There are a lot of terms used in Montessori theory that are not used in other preschool educational theories. It's a whole new language that can take time to digest. Eventually, the theories connect, everything meshes together, and a new vision of the child can be seen.

Normalization in the Montessori Environment

         Lately, our class has been focusing on the concept of what it means to live within a community-- treating our environment and others with the utmost respect and kindness.  A large part of cultivating this culture of mindfulness among young children starts with emotional awareness.  Why emotional awareness?  It's important that children learn to process, regulate, and express their emotions in healthy ways so that they can engage with others and their environment in healthy ways as well. 

       I wanted to briefly touch on the importance of established routines.  As most of you know, established routines are vitally important to your child's sense of security. Often, when children have something on their minds or are concerned about "what happens next," they are too preoccupied to focus on the task at hand. When they can routinely predict what's going to happen next, children can dedicate more energy and concentration to their current work because they are not anticipating any surprises.

There's a beautiful blog post by Seth D. Webb, the Instructional Leader for the Upper Elementary Department at Free Horizon Montessori, a charter public school in Golden, Colorado, regarding the value of children-centered learning. He gives a beautiful example of what lies underneath the children's work and their more significant connection to their environment and how we, adults, may only perceive what is above the surface, which is easier to see. His post brings awareness to the critical thinking of an excelled child.

As some of you noticed and will notice in the next few weeks, we are working hard on our gardens and hope to have them budding with life over the upcoming months.  We hope that the children gain a valuable experience through this and expand their pallets, eating habits, knowledge of food and how it's produced, and also to see the process of seed to fruit (veggies).  We hope to embrace organic gardening practices with no chemical fertilizers or sprays in our garden. 

I heard from many of you that your children love to sing you the songs they learn in class.  I recently read a great article on the importance of singing in early education settings and thought I would share some key points.