New students!

The day has finally arrived, the first day of orientation for my six new students!

Welcome: S, CL, O, Ca, W, M
(...hmm, they kind of looks like periodic elements this way, oh well!)

I am happy to report that the day went by with no major catastrophes, which is great news because I am flying solo without an assistant and our float person was also absent for the day. I think the biggest incident was having one student come at the wrong time so I had a group of 2 and a group or 4 instead of two groups of 3. It made things a bit trickier but it all worked out.

My favorite accomplishment of the day? Getting each child to shake my hand hello AND goodbye. They all were excited to see their parents, but I was secretly glad that they were also content to continue playing for a bit and didn't need to run right up to them. Let's hope they feel the same when they come back tomorrow and realize this isn't a one time thing!

At our school orientation takes place over three days where the children come in small groups for about  1 1/2 hours. This helps them get used to the routine of coming in to school, changing their shoes and working for a little bit in the classroom. The smaller groups is to help the teacher give more presentations so they new children have activities to do.

I gave each group a quick little tour of the bathroom (very important!) and some important parts of our classroom. We went over our class rules, all three of them!

1. We walk in the school
2. We wait until we've been shown how to use things before we touch them
3. We put materials back in their place when we're done.

I had a small shelf set up with some activities they probably have at home, such as some simple puzzles and a bead stringing activity. I told them they could take any of those things to a table and most of the children found something to interest them.

Now I know I've talked a lot about how a Montessori teacher is supposed to stand back and not interfere, but what I haven't mentioned is that this happens only after the child has EARNED that freedom. That meant that I had precious little time to sit and observe today. Most of my time with the children was spent reminding them to push in their chairs and put things back on the shelf. There was also a lot of directing to activities and (with one group) a lot of reminding that we don't touch things we haven't been shown.

Yet with each group I can distinctly remember a short period of time where I looked around and all the children were engaged with something. It was wonderful! They will get there. We will be a calm, functioning Montessori classroom. The children will be able to choose things that interest them and work on them with concentration. It won't happen right away, but I"m already excited to see that it will be possible!