details provided in lessons are facts, and ask them what they think of pictures in books. We help them understand the difference between those true details learned in lessons and the opinions that are expressed.

Learn more about our Toddler Program

Our Toddler Montessori Program serves children ages 18 months to 3 years at Greenspring Montessori School. Click here to learn more.

Why Cartoon-Character-Free?

Children's House - Greenspring Montessori School

It is our policy that children and adolescents may not wear clothing or backpacks and lunchboxes that display large logos, brand-name, or images from for-profit entities such as commercial cartoon characters. Character and logo-free clothing help support our children’s concentration and focus.

Our goal is to create a non-commercialized environment for our children. We are fostering an environment where we minimize outside distractions and pull for their attention, allowing the child’s imagination and creativity to take root without having to compete with the powerful call of the modeling of these commercial images and stories.

Our commitment is to creating prepared environments for optimal learning, exploration, creativity, and discovery. A child’s concentration is initially fragile, needing care and protection to develop and strengthen. Concentration, when cultured and grown, is what allows the child to focus on big work, think through problems, find creative solutions, and build both knowledge and understanding.

We must remember that for some children, concentration and focus are a tiny little seed that is just starting to take root. Any distraction – any excuse to think of Pokemon, Frozen, SpongeBob or some other commercially created character – will pull them away from building the neurological connections they are forging each time they concentrate deeply. While the imaginative or creative play connected to such characters may seem like a positive, it is actually a significant interruption that can profoundly interfere with children’s focus and learning at school.

Parents, grandparents, and caregivers can help us build and preserve the children’s focus. Please send children to school with character-free clothing, shoes, backpacks, lunch boxes, thermoses, water bottles, bedding (for nappers), etc. We also ask that shoes not have lights on them, as these are very distracting: many of our students are working on the floor, so every time the light-up shoes walk by, their attention is pulled from their work.

Please help us cherish and nurture concentration to help it propagate and flourish!

Lower_Elementary_Campfire-Greenspring_Montessori_School-5

Preparing a Beautiful Meal in the Montessori Classroom

Preparing a Beautiful Meal is a daily Montessori practice in which children take ownership of creating a beautiful space for eating together. Beginning with our youngest children in the Toddler classrooms, these practices are instilled daily. The children are responsible for the setup each day, including laying a tablecloth or placemats, folding cloth napkins, and carefully carrying glasses, utensils, and glass or ceramic dishes. You will often see flowers on the tables that the children have arranged and placed to make the table more beautiful.

Children also participate in the clean-up process, including clearing the table, washing dishes, wiping down tables, and sweeping the floor. You see children collaborating and problem-solving during the process of setting up and cleaning up. Even cleaning up a spill or a broken dish is part of the learning!

Above: Toddlers prepare snack and sit together for a beautiful meal.

During the meal, students have the opportunity to practice the Grace and Courtesy skills they have learned. For example, the children practice table manners, such as starting the meal together once everyone is seated, putting napkins on their laps, using utensils properly, chewing with their mouths closed, and excusing themselves from the table. They also practice conversational skills, such as taking turns speaking and asking each other questions.

We intentionally create these spaces for the children to engage with one another. For some, this may be the only meal of the day when they are able to sit down with others and engage in conversation. The children are in a sensitive period for developing these close bonds and sitting at a table together is an opportunity to meet those essential developmental needs.

How can families support in this initiative?

The case for real plates
You may have seen many adorable plastic bento boxes in your back-to-school shopping, however, we find that these can be challenging for children to open and scoop their food onto their plates. The same is true for squeeze yogurts and foods in plastic packaging. These are excellent for families when you are on the go, but they are often difficult for the children to enjoy in the classroom.

With a Montessori beautiful meal, children empty the contents of their lunch onto a plate and/or bowl for a few reasons. First, it helps to create an atmosphere of a sit-down meal at home. And second, it gives them the opportunity to practice very precise fine motor skills of scooping with a spoon or fork. We are finding that more convenient items, such as squeeze yogurts and perfectly portioned bento boxes delay the child’s precision with some of those table skills.

If you have more questions about how our Beautiful Meal will work in your child’s classroom, please reach out to your child’s Guide. We are so excited to be able to move back to this beautiful and important structure!

Spring in Our Outdoor Environments

Monday, March 20th was the first day of spring and our students are celebrating in their outdoor learning enironments!

Students at Greenspring learn how to care for their outdoor environments from our youngest ages. Outdoor work includes watering and weeding the garden, sweeping, and planting seeds and new plants. Older children scrub fences and even build raised beds. These practical activities build a sense of connection and ownership as children care for the natural spaces around them.

The Willows Children House Class maintains a pollinator garden which has been certified as a Monarch Waystation through the Monarch Watch program. This garden provides crucial nectar to pollinators from Spring to late Fall and includes perennials such as two varieties of milkweed, purple coneflowers, goldenrod, and asters, and annual plantings from seed including zinnias, sunflowers, and lantana. Children help water, plant, weed, and care for the garden throughout the school year.

Enjoy some recent photos from our outdoor learning spaces!

Social Emotional Learning for Elementary Students

Social emotional learning (SEL) is how children and adults learn, acquire, and apply the skills and attitudes needed to develop groundedness, empathy, and healthy identities throughout life. SEL is arguably the foundation for all other forms of learning to take place.

Through SEL we practice managing our emotions in order to achieve personal and communal goals, and to learn the art of self-regulation. Through SEL we build our capacity for emotional intelligence, as we learn to show empathy for others while establishing and maintaining supportive relationships. Effective SEL helps us to make caring and responsible decisions when needed. SEL is best taught through language that is used regularly. For students, staff, parents, and all community stakeholders to use it effectively, it must be incorporated into everyday interactions, opportunities for conflict resolution, and as part of everyday culture.

Greenspring Elementary students have been weaving the language of SEL into their everyday experiences and when it comes time to problem solve or resolve conflicts. Through Character Education lessons, students have learned about social emotional topics, such as tattling versus reporting, personal space, taking a walk in the shoes of another (empathy), digital citizenship, friendship building skills, bucket filling, among other topics. With each lesson comes valuable social emotional language that is referenced even well after the lessons are given, thus making lessons learned part of the culture. (The goal is to then create SEL work that will be displayed on the shelves for children to further practice their skills with.)

For example, Lower Elementary students enjoyed a Character Education lesson about the differences between Tattling and Reporting. Students learned that tattling occurs when one “tells” on another for doing something that may be annoying, but does not hurt anyone else. They also learned that reporting is something that we are expected to do, when one’s body or heart could get hurt. Reporting is very important and necessary when someone could be in danger. Tattling is something we can avoid, when no one is in danger physically or emotionally. We also talked about what else we could do instead of tattling when something “annoying,” but nothing dangerous is happening. We could be problem solvers, for example, and ask the person who is doing something annoying to stop directly, or maybe we could move our own selves away. Focusing on what we CAN do versus what we CAN’T do is a big step in knowing how to problem solve in any situation. Students read the book “A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue” by Julia Cook, and discussed what they could do instead of tattling, and how they should always report a dangerous or scary situation, when necessary! During the final part of the lesson, as students were discussing and role playing different scenarios and trying to decipher which would be cases for “tattling” or “reporting,” everyone made their own “tattle tongues” as a reminder try to not tattle, when they could solve the problem independently!

Lower El also learned about the four different types of “Personal Space” this year, and how they can respect the personal space of others. Students learned that personal space can be broken down into four different categories. Those categories are body space, seeing space, hearing space, and property space. Body space refers to when someone is getting physically too close to another’s body, and how can make someone feel uncomfortable. Students learned that they can tell if they are invading someone’s body space because that person might take a step back or arch their back away. If they see someone doing this, they will know that they need to take a step back so that they do not invade the body space of another. Students also used a hula hoop to determine how close or far away someone could get from them without invading their body space “bubble.” Seeing space invasion is when an object is being held too close or too far away from someone’s eyes. Hearing space invasion is when others are being too loud or too quiet. Property space invasion is when someone’s property is being touched without permission. For each type of personal space students role-played, how to both invade and respect someone else’s different types of personal space. By role-playing different scenarios students practiced what they would do in real life should either they be invading someone else’s personal space or if somebody else is invading their personal space. The specific breakdown of language: Body space seeing space hearing space and property space allows students to give greater meaning to what type of space feels invaded or respected to them. It also gave them a chance to practice advocating for themselves by saying something like “Please back up a bit. My body space is feeling invaded.” As we know, specific language is such a valuable tool in communicating our thoughts and feelings, so giving students the language for what it means to both respect and invade someone’s personal space can be really helpful to them, their friends, and their community in the future.

Upper Elementary students learned about gossip language versus considerate language when interacting with peers. During this lesson students squeezed toothpaste out of a tube, imagining that the toothpaste was gossip. They quickly realized that they could not get the toothpaste all the way back in the tube. This signified that hurtful words/gossip cannot ever really be taken back fully, so we need to think before we speak, and take responsibility for hurtful words. We need to imagine the word THINK. (An acronym for, “Is it True, Helpful, Inspiring, Necessary, and Kind?) If they are not THINK words, we should try to replace them with more considerate words that are. Students focused on the power of positive words we speak to and about one another. The considerate language spreads just as fast as gossip language— so it is important to choose considerate language! (And the impact is much better for all!) Students also talked about how reporting hurtful words someone else said to a parent or trusted adult, is NOT gossip, and it is absolutely necessary.

In a Upper El digital citizenship lesson, students took gossip language versus considerate language a step further. They learned what it meant to leave a digital footprint, and how they must THINK (acronym) before posting online. Students discussed how the internet, apps, and social media can be wonderful tools when used right, just like our spoken words—- AND we need to do our best to be responsible in what we say/what we post, so that the words and images we put out to the world portray consideration and kindness, and not gossip or hurt. We read the book “Technology Tail” by Julia Cook. This book gave us some language and good examples of what it meant to leave a digital footprint, for better or worse.

We are so grateful to be incorporating more SEL lessons and language at Greenspring!

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