My bin, your bin, we all have a bin

My bin, your bin, we all have a bin...for work! Most Montessori schools have bins for the children to keep their 'work' (art projects, writing strips, handmade books, etc.). At our school the children bring this work home at the end of the week in their blue bags. They all get super excited for 'blue bag day' and often there are tears if a child forgets to bring the bag back and so cannot take their work home.

Because we like to review what the children are bringing home, to see how they're progressing and what they are interested in, a teacher fills up the bags right away in the morning. This week it was my job and I have to admit I found some of the most interesting items in the children's bins. Some flower petals, a broken pencil, hoarded colored pencils, hair ties, and a sweater (which just barely fit in the plastic bin).

Probably more interesting though wasn't the items themselves, but the stories they told. One younger students pin was packed absolutely full of beautiful artwork. None of which she had drawn herself, but she has a very loving older sister who loves to draw pictures for her and give them as gits. Actually finding gifts in other children's bins isn't uncommon, and it's usually best to ask if you find a piece of paper with a different child's name on it in a different bin.

I also found a bin nearly entirely empty except for a couple of scribbled drawing an a thick, stapled stack of writing strips. The strips had some really well formed cursive letters on them, completely contrary to the half-hearted scribbles of the coloring work. I would have guessed this was a younger child's bin, with the letters being  a gift from an older student, but unfortunately that's not the case. This is the bin of a student who was just on the edge of being old enough for kindergarten this year. She should have lots of beginning math and writing work filling her bin right now. Unfortunately the scribbles are more her usual style right now. The only reason the nice letters are in there, is because her mom came to observe and the little girl wanted to show off some for her. It's just frustrating because looking at the letters she has written she's more than capable of doing the more advanced work...the problem is she's not interested in focusing to learn MORE letters or even practice her numbers to get beyond these basics. We'll just have to find something to inspire her with.

Anyways, while we can learn a lot from what the children choose to put in their bin, there's always the aspects of school that can't go home. Like the help I get when it's time to hang all those blue bags back on the right hooks. I have so many children ready to help me that I can't hardly fill the bags quickly enough to keep up. I grab a bin, scan the work quick and dump it in the blue bag. One child looks at the little picture on the bin (which matches the picture near the hooks) and brings the filled bag in the coat room to hang up. Meanwhile another child returns the empty bin and helps me find them next one, which I can hopefully empty before the first child returns. Meanwhile there's still a crowd of children wanted to help put blue bags away. It's a pretty exciting process since it only happens once a week.

And I have to admit, they're pretty good about getting them on the right hook, or at least coming back to tell me they forgot who they were looking for!