Bluebird, Bluebird

Mid-morning, once the rain finally let up, we quickly noticed that the birds had come out for a morning snack. Some of the girls gathered by the door to watch them...

While watching, I heard them talking about all of the birds they were seeing. Cardinals, Hummingbirds, Chickadees and Orioles just to name a few. All of a sudden, one of the girls remembered the song that we've sung together, "Fly Through My Window" by Pete Seeger and decided that they should sing it about each of the birds that they spotted together.

Bluebird, bluebird fly through my window (repeat 2x)
Bluebird, bluebird fly through my window, buy molasses candy
Fly through my window my sugarlump
Fly through my window my sugarlump and buy molasses candy.

Simultaneously, another child and I were working with the Moveable Alphabet, "writing" the words for all of the birds and animals that we saw together through the same garden window.

The beauty is that this material allows her to interpret her own thoughts before having to interpret those of another person. With every word, she is breaking it down to hear the sounds within that word. Using the sounds that she hears, she has made the following words--"kitn, chipmnk, brd, crdinl, oreeyol". Any ideas on the words that she made? (scroll down to see if you're right!)

 Today was a prime example, reminding me again, of how wonderful the Montessori environment is for children. We were able to go at their pace, follow their interests without the pressure or stress of a looming test or academic performance. The beautiful part of it all, is that they were able to gain so much through absorbing all that is around them-- the natural wildlife (science), sounds in words (language), singing "Fly Through My Window" (music), among the other work that was happening in the environment.

(Did you guess the right words? kitten, chipmunk, bird, cardinal, oriole)