Observing

Watching the children is truly one of my favorite things to do in the classroom.  There is so much to learn from them!  We talk about childrens' work cycles and the importance of having a start and finish to their work~they make a decision about a work to choose, choose the work, complete the work, and return the work to the shelf.  This gives what they are doing dignity.  They take this very seriously which is why Montessori classrooms are busy, but peaceful. The children are working.  They also respect one another for the work they are doing-they all know instinctively and intuitively that they are all their learning to perfect and manage themselves.

One little girl was gone all last week due to a cold.  She returned Monday ready to work!  She was working very diligently in the back room.  She got up from her table, put her work in her folder and returned the work to the shelf w/o pushing in her chair.  In that split second another child sat down and started working at that table.  Then, the little girl came over, looked at the child, then looked at me and said, 'I forgot to push in my chair'.  I said, 'would you like to speak to (the child) about it?".  She then leaned down to the child and said very sweetly, 'I forgot to push in my chair'.  The child quickly arose from the chair, said 'I'm sorry', allowed the child to then push the chair in.  This exchange speaks volumes for the children's need to complete their work cycle.  This opportunity to do this in our environment is building a foundation for finishing work cycles as they get older as well whether it's with writing a paper, completing a math equation, coming up with a solution to a problem, or even later with assignments and tasks they will have in college and their jobs.

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