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Jordan
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| Posted: June 10 2007 at 3:22pm | IP Logged
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I've read a lot through here about rotating materials. Are there materials that you keep out all of the time or does everything get rotated? How much do you keep out at a time?
Thanks. : -)
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Jordan
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 10 2007 at 4:02pm | IP Logged
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Jordan -
I will be rotating!!! It's the only way to curb the chaos of stuff. My plan is to begin with very bare shelves - perhaps one or two things. I will review how to use the mats, review the rules for all materials - one thing out at a time, completely put away materials when done. Then, I will beging to introduce slowly. I may present math materials and then leave them out all year long, but these will be on a high shelf for the older children.
In short, I will be rotating, but so much of this is child led. I want to be flexible here. My rule is - once the child is bored with the activity, or if the child begins to abuse/misuse an activity, it goes to the rotation closet.
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Jen Mackintosh
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: June 11 2007 at 10:59am | IP Logged
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I plan to have out as much as I can, but some things it just makes sense to rotate. For example, though the botany cabinet will always be out, I can't have every science experiment out at once, nor would I want to. Knobbed cylinders will be introduced one block at a time until she becomes proficient at all of them, same with knobless.
Math materials will come and go as our focus changes and dd advances in knowledge.
Enrichment areas are one thing that will rotate frequently. One week I may have out pattern blocks and cards, the next I may have magnetix or puzzles or other things.
Art will be constantly rotating as she will be choosing from several different media. I will also have a different project out each week in either art or handiwork.
Practical life will have different offerings each week as well. Dd is pretty much past the basic pouring/spooning stage, but enjoys these types of activities and I need to make them more challenging for her all the time. She still needs to work with her dressing frames and lacing shapes, but these are things that I will put out only occasionally, in between other activities.
So, by rotating, that is what I have in mind.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
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Jordan
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| Posted: June 11 2007 at 4:59pm | IP Logged
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Jennifer and Theresa,
Thank you so much for answering my question. What you're saying sounds very practical to me--much more manageable than the alternative.
Once you present them, do you keep out your basic sensorial materials, such as the pink tower, brown rods, etc. or do those get rotated too? I'm trying to figure out how much space to clear out.
Up until recently, my daughter was enrolled in a Montessori school so seeing everything all put together there and then attempting to put together some semblance of it for her at home has boggled my mind. Like you say, it makes sense to tailor it to the child.
I will be reading through old posts here and trying to learn more.
Thank you so much.
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Jordan
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 11 2007 at 5:16pm | IP Logged
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Hard to say Jordan. In theory, I plan on rotating almost everything, but if an item is being used correctly and receives constant attention - I'll just leave it. I can't imagine that happening though - the boredom factor will come into play at some point!
I know what you mean about the challenge of translating Montessori to the home environment. Then there is the added challenge of multiple children of multiple ages -  . Just as in our homes we cannot and should not recreate the "schoolroom" - we will not be able to recreate a Montessori classroom either. The learning and the challenges will be different. I take from Montessori what will suit my children and address their needs best, keeping in mind my budget and the limits of time. Her methods and materials are beautiful though, and I love having them in our home, and providing my dc the opportunity to investigate them.
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Jen Mackintosh
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AndreaG
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| Posted: June 11 2007 at 6:41pm | IP Logged
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Here's how rotation worked for us this school year. I started with blank shelves. The I would present one or two (or sometimes 3) new materials a week and leave them out, until interest waned or they were misused. The pink tower and brown stair are still on the shelves from the fall- they were my daughter's favorites and were mostly used correctly. Most things go back into the closet more quickly, my boys being ages 5 and 8 don't repeat work as much as my daughter who is 3. Practical life trays NEEDED to be switched weekly or would become too messy. Actually next year I am hoping to stay more on top of putting things back in the closet- my shelves tend to get cluttered. I always think if I leave something out that hasn't gotten much use one more week they will use it- but really it works better to put it away and bring it out again at a later time. Like Theresa I do leave my Geometry cabinet out b/c it is hard to move.
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Andrea
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Angel
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| Posted: June 11 2007 at 7:31pm | IP Logged
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Right now I rotate books, which I keep in canvas bins, according to interest and also depending on what topics the older kids are working on. When I started out in the fall, I had wonderful intentions of rotating science trays... but that sort of fell by the way side. I think I may try to have ONE science tray or box this year, and do my best to keep up with it. (The one tray I made up last year was a magnet tray and my 4 yo loved it.)
In the past I have left things on the shelf for far too long. Really I think the shelves should be reorganized every few weeks at least. But I will definitely leave out anything that the kids are working with or show an interest in.
I think also it does depend on how appropriately the child or children use the material, too. I've had to remove stuff from the shelves because nobody was using it appropriately. I figured then that they just weren't ready for it, and I'd bring it out again some other time.
My biggest problem (aside from leaving stuff out too long and not introducing new stuff soon enough) is figuring out a balance between having too many choices out and too few. If a child completely ignores the language materials in favor of practical life (say), should all the language materials be put away? I don't think so, but I think I would definitely only put out a *few* language activities in comparison to the number of practical life activities I attempted to provide.
--Angela
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Meredith
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| Posted: June 11 2007 at 9:46pm | IP Logged
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Mackfam wrote:
| In short, I will be rotating, but so much of this is child led. I want to be flexible here. My rule is - once the child is bored with the activity, or if the child begins to abuse/misuse an activity, it goes to the rotation closet. |
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This is how I will be doing our rotations as well. It will really be based on what each child is interested in and remains interested in. And then as new presentations are offered, the older material will move to a new location or be replaced. This is all theorectical thus far as we are just on the brink here  but so far this method has been quite favorable!
Great question and glad to have you here with us!
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Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
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SuzanneG
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| Posted: June 11 2007 at 11:58pm | IP Logged
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This is one of the things I will change about how I do this. I have a place in the basement with the things that are "out of rotation". I have things set up in those clear shoe boxes, stacked.
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Suzanne in ID
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: Rotating Materials
