December 1, 2017 | Primary 1

Constructing the Leaning Tower of Pisa

As we approach the holiday season it is quite easy to be swept up in the hustle and bustle of activities, and to loose touch with the quiet routine of daily life. In the classroom, we keep routine sacred. It not only gives us the guidelines for conducting a productive day, it brings a sense of security to our students because they know what to expect. They also understand their role in this process.

Independence and movement in the classroom depends directly on the ability of our students to work respectfully with the materials, and then return the work purposefully to its proper place. When students forget or ignore this part of the routine, we gently and clearly remind them of this procedure to ensure that materials are ready for other friends to use.

The underlying expectation in our classroom is everything has its place and materials need to be ready for other children to use them.

This readiness allows the whole room to function in an organic way as the children are able to reproduce lessons they were given by a teacher. In the repetition of the lesson, they move from the initial understanding of the concepts to a mastery level of utilizing the materials.

We enjoyed a follow up evening to the parent orientation and appreciate all of our parents who attended. Parenting is a lifelong journey filled with a full range of human emotions. We can take wisdom from many places including “The Parent’s Tao Te Ching.” Here is a quote that has application for us:

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