Category Archives: Philosophy

Our First Week

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We had a wonderful first week back to school.  The students were reviewing their grace and courtesy lessons, working on team building, making new friends, and learning about the Montessori great lessons.  We have an amazing group and they are already coming together as a community.

A few things to think about as you are helping your child prepare for school each morning: please try and avoid allowing them to come to school with unnecessary items from home.  Stuffed animals, fidget spinners, toy erasers, and such items are a real distraction and management issue.  We are trying to build trusting relationships with your children and that can be easily hindered if we need to take items from students that are not needed inside the classroom.  Also, please think about the items of clothing they are wearing.  Is your child independent in fastening certain clothing?  If your child is wearing shoelaces, have you worked to help them learn to tie?  We do have work inside the classroom that can help support this learning, but ask that you help reinforce this at home.  Another area that is sometimes forgotten is lunch.  We have several students who are sent to school with lunches that require preparation.  Please make certain you give your child a lesson on how the item needs to be opened or prepared, instant macaroni and cheese is a perfect example.  (We try and limit anything that needs to be warmed to only 1 minute).  Please just take an extra thought while purchasing and packing lunches for you children and make certain it contains items that they can navigate.  I would also like to encourage that your child is involved or responsible for packing their own lunches.  Food for thought, “Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed” Maria Montessori.

Normalization

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I wanted to remind everyone about our Normalization Period.  This is a critical time for your child to develop their independence within the school and classroom.  Please refrain from entering the building with your child until this normalization time has ended. We have a supportive community which will allow for your child to be successful without your assistance.  Normalization will continue until October 2nd, after this time our classroom will be open for parent involvement.  I know several of you are anxious to start helping within the classroom and we too are excited and welcoming of the help.  Once we welcome October I will be contacting families for volunteer opportunities.  We have had a wonderful first week back and will continue to work on classroom community, grace and courtesy, and team work.  If you have individual concerns, please feel free to contact me via email.

Normalization Period

Please respect the first 6 weeks of school. Please try to avoid being absent during this time, including vacations.  This period of time is essential where the dynamics of the classroom are being formed; the children are learning their environment and curriculum, establishing time management skills as well as establishing themselves intellectually, emotionally and socially. We will be creating a community in our classroom and building teams by playing cooperative games and other activities. We’ll be getting to know the children and doing placement testing.

Count Down!

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I am so excited to see everyone in just a few short days!  Reminder, all first graders and new second and third grade students will attend Student Orientation this Friday, August 12th, from 1:00-1:45 p.m.  When students arrive for orientation on Friday, I will be standing outside of the school with my assistant, Ms. Lindsey, holding a sign with our names.   We ask that parents drop their students off with us and meet back with your child when we come out together at 1:45 p.m.  We will wait until we have all new students with us before we enter the building.  If you know that your child will not be attending, please send me a quick email.  Student orientation is a time for students to learn the route to their locker, know the location of their classroom, meet new classmates, etc.  Please know that we will support your child through this new transition during the first few days of school.  Monday morning my assistant will be outside again, with a sign, for any students who need support finding their lockers and the classroom.  We ask that parents not come into the school with students during the first six weeks of school.  Creating independence is a key piece of what we refer to as normalization in the Montessori philosophy.  If you are a new family to our school or would like a refresher on key terms and philosophy within our school, I would recommend attending Parent Orientation or what we like to call Montessori 101 on Back to School Night starting in the gym at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 18th.  Our open house portion of Back to School Night starts at 7:00 p.m. and will concluded at 8:00 p.m. This is open to all families and is a great time to come visit your child’s classroom, sign up for volunteering, fill out a student information sheet, etc.  In the elementary age group we ask for this to be an adult only event.  If you have questions or concerns, please send me a quick email.

If you are interested in volunteering as our room parent, please send me a quick email.

Celebration of Life

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In the Montessori classroom, when it is a child’s birthday we enjoy celebrating their life. Parents are welcome to come and share a brief history and picture for each year of their life.  We do not celebrate with food or trinkets, we focus on the child and celebrate them.  If you are interested in scheduling a celebration of life, please email me when it is close to your child’s birthday or half birthday for summer birthdays.  We generally have our celebrations first thing at 8:30 a.m. or in the afternoon around 1:00 p.m.  We like to keep them to about 20 minutes.

“Normalization” by Ms. Amy

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Normalization in a Montessori classroom can be hard to understand.  Especially if you are new to the Montessori environment.  With the help of Ms. Kacee, (our academic specialist) I hope I can shed some light on the normalization which is taking place in our classroom right now.

E. M. Standing, in his book Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work states: “The crowning characteristic of a group of normalized children is joy. It pervades the little community like a perfume; and is as hard to describe as it is easy to perceive.” Of course “seeing is believing” but verbally communicating to parents what takes place during normalization can be a challenge.

Simply put, during normalization, the child is becoming his best possible self and doing so without effort and with complete joy.

Dr. Montessori’s observations revealed that certain characteristics develop and are refined within the normalized child: love of work; concentration; self-discipline; and sociability. (http://www.montessoriservices.com/ideas-insights/normalization-in-the-montessori-classroom)

In our classroom we are learning the rules of our school and classroom, these are often referred to as Grace and Courtesy lessons.  We have a Grace and Courtesy lesson every day.  By doing this we learn what is expected and we learn to trust and rely on one another.  When the class trusts one another many behavior problems are eliminated.  They are also more prepared to help one another in their daily work.  We are creating a community, a community of trust, respect and obedience.  We are learning to trust each other, respect one another and the materials in the classroom and to obey the rules of the classroom.

We are doing many team building activities.  These activities are meant to strengthen our class.  We spend a lot of time together the longer we spend on getting to know one another and appreciating each other’s differences now, the better our school year will be.

All of the preparations we put into the first few weeks of school pay off hugely afterward.  It is truly the only way we can do what we do for the rest of the year.  Our school year is like a camping trip.  If you just head out, without any preparation you will not be able to fully enjoy or experience your adventure.  However, if you plan, pack and prep for the trip then the trip will be amazing.

If you are interested in more information about the normalization which takes place at our school feel free to explore this website. http://www.public-montessori.org/what-public-montessori

Our Last Week of School

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I cannot express how impressed I have been with the sense of compassion and teamwork this class has developed.  The unforeseen obstacles we have faced this year have strengthened and helped these children grow in ways that they would not have otherwise.  They have grown and expanded into an amazing community and have learned life skills that will take them far in life.  They have learned to recognize differences, needs and strengths in one another.  I know some of you had the opportunity in sit in on our compliment circles and see how they are able to lift each other, recognize service, and celebrate who they are.  I have seen the beauty of them becoming leaders and helping their fellow classmates.  Teacher have come to me and expressed how impressed they are in the friendships and teamwork they witness with this group.  These opportunities shape these young people for the better and I feel so fortunate to see this first hand.  I have shed many tears of joy in seeing them develop further into amazing people this past year.  It took a little longer than hoped because of our unique challenges, but we normalized into peaceful focused work cycles.  The academic progress these students have made is so exciting.  Upper el teachers are thrilled to hear how well prepared in large math these students from our class are for next year.  Our reading has soared!  One of the reading specialists was nearly in tears of joy as we were going over reading scores.  These kids have made great strides and it takes all of us as a team to make this happen.  Please, please, please, continue to have your children read regularly over the summer.  It is so important to keep this momentum going.

As this year comes to an end, I am already planning for next year and wanting to make you aware of some of the changes you will see happening.  This was a transition year for many of students and we thought it best not to change too many things at once.  One thing that will be different will be home projects.  Projects will have assigned due dates and guided topics.  They will continue to be due monthly.  We will also be having book shares monthly.  Our first home project for next fall will be a little different in nature, it will be a show and teach.  I will be sending further details, but you may want to be thinking with your student over the summer about something they enjoy doing and how they can teach that to the class.

I am trying to replace the sadness I feel in not seeing them over the summer with excitement for all the new things next year will bring.  I have grown alongside them this year and love that this journey will continue as we meet together again next fall.  The Montessori philosophy is beautiful in so many ways, but one particular strength I appreciate is that I as a teacher get to know and grow with your child for more than a year.  I love knowing that with our soon to be level 2’s and 3’s, that I have already developed a knowledge of who they are and can continue to grow in that knowledge in order to help them reach their potentials.  Often times, like in traditional school, by the time you really start to have a great feel for the child and their needs, the school year is already winding down and they move forward into the next class, only to start the process all over again.  I love that we have the ability to develop a deeper understanding of each unique child we teach.   I love them all and I celebrate how amazing each child is and thank you for allowing me to be apart of this great work.

We will be honoring the moving forward of our level 3’s into upper el on Tuesday.  The bridging ceremony was changed from 11:30 to 11:00 a.m.  Level 3 parents are invited to attend.  It will be a short ceremony, followed by a picnic lunch for level 3’s joining upper el.  Level 3’s please do not bring something to warm for lunch this day.  Level 1 and 2’s will be having lunch in the classroom.

Wednesday is crazy hair day.

Thursday is crazy sock day.

Friday is pajama day and yearbook signing.

Don’t forget that all week is dismissal at 1:00 p.m. in order to provide time for conferences.