Montessori works: Nicholas practiced using the pink tower and brown stair extensions. He learned how to measure and cut flowers for the height of a vase.
Language: Nicholas practiced nursery rhymes, finger plays, and songs to help learn the pattern of sounds for reading. He has been using muscial phonics to learn about letters and he enjoys singing his phonics songs around the house.
Math: Nicholas enjoyed counting everything. He used Math Mats which helped him to listen carefully and cooperate.
Good Shepherd Lesson: Altar and flower cutting
Spanish: He has been learning to say various colors in Spanish.
I'm proud that Nicholas' school promotes a Developmental Point of View. Here's an excerpt from an article that was recently sent home:
It is highly unlikely that anyone without a Developmental Point of View can really take part in a successful Readiness Program. This is not a program for those who feel that a child is like a piece of clay which can be pushed and pulled to fit a pre-determined form. Nor is it a program for those who feel that a child is like a computer for which information is broken up into little pieces and fed in bit by bit, to be retrieved at a later date. It is a program for those who have faith in the orderliness of nature and trust a child to know his own needs.
The Developmental Point of View means understanding that growth is orderly, structured, predictable. Because a child is a living organism, he is subject to the same laws of growth as every other species in nature and has a cycle of development peculiar to humans in general. In this way he is like every other child.
The Developmental Point of View means respecting the fact that every child has his own rate and pattern of growth peculiar to him. In this way he is different from every other child.
The Developmental Point of View means accepting the child as a total action system; his physical, social, emotional, and intellectual components depending upon and supporting each other. These components are not separate, and one cannont be stretched ahead of the others without upsetting an intrinsic and intricate balance.
The Developmental Point of View means appreciating that readiness for any given task has its roots in the biological-maturational make-up of the child. We can neither produce it, hurry it, nor ignore it. When a child is ready, he will be born, walk, talk, and read.
The Developmental Point of View means promoting educational programs for children in terms of development as is is, NOW, not in terms of what one thinks it ought to be.
The Developmental Point of View means walking hand in hand with nature. It is a respect for the total humaness of children.
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