Page 6 Students First The Montessori Classroom at McLaurin By Klay Ross This year is my 17th year teaching, but my 13th year teaching Montessori. I have seen so many advantages to Montessori over the years. I love the relationships that I am able to build with my students and their parents by having the students for multiple years. The beginning of the year is easier because the students are already comfortable in the class, they know what is expected, and I already know what their abilities are. The returning students love to be helpers and teach our new students about our classroom as well. When our program first started, we had 3K, 4K, and 5K in our primary classes. I was amazed at how much knowledge these little ones would leave us with after that 3-year cycle. Montessori is child focused. The teacher is a facilitator, responsible for creating the classroom environment to meet the needs and abilities of all the students. The classroom set up helps to build independence and a sense of order in students. Students have a choice in what lessons they would like to do. They are responsible for getting their workspace ready whether it be a table or a rug. Each child completes the work as they were shown, then is responsible for cleaning up the lesson and getting it ready for the next person. This sense of order helps facilitate the learning process, teaches selfdiscipline, and caters to a young child’s innate need for an orderly environment. They also take pride in how the classroom looks and they are able to focus more on learning when everything is neat and predictable. Some people confuse this freedom of movement and choice in the classroom with a scene that is chaotic and children just doing whatever they want. If you visit one of our classrooms, you will see this is not the case at all. There are still classroom rules and guidelines. Our work time is an uninterrupted block of time with quiet music playing and children using inside voices. Ground rules include respect for the environment, respect for each other, and respect for themselves. Students only work on lessons that they have been shown. This helps to make sure they are working on lessons that meet their abilities, which helps the teacher to differentiate learning. During work time, students may work independently, with partners, or may be doing a small group lesson with a teacher. Another great thing about Montessori is the materials, which allow for hands-on learning. This makes learning more concrete rather than abstract as students work on activities that teach language, math, culture and practical life lessons. Those lessons are sequential so they also build on each other. As students learn a skill from one lesson, we are able to use what they learn and build on it with the next lesson in the sequence. Visitors are always amazed when they visit our rooms and see what our young students are learning!
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