The Millennium Of The Child

To my fellow Early Childhood educators, as we approach Earth Day here are some great books that discuss the importance of taking care of our beloved planet Earth!

🌍 Wangari’s Trees of Peace

🌎 We Are Water Protectors

🌏 Old Enough to Save the Planet

🌍 What a Waste

🌎 City Green

Spring is here!

🌸Flower Arranging

🌼Anatomy of a Flower Puzzle

🌻Flower Matching Cards

🌺Flower Picture/Object Matching

“To let the child do as he likes when he has not yet developed any powers of control is to betray the idea of freedom.” - Maria Montessori

Many people have the misconception that the Montessori philosophy implies that children are free to do whatever they like whenever they like with no rules or boundaries in place. Freedom within limits is one of the core concepts of Montessori education. This concept allows children to explore their environment and do their own learning independently with some guidance from their teachers. Because of the way a Montessori environment is prepared (low shelving, organized work spaces, and logically ordered activities) it encourages the child to move freely around the classroom and independently choose their own work within limits of appropriate behavior. The limits are ground rules that are established at the beginning of the school year: respect for oneself, respect for others, and respect for the environment.

Respect for oneself teaches children how to properly use the materials in the classroom to avoid self-harm. It also helps children learn how to independently take care of their bodies and how to be responsible for their own belongings. Respect for others involves both social skills and good behavior. Children are allowed to choose work independently or they can work in small groups. In order for children to work in small groups, they must be invited to join and understand that they must not interfere or disrupt another child working. In our classroom community, all children must show respect for one another. Respect for the environment relates to taking good care of all things inside the Montessori environment. Children are expected to properly handle the materials, putting work away correctly, and taking care of plants, classroom pets, and all living/nonliving things in our environment.

There are various types of freedom within a Montessori Environment. As we have discussed before, movement is a major part of the Montessori philosophy. Freedom to move allows the child to move around the classroom and continuously find purposeful work independently. By allowing children to move freely in their environment we are encouraging them to learn more about their environment and their interests. Freedom to make mistakes is a type of freedom that really promotes critical thinking and problem-solving. The Montessori materials were designed to have a visual control of error, which guides children to correctly finish the activity through hands-on experience. Freedom of time gives children the opportunity to work on activities for as long as they like. This in return, allows children to develop at their own pace and learn great concentration/focusing skills. This also helps to build their patience, as there is only one of each activity out in the classroom. Since children have freedom of time to work on materials as long as they like, they also have the freedom to repeat. The work cycle gives children time to practice and repeat activities until they’ve been able to master them.

Every week I have to write up a weekly update of things that we’ve been doing in our classroom to send to parents. Currently, the topic I am discussing is about the seven aspects of a Prepared Environment: Freedom, Structure & Order, Beauty, Nature & Reality, Social Environment, Intellectual Environment, and lastly Montessori materials. 

We Are Ready for "They"—Are You?

After months of consideration, we recently decided to adopt the word “they” as a gender-neutral singular pronoun.

For example, instead of “Every student brings his or her lunch to school and eats when he or she is hungry,” we now say, “Every student brings their lunch to school and eats when they are hungry.”

Not only is it less cumbersome, it’s also a way to refer to people who don't want to be called "he" or "she." The decision challenged our lifelong conviction that “they” was for plural-use only.

I have been gone for probably over a year. My personal life has been absolutely chaotic and I've been working so hard on finishing up my Montessori Certification while teaching full time and also taking online classes to go back to school for a degree in Anthropology....the school year has started and I have worked so hard on this classroom. I feel so proud of this environment that I have created for these beautiful, sweet little spirits. The first week of school was amazing and the children are all energized and ready to work after a long summer!

Also my assistant is another badass queer boricua that is eager and willing to learn about Montessori Education. It's so empowering to lead a classroom with another queer latina 🌈🇵🇷