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Final Thoughts

As I wrap up my time at the Montessori school, I am so grateful to have been able to observe there! I have a 100 page notebook full of all my observations and have more than 50 bookmarks on my computer that I have collected in the last 2 months! I also ordered several more (4) books about the Montessori methods that I have been skimming in addition to the 3 I purchased at the beginning of the summer.  It has been absolutely fascinating to watch the methods unfold in front of my eyes and then to be able to read about what I observed.  I have already looked into organizations where I can become accredited and learn how to create my own guidebook and have bookmarked those to come back to when I am ready.   I have been able to get into my classroom already this summer and have made changes to my own spaces as a result of this experience.  One of the big changes I made was to think about the specific kinds of skills that my students might need at the beginning of the school year and pulled
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Learning Lessons

The classroom I am observing this summer consists of children who are aged 3 up to 9 years old. As I completed my observations each day, I wondered how the children knew exactly what to do when they came in each day. I was invited by the classroom teacher/assistant to watch as she shared a lesson with a younger child. This child appeared to be about three and a half years old, and had started to do some work on a practical life skill but had not formally been introduced to the lesson. The assistant noticed that and asked the child if they would like to have a lesson so that they would know how to complete the work.  The work was in mixed media and the conversation for the lesson went like this:  T: This is the mixed media lesson and I see that you already have your paper. show me which material you would like to use first.  The child chose the pom-poms. T:  This is how you glue a pom-pom.  The teacher proceeded to show the child how to brush glue on the bottom of the pom-pom and stick
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Practical Life Work

While in this school, I was able to observe several works that are part of the practical life work.  The skills learned through practical life work help children develop a sense of reality, add to the growth of many developmental skills, help children develop social and emotional skills, motor and coordination, and prepare children to be active participants in their current and future lives.  This article does a nice job giving an overview of practical life work.  I was able to observe  children were engaging in practical life work everyday that I observed at this school. Each day the teachers would set out the laundry that had been washed the previous afternoon and one of the works that the children could do was fold the clean laundry. In the laundry, there were child sized aprons and napkins that were used for snack or for lunch time. The children received a lesson on how to correctly fold the aprons. I was amazed to watch a child demonstrate the folding of an apron for me and even
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Montessori: A Modern Approach, Chapter 5

 As I was observing in the Montessori school today, I began wondering more about the modern adaptations that I was seeing in the work that the children were doing; children creating crystal snowflakes using a microwave to heat the water and how Maria Montessori might feel or think about that.  I assumed, in my notes, that surely she would have had to account for the evolution of new skills that would need to be learned as technologies developed beyond what she would have known during her time.  I wondered who gets to be the "official" one person to decide how modern day life gets translated into work for the children.  Enter, chapter 5 that I began reading when I arrived home today.  The first page of chapter 5 gave me the answer to a question, I had not considered until today. Chapter 5 opens by speaking to Montessori's desires to avoid pre-determined work for each child, a prescribed list of work that each child should be able to accomplish.        "Hoping to avoid
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Montessori: A Modern Approach Chapter 4

 This chapter was very interesting to read as both a parent and a teacher, so I could identify with both roles.  The ideas that Montessori wants to impart on parents is that they should allow their children the space and freedom to explore the world around them, safely of course.  Even in 1924, Montessori read American parents as one of two types; those who over encourage their child and those who are over anxious about their child.  She advocates for parents to let their children guide them, asking the parents to concentrating on relaxing and just being with their child, taking walks with them (and a hands-lens) and just being part of the world with them.   Also, in this chapter Montessori discusses how parents should not give their children an over abundance of toys.  Instead, the parents should observe their child and what holds their interests and focus on and prepare special activities for that.  Montessori says that, "The parent must observe his child closely, and watch for
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Work Trays 2

 I noticed that the art work had two distinct branches, paper work and painting work.  I want to share about painting work and fine motor work in this post.  It was interesting to watch the work progress from vertical, on a table top, to horizontal, on an easel.  Also, children get to work with different mediums within the painting work: painting with tempera paint, painting with watercolors, sculpting with a paint/flour mix, and painting on an easel. The fine motor work that children do helps them be successful at the painting work and other kinds of work (sewing, piercing, more academic work).  This website has been helpful in learning more about the art work:  https://montessori-art.com/ultimate-guide-to-montessori-painting/ Painting Work: Painting work: 3 small jars of tempera paint (one tray had red, orange, and yellow and the other tray had green, blue, and purple) paint brush (full sized brush) laminated pictures of natural items to paint (mainly flowers) stand up napkin holders
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Work Trays

 Each time I visit the school, I am so interested in the work that the children are doing.  Knowing that this is a summer program I am observing, there are far fewer work options that are available, however, there are enough that I can get the idea of how the work flow time happens each day.  I am only observing in the morning work flow time, but I do know there is a work flow time that happens in the afternoon too. During each observation, I have been paying close attention to the items on each work tray and watching the children engage with them from across the room.  The teacher who is in this room let me observe for 2 weeks and then so kindly asked if some of the children might be able to teach me their work lessons.  Of course!! So she let me shadow her for two work lessons and then the children will soon be teaching me some of their lessons. I thought in this post, I would share two types of the work, art work and sewing work, that I have observed and the items needed for the wor
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