Teacher Help

Generation Xer Blog - Grumble Services elementary Montessori materials & learning resources Follow the Child Dr. Montessori

Generation X

A song by the band Bush is playing. Not my personal favorite but it leads me back to the bands that paved the way before them: Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Alice in Chains, Breeders, Pearl Jam.

The cooks start discussing grunge and Generation Xers. “I’m not a Gen Xer, I think I am a millennial.” He is briefly interrupted, “I thought they were called generation Y?” The first speaker continues, “I read somewhere that you are considered a Generation Xer if you can remember where you were during the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. I can’t.”

I can. And that day was a wakeup call.

Summer Learning Bad News Bears - Montessori Blog - Grumble Services Learning Resources Blog Post

Summer Learning

Summer Learning: Ever notice kids tend to misuse the word bored?

As a teacher, it can be frustrating to hear this word from one of our students. In my Montessori classroom, I give the children a beautifully prepared environment. I try to keep all the materials on the shelves as relevant and as appealing as I can.

Then it happens.

One day, about midmorning, a student will come sit next to me. We look at each other without saying much. I might ask them, “how is your morning going?” They share, “I’m bored.”

Summer Slide Part One - Montessori Blog - Grumble Services Learning Resources Blog Post

Summer Slide

Summer Learning Loss – Fact or Fiction? Most of us have heard of the so-called summer learning loss, sometimes referred to as the ‘summer slide.’ Back in the early 1980s, researchers came to the conclusion that students’ achievement scores declined over the summer months. To this day, it remains the go-to industry standard.

Fast forward to now. We definitely continue to hear proponents endorsing the idea of an increasing learning gap and harping on its message. However, researchers are now questioning the validity of a research project occurring so many years ago.

Homework Part Two - Montessori Blog - Grumble Services Learning Resources Blog Post

Homework Part Two

Last week we began exploring how homework can sometimes benefit students. But, under the wrong set of circumstances, it can sometimes hurt students too.

What the research shows us is the correlation between homework and performance is stronger for older students—in seventh through 12th grade—than for those in younger grades.

I limit the amount of homework I assign to my students. When I do assign homework, I hope to get the most “bang for the buck.” I try to focus on the areas that seem to count most: Reading & vocabulary, mathematical reasoning skills and practical life activities.

Complete Sentences - Montessori Blog - Grumble Services Learning Resources Blog Post

Complete Sentences

Complete Sentences: Teaching them is the bane of my existence.

Teaching kids to write complete sentences can be a tough road to hoe. I wish not to quell any student excitement for writing. Even more, I alway hope to make lessons and reviews on sentence structure meaningful. Avoid the drill and kill. But as students get older, they start to buck at the rules and at writing conventions.

Montessori Blog - Fake News - Grumble Services Learning Resources Blog Post

Fake News

Fake News: As a public school teacher, I feel frustrated. Disheartened. Defeated. Let me back up a bit.

Being a relatively new blogger, I’m afraid to get too opinionated in what I write. Nevertheless, this is going to be an opinion piece. It is an opinion that has bubbling inside me for over a year.

Being Teacher Appreciation Week, why not share my opinion about my fellow teachers now?

Thank you! Montessori Parent Education Blog - Montessori Blog - Grumble Services Montessori-inspired Elementary Learning Resources

Thank you

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for supporting my educational undertakings over this past year. It is hard to believe one year has already come and gone for Grumble Services!

Since March 2020, I have updated and created many learning resources and Montessori materials in order to share them with the world. My goal was to have them available for both teachers and families by the beginning of the new school year. I’m happy to report I accomplished what I had set out to do.

Tree huggers Outdoor Learning Blog Grumble Services Blog elementary Montessori materials and learning resources

Outdoor Learning

Outdoor Learning includes the discovery, learning about and connecting to our natural world. Getting students outdoors, even just for 30 minutes, and engaged in environmental activities offers many benefits. This is true during the pandemic and beyond.

When I first started teaching about 13 years ago, I worked for a central city Milwaukee public school. Being a Montessori public school, our students had a slight advantage over many of their neighborhood peers. Connecting to the outdoors and the surrounding communities was already built into their learning curriculum.

Project-based Learning Grumble Services Blog elementary Montessori materials and learning resources

Project-based Learning

Project-based Learning is a teaching method in which students learn by actively engaging in personally meaningful projects. These projects are designed to engross learners in solving a real-world problem or by answering a higher-level question.

Current research shows significant evidence of the effectiveness of project-based learning for all learners. This includes both young and old, all socio-economic levels and even those historically marginalized.

Literature Circles Grumble Services Blog elementary Montessori materials and learning resources

Literature Circles

Literature Circles are a lot like Writing Circles. Students do not need to join them with anything prepared ahead of time. Each group can have a variety of reading levels. They can also be randomly assigned.

The idea is for students to get excited to read what their peers are reading. And, with some practice, to get excited to share their own book!