Spring Parent Night
This week our school had one of our two annual parent nights. This one is my personal favorite because the students are invited to come and show their parents around the classroom. It is always so much fun to get to see what the students want to share. My assistant and I were both laughing because some of our students are at school from 7am – 6pm and they all wanted to stay an extra hour to get to show their parents around the class. We had students building sentences, cutting carrots, sewing; you name it, I am sure that it was being done by a student. It never stops surprising me though how much my students love to work, which is a huge part of the Montessori method.
One of the reasons I personally love Montessori so much is because it teaches kids to enjoy learning. By learning at their own pace students don’t ever feel rushed into things or bored during the school day. I was telling a parent during the parent night that all of my materials can be made to become more or less challenging based on the child. For instance the life cycle of a frog puzzle is a definite favorite in my class for all age groups. While my three year olds may just do the puzzle, my older students will use that puzzle to tell the story of the frog’s life and may even label each stage with the moveable alphabet. In those few steps a student is able to take a science puzzle and turn it into a language work and possibly even a writing work.
While working with these kids I am able to see this type of growth with the same material all the time. Watching the children from year-to-year, I witness amazing growth by seeing what the child is able to do with the same material but a year later. Some growth happens as quickly as a work period while the material is out in the classroom. Getting to see this growth (both immediate and long-range) is one of the reasons I love to teach and enforces my self-confidence as a teacher.
It was truly rewarding to watch students share this growth with their parents during this special evening. I truly hope that you get the chance to visit in your child’s class and get to see their favorite works. I assure you they will blow you away with their abilities and knowledge.
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