Vancouver Montessori School Parent Handbook: Sharing

Sharing

Parents often ask questions about children bringing a sharing. We would like to share with you some thoughts on this aspect of our Montessori day.

Webster's Dictionary says of sharing, "to use jointly, to participate in, to enjoy or suffer with others."

There are 3 steps to sharing in the Children's House:

Verbal sharing while sitting in the security of the group
Verbal sharing with a visual aid in front of the group
At a point of readiness, the guide invites the child to lead the group in a song or poem.

Verbal Sharing

Primarily, sharings are verbal. A child in the group will offer information about some place s/he went, or something s/he did. The two-fold purpose of sharing at the 3-6 year old level is:

Sharing serves as an early preparation to give a formal presentation in front of a group.
Sharing enriches the children's knowledge of the world and life around them.

The younger child in the group may be able to sit in the gathering and share verbally. This child maintains eye contact with the guide and the group listens. The speaker is the focus of attention only in the auditory sense. It would be overwhelming at this stage for the child to stand in front of the group and be the center of everyone's visual attention. Because the child is in a self-conscious state, s/he is both physically and psychologically uncomfortable, and will likely forget what s/he intended to say.

Visual Aids

The second step in sharing is also verbal, but is accompanied by a visual aid. This step requires a learning experience between the parent (or other adult) and the child. In order for the group to benefit, and the sharing child to succeed, the guide needs some written information about the object. Information can include: who, what, where and when.

These sharings should contribute to the enrichment of the children's vocabulary. They love and internalize words such as: sedimentary, deciduous, bi-valve, amphibious, organic, triangular, olfactory, European, etc. Please include any of these you know or can find out.

The parent can write a note of up to 5 points which have been investigated and discussed with the child. This written information will enable the guide to help the child share successfully. Notes are not necessary for sharing books. Please label or sack all objects with the child's name.

Examples

Examples of appropriate sharings are:

Nature objects (shells, rocks, pine cones)
Cultural items from other regions
Things the child has made independently
Books about real life (Books about talking animals, cartoon characters, fantasy and fairy tales are more appropriate to the child's conceptual abilities after age six. Please do not send these to school.)
Cassette tapes—The tape should be at the starting point of the specific song the child wishes to share. The children are unable to sit in a group long enough to hear a story tape.

Characteristically, these shared items should be large enough to be visibly seen by a large group. Occasionally, if there are many sharings brought in one day, some may be held over.

Our goal is not to limit the frequency of sharing for a child in this sensitive period. Rather, we wish to elevate the caliber of both the experience and the knowledge gained. We hope you enjoy this new level of exploration and discovery with your child.