Creating the Montessori Environment

This is a post I have been meaning to write for a long time. As a second generation Montessorian and thirty year practitioner, I feel very strongly about the authenticity of a Montessori learning environment. Creating such environments for children has been my passion since the beginning of my career and an aspect of the practice that never gets old for me. This is the first of a series I plan to post here at The Children's House to inform and inspire those searching for ideas and methods for creating a space for children to explore and experience the joy of learning. It's a big task, I know, and my hope is to illicit help and wisdom from all the other Montessorians out there who have dedicated their time and energy to creating these environments in schools and at home. Please join in the conversation with me and share what you are passionate about--photos encouraged.

Cooking in the Children's House--Jiao Zi

Here's what's cooking this week--

Ingredients                     50 dumplings                               

• 1 lb fresh ground pork
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon rice wine
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon sesame oil
• 3 ¹⁄₂ ounces cabbage, very finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh gingerroot
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped scallions
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon white pepper
• 50 round wonton skins, about, 2 3/4 inches in diameter
• all-purpose flour, for dusting
• chili, vinegar or soy dipping sauce, to serve

Directions See How It's Made                   

1. To make the filling mix the pork with the soy sauce and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Stir carefully, always in the same direction, to create a thick paste. Add the rice wine and oil. Mix in the same direction. Cover. Let rest 20 minutes.
2. To prepare the cabbage, sprinkle with the remaining salt to help draw out the water. Add the ginger, scallion, and pepper and knead for at least 5 minutes into a thick paste. Combine with the filling.
3. To make the dumplings, put about 1 tablespoon of the filling in the center of each skin, holding the skin in the palm of one hand. Moisten the edges with water, then seal the edges with 2-3 pleats on each side and transfer to a lightly floured board.
4. To cook the dumplings, bring 4 cups water to a boil in a large pan. Drop in about 20 dumplings at a time, stirring gently with a chopstick to prevent them sticking together. Cover, the return to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Uncover and add a generous cup cold water. Return to a boil, then cover and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and keep hot while you cook the remaining jiaozi. Serve with dipping sauce.

Happy Chinese New Year of the Rooster!

We always feel so connected to the larger world when we celebrate the Lunar New Year at MCH. It has become a highly anticipated tradition for us and a bit of a rite of passage for the oldest students who lead the parade. At this year's celebration we listened to our teacher, Shana, play the erhu, sang Chinese songs and had a short presentation by the extended day students about the legend of the Chinese zodiac animals. We feel strongly about giving children a global experience through our unique world languages instruction. Participating in this holiday celebration gives our students yet another way to feel connected to places far a way from our little Minnesota town.
Happy Year of the Red Rooster!

Yes, our own MCH roosters got a special treat, too!

The Third Year--Montessori Kindergarten

It's that time of year at MCH when parents of our second year students begin the decision making process for re-enrollment. We applaud and support them in this important process. It can seem like an overwhelming responsibility to choose the best class for your child. We hold a special meeting just for them at our school or online to offer guidance and explain which choice we feel is the best for our Montessori students. While not everyone can stay for the third year at our school, our hope is that those who can will do just that. It is a gift that will pay huge dividends in the child's outlook on learning. We feel so strongly about it that all of our scholarship money in the past has gone to making the third year choice an easy one for parents. As an authentic Montessori school, we are committed to the three year cycle in the classroom and to offering the best possible Montessori primary education to each child. We serve the Watcher (3 year old), the Worker (4 year old) and the Teacher (5 year old). It is both our mission and our pure delight.
Here are some of the videos we'll share at our information meetings:

Cooking in the Children's House--Bird's Nests

Video What's Cooking?

Bird’s Nests with Candy Eggs

Nests

Mix 1 cup All Bran cereal with one egg white. Press into a small bowl or cup.

Candy Eggs

2 small pkgs cream cheese

1 lb powdered sugar

food coloring (robin’s egg blue), candy flavoring extract (vanilla)

Knead together cream cheese and sugar. Work in food color and flavoring. Take small amount and roll in granulated sugar. Form into a small ovoids and place into nest to dry.

Holiday Joy from Montessori Children's House

We're Cooking

Winter is a great time to initiate, or expand on, a child's role in the family kitchen. Our weekly cooking classes at MCH follow the Montessori principles of empowering young children to be independent and feature hands on developmentally appropriate and fun projects for young children. Each year we compile a cookbook of our child friendly recipes for families to try at home and have their children take the lead in the kitchen. There are several good cookbooks on the market geared toward preschoolers, such as Molly Katzen's Pretend Soup, Honest Pretzels and her newest, Salad People. Habits for healthy eating and participation in family life can never start too early. It's a great way to empower your child to develop fine motor skills, concentration, a sense of order, independence and more. The end results are sweet rewards--you'll be surprised what even picky eaters will try if they have helped to make it themselves.

Farm

to

Table

Orchard

to

Table

First Lady Michelle Obama's blog, Let's Move, has a treasure trove of recipes from Healthy Lunchtime Challenge and Kids' "State Dinner" winners over the years. Go there while it's still up...and get cooking.

Look Into the Camera...

We had the opportunity to welcome a student filmmaker into our school for two days last month. It was fascinating for the children--the cameras, the microphone, the chance to talk and talk. It was so interesting for me, as well, to watch the process and to facilitate interactions (or not) between the college students and our young students. The crew then filmed at a nearby elementary school and the filmmaker sent us the finished product to share.
Enjoy.

Mommy, Daddy and Me

Always in our Hearts

Our fall "homecoming" of MCH alumni will be this Wednesday and we look forward to it with joyful hearts. We may not see you every day as we did when you were younger, but you continue to be an important part of our school community. The children attending Montessori Children's House today spend quite a bit of time studying the class photos that hang on the walls. They may be searching for a sibling or family friend, or just pondering what all those faces have in common with them. We are all one big family and now we are almost ten years old! Let's celebrate and share memories together this Wednesday and also in the spring when we will have a grand birthday party in honor of our school. Thank you, alumni, for a wonderful decade of learning, discovery...and joy.

Parenting Apps

Warning: I feel many puns coming on.
Disclaimer: this is not a review of parenting apps out there in the digital world.
Parents of my age virtually know nothing about this sort of thing. But, being in the position of longtime director of our school and advocate for children and families that are getting "younger and younger", I am compelled to jump into the real world here. You can always rely on the infinite wisdom of Dr. Dave and Erin at Mind Positive Parenting. If you want the straight dope, go there to get it.
I recently downloaded the Primary app from Montessorium. I did this primarily :) because I would like to write for it and, as always, stay true to keeping Montessori vibrant and applicable to today's families. The people at Montessorium and Baan Dek Montessori school in Sioux Falls certainly do just that. If you check it out please let me know what you think.
I consequently dug in a bit to the app scene for parents in China and found that it is a growing phenomenon. As I've written about before on this blog, Montessori is fast becoming the early childhood education method of choice in China. I think it is time for these two worlds to meet!
The world is indeed more connected now and the possibility of connecting on behalf of children everywhere is inspiriting. I'm sure Maria would agree.

Meet the Staff!

Mr. Tickles says, "when will this school year start?"
The glorious promise of fall is wafting through the air here at Montessori Children's House. We are joyfully preparing the environment and very much looking forward to welcoming all the children and their families for the beginning of our TENTH year!

For the 2016-2017 school year here are our Magnificent Seven:





MEGAN DURKIN
Head of School

SHANA HODEL
Primary Teacher
Classroom 1

EMMA KLEESE
Primary Teacher
Classroom 2








PATTY GALLIVAN
Assistant Teacher
Classroom 1





LINDSEY BOSER
Assistant Teacher
Classroom 2, Administration








PAT ROGNE
ASC Teacher 1

MARIANNE MOSER
ASC Teacher 2




SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER!