Using tone and voice level to communicate

It’s not so much what you say
As the manner in which you say it;
It’s not so much the language you use
As the tone in which you convey it;
“Come here!” I sharply said,
And the child cowered and wept.
“Come here”, I said -
He looked and smiled
And straight to my lap he crept.
Words may be mild and fair
And the tone may pierce like a dart;
Words may be soft as the summer air
But the tone may break my heart;
For words come from the mind
Grow by study and art –
But tone leaps from the inner self
Revealing the state of the heart.
Whether you know it or not,
Whether you mean or care,
Gentleness, kindness, love and hate,
Envy, anger, are there.
Then, would you quarrels avoid
And peace and love rejoice?
Keep anger not only out of your words –
Keep it out of your voice.
~Author Unknown

I read this poem from the NAMC website and I wanted to share this as a reminder to us educators and parents children respond/react to our tone. Our voice level, our tone can make or break our relationships.

classroom layout

my head teacher really transformed our classroom: from layout to materials. Here is a link which showcases our 2009-2010 classroom.
http://picasaweb.google.com/learningmontessori/ClassroomOfMsCAndMsP?feat=directlink

leafy filters

This is the second month of school and we focus on fall. For our art I was excited using liquid watercolors and coffee filters. The coffee filters were cut in leaf shapes and students were given leaf colors green/yellow/red & orange. They used different combinations of these colors to come up with a fall leaf effect. The coffee filter was a good medium for color mixing. The paint spread fast creating new colors which the students loved.
After doing their art leaves the students wanted to keep on painting and we ended up doing freestyle watercoloring which they loved.