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What happens next...

What happens next...

While this is the time of year when many parents and schools are preparing for their Fall registrations, when new combinations of Montessori communities are being imagined and new classrooms designed. But not all families have the option of keeping their children in Montessori throughout their school experiences. For them, this time of year may be filled with anticipation and anxiety: What will happen next? In the world we hope to build, all children will experience learning

Settling In: Hitting the Pace in Elementary

Settling In: Hitting the Pace in Elementary

Elementary learners are old hat at school. They know the routines. They can remember events from year to year and they have the language to be able to describe complicated ideas more accurately than when they were younger. The early days of the year, then, are typically pretty straight-forward. If there are problems, the children identify them and they seek to resolve them sooner than later. So, while parents of children in the younger classes may still be dealing with transi

Teacher Talk: Settling In

Teacher Talk: Settling In

You've made it through those first few weeks, the crying children, the crying parents, the crying teachers at the end of exhausting days. You've introduced new materials with grace and welcoming. The new songs are being sung with more voices now. Lunch seems a little more like a meal and less like a food fight than it did at first. Moving right along... For many of us, these are sweet days. The children are starting to feel more at home, and the routines for which you've so c

Separation Stress in Infant & Toddler

Separation Stress in Infant & Toddler

No one wants to see their child sad, especially not at those transition moments when you’re leaving for work or saying goodbye at the classroom door. And even when you trust your child’s classroom and know that your little one will be cared for and nurtured in your absence, it’s heart-wrenching to hear that cry and know it’s because you’re leaving. Separation stress usually appears for infants at about eight months or so, when their cognitive development has developed to unde

The Honeymoon Period

The Honeymoon Period

Change is hard, and transitions to new spaces often come with a range of unexpected emotions. Montessori teachers are prepared for the unpredictability of the first few weeks of the year. You’ll see that in the simpler routines and the repeated, gentle reminders to children as they learn how to engage in their new classroom spaces. There may be fewer materials on the shelf, or there may be more explicit language from teachers to children directing them to the habits of the cl

Montessori in the Wild: Parenting in Unpredictable Circumstances

Montessori in the Wild: Parenting in Unpredictable Circumstances

For many children, this is a time of new spaces, the school year ending and a list of new summer camps or travel to take its place. And while nostalgia might suggest that these are relaxing days for families, with images of backyard lightning bug parties and fun days at the beach, in truth, the summer months are often far more challenging than we hope they'll be. Remember these hints to make the special events of summer a little more child-friendly: Don't expect predictable b

Teacher Talk: How to Say Goodbye

Teacher Talk: How to Say Goodbye

You know all the routines, the end-of-school traditions that help to bookend the year your classroom community has spent together, the gardens planted or songs sung, the parents welcomed in and the children to whom you say goodbye. But what about when the transition is yours, when you are ending not just a school year, but your time at a school. Whether it's retirement or a new adventure or a professional realignment, leaving a school is a complicated and delicate process. Th

How to Say Goodbye: Third Plane 12-18

How to Say Goodbye: Third Plane 12-18

The end of the school year for most Montessori adolescents is a mix of emotions. On the one hand, these are people whose development typically includes an understanding of time, loss, and endings. They appreciate what it means to end one school year and they are astute in their ability to name their own emotional response and to talk through the challenges that saying goodbye can bring. At the same time, because most Montessori schools don't continue through High School (yet!

How to Say Goodbye: Second Plane 6-12

How to Say Goodbye: Second Plane 6-12

Whether or not you've mentioned it yet, Elementary aged children are often already aware of the upcoming end of the school year. They may have read books in which one school year ends and another begins, or learned about it from other children, or other sources. Children in the Second Plane are not only capable of understanding the importance of big life changes... they appreciate them in an especially personal way. Focused on group experiences and attentive to their audience

How to Say Goodbye: First Plane 3-6

How to Say Goodbye: First Plane 3-6

It's time for the end of the school year celebration, teacher thank-you's and summer plans. For teachers and parents, this is a time of year that feels chaotic: thinking ahead to next year, trying to be sure that everyone who supported or cared for the children this year is appropriately acknowledged, making sure everything you wanted to accomplish gets done in the few last weeks of the year. But for the children, especially children in the First Plane of development with its

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