Our very own Ms. Shannon Kittle, Primary Lead Teacher, was a presenter at the Colorado Montessori Association's "Montessori Lead & Learn" event yesterday.
About Shannon: I grew up in California and was a Montessori student myself through sixth grade. I've always loved children and when I realized I did want to pursue teaching, I didn't have any doubts that Montessori was my path. I received my degree in visual arts from California State University San Marcos and went straight into my AMI training at the Montessori Institute of San Diego. From there, I moved here to Colorado to be close to my family and have been teaching here since 2010. I miss the beach, but Colorado quickly became home to me and I can't imagine moving back! I've been a lead primary teacher at DCS Montessori since 2015 and I love it. When I'm not at school, I enjoy reading, playing board games, and spending time with my friends and family, especially my nieces.
About the Topic: A few years ago, one of my co-teachers and I started pursuing A Little Spot of Emotions as a way to introduce social emotional learning. We found the books engaging, easy to understand, and a natural fit to our Montessori classrooms. Diane Alber, the author of the books, saw a need for books that introduced these abstract concepts to children in a way they could relate to. Each spot of emotion has a color and the books teach them how to recognize and name their emotion as well as ways to regulate their emotions. Over the years, she has developed more books and worked with educators to develop new ways of incorporating them into our classrooms. The educator guide goes through the books with activities that further their understanding of the emotion or skill. The children love doing these activities and I've heard from many parents that they've bought the books for home. I've noticed a lot of growth in the social emotional skills of my students over the years from using these books and I'm excited to share it with you!