birthday walk (the montessori way).

First of all, gather your children into an ellipse, sitting on chairs in the children’s house. Then you can start 🙂

The 29th May 2003 was a very special day – that was the day that Small was born! We’re going to do a birthday walk – what do we need?

A candle. What’s the candle for? it represents the sun. (We light the candle and place it in the middle of the ellipse.) What else do we need? A globe. What’s the globe for? it represents our world. Thank you, yes it does.

Here is a picture of him as a baby (would you like to show it to all your friends?) Does it look like him? No? Does anyone know what he could do when he was a baby? drink milk. cry. sleep. he couldn’t go to the toilet, he had to wear a nappy. Thank you.

Then the days passed, the weeks passed, the months passed and a whole year went by. (Everyone joins in singing while Small walks around the ellipse carrying the globe.) Once around the sun, another year is done, another year is over and now you are one year old.

Here is a picture of Small as a one year old (yes, you can show it to your friends). It’s starting to look a bit more like him isn’t it? What sort of thing could he do when he was one? Sit up. Eat. Walk. Could he walk? Let’s ask his mummy. No, he couldn’t walk when he was one. Some babies can, yes.

Then the days passed, the weeks passed, the months passed and a whole year went by. (More singing, more walking.) Once around the sun, another year is done, another year is over and now you are two years old.

Small as a two year old. What is he doing? What do you think he could do then? Eat. Walk. Run. Talk. Did he talk? He didn’t talk with his voice, he talked with his hands, he used sign language.

Then the days passed, the weeks passed, the months passed and a whole year went by. (More singing, more walking.) Once around the sun, another year is done, another year is over and now you are fourthree years old.

Oops, got ahead of myself, this is three, not four! Look, he’s got a three badge on!

(It’s upside down. Yes, thank you Big.)

What could he do when he was three? Could he talk? Oh yes. Did anyone know Small when he was three? Lots of hands go up, yes we did didn’t we. I wonder what his first word was – I think it might have been banana 🙂 He could run and play. He could ride a tricycle and draw.

Then the days passed, the weeks passed, the months passed and a whole year went by. (Yes, you’re getting the hang of it now.) Once around the sun, another year is done, another year is over and now you are four years old.

Did anyone know Small when he was four? Yes, we all did (apart from our new member of staff 😉 ), he was four last time we came to school. What could he do when he was four? All sorts of things. Walk and talk, play and work, draw and count.

Then the days passed, the weeks passed, the months passed and a whole year went by. (One more time.) Once around the sun, another year is done, another year is over and now you are five years old. We don’t have a picture of Small when he was five, we have Small. He is five now. Happy birthday. How many claps shall we give him? Five. That’s right. One, two, three, four, five. And now there’s another special song that we sing – happy birthday to you!

And then we had cake. And it was good.