I have been debating the idea of creating a blog to share my love of the Montessori Philosophy and my amazing classroom, for a while now and I'm thrilled to have finally taken the leap!
My hope for this site is for it to be a peak into the beautiful world of Montessori! I take great pride in my work as a Montessori Teacher and am excited to share my amazing classroom with you.
When it came time to write this, my first post, I was overwhelmed. I have so much I want to share, so many amazing photos, capturing the essence of Montessori; many thanks to my amazing colleague Karolina! I had a very hard time deciding what to share and in the end decided to go with a small introduction to my magnificent class and students!
I hope you enjoy this peak into CASA B at River Valley School!
When you think of a Montessori classroom, what comes to mind?
Montessori is "following the child" no matter what!
Following the child no matter what their mood is, no matter what their abilities are, no matter what kind of day the child is having.
It means letting the child read a book in the Library.
It means helping a child snuggle up in the listening corner.
It means preparing a child's printing book!
It means doing what is necessary for that individual child at that time... and it is beautiful!
In the early years, we focus on developing gross and fine-motor skills, through working with the materials that Maria Montessori developed, as well as the use of everyday materials.
A true Montessori classroom is based around mutual respect, of both the students and the teacher .
We incorporate nature as much as possible into our classroom, helping to build a respect for nature and all living things.
The key to a successful classroom is Normalization and a Prepared Environment.
Normalization is not the process of conforming a child to be "normal" but the process of helping every child become a contributing member of our classroom community, by learning the classroom rules, routines and how to respect our classroom and peers. It is during this normalization process that we strive to help the children develop order, concentration, coordination and independence. This is not possible without a carefully prepared environment, which meets the needs of every child.
Lastly, we give our students the opportunity to express their creativity in age appropriate ways.
I hope you enjoyed my very first blog post! I will be posting again soon!
xo