I ended up setting up three areas in the house to use for the couple hour class. First, when you first walked in, I gated off the kitchen and moved Henry's small table into the entry way. On the table I put some wooden cutting food for the kids to play with on the table. This way the kids could play while we waited for the rest of the group to arrive.
I think its important that we all go up to the classroom together. This actually worked really well, and was a great way to keep busy toddlers distracted as we all arrived and got settled.
Second, there was the classroom. Once everyone arrived, we went up and let the toddlers loose. The parents each stayed with their child and helped them work through trays. Henry was in fine form and refused to do any work. Instead, he just wanted to play with a baby and her treasure basket. I tried to bounce from child to child to help them with their work. We worked up there for about 45 minutes.
I think I made a mistake by not doing a little circle time where I introduced the work for the week. Henry just sort of dives in to the trays so I only introduce things after he shows interest. But for a group of kids that aren't as familiar with the Montessori method, I think an introduction might be necessary for awhile. So, I will make sure to do that next time.
Finally, we moved down to the dinning room. For snack, each child poured their own glass of water using a real glass and real pitcher. Some had help, some did a great job on their own. They also scooped their own snack. Once snack was over, we stayed in the dinning room to make a craft.
Each week one of the families will bring snack and a craft for the group. This week's craft was to make a super cute lion mask! The mom this week had prepped all the pieces which made for an great toddler craft. I loved watching the other kids create, Henry never gets into crafts so it was really cute watching kids that did.
As the kids finished their lions, I sent them into my sunroom for free play. The moms used this time to eat our own snack and chat -- which was really nice. I think we have decided, though, that next week we will see how it goes to send the kids back to the classroom to work more independently. This is a work in progress, so if this works, great, if not we can go back to free play.
So, that's our routine. I'm very willing to make adjustments as the group evolves. One change I will be making is when I personally set up tot school. Usually I work on a Sunday to Sunday schedule, but this means that Henry has seen the tot school co-op materials for 4 days. I think that contributed to his lack of focus while friends were here. So I'm switching to a Friday to Friday schedule, so that the first time Henry sees the work is at co-op. This won't mean any changes for the blog, or really for me, its just a slight shift.
Anyone have tips for me? I have zero teaching background, so any help is appreciated.
