PREPARATION IS A KEY INGREDIENT FOR SUCCESSFUL MONTESSORI LESSONS
Carolyn's Vlog 2 from Magical Movement Company.com
Preparing
Welcome to my second Vlog in my Vlogging Series about Music, The Arts, Outdoor Classroom, Kids, Little doggies, and the Pygmy Forest. Just a few of my most favorite things!
How do you prepare for your day? And especially how do you get inspired for your work with children in the Montessori setting, the Home setting, or wherever you spend time with kids?
Often, I need to go out and explore my beautiful neighborhood with my little Pomeranian doggie first thing in the morning and I there find so much inspiration for my work with children.
CLAY
In this Vlog, we take a walk on my "Pygmy Path" through the unique Pygmy forest near my house. There, walking on the forest floor of hardpan clay, I remember how much I love introducing clay to children. My favorite artist for first experiences with clay is Picasso. (Actually, Picasso is my favorite artist for introducing just about every medium in art to children!)
STEADY BEAT
As well, when we got the rhythm of our walking together, my doggie Gigi reminded me of how the music concept of "Steady Beat" naturally lends itself to the walking rhythm of a quick adventure walk in the morning. We just naturally tend to walk in a steady rhythm and so we find that real experiences effectively lay the foundation for more in depth and formal lessons in music concepts as well as the elements of art.
These activities, "Exploring Steady Beat" with Mozart's music, and "Introducing Clay" with Picasso's Art, are explained more thoroughly in my Musically Montessori eCourses and my Artfully Montessori eCourse now available at the Trillium Montessori site.
Image from Adobe stock: "Picasso's Ceramics." National Picasso Museum, Vallauris, France
Thank you again for visiting with me today. I hope you enjoy my Vlog 2 at my Youtube channel.
Did you happen to lose touch with your kid students in 2020-21?
As a result of the pandemic, I had lost my bearings in my work and career.
Yes, I did have fun doing Zoom Music classes with some of the groups I had worked with in person before covid.
The children were so happy to "see" me again, and I did get the hang of teaching online. That was an interesting process since some of the children were piled up cozy in their beds, some were rolling around on the rug in their living rooms, and some were "glued to their parents' side" as they were still a bit scared of the zoom experience!
Gradually, we all got better at it, and it was always fun.
Children were using wooden spoons from their kitchens for Rhythm Sticks. Sometimes, we even used tissues as a substitute for movement scarves. It was an ongoing and creative process, and the teachers were so appreciative and excited to give their little "zoomers" some enrichment experiences during those unexpected and sometimes confusing times of online learning.
However, when the kids returned to in-person schooling again, I was not comfortable being in the classrooms of 24-36 young children, and so until recently, I've been a "virtual teacher" for adult educators and I've only had special times when my grandchild, god child, and their little friends have made music with me in- person in my home or theirs.
During the past year, I have been collaborating with the Trillium Montessori team to move all my eCourses over to that site, and it has been a wonderful success!
In the meantime, I realized that what I really want to do nowadays is work with a small group of local children in the afternoons making music and art, and exploring the outdoor classroom. My three favorite things to do with kids!
ENTER: Montessori Kids Studio
Fortunately, I have my entire music studio with a small Orff Instrumentarium set up in my home.
Two of my rooms are dedicated to music and art activities for a group of six children in the afternoons.
It has been an exciting new endeavor that gives me a satisfying "purpose" again.
Not that teaching online eCourses isn't giving me a purpose in my work. Actually it is very satisfying...but I had to face it:
I'VE BEEN MISSING THE KIDS!
I miss the classroom experience with its routine, its "bee hive buzz" and its community of young learners.
So, I thought I'd start "Vlogging" about my old stand-by Montessori curriculum, my new small home studio setting, and my new ideas for music, the arts, and the outdoor classroom that I have been developing over recent years when I had lots of time to take eCourses and Webinars from some of my favorite creators.
Now that Trillium is handling my eCourses, I have time to develop more activities for music, the arts and especially the Outdoor Classroom. And, with my adorable Montessori Kids Studio, I have children to try out those activities and give me even more ideas!
I hope you enjoy my Vlog Series, where you can get a little glimpse of how I prepare for my music and art lessons and explore some of the beautiful places in my neighborhood in the Redwoods of Northern California. And you'll meet my sweet little companion, Gigi. My beautiful little Pomeranian doggie that was a gift from my daughter. She loves my little collection of rhythm instruments!
Carolyn's Vlog 1. Intro to my Youtube "Vlog Series" About The Things I Love from Magical Movement Company.com
Thank you again, for visiting with me at my Blog today. I hope you get some inspiration from my new Vlog Series. I invite you to explore the many articles here in my blogspot where I've written for many years, about the fun activities my groups have enjoyed.
Creating a Montessori Art Curriculum for the Young Child
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Welcome! I'm Carolyn, a grandmother, long-time Montessori Teacher, and Orff-Schulwerk Music Specialist. I hope you enjoy these activities that I have curated over my many years of teaching in many different settings! You can check out my website by clicking on my picture.
My Second eCourse has arrived!
Musically Montessori eCourse: "Instruments of the Orchestra"
