Abstract/Notes: Speaking, listening, reading, and writing are all language activities. The human capacity for speaking and listening has a biological foundation: wherever there are people, there is spoken language. Acquiring spoken language is an unconscious activity, and, barring any physical deformity or language learning disability, like severe autism, all children listen and speak. In contrast, writing systems must be consciously learned. A child beginning to read and write has to discover what sound each symbol in the written code stands for and, in English, understand that the sound may change depending upon the placement within a word (i.e. circus or success). However, for 8 percent of the population, this process is remarkably difficult. Variable and often hereditary, this difficulty in acquiring and processing written language is called dyslexia, and it is manifested by a lack of proficiency in one or more of the processes of reading, spelling, or writing. Because dyslexia is a language-based disorder, it can be predicted from language development during the pre-reading stage. Classroom teachers of many pre-reading children can be at the forefront of identifying and helping the child with dyslexia before the disability diminishes that motivation, confidence, and love of learning that denote a Montessori child. Good teachers often just "know" that a child is developing atypically, but rarely is that enough to get the child the help she needs. Some simple screening procedures can provide data to show parents and other professionals and can lend confidence to a hunch. This article offers several screening activities for the classroom teacher.

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Abstract/Notes: In recent years there has been greater emphasis placed on second language acquisition in schools. To be prepared for life in the 21st century, to function within an increasingly interdependent world society, to be free from the petty biases that hinder understanding and from the larger hatreds that lead to confrontation, children will need to acquire the basic tools of communication--including a working knowledge of other people's languages. Although early learning of another language is often viewed as exceptional and sometimes as undesirable, studies conducted around age-related issues find that children before the age of 7 tend to acquire second languages with great ease and fluency. Their older brothers and sisters, in traditional high school or college foreign language courses, seldom reach such communicative competence--even after 4 or 5 years of instruction. Research data, personal observation, and anecdotal information about children suggest encouragement of early second language introduction. This article discusses the benefits of introducing second language programs to young children.

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Abstract/Notes: [...]today's children are homharded with moving images everywhere in their lives-on television, in movies, on smartphones, and on the Internet. HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY MATERIALS NEEDED: * Tray * Samples of photographs from different time periods (ideally, ones that include images of children): * Tintypes (thin iron plates) * Daguerreotypes (copper plates) * Ambrotypes (glass) * Calotypes (paper) * Modern prints (paper) from film or digital camera * A digital photo (on a smartphone, for example), for comparison * Thin cotton or latex gloves (to keep fingerprints off the images; find them at a drugstore or Amazon.com) STEPS: 1. BENEFITS: Since these movies contain very little dialogue, and the characters express their emotions through their movements and facial expressions, children must understand and follow a story line in a different way than they are used to. VIEWING THE WORLD MATERIALS NEEDED: * Stereoscopic viewer * Stereoscopic photographs from different countries and scenes * Old photographs, preferably ones with children, animals, or landscapes (these are the subjects to which my students were most drawn) * New View-Master (with disks) for children (available from many toy stores) STEPS: 1.

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Abstract/Notes: Poetry enables teachers to connect with their students in new ways. Teachers can show students that "poetry is something people do to capture thoughts, feelings, and experience." When poetry is incorporated across the curriculum, students learn to make discoveries by looking at their environment in new ways. Poetry stands apart from storytelling and language lessons because of its ability to inspire personal expression. In the author's first year as a head teacher of a Montessori 3-6 classroom, she has witnessed the children in her class experience significant language development and begin to experiment with creative expression through poetry. Montessori said that the teacher must "entice the children." Through poetry, a teacher may find a way to entice children in wondrous ways not before realized. A teacher can "entice" children with the varied rhythms and creative language of a poem. However, the teacher must also have an enthusiasm for poetry before introducing it.

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Abstract/Notes: [...]let us present him with the world" (Montessori, 2007, p. 20). [...]we decided that doing one educational trip and one service project each semester would fit well into the larger school-wide schedule and give enough time for meeting and planning. At our school, we walk our whole Upper Elementary class to the library every other month and to a nearby park for PE class every week, but given safety and liability concerns, adults must always supervise these and any other excursions, including Going Out trips. [...]when planning Going Out trips, we must think of other ways to allow freedom and responsibility, so as to enable students to gain knowledge and skills to navigate the outside world. [...]after the trips, we ensured that the children wrote thank-you notes to the people who hosted them on their excursions as well as to the chaperones who accompanied them.

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040