Now that the children have gone off to their summer pursuits and summer has officially started with the advent of Memorial Day (and heat!), it is time for me to turn to other tasks.

Went to another school today to give the staff there an in-service presentation on art. In order to prepare for the presentation I had to collect lots of art activities and organize them so I could cover many things in two short hours. That is hard to do with art activities that take a long time to present. I really had to be organized.

Oh-oh! When I went into the storeroom to gather the things I wanted to use I was faced with a year’s worth of “dumping” things off that we were finished with. Major disorganization. So the first order of business was to get some things better organized and into appropriate storage boxes.

I’ve made a pretty good dent on the art materials. I hope I have time over the summer to get other things better organized, too. When we are in the throes of teaching it is difficult to find time to keep everything behind the scenes as organized as what children see in the classroom. But that is an on-going goal. Maybe this is the summer that my goal will be realized.

The end of the school year is always a bittersweet time for teachers. Our jobs can be exhausting. Children have a way of draining adults, but not necessarily in a bad way. It is simply that we give and give to these young people and eventually we find that the well is running a bit dry.

On the other hand, we receive rewards that are immeasurable. We see how the children have grown and developed under our care and that swells the heart. So while we are being drained, we are also being renewed.

On the last day of school, though, we must say our goodbyes. For most of the children it is only a temporary farewell. We will have them back after the summer. We will be amazed at how they have grown physically, and we can start a new year full of plans and new expectations.

Other children will be moving on. That is hard on us. Parents may not realize how much we are pained to say that last goodbye to the children who have become a part of our “family” at school. Even when we know that the children will likely come back for a visit, it will not be the same as having them with us every day to learn and grow. They are moving on to another arena in their lives and leaving us behind. We are thrilled to imagine the new horizons that they will traverse, but also sad that we will not be on the same journey with them.

Yes, this last day is bittersweet. I look forward to the change of pace in working with adults, but I will miss the children, too.

One of the ways we organize things for the children (and us) is to number the nap mats and covers. The cases where we store the covers and children’s blankets when the nap mats are not being used are also numbered. We then know which mats to put out each day depending on which children are absent.

It was my job to get the nap mats out today. The regular mats were needed, but not the number four mat. That was the nap mat that my granddaughter used last week while she was visiting. It hit me hard when I left it behind.

It was a busy, even hectic, week while she and her mother were here. But how I enjoyed their presence. Now that they are safely home, it seems oddly quiet at our house. Of course, there was the normal activity at school, which helped to mask their absence, until the number four nap mat.

Guest Post from Meagan Ledendecker
<http://www.berkshiremontessori.org/>

This week my daughter and I are in Tennessee spending time in my parents' Montessori school. One of my motivations for this trip was to acclimate my daughter to the expectations of a Montessori environment, as well as to being in the classroom with me as a teacher.

Yesterday, as we sat down to the community lunch, Willow looked worriedly at her empty plate and asked, "Where is my lunch?" I pointed out that her lunch box was on the floor next to her chair. The rest of the children were opening their lunch containers and starting to eat. "But my teachers always put out my food," bemoaned Willow. At her current child care facility the teachers do a lot for the children. It's a very loving place, but the expectations are a lot different than those of a Montessori classroom. In Montessori, children have much more responsibility for their environment, including taking out their own food. As a result, children develop a wonderful confidence in their abilities.

Today while eating at a table with six children and one of the teachers, I was overcome with the joy of the mealtime experience. The eight of us were engaged in pleasant and polite conversation as we ate. I really enjoyed talking with the children and as each person finished eating, she or he was responsible for cleaning up – which includes everything from scraping the plate and wiping the placemat, to sweeping the floor and putting away a namecard. These children are compentent and confident . . . and it shows.

I'm looking forward to our community lunches at The Montessori School of the Berkshires – and to when we can have our own lunch guests!

For a long time this year I had been trying to get a new lesson ready to share with the older children. When I think back on all the preparation time that it took I could feel like it wasn’t worth it, but this lesson definitely was.

It started last fall. I knew that I had some cards with pictorial directions for tying knots of different kinds that lead up to being able to do finger chains. I had had them ever since my own daughter was little, even before we moved into the building we are in now. But I simply could not find them. Several times I hunted. When preparation time is limited, a simple set back like that may be enough to nix the whole process, which it did for much of the year.

In the mean time, though, I had bought a very special kind of yarn that I knew the children would enjoy. I had also devised a way to have the yarn precut and ready for the children to use. They could even choose the color they wanted. This was a major step.

But still there were no pictures for them to follow. This procedure is complex enough that even with a presentation from an adult, they would need to have the picture directions for reference. Finally, last week I took out the yarn, did each step of the procedure and drew the pictures to accompany them. Then I had to copy, mount and laminate the materials. Finally we were ready to roll.

But after giving the lesson to a couple of the children I realized that we needed an additional picture in the steps to make it easier for the children to be successful. Back to the drawing board! Literally.

All this work just so children could make finger crocheted bracelets. Was it worth it? Absolutely. The children are thrilled. And judging by the reactions of the parents, they are truly impressed that their children can do something so complex. Another important factor is that the children are gaining a huge amount of self confidence from creating these pretty little bracelets.

And to think that in many classrooms all over the country art is being dropped because it isn’t considered important. Sad…

I began the thread about second generation Montessori teachers in my last post. It seems to me that teachers who themselves grew up in Montessori environments would bring a different quality to their experience as Montessori adults.

During training sessions adults often comment about fleeting memories they have of materials as they are practicing with them. This week as my daughter was looking in the files of lesson originals she found some originals of math tables that she had used as a child. She said that the memories were very strong and vivid (and that she “loved” using them).

It is easy to imagine that individuals who have grown up in Montessori, experiencing the joy of learning over many years will understand the dynamic of the classroom better than those who have only learned about it through their adult experiences. As Montessori classrooms become more and more populated with these second generation teachers, I can see the quality of Montessori education getting even better than it already is.

It isn’t that we are attempting to create a self-replicating educational method. The truth is, though, that for some of us Montessori becomes a way of thinking that affects most aspects of our lives. And even for children who don’t go on to become Montessori teachers themselves, the Montessori experience is often life changing in a very positive way. At the very least, we hope that children will keep that love of learning that will see in them. If we can achieve that, then I consider our efforts successful. As long as the students leave us loving to learn, then they will continue to learn even without us. We want to become unnecessary because the children have become self-actualized.

And it along the way we raise some second generation Montessorians, well, all the better.

This week we have some very special (to me) visitors in the classroom. My daughter and granddaughter are visiting this week. Since my daughter will be opening a Montessori school where she lives in Massachusetts <berkshiremontessori.org>, this is an opportunity for her to take time absorbing some of the routines of the classroom. It also gives her a chance to have her own daughter be in the classroom with her to get accustomed to having her mom be a teacher in addition to a mom.

I really admire the work my daughter has put into opening her school. All those years ago when I was embarking on the same journey, I did not have such a clear vision and plan. Looking back, I realize that I was incredibly fortunate to be able to learn along the way.

I did have a wonderful mentor, Jane Dutcher. Jane was my trainer for my early childhood Montessori diploma. Knowing that Jane (Mrs. Dutcher to me then) believed in me made an incredible difference. Jane had and still has a huge impact on me. We continue to be close.

But it is not the same as seeing one’s own child embark on the same career that has been so important to your own life.

And there is another layer to the idea of a child who has a parent who as a Montessori teacher who then goes on to become a Montessori teacher. In all careers there are children who follow in the footsteps of their parents. The difference with Montessori is that these children turned adults grew up within Montessori classrooms. I call this second generation Montessorians.

As a teacher educator as well as a classroom teacher, I am seeing more and more of this phenomenon. And I hear from other adult educators that they, too, are getting more former Montessori students in their adult Montessori education classes. More on this later…

In the meantime, I’m enjoying the special guests this week.

One of the lessons that we introduced into the classroom recently was doing finger crochet. This is a very difficult lesson, but the older children have really been sticking with it. They essentially do a crochet chain without a hook. We used to have a nice diagram of the steps, but somehow it has gotten lost over the years. I had to draw up a new one by doing each step and drawing what it looked like. Unfortunately, I left out a drawing that would have made the process easier. So I got that fixed on Wednesday. Things are going a bit smoother with the lesson now!

In an earlier post I mentioned the student who was on a mission. This morning she informed me that she had another “plan” for today. That was early in the morning. I asked her if her plan included time for me to teach her any new lessons. “Perhaps!” was her reply. We decided that right then would be a good time to do something new together. At the conclusion of my presentation she said that if time allowed, she would include doing the new activity in her plan for today!

Another lesson I taught today was building the Roman arch. This lesson ties building with blocks to an historical development in architecture. One of the fun things about it is that one must go into the elementary classroom to get it. This student actually chose to practice with the lesson immediately after my presentation. Good! That means I really did choose appropriately for her.

Another fellow had stacks of unfinished papers. For him it is often more thrilling to start things than finish them! But he worked very, very hard today to get all those bits finished up. One of them was a problem card for addition with the golden beads. He did two more problems after completing that one. He was so pleased with himself at the end of the morning. I could tell that he was experiencing some well-deserved self esteem from his morning of concentration.

One of the really good parts of today was that every student was here. That meant that all the children were able to take their Mother’s Day gifts home with them. None of those special gifts will be arriving in the hands of the recipients a day late as often happens. The children were all smiles as they devised strategies to keep the gifts a surprise until Sunday. The younger ones were just delighted to hand them over right away. But it was still delightful for moms, children, and us.

It really hit me today haw close we are to the end of school. That is a scary thought in some ways. I have so many new lessons I want to get into the classroom. Slow down. The year cannot be almost over!

Today was Allison's last day for this school year. We are really going to miss her! But UT is finished and students had to vacate the dorms by today. She actually moved all her things home over the weekend but "camped out" at the dorm the past two days so she could help us out. It is really wonderful to have such a feeling of support within the staff.

Another indicator that school is coming to an end is the work that the elementary students are doing to prepare for the program they will give on the last day. They have been very busy with painting and research and other tasks to get their international program ready. The kindergarteners will do a little bit on one country as a group. This will be a very different type of end-of-year- program, but I'm looking forward to it.

On the other hand, I always get a bit choked up during that last day of school. Children will be moving on. That is part of the pain of being a teacher. I hope they will come back to visit, so we will know that they remember us. We will remember them.

I spent a good part of Saturday creating a school Web site. It was quite a task, but overall I'm fairly pleased with the effort. There were other things that I should have been doing, but once I got started, I just kept going.

I have registeered for a domain name, but it is not active yet. In the meantime, folks can visit <http://home.earthlink.net/~aletaledendecker/newhorizonmontessorischool/>

That is such a long URL that no one will be able to remember it. The domain will be www.newhorizonmontessori.org. Keep trying that link and soon you will be able to reach us that way.

I have a form for folks to sign up for an electronic newsletter. I'm trying to find ways to make it easier for parents to find out what their children are doing at school. I think that is pretty exciting. I hope parents do, too.

Each day we keep track of the new presentations and the type we have given each child. That way we know that no children fall between the cracks, so to speak. It was a busy morning today, as usual. At one point I scanned through our presentations list and made note of those children who still had not had a new presentation. There was a kindergarten girl still lacking a lesson.

She was busy on her own mission, though. All morning she had been practicing her cursive writing in as many ways as she could find. And she said to me at one point that she was going to work on biomes (and maybe finish her animals of the continents that she had previously started) as soon as she was finished with her writing.

Later she was composing stories, so when she took one to her folder I approached her and said that there was something new I would like to teach her if she had the time. “I prefer not right now,” she replied and resumed her own agenda.

Although I enjoy teaching new things, I was truly thrilled that this student was more interested in pursuing her mission than doing something new with me.

I think this really illustrates one of the fundamental differences between Montessori education and traditional classrooms. In Montessori the focus is on each individual child. The adults adjust plans to meet the needs of the children. In traditional classrooms teaching is driven by the curriculum. Those children who don’t fit are often left behind, bored, or labeled.

The Montessori method is not only child-friendly, it is teacher-friendly, too. Those of us who are fortunate enough to work in Montessori classrooms are happy to be there. One might say that we are on a mission, too.

We did the next step of our Mother’s Day projects in the early childhood classroom today. The children will be giving their moms potted plants. We have been working on planting the seeds for a while now and those are growing well. Today we did the pots.

I had been preparing for the children to paint the pots with sponges in different colors and I even cut the sponges into shapes to use. This morning, though, when I was getting the paint out, it occurred to me that hand prints would be much more special.

I was really astounded at how easy it was to get all the pots finished this morning. Because we were getting paint on our hands, I set up a basin of soapy water next to our work area so the children could rinse off without having to go to the sink. For those who don’t like getting messy, that was a great help.

Those pots look wonderful. I know the moms are going to love them. I kind of wish I had a child in the class so I could get one.

In the elementary the children are doing something different, but equally special. We purchased some alabaster with predrilled holes. The students are carving alabaster pendants for their moms. Each one will be a unique work of art. These are going to be beautiful, as well. And I wish I had a child in that classroom, too.

So all you moms out there, we want to give you a hand.

I love to see the kindergarten students learn math. There are many, many materials that we use to help them with the basic concepts. Golden beads are used to teach the idea behind all the operations, but once the children have done the golden beads, we have a variety of materials for learning the math facts.

I have been introducing those materials for addition and multiplication lately. For any of these activities we start by getting the paper and appropriate pencils for recording the work. Those are the same no matter what material or operation we are doing.

It has been amusing to invite children and say, “We will need a regular pencil and a red pencil,” and hear their immediate response. “I already know that lesson,” they say. But I simply assure them that we are going to learn something new. When we do a new material for addition, or learn to multiply instead of add, they are delighted. They work for long periods of time on these tables.

Then there is also what we call the cascade effect. Once a child is working on a math table, such as the 6x table, several other children get out math fact work, too. Then the classroom gets fairly quiet, because so many students are concentrating.

Children really do love to learn. And we love to watch them.

Yesterday was a gorgeous May Day. Last week there were forecasts of rain for the day, and I was worried that we were going to get rained out. But the day could not have been more beautiful. In addition to a perfectly clear blue sky, the temperature was mild and pleasant. There have been some May Days that were sweltering!

The kindergarten and elementary students went out in the morning while it was still fairly chilly to practice weaving the ribbons. We weren’t too successful, but I assured the children that perfection wasn’t really an issue. While I was gone, they had practiced with the kindergarteners all going one way and the elementary all going the opposite direction. That meant that kindergarteners only had other kindergarteners to follow. Hmmmm. I wasn’t going to mix them up at this late date, though. It might have worked better to alternate younger and older students.

They also had only practiced with going in one direction. I usually teach them how to go in both directions so they can weave the ribbons and then unweave them. But my having to be gone so much this year (and T-CAPS last week) really affected practice time. So I knew we would only be weaving the ribbons in one direction.

The early childhood class released all six butterflies yesterday morning, too. That was a squealing delight! Some of the butterflies landed on children. Excitement was running very high. What a wonderful experience. The butterflies flew around where the children could see them for a while and then were off to find their special plants.

After lunch May Day activities really cranked up for the kindergarten and elementary students. First we made our May baskets. All the kindergarteners had learned how to do paper weaving, so they were well prepared for making the baskets.

Then we filled the baskets with flowers of all types. Many of the children had brought flowers from home (as did I). We lined the baskets with ivy leaves from the bank out back.

Then we had one final rehearsal for the May Pole Dance. Oh dear. We were still having great difficulty getting it to go very well. But instead of worrying about it, I told the children to go out into the playground and have some fun before the parents arrived. But then it truly was time to perform the dance. As Rebecca distributed the ribbons to the children, I explained the background of the May Day celebration to the gathering of families. Then it was time to go.

And they did the whole dance! How thrilled they were. There before their eyes was a pole of perfectly woven ribbons! It truly amazes me that the children seem to gather all their ability every year to perform that intricate dance with such beauty. I was very pleased for them all.