I am very fortunate in that I have the opportunity to visit other schools on a regular basis. I enjoy these visits for a number of reasons. No matter where I go, or how often I have been to the same classroom, I always return with ideas that I can use in my own classroom.

Today I was visiting at another school and returned armed with all sorts of ideas. We had marvelous weather today and the children at the classroom I was visiting had access to the yard outside their room. Lots was going on outside. It got the wheels turning in my head of things we can do to make our outdoor environment more readily available to the children. Some things will be very easy to do! And I also gleaned some ideas of “lessons” that we can create for children to use outside.

The best things was that once I started thinking along those lines, I kept coming up with more ideas! The creative juices were really flowing.

On Friday afternoons the kindergarteners play checkers or chess or engage in other critical thinking activities. I was on duty for that today, so we took our game boards outside and played away in the fresh air. What a treat. Children really do need to be outdoors and get fresh air.

Although I enjoy going to other schools, I enjoy coming back and using those ideas even more. I’m imagining all sorts of things that we can do.

A child came up to me today and said, “I scrubbed tables and I dusted all the shelves. Then I got the dust mop and cleaned under all the cabinets. I cleaned the whole room all by myself.” I had noticed this spurt of industry because I had a lesson in mind to present to this student but could not find a moment to squeeze it in.

I think the satisfaction that the child felt over the long and thorough work completed far outweighed any insights that I could have shared this morning. That is the secret of childhood!

Towards the end of the arrival period this morning it struck me that the classroom was very quiet. Indeed, it was unusually busy for so early. On most days children arrive and may spend a few minutes socializing with friends or looking out the windows, or merely wandering a bit before settling into chosen activities. But today was different.

There was one child looking out the window waiting for her father to return to his car after dropping her off. She wanted to wave to him. There was one other child watching a lesson. Two students were walking on the line, one with a basket on his head and the other trying not to let a bead hanging from a cord move as he walked. A child was sorting and folding socks, and another was using the screwdriver lesson. One child was using a hole punch on colored paper.

Besides those children doing practical life or art lessons, there were two children reading phonetic word lists, one reading phonetic word booklets and one matching non-phonetic word cards to matching pictures. Over the next few minutes the child reading the phonetic word booklet completed the task and chose to do a design with the insets. One of the children reading a phonetic word list went on to read the phonetic secrets.

Two children were working with the dinosaur puzzles and one was doing the puzzle of North America. A child was making a booklet of the parts of the hermit crab. And there was one student matching the sound cylinders. No wonder it was so quiet! Everyone was very busy so early in the morning!

How exciting it was to have arrival duty today as the children came back to school after a two-week break! They were all smiles and anticipation. In the early childhood classroom we even had a visitor who could not get over the happy hum of industry observed on the first day back at school.

For us, though, it is not uncommon to see this kind of response to a lengthy absence. The children love to learn. They enjoy the company of their peers and they bask in the atmosphere of respect and responsibility.

Even we adults were happy to be back. Spending time with young learners is truly the fountain of youth! Although teaching can be tiring, the rewards are priceless. Yes, it is good to be back from Spring Break!

We returned from Massachusetts yesterday, where our daughter lives. She is in the process of opening a Montessori school where she lives in the Berkshires. (http://www.berkshiremontessori.org/). I was really awestruck by all she has done and is doing to prepare for the September opening of the school.

For one thing, she has been holding community information meetings to help interested families learn more about the Montessori method of education. We have been helping her gather Montessori materials for the school. She has found a great location. Even though it will need some renovation work, they have plans from an architect already for making those improvements.

While we were visiting, though, she held a pot-luck dinner for families to who are interested to come together to meet each other and start building a community among themselves. It was an awesome evening. In addition to the wonderful dishes brought by folks, there was interesting conversation, activities for the children, and a warm friendliness throughout the room.

I hope that the families who are embarking on this journey have some glimmer of how important Montessori will be for them. They don’t know yet, because they haven’t experienced having their children attend, but choosing Montessori will enrich their lives beyond the classroom.

One of the comments that comes back to us over and over again, is that families are stronger and happier once their children (and they) become part of the Montessori experience. Children develop more empathy, more independence, more awareness of the world around them. They gain self-assurance and the ability to communicate well with others. Often times when groups of Montessori children are out in public, strangers ask about them because they stand out. They stand out because they are socially aware and happy.

I remember an over-night trip I took with a group of elementary students. We were eating breakfast at a restaurant when a group of adults arrived. I saw a couple of them roll their eyes when they realized that there was a group of school children eating in the same room. But as we were leaving, one of the group called me over. She wanted to know where we were from and what school we were. She was a teacher herself (as were all the other adults). They could not get over how polite the children were with one another and how composed and attentive they were. They were also astounded that our group of children was pleasant to be around.

I think that is the underlying benefit that parents will ultimately reap. They will enjoy being around their children. This year, a parent came to me soon after school started. She had a kindergarten-aged child who had just started attending Montessori this year. She wanted to share with me that there wasn’t very much yelling at home any more. And it was that the whole family was yelling less. She was pleased for her child, but also pleased for her whole family.

This is what those families in Massachusetts don’t realize yet. They are all going to benefit when their children attend Montessori. They are going to be glad that they made this commitment.

As a parent who raised a Montessori child who wants to continue in my footsteps, I am immeasurably proud. But I am even more thankful that the benefits of Montessori will ripple out though another generation. It is awesome.

Children often plan their Great Brain projects far in advance. In fact, once the fair is over many of the elementary children are thinking about what they want to study the next year.

We invite the kindergarten students to come to the fair with their parents so they can get a taste of what lies ahead for them. They are usually very excited. Children in their first year of elementary most often choose some kind of animal to study.

One kindergarten child was having a great time at the fair Friday night. I said to her that she could be getting some ideas about what she might want to do next year when she is in the elementary class. “I already know what I’m going to do my Great Brain on,” she told me. “I’m going to study molecules!”

I’m sure she will. And she will have access to all the necessary materials in the elementary to help her learn all she can.

Each year our elementary students participate in a research project that culminates in a Great Brain Fair. The students choose a topic in which they have an abiding interest. Throughout the year they do extensive research on their topic. In late February and early March each child presents their project to the rest of the class. Finally we turn the class into a mini museum with all the projects on display for the Great Brain Fair.

I love the Fair and the presentations that precede it. The students are visibly proud of the extent of their knowledge on their subjects. Some make models to demonstrate concepts (like the working geyser for the geothermal energy display or the helicopters for the project on how helicopters fly), others work through trial and error activities (like the project on clocks where the student created candle clocks by burning different kinds of candles). One student had researched crystals and had made a multitude of “man made crystals” that were on display.

A parent was sharing with me the progress her child has made in giving presentations over the years. She was very proud.

One of the things that really struck me last night was the genuine interest that parents gave to projects by children in other families. The sense of community and caring was truly touching. It was a wonderful evening. I hope everyone else enjoyed it as much as I did.

I brought a pineapple to school yesterday. During group we looked at the pineapple and compared it to the one that we have growing in the classroom (the new and improved model). Then I used my pineapple tool to remove the flesh. The students thought that was so cool. Britton was impressed, too!

We had the fresh pineapple for snack today. Yum. The children finished with snack extra early today. What a treat it was!

Montessori did careful observation of her classrooms and recognized that there was a definite pattern to the work cycle. Typically the morning stays fairly busy with a period of “false fatigue” around 10:30 AM followed by a spurt of higher-level work that brings the morning to a close. As classrooms become more and more “normalized” the period of false fatigue comes later or is shorter and finally disappears.

Today I happened to look up at 10:30 and realized that the room was quite busy. There was no indication of false fatigue yet. One child was making a booklet of insets. Another was working on sorting buttons using a Venn diagram. A four year old was working with the cards and counters. Another was in the reading corner with a book. One child was matching all the sounds of the alphabet with objects that started with those sounds while a younger child watched.

A child was stringing beads. All three botany puzzles were in use with two children observing. A child was building the color wheel with the third box of the color tablets. Another child was matching very small patterns of pictures in a perception lesson and another was doing the lark’s head knot lesson. One child was in the rest room and two were sitting in conversation.

But a few minutes later, at 10:50 AM, there were definite signs of false fatigue. Only seven children were doing lessons and eight were in conversation. The others were either watching or looking for an activity.

The key for teachers during these restless times is to stay out of the picture. The natural tendency is for adults to try to fix things. Many times teachers will try to get the room settled down by teaching lessons or directing children to specific work. Instead it is important to simply “weather the storm.” We expedite that process by having a teacher out of the room at this time. That leaves fewer adults to stir the pot.

What happened today? At 11:00 AM there were twelve children concentrating on lessons, four in conversation and one watching. The others were in the process of choosing something to do for themselves. Our period of false fatigue was very short today. Soon, I’m sure, it will be gone.

This weekend Carl and I were able to attend a meeting of the newly formed East Tennessee Montessori Community, a loose confederation of Montessori Schools in the area.

As a group we are planning on having a booth at the Earth Day Fair in Knoxville on April 22. This collaboration is a wonderful opportunity for area schools to gather together to help educate the public about what we do as Montessori Schools.

I’m hoping parents from new Horizon will visit us there, too. We hope to have a mini classroom with some of our favorite Earth Day friendly lessons available. I appreciate that Jan Goddard got the ball rolling on this process.

The amaryllis finally bloomed. The children have been so excited about watching it grow. There were two full blooms open today with two more about to open.

The nice thing about amaryllis blooms is that the parts of the flower are so easy to see. During group today I got out the lesson that had the parts of the flower cards and shared them along with the blooms of the amaryllis. We looked at the pistil, the stamen, petals, and calyx. Some pollen had fallen from the stamen and I dusted the pistil with it.

Spring is such an exciting time to teach. Yesterday Carl took the kindergarten students out on a “field trip” around the property looking for things that were budding out. They found a hickory nut that had sprouted and brought it into the classroom and potted it.

The pineapple top that we planted last week isn’t going to make it. I knew I did not let it season long enough before bringing it in to the classroom! I just got over-eager. I cut a new one tonight, though, and will plant it over the weekend to replace the other one. Maybe the kids will not notice the switch!

We have a lesson that helps children learn the symbols used on weather maps. This morning a student had correctly matched and named about 10 of these symbols. They are quite abstract. There are horizontal lines for ice, diagonal lines for rain, etc.

After going over these, we got out today’s weather map from the paper. It was delightful to see an immediate application of this new knowledge to the real world. Some of the symbols used in the local paper were actually slightly different from those in our lesson, but that did not seem to be a difficulty for the student.