I usually spend Thursdays in the elementary class so I had a really great day today. It was one of those geography explosion days. Early on in the morning a student shared with me that he had completed a map of all fifty states yesterday. I celebrated his accomplishment with him. Not long after, I noticed that he was considering doing the map again, so I suggested that instead of doing the states, he work on the capitals.

He gathered his materials and a partner and went to work. I also noticed two students working on the countries of Asia with the puzzle map material. A first grade student was working on the animals of the biomes of North America. He traced a bobcat and was ecstatic about finishing this task. He glowed with self-satisfaction. (Later in the day he revisited this lesson.)

A girl learned to do the new pin map of the constellations. She and I briefly discussed the Latin and English names and why the constellation known as the Giraffe is shaped the way it is.

In the afternoon several children chose pin maps of the world. That material allows children to learn the flag and capitals of countries with the same material. I heard some discussion about Katmandu and Singapore, so I knew that one pair was working on Asia. Another pair of students was working on another continent.

I am always amazed to see how hard children will push themselves to learn things when we don’t require the learning. A sure way to stifle enthusiasm is to require some sort of task. I can hardly imagine requiring that a student learn all fifty states in one day. What drudgery! Please do research on the mammals of North America and report back to me. Will a picture be required?

No, instead we allow children to learn as much as they want. This simple difference in attitude makes all the difference in the world – a world full of geography!

I read a “chapter book” to the elementary students every day. We finished The Wanderer just before Spring Break so I started a new book this week. The book I am reading now is a little gem by Avi.

The children realized immediately that this book had some illustrations, so already as I sit down to read, a gathering of chairs quietly appears around me. Many of the children choose to do some handwork while I read, too. The book I am reading to the older children is one that is not appropriate for younger students as the characters are talking animals. In fact, I only chose this book now since it is late in the year and I am fairly sure that even my youngest elementary students have now passed into the second plane of development.

Today I had a lesson in how intently the children were listening to the book. At an especially crucial point in the narrative there was an audible gasp from around the room, followed by a sigh of relief as the imminent danger to the protagonist passed.

But when I truly think about the level of engagement of the children, the impression that really stands out is one that we tend to take for granted in Montessori. I entered the elementary class at the time I normally read. Imagine a room of children doing a variety of activities. I did not ring a bell, or make a general announcement that I would be reading. All I did was take a chair to a place in the room that allows me to project my voice throughout the class. In less than a minute the room was ready for me to read to them. With no sense of disorder or overt activity. Just a calm transition from working to listening. I wish every parent could see what we see every day and don’t have to think twice about - the community of a Montessori class.

Since the break we have been concentrating on helping the students gain better skills at using a peaceful approach to life. Our culture gives them so much exposure to violence that they naturally start acquiring some of the mannerisms and phrases that they see and hear from the media. Those then creep into the school environment.

One of the things that we changed over the break was that the early childhood class now forms a group in a circle. This is more conducive to developing peaceful interactions. We also introduced a stuffed bear holding a heart that the children use to remind them to speak from the heart. It also helps them remember to take turns speaking and talking.

Another concept we have started working on is using giraffe talk and giraffe listening. The giraffe has the largest heart of the land animals, so it is a good metaphor for using our hearts to identify and communicate feelings. In the elementary we have incorporated four steps of giraffe talk: making observations without evaluations, expressing feelings, expressing needs, and making a request.

I am truly amazed at how powerful these first simple steps have been. But then, peace is a very powerful force in Montessori.

While I was in the kindergarten today, there was some intense interest in the chemicals in the leaves lesson. I’m not sure what prompted that, but the children certainly love those big words like anthocyanin and xanthophyll.

We brought some living botany in today. I finally had time over the break to pot my amaryllis bulbs. They were all growing this morning, but I noticed that one in particular had a flower bud starting. That is the one I took to school. The flowers are so large that it is easy for the children to really see the parts of the flower when in bloom.

While we were in Florida a rain storm blew some branches out of a live oak that was growing over our camp site. We brought home a small piece that had some lovely bromeliads growing from it. Carl shared it with the kindergarteners after I had left to read to the older students. We don’t often get to see living specimens like this one.

I love the realness of teaching in Montessori. All the picture material gives the children many, many details, but to see the real thing is a huge benefit that makes all the pictures come alive, even though there may not be real specimens for many of them. It gives fuel for the imagination.

Spring is certainly an exciting time to be sharing botany with the children.

Spring Break is coming to an end and I must admit that I am experiencing growing excitement about going back to school. I imagine many of the children are, too. The first week of the break we spent in Florida where I was visiting adult interns in their classes. I always come away from those visits with many good ideas (the students teaching the teacher!).

But this second week we have been spending more and more time at school getting ready to have the children return. There will be little improvements here and there and I am eager to see how the children will react. The warm weather gave Carl the opportunity to plant some new flowers in the flowerbeds. He spruced them up quite a bit. I considered saving some flowers for after the children came back, but instead I saved out some ornamental thyme for planting in the herb garden.

We put up a new bird feeder near the birdbath on the playground. That will provide some additional practical life for the children when it comes time to refill it.

I have been busy trying to eke out some space in the kitchen for the big easel so the elementary children will have a permanent place to paint. I’m not quite finished with that project, but I’m confident that it will be ready to go by Monday.

We worked out a way to sit in a circle during group time in the early childhood class. It will be interesting to see how the children react to that change. I’ve always known that it is far better to have the children sit in a circle instead of in rows facing the teacher. But our space for group has been limited. With a bit of moving, we will be able to fit all of our children AND the teacher in a circle, though. I can hardly wait.

Yes, there is definitely growing excitement about returning to school on Monday. I will be more than ready to see all the children.

What a wonderful Great Brain Fair we had this evening. In addition to the elementary students, there were several kindergarteners and their families. It is a busy, exciting noisy, fulfilling evening. There were ants, sharks, computers, brains, hearts, guinea pigs and many other interesting topics.

This is the culmination of many months of study. A parent tonight put it so well, “the intersection of interest and learning.” Some of these students have already chosen their topic for next year. Even a kindergartener confided in me that she knows what she is going to study.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if learning in all places were suffused with the thrill of these children? How pleasant. How perfectly possible in Montessori. the Great Brain Fair.

I have been doing a great deal of reading lately about encouraging peaceful classrooms. I got started on this several months ago as a result of an online Montessori discussion. All good Montessori teachers continue to search for areas of their own practice that can be improved. It wasn’t that I felt that our classrooms were not peaceful, but I wanted to get a better idea of how to better encourage peaceful interactions among the students.

My reading journey has taken me through several books and resources. Another set arrived yesterday from Montessori Services. I had actually read one of these books earlier, but gave my copy to my daughter while she was visiting. But this one book was so compelling that I wanted to read it again and have an extra copy to loan out to other teachers on the staff. This book, “Children Who are not Yet Peaceful,” is the voice of a master teacher who knows intuitively how to guide children to develop acceptance and concern for their fellow travelers on the journey through elementary school.

In addition to my extra copies of this book, two little gems by Marshall Rosenberg arrived. I read both of them last night and I’m going to buy extra parent copies of “Raising Children Compassionately.” This little book is one I want to be able to loan out to parents when they are looking for some advice on discipline. It only costs $5.95. I’ll put it on my list of recommended books when the catalogs from Montessori Services go out next fall. One cannot help but feel more peaceful after reading it.

I added a longer book by the same author and its companion workbook to the recommended books page of this site. Because this goal of peacefulness is so important to me in my own journey, I’m considering offering a parent workshop using those books next fall. Imagine! Peaceful families, peaceful classrooms, peaceful world.

I was not at school yesterday and as the children arrived at school today, I observed several interesting reactions from them. I had had my hair chopped off so it is now just slightly below my shoulders.

One student came into the classroom and didn’t say a word to me but smiled, and smiled, and smiled at me. Many told me how much they liked my hair. Carl told me later that one student did not recognize me. A parent said the same thing.

Many of the parents said that it was the first time they had seen me with my hair down, not realizing that it had been cut. Well, it is too short now for me to braid it the way they are all used to seeing it. Funny.

But LOL isn’t “lot’s of laughs.” No, LOL is for Locks of Love. All that hair that I cut off will be going to some child who has lost her (most likely since it is so long) hair due to chemotherapy. I certainly did not need all that hair and it was starting to turn a bit gray. At LOL they have to remove the gray before using the donated hair. By the time my hair grows out again, long enough to cut off enough to send, it will probably be too gray to use. It was one of those things I had been thinking about for a long time. I'm really glad I did this.

LOL

This week in the elementary we have seen the beginning of the yearly great brain presentations. These are the culmination of nearly a full year of study on topics that the students choose. It is a heady time as the students first give their presentations to the class as teachers of their peers, followed by the Great Brain Fair.

The normal routines of the classroom are somewhat disrupted for the individual presentations. This does not affect the elementary students very much. they are in a period of development that gives them the confidence to return to activity easily after a minor disruption (that does not mean that we should try to create disruptions).

Younger students, on the other hand, have a much higher need for regular routines that are not disrupted. That is one of the reasons that we try to keep our holiday celebrations more low key. There is less disruption of normalcy.

Today there was a very good example of how younger children have a hard time dealing with having the routine broken. One of the younger students had a sibling who was giving a Great Brain Presentation. On his way to the bathroom he saw his parents in the elementary class and wanted to join them. There was no problem with that and after the presentation was over he returned to the early childhood classroom without any fuss. But throughout the rest of the morning he was insecure and sad about missing his dad. The normal routine of farewell had been changed and it was hard for him to cope.

Such simple things can make such a huge impact. It is hard to know all the things that affect the way children feel. Montessori stressed that adults should take time to observe children carefully in order to learn what they need. Through their actions our students will reveal the secret of childhood.