“What says fff? That one? That one?” a boy guessed pointing to different letters from a beginning sound box, laid out on the felt mat. The teacher who was working with him pointed to each letter and asked him what sound each letter made. “Bbbbb. Ffff. Oh yeah!” the little boy exclaimed as he recognized the letter “f” on the mat. The teacher quietly reminded him to work slowly and observed him as he chose each item from the box labeled “bfkli” which indicates which l

A few weeks ago our classroom was excited to find a flying bug in our classroom. We were able to capture the bug when it landed on one of our friends. The bug, we discovered, was a Brown Marmorated Stink Bug. We put it in a bug friendly container and examined it with our magnifying glass. Later that day, one of our seedlings noticed a spider crawling on a curtain. We used our new bug- magnifying container to capture it and passed the bugs around at group time in the morning.

Each Monday, our classroom comes together at the end of the morning for a peace circle. Lights are dimmed, a candle is lit, songs are sung and lessons about peace are discussed. Recently, the children have been learning about meditation. For our first lesson, three vases of varying size filled with water were placed in front of the group. Soft music was playing in the background as the children were encouraged to relax their bodies as they focused on the music and the vases i

Each day the children mill about the Pre-Primary classroom, choosing works, working with friends or working independently. Many friendships are built and negotiated each day. A child approached a teacher and said that her friend kept walking away from her when she would try to talk him. “He yelled ‘stop following me!’” The girl’s eyes were filled with tears. The teacher went and found the other friend involved. She knelt down to listen to what he had to say about the con

The snow is finally here and our Seedlings are very excited! We have been waiting to use our new sleds and shovels ever since our “Critter Cabin” was closed for the winter. Our first day out in the snow proved to be challenging. Putting on gloves, hats, boots and snow pants is a lot to remember! The children have been working on dressing themselves and have been faced with the new challenge of walking with all of their gear on. Once outside, the children have enjoyed making s

“Help please,” said a child as he pointed to his container at the lunch table. Before a teacher could make her way over, another child proudly offered, “I can help you!” She carefully unlocked his container and handed it back to him. “Thank you,” he said. “You’re welcome,” she replied with a radiant smile. It is the special moments like these when we, as teachers, feel so incredibly proud. Grace and courtesy are a vital part of the Practical Life curriculum in the Montessori