Montessori!

Abbie had her first day at the Montessori school yesterday. She was really excited about it and really looked forward to being able to wear comfy play clothes instead of a uniform. She arrived early to meet one of her teachers that she had not met during the summer, and to explore her new classroom. Montessori programs group students in grades 1-3 into one Lower Elementary classroom, and the classroom at Abbie's school is brand new. It is in a small house, which was completely gutted and renovated this summer. The results are fantastic. It has a very natural, homey feel. They redid the kitchen, which is open to the rest of the house and will be useful for science experiments, cooking, etc. Also, they kept the two bedrooms to use for small group classes, etc. There are huge windows on the front and back of the house, with tables set up to look out the back window and a window seat in the front window. The colors on the walls are soft, and soothing. It is definitely the sort of place that I would want to spend my days.

(before leaving the house yesterday morning)

The Lower Elementary classroom houses 38 students this year and there are three teachers. Many of the kids are people that Abbie met over the summer, but there are also many that she had not met before. Thanks to her experience over the summer, she seemed to know just what to do. Upon arrival, she quickly grabbed her work plan and staked out a space for herself. Many of the Montessori materials need to be spread out, so working on the floor often makes sense, but there are also tables and chairs if kids prefer to use them. Yesterday, Abbie got comfy on the floor, but today I think she was planning to snag a seat at a table.

After the school day ends, Abbie stays for the after school program. There is a large yard where the kids can run, play with the dog, use the swings, or play in the sand. Abbie had a great time in the sand, which made her pretty messy when I picked her up for her violin lesson, but luckily we were able to toss her in a quick tub before violin. As for today, she has no after school activities, so we told her that she is free to get as messy as she wants. Kids only get one childhood, after all.

When I picked her up yesterday, she was ecstatic. She just seemed so happy and had been having so much fun. I hope that feeling continues. To some extent I expect the novelty to wear off, but I do hope that this is a change that she can continue to feel good about. In contrast to her old school, there is virtually no homework, so I teased her last night and told her that she better get started on homework. She looked at me like, "What??". I just started laughing, and she smiled. No one will miss the nightly homework grind! She did spontaneously start showing us the math that she had been working on that day and we were pleased to see that it was something that was a reasonable challenge for her that also held her interest. Hopefully that will continue, as well.