The kindergarten and elementary students carved or painted their pumpkins for our annual pumpkin auction today. What a hoot it is getting those pumpkins ready in the morning. Some of the children just don’t want to get down and dirty with gourd guts! We help them cut the tops of their pumpkins if they want help. Then there is the long arduous process of scooping out the insides.

Once that is complete the children can carve their pumpkin faces or if they are in the kindergarten, they may choose to point the pumpkin instead. I never get a chance to see all of their creative endeavors until during the auction, but I am always amazed at the variety of pumpkin expressions.

I love the auction, even though it is “rigged” in that the parents have already sent their bids in and every child’s pumpkin will go home to the appropriate household. Even so, putting the pumpkins on the auction block and describing them with all their special features is a way that I can communicate to the children that each of them is unique and important. And how the children enjoy this event. There is cheering and applause each time the auctioneer announces, “Sold!”

And I am sold on the auction.

One of the big jobs after lunch is taking all the lunch boxes out to the hall and putting them on the shelf in the right place. The kindergarten students are proud of this responsibility. Today I returned from giving a talk at UT to find a proud student carting those lunch boxes out to hall. His mom and a friend and even his grandparents had arrived to take him home so I offered to help him with the last of the lunch boxes. He smiled up at me. “No,” he said. “I can do it myself.” I’m glad he took that responsibility seriously and gained so much pleasure from a job well done.

Now that the weather has turned cooler and children are wearing jackets to school, they have needed to learn how to be more independent in putting them on. We want the children to gain independence for their own self-confidence, but imagine 20 or so preschool children wanting help getting ready to go outside at one time.

There is a cool way for children to put on jackets that they can do all by themselves, but it looks a little strange to the uninitiated. First the child spreads the jacket on the floor with the neck or label at their toes (in other words, upside down). Then, bending over, they put their arms into the sleeves, stand up and flip that jacket right over their head. Voila! It’s on!

The children are absolutely delighted to be able to do this on their own. We have almost had squeals of delight in the hall this week as the students “flip” over their jackets.

It was another busy morning today and I looked around at 10:20 to see a class of busy bodies. There were two having a snack at the snack table. And a student was practicing pouring water from one container to another with a funnel. I had just given this lesson and I was delighted to see that it inspired the student. Teachers never know for sure whether a lesson will hit a chord with a student, so it is reassuring when we have a match.

One child was testing for magnetism while another watched. Watching lessons is an important way of learning. Many children gain confidence from observing others before attempting activities for themselves.

There was a student matching the odor bottles, and one crushing eggshells with the mortar and pestle. I made a note to add to the newsletter that we will need more eggshells. They are going fast! A child was making a solution of salt water from the science shelf. Nearby a student was counting shaped sticks into numbered slots, which is called the spindle box. In Montessori’s time actual spindles from spinning wheels were used.

There was a child learning sandpaper numbers as another one watched. It is unusual to see only one child having a lesson with the sandpaper letters or numbers. Someone else nearly always rushes in to get the benefit of seeing the lesson, too.

One student was practicing cutting strips of paper with prepared lines. Another was using the geometric cabinet with the second set of cards. And then there was a younger child using a small scoop to transfer little glass pieces from one bowl to another. The students who were not involved in a specific activity were sitting in conversation or looking for an interesting lesson to choose.

I’ve been busy over the past couple weekends assessing observations made by candidates for Montessori certification. It made me think a little about making some observations in my own classroom.

Here is a “snapshot” at 9:20 AM this morning. There was a student working on a booklet of “The Animals of South America.” Another student was doing the sink and float lesson. A kindergartener was grinding eggshells with a mortar and pestle while another was making a fall wreath from tissue paper glued to a small paper plate. One student was having snack while another was cleaning up after just completing snack. At the other end of the room another kindergartener was matching phonetic words to objects from a pink box, Yet another was practicing with the tying frame (and very proud of that success!). Two younger students were placing graded cylinders into their respective socket with the cylinder block lessons. One student was working with a teacher on learning the sand paper letters and another was building works with the movable alphabet. The rest of the eighteen students present today were engaged in quiet conversation or watching the lessons of others.

At 9:38 AM the classroom had a different look. The same student was working on “Animals of the South America.” Someone new was using the cylinder block. A student was sorting objects and another was sorting and folding socks. One student was matching tiddly wink-type counters to number cards. Two children were enjoying a conversation over snack (mmm-cheese and crackers today!). A student was building the pink tower on a rug on the floor while another was working on the brown stair nearby. The movable alphabet was still in use by the student who was working with it earlier and another kindergarten student was doing a critical thinking exercise with patterns.

A little later there is still a busy hum, but the lessons have changed. Except for the “Animals of South America.” That student is nearly finished with the task, but still working. Another student is learning letter sounds with the sandpaper letters. One is painting, and two are drawing with crayons. One student is testing objects for magnetism. The same kindergartener who had been grinding eggshells had returned to that lesson. Another was sifting flour. A student was practicing putting paper clips on bundles of paper next to another who is practicing with scissors. A younger student is doing the pouring lesson and there are two cleaning up from having snack. And of course, there are a few who are simply watching others or socializing.

It was another great day. I was really glad to see our evaluator from the Department of Education. His comment was that he enjoys seeing a classroom with so much independent activity. Yes. It really is something to see.

I looked up today to see two students practicing walking on the line. One was wearing the necklace that indicated she had chosen to simply walk carefully on the line as practice. The other had a small basket on her head to work on getting better at standing up straight and tall.

I love all the exercises for walking on the line. There are many, many different ways to practice. Children can carry a tray with a level on it, trying to keep the bubble in the center, or they can carry a small flag in front of them to help keep their eyes up. Another exercise in “grace and courtesy” is carrying a small bell without letting it ring. There are even more ways than those.

Simple things like learning to walk beautifully don’t usually enter our consciousness. For children it is delightful and fulfilling to practice walking on the line.

We have old tires on the playground that the children can use for building or climbing or whatever they want. It is amazing what activities the children can devise with such ordinary things. The younger children were busy today just piling the tires into towers and climbing up them to jump off. But the older students in the afternoon were making “constructions.” Their constructions involved tires balanced on end in a perfect line. They needed to work together as a team to be successful in their endeavors.

Tires are free. The play and learning they provide are priceless.

One morning this week a student arrived earlier than usual, even before any other students were here. His answer to this adventure was to select a dusting mitt and go to work. He dusted the entire classroom, checking the mitt every so often to see just how much dirt he had collected.

Children have a different view of work than adults do. Activity is normal for children. They see nothing different between work and play, because to them it is just activity. We adults are the ones who change that attitude in children. We think of work as something we HAVE to do, and recreation as what we WANT to do. Those who love their work are considered to be the lucky ones.

Slowly, over time, we give children the message that work is something that is unpleasant and play comes only after the work is done. Oh, to be like children who consider work pleasurable. If we can’t do that, we can at least help them retain their positive attitude. We can encourage them to continue choosing to do the work that they enjoy. We can even join them in their activity. We may be surprised to find that we, too, can enjoy work.

I took a moment today to really listen to the classroom. I could hear a few voices in regular conversation, and the normal hum of activity, but where was the noise?

This is one of the things that I find amazing about working in a Montessori classroom. You put 20 children together with 3 adults, stir in lots of movement, getting snack, carrying things around, choosing what you want and you are going to have a loud, chaotic room, right? But it isn’t that way at all.

It is definitely busy. And every so often a student is loud enough to hear over the general busy hum. But it is really mostly the adults that can be heard. In fact, when an adult comes into the classroom to speak to a teacher, it almost always makes the noise level rise because of the louder voices being used. We normally talk louder than we need to, and then the children must raise their voices, too.

When there is too much noise, the children have a harder time concentrating on their activities. Quiet voices are respectful of others.

Some of the parents have commented on the fact that their children are quieter at home now that they are used to using quiet voices at school.

Ahh! The sound of quiet!

I love the way we do lunch at school. Each child has a place with a place card set with a place mat, plate, glass, and cloth napkin. We teachers usually have six to eight children sitting with us at a large table. While the children are finishing up washing their hands, an adult might be going around serving milk or helping with lunch containers. Then we all sit down and enjoy a nice meal together.

One day last week, I sat down next to one of the young gentlemen in the class and he looked over with delight and gently rubbed my shoulder and said, “Oh, Aleta, you are sitting next to ME!” It was such a sweet gesture and filled with such innocent joy, that I was really touched.

We also had a guest for lunch last week, a grandmother who was caring for her grandson while the parents were out of town. She said that she learned so much during lunch, and well she might have. Folks are truly amazed at the calm and happy atmosphere with 20 or so folks sitting down to eat in a civilized fashion. There is an abundance of pleasantries, too. “Please pass the milk.” Or, may I have a spoon?” Every parent should take the time to visit us for lunch sometime. They might see some wonderful practices that they never knew their children could do. Even three year olds can pour their own milk when they want a refill. And if there is a spill, they simply get up and get the sponge to wipe it up. No tears, no recriminations, just a wonderful time, sharing a meal.