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Tour of Montessori toddler classroom - updated September 2018

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    - Hello everybody,
    it's Simone Davis here from JA
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    around Tree Montessori for
    the Monte Montessori notebook.
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    And I thought it would be fun to show you
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    around my classroom as I've made a few
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    changes in the last six months.
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    So a little update for those
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    of you who've seen a tour before.
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    And so this is us coming
    into our classroom
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    and you can see uh, straight
    away very low shelves.
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    This is for a toddler
    classroom from 16 months
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    and we actually have
    some kids in the class
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    who are three years old waiting
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    to start school here in
    the Netherlands at four.
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    So I've got a little area of the classroom
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    that I've blocked off that I'll show you
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    later for them as well.
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    So these are all
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    of the I hand coordination
    activities along here.
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    So you can see on the top
    puzzles going from easiest
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    to hardest along the
    shelf down the bottom.
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    This is like an opening and closing row.
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    So purses to find little objects inside.
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    Um, the very famous lockbox, the kids love
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    to open up the locks and
    find little objects inside.
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    And there's a, a Russian
    doll have a table here
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    that they can bring their work to.
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    One of the objectives of changing
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    around the classroom a little bit was
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    to free up some floor space
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    so the children can also roll out a mat
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    and work anywhere in the classroom.
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    I'll come and show you
    around this side first.
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    So here we have some I hang
    coordination activities,
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    things like the coin box
    where they post the coins,
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    building a tower with
    pegs, a balance beam.
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    And then down here I have a
    series of threading activities.
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    So wooden pieces on the left,
    smaller pieces in the middle,
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    and then in the two ones
    on the right are very small
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    beads and shoelaces.
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    Hello everybody. Thanks for joining.
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    Super fun to show you around
    my classroom in Amsterdam.
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    These are some more Han
    coordination activities.
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    You're welcome Anna. She
    said thanks for this.
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    Um, on the left they're posting little
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    tiny pegs into the hole.
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    Um, it's gonna be hard
    for me to open up any
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    of the baskets when I've
    got a camera in my hand.
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    Sorry about that. And then
    this is one of the GA boards
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    for stretching elastics across.
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    This is a wedges activity.
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    It's not specifically Montessori
    but it's always in use.
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    It's really good for sequencing.
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    Again, geo shapes,
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    - I love these. These are different
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    - Screwing activities and it comes also
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    - With Allen keys that you can use.
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    And this inside has got nuts and
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    - Bolts so
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    - That they can grade them in
    order from bigger to smallest
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    and learn to screw the
    nuts onto the bolts.
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    - And this is our basket of rugs
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    that they can lay out on the floor.
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    There's also little chairs
    and tables with plants around.
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    And then we come around to our
    art and craft activity area.
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    So you can see the activities
    laid out beautifully on the
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    shelf and area where they
    can dry their paintings.
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    And these two little green
    boxes to the right of
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    where we store the supplies.
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    And we have a round table
    at the moment for our area,
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    which is very nice
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    for if they wanna collaborate a little bit
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    with clay and things like that.
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    Hi Elizabeth. Thanks for joining.
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    So let's have a look at exactly
    what's out at the moment.
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    In the little box, on the
    top left is some nice pencils
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    for drawing really thick,
    chunky ones for little hands.
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    This is our box for clay.
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    I really like this box
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    because you can open it
    with one hand actually
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    and then it seals airtight, which is great
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    for homemade Play-Doh.
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    This is the cutting activity.
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    So a simple sturdy strip for them
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    to be able to snip through.
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    And if they wanna repeat, then these are
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    where the supplies are And
    they can put the little cutting
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    strips into the envelopes here
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    and close it with stickers in this one.
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    And then underneath here
    is paper for drawing.
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    And in this one is our gluing
    activity supplies paper
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    for gluing and the sewing cart supplies.
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    And this is extra paper for watercolor.
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    So those activities that I mentioned
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    are down on the bottom shelf here.
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    There's the watercolor
    activity, so there's just
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    - One color here, a brush
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    and a little bit of water at the ready
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    - Or they can go refill it
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    and a cloth, a paper
    underneath ready to go.
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    - This is a gluing box which
    I made in my Montessori
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    training only 15 years ago
    and it's still going strong.
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    I've had to glue it back
    together a couple of times.
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    It'll glue brush in there.
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    They use this lid as actually
    a surface to glue on.
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    Sorry, excuse the bumpy filming here.
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    Hope you don't get seasick.
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    And in this is the little sewing box.
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    - Okay, - It's very hard to
    do these things one handed,
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    I think I'll come back to that .
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    - Okay, so over here we
    always have chalk as well
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    and and eraser.
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    Hi Carolina, thanks for joining.
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    And this is where they do their painting.
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    So you can see the aprons on the left.
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    There's clips that they can use.
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    These ones I found at Muji,
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    not here in Amsterdam but in France.
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    And they have them around the world, These
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    wet cloths to wipe their hands
    or the floor or the board.
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    And then two choices of color here.
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    And then when they're finished
    they can take it over here
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    and they can practice pegging head up
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    and there's more paper
    for them to continue here.
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    Okay, so that's this side.
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    Over here I have a little baby's area
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    'cause we often have some
    younger siblings coming to class
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    or for the babies who've just
    moved up from the older group
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    so that they can get straight
    on with where they're up to.
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    They like these pop-up
    toys on the top shelf,
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    posting the little pegs
    in this one's got a ball
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    in the drawer and then coins
    in a drawer. Big coins,
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    - These are big discs.
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    Yeah, so perfect.
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    Then there's just for really
    young babies grasping toys,
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    it's posting onto the different three
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    sticks, there we go. And then
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    - Always beautiful flowers
    down low for our youngest kids.
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    And there's a mirror as well.
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    I have a rug that they can
    lay out in this corner here.
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    I have our self-care area
    where they can blow their nose
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    and use the little clips,
    the little low mirror.
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    And there's also a felt board there,
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    which I change from time to time.
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    At the moment. There's some sea animals
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    - And
    - Then our language corner is here.
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    So we start with objects on the top.
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    So in this suitcase is everything
    that they might like to do
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    to go to the beach.
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    They can look at all the
    objects around the house.
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    Then we have a basket of
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    - Musical instruments with
    exactly the same pictures.
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    At the moment we have office supplies
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    with exactly the same pictures.
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    Construction vehicles
    with similar pictures
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    and Australian animals
    with similar pictures.
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    And then we have just
    cards over this side.
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    You can see little roll mats
    that they can roll out as well.
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    At the moment we have fruits and birds.
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    And then in these bags
    they're stereo agnostic
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    bags, which are like mystery bags.
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    You can put your hands
    in and feel around them.
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    So they're not specifically language,
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    but that's where they
    just are located in our
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    classroom. And the
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    - Same for
    - These up here.
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    This is our dressing frames, a zipper
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    - Buttons and a
    - Clasp out at the moment.
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    - So the reason for this big change is
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    because I wanted to make this area
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    for our older kids a bit more off limits.
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    So you can see you shouldn't have any
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    of these materials in a toddler class.
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    Normally you can see the pink
    tower and the brown stair
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    and the cylinder blocks
    and the metal insets
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    getting ready for school.
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    But those materials are
    really for older children.
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    And it's only because we
    have children in our class
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    who are waiting to start school at four.
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    So we have a very small area
    that's just for the older kids.
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    This here is our farm
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    and the ball track is great
    just by the front door
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    where the children come in.
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    It's nice to ease 'em into the classroom.
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    Okay, so now I'll take one
    pick back so you can see
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    where all layer fits together.
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    So you can see again the
    eye hand coordination
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    activities along the right,
    the iron craft to the back.
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    There's a nice big
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    construction going
    outside, sorry about that.
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    The language corner.
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    And then through here we
    go to our book corner.
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    Hi Bonnie, thanks for
    joining Big heart eyes.
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    I know I love our little
    classroom so much.
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    This is our cozy book corner.
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    We have a lovely mat that
    we can lie on some beanbags,
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    a selection of Dutch and
    English books and low artwork.
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    And there's always armchair
    around here as well for them
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    to cozy up.
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    So this is a class for
    parents and toddlers.
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    So they like to curl up
    together, read books in here.
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    There are books that are based
    often in reality like there's
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    a house inside my mommy's
    about having a new baby, Fred,
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    the firefighter, about what he's doing.
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    Books with beautiful
    pictures of under the ocean.
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    Mid in the is a night picture
    with lots of things for them
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    to spot and lots of vehicle books,
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    simple stories and always really
    beautiful engaging pictures
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    that you're happy to read
    again and again and again
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    and again because we know
    that toddlers like repetition.
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    Okay, so then we come through
    this look corner into,
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    I won't Mind the tree, into our
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    music and movement area.
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    So yes, we have a beautiful
    climbing wall, which is 1.2
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    by 2.4 for those who
    are wanting to build it.
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    It's a piece of um, plywood.
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    And then you can buy the
    grips from places like Amazon.
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    Okay, and then we have
    a pickler triangle here,
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    which I originally just
    had for the baby class,
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    but the toddlers love practicing on it.
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    You can see that there's some
    tape on the second bottom rung
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    and that shows them where
    they can put their feet
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    to climb over without
    toppling over the top.
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    Hi Monica, thanks for joining.
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    And over here is musical instruments.
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    I have this inherited,
    this beautiful melophone,
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    which is gorgeous, a music
    puzzle, different shakers
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    and all types of instruments.
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    I also have a block corner here
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    for some more relaxing kind of play.
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    So that's good for gross motor movements.
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    And then these little
    steps are great for babies
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    to practice walking, but the
    toddlers also love them too
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    and they try to climb up there
    with a jug in their hands
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    or look out the window
    when they get to the top.
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    You can see some Dutch
    houses across the way there.
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    So then if I spin back this way,
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    you can see we are now moving
    into the practical life area
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    where they have the flower
    ranging and hand washing
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    and our food preparation area
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    and all of the things for cleaning.
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    Oh, and I nearly forgot
    our very famous cozy cube.
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    So the kids love exploring in here.
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    There's a hole there I've got inside.
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    So you can see, see
    there's different levels
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    and then at the top
    there's a hole as well.
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    Cool. Okay,
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    so let me show you first
    over here the flower
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    ranging, they love this.
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    So if your children
    like playing with water,
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    get a little jug of funnel, little vases
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    and then some doilies
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    and they can arrange 'em around the room.
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    There's lots of plants and a
    watering can at the ready so
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    that they can water the plants.
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    This is our hand washing activities.
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    So for a young child who wants
    to practice carrying water,
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    making bubbles, emptying
    it into the bucket,
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    that's a great activity.
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    And then our food preparation activity.
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    So we moved it over this
    side about six months ago
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    because we've moved to a group snack.
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    So this is around 10 30, which
    is halfway through the class.
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    I get out these trays
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    and I sit on the little
    chair in the U-shape
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    and children come and
    help me prepare the snack
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    and we put it on the
    plate for our friends.
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    And then at 11 o'clock
    we sit down together.
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    So you can see that they help
    me with the banana cutting
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    and cracker spreading
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    orange juicing.
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    The brand of this one is Metro Keen
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    'cause I'm sure people will ask .
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    It's a great solid orange juicer.
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    And this is for apple peeling and cutting.
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    And then you can see the
    washing up activity over here,
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    a little menu and some
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    lovely art again at their low level.
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    And this is where we set the table.
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    So you can see the place
    mats, it shows 'em exactly how
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    to set our materials.
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    And then there's always water
    available if they wanna pour a
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    glass of water, face cloths
    and table wiping cloths.
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    And then on the bottom
    row we have real glasses.
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    'cause in Montessori we
    like to use real glass.
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    It's much easier to pour into real
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    glass and tastes much better.
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    There's some cutlery, some
    forks and spoons and the bowls
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    and there's some aprons
    at the ready as well.
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    This is where they can
    put any dirty cloths.
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    And we have a low sink down
    here, which was actually amazing
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    'cause it was in the space when we got it.
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    But I changed the tap to one
    that automatically cuts off
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    as well for obvious reasons.
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    When you have toddlers and water together,
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    this is the garbage bin
    where they bring their peels
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    to when they're preparing
    the food at a trolley
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    where they put the glasses on the
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    top, bowls in the middle.
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    And this is the window washing activity,
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    which we wash the windows of the doors.
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    And if I spin around this
    way, you can see the lovely
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    dustpan mop at the ready
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    and there's a hanging mat there,
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    which is actually just a resting space.
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    So I um, I have got high
    shelves here just for myself,
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    but I make them attractive with
    plants and things like this.
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    So I'll just give you a
    little overview of this room
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    from this side and this
    bench in the middle is
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    for the parents to sit while
    we are having the snack.
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    So that's the tour of the classroom.
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    Thank you everyone for joining me.
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    I hope that you found it useful
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    and may you have a
    peaceful and lovely day.
  • 14:24 - 14:25
    Goodbye. .
Title:
Tour of Montessori toddler classroom - updated September 2018
Description:

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Video Language:
English
Duration:
14:26

English subtitles

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