The Rights of Children in Schools and Learning Environments

All the children have the right to do the following:

1. Go to the toilet when needed

2. Have drinking water available

3. Move the body when needed

4. Learn to take care of personal needs

5. Learn, and process emotions through play

6. Learn through exploration, trial, and error

7. Make mistakes and not be shamed

8. Learn at a personal pace

9. Fully understand a subject before being tested on it

10. Not to be tested involuntarily instead, tested by free choice when ready to receive feedback on learning progress

11. Not to be punished instead, accompanied with respect to become more self-disciplined

12. Not to be compared with peers instead, acknowledged as an individual student with individual talents, opinions, and characteristics

13. Not to be judged for being different

Written by Carmen Gamper
www.NewLearningCulture.com

Would you put a flower in the fridge?

In my Montessori teacher training, a student asked one of the teachers: Shouldn’t children be exposed to hardship to get used to the reality of life?
The teacher answered with a question:
Would you put a flower in the fridge to help it get used to the Winter?

Our answer was of course, NO!
We would nurture the flower, water water, expose it to sunshine, protect it from pests and help it get strong for the Winter. Why don’t you think we should do the same with children?

Instead of creating unnecessary hardships for children, we need to nurture them best we can. Life will bring hardships in its own time, and then a child will be strong and feel ready to overcome any obstacle.

Warmly,
Carmen Gamper
www.NewLearningCulture.com

The Natural Rights of Children #6 through #10 by Gianfranco Zavalloni

THE RIGHT TO A “GOOD START”

From birth on, eating healthy foods, drink clean water and breathe fresh air

 
THE RIGHT TO BE IN THE STREETS OF THE VILLAGE / TOWN

To play freely in the center plaza and walk the streets safely

 

THE RIGHT TO BE WILD

To build a shelter or fort in the woods, to have to hide-out in reeds, to climb the trees

 

THE RIGHT TO SILENCE

To listen to the wind, the singing of birds, the splashing of water

 
THE RIGHT TO OBSERVATION

To see the sunrise and sunset, to admire the night, the moon and the stars

Friedrich Froebel – Grandfather of New Learning Culture

Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852), the inventor of kindergarten, is one of New Learning Culture’s “grandfathers”. In a time when children were treated incredibly poorly, he recognized the child’s beauty and purity.

He invented the Kindergarten and did groundbreaking work to help children grow with joy and ease. He developed a series of teaching toys, the Froebel Gifts, which were enthusiastically used by Buckminster Fuller.

He left us with truly inspirational texts which are as valid today as they were over hundred fifty years ago. To quote Friedrich Froebel:

“The mind grows by self revelation. In play the child ascertains what he can do, discovers his possibilities of will and thought by exerting his power spontaneously. In work he follows a task prescribed for him by another, and does not reveal his own proclivities and inclinations — but another’s. In play he reveals his own original power.”

Excerpt from “The Froebel Kindergarten Philosophy” by Scott Bultman, Founder Froebel USA

– Humans are creative beings.

– Play is the engine that drives true learning.

– Children can only learn what they are ready to learn.

– Education means to “lead someone to knowledge.”

– Kindergarten is meant to be a prepared environment.

– Activities are a window into a child’s inner world.

– Mathematical work is not just for instruction, it also emphasizes order.

– Teaching should always be joyful, fun and easy.

You can read the full text at www.froebelfoundation.org
You can see and order the Froebel Gifts at WWW.FROEBELUSA.COM

Here is a clip about the Froebel USA Conference 2010:

We are planning to organize the next Froebel Conference (2011) here in the San Francisco Bay Area! Please comment or e-mail if you are interested!

With joy,
Carmen
www.NewLearningCulture.com

My child doesn’t like to read…

My thoughts on that situation:
Sometimes it can be useful to remember how your child started reading. Was he/she self-motivated, starting to read because of deep curiosity and interest? Could your child suddenly read, learning it almost overnight? Or, did somebody sit down with the child, and teach him/her how to read step by step?

If children start reading fueled by their own interest, it is relatively easy to reawaken the joy of reading now. If, however, a child has learned to read in laborious work mode, perhaps even reading to the child now is arduous and exhausting. It is more difficult to raise self-initiative, and bring joy to reading, where there is a  history of difficulty. In these cases, it is sometimes better not to pressure the child, who might need time for healing.

In fact, the natural and joyful way to learn reading is not connected to pressure but develops from self- initiative, often at age of three, four and five years. If the child’s natural rhythm is respected, one can expect another “reading boost,”  at the age of ten and eleven years, when abstract thinking at a higher level is being developed.

Kindling, inspiring and evoking a genuine need and love for reading is the most effective and sustainable way to get children to read. Although it is controversial, or even problematic, however it is true that many children learn to read because they want to understand television programs.

A joint trip to the library can be very helpful; let your child pick out a book to check out at the desk.Take time to listen to the child reading. One could also record or film the child while reading.

Just think about everyday situations with your children, where can you write something, instead of saying or showing it. Perhaps write a shopping list together. Or a birthday card to a relative. One could label the objects of daily life, offer written instructions for crafting, or cooking recipes.

Along with reading, writing also leads to better language skills. Sometimes children like to write letters to mother, friends or vacation acquaintances. Together, parents and children could write a letter to a magazine, start a diary, or a photo album with descriptions. As a mother or father, how about writing stories, or a letter to the child … “I’ve written this especially for you.”

On the following picture, tiny objects all starting with ‘r’ were gathered (rabbit, rug, rose, etc.):

As in almost everything, I vote for inspiring a child, but not pushing too much. The “magic” power of self-motivation is, in fact, what creates the joy of reading. If reading is connected with too much resistance and negative emotions, then even forcing a child will not help much to improve reading skills. Sometimes children find the joy of reading again in adulthood, after the school years, when they can choose how much and how long they would like to read.

It might be a good idea to ask the child why they don’t like to read. Maybe they have eye problems. Maybe they think they should be an instant expert, and need to hear that it is a process.  Maybe they need someone to sit with them and read with them, helping to sound out words, etc. Or they would just rather be doing something else right now. Try to find out what is going on in their mind. Try to make reading be a whole lot of fun. Anyone for Dr. Suess?

I am writing this with the hope that children receive a stronger voice in their learning processes, and that we as adults put more emphasis on the joy of learning.
Carmen Gamper
www.NewLearningCulture.com

New Learning Culture at Green Fest San Francisco

New Learning Culture offered a booth at Green Fest San Francisco at the beginning of November 2010.

We presented a variety of hands-on learning materials from Montessori, Nikitin, Froebel and contemporary educators. The materials look like simple toys, board games and jigsaw puzzles, but are made for math and language skill development, spatial thinking and sensory development. These materials fulfill the genuine need for deep understanding of subjects and concepts which are often only taught on paper.

Kids and parents enjoyed the materials alike! A few kids focused so deeply on a material, that they didn’t want to leave anymore!! A father asked his son: “Now, what do you prefer, this block game or your i-pod?” The seven-year-old boy said: “This block game!!” Victory for hands-on learning !!!

Adults were very interested as well and explored the materials. Many of us have never had the opportunity to learn math and language with hands-on materials, even less in a self-directed way. While the children were mostly focusing on the materials, we were able to inspire parents and educators to use more hands-on materials and also self-directed learning techniques.

On both days, I gave a talk about hands-on and self-directed learning.

Many thanks to all the people who came by our booth and signed up for our e-mail list!
Many thanks to Gustavo Alcantar for the great graphic design and the invaluable support at the booth!
Many thanks to Katrina Zavalney for inviting New Learning Culture to Green Fest!
Many thanks to Bryan Ting for organizing the kid’s zone perfectly.

Look for us at next spring’s Green fest April 2011. We hope to be there!!
Joyfully,
Carmen Gamper

Listening to Silence

Fall, with its short days, invites us in a very natural way to more calm, tranquility and meditation. We can accept this invitation.

Instead of planning trips or turning on the TV, we can allow ourselves to light a candle on a dark evening and to do nothing , just nothing.

Resting and slowing down are very important components of natural growth processes. We can sit down and breathe deeply. To our children we can say: “I am resting, just like the plants in winter.” Or “I am listening to silence.”

Basically we can say that we have two different ways of perceiving the world that depend on whether we are relaxed or stressed. In a laid-back mood, it is much easier to be friendly, patient and considerate. However, when we are stressed and in a hurry, it is much harder to demonstrate patience, and it often happens that we are rude – especially with children. We easily lose patience and have little understanding for the nature of a child.

These two opposite ways of looking at the world can even be distinguished on the biological level. For example, when we are in a hurry, stress hormones are released into our bodies and change our way of thinking and acting.Relaxation is almost a prerequisite to understand the child’s world. A stressed adult has little patience with himself and even less with children.

To honor silence, we can concentrate on our breathing, or on the breath of our child and vice versa. The slower and deeper the breath, the more relaxed we are. Then we can think or say: “I breathe in joy. I breathe out sadness. I breathe in kindness. I breathe out stress. “

Then we can focus on our body and consciously feel and release tension. These types of meditation are very effective for adults, but not for all children.

Children have a natural gift for meditation, if we understand meditation as “allowing ourselves to dwell in the present”. They can focus deeply on a drawing or a game, and all the forces in the body and mind are focused on their activity. Thus, their activity naturally becomes a meditation.

Dr. Maria Montessori recognized this natural affinity to meditation in children. She respected and nurtured this phenomenon and named it “normalization”. An anecdote says that once Dr. Montessori placed a child together with his chair on a table while the child kept working quietly on a learning material.

At home place we can create space and time for this type of focused activity. Many crafting works are suitable to bring about calmness and concentration. It is not just about finding wonderful crafting projects for the season, but also about how we present these and lead the child to focused work.

We can ask ourselves: “Is the child ready for concentrated work? Or do we need time for a walk first?” If willingness can be felt, we turn off the TV, computer and telephone. On the table we should only place relevant materials – no distractions.
Then we can start, and describe our activity with a few clear words. Step by step we can help the child to do it by him/herself, and once the work is in progress we can work on our own project or watch the child work.

To summarize, whether resting, doing quiet meditation, or tinkering – the most important aspects are the relaxation and well-being that are being evoked. Then, everything can become an important part of a natural learning process.

Wishing all my readers a peaceful and happy holiday season!

Carmen Gamper
www.newlearningculture.com

P.S.: New Learning Culture will be again at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Family Day (Woodacre Ca. 94973) on Sunday January 30! Come by and explore our wonderful learning toys! RSVP here: www.spiritrock.org

Instructions to the Square Root Board

The square root board shows in a simple way the essence of squaring a number and calculating a square root.

For both operations, children should already have multiplication experience.

Performing square roots becomes very easy with the board, because one can see that is it the opposite of squaring. In order to square a number, it must be multiplied with itself: 2×2=4
One can see that this operation always looks like a square on the board; thus it is called “squaring”.

To find out the root of 4, we count the beads on one side. There are 2 beads, which means the root of 4 is 2:

This works easily with all numbers from 1 to 9. Instead of beads, we can also use pebbles, blocks or buttons:

With numbers greater than 9, we need beads in various colors. Maria Montessori developed the following simple system:
Green = 1
Blue = 10
Red =100
Light green = 1000
Light blue = 10,000
Light red = 100,000

We see the board just like an x-y graph system. Each bead on the x-horizontal line is multiplied with each bead on the y-vertical line. The result is placed in the right color at the point where the two lines meet. Here you can see what 12×12 looks like:

And these photos show the process step by step: 12 = 2 green beads for the ones and 1 blue bead for the ten:

Then we place the same beads on the vertical line:

Then we can start calculating: 1×1 =1 :

10×1=10 and 1×10= 10 :

10×10=100 and that’s the complete square:

To find out the result, we add the value of all beads: 4×1 plus 4×10 plus 1×100 equals 144. Here:

Even with large numbers, this technique remains simple. One can observe a specific variety of color patterns which increase regularly. For example, here is 122 squared:

After all beads are placed, we can start adding: (1 x 10,000) + (4 x 1000) + (8 x 100) + (8 x 10) + (4 x 1) = 14,881

The root of 14,881 is one side of the square – 122:

After we have learned to use the board to SEE the way squares grow, we can now learn the opposite process – finding the root of a number. First, we lay the square pattern using the appropriate amount of beads and then count one side.

The square root board helps to understand what the concept of square root actually means. It takes away the fear from this process that is usually only taught on paper.

I remember that I could not understand square roots when I went to school and I am happy to have found the square root board!
Try it!
Carmen

The Natural Rights of Children #5 The Right To Use Hands

I am participating in the initiative by Giorno per Giorno and support the MANIFESTO of the “Natural Rights of the Child”.

Right #5: The Right To Use Hands

Hands-on Learning is the foundation of child-centered education. All the subjects and topics of the elementary and middle school curriculum can be learned/tought and explored with hands-on learning materials from maria Montessori and other educators. It is sooooo much easier for children to learn something they can touch, see, smell and manipulate! PLEASE educators and parents use hands-on learning materials!

The Natural Rights of Children #4 THE RIGHT TO DIALOGUE

I am participating in the initiative by Giorno per Giorno and support the MANIFESTO of the “Natural Rights of the Child”.

4) THE RIGHT TO DIALOGUE. Being allowed to participate in adult’s conversations, and to be heard “

We need to be more aware of the presence of children. Often we talk about a child as if he/she wasn’t in the room, even though they are right next to us. We assume children don’t understand, don’t listen, or are not interested. However, quite the opposite is true. Children often listen very carefully to adult’s conversations, most of all, when we are speaking about them!

Many children grow up feeling invisible, and keep this feeling into adulthood. It’s not true. Everybody counts. Everybody has a voice that contributes to the whole.

Let’s compromise on our topics when children are in the room, and include them as well as possible into our conversations. Children’s age-specific wisdom might sound silly to us sometimes, however, when we allow ourselves to see the world with children’s eyes, many things children say, will start making a lot of sense.

With joy,
Carmen Gamper
www.newlearningculture.com

Montessori and Waldorf ON & IN Common Ground

New Learning Culture Consulting collaborated with another inspired teacher to merge the Waldorf and Montessori approaches: Elizabeth Sidon, a Waldorf-trained teacher and co-editor of Common Ground Magazine, is founder of the “Elephant’s Garden”, a Waldorf-based preschool which includes elements from Montessori education. In addition to the beautiful Waldorf environment, children find first reading and counting teaching toys made of nature-materials and hands-on Montessori materials.

Together, we wrote an article for Common Ground Magazine. Our intention is to inspire educators towards using and providing tools and wisdom from both, Montessori and Waldorf.

Educators and Parents, you can help bring your school to the next level, too! Invite New Learning Culture Consulting to your school, for support, consulting and workshops.

Home-schooling parents benefit from all tools available! We love to support parental groups! Get in touch!

Our workshops in the San Francisco Bay Area.

With joy,
Carmen Gamper & Team

You can read the article online or print it out:
“The Yin and Yang of Montessori and Waldorf in Early Childhood Education”

ONLINE:
“Common Ground Magazine”

PRINT VERSION:
PDF DOWNLOAD (1.6mb)
Page 1 CommonGround / New Learning Culture page 1
Page 2 CommonGround New Learning Culture page 2

The Natural Rights of Children #3 THE RIGHT TO FRAGRANCES

I am participating in the initiative by Giorno per Giorno and support the MANIFESTO of the “Natural Rights of the Child”.

3) THE RIGHT TO FRAGRANCES. Experiencing the enjoyment of scents and the odors of nature.
“Mmmh! Wet earth, dry leaves, flowers, cinnamon, vanilla, chocolate, oranges….

A tasting game is part of Maria Montessori sensory materials: Children learn the basic distinction between sweet, salty, sour and bitter as part of the curriculum. Follow this link for a great introduction.

Play a game: Blindfold each others eyes and rely on your nose to find out where the scent comes from!

With joy,
Carmen Gamper
www.newlearningculture.com

Some of My Favorite Children’s Picture Books…

The following picture books are delightful for CHILDREN OF ALL AGES

“I Love You So…” by Marianne Richmond
“Can You Growl Like a Bear?” by John Butler
“The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein
“Love You Forever” by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Sheila McGraw
“The Last Wild Witch” by Starhawk, illustrated by Lindy Kehoe
“The Snowman” by Raymond Briggs – made into a 20min film which you can watch on youtube:
Here is the most beautiful scene: