Glimpse of Year Three

"If education is always to be conceived along the same antiquated lines of a mere transmission of knowledge, there is little to be hoped from it in the bettering of man's future." 
~ Dr. Maria Montessori

The Kindergarten year, the 3rd year in the Primary classroom is a magical time. When all the lessons come together and reveal just how much the child has come into their own. Of course, the lessons I am speaking of are the concrete lessons given by the teacher, but also all the subconscious learning and unspoken lessons learned through their hands-on interactions with their peers, the physical environment, and the materials of the work. 

This is the year the child puts all of that together and dives deep into work that takes a little more effort, a little more focus, a little more oomph to complete. It is where we, the adults, observe the beginnings of tip-toeing into the next plane of development and their desire to start seeking out information for knowledge (We call it Intellectual Independence). It is an exciting time!

Here you can see our three Kindergarteners diving into geography and creating a map of the world. This is a beautiful example of a work that incorporates so much of the lessons given and practiced the previous two years. We see the work done in Practical Life (refining movement, strengthening hand and arm muscles, etc.), Sensorial (spatial relations), Language (vocabulary of continents, materials needed, cultural vocabulary, etc.), Math (cause & effect, design as connected to math, etc.). 

This work also takes fortitude to complete. It begins with learning the names of the continents, understanding where they are located on our globe, building the puzzle, and then tracing all continents in the right place, and then finally, the fun part of coloring the continents in with the colors we use in the Montessori world (North America = orange, South America = pink, Europe = red, Asia = yellow, Africa = green, Australia = brown, Antarctica = white). This work can take multiple days introducing the child to time management, building perseverance, supporting the idea of delayed gratification, and collaboration (in this case, because they have decided to do this work together). 

I know all of you know I can (and sometimes do) share my passion for Montessori at length. I will end my soliloquy on the magic of the Kindergarten here by saying it is a wonderful year filled with special intimate moments like this one pictured here, a time the child comes into their own, the hard work of the previous two years come together to create a love of learning in the child that lasts a lifetime.