All in a day's work

Andrew's school is a special place.  I chose it because the rooms where the kids spend their days felt very loving when I toured them.  The babies were engaged and alert, the toddlers were doing stuff I didn't know toddlers could do (but which I've sinced learned is all they want to do), and the older kids were confident and independent.

Especially since there are a few teachers and former teachers in Andrew's extended family, I thought I'd share some pictures of the place Andrew spends most of his waking hours.

Here's the new playground, which they've been raising money for since before Andrew was born and was finally finished a few months ago.  It's lovely; the space is large and nicely landscaped, and there's lots of stuff to hold the interest of kids from ages 1-5.  The babies take a couple of daily buggy strolls around the perimeter of the playground.

Now on to Andrew's classroom.  The teachers usually write a summary of one of the day's activities on a poster on the door.  It's both to let parents know what the kids do and also to provide a jumping-off point for more conversation about it.  Andrew and I jump off sometimes, but other times we forget.  He forgives me.

The room is big and FULL of good stuff.  A hallmark of Montessori is to nurture and foster a child's natural desire for independence by enabling him to do as much as possible by and for himself.  So everything is at child level, including the sink.  Hard on the adults, but the kids love it.  That's Andrew and John washing their hands. 

Here's the big carpet where the kids gather for circle time, to learn lessons, and to do the work that doesn't need to be done at a table.  Nearby there's a basket of rugs about the size of door mats.  Rugs are a big deal at school.  Starting from the 18-24 month old room, they learn to get a rug and put their work on the rug.  They also have special lessons devoted to learning to walk around the rug.  The purpose, I assume, is to develop a sense of personal space and to respect other people's space.  They also learn how to roll up the rug and put it away.  When Andrew learned that particular skill, he went around for a week rolling all our bathmats.

Vivienne saw me taking pictures and told me she wanted to say cheese.

Braden saw me taking pictures and looked away.

There are four sturdy little tables where the kids eat and do "table work."  These tables and chairs are much nicer and newer than the wooden ones in the previous classes, but I could sit easily in the old chairs because there were no armrests.  These chairs require some gymnastics on my part.  I sit with Andrew every morning for a few minutes while he eats his breakfast, and sometimes my non-child-sized caboose gets a little stuck.

There's a rare shot of Matthew actually eating.

And here's Anna.  You can't tell but she's dressed for her first dance class later and it may be the cutest thing I've ever seen.

The library.

Some shelves with the "work."  The kids get to choose their own work, which they love.  Again, all at child-level.

I think the current theme is apples, because they're drawing pictures of apples and the teachers made an apple height chart.

Tallest is Braden.  He will be 3 in November.  Next is Andrew, who is 5 months younger.  Pulling up the end is Emerson (2 years and 8 months), who may be the scrappiest kid I know.  She's got a big brother and sister.  She could hold her own right from the beginning, dimunitive size notwithstanding.

What I LOVE, and the inspiration for this post, was this very sweet wall display called "I Am Special."  The teachers interviewed each kid and wrote what they said.

Some kids had lots to say.

Ms. Avelon said Andrew wouldn't talk to her.  He just kept smiling shyly.  Appears Andrew has a bit of a crush on Ms. Avelon.  And I'm assuming Andrew didn't volunteer that he liked red, but rather just nodded when Ms. Avelon used her powers of deduction from Andrew's outfit that day.  (The shorts were red, too.)

I'm so pleased and grateful that Andrew has such a special place to spend his days.