Work Plan for 6 Year Old - Yes? No?

I was asked to give more information on the following statement I made in a previous work plan post:
     With that said, I find that 6 year olds without a work-plan at all, are missing out on a *huge* piece of Montessori elementary. 

Aren't we supposed to follow the child?

YES! That is why there should be some form of a work plan and/or work journal, and best is both - starting around age 6.

Remember the 4 planes of development?

In the first plane, the inner teacher of the child directs their learning and growth. Children will generally grow and learn and develop certain skills regardless of what WE do. Most parents know to give their children food, warmth, snuggles, conversation. Thus children who are even abused and neglected gain SOME skills, develop at least SOME. I realize there are extreme situations, but here we are focusing on *most* parents.

The child's inner teacher guides that growth. All that we adults can do is provide the *optimal* environment. I say "all that we can do" - but I also say "that IS what we should do."

And we trust that inner guide to utilize the good things we have placed in the environment to develop that child before us.

By the second plane, as the absorbent mind peters out and the social connections become hungry, children now need societal expectations; they live on rules and order - creating their own clubs, their own languages - that herd instinct that still craves identity. The first plane achieved strong identity of self, the second plane now works on strong identity of group dynamics.

Just as we fed that ego in the first plane, now we feed that need for group dynamics in the second plane. If the need is fulfilled now, we will have adolescents who seek to be members of the world, not clinging to the vestiges of "group belonging" that should have been fulfilled in the second plane.

Wow. What does that have to work plans? ;)

This work plan and/or work journal is one small way we create those societal expectations. We also have the following:

• studies on the fundamental needs of man
• meeting those needs throughout time
• reasons for laws in society
• taxes
• continuing the same skills from primary - preparing work for the next child, completing a work cycle
• environmental expectations (chores)
• Goings Out - formal or informal - interacting with society
• prepares for 3rd and 6th year in elementary when the child should be working a bit with the local school standards
• there's more but Legoboy keeps interrupting me with some Lego creations I need to post about soon!

In essence, the true definition of following the child is to observe carefully, note the child's needs, have an understanding of where things are going and providing those things that fulfill current needs in order to lay a strong foundation for what is coming up. 

The work plan does not dictate a child's every waking moment, or even a majority of it. It simply says, "Here is a slightly bigger plan than you usually have in your mind right now" (for some children it might be a morning, or a day, a couple of days and most 6 year olds can handle seeing a week) - and "here is what we can likely work on this week/today" (keep it light at first). Now today is Monday (or it is 8 am and we have lunch at noon). Today (this morning), let's continue that language study you started last week and I have a new presentation for you in biology. Come get me when you are ready for those things."

Or "Tomorrow, we have the men coming to cut down those dead trees. They will be here at 10 am. Let's write that down on our work plan. If you would like to watch, here's where you can take a chair, will you want your camera?" (then write those things on the work plan, as a reminder). 

Then for the work journal - anything will do - a notebook of blank pages - note the date, write down what was done; later the child can be required to write the beginning time or the ending time, then both times. It can be drawings of what was done, a sample sentence/problem, an interesting statement - pretty much anything that notes that the child is recording his/her choice of time spent. So when Grandma asks, "What are you learning in school?" The child will stay say, "Nothing," but Mom can pull out their work journal and say, "Maybe you can show these things to Grandma?" Although Grandma likes to see the art work and actual math problems ;)

The work journal is most handy when preparing for the upcoming work plan - review what was done, how much progress was made, ask further questions.... "You didn't really do anything after our story on the (fill in the blank). What have you thought about that story since then? Let's have another story in that area this coming week - here are some choices, which would you like?" (this doesn't force an interest, but does develop other important social skills, such as making choices in an area of no interest, taking some ownership for learning, and could potentially develop an interest). 

One last thought - an analogy: 

When we grow plants - at first we let them grow how they will. See which ones will be strong. We cannot control which seeds will sprout - but we plant them all, give them all the optimal conditions for growth. 

Then it is time to transplant them - or perhaps you're not needing to transplant them because you planted them where they will stay. Ok. 

(end first plane of development)

But now those tomato plants are going to go all over if you don't stake them; that tree sapling is going to bend in the strong wind, so we prop it up. We provide it *guidance* as to where to go, modifying and later lessening that guidance as time goes on. 

(second plane of development, moving into 3rd and somewhat the 4th)

Eventually the tree is strong enough to do what it will do without our interference and the tomato plants are producing fruit. 

(fourth plane and life beyond)

Elementary Work Plan: Another Sample

DISCLAIMER/BACKGROUND - See these links for more information on what work plans and work journals are intended for. If your current plan isn't meeting the mark, time to change it up. Work plans aid a child in going deep, not moving into checklist mentality.
Montessori Nuggets tagged "work plan"
Montessori Nuggets tagged "work journal"


Due to the ever-present interest in work-plans, I thought I'd share yet another idea for the lowest elementary children, and perhaps some of the kindergarteners out there.

This is a sample of something I did with tutoring children through the summer-time. I set this sample up for you as if I were to do it for LegoBoy today, with his list of subjects.

Daily stuff is straight-forward - must be done each day. Move the paper-clip for that item over to the right-side when it's done.

School stuff - this is where we keep the Montessori principles! And there is a LOT of flexibility. While some of that stuff, I would like to be everyday, realistically it won't happen, and I like to keep the daily must-dos really short, sweet and simple.

So if there is an actual presentation or assignment, those are noted on another page - perhaps one for the whole week like a weekly plan, but it has less on it than a full weekly work-plan. It might have for math "1 new presentation this week", "review small bead frame", "work with 2 operations in fractions" - otherwise the child chooses for himself what to do.

The point is, once a subject is done by the child, for as long as he wants to work on it, and whatever your agreed upon work is (some assigned, some free-chosen; or all free-chosen), the clip is moved to the right-side.

At the end of one day, NOT all the clips are moved. The goal for this day is to have each line on the right-side filled with a clip, so that a minimum variety was worked on each day (for some of my students, this was 3, for some it was 6).

The daily clips are moved back to the left side. The school clips are left alone, unless there is a specific assignment yet for the child (a new presentation or a required work OR the child knows there is something more to do). Try to limit this as much as possible, because....

...the goal is to then hit the OTHER subjects the next day. And clear out that whole left-side. For some children, the goal was a 3-day rotation, especially because some things DID need to be moved back over because they needed daily practice for a short time (not long enough to justify going under the daily list), thus leaving less time for the varying subjects.


So this plan is good for situations that require all subjects be worked on over a 2 or 3 day period - whether due to the local educational requirements or the needs of the child (retention of the learning, especially with particular special needs).

The work-journal system that fits best with this work-plan is one where the child can take a photo of their work, or otherwise have something to show of their work --- OR can be used without a work-journal for the youngest children just getting started, as they are already "marking" their progress with the paper-clips; and the adult can note their work at the end of the day in a conversation. "I saw you worked with the bead squares for math - tell me about that work." etc.

Decimal Fraction Board - when to start

Here's a question I am asked a LOT - whether this particular material or others. And most particularly those material that in reality bridge lower and upper elementary, making that "break" between the two ages within some albums cumbersome at best.

(this particular material has been asked about 5 times in the last month alone, hence I pick on this one ;) )

First "years" - definition: my numbering of "years" assumes the child will have the opportunity for a full 6 years' worth of elementary Montessori. If this is not going to be the case, then it can very roughly be considered as equivalent grade levels - in the US, a 6 year old is 1st grade; 7 year old is 2nd grade; etc. as of the beginning of the year.

When should a child start the Decimal Fraction Board?
It's really whenever the child is ready and depends on how strong was their primary and earliest lower elementary experiences. My albums have them noted as beginning between years 2 and 3 - so definitely starting in lower elementary. Year 2 if they have a very solid foundation or catch on quick; and year 3 to begin if if they needed a lot of remedial work or have teachers using albums that don't have the same foundation OR just plain don't have interest in fractions enough to get them there until year 3.
Anecdote: my son was voracious about fractions and I thought he would get to this work early - NOT SO. He took a seriously long break from all things fractions, but applied what he knew to real life, and only recently (year 3!) has come back around to fractions-study in general - and now he is starting this decimal fractions work. He had a bit of an intro to it because of a strong interest in money in years 1 and 2, but this material just wasn't cutting it for him. I backed off and now he's going at it full-force. 

With the extensions, it definitely lasts a year or a year and a half, so for most children would start in lower elementary and finish up in upper elementary (some children won't need it in upper elementary if they started in year 2 and "get it").

This is one of those works that shows how difficult it can be to delineate between lower and upper elementary ;)


Here is what my album page has for pre-requisites (the most important thing than actual age) -

Prerequisites: 

• concept of parts of numbers (fraction work); 
• knowledge of multiplication facts (esp. multiplying by ten – large bead frame, bank game); 
• familiarity with decimal system categories (golden bead, wooden hierarchical); 
• hierarchically colored beads/pegs (stamp game, pegboard, decimal system number cards, multiplication checkerboard, racks and tubes, etc. - enough of this work that the colors are intuitive to them now)

Shortly after working on this material, a few months, a year, maybe even days if you have a child for whom this material truly connects, you'll move the child on, at the right time, to the decimal fraction checkerboard:

By the time, they have the decimal fraction board, they have typically had the regular multplication checkerboard, and it is now just a matter of merging a few concepts. Wait until the child has each of the concepts down pat - or if there is a struggle, the particular type of struggle would be addressed with a synthesis - and go for it. The introductory lesson itself (just laying out the individual square of felt) will be enough to tell you if the child is ready or not. 

Thus the Decimal Fraction Checkerboard is potentially a lower elementary work as well - indeed, upper elementary prefer to use fewer beads, so introduce this work as early as is appropriate for the child in question. 

Above all else - have FUN with it!