Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Learning to respect his personal space / Aprendiendo respetar su espacio personal



As I said in the last post, at the beginning of the last week, Ian’s shelves did not contain any Montessori activity, because at that time it seemed that Ian had no interest in making the activities I put on his shelves (fine motor skills mostly). However, as the days went by, Ian seemed to have missed the activities and whenever he entered his bedroom he looked at his shelves for something interesting to do. Then, I decided to add some activities and at the end of the week, Ian had some choices to enjoy.

Como escribí en el post anterior, al inicio de la semana pasada el estante de actividades Montessori de Ian estaba vacío porque, hasta ese momento, todo me indicaba que Ian no tenía interés en hacer actividades del tipo que suelo poner en sus estantes (de motricidad fina mayormente). Sin embargo, con el correr de los días Ian parecía extrañar sus actividades, siempre que entraba a su cuarto miraba sus estantes en busca de algo interesante para hacer. Entonces decidí agregar algunas actividades y observarlo. Al final de la semana, Ian disfruto de lo siguiente:

Magnetic Butterfly. This is an activity aimed at improving fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination. The idea came from Childcareland where you can find the patterns for the butterflies in different colors. As I did not know if Ian would be interested, I just printed a blue one, did not laminate it but stuck it to a magnetic board. Instead of magnetic pompons I used office magnets and fridge magnets :-). At the beginning Ian ran away with the board until he finally let me show him where to put the magnets. He saw that it was easy and then we completed the activity together. Since then, it is an activity that he chooses on his own.

Mariposa magnética. Esta es una actividad para mejorar la motricidad fina, específicamente la ojo-mano coordinación. La idea proviene de childcareland. Ahí pueden encontrar patrones de mariposas en diferentes colores. Como no sabía si Ian estaría interesado, sólo imprimí una azul, y pegue la hoja, sin laminar, en una pizarra magnética y en lugar de pompones magnéticos use imanes de oficina y un par de mi refrigerador :-) Al principio Ian salía corriendo con la pizarra hasta que al fin me permitió mostrarle donde tenía que poner los imanes, vio que era fácil entonces completamos la actividad juntos. Desde entonces, es una actividad que él hace independientemente.



Lacing beads on a pipe cleaner. The beads I used for this activity are from a quadruple post abacus. It has 16 beads (in four different colors and four different shapes), so that the child not only gets practice placing them on the dowels but sorting and making patterns. Ian does not want to use it, and I think it's because when he did so I corrected him many times to place same-color beads in the same dowel, even when he still has not acquired the ability to place them on the dowels.

I think that a more progressive way to teach Ian to lace the beads would have been: first acquire practice placing the beads on a fixed dowel; later, placing them in a moveable dowel, such as a chopstick that he holds with his non-dominant hand and; finally, placing them in the pipe cleaner. I ruined step one; I could not get chopsticks so I tried with pipe cleaners directly. Although, I saw Ian was struggling, I let him do it by himself and after practicing a lot he fairly mastered it. He really enjoys this activity probably because his mom was not disturbing him :-). This reminds me that the Montessori philosophy is based on respect and respect for the child means, among other things, that we don’t invade their personal space without being invited.

Ensartar cuentas en un limpiador de pipas. Las cuentas provienen de un abaco vertical con 4 clavijas; las cuentas vienen en cuatro colores y cuatro formas diferentes, de tal manera que el niño, no solo adquiera práctica colocándolos en las clavijas sino que pueda ordenarlos y seguir patrones. Ian no lo quiere usar y creo que es porque cuando él quiso hacerlo yo le corregí muchas veces para que colocase las cuentas del mismo color juntas, incluso cuando el aun no había adquirido la habilidad para colocarlas en las clavijas.

Pienso que la manera progresiva correcta hubiera sido: primero adquirir practica colocando las cuentas en un clavija fija, después intentar colocarlas en una clavija sin soporte, como una palito chino que el sujeta con su mano izquierda y al final usar el limpiador de pipas. Arruine el paso uno, no conseguí palitos chinos así que intenté con el limpiador de pipas directamente. Vi a Ian teniendo dificultades, sin embargo deje que lo hiciera solo y con practica el ahora lo hace bastante bien. Creo que el disfruta muchísimo esta actividad, probablemente porque que su mamá no está interfiriendo. Eso me recuerda que la filosofía de Montessori está basada en el respeto y el respeto a los niños significa, entre otras cosas, que no debemos invadir su espacio personal sin ser invitados.


Ice-cubes tong. Two weeks ago, transferring objects with ice-cube tongs was Ian’s favorite activity … for two days. He got a lot of practice, but then he did not want to do it anymore and when he tried it he could not grasp the objects and gave the activity up quickly.
This week I introduced a variation. The tray contained a basket with 6 cotton balls, a 6-muffin tin and the same tong. The difference from the previous activity is that this is a one-to-one correspondence exercise. Since Ian attempted it, it is an activity he chooses on his own and completes up three consecutive times.

Pinzas de hielo. Hace un par de semanas, transferir objetos con las pinzas de hielo fue la actividad favorita de Ian … por dos días; adquirió mucha practica, pero después no quiso hacerlo más y si lo intentaba no podía sujetar los objetos y lo abandonaba rápidamente. Esta semana, introduje una variación. La bandeja contiene una cesta con 6 bolitas de algodón, un molde para 6 bollitos y las mismas pinzas. A diferencia de la actividad anterior esta es un ejercicio de correspondencia uno-a-uno. Desde que Ian se atrevió a hacerla, es una actividad que el escoge y completa hasta tres veces seguidas.


Rubber bands around a dowel. This is the last activity I set up and it is totally different than those Ian has been doing so far. He has to open up the rubber bands wide enough to fit over the end of the dowel, and then slide them down, so that more will fit on. I love this activity, it is visually attractive: the dowel is actually a toy man from his bowling set and the rubbers are colorful wrist coil bands. Ian loves this activity and he tries it immediately, which is very unusual for him. It is a delight to observe him while he works (I finally learned), how he chooses the color of the bands and how he orders them in the tray in a symmetric way.

Ligas en una vara cilíndrica. Este es la última actividad que introduje y es totalmente distinta a las que Ian ha estado haciendo. Ian tiene que abrir la liga lo suficiente como para que esta entre al final de la vara y luego deslizarlas hacia abajo para que pueda poner caber todas. Me encanta esta actividad, es visualmente atractiva: la vara es uno de sus soldaditos de madera de su juego de boliche y las ligas son unos anillos enroscados de plástico, muy coloridos. A Ian le encanta esta actividad, lo intento apenas se lo enseñe (lo cual es totalmente inusual). A mí me encanta mirarlo (sí, por fin aprendí), como él escoge el color de la liga que va a continuación y al final ordena sus ligas en la bandeja de manera simétrica.


Besides these activities and all the physical exercise, last week Ian helped us in the kitchen again. He peeled carrots for the first time, washed vegetables, prepared a cake with Daddy and, his favorite: shelled peas.

Además de estas actividades y de todo el ejercicio físico que Ian hizo la semana pasada, el volvió a ayudarnos en la cocina. Pelo las zanahorias por primera vez, lavó vegetales, ayudo a Daddy a preparar un queque y su gran favorito: pelar alverjitas.






6 comments:

  1. What a great week! I think that you are totally spot-on in identifying the issues with the lacing lesson. It's so important for them to master the basics first. Most Montessori books I've read say not to correct at all, just put the lesson away and present it again another day, but I've found with my kiddos that a gentle correction usually works pretty well. Thanks for participating in Toddler Tuesday!

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  2. What a productive week. I'm going to have to invest in a carrot peeler. Is that a special child sized one?

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  3. I live in a rural town and every time we travel to the city, I look for child-sized utensils, but I've never had success; so, I buy the smallest ones I can find. The carrot peeler Ian is using is not sharp.

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  4. Nicole,
    Thanks for your comment.
    I've learned to not correct my son when he is playing. It is hard for me to not jump in to help/correct when he is using educational and manipulative toys.
    Another thing I do that differs from what I've read in Montessori books, is to do a lesson as a game, taking turns, and try to teach the concept, "my turn, your turn". But first I ask "May I have a turn?" If he says no, then I respect that.

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  5. Hi Sandy! I find your blog via Feedjit. Your blog is interesting :-) I'll have to find time for reading it from the beginning.

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  6. Leptir, thank you. You are very welcome. I am a fan of your blog.

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