March 2015

February - The month of collaboration

The past month we have been concentrating on lessons and learning new things.  In fact I have been concentrating on these so much that I almost missed something else that happened quite organically. 

Children working together to create things with each other. 

Paintings were painted not as individual expressions of creativity, but as shared visions, and the results were masterpieces.  Obstacles in math were overcome not by the intervention of the teacher but by the help of an older child.  Much cleaning and scrubbing of tables happened, and messes were not struggles to be handled, but teamwork that could only be marveled over.

In short, we were functioning as a true Montessori classroom.  We’ve cooked together, cleaned together, disagreed and found resolution, practiced silence, accepted challenges, struggled with choices emerging stronger and more patient.

In February we also learnt a little bit about Europe.  We listened to music from different countries and looked at some flags.  Children noticed how the flags of Ireland, Italy and France were similar in structure, and how different the German and Turkish flags were, compared to those! 

Pooja - Anokhi’s mum cooked alphabet minestrone soup with the classroom, and it was liked so much that some children took some home in a little  jar!

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