Classroom 4 - October 2019

Hello from classroom four! We are having a wonderful time helping guide the children through the beginning of the year. It’s been wonderful to see the children getting to know each other and watch as they help to develop the 2019 classroom four community. There have been many wonderful moments I’ve witnessed so far; Children making their own puzzle or counting the chains, a three year old watching a five year old working and the excitement in their eyes when they get to take the work off the shelf. The children have also been working hard on remembering the ground rules, such as getting a rug out to put your work on, that there are one person works and two person works, pushing your chair in after using it, and waiting for a friend to finish a work before using it. In a Montessori classroom we call this normalization.

Normalization describes the process that happens in a Montessori classroom, where young children learn to focus and concentrate for sustained periods of time, while deriving self-satisfaction from their work. Dr. Montessori stated that there are four characteristics that show that normalization is happening. LOVE OF WORK- Love of work includes the ability to choose work freely and to find serenity and joy in work. CONCENTRATION- To help such development, it is not enough to provide objects chosen at random, but we have to organize a world of progressive interest. SELF-DISCIPLINE- It is the ability to carry through what he has begun. The children in our schools choose their work freely, and show this power unmistakably. They practice it daily for years. SOCIALIBILITY- There is only one specimen of each object, and if a piece is in use when another child wants it, the latter if he is normalized will wait for it to be released. Important social qualities derive from this. The child comes to see that he must respect the work of others, not because someone has said he must, but because this is a reality that he meets in his daily experience. (Maria Montessori- Absorbent Mind).

Some questions to ask your children. What was your favorite part of the day? Who did you play with on the playground? If so, what game? Who sits at your lunch table? What did your friends have on their lunch plates? This will help them remember names thus helping communication in the classroom.

Looking forward to a wonderful year!

David