Tonight was "Look What I Did" night at Hollon's school, Ocean Montessori. This was an opportunity for Hollon to show her mommy and daddy around her school and show us all the activities she's been working on this past year. Here's Hollon at the entrance to the school, "come on, mommy" she kept turning around to say.
Here's Hollon and her teacher, Mrs. Kelley, who also is the school's assistant directress. Hollon absolutely adores Mrs. Kelley and greets her every morning with a big hug. Mrs. Kelley's son, Mason, also goes to school with Hollon and they are great friends.
At the Montessori school, everyone is called a "friend" and during work-time, each friend gets to choose their own work in which they do not have to share with other friends. They can choose to share or not. This teaches independance, but it also teaches sharing. Hollon shared her work with a friend named Keira who is about the same age. However, sometimes she didn't want to share with Keira, and she'd use her words and say "no Kiera." This is actually a very big step for Hollon as we have been teaching her to use her words and express feelings through her words rather than biting or hitting.
Here's a picture of Hollon working on some independent work, funneling.
Other independent work is grating. This work requires hands-on assistance as the grater is sharp and they are grating soap. Stuart and I kept wondering why she kept coming home smelling so good!
And here is Kiera giving Hollon a great big hug for helping her with her puzzle. Hollon laughed! Keira is a very loving child.
Oh, this was a tricky one, tong transferring. Hollon had trouble with this one, so mommy and daddy helped. Oh no! Don't drop it!
Pouring, yeah, this didn't go very well either. The red food colored water went EVERYWHERE! But, Hollon loved it and laughed so hard! Adorable!
I'm not quite sure what this one was, something about nuts and bolts....I think.
Another practical life activity, spooning.
And at last, the toothpick insert. This is Hollon's absolute favorite. This is the first one she goes for every day and just loves this activity!
There were many other activities that Hollon showed us as well. One included the reading of one of her favorite books, Brown Bear, Brown Bear. While reading, Hollon had flash cards in which she had to match each animal in the book with the flash card. Hollon got every one right!!
After showing us all her work, all the kids had group time where they sang songs and danced and played. It was adorable watching all the kids interact. It was actually quite organized. When the friends are done with their work, they put everything back on the tray, put the work back on the shelves and go get more work. When Mrs. Kelley rings the bell, all the kids put their work away and go sit on the floor. It's amazing, we're talking about two-year olds here....organized....12 of them. I can't organize my single two-year old. It was really enlightening.
I was going to post a video - but I'll do that tomorrow as my computer is about to die and there is some sort of glitch in trying to get it downloaded. So, be on the lookout tomorrow - it's so cute, animal noises! Exciting stuff!
Great pictures! You should be proud.
ReplyDeleteI've heard that pouring water from one container to another builds a child's confidence. Who knew. (not me!)