A "Normal Day": Part 1

 When I visited the Montessori school today, the directress that was there let me know that today would be more of a normal work cycle day.  They would be more flexible as some of the children are enrolled in the summer camp and do not normally attend. When I arrived, the lead teacher was preparing the daily snack as the children entered the room and the assistant was greeting children as they entered.  After hanging up their belongings, the children quickly moved into choosing an apron from one of the three piles that had been placed on mats on the floor.  They would need to wear these aprons as they moved through their work cycle today.  Several children had gathered on the large rug to listen to a story about using their 5 senses and other children joined them quietly as they finished getting ready.  Again, there was no announcement that a story was happening, the children just observed other children gathering and joined in.  There was background noise happening, however, the children who were listening to the story were not bothered by it at all.  They were focused on listening to the story and not what was happening around them.  Several children listened to the story from further back as they chose to sit at a table and draw on paper with colored pencils.  I have not yet seen any children using crayons in this classroom.  

Two children, who were both older and appeared to be siblings were helping the lead teacher set out baking supplies for the morning on trays.  They would match up the ingredient lists on each recipe card with the ingredients on each tray and then set them out on the various low shelves in the room.  When the story finished, the lead teacher opened up the doors to the outside classroom space and about 1/2 of the children took their work and drawings outside to finish.  Several students stayed back in the classroom with an assistant to make their choices.  For the next hour and a half, I observed students engaged in various levels of work.  It was obvious who the older children were, as they were helping the younger ones select a work tray.  Then, the older children selected trays for themselves that included baking of several different recipes.  Today, I watched children make strawberry lemonade, mini loaves of bread, granola, and biscuits.  They carefully collected all the materials they would need and selected a table to set up their recipe cards and got started.  The first table I observed was a lead teacher giving a lesson on how to make granola, as this was a new recipe, many children had gathered around to watch and learn.  The teacher explained each step in few words, putting most emphasis on the measurement part of the recipe so that students would know what to do if they could not find the correct measuring cup or spoon.  They worked together to create their granola and one child went inside to ask another teacher for a sheet pan and parchment paper so they could put it on a pan to bake.  When that lesson was done, the teacher moved on to another group to show them how to make Raspberry Muffins.  The teacher showed the children how to find the wet and dry ingredients first on the picture recipe card.  She then gave a quick lesson in how to peel a banana and then had a student take the peel to the compost can in the room.  The older child who was learning the lesson then mashed the banana with a potato masher before adding in applesauce and some water.  The child took the liquid measuring cup inside to the child sized sink and filled the cup with water to the correct marking and brought it back to the outside picnic table.  The child then mixed the wet ingredients together before adding all the dry ingredients.  When they got to the flour, the child noticed that the recipe called for 1 1/2 cups of flour, but was unable to find the 1 cup measure.  The lead teacher asked him to look at the number again and notice what the numbers were telling him.  He quickly realized that he could use the 1/2 cup measure three times to also measure out 1 1/2 cups of flour.  The teacher measured out the first 1/2 cup for him, showing him how to level the flour with a stick and then passing the 1/2 cup measure and the stick to him so that he could measure out the rest.  During this whole process, the lead teacher kept coming and going and assisting other children, so the child was able to be trusted as a confident baker that would follow the recipe while she walked away.  When all was mixed together, the lead teacher sent him off in search of the muffin tins and he returned several minutes later with two mini muffin pans.  He knew how to scoop out the batter using a small ice cream scoop, so the lead teacher left him to do that.  She noticed from across the outdoor classroom when he was finished and then showed him how to add raspberry jam to the top of each muffin.  He ran out of jam halfway through so she helped him think of a solution to make sure each muffin was able to have jam on top (he scooped some off of each of the other muffins and put it on top of the muffins that did not have any).  When he was done, he took the muffins into the adult kitchen and put them in the cue to be baked.  The lead teacher reminded him that he was going to be able to take his muffins home, so he should decorate a bag for them.  He went to the top of the baking supplies shelf and got a brown paper bag and decorated it himself.