Welcome to the new school year in our P1 classroom.  Every year is filled with the promise of new beginnings not only for our students and their parents, but also for the teachers.  One of the most interesting features of teaching is the complexion of the class and how it changes from year to year depending upon the children.

Because Montessori education is structured on a multi-age basis and a three-year cycle, we get to witness the profound growth our students experience from year to year.  It is amazing to know that our Kindergarten students (who are all of 5 years old) are considered the seasoned Montessori students.  We depend upon them to show our younger, newer friends the way to conduct themselves in the classroom.  We are continually impressed with the level of maturity our students show, especially when our expectations are clear.

Independence is the ultimate goal of any Montessori classroom, and there are numerous steps and reinforcements that must be done on a daily basis to establish this foundation.  Consistent process and repetition are key to building the muscle memory for a student to know what to do, and how to do it in a way that is effective for the individual child, and for the overall experience for the class as a whole.

For example, we ask that children put their work away when they are finished using it.  The work or job goes back in the same they place that they got it from, so that the material is ready for the next child to use.

We reinforce this lesson over and over again, until the children are able to do this independently and it becomes part of the process of the classroom.

Dr. Montessori began her work in the slums of Italy working with children who had never experienced school, let alone a school that was focused on communicating with the children in a practical natural way.  Her intent was to give her students an environment that was interesting, “sized for children,” and directly addressed their status as developing, individual people.

She revolutionized the perspective that these young children could learn academically along with developing their social skills to becoming productive, independent thinkers.  This is a tradition we continue in our classroom today.  

We look forward to you attending our Parent Orientation Night on Thursday, 9/8 at 5:00pm in room P2.  This is an important time for us to communicate practical and philosophical Montessori concepts and for you to get questions answered.  Thank you for making the time to attend!

Spanish lesson in food sorting.

Our PTO is hosting its first general meeting on Thursday, 9/15 at 8:45am in our multi purpose room, we encourage all to attend.   PTO movie night will be held on campus on Friday, 9/23 at 6-8pm and is a great time to meet new friends and catch up with old ones.

The FMS Book fair will be held Monday-Thursday the last week of September.

A great big thanks to Guillermo and his family for getting our school year off to a great start by providing delicious snacks and beautiful flowers for our classroom.