The Raintree Parent Handbook

2019 Edition

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents

A Note to the Reader 3 Te Story of Raintree and Our Many Challenges 6 Parent-School Partnership Agreement 17 Program Overview 20 Transitioning at Raintree 24 Parent Education 28 Waiting List Parent Nights 28 All School Parent Nights 28 Toddler and Primary Parent Nights 29 Elementary Parent Events 29 Erdkinder Parent Nights 30 Parent Observations 30 Raintree Procedures 31 Arrival and Departure 31 Communication 35 Health and Safety 38 About Maria Montessori 41 Human Tendencies 46 Te Planes of Development 47 Te First Plane of Development: Te Toddler and the Primary Child 49 Te Second Plane: Te Elementary Child 54 Te Tird Plane: Te Adolescent 60 A Day in the Life of a Toddler 64 A Day in the Life of a Primary Student 66 A Day in the Life of the Elementary Student 68 Classroom Life - School Policies 72 Arrival and Departure 72 Attire 73 Food and Nutrition 75 Class Work 76 Te All-Day Child (Toddler Communities and All-Day Primary Classrooms) 82 Before and After School Options (Elementary) 83 Camp Raintree (Elementary) 84 Outdoor Campus 84 Special Services (Primary, Elementary and Erdkinder) 87 Student Conduct 87 Events 89 Community Service 92

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Entrepreneurship 92 Resources 93 Glossary of Montessori Terms 95 Montessori Lexicon 102 Some Common Misconceptions About Montessori 116 Tasks Children Can Do to Learn Responsibility 118 Gateway Parenting 120 101 Tings Parents Can Do to Help Children 122 Suggested Home & Family Responsibilities for the Elementary Child 126 Cosmic Education 128 Montessori 128 Interdependency Chart 129 25 Reasons to Keep Your Child in Montessori through the Kindergarten Year 130 Te Great Lessons 132 Montessori and the Mathematical Mind 135 Te No Man’s Land Syndrome 138 Parent Observation Guidelines 140 Kansas Classroom Handbook of Communicable Diseases 142

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A Note to the Reader Most groundbreakers develop their own “language,” a way of communicating information among those working in the new feld. An example is the vernacular used by those in the computer feld. Such is the case with Montessori. Terms used by most teachers at Raintree and eventually the child himself can baffle parents. For example, a child may say, “I did the metal insets today!” and the parent wonders what he is talking about. A guide may say, “Your child is moving into the second plane,” and the parent wonders “A plane? What plane? Where?”

Tere are two sections which help you translate some of the Montessori terms used in this handbook, although we have tried to eliminate as much of the jargon as possible, or defne it within the text. “Montessori Glossary of Terms” by Annette Haines and “Te Montessori Lexicon” by Saasha Huston will be helpful should you need to defne a term.

Te term “guide,” for example, is sometimes used instead of “teacher,” because the role of a Montessori teacher is to guide the child to an activity, use a step-by-step approach to present the lesson, and through his own effort, the child learns the concept. Occasionally in this handbook, you will see the term “guide” used.

Te toddler program for children 18 months to 3 years is often referred to as a “toddler community” because in Montessori the classrooms become a child’s home away from home, and the term “community” is used throughout this handbook for all ages. “Community” is established the moment a child enters Raintree.

Te term “primary” is used instead of “preschool” in Montessori and refers to children ages 2 1/2 through age 5. “Primary” is a mixed-aged group of preschoolers in what is called a “casa” or “children’s house,” or “home.”

Te elementary classrooms are divided into two levels by age groups: “lower elementary” for children ages 6-9 and the “upper elementary” for children 9-12.

Montessori coined the term “Erdkinder,” or “children of the land” referring to the adolescent program. Te term “Erdkinder” cannot be used formally because it is trademarked by the Association Montessori Internationale, but we sometimes informally refer to our program as the “Erdkinder.” Formally, we use the term “adolescent program,” or “Erdkinder.”

To give equal representation to both genders, both “he” and “she” will be used in this handbook.

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Te Legend of the Raintree “A tree whose fruit is love, whose fower is self-fulfllment, whose ways are the ways of pleasantness and whose paths all lead to peace. Luck, happiness, the realization of dreams, the secret of life...all belong to the one who fnds the Raintree.” --Compliments of Jem Graves

Te Raintree Song May there always be sunshine May there always be blue skies May there always be Raintree May there always be me. --Compliments of Connie Black (and Pete Seeger)

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! Introduction

When a new family joins our school, we want them to feel the same excitement and enthusiasm we felt when we created Raintree. But that is hard to do. Without knowing a little bit about our past, it is hard to understand why we are so passionate about what we do or to fully appreciate the community that is Raintree.

One might assume our school has always been the way it appears today, but nothing could be farther from the truth! When we started our school in 1978, our neighborhood looked very different. We were surrounded by rolling hills and pastureland. Over the past three decades, we experienced many changes, and our campus has had many renovations and additions, survived a mall developer, a fre, a tornado and a host of challenges. But I’m getting ahead of my story.

To fully appreciate Raintree today, one needs to know what Raintree was like from the beginning. What follow is our story, the story of Raintree, the evolution of a school and the realization of a dream.

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Te Story of Raintree and Our Many Challenges

Te inspiration for Raintree started long before the school opened its doors in 1978. It really began when Keith was a small child. In the McReynolds household, everything was possible. Te McReynolds’ home was a place where books were discussed after dinner, games were played in the evenings, and art was created all the time. Everyone’s ideas were heard...even teenagers. Spirited debates were the order of the day. Keith’s idealism was a natural outgrowth of his family life, and his politeness, a by-product of his southern upbringing. Keith was the frst to take Montessori training in our family, and after working in other schools for several years, Keith and I, along with three talented teachers Connie Black, Ken Alsleben, and Gay Jang started Raintree in the fall of 1978. As we were soon to fnd out, the founding of a school had hidden challenges. Prior to 1978 with a loan from Keith’s family, we (Keith and Lleanna McReynolds) purchased a 4 1/2 acre tract of land on University Drive near the University of Kansas to build a school. Architects were hired, plans were drawn, and construction bids let. And then the interest rates shot up to 16%. Te dream of creating the perfect school in the perfect setting centrally located in the city of Lawrence was gone, and we were forced to sell the property.

Te First Challenge

Te design of our school could not be adapted to another site, and we didn’t have enough money to pay for more drawings. Te only thing we could do was look for a building to remodel in town, but nothing was available that met regulation requirements of the state for a school that would house children below the age of fve. Finally we found an empty church on the outskirts of west Lawrence that had been vacant for several years. With the proceeds from the land sale, we paid off the loan and bought equipment and furnishings for two classrooms. In September 1978 we opened our doors to 35 preschool children in the empty Faith Assembly of God church with four teachers: Keith McReynolds, Connie Black, Gay Jang and Kenny Alsleben, a cook named Bobbi Bryant and a goat named Benjamin. Te church was located on 7 acres of pastureland about 4 miles from Iowa Street on a narrow county road. When we started Raintree, few houses existed past Iowa. Te only neighbors were the veterinary clinic and tennis club across the street, farmer I.J. Stoneback’s house and barn to the southwest and Hank North’s garden store to the northwest. We had no playground, no parking lot, and no windows. We rented the building from the church, holding classes in the basement. Tings went well until November when we noticed large earthmoving equipment on the horizon. What we didn’t know was that plans were underway to build Clinton Parkway.

Te Second Challenge

To build Clinton Parkway, the road leading to our school from the city was closed forcing our families to drive several miles out of their way and enter Raintree from the west. Luckily they did, and we have always said if we could survive the year the road was closed to our school, we could survive anything. We didn’t realize how fortuitous that comment would be! By the end of the frst year our enrollment had doubled.

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Te Tird Challenge

Te church decided to move into the building with us and sell the church they had occupied in the city. By the time this decision was made, we had grown to three classrooms. We were using a portion of the sanctuary upstairs for the third classroom. Tis meant we had to dismantle our classrooms Wednesday and Friday afternoons and rebuild them every Tursday and Monday morning. Tat was also the year a swarm of bees took up residence in our building, and bee expert Orly Taylor was dispatched from KU to coax them away. We named that “Te Year of the Bee.”

Te Fourth Challenge

What we didn’t know was that the church was planning to sell both our building and the one they had occupied in the city to build a new church. In fact they already had a buyer: a developer who wanted the building transformed into a nightclub. For the next several months, we contended with appraisers and contractors walking through our classrooms with tape measures and walkie-talkies making plans. Tese interruptions, plus the uncertainty of our future, made our lives very stressful. Just when we thought things couldn’t get much worse, something miraculous happened. Te local planning department and the state zoning board denied the church’s request to zone the property for commercial use. Within days after the decision, we made an offer on the church, and it was accepted. In 1980, we bought the building and surrounding seven acres. With the purchase of the building we could fnally remodel the structure to better serve the needs of young children. In order to do this we needed money. To save on expenses, our family moved into the school. We lived in two Sunday school rooms using a baptismal for a water source for 2 1/2 years while we slowly remodeled. We added windows, knocked out walls, and built playground equipment. Our children Heather and Saasha look back on those years as the best ones of their childhoods. We had a horse named Stardust, guinea hens, ducks, sheep, chickens, all mostly cared for by Heather and Saasha. Having a 10,000 square foot home had its advantages. It made a great place to play hide and seek, but what our girls spent most of their time doing was helping us in the classrooms. At age fve Saasha was helping Keith color-code activities, and at age ten Heather was making materials. Tere was always something to do. On the weekends, my parents would visit, and my father always brought his tools. Our frst Raintree handyman Clayton Lewick was often heard saying, “Tere is a lifetime’s worth of work here,” as he helped build tables for classrooms, shelves for napping gear and coat racks for storage. In those early years, we enjoyed the collaboration of highly gifted and creative teachers who shared our vision and commitment to create an exceptional place for children. It was not uncommon for Connie, Kenny or Gay to stay with us into the night working in the classroom, and then return to spend the weekend. Just like the McReynolds home of Keith’s childhood, Raintree became the place where everything was possible. Luckily, talented people continue to fnd their way to Raintree to this day. Pam (Smith) Shanks came in 1980 while still a student at KU, and Telma Sophocleous that same year when her son Andreas enrolled. Erica Stannard came in 1980, and every Wednesday her grandmother Helen Divers visited the classroom, sitting in a comfortable overstuffed chair listening to young readers and holding those who needed a hug. In 1982, Erica moved to New Haven, Connecticut, but Grandmother continued to come every week until her death in 1997. In 2004, Erica returned. A collection of photographs were given to the school by Erica’s mother and Grandmother Divers’ daughter Katherine Stannard, and they hang in the hall. Te pictures show Grandmother sitting in her comfortable chair surrounded by children and the Raintree Feast of 1982. Te afghan on the chair outside Lleanna’s office was knitted by Grandmother Divers.

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Ann Anderson came in 1983, Ann Reif in 1987, and Anne Edwards in 1989. Connie Black came back for a visit in 1996 commuting every day from Emporia, Kansas until her husband got a job in Atlanta in 2003. Even our daughters have now joined our staff, Heather after a stint in the Peace Corps and Saasha after attending school in the east. Tese wonderful people and many others plus hundreds of support staff have enriched our program immeasurably over the years. Each person has brought his/her own unique talents to share, but one trait has been a constant: a strong work ethic. Raintree has become what it is today because of their hard work and dedication. In 1982, Keith’s parents Mac and Louise McReynolds came out of retirement and moved to Lawrence. A retired banker and oil executive, Mac became the school’s fnancial adviser, and Louise became Raintree’s resident grandmother, teaching children how to embroider and listening to emergent readers perfect their reading skills. Teir close relationship with the school lasted until their deaths in 1994 and 1998. Tey loved being around the children. Although they were in their eighties, Raintree seemed to give them renewed energy. Mac helped Keith build our frst small horse barn, and Louise helped with everything from making Tanksgiving Feast favors to painting classrooms. Mac continued to work until only two months before his death keeping the school’s accounts in small green ledgers. Now, it takes an accounting frm, three people and several computers to do what Mac did meticulously by hand each day in those books. Te wildlife sanctuary in the Back Forty honor the memories of these two exceptional people.

C.F. “Mac” McReynolds Mac loved nature often strolling on the playground after fnishing his work in the office. He enjoyed painting, reading and good food. An advocate of peace through education, Mac also believed in the strength of the family. He was a grandfather fgure to many children fulflling a necessary role in our school for the many children whose own grandparents lived far away. His view of the world was always optimistic, and he preferred spending his days in the presence of children and our dedicated staff. He loved us unconditionally, and his wisdom and experience continues to guide our decisions today.

Louise McReynolds Louise loved sewing, and she was an artist with a needle doing crewelwork, needlepoint and cross-stitch. Anything created by her hand was a treasure, and she loved sharing her talents with children. Each week she would set up a table in the hallway outside a classroom with three small chairs. Children were free to choose sewing as they would any other classroom activity. One would assume most of her “customers” would be quiet, well-behaved little girls, but that was not the case. Most who were drawn to Louise and sewing were the most active boys in the class. On any given day one would see three chairs flled with boys making button bracelets, embroidering Star Wars characters on pillowcases, or creating their own cross-stitch designs. Something about Louise made even the most rambunctious child calm. As her eyesight faded, she visited the classroom less, but her enthusiasm for Raintree and the students never diminished. Several years after Mac died, Louise returned to an elementary class for the Tanksgiving Feast accompanied by her sister Lois. As she sat on the sidelines watching the children prepare the tables, two older boys brought them a bouquet. As they walked away, one boy said to the other, “I remember her. She taught us how to sew.”

In 1985, a parent who was also our banker got tired of losing her shoes in the muddy feld in front of the school and loaned us the money to pave the parking lot. By buying a foot of curbing for $10, our parents could have their child’s name or a favorite quote engraved in the wet cement. Te fundraiser helped offset the cost of the construction, and the parking lot is one of the only personalized lots in the country!

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Te Fifth Challenge

Tat same year, Kenny Alsleben returned to teach for Keith in the Lower East while Keith recovered from cancer. It wasn’t until after Kenny moved back to North Dakota at the end of the year, we learned he had been battling a disease he would not survive: AIDS. He died the following year. A talented writer with a great sense of humor and zest for life, Kenny is remembered at the center of many Raintree tales. Here are two: Kenny had a special way of giving lessons. One day I was asked to sub for him during the morning session. Noticing two older students unengaged, I asked them to show me their favorite work. “Oh, you’ve got to see our Egypt work. It came from King Tut’s tomb, and it’s a game. We can play it!” As I rolled out a rug, the fve year-olds arrived carrying a tray with such care you would have thought it was made of pure gold. Kenny had laminated a page from a Smithsonian magazine of an Egyptian game board. Te playing pieces were a handful of wooden popsicle sticks with dots on each side and several smooth stones. “Tis game was actually found in King Tut’s tomb so we have to be very careful,” said one of the boys as he began to play. I will never forget that experience. As Celma Perry, a Montessori trainer for 40 years often said, “It’s the way you show a child something. Te simplest activity done reverently and respectfully makes the greatest impression.” Kenny had this gift. Kenny also spoke Italian, or at least he pretended to. He thought if he put an “a” on the end of most words (and left a lot of funny notes around for people to fnd), he could get away with anything. “Ifa you messa, you cleana,” was his favorite phrase. His quotes were always attributed to Montessori, ofa coursea. In 1986, Keith decided the school was ready for a major expansion because we were bursting at the seams. We needed a ffth classroom, more outdoor amenities and refurbishing inside. So 1986 became “Te Year We Built the Pyramids.” We enlarged the downstairs classrooms, added a toddler class, created the south classroom, built redwood walkways, constructed an outdoor deck for each classroom, built square-foot gardens, sandboxes, and a basketball court outside and created a loft inside for storage. We also perforated every wall we could with windows. It was a construction project of mammoth proportions, but we accomplished it without too many obstacles.

Te Sixth Challenge

Te year we built the parking lot, one of our new Montessori teachers who had just fnished her internship and had also been a swim instructor to most of our children wrote on her curb, “Next time we’re building a swimming pool.” Marie Kabelitz had been a member of the KU swim team. She was young, healthy and full of life, but that year she died unexpectedly of a brain aneurysm. Shocked and saddened by her death, we tried to think of some way to keep her memory alive, and then we remembered the inscription. 1987 was the year we built the frst two of our fve swimming pools, and they are dedicated to her memory. Her name can be found engraved in the deck of the second pool.

Te Seventh Challenge

For the next few years things went well until a mall developer decided to purchase options on all the property surrounding the school. His plan was to build a giant enclosed shopping mall in the 70-acre feld to our west. He visited the school one evening telling us if we didn’t sell to him, we would be surrounded by concrete as far as our eyes could see. Known as the Mall Wars, the ensuing months were flled with commission meetings and late night strategy sessions as we organized parents to testify on the school’s behalf.

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After almost a year of meetings, the request was denied. Never in the school’s history had we been so proud of our parents and their support. For many years parents wanted us to start an elementary program, but no one could spend a year in Italy or Washington, D.C. to take the training. In 1992, the Kansas City, Missouri public schools brought AMI trainers from the Washington Montessori Institute to Kansas City to train teachers for the new magnet schools. We jumped at the chance. Our elementary building was built during the spring and summer of 1992 (along with another swimming pool and basketball court), and in the fall of 1992 we welcomed 33 present and former Raintree 1st-3rd year students to our new elementary program. Ann Anderson and I took the training. Ann left her primary classroom after 10 years to be our frst elementary teacher. As we added more children and more classrooms, I taught for several years, and then Saasha joined the elementary staff in 1996 after fnishing a math degree at KU and spending a year in D. C. taking Montessori training.

Te Eighth Challenge

In 1994, the seven acres south and east of our school were platted for 26 homes. Saddened by the fact we were slowly losing the beautiful pastoral setting we all loved, we bought the property. It was that year that we hooked on to city sewer and our sewage lagoon was resculpted into a fshing pond, our creek was widened and the fence was constructed on the south, west and east sides of our campus. Asked by parents why we would consider fencing the property, the answer would become crystal clear when our school faced one of its biggest challenges. By 1998, our elementary program had grown so much that our upper elementary students were now holding class in the library, and our primary waiting list was so long, we had to purge it periodically to remove children over the age of fve. Keith’s plan to expand the school began to take shape. Tat year we hired an architectural frm to draw plans for a four-classroom addition to the primary and another building which would house our upper elementary. Keith also wanted to build a gymnasium, barn, jogging trail, and other outdoor amenities for the children. Te frst project completed in 1998 was a 25-meter lap pool, diving well and outdoor amphitheater for our summer campers. Te rest would require a giant bank loan. By the end of 1999, the plans were taking shape, the loan was approved and in the spring of 2000, survey crews began staking out the buildings.

Te Ninth Challenge

Our beloved Ann Anderson, staff member for 17 years, moved to California in the summer of 2000 when her husband accepted a dean’s position at University of the Pacifc in Stockton. A true Raintree institution, Ann had joined our staff in 1983 teaching in the primary for 10 years, bringing AMS recognition to our school and helping us establish the elementary program. She was a favorite among children, parents and staff, and her commitment to our school was legendary. Ann always looked on the positive side of any challenge we faced. In the summer of 2000, we said our goodbyes to Ann at a special gathering, and our upper elementary building was dedicated to Ann at a special ceremony and will forever bear her name: Te Ann E. Anderson Building. Just when we thought we had faced our greatest challenge saying goodbye to Ann, the tenth and one of the most difficult was preparing to unfold. By the frst of August, the basement of the new elementary building had been excavated, and we were anxiously anticipating the construction projects to follow when on the morning of August 10, 2000 almost everything we had created over the past 22 years was destroyed.

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Te Tenth and One of Our Greatest Challenges Te Story of the Fire and the Miracles Tat Followed

When we started Raintree, a gravel road used to wrap around the back of the building, and because the church had been vacant for several years before we moved in, people used the property for late night gatherings. During the 2 1/2 years we lived in the building, we spent a lot of time chasing people away especially at night. One of the frst things we did was eliminate the road, building a large sandbox and playground equipment in its place. As we began to develop the grounds adding the pools, the fshing pond, the gardens and the basketball courts, houses and apartments began to surround us. Our problems with trespassers increased. We tried every way we could think to discourage uninvited visitors. Our concern was that someone would get hurt on the property or drown in the pools. It is against the backdrop of these experiences that I share one of our greatest challenges. On the morning of August 10, 2000, Keith and I were awakened by a phone call from the alarm service. Occasionally our sleep is interrupted with false alarms, or by the police dispatcher telling us our horses have escaped, but this time the caller sounded very upset. “Your school is engulfed in fames. I’m so sorry.” I couldn’t believe her. I hadn’t even heard sirens, but as we crested the hill on Inverness Drive we could see the reddish glow in the sky and the smoke plume thousands of feet in the air. Four fre trucks were directing streams of water on our building. Our parking lot was flled with ambulances, fre fghters and police. Te front of the building was intact, but the south and west sides were ablaze. Te wind was blowing from the northeast so the frefghters were trying to keep the fre from spreading to the neighborhood on the west as well as protecting the elementary building on the southeast. When we told the fremen there were animals inside, they said even though the front looked all right, the fre was working its way through the inside. And they were right. As more of our staff arrived, we watched the fre completely envelope the building. Nothing remained except the exterior walls on the north and the walkways on the northeast. We were grateful when the frefghters saved the Raintree sign. For most of the morning the frefghters worked the fre. It took over three hours to get it under control, and many more hours to extinguish it. In fact that evening frefghters took turns on “fre watch” changing shifts every two hours to make sure it didn’t reignite. From what we learned during the investigation, the fre started in a trash can on the south patio. Te investigators rebuilt the south wall using the charred studs and window frames to determine the point of origin. Te melted remains of a trash can were found on the patio cement. How something fammable got in the trash can, we probably will never know. None of us had ever experienced such a tragedy. If it hadn’t been for the frefghters and their quick response, the fre easily could have spread to the surrounding neighborhoods. Later in the day, the Fire Marshal and the department chaplain met with us. His analogy of a death seemed a very appropriate one to us. For us losing Raintree, the animals and all the memories the building held for us was like losing someone very dear. He said the grieving process would be the same, and we found that to be true. As we reached for a piece of equipment or remembered a special photograph, the feelings of loss at times overwhelmed us. He said we should go ahead and cry, and we did a lot of that. We still do. Te response from the community with offers of help was almost immediate. Marcia Riley, a former Raintree parent, and Steve Burk, our chorale music teacher, jumped in to fnd temporary quarters for us arranging a meeting with Tom Bracciano the USD#497 facilities coordinator. By the end of the morning of August 10 we had arranged a temporary lease at 3705 Clinton Parkway, the vacant administrative building just one mile down the street. Before we knew it people began helping. Families past and present came to our aid. Work crews from local construction companies appeared at our door. Former students painted walls, our bankers sewed napkins, fathers built shelves, families donated animals, plumbers lowered toilets, electricians wired fre

11 HISTORY OF OUR SCHOOL alarms, grandmothers sewed chair covers, contractors built walls and Montessori schools loaned us materials. Regulating agencies made our relocation a top priority. In just seven days we had a temporary license. Within ten days we opened our doors. On Friday evening as storm clouds gathered and lightning illuminated the sky, we gathered in the amphitheater to say goodbye to our beloved building. Families we hadn’t seen for years with children now in high school joined our present Raintree families and staff for an evening of remembrance and farewell. Karen Frick read a short history of the school and Pam Bushouse, a former Raintree parent, led us in several verses of the Raintree song presenting us with a duplicate print of the Raintree song she had given us years ago lost in the fre. And long distance from California, our dear friend Ann Anderson listened via a cell phone. Troughout the ordeal the most miraculous things happened. Most occurred when we were so distraught and unable to function that I don’t even know the names of the people involved. Here are two stories.

Te Story of the Wall

On the second day after the Fire Marshal outlined the structural changes we needed to make to meet city codes in our temporary building, I noticed two men taking measurements and talking on a cell phone. Finally at the end of the day, I asked them who they were. “Oh, we’re from Harris Construction Company. We’re going to build your walls.” And that’s just what they did. Te next day a different crew, I think from Stultz Construction came in to sheetrock and then another from Allied MBE. Te following day another crew textured the walls and then the volunteers set about painting. After the work was done, I worried about how we were going to clean the foor when a young man named Michael Grob walked in the front door about 8 PM and said, “I’m here to clean your carpets.” Where these people came from and how they knew what to do is still a mystery.

Te Story of the Tables

As we scrambled to fnd enough tables and chairs to equip our classrooms, Sutherland Lumber kindly donated 100 sheets of 3/4” plywood and a local carpenter was contracted to laminate the 90 table tops, round the edges and add rubber coping in just four days. Tim Turman generously offered to pay for the table legs so one of our staff members made some phone calls and found a factory in Fort Smith, Arkansas with 90 sets in stock. Unfortunately no one had time to drive there nor did anyone have a truck sturdy enough to transport them. Enter the Frito-Lay company. One of their drivers agreed to travel one hour out of his way to pick up the legs and deliver them to the grocery store parking lot across the street where a feet of pick-up trucks driven by volunteers unloaded them and brought them to the school. Tat evening a group of parents with the help of a professional carpenter screwed 90 sets of legs into 90 tabletops.

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Stories like these flled our days. When we were hungry parents and friends fed us, and that was no small task. On some days there were as many as 100 people working to help us to rebuild. When we were sad, cards and letters would lift our spirits. When we felt despair, someone was always there to give us a hug. Te fre destroyed everything...our main building, every piece of equipment, our beautiful gardens, walkways, trees, and our pools. Even the fsh were killed in our pond by the warm water from the fre trucks. What we didn’t lose was our commitment to children and our community. As one of our parents wrote so lovingly in a note to us, “Te true treasures of Raintree remain.” As the bulldozers carried away what was left of our school, a paper came tumbling across the playground while our elementary students watched. One of our treasured mementos of the fre, the following quote from Montessori had hung in the building and was a cornerstone of our work with children in the past and will continue to guide our work in the future. It seems ftting that it survived.

Te Child Within the child lies the fate of the future. Whoever wishes to beneft society must protect the child and observe his natural ways of acting. A child is mysterious and powerful and contains within himself the secret of human nature. Anyone who wishes to follow my method must understand that he should not honor me, but follow the child as his leader. Te child builds with whatever material he fnds. If the material is poor his construction will be poor also. In order to construct himself, he must take whatever material he chances to fnd in his environment. Te child is the forgotten citizen, and yet if statesmen and educators ever came to realize the terrifc force that is within the child for good or evil, I feel they would give him priority over everything else. -Maria Montessori

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Te Other Challenges

After we lived through the fre, we didn’t think there was anything bad that could happen to us, as if the fre by its very nature absolved us from any suffering in the future. When I wrote the history of the school for our Policies and Procedures Manual in 2002 to replace the one lost in the fre, the history was originally entitled, “Raintree and Te Ten Challenges.” Tat was really shortsighted of me because if I have learned anything in the past 28 years, it is that one never knows what direction life will take. Since the fre, we have experienced losses which were much more devastating. In the summer of 2001 student Jack Stineman, who had attended our toddler and primary classrooms and was enrolled to begin his kindergarten year, was killed in a car accident that also seriously injured his mother Jacquie. Te little garage where we store our tricycles was named Jack’s Garage, and the Golden Raintree west of the Phoenix building was planted in his memory. In December of 2002 car accident claimed the life of another Raintree student Sarah Elbayoumy. A Raintree graduate and a junior at Free State High School, Sarah was a devout Muslim. Some adults spend lifetimes trying to achieve inner peace, and yet somehow, Sarah had developed this quality early in her life. Her mere presence made others feel valued. Sarah was a brilliant student writing detailed research papers on such charismatic, yet humble leaders as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi when she was only seven. From the frst time we met Sarah, we felt as if we were in the presence of someone who was going to change the world. True leaders inspire others. Sarah made us want to be better, to learn more, to do the right thing whether we were her friend, her classmate or her teacher. Gandhi said, “We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” Sarah was. In the summer of 2005, a memorial water garden called Sarah’s Garden in her memory and was built to celebrate the lives of other Raintree children who have left this world too early. A poem written by Sarah at Raintree when she was 11 years old hangs at the entrance to the garden. Every visitor who tours the elementary classes hears the story of Sarah, and she was right when she wrote:

Tomorrow I may live. Tomorrow I may die. But whether I live or die, Tomorrow I will give.

In Conclusion… Since I wrote this history, we have faced more challenges including the deaths of precious children such as Erin O’Donnell, Jack Lange, and Jacob Finley. Te school was damaged again when a tornado hit our school in 2003. But there have been silver linings in our story, too. In 2012 Ann Anderson returned after her husband Stephen retired from the Brubeck Institute in California, and at this writing, she is teaching an upper elementary class and coordinating our elementary program. And we have expanded the school again, adding more toddler and elementary classes and a Erdkinder.

Although our journey has been a challenging one, we know we are on the right path. How we handle life’s obstacles shapes our character, strengthens our will and defnes our purpose. Our faith in the children, our staff and in the special community that is Raintree has sustained us through some of life’s greatest difficulties, and we look to the future with hope and optimism.

14 HISTORY OF OUR SCHOOL

About the Author

Lleanna McReynolds is the author of this history and takes complete responsibility for the accuracy of the information. Although Lleanna has been head of school since its inception, the inspiration to start Raintree was husband Keith’s, and he continues to be the school’s administrator and visionary.

Lleanna received an undergraduate degree in Art Education from the University of Kansas, Primary Training and Certifcation from the American Montessori Society at MECA-Seton, Chicago, Illinois, Elementary Training and Certifcation from the Association Montessori Internationale through the Washington Montessori Institute in Washington, D.C. and a Master’s degree from Loyola College of Maryland in Baltimore.

Over the years she has taught in primary classrooms, cooked in the kitchen, worked Late PM, taught in the elementary, directed summer camp and plunged hundreds of toilets. She has also been the school’s director since the beginning. She views the rearing of her children, the founding of Raintree and her continuing work at the school as the most rewarding experiences of her life.

15 HISTORY OF OUR SCHOOL

16 PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT

Parent-School Partnership Agreement

When a new family joins our Raintree family, we form an alliance of which the primary goal is the education of the child. What should we expect from each other as we enter into this partnership? What can parents reasonably expect from the school, and what can the school expect from parents. Te purpose of this agreement is to clarify those expectations.

What can the school expect from the family? Te school expects that the family embraces the Montessori approach to education. Whether they have attended parent nights while on the waiting list or researched Montessori methodology on their own, the expectation is they will continue to expand their understanding of Montessori philosophy throughout the child’s tenure. Parents are expected to attend parent-teacher conferences each semester, parent education events throughout the year and to familiarize themselves with the policies and procedures outlined in this handbook. Once a child is in the primary, the best way to learn about Montessori is to be a guest in the classroom. Once a child is acclimated to the classroom community, arrange for a brief visit. Te children enjoy hosting guests and will offer you a refreshment during your stay. Be sure to say yes. One of the best parts of the observation is watching the children prepare your snack.

When you are asked to fll out paperwork for re-enrollment or otherwise, please complete and return it to the office on time!

How can I support the Raintree community? Demonstrate respect for all the adults and children, the school and the school’s programs. By modeling respect for your child, his classmates, the teachers, other parents, and school support staff, your child learns how to treat other people with respect. We are sensitive to the many pressures families experience in our society today. We do not ask parents to volunteer or raise funds for the school often, so when we have a book fair, need help in the gardens, host teacher appreciation luncheons, or have a work day, the expectation is that families will sign up to help. Tis sends a clear message to your child that when you are part of a larger community, you contribute to its well- being in ways both large and small. No contribution of time or talent is ever too small, and we always appreciate your contributions.

How can I create consistency between home and school? Parent according to Montessori principles applying them to the preparation of your home environment as well as your interactions with your child. Follow Montessori’s sage advice, “Never do something for your child that he can do for himself.” Allow your child to engage in simple tasks of practical life that he can do for himself at each stage of development. (See “Child Responsibilities” in the Resource section for examples.) Attending a parent night on “Montessori in the Home” will give you ideas on where to start. Te child will beneft immeasurably when the school and the home are in agreement. Independence, a love of learning and a can-do spirit will be the byproducts of this collaboration.

What are my responsibilities regarding communication between the home and Raintree? Maintain active, direct and respectful communication with the school. Read communications from the school and the classroom including newsletters, calendars, postings online and information sent home in a paper copy with your child. Children beneft when school and home are in harmony.

17 PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT

What can parents reasonably expect from the school? What can I expect of the school academically? Raintree is not a conventional school. We are a Montessori school. Our focus is on the development of the whole child. Raintree students are exposed to a wide breadth of knowledge, often concepts which most parents did not learn until their junior high or high school years, however, our aim is not to “fll an empty vessel” with facts, but rather our goal is that students learn to think for themselves. Academics are a small part of what a child gleans from a Montessori education. Equally important are the child’s social, emotional, spiritual and physical development. Te goal is to become a lifelong learner who keeps alive that fame of interest and curiosity about the world around him. As you will learn in this handbook and specifcally “A Day in the Life” narratives, at Raintree children are given choices and freedom during the school day. Te choices and accompanying responsibilities develop character. We place importance on community service. From the time children are toddlers; they learn to help one another, and as they grow, their service to others expands from helping classmates to the care of their classroom itself to the larger school community and the local community. It is not unusual to walk into the school and fnd a table of baked goods manned by students raising money for global causes as well. In this way, students gain awareness and appreciation of others and their challenges while at the same time become aware of their own strengths and abilities to help others and affect the world around them. We treat each child with dignity and respect, and we expect they will do the same. We strive to develop each child’s innate and individual gifts. “Freedom, but with responsibility,” said Montessori. We help children learn to balance personal freedom with a clear sense of responsibility to himself, others and the community as a whole.

What can I expect in terms of communication from the school? Tere are two regularly scheduled parent-teacher (or in the case of older students, parent-teacher-student) conferences each year. In the event of special concerns, your child’s teacher will contact you to discuss these concerns by phone, email or in person. In addition to conference reporting, classroom teachers will communicate with you via classroom letters, newsletters, and email messages.

What can I expect of the school environment? We work diligently to provide an environment that is physically and emotionally safe and supportive as well as aesthetically beautiful. Our frst responsibility as Montessori teachers is to prepare the environment with materials which are appropriate for each stage of the child’s developmental. Tey must be attractive, meticulously maintained and always at the ready to inspire work. Montessori teachers strive to create an inviting, child-sized world like no other. Raintree staff will look high and low for just the right sized implement to make the work accessible to the child.

What professional standards can I expect from the school and staff? Te strength of any organization is in the people, and Raintree has been fortunate to have dedicated and hardworking individuals from its inception. Te work ethic of our staff is unparalleled. Montessori teachers in general are outside-the box-thinkers, and as such, they embrace the opportunity to work in a profession which supports their work with current research continually validating their efforts. Te average tenure of someone who leads a classroom at Raintree is over ten years. Raintree teachers hold bachelor’s degrees and many have master’s degrees. Our primary, elementary and Erdkinder staff are Montessori-certifed from either the Association Montessori Internationale, or the American Montessori Society. All lead teachers are members of the North American Montessori Teachers’ Association, and keep active memberships in either AMI, or AMS. Te elementary staff are members of the Elementary Alumni Association.

18 PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT

Our school is a member of the North American Montessori Teachers’ Association nationally. We are licensed by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, and we are members of the Montessori Administrator’s Association. Our staff beneft from professional development approximately twice a year which may include workshops or conferences off- or on-campus. AMI Refresher Courses, NAMTA conferences and MTIPS (Montessori Teacher Institute for Professional Studies) are some of the choices staff make when selecting professional development. In the past we have hosted the best in the feld of Montessori education on our campus as well so all staff can beneft from their expertise. Such notables as Celma Pinho Perry, founder and director of Seton Montessori Institute, Carol Alver, Sanford Jones, Kay Baker, Margot Waltuch, Jean Miller, Alfe Kohn, and Trevor Eissler have been guests of our school.

What can I expect from the school administration? From our beginning the focus has always been on the child, creating “the optimum conditions for learning” as Einstein said. We do this by fnding the best teachers to do this noble work and then supporting them so that they can administer to the needs of the child and the family. Our classrooms are fully-equipped Montessori environments lovingly prepared and maintained by our staff so the child has the most ideal experience possible. We strive to create a safe, beautifully-maintained campus so the child’s outdoor experience matches the quality of his school day indoors. We keep our administrative staff small so we can keep our fnger on the pulse of the school. We interface with students, parents, staff, alumni, prospective parents, government officials, visitors from other schools, Montessori professionals, vendors, and the general public. Parents can expect professional, courteous conduct and mutually respectful communication from all our administrative staff. Te head of school, the school administrator, the assistant head, registrar, billing manager, accounts manager, special education coordinator, all-day coordinator, elementary coordinators, and campus supervisor (who is our camp director in the summer) make up our administration. Tey can sometimes face difficult decisions as they balance the business side of Raintree and the Montessori side, but our primary focus has always been and always will be, what is in the best interest of the children.

19 PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Program Overview THE RAINTREE VILLAGE: OUR PROGRAMS Tree Toddler Communities for children 18 months - 3 years Nine Primary Houses for children 3 - 6 years Four Lower Elementary Classes for children 6 - 9 years Four Upper Elementary Classes for children 9 - 12 years Erdkinder for children 12 - 14 years Camp Raintree for elementary

School Administration, Office Personnel, and Coordinators ADMINISTRATION Keith McReynolds, School Administrator and our Visionary, is responsible for risk management and all fnancial operations of the school including bookkeeping, payroll and fnancial analysis.

Lleanna McReynolds, Head of School, is responsible for management of the entire school. Te Head of School addresses all operational matters such as student enrollment, academics, advancement, hiring and termination of personnel, and supervision of administration.

Heather M. Eichhorn, Assistant Head of School, implements human resources for staff, purchasing and classroom reimbursements, managing content of web site, hiring of support staff and substitutes.

OFFICE STAFF Kelli Koberlein, Office Manager, maintains student records, changes of schedule, and the 1001 things that keep the office running smoothly.

Sheila Shanker, Enrollment and Accounts Manager, coordinates all enrollment and re-enrollment paperwork, monthly family accounts including statements, billing and payments.

Nikki Escalante, Data Entry

Byron McReynolds, Financial Advisor

DIVISION COORDINATORS Ryan Kuhn, Facilities Coordinator Heather Eichhorn, KU SPED Practicum Students Ann Reif, Level Advisor and Support Staff Educator Jennifer Baker-Powers, Level Advisor and Communications Coordinator Wafaa Shank, Level Advisor Saasha Huston, Erdkinder Ann Anderson, Level Advisor Lisa Ryan, Level Advisor Chris Rieke, Kitchen Manager

20 PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Staff Roster TODDLER COMMUNITY AND PRIMARY HOUSES Toddler Communities (Ages 18 months - 3 years) Felicia Carey, Toddler East Lead Guide Paige Opliger Community Assistant Laura Ripper, Community Assistant

Diana Perry, Toddler Mideast Lead Guide Regan Broadfoot, Community Assistant Rose Reynolds, Community Assistant Karli Cabrera, Community Assistant

Wafaa Shank, Toddler Far East Lead Guide Savanna Chino, Community Assistant Alexx Fuller, Community Assistant

Primary Classrooms (Ages 3 - 6 years) Jennifer Baker-Powers, Upper Midwest Lead Guide Megan Neu, Assistant Samantha Torres, Late Afternoon Assistant Willie Jordan, Late Afternoon Assistant

Emma Ewert, Upper East Lead Guide Robin Alldritt, Assistant Caroline Burton, Late Afternoon Assistant Kyra McCally, Late Afternoon Assistant

Lisa Erber, Upper Far West Lead Guide Megan McClellan, Assistant Nikki Escalante, Support Staff Kristen Copple, Late Afternoon Assistant

Marcia Granger, Lower Midwest Lead Guide Erin Hrenchir, Assistant Sinea Burton, Late Afternoon Assistant Mia Wills, Late Afternoon Assistant

Emma Komp, Lower East Lead Guide Tanner Tenbrink, Assistant Megan Wisbey, Late Afternoon Assistant Emma Williams, Late Afternoon Assistant

Callie Borszich, Lower Far West Lead Guide Sarah Unruh, Assistant Noelle Walker, Late Afternoon Assistant Pake Simons, Late Afternoon Assistant

21 PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Ann Reif, Lower West Lead Guide Katie Huston, Assistant Karina Novelo, Late Afternoon Assistant Rylee Roberts, Late Afternoon Assistant

Xiling Dai, South Lead Guide Liz Struble, Assistant Katie Mischo, Late Afternoon Assistant Torrey Olson, Late Afternoon Assistant

Laura Hosek, Upper West Lead Guide Ciara Carey, Assistant Ashlynn Kahle, Late Afternoon Assistant Trini Crocker, Late Afternoon Assistant

ELEMENTARY Lower Elementary (ages 6 - 9 years) Dayle Dryer, Lower Elementary North West Loft Lead Guide Mikaela Vega, Assistant Austin Sweeney, Late Afternoon Assistant Sarah Grace Waltz, Lower Elementary South East Lead Guide Lucy Diamond-Moore, Assistant Emily DeHoyos, Late Afternoon Assistant Joe Sears, Lower Elementary North West Lead Guide Keri Griffin, Assistant Jordan Phillips, Late Afternoon Assistant Laura Sinkler Lower Elementary South East Loft Lead Guide Cameron Hughes, Assistant Brigid Dunn, Late Afternoon Assistant

Upper Elementary (ages 9 - 12 years) Ann Anderson, Upper Elementary North East Lead Guide Ben Rumback, Assistant Kaitlyn Smith, Late Afternoon Assistant

Kathy Klocke, Upper Elementary SouthWest Loft Lead Guide Katherine Dick, Assistant and Late Afternoon Assistant Chris Wood Late Afternoon Assistant

Lisa Ryan, Upper Elementary South West Lead Guide Chris Wood, Assistant Chris Wood, Late Afternoon Assistant

Eric Matthews, Upper Elementary North East Loft Lead Guide Kyle Koederitz, Assistant Kaitlyn Smith, Late Afternoon Assistant

22 PROGRAM OVERVIEW

ERDKINDER Saasha Huston, Lead and Mathematics Guide Will Sharp, Foreign Language and Humanities Guide Clay Kimmi, Micro-economies and Occupations Guide Erika Geery, Late Afternoon Assistant

KITCHEN STAFF Chris Rieke, Head Chef Don Zahn, Assistant Chef Max Coleman, Assistant Chef

JANITORIAL STAFF Tacho Romero, Primary Building Maria Romero, Primary Building Bri Reynolds, Elementary Buildings Karen Williams, Primary Building - day time

SPECIALISTS Amy Waldron, Zina Amante, Primary Piano Instructors Jennifer Brown, Lower Elementary Music Director Anne Edwards, Elementary Librarian Amy Waldron, Upper Elementary Choral Music and Instrumental Music Director

ELEMENTARY LATE AFTERNOON ENRICHMENT SPECIALISTS Cindy Sears, Art Instructor Dr. Mary Johnson, French Instructor Christopher Santee, Spanish Instructor David Paden and Andrew Bledsoe, Chess Coaches

CONSULTANTS Dr. Tamara Cash, School Psychologist Carlene Franz, Educational Psychologist Consultant Jennifer Higgins, Speech Language Terapist

23 PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Transitioning at Raintree As Your Child Matures

THE SCHOOL LEVELS Our toddler and primary programs run year around. Te Montessori primary is a three-year interrelated program. During the third year, the “kindergarten” child’s work cycle lengthens; self-confdence and self- esteem make their biggest gains. Tese children are the leaders of their communities having been with the same teacher and peers for two years. Our elementary and Erdkinder year runs from August to May. Te Montessori elementary is a six-year program with the last year the capstone of the Montessori elementary experience. Te Erdkinder is a two-year program providing the adolescent a well-rounded educational experience like no other. In the summer, we offer a day camp for our elementary students and elementary students from other schools. Raintree frst- through sixth-graders may attend. Non-Raintree students who have fnished their frst-grade year through students who just completed ffth grade may attend.

THE BEGINNING Whether your child’s Montessori journey begins in our toddler, primary, elementary, or Erdkinder programs, the admission process is the same. Admission Once your child is admitted, you will be sent the paperwork required to complete enrollment. Some paperwork is completed only once and some, each year; some is required by KDHE and some by Raintree. Most paperwork is sent via email. Please make sure that your email address is current, and there are no restrictions on receiving bulk email from our school. (Check your place of work if you are using a work email account.) Once Raintree receives the required paperwork and the enrollment deposit, your child's name will be placed in the class roster. Orientation Once your child is placed in a class roster, you will receive an invitation by your child’s teacher for an orientation. Tis is a time for parents and child to meet the teachers, become familiar with the classroom and outdoor environments, and learn about the schedule of the day. Orientation is about an hour in length. Re-enrollment Re-enrollment occurs each year beginning in January and closing in February. If your child is continuing in the same program the next year (i.e., toddler to toddler, primary to primary, elementary to elementary, Erdkinder to Erdkinder), re-enrollment paperwork is all that is required. No deposit is required. Elementary students receive enrollment information for Camp Raintree at this time. Placement Traditional classrooms by their structure are adult-centered, and a child’s placement is often determined by the child’s ability to get along with the teacher. A Montessori classroom is not a teacher-centered system, but a child-centered one. When placing children in a classroom at Raintree, especially an elementary class, we look carefully at the student’s strengths, and the student is placed in a classroom community that needs her gifts. Placement is determined by matching the needs and assets of the individual with the needs and assets of the receiving learning community. Te decision- makers in this process are the previous teacher who worked with the child for three years, and the receiving teacher who knows the strengths and needs of the community of learners who will receive

24 PROGRAM OVERVIEW

the child. Parent requests are considered if a sibling has had the receiving teacher, however, the needs of the child and the new community trump all other issues when placing a child. Student Records Student records are kept in the office and include health assessments, child history, conference reports, and evaluations. All requests for transfer of records and for teacher letters of recommendation must go through the Raintree office. Do not give any of this paperwork directly to the child’s teacher. In the case of a transfer to another school, the registrar must receive a Release of Records form signed by the parent. We will forward the requested records and letters of recommendation directly to the receiving school. Student accounts must be up to date before records can be released. Acceptance to the Next Level An application form with fee must be submitted to be considered for acceptance in the elementary and Erdkinder programs. Priority is given to Raintree students whose applications reach the office by the enrollment deadline. See “Enrollment” under the headings of Primary to Elementary and Elementary to Erdkinder.

TRANSITIONS From Toddler Community to Primary Signs of Readiness Te child transitions when she is developmentally ready for the primary environment. Your child’s teacher will determine readiness typically between the ages of 2 1/2 and 3 years of age. Signs include: more advanced level of spoken language, cycles of concentrated work, higher level of independence, toileting independence (or close to), social awareness and willingness to engage with classmates. Re-enrollment Every year re-enrollment paperwork is emailed with required paperwork shortly following. Completed forms must be returned by the deadline to ensure re-enrollment. No registration fee is required. Te Transition Te transition from toddler to primary occurs near a child’s third birthday. Some transition as early as two and a half years of age, and some beneft from a few extra months in our toddler community. Once your child’s teacher observes signs of readiness for the primary environment, and there is an opening (this may be in June, August or during the school year), you will be notifed of the transition timeline. Te toddler guide and the new primary guide will make arrangements for the child to visit the new primary classroom several times prior to the actual transition. Te toddler teacher takes the child to the new classroom where he is introduced to his new teachers, classmates, and pets. Te child is invited to stay for about an hour on the frst day, and each subsequent visit, the length of his stay increases. Te classroom visits may run a few days to a week in length. Te new teacher will also schedule an orientation for the family to introduce the parents to the child’s new classroom.

25 PROGRAM OVERVIEW

From Primary to Elementary Signs of Readiness Te transition from primary to elementary marks the end of the frst plane of development and the beginning of the second plane. In determining the readiness for this transition, our staff frst consider social and emotional development and then academic markers of readiness. Some children beneft from spending another year in a primary classroom. Most important are the ability to be an independent and self-directed worker and the ability to work with concentration—alone or in collaboration with a group. Enrollment Parents may contact the office for an elementary application. Tis application must be completed and returned with the application fee before a child will be placed on the elementary waiting list. In March, confrmation letters are sent to those children who will be accepted for the coming year. Priority is given to Raintree students frst, followed by students applying from other Montessori schools. Students who have left Raintree and want to return will be considered above students coming from non-Montessori environments. Parents will receive a welcome letter and information about upcoming parent meetings and an open house for the children. Te Transition Once the spaces have been confrmed, Raintree students visit their classroom several times during the spring semester, and open houses for families are scheduled in May and August.

From Lower Elementary to Upper Elementary Signs of Readiness Te transition from the lower to the upper elementary occurs at the second half of the second plane of development at approximately nine years of age. To make the transition successful, the child must demonstrate increased independence both in terms of academic skills and personal responsibility. Academically he must be ready for complex research and mathematical problem-solving. She needs a high degree of self-direction, an increased ability to choose challenging work, and must be a respectful and cooperative member of the classroom community. Re-enrollment Re-enrollment applications are sent out in January. When applications are returned, required paperwork is emailed. Parents will receive a welcome letter and information about upcoming parent meetings and open houses. Te Transition Once the spaces have been confrmed, students visit the classroom several times during the spring semester, and an open house for parents and students is scheduled in August.

26 PROGRAM OVERVIEW

From Upper Elementary to Erdkinder Signs of Readiness Students enter our Erdkinder as childhood ends and adolescence begins, at about twelve years of age. Tis is the beginning of the third plane of development. Students must have successfully completed the upper elementary program to enter Erdkinder. Tey must demonstrate a high degree of personal responsibility, respectful engagement with the group and well-developed academic skills. Enrollment If you are interested in our Erdkinder, contact the office for a Raintree Erdkinder Application. Once we receive a completed application and application fee, your child’s name will be placed on the waiting list. Placements will be confrmed at the end of April. Te Transition Enrollment information is sent to parents during re-enrollment. Acceptance is determined by the upper elementary teacher in concert with the Upper Elementary Coordinators, Erdkinder teachers and the Head of School. Visits to the Erdkinder are hosted by the Erdkinder students themselves during the spring semester.

27 PARENT EDUCATION

Parent Education Te Montessori Continuum We encourage parents to attend all the parent nights during their child’s tenure at Raintree. Even though the topics may be the same each year, your child will be growing and changing so you will learn something new to apply in how you parent

WAITING LIST PARENT NIGHTS See Waiting List Page on our Web Site for Dates and More Information Te families of our youngest children often tour Raintree early, sometimes before they are born. We know that parents eagerly seek information about parenting and the Montessori method during this time. As the parents wait patiently on the list and to stay connected with these families, we offer parent nights designed specifcally for parents of children on our waiting list. Parents may also join current parents at our all-school parent nights hosted periodically throughout the year. If a parent attends three or more parent nights, the child moves to a priority group on the waiting list (equivalent to a child with previous Montessori experience). Parents on the waiting list have requested an online community group to continue the conversation and to share resources. If you are interested in joining this Google Plus Community, send an email request to [email protected]. Montessori in the Home (offered several times a year) Tis parent night focuses on how to encourage the young child’s emerging sense of independence. Tis particular parent night is limited to 20 parents to encourage group discussion. We will share ideas with photographs, videos, handouts, and discussion on how to create a child's corner in every room in the house. Te Montessori Toddler Community Tis parent night focuses on the toddler-aged child in the Montessori classroom. We begin the evening with an introduction and then divide into groups spending time in the toddler communities visiting with the toddler staff to discuss language development, movement, order, independence, and self-discipline. We answer questions such as: “Why does my child say, ‘No, I do it myself!’?”

ALL SCHOOL PARENT NIGHTS Silent Journey Most parents of Montessori children did not themselves attend Montessori schools, so it can be difficult for them to imagine their child’s classroom experience. Te Silent Journey is a unique opportunity that allows parents to put themselves in their children’s shoes and experience frst-hand what their children are doing, and will do throughout their years in Montessori. For many parents, it is their consummate Montessori educational experience. We follow the model developed by Barbara Gordon, the Journey’s founder. Spaces are limited so when the registration process begins, sign up right away. You will be amazed! Te (Insert subject here!) Sequence On a rotating basis, we choose a particular subject such as language or math and follow the sequence from the toddler environment to the Erdkinder. Te staff prepare the Montessori materials at each level illustrating the progression from the concrete to the abstract. Guest Speakers

28 PARENT EDUCATION

We sometimes invite guest speakers to host workshops for our staff and to provide parent education nights for our families. Past speakers have included Alfe Kohn, author of over 15 books on education, Trevor Eissler, author of Montessori Madness, a parent’s prospective on Montessori, and Margot Waltuch, a colleague of both Maria Montessori and her son, Mario, to name only a few.

TODDLER AND PRIMARY PARENT NIGHTS Montessori 101 Tis parent night is held in all toddler and primary classes. It is an introduction to the Montessori classroom. Activities may include a Montessori scavenger hunt or a lesson on a Montessori material. Te goal of the evening is to give parents a glimpse into the child’s day and a basic understanding of the Montessori method. Montessori in the Home Tis parent night focuses on how to encourage the already emerging sense of independence in the young child through the modifcation of the home environment. What is Montessori Elementary? Tis is a favorite parent night of many. Raintree graduates ranging from 7th graders to college students and beyond stand as a panel of experts. After a short overview of the elementary program, parents are invited to ask the panel of experts about their own experience at Raintree and their transition to other schools whether into Lawrence public schools or other private schools. Tis is not a scripted event!

ELEMENTARY PARENT EVENTS Parent Observations Some elementary classrooms have initiated parent observations as a part of their parent education curriculum. A sign-up sheet is posted and a set of guidelines is distributed to make the observation as constructive and informative as possible. (For more information, read the Observation Guidelines in the Resource section of this handbook.) Parent Afternoons Some elementary classrooms host parent afternoons as a part of their parent education curriculum. Tis is a time for the child to present lessons to his parents that he is currently working on in the classroom. Student Work Fair Te upper elementary classrooms host a student work fair in the spring. Students either present their best work or the students decide on a theme with each student or group of students addressing a particular topic. Parent Nights Different topics are chosen each year. Most common themes have been Montessori 101, Montessori in the Home: Emerging Independence in the Elementary Child, and Family Math Games. What is an Erdkinder, or Montessori Erdkinder? A discussion designed to introduce families to the Montessori approach to adolescent education hosted by staff and students.

29 PARENT EDUCATION

ERDKINDER PARENT NIGHTS Topics Coming Soon!

PARENT OBSERVATIONS In the primary Parents are often curious about what the child is doing at school. However, asking the child, “What did you do today?” is like asking an adult, “What did you have for lunch last Tuesday?” Te child’s concept of time is different from ours, and it is as difficult for her to answer this question as it is for the adult to remember what they had for lunch a week ago. “Nothing,” or “I don’t know,” is often the response. Te best way to get a window into the child’s world at Raintree is to read a book on Montessori such as Montessori and Your Child by Terry Malloy, or Trevor Eissler’s Montessori Madness. If you are still curious, contact your child’s teacher to schedule an observation. By observing, you will see what your child most enjoys doing at school as well as how independent and self-directed she is in her work. Instead of asking your child questions directly, observe at home, too. A child “reading” a story to his teddy bear, or who says, “I can pour my own milk!” or “I can do it myself!” is answering the question, “What did you do at school today?”

In the elementary and Erdkinder Observation is a valuable tool for learning more about your child and the Montessori experience. If you would like to observe a morning or afternoon work period in the elementary or Erdkinder, please contact your child’s teacher so your visit doesn’t confict with others.

Please refer to the Observation Guidelines in the Resource section of this handbook.

30 ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE

Raintree Procedures ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE When entering a Raintree building, think “library” because, in a way, it is. A Montessori school is a safe haven, tranquil and peaceful, an “oasis of calm,” a child-centered environment in an adult-sized and adult- paced world. Te role of the child is to construct himself, and at each stage of development, he must be able to concentrate to learn. When you walk into a Montessori classroom, whether it is a toddler community or Montessori Erdkinder for adolescents, children are constructing themselves. Please be respectful of this important work. Tis is their place. Please put your cell phone on mute, and do not use it when bringing your child into the building and when picking him up at the end of the day. Phone calls can wait.

ARRIVAL Arriving on time is essential to a successful day for your child. “Every move we make, every breath we take,” our children are watching us. Being on time is a good life lesson for our children to learn.

In the toddler and primary classes, families enter at the west entrance of the parking lot and park in the north parking lot. KDHE guidelines state that an adult must accompany children kindergarten age or younger to and from the building. Holding your child’s hand as you walk through the parking lot ensures his safety and using the crosswalk teaches another important life lesson. Do not allow him to run ahead of you or dart between cars to get to the front door.

Elementary parents enter the campus at the east entrance of the parking lot. Students do not need an adult escort. Parents have a grace period with no charge from 8:15-8:30 AM so students will have time to socialize before class begins. At this age, getting to class a few minutes early helps the students prepare for the day’s activities, another important habit to instill, and visiting with friends is important for elementary children. Please arrive no later than 8:30 AM. Students who arrive late miss important announcements and opportunities to participate in group lessons. Families who are chronically late will incur a late arrival fee. Te three-hour work period in the morning and the two-hour uninterrupted work cycle in the afternoon are “sacred” and essential to the child’s Montessori elementary experience. Please schedule lessons and appointments after 3:45 PM, and if appointments cannot be arranged that late in the day, please schedule them as late in the afternoon as possible. (See A Day in the Life of…)

Erdkinder parents may park in either the north or east parking lot. Our adolescents are familiar with the campus and their early morning responsibilities. Students are responsible for early morning chores so a prompt arrival is important.

DEPARTURE In the toddler and primary, please arrive promptly at your child’s departure time and remind your child to shake her teacher’s hand. Not only does this reinforce a courtesy, but it also lets us know you are now in charge of your child’s safety. At Raintree we strive to maintain an oasis of calm for the children. Peacefulness is essential to the well-being of human beings. Quiet allows us to appreciate the beauty around us. For small children who spend their day in a group setting, quiet and peacefulness is key. Te younger the child, the more important peacefulness and tranquility are whether at the start of the day, or at day’s end. It is also important for their safety. Please read “No-Man’s Land” in the Resources section about how to keep this time peaceful.

In the elementary, please pick up your child promptly at her scheduled departure time. Te No-Man’s Land guidelines also apply to elementary students.

31 ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE

In the Erdkinder, students have chores, community service jobs and quiet study at the end of the day. Te staff will prepare a schedule of tasks each Erdkinder student is responsible for throughout the year so you will know where and what time to pick up at the end of the day.

PARKING LOT PROCEDURES

Toddler and primary • All toddler and primary families should use the main entrance. • Obey the signs. Drive very slowly…no more than 6 1/2 miles an hour. • Please hold your child’s hand at all times in the parking lot. • Never leave a child in your car unattended. • Never leave your car running unattended. • Pickup time is not play time. Keep siblings with you at all times. • Safety reminders are in the foyer of the Phoenix building on the shelf under the bulletin board. If you see a situation that is unsafe, but cannot visit with the person directly, please consider slipping one of the reminders on the windshield of the car. Simply check the box which describes your concern. • Once you have picked up your child(ren), please leave the campus. Children allowed to remain on or near the parking lot to play while parents visit is a potentially dangerous situation. Please help us ensure the safety of all Raintree children by departing as soon as your child is with you.

Primary Half-day Pick-up Line • Tere is a pick-up procedure for half-day primary students at 11:30, 1:00 and 3:30. When driving in the pick-up line, drive close to the building so that other cars can pass on the north. • Stay in your car. Your child’s teacher will escort your child and help your child buckle in to his seat.

32 ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE

Elementary Drop-off procedure • Elementary parents enter the campus at the east entrance and park in the east parking lot • Please drive slowly...only 6 1/2 MPH. Once you enter the parking lot, two lanes form: the right lane for drop-off and the left, for parents who want to park their car and accompany their student inside. • Cars are not allowed in the service entrance or the road east of the elementary building. • Please DO NOT park along the toddler sidewalk to drop off your student. Tis will cause a traffic jam and tempers to fare as cars back up into the access road. • Continue driving making a left turn until you reach the Drop-off Zone north of the swimming pool along the sidewalk. • Students must get out of the car quickly exiting the vehicle on the passenger side. Getting out of the car on the driver side is dangerous because there are cars in the adjacent lane. • NEVER park in the Drop Off Zone and leave your car. Ever.

Pick-up Procedure Safety is our frst concern at the end of the day. Safety trumps anything else. If you traverse the parking lot at arrival or departure or any time in between, for example, please USE THE CROSSWALKS. Students must see adults following the rules. With our new pick-up stations, we have been able to pull more cars off the access road and make the transition from school to home more efficient and safer, but it requires our vigilance and organization to make it work. Below is the procedure we have developed to ensure a safe departure.

33 ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE

Elementary Students WITHOUT an elementary sibling will be picked up at the North Station. Elementary Students WITH an elementary sibling will be picked up at the East Station. • Students with last names beginning with A-L will be on the west side of the station. • Students with last names beginning with M-Z will be on the east side of the station.

Please note: Your child will always be picked up in the same location even if a sibling is absent. Parents will be given colored cards with the child’s LAST name to put on the left side of their dashboard so that dismissal teachers can see children’s names and have them ready for pick up in a timely manner. • Students picked up at the North Station will have YELLOW cards. • Students on the west side East Station will have RED cards. • Students on the east side East Station will have BLUE cards. Staff members will open vehicle doors on the loading side ONLY. (Tis is a new safety precaution due to vehicles backing out or driving around on the side). Tis may require your child to climb over a siblings car seat or for you to switch the location of car seats. For safety reasons, if there is a brief message to relay to a staff member, you must pull over and park in a parking space until the all children are delivered safely into their waiting vehicles.

LATE PICK-UP If a student is not picked up at her scheduled pick-up time, she joins her class for the late afternoon session, and late pick up fee is charged.

PICK-UP PERMISSION During enrollment parents give the office the names of those people who have permission to pick up the child. Please make sure this information is current. If someone who is not on the list will pick up your child, please email the office at [email protected] or call the office to make arrangements before 3:00 PM. After 3 PM classes are in transition making it difficult to notify the classroom staff. Note: People who do not regularly pick up your child will be asked to provide identifcation when they arrive. Families who are late picking up children will be assessed late fees.

34 COMMUNICATION

COMMUNICATION FROM THE HOME In the event that a signifcant change occurs in your home, please inform your child’s teacher. All information will be regarded as confdential. Common causes of distress can be the absence of a parent, the illness of a relative, any hospitalization, accident or death in the family, a recent move, or death of a pet. Children often act as barometers of family well-being. So that we can offer a little extra TLC when an occasional upset occurs, please keep the lines of communication open.

Absences In the event your child will be absent for the day, please notify our office. You may email us at [email protected] or leave us a voicemail 24 hours a day. If you call the office. please do so before 9 A.M. Please arrange appointments after school hours whenever possible, or in the late in the day so they do not compromise the child’s work time in the classroom. Please do not leave messages with your child’s teacher. All information must go through the office.

FROM RAINTREE - OFFICE If you have a question about enrollment, waiting lists, tuition/ fees, or scheduling, please see our registrar Kelli Koberlein in the main office. Her hours are from 7:30 A.M.-3:30 P.M. If you cannot speak with her personally, leave a note in the basket in her office window in the Phoenix building, leave a voicemail, or send an email at [email protected]. If you have a question about tuition payments, call our accounts manager Kelly McReynolds, or send her an email at [email protected]. If you have a question for your child’s teacher, there are three ways to communicate: call the office and leave a message with office staff for the teacher, email, or jot down a message outside of your child’s classroom entrance. Te teacher will contact you during her break or after school. Questions concerning school philosophy, classroom staffing, school policies, class placement, building repair, carpet color, or any other question about Raintree, see Lleanna or Keith, or contact us by email at [email protected]. If they are not available, see Raintree Assistant Head of School Heather Eichhorn, or email her at [email protected]. Our door is always open, and we welcome your constructive input and ideas.

Web Site Our web site, RaintreeMontessori.org is primarily for prospective and waiting list families while the inner sanctum of our online presence is through a communication platform called Hubbli. Tis is where information is uploaded relevant to our current families. Tere are links to the school newsletter, current menu, parent handbook, calendar, tuition information, timely forms related to parent/teacher conferences, re-enrollment, and slumber party registration to name a few. See the following page for details about Raintree.Hubbli.com. Newsletters Parents receive school news throughout the year via classroom and all-school newsletters. You may access the all-school newsletter online at www.raintreemontessori.org by clicking on the “parent” section on the home page and then typing in the keyword “raintree” and password “8436800,” or receive a hard copy of the newsletter in the Phoenix foyer and the copper mailbox near the elementary. On the parent page of the web site you may also manage your email notifcation subscription.

35 COMMUNICATION

Raintree.Hubbli.com Our Communication Platorm

HOW TO REGISTER:

1. Once on, Raintree.Hubbli.com, click “Click Here to Register” under Register for Site and fll out the simple form. 2. Wait for the email that your registration has been activated. (Please be patient. Tis may take up to 24 hours but most of the time activation is within the hour.) During this activation process, you will be placed as “members” of the appropriate groups. 3. If you feel that membership to a group is applicable to you and your child, you may click Our web site, RaintreeMontessori.org is primarily for prospective the buton, “Request Membership” next to that and waiting list families while the inner sanctum of our online group. presence is through a communication platform called Hubbli. Tis Note: Your password is your own unique password. is where information is uploaded relevant to our current families. If you should forget it, click “Forgot Password?” on Tere are links to the school newsletter, current menu, parent the login page. handbook, calendar, tuition information, timely forms related to parent/teacher conferences, re-enrollment, and slumber party registration to name a few. Once you are a registered user, you will be a member of the “All School” group and to the classroom group your child(ren) belong(s). Tere are also speciality groups that you HUBBLI FAQS may ask to be a member of, if it is relevant, such as Raintree Band, the Green Team, to name a few. You will receive email For questions such as: notifcations from the All School Group notifying you that the • How do I change my password? newsletter, or menu has been posted, that we have a school closing • How do I fnd my groups? due to inclement weather and other notifcations of current • I want to send a message but not to the interest. As a member of your child(ren)’s classroom group, you whole group. How do I send one privately? will be able to access the class newsletter, photos of recent events • Does Hubbli have a mobile app? and specifc classroom reminders. Parents may also post questions • How to add a Hubbli icon to any or comments directly to their child’s teacher, or send private smartphone or tablet messages to any user. • Help! I know my child’s class has an Te school calendar on Raintree.Hubbli.com is color-coded so upcoming potluck but I can’t fnd it on the that all school events are in green, toddler and primary events in calendar. pink, elementary events in purple, Erdkinder events in brown, Visit htps://raintree.hubbli.com/hubbli-faqs/. camp events in orange, and staff events in blue. Note: Much information on Raintree.Hubbli.com is only visible to “logged-in” users. 36 COMMUNICATION

Bulletin Boards and Information Boards At the entrance to your child’s classroom as well as in the foyer of the Phoenix building, you will find a bulletin board. Tey will keep you informed about specific classroom news as well as general school information. Announcements and updates are posted on three information boards at Raintree. One is the whiteboard in the Phoenix building airlock, the second is the whiteboard across from the kitchen and the third is the outside communication box at the corner of the lower elementary. In addition, a community bulletin board is located outside the Phoenix building entrance for use by our parents. Notices of items for sale, coming community events, or other announcements may be posted there.

COMMUNICATION - BETWEEN THE CLASSROOM AND HOME Because our teachers focus on giving lessons throughout the day, we sometimes forget that parents need attention, too. Although we cannot leave the classroom to visit with parents, we will keep you informed in a variety of ways. In the frst classroom newsletter of the year, the teachers will let you know their preferred method(s) and time(s) for questions. Please be respectful of the teacher’s privacy. Unless it is an emergency, our staff return phone calls during the work day, or early evening. In the event of a serious matter concerning your child, the teacher will contact you immediately. In the event of an ongoing concern, the teacher will schedule a meeting.

Daily Reports (Toddler Communities) In the Toddler Community we provide communication between home and school through Daily Reports. When you arrive with your child in the morning, please fll out the top portion of the Daily Report form (child name, date, time of arrival, how your child slept, if your child ate breakfast, and any other notes such as a change in pick-up time). We will write about your child’s day at Raintree, how much lunch she ate, her napping and toileting schedule, and any reminders such as “Your child needs a few more shirts for her cubby.”

Cubbies (Toddler Communities) Each toddler has a cubby at the entrance to his classroom. A fnished art project or sewing project may be placed in there to take home. Be aware! Tere may be a plastic bag of soiled clothing. Following KDHE guidelines, we must send home any soiled clothing to be washed. We may only wash clothing that may contain urine in our laundry facility.

Finished-Work Files or Mailboxes (Primary Classrooms) Each child has either a fnished-work fle or a mailbox at Raintree located near the entrance to the classroom. As the child matures, she will occasionally produce written work that may be found in the fle or mailbox at the end of the day, however, Montessori programs are not “end-product” producing programs. Te young child is much more interested in the process of doing something rather than the product. Te product of a Montessori classroom is the child, not the written work she produces, so do not rush to your child’s mailbox each day anticipating evidence of the work she has done. An empty mailbox does not mean that your child has had an empty day! Quite the contrary. Your child may have ironed ten napkins, discovered which objects foat in water, scrubbed a table, prepared her own snack and learned the phonetic sounds of four letters, none of which would be refected in the contents of her mailbox. You will need to be patient as your child gradually reveals her newly acquired skills and knowledge. A conference provides the most comprehensive window into the child’s work. Most teachers collect work to share at the conference so parents can see the progress the child has made. To learn more about what your child is doing, attend a parent night, schedule an observation or talk to the teacher.

37 HEALTH AND SAFETY

Information File Now that Raintree sends out most communication digitally, the Information File outside your child’s classroom is almost obsolete. Occasionally, we will put a notice in your child’s fle about an upcoming event or a message from the office. If the classroom teacher prefers to send paper newsletters, your copy will be found in your child’s fle. If something is placed in the fle, teachers often put up a sign that says, “Check your fle today!”

Newsletters Some teachers send newsletters online, and others put newsletters in children’s fles. Ask you teacher which method is used.

Conferences Two conferences are scheduled each year regarding your child’s progress. Attendance at both of these conferences is required by both parents. You may reserve a conference time by registering on the sign-up sheet posted on our website. Te teachers prepare and share information about your child’s progress, and the school is closed specifcally for conferences on these two days each semester, therefore, parents are expected to schedule their visit at these times. Please do not schedule an out-of- town trip and request a conference at a later date. Again we ask that you respect the privacy and personal time of our hard-working staff.

Child Conferences in the Elementary and Erdkinder One of the components of the elementary and Erdkinder program is the individual conference that the teacher has with the child. At a conference, the child brings his work diary or work plan along with his finished and unfinished work. Te diary is a record of the time he has spent working during the previous week. By comparing the work record and the finished and unfinished work, the teacher and the child have a means to evaluate progress in the classroom. In this meeting, the child learns to evaluate his own efforts, and the teacher acts as a guide challenging, supporting and encouraging the student.

HEALTH AND SAFETY HEALTH In the event that a signifcant change occurs in your home, please inform your child’s teacher. All information will be regarded as confdential. Common causes of distress can be the absence of a parent, the illness of a relative, any hospitalization, accident or death in the family, a recent move, or death of a pet. Children often act as barometers of family well-being. So that we can offer a little extra TLC when an occasional upset occurs, please keep the lines of communication open.

Illness and Accidents If your child is unable to attend Raintree due to illness, please phone our office. In the event your child has a communicable disease, it is important you notify the school. Children who have a fever, sore throat, skin rash, red infamed eyes, vomiting diarrhea, severe cough, swollen glands or nasal discharge which is not clear must be excluded from school. Should your child become ill, or sustain a minor injury at school requiring more than a superfcial cleaning and bandaid, you will be notifed immediately. It is important that parents pick up their children promptly. Consequently, please notify us immediately of any changes in your work or home phone numbers as well as keep us updated of any relevant address change. Each child is required by law to have a notarized Emergency

38 HEALTH AND SAFETY

Care Release Form. We must have this form to get emergency medical treatment for your child in the event you cannot be located. If your child has been ill, he may return to school if he has been fever-free without the use of fever-reducing medication for 24 hours. If an antibiotic is prescribed, the child must be on the medication for 24 hours before returning to school. Be sure your child is completely recovered before sending him back to school. We assume if your child is well enough to come to school, he is well enough to participate in all activities including outdoor play. See also the Kansas Classroom Handbook of Communicable Diseases in the Resources section.

Immunizations Te numbers of cases of previously controlled diseases such as whooping cough have reach epidemic proportions in some states reminding us of the importance of vaccinating our children. No one can be certain the cause of the epidemics, but one factor may be the numbers of un- immunized children. Te other may be the mutation of the pathogens themselves making the old vaccinations ineffective in some children. In a school setting extreme measures must be taken. In the case of whooping cough, for example, KDHE regulations state, “For susceptible children: the failure to comply with immunization requirements shall result in the child being excluded from school for 21 days after the onset of the last reported illness in the facility.” We want to make sure all the children at Raintree are safe from disease. KDHE regulations require all vaccinations are up to date, or the child may not attend. If you choose not to immunize your child for religious reasons, please understand in the case of an outbreak, your child must excluded from school.

39 HEALTH AND SAFETY

SAFETY Drills - Fire, Tornado and Safety Evacuation plans are posted in each classroom, and drills are practiced throughout the year. Tornado drills are scheduled monthly from March through September, and fre drills are practiced every month. Specifc safety drills are practice three times a year including those related to lockdown, shelter-in-place, and other emergency situations.

Emergency Closings If the Lawrence public schools are closed due to inclement weather, Raintree will also be closed. Announcements about school closings are posted on the Lawrence Journal World (ljworld.com) web site, announced on KANU and KLWN.

40 BRIEF HISTORY OF MONTESSORI

About Maria Montessori Maria Montessori was an Italian physician and educator who opened the frst Casa dei Bambini in 1907. Widely know as the Children's House in the United States, Raintree prefers the more accurate translation of the spirit of the word, or Children's Home. Te Montessori Casa is indeed prepared with the love and attention to detail which will not only see to the physical needs of the very young child, but will nourish the spirit of the young child as well. As the highly trained adult prepares this beautiful environment, we are not preparing classrooms, but children's homes, for indeed these prepared environments do become their "home away from home."

One of the frst hallmarks of a well-prepared Montessori environment for young children is that its very physical appearance says, "Tis place is special. Tis place is for children. Children are valued here." Our well- prepared environments are clean and inviting. All the furnishings are child sized. In addition to being clean and full of meticulously maintained materials in impeccable order, the environments are full of special touches that speak to the child's interests and hold a beauty which touches the life of the spirit . . . live animals and lush plants to care for, beautiful art prints from many periods carefully displayed at the children's eye level, simple sculptures, collections of sea shells, rocks or other objects from nature.

If the environment has been so prepared as to meet the inner needs of the child, one of the second hallmarks of a well prepared environment becomes evident. Te visitor will notice a harmony and joy in the children of the Casa, whose ages span a three year period. For the Casa this is from age three to six. Children will be seen joyfully engaged in purposeful activity that leads them to independence, competence and confdence. Tey will be engaged in activities of caring for themselves and each other by grooming themselves, tying aprons for one another, polishing their own or each other's shoes, etc. Tey will be engaged in the environment, driven by a love for it, helping to keep it clean, arranging fresh fowers to beautify it, and caring for the living things in it.

"Te frst essential for the child's development is concentration. It lays the whole basis for his character and social behavior. He must fnd out how to concentrate, and for this he needs things to concentrate upon. Tis shows the importance of his surroundings, for no one acting on the child from the outside can cause him to concentrate. Only he can organize his psychic life. None of us can do it for him. Indeed, it is just here that the importance of our schools really lies. Tey are places in which the child can fnd the kind of work that permits him to do this” (Maria Montessori, Te Absorbent Mind).

Tis text was written by Connie Black, a teacher trainer for the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) and one of Raintree's founding teachers.

41 BRIEF HISTORY OF MONTESSORI

Te Story of Maria Montessori

“It was January 6th (1907), when the frst school was opened for small, normal children of between three and six years of age. I cannot say on my methods, for these did not yet exist. But in the school that was opened my method was shortly to come into being. On that day there was nothing to be seen but about ffty wretchedly poor children, rough and shy in manner, many of them crying, almost all the children of illiterate parents, who had been entrusted to my care. Tey were tearful, frightened children, so shy that it was impossible to get them to speak; their faces were expressionless, with bewildered eyes as though they had never seen anything in their lives. It would be interesting to know the original circumstances that enabled these children to undergo such an extraordinary transformation, or rather, that brought about the appearance of new children, whose souls revealed themselves with such radiance as to spread a light through the whole world.” —-Dr. Maria Montessori

Within the next year, news of Dr. Montessori’s work stirred interest around the world. Literally hundreds of people began to travel to Rome to see for themselves the school in which young children — children of the deepest poverty and ignorance — taught themselves how to read, write, do mathematics, and run their own schoolhouse with little or no adult supervision. In her book about educational reform, Te Schoolhome (Harvard University Press, 1992), Dr. Judith Rowland Martin writes that she was not very impressed when she frst encountered Montessori education. “I understood that Montessori schools placed children in multi-age classrooms and used manipulative learning materials, which may have been unusual during Dr. Montessori’s lifetime but has long since been incorporated into most early childhood and many elementary classrooms thanks to the Open Classroom movement of the 1960s.” However, Dr. Rowland Martin’s understanding of the value of the Montessori approach was profoundly shaken when she came across a statement in one of the very frst books written about Dr. Montessori’s work in the United States (A Montessori Mother, by Dorothy Canfeld Fisher, Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1913). “Te phrase, Casa dei Bambini, is being translated everywhere nowadays by English-speaking people as Te Children’s House; however, its correct meaning, both linguistic and spiritual is Te Children’s Home” (or Children’s Community, ed.). Canfeld Fisher insisted upon this rendering, which she felt offered a much more accurate and complete insight into the character of the Montessori classroom. Dr. Rowland Martin refected: “Tis misreading of the Italian word casa as house has effectively cut off two generations of American educators from a new and intriguing vision of what school can and should be. If you translate the word casa as house, your attention will be drawn to the child-sized furniture, the Montessori materials, the exercises in Practical Life, the principal of self-education. But if you translate the word casa as home, you will begin to perceive a moral and social dimension that transforms your understanding of Montessori’s idea of a school. Once I realized that Dr. Montessori thought of school on the model of a home, the elements of her system took on a different confguration. Where before I had seen small children manipulating concrete learning materials, I now recognized a domestic scene with its own special form of social life and education.” Rowland Martin realized that what Montessori had established was not simply a classroom in which children would be taught to read and write. Te Casa dei Bambini represented a social and emotional environment, where children would be respected and empowered as individual human beings. It was an extended family, a community in which children truly belonged and really took care of one another. Montessori described this

42 BRIEF HISTORY OF MONTESSORI sense of belonging as “valorization of the personality,” a strong sense of self-respect and personal identity. Within this safe and empowering community, the young child learned at the deepest possible level to believe in herself. In an atmosphere of independence within community and personal empowerment, she never lost her sense of curiosity and innate ability to learn and discover. Confdent in herself, she opened up to the world around her and found that mistakes were not something to be feared but rather the endless opportunity to learn from experience. Tis special relationship that is so common among Montessori children and their teachers and schools is unfortunately still very different from the experience most children have in school.

Te Discovery of the Child Montessori was absorbed with what she later called “Te Discovery of the Child.” She did not see the core of her work as a method or curriculum, per se, as is commonly thought, but as a dramatic discovery that children around the world share common, or universal, characteristics and tendencies, even though each child is a unique human being, who deserves the same respect we would give an adult. In response to the pleas of so many earnest admirers, Dr. Montessori arranged to give her frst training course for teachers in 1909. Expecting only Italian educators, she was amazed to fnd that her frst course, and all of the courses offered since, attracted teachers from all over the world who had heard of her discoveries and were moved to make great sacrifces to learn from her personally. Many people have the impression that Montessori is a centrally controlled business, from which schools can buy a franchise and learn to replicate the model consistently. Nothing could be further from the truth. Te name Montessori was never copyrighted or controlled by Montessori, and much to her dismay, many people attempted to proft from the familiarity and cachet of the “Montessori” name. Te Association Montessori Internationale (AMI), the organization established by Montessori herself to oversee the integrity of her work, openly expresses its concern over the uncontrolled dissemination and loose interpretation of Montessori’s ideas on their website: “Since the beginning, Montessori pedagogy has been appropriated, interpreted, misinterpreted, exploited, propagated, torn to shreds and the shreds magnifed into systems, reconstituted, used, abused and disabused, gone into oblivion and undergone multiple renaissances.” As teachers from many countries carried her ideas back to their homelands, national organizations were established, many of which evolved independently of a continued close association with Montessori and her closest circle of colleagues. Te United States is a perfect example. Montessori made two extended trips to America, the frst in 1913 and the second in 1915. Te reception that she received must have been gratifying. Montessori was greeted by attentive crowds wherever she spoke. Her frst book about the work in Rome, Te Montessori Method, was translated into English by her American sponsor, S. S. McClure, publisher of the enormously popular McClure’s Magazine. She was strongly encouraged to allow her work to be translated by the president and faculty of Harvard University, to whom she dedicated the frst American edition. Rather than simply translate the original title of Montessori’s book, which would have roughly translated as “Scientifc Education in the Children’s Houses (Communities) of Rome,” Mr. McClure chose to give the book a title that was much more succinct, but quite different in perspective: Te Montessori Method. Te term has stuck for the last ninety-plus years in the United States and abroad. During her visit, the frst formal Montessori society, the Montessori Educational Association, was founded by Alexander Graham Bell, among many other nationally prominent supporters.

43 BRIEF HISTORY OF MONTESSORI

When Montessori returned to America in 1915, she arranged to have an entire class work in a special “schoolhouse” made of glass at the Panama-Pacifc International Exposition in San Francisco. It attracted worldwide attention and publicity, as the children went about their tasks under the scrutiny of thousands of visitors from around the world. Dr. Montessori also conducted a teacher training course in California and addressed the annual conventions of both the National Education Association and the International Kindergarten Union. Tat year a bill was introduced into the United States Congress to appropriate funds to establish several teacher education colleges across America to prepare educators to introduce the Montessori approach to American public schools. Te one condition was that Montessori make her home in the United States, an offer that she graciously declined, remarking that her fndings could never belong to just one country but must be introduced around the world. Ultimately, her mother’s untimely death and the intensifed disruption to normal travel caused by World War I, led Dr. Montessori to leave America for Europe. In addition, Professor William Heard Kilpatrick published a scathing critique of her ideas entitled, “Te Montessori System Examined.” In it, he inaccurately accused her of being rigid and outdated in her psychological theories. Kilpatrick, a colleague of the highly popular American educational reformer, Dr. John Dewey of the University of Chicago, had a signifcant effect, leading many initially enthusiastic supporters back to the Progressive Education Movement led by Dewey. Progressive Education, in turn, declined as America moved away from a child-centered perspective to a basic skills focus, during the hard years of the Depression and Second World War. Montessori was outraged at what she felt were false assertions made about her ideas by Dewey, Kilpatrick, and others. Whatever the true cause, over the next ffteen years, Montessori’s infuence in America slowly ebbed from its peak in 1920, when there were more than one thousand Montessori schools in America to the period from 1930 to the late 1950s, when only a handful of Montessori schools quietly worked without openly using her name. In 1960, Nancy McCormick Rambusch, an American mother who had spent two years in Europe studying Montessori education, was given the support of the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) to organize a branch of the Association in the United States. Te group that she founded was the American Montessori Society (AMS), which originally operated under the auspices of the AMI central office in Holland. A teacher preparation program began at the Whitby School in Greenwich, Connecticut. Tanks to the untiring efforts of McCormick Rambusch, the American media became fascinated with the Montessori approach all over again. Determined to develop a specifcally American interpretation of Montessori’s work, differences over practice and policy eventually led the two organizations (AMS and AMI) to separate. Montessori’s Later Years in Europe and India After Dr. Montessori left the United States, she eventually moved to Barcelona, Spain, where a liberal and enlightened provincial government was setting out the ideas that eventually blossomed into the Republic of Spain before the Spanish Civil War. She established an international training center and research institute in Barcelona in 1916. In 1919, Montessori began a series of teacher-training courses in London. During the next three decades, she and her colleagues refned the Elementary Montessori program and began to open classes for older children across Europe. Tat same year, she was invited to give a series of lectures on the issue of education for the young adult (secondary). Tese talks, later published as the Erdkinder Essays, refected a strong theoretical basis for her thoughts about the reform of secondary education; however, she was not to develop them herself during her lifetime. Others did pursue this path, and the frst secondary schools following the Montessori approach opened in the Netherlands in the 1930s. Today, after many years of fts and starts, Montessori Secondary programs have begun to be established around the world.

44 BRIEF HISTORY OF MONTESSORI

In 1929, Dr. Montessori was invited by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini to introduce her ideas throughout the Italian national school system. Having left Italy after her mother’s death to fnd a more liberal-thinking home abroad, Mussolini’s invitation was irresistible to the Italian-born, self-declared citizen of the world. Montessori arrived back in Rome with much fanfare in January of 1930 and re-established her teacher- training center. It is fascinating to consider what each of the two, liberal Maria Montessori and fascist Benito Mussolini, were thinking. He certainly sought to add Montessori’s worldwide acclaim to the glories of the modern Italy. We assume that she believed that she could quietly do her work without getting involved in politics. Ultimately, the two clashed publicly when Mussolini demanded that all students in Italy join the Young Fascists and wear a special student uniform. In 1934, she was forced into exile once again, returning to Barcelona, Spain. Te years leading to World War II were tumultuous for Maria Montessori, who was then sixty-six years old. In 1936, as the Spanish Civil War broke out across Spain, she escaped the fghting on a British cruiser sent to rescue British nationals. She traveled to the Netherlands, where she opened a new Montessori teacher education center and lab school. As war approached, many urged her to leave Europe, and in 1938 she accepted an invitation to conduct a series of teacher training courses in India. When India entered World War II as part of the British Empire, Montessori and her son, Mario, were interned as “enemy aliens.” She was, however, allowed to continue her work and over the next few years trained more than ten thousand teachers in India and Sri Lanka. It was during this period that she wrote several of her most important works, including: Te Absorbent Mind; Education and Peace; and To Educate the Human Potential. Having spent years educating teachers to grasp the “big picture” of the interdependency of all life on earth, she refected on the global confict and humankind’s ultimate place within the universe, distilling them into her Cosmic Curriculum: Te Lessons in Science, History, and Human Culture that has offered generations of Montessori students a sense of wonder and inspiration. Returning to Europe after the end of the war, during her fnal years, Montessori became an even more passionate advocate of Peace Education. Maria Montessori died in 1952 at her home in the Netherlands. In her last years, she was honored with many awards and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1949, 1950, and 1951. Montessori was a brilliant student of child development, and the approach that has evolved out of her research has stood the test for nearly one hundred years in Montessori schools around the world. During her lifetime, Dr. Montessori was acknowledged as one of the world’s leading educators. Mainstream education, however, moved on, adapting only those elements of Montessori’s work that ft into existing theories and methods. Ironically, the Montessori approach is not designed to be implemented as a series of piecemeal reforms. It requires a complete restructuring of the school and the teacher’s role. Today there is a growing consensus among many psychologists and developmental educators that Montessori’s ideas were decades ahead of their time. Only recently, as our understanding of child development has grown, have we rediscovered how clear and sensible her insight was. As the movement gains support and begins to spread into the American public school sector, one can readily say that the “Montessori Way” is a remarkably modern approach.

Tis essay is an excerpt from Te Montessori Way by Tim Seldin and Paul Epstein, © 2003 by Te Montessori Foundation.

45 HUMAN TENDENCIES

Human Tendencies Montessori was a keen observer of human behavior. Being a scientist she looked at the child differently than the educators of her day. She identified specific tendencies which guide and help human beings adapt to new situations throughout their lives. It is these human urges which have shaped our culture, created our civilizations and helped make us who we are as individuals.

Montessori teachers consider the following basic human tendencies when preparing the environment for children:

• Orientation: People want to know their place in the world. Tey want to know how the people and things in it compare to themselves, to understand where they ft in.

• Order: Chaos and confusion are unsettling. Terefore humans try to fnd patterns and classifcation systems so that they can make sense of the world.

• Exploration: Human beings are naturally curious. Trough exploration and investigation they learn from their discoveries.

• Communication: Tere is a natural desire to communicate. Regardless of the culture or time period, human beings have shared experiences and exchanged information.

• Work: Troughout history humans have shown the ability and willingness to work and strive for not only survival, but improvement in life.

• Activity: Active involvement with the surrounding environment allows people to learn and further their self-development.

• Exactness: Humans perceive when things don't ft together. When this happens, they adjust, refne, and improve.

• Repetition: All humans learn through practice. Tis repetition allows them to reach closer to perfection.

• Manipulation: Tere is a connection between learning and doing. Humans work with their hands to establish the connection between their mind and their hands.

• Abstraction & Creativity: Humans have an ability to draw conclusions, conceptualize, synthesize & imagine from experiences in the real world. Tey can imagine that which does not exist, and can think beyond the concrete and real.

• Self-perfection: Healthy human beings have a natural desire to improve. Tey fnd satisfaction in their own personal growth and want to perfect themselves.

46 PLANES OF DEVELOPMENT

Te Planes of Development Montessori viewed the development of the human being not linearly but as a series of planes. Montessori and other psychologists of her time, described these planes as “rebirths” or “transformations.” Montessori used the analogy of a butterfy to describe these transformations. Like the caterpillar, the human’s individuality does not change but its form changes physically, mentally and socially as it moves toward maturity. Te successful completion of one period leads to the next. Montessori illustrated this chronological breakdown in two ways: as a series of four triangles shown below:

First plane is 0-6 years. Te second plane is 6-12. Tird, 12-18 and fourth 18-24. Each has distinct characteristics. Each requires a specific learning environment. and through the Bulb Chart of Development shown here:

At each plane the child becomes part of a community of learners, and in the beginning, he is among the youngest in the class. As each year passes, he looks forward to the time when he will be the oldest in the class, a leader of the classroom community. Te benefits grow exponentially each year, but the final year, age six in the primary and age twelve in the elementary, are critical times in the unfolding of the child’s potential. It is

47 PLANES OF DEVELOPMENT at these important junctures when the child’s self-esteem and self-confidence reach their zenith. If a child leaves before he arrives at this milestone in his development, he never enjoys the fruits of his labor. Not unlike pulling the buds off a plant just before it begins to flower, the final year fully prepares the child for the next plane.

In both illustrations one can see the chronological breakdown of four, six-year spans until the individual reaches maturity at age 24. Montessori also noted that each of these planes was further sub-divided into three-year sub-planes. Te frst of each of these three years is considered “construction” while the second sub-plane is noted as “crystallization and confrmation.” (In our graphic we refer to the frst sub-plane as “intensity” and the second as “refnement.”)

• Te First Plane is called the “absorbent mind.” Te child takes in his environment indiscriminately frst unconsciously then consciously through the use of his hands and through language. Te child at this stage needs an environment based in reality for he is hungry for facts. • Te Second Plane is characterized by the Reasoning Mind. Everything is questioned. Te child wants to know the why, when and how. Tere is a strong interest in the issues of fairness, morality with a willingness to debate these issues. • In the Tird Plane the child has a strong desire to be of-service to humanity. He is idealistic and has a passion to save the world. It is important to note that supporting this idealism is very important. Te child should be taken seriously. • Te Fourth Plane is characterized by the fnalization of development. Planes one and three parallel each other, and there is much rapid change during these periods. Tey are often called the “Fiery Planes” (which is why we use the color red in the graphic) as they are times where the child is the most dynamic and creative in his growth and development. Planes two and four parallel each other but not as obviously.

Te four planes are also distinguished by their physical characteristics. • Te First Plane is characterized by rapid development of the cerebellum, completion of the nervous system, skeletal development, the prehensile ability and the development of equilibrium. • Te Second Plane is marked by the disappearance of babyish characteristics, loss of baby teeth, and the child experiences overall good health. • Te Tird Plane is recognized by the onset of puberty and adolescence, and the rapid physical and mental transformation causing a new delicacy, physically and emotionally (O’Shaughnessy, 18 June 2013).

48 PLANES OF DEVELOPMENT

THE FIRST PLANE OF DEVELOPMENT: THE TODDLER AND THE PRIMARY CHILD

Te frst six years of life are marked by tremendous physical and psychological growth, exploration and development. Tis is the period of infancy, an unconscious period of development. Physically, the body develops from head to toe. Te child has a fragile immune system and is susceptible to illness.

Psychologically, the child is a concrete thinker, taking in everything around him/her. Montessori coined this plane as the time of the Absorbent Mind. She believed that more learning takes place at this stage of life than during any other. Children begin to acquire language, develop cognitive and motor skills, begin to imitate the adults around them, and develop expectations of the world around them.

Te child during the frst plane of development has many needs. Emotionally, she needs love and acceptance, respect and understanding, warmth and protection. Te child also has a need for security, order, as much freedom and independence as she can handle, and social relationships. Montessori believed that a prepared environment should be provided to allow the child to explore and experience purposeful activities.

It is also during this time that children undergo a series of sensitive periods or “windows of opportunity." Tis is a time of innate learning: developing language skills, the urges to sit up, crawl, and walk. During these sensitive periods the child can learn almost effortlessly. Montessori identifed different sensitive periods from birth to age six.

Sensitive Periods for Learning • Movement - Random movements become coordinated and controlled: grasping, touching, turning, balancing, crawling, and walking. • Language - Use of words to communicate: a progression from babble to words to phrases to sentences, with a continuously expanding vocabulary and comprehension. • Small Objects - A fxation on small objects and tiny details. • Order - Characterized by a desire for consistency and repetition and a passionate love for established routines. Children can become deeply disturbed by disorder. Te environment must be carefully ordered with a place for everything and with carefully established ground rules. • Music - Spontaneous interest in and the development of pitch, rhythm, and melody. • Grace & Courtesy - Imitation of polite and considerate behavior leading to an internalization of these qualities into the personality. • Refnement of the Senses - Fascination with sensorial experiences (taste, sound, touch, weight, smell) resulting with children learning to observe and with making increasingly refned sensorial discriminations. • Writing - Fascination with the attempt to reproduce letters and numbers with pencil or pen and

49 PLANES OF DEVELOPMENT

paper. Montessori discovered that writing precedes reading. • Reading - Spontaneous interest in the symbolic representations of the sounds of each letter and in the formation of words. • Spatial Relationships - Forming cognitive impressions about relationships in space, including the layout of familiar places. Children become more able to fnd their way around their neighborhoods, and they are increasingly able to work complex puzzles. • Mathematics - Formation of the concepts of quantity and operations from the uses of concrete material aids. Tese sensitive periods can last days, months, or even years and stop just as suddenly as they begin. Te learning done during the sensitive periods is not complete nor will the child have reached a level of abstraction. However, the foundational building blocks were laid for further learning to occur as the child grows older.

Te social aspects of the First Plane are characterized with parallel play, the great increase of the child’s vocabulary and the ability to communicate and express his needs. Te child also aims to become a member of one’s own family and cultural group.

Te human tendencies for exploration, orientation, order, communication, repetition, activity, mathematical mind, and work can be supported at home and at school by the modifcation of the environment. For the tendencies for exploration, orientation and order the classroom can be designed so that the child can explore the entire environment with little “off-limits” to the child. All the material needed for an activity should be readily available. Both the home and classroom community should be neat and orderly so that the child feels secure and thus comfortable enough to explore. Te outdoor environment should also be accessible to the child - exploring nature, working in the gardens and caring for animals should all be a part of the child’s day. Order can be provided by setting up dependable routines or schedules for the child’s day. Preparing and laying out expectations for the day is important. Te adult should protect the child’s schedule and controlling the amount of change.

Te tendency for communication can be supported by frst allowing and encouraging children to communicate either verbally and/or physically. (Simple signs can be demonstrated as a way for a non-verbal child to express himself and to help with the acquisition of spoken language.) Creating an environment rich with conversation (clear and concise); speaking directly at the child’s level with respect; incorporating songs and storytelling, book reading; providing language materials such as real objects, miniature objects and nomenclature cards; and encouraging creative writing and expression all help support the natural tendency for communication.

Te tendencies for repetition, activity and work can be supported by creating an uninterrupted work cycle at the appropriate length depending on the developmental needs of the child; giving lessons at the point of high interest; have a mixed age grouping of children so that children can see work repeated each year; and the freedom to work with the materials for as long as the child chooses. Creating an atmosphere where activity and work are valued and respected also supports these tendencies.

Te tendency for the mathematical mind are supported in the classroom with the sensorial materials, the mathematical materials, the preparation of food (at home, too). By allowing time for refection and establishing an uninterrupted work cycle, the work of measuring, telling time, and an orderly environment all develop the mathematical mind.

50 PLANES OF DEVELOPMENT

It is the adult’s role to be a keen observer so that modifcation can be made to meet the needs of the ever- changing child of the First Plane through the prepared environment and through the appropriate responsiveness to the child’s behavior. We as adults must protect the young child so that he may develop according to his hidden powers. Montessori said, “Te child becoming incarnate is a spiritual embryo which needs its own special environment. Just as a physical embryo needs its mother’s womb in which to grow so the spiritual embryo needs to be protected by an external environment that is warm with love and rich in nourishment, where everything is disposed to welcome, and nothing to harm it” (Montessori. Te Secret of Childhood. p. 34).

51 The Primary Cycle Te Importance of the Final (Kindergarten) Year in a Montessori Classroom

Te fnal year of the Montessori primary "So, from the age of three till six, being able to now tackle his experience is a special time in a child’s environment deliberately and consciously, he begins a period of real Montessori education. It is the capstone of the constructiveness.” —Maria Montessori primary experience. After two full years, the Montessori preschool class is a familiar environment to the 5-year-old. She knows the daily routines; her teacher knows her well and can readily work with her strengths and encourage her to take on challenges. Now she is the leader of her community having experienced the ebb and fow of classroom life over the past two years. When she was three, she was welcomed by her older peers. When she was four, she helped in that process, but now as a leader herself, she becomes the givers of lessons, a comforter to her younger counterparts and by her work ethic, inspires others. It is during this third year that we witness the “explosion of learning” Dr. Montessori observed more than 100 years ago.

52 Consider the following: We often say that children who leave their Montessori experience • Repetition with the materials has led to before the last year in primary are not “fully cooked.” Denise perfection of skills Harold, director at Johns Creek Montessori School of Georgia, • He has developed the ability to concentrate for shares the same analogy with her parents, but uses a lovely story to long periods of time. make her point. She says, “Te primary cycle is like baking a cake. Te frst years are about gathering all of the ingredients, • He has practiced patience when working with materials that require him to follow a lengthy learning to be in the classroom, how to choose your own work, sequence and complete a cycle of challenging building a foundation. work. “Te next year is about mixing the ingredients together. Te • He has gained problem solving skills from child starts making connections to materials they have used experiencing situations that allow him to previously. resolve a situation independently. • He understands the value of constructive, “Once all your ingredients are mixed together, you have a delicious purposeful work in his positive and batter; some may be tempted to eat the batter just the way it is. If independent work choices. you scoop the batter up in your hand, it slides through your fngers • He is studying cultural geography and begins but, if you wait and complete the cycle, the third year, something to grow into a global citizen. magical happens. You put the cake in the oven and the liquid batter turns into a solid. “In this fnal year, everything comes together and solidifes. Now, when you cut yourself a slice of cake, the cake will stand up in your hand, just the way the Montessori child can now stand on her own. “Children who leave before the end of the cycle, are good traditional school students, but children who are allowed ‘to bake’ another year become great Montessori children and great students for life.” Te child has now internalized all of the aspects of Montessori she has been developing (love of learning, independence, resourcefulness, determination, grit) and she will have those qualities for life.

“Our care of the child should be governed, not by the desire to ‘make him learn things’, but by the endeavor always to keep burning within him that light which is called intelligence.” - Maria Montessori

RECOMMENDED READING:

“A Day in the Life of a Montessori Primary Student” and “25 Reasons to Keep Your Child in Montessori Through the Kindergarten Year” by the Montessori Foundation - The Raintree Parent Handbook at Raintree.Hubbli.com

“From Creeping to Leaping the Kindergarten Year - A Montessori Parent’s Perspective” by Sarah Richards at MariaMontessori.com (http:// mariamontessori.com/mm/?p=2019) 53 THE SECOND PLANE: THE ELEMENTARY CHILD

THE SECOND PLANE: THE ELEMENTARY CHILD

Characteristics of the Elementary Child and Te Kind of Classroom She Needs Nature has endowed the elementary child with certain characteristics which we as parents and teachers must be aware in order to understand her behavior and create the right kind of classroom. What follows are the characteristics Montessori identified in second plane children and what we do in the classroom to address each of these characteristics.

“I never teach my pupils. I only provide them with the optimum conditions in which to learn.” --Einstein

1. Rude behavior: Te second plane child is learning to adapt to society so she begins to separate herself from her family sometimes by being rebellious, moody, discourteous, and/or rude. She will sometimes use inappropriate language, not wash her hair, or she may even refuse to take a bath! Classroom: A good classroom will focus on manners and appropriate behavior by giving grace and courtesy lessons. Each week class meetings provide a forum to discuss behavior and mediate disagreements. Te class size is large to provide many chances to interact with peers collaborating on projects and helping one another. 2. Physically strong: Te elementary child is very strong physically and is rarely ill. Contrast this with the ear infections, colds and other minor illnesses that plague the 1st plane child. Tis stamina allows her to walk for miles and have many adventures.

Classroom: A school will provide a rich outdoor environment with animals to care for, creeks to explore and fields in which to roam as well as opportunities to “go out.” “Going out” is leaving the school to further research a subject of interest such as interviewing an expert, going to another library or visiting a museum.

“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” --Mark Twain

3. Herd instinct: Tis is when the child develops a herd instinct which helps her bond with her peer group. Often children of other ages are included in his group. Children will create their own societies, secret codes, hideouts and clubhouses. Classroom: Te classroom will have mixed ages in a large enough group (10-12 in each age group) so a child has ample opportunity to form friendships and collaborate on projects. Furnishings are movable providing flexibility in group work which encourages collaboration and peer interaction, skills critical in the modern workplace. 4. Moral sense: Tis is when the child develops a moral sense, a conscience. She becomes aware of what is fair and unfair, right and wrong. Sometimes there is tattle-telling, but this usually diminishes in intensity around age 8.

54 THE SECOND PLANE: THE ELEMENTARY CHILD

Classroom: Te classroom has frequent class meetings to discuss the issues of fairness. At the beginning of the year the children decide on codes of conduct. Te rules are written and signed by all the members of the class. Children vote on other issues that arise during the year to satisfy this need for fairness. 5. Imagination: Te elementary child uses her imagination to learn. Te first plane child learns through her senses absorbing information from the environment. Te second plane child has an intense interest in the world.

Classroom: Because we can’t bring the world into the classroom, we use her imagination feeding it with impressions, experiments, great stories. Tese stories, called the Great Lessons, begin not with a small view of the child’s world (his neighborhood, community) but with the universe, the beginning of time and Early Man. Charts are used to provide visual impressions and timelines, a framework for future history work. Story-telling further enhances the lesson and allows the child to use her imagination.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” --Einstein

6. Hero worship: Hero worship is big at this age. Te child is fascinated with things that are extraordinary. Tis includes people who are important to her. She idolizes teachers, sports figures, famous celebrities. In this way she pushes herself to reach greater heights. Classroom: In the classroom resource materials such as the Guinness Book of World Records, almanacs, and biographies are provided for research. Lessons are given, or stories are told which incorporate the extraordinary in them. 7. Intellect: Te elementary child develops her intellect at this time. Montessori said the child must be able to carry out her own reasoning, her own judgment, her own thinking. She must be able to construct herself. From 0-6 years she absorbs indiscriminately stimuli in her environment, and she learns almost effortlessly. From ages 6-12 years she is the most receptive she will ever be to learning, but she also must have time to reflect on what she has been presented. She is healthy and strong, able to concentrate, explore, and research her world. Classroom: Students research subjects that interest them with time to reflect after a lesson sometimes without an assignment of follow-on work. We give many lessons and repeat them in the years to follow. Te child absorbs different aspects of the same lesson each year. We give the whole rather than the parts to ignite interest. Te day is not segmented into time slots, but rather an uninterrupted work cycle is provided so she has time to think, reflect, absorb, and make the information her own. 8. Great work: Tis is the time when the child does Te Great Work. She loves to be involved in important undertakings as she gains knowledge about the world. It is not uncommon to see literally giant work when you enter a 2nd plane classroom. Te child of the second plane loves making the longest list, designing the most elaborate experiment, or solving the biggest square root problem.

Classroom: A classroom should provide an open-ended amount of time, large open space to do projects and the opportunity to work for the pure enjoyment of work.

“Te biggest enemy to learning is the talking teacher.” --John Holt

9. Abstraction: Te ability to abstract is another characteristic. She is moving from the concrete to the abstract. While she is still fascinated with language, she learns not just the names of things but the relationship of things. Classroom: Subjects are not taught in a vacuum but are integrated: art with history, science with

55 THE SECOND PLANE: THE ELEMENTARY CHILD

language, history with writing. Manipulatives are still a part of the elementary class but always moving toward abstraction. 10. Responsibility: A sense of responsibility develops during this plane. As she separates from her family, her sense of responsibility must be nurtured. She views responsibility within the context of her classroom, her community and the larger society.

Classroom: It is the role of the adult to help the child realize that with freedom comes responsibility. Te school should provide things to be responsible for: animals, plants, the orderliness of the classroom, a garden. She looks at these as necessities to her social life. A job chart is introduced in the elementary classroom with a “general” or “job manager” overseeing the daily clean-up. Not only are issues of responsibility related to the classroom stressed but global ones as well. Te children take on causes, write letters to officials, and strive to make the world a better place.

56 THE SECOND PLANE: THE ELEMENTARY CHILD

A Checklist of Characteristics of a Good Elementary Classroom by Alfie Kohn from his book Schools Our Children Deserve Note: Alfie Kohn is not a Montessori teacher. He was, in fact, a public school teacher, but has devoted his life to advocating for the rights of children in the classroom. In 2008 Raintree partnered with Te University of Kansas, USD 497 and Baker University to bring Mr. Kohn to Lawrence to speak about the problems inherent in standardized testing. He has written many books on education and has visited countless schools.

Good Signs Possible Reasons to Worry

Furniture • Chairs around tables to facilitate interaction • Chairs facing forward or (even worse) desks in rows. • Comfortable areas for learning, including multiple activity areas • Open space for gathering On the Walls • Covered with students’ projects • Nothing • Evidence of student collaboration. • Commercial posters • Signs, exhibits, or lists obviously created by • Students’ assignments displayed,but they are (a) • Information about, and personal mementos or. of, the students rather than the teacher. suspiciously flawless, people who spend time together in this classroom. (b) only from “the best” students, or (c) virtually all alike • List of rules created by an adult and/or list of punitive consequences for misbehavior. • Stickers (or star) chart--or other evidence that students are rewarded or ranked. Faces • Eager, engaged • Blank, bored

Sounds • Frequent hum of activity and ideas being exchanged • The teacher’s voice is the loudest or most often heard. • Frequent periods of silence

Location of • Typically working with student so it takes a few seconds to • Typically front and center the Teacher find her Teacher’s Voice • Respectful, genuine, warm • Controlling and imperious

Student’ • Welcoming, eager to explain or demonstrate what • Either unresponsive or hoping to be distracted from Reaction to they are doing or to use visitor as a resource what they are doing Visitor

Class • Students often address one another directly • All exchanges involve (or directed by) the teacher Discussion • Emphasis on thoughtful exploration of complicated • wait to be called on issues • Emphasis on facts and right answers. • Students ask questions at least as often as the • Students race to be first to answer teacher’s “Who can teacher does tell me..?” queries. Stuff • Room overflowing with good books, art supplies, • Textbooks, worksheets, and other packaged animals and plants, science apparatus; “purposeful instructional materials predominate; sense of clutter” enforced orderliness

Tasks • Different activities often take place simultaneously. • All students usually doing the same thing • Activities frequently completed by pairs or groups of • When students aren’t listening to the teacher, they’re students working alone.

Around the • Appealing atmosphere: a place where people would • Stark, institutional feel School want to spend time • Awards, trophies, and prizes displayed, suggesting an • Students’ projects fill the hallways emphasis on triumph rather than community • Library well stocked and comfortable • Bathrooms in good condition • Students helping others • Faculty lounge warm and inviting • Office staff welcoming toward visitors and students • Students helping in lunchroom, library, and with other 57 school functions

The Importance of the Sixth Year in a Montessori Elementary Classroom

“Te secret of good teaching is to regard the child’s intelligence as a fertile feld Te fnal year in the elementary is the capstone of in which seeds may be sown, to grow under the heat of faming imagination. the Montessori elementary experience. One of the Our aim therefore is not merely to make the child understand, and still less to hallmarks of a Montessori school is the mixed-age force him to memorize, but so to touch his imagination as to enthuse him to classroom. From toddler through Erdkinder, his inmost core.” - Maria Montessori children learn to work together developing what are now referred to in current research as the “soft skills” and, while it is an invaluable part of the experience for younger children, its importance reaches its zenith in the elementary. Montessori identifed ten characteristics of the child of the “second plane (ages 6 to 12)” which provide a template for understanding them and creating the optimum conditions for their education. Tis is when a child develops a “herd instinct” and “a moral sense” which speak to the child’s need for community and collaboration. Studies now show what Montessori discovered 100 years ago: that we learn best in collaboration with others. Among the ten characteristics of the elementary child is the desire to do “Great Work” which leads her to research topics of interest, sometimes taking her beyond the walls of the classroom and into the community which is called “Going Out.” It is in the upper elementary when the child solidifes concepts moving from the concrete didactic materials of the primary and early elementary years to abstracting those concepts. One of the most important characteristics is “a sense of responsibility,” which is the foundation of her work but at the elementary level, in the sixth year, responsibility takes on a whole new meaning. She views “responsibility” within the context of the larger society. She is given more freedom in her fnal year and, with more freedom, comes more responsibility as she looks beyond her classroom and gains a global awareness and a sense of 58 responsibility. Te oldest tier of students take on causes, write letters to officials, and strive to make the world a better place. Tis is the year of the Chicago trip, the production of the school play, working at Coffee Cart, staying overnight at Tall Oaks, and playing the World Peace Game, all to prepare them for life beyond Raintree. We often say that children who leave their Montessori experience before the last year in elementary are not “fully cooked.” Denise Harold, director at Johns Creek Montessori School of Georgia, shares the same analogy with her parents, but uses a lovely story to make her point. She says, “It is like baking a cake. Te frst years are about gathering all of the ingredients, learning to be in the classroom, how to choose your own work, building a foundation.” In the elementary it is about mixing the ingredients together, collaborating with others, “going out” to research topics of interest, studying other cultures and ways of life, making connections with the real world. “Once all the ingredients are mixed together, you have a delicious batter; some may be tempted to eat the batter just the way it is. If you scoop the batter up in your hand, it slides through your fngers, but if you wait and complete the cycle, the sixth year, something magical happens. You put the cake in the oven, the liquid batter turns into a solid.

In 1949, Montessori wrote, “And how “In this fnal year, everything comes together and solidifes. Now, when far, we may ask, does it take one to hold you cut yourself a slice of cake, the cake will stand up in your hand, just a degree these days? Can one be sure of the way the Montessori child can now stand on her own.” even earning a living? ...And how do we “Children who leave before the end of the cycle, are good traditional explain this lack of confidence? The school students, but children who are allowed ‘to bake’ another year reason is that these young men have become great Montessori students and lifelong learners.” spent years in listening to words and listening does not make a man. Only Te child has now internalized all of the aspects of Montessori she has practical work and experience lead the been developing (love of learning, independence, resourcefulness, young to maturity.” determination, grit) and she will have those qualities for life.

RECOMMENDED READING:

“A day in the Life of a Montessori Elementary Student” - The Raintree Parent Handbook at Raintree.Hubbli.com

Montessori Madness by Trevor Eissler

“Why Montessori for the Elementary Years?” by Sanford Jones - Booklet found in the Raintree library

“Learning How to Think” - http:// mariamontessori.com/mm/? page_id=485

59 THE THIRD PLANE: THE ADOLESCENT

THE THIRD PLANE: THE ADOLESCENT

Te Bulb Chart Trough meticulous and careful observation and without the use of an Magnetic Resonance Image machine, Dr. Montessori was able to see that the human being would experience a profound change during adolescence. Montessori’s Bulb chart illustrates that change. Te frst and most dynamic change occurs from infancy through age six, and then there is a period of quiescence during the elementary years. Around age 12 the brain changes and new neuropathways are formed. On the chart she drew another bulge in her timeline of development. Now MRIs show clearly what Montessori observed. Tis change marks the beginning of adolescence and the turning point in the development of the human being. For this reason, she called the child a social newborn.

A School of Experience in the Elements of Social Life Te adolescent years are defned by certain marked characteristics. Adolescence is a time for the development of the individual in society. In order to mature, they must be in a social organization, one which supports their newly emerging sense of social justice. Adolescents are social newborns and are quite tender and fragile. Tey are striving to answer the questions: Who am I? Where do I ft in? and How may I serve others? During this time their body is changing and they experience strong emotions. At the same time they have creative tendencies. Te adolescent begins to have a more conscious awareness of the greater good. She develops a spiritual equilibrium through moral training by interacting with others collaboratively, responsibly and with compassion. She develops deep connections and friendships with one others and aligns with her peers instead of adults. Tere is a change in her intellectual abilities because she is pursuing creative endeavors and is more concerned with the social world than the intellectual world (Ewert-Krocker, Psychological Characteristics).

60 THE THIRD PLANE: THE ADOLESCENT

“Te difficulty of studying with concentration is not due to a lack of willingness, but is really a psychological characteristic of the age. Te assimilative and memorizing powers of the intellect that give young children such an interest in details and in material objects seem to change their nature. Te chief symptom of adolescence is a state of expectation, a tendency towards creative work and a need for the strengthening of self-confdence” (Childhood to Adolescence 63).

So, what does the prepared environment look like to meet the needs and characteristics of the adolescent? A prepared environment is a place where a human being constructs himself by interacting with, adapting to, and changing his environment (Ewert-Krocker, Prepared Environment). Montessori described it as, “a ‘school of experience in the elements of life’” (Childhood to Adolescence 64). Montessori felt that “during the difficult time of adolescence it is helpful to leave the accustomed environment of the family in the town and go to quiet surroundings in the country close to nature” (Childhood to Adolescence 67). But a traditional boarding school out in the country was not enough in her view. She believed that, “work in the country, and work generally, with its wide social connotations of productiveness and earning power” (Childhood to Adolescence 68) was what was most important. Also, “Te observation of nature has not only a side that is philosophical and scientifc, it has also a side of social experiences that leads on to the observations of civilization and the life of men” (Childhood to Adolescence 68). Within this farm setting there are multiple environments: where they live, the kitchen, living spaces, classroom spaces, animal barns, woodshop/craft areas, garden, greenhouse, and managed outdoor areas (Ewert-Krocker, Prepared Environment). Te farm offers diversity of tasks to accomplish and real problems to solve that provide adult-like challenge. Tese provide varied opportunities to try on different roles. Changing roles, dividing labor, and individual and collective contribution lead to an awareness of the greater good (Ewert-Krocker, Prepared Environment). Tere is a conscious effort to link the work between the head and the hand so as to solidify the intellectual pursuits with the manual work and vice versa. “Te human hand, so delicate and so complicated, not only allows the mind to reveal itself but it enables the whole being to enter into special relationships with its environment. We might say that man ‘takes possession of his environment with his hands’” (Secret Childhood 81). Te work done by the adolescent gives an introduction to economic endeavors and the interdependencies among groups of people. Tere are also opportunities to explore personal gifts and interests as well as activities to provide practice in ‘social life’: negotiating relationships, responsibilities, shared space, shared duties, shared time, and shared resources (Ewert-Krocker, Prepared Environment).

Te role of the adult in the adolescent program is a model of adult behavior. He is an example of embodied values, a source of information about adult culture and a model for the use of language. He is a facilitator and guide helping to open up ways to experience new tasks and explore new ideas. He mediates difficult situations. Te adult is a medium for processing emotions and ideas. Mirroring back to the adolescent how her thoughts, actions and emotions look helps the adolescent synthesize how others perceive her. He becomes a testing ground for new ideas and behaviors. Te adult is the protector. He maintains the global view of safety in the environment (Ewert-Krocker, Role of Adult). Te adult also is a partner in learning and gives relevant expertise during purposeful work. He respects the independence of the adolescent but is available to guide when needed. He provides scaffolding and then disappears (Ewert-Krocker, Role of Adult). He is an observer always looking for points of engagement and possible roles of responsibility for the adolescent’ (Ewert-Krocker, Role of Adult).

Te need for exploration and self-expression is essential during the time of adolescence. Tis expression is a response to a stage of vulnerability. Tere are two sides of self-expression: creative expression and physical expression. Arts and sports give opportunities for personal expression in a social context. Creative expression includes music, language and art. Tere is a need to process everything through dialogue, music or art, to have peers and adults mirror and help sort feelings and ideas, to channel confusing and strong emotions productively, and to be heard and understood (Ewert-Krocker, Self-Expression).

61 THE THIRD PLANE: THE ADOLESCENT

Adolescents seek physical challenge and enjoy exploring the different ways of using their bodies and fguring out their physical limits. Offering many different opportunities to explore ways to stay physically healthy while allowing for individual differences in physical ability and interest is important (Ewert-Krocker, Self- Expression). “For this purpose there would be all kinds of artistic occupations open to free choice both as to the time and the nature of the work. Some must be for the individual and some would require the cooperation of a group”(Childhood to Adolescence 75).

How does the adolescent explore his environment? Margaret Stephenson says, “For the third plane, the exploration is even wider encompassing the farm and the community of the rural area. It echoes what the children explored at the second plane: civilization and how it came about. But now the exploration takes place in reality because the adolescents are actually doing it. Cooperation with the land, cooperation in commerce, and cooperation in the cultural life of the rural society touch materially the things studied in the second plane and afford the adolescent the opportunity to see his or her place in society” (Pendleton 40).

Tis offers purposeful engagement, which initiates self-construction and gives opportunities for valorization. Te adolescent experiences the value of his work in the community. Tis elicits motivation for acquiring knowledge and building skills (Ewert-Krocker, Learning Cycle). “Belonging and acceptance result from repeated concrete experiences of having value in the community, of being recognized and appreciated for one’s gifts, one’s own contributions, one’s hard work, one’s good ideas, and one’s leadership” (View from Farm 123). Tere must be choice and variety in the work so that the adolescent gets to experience different roles. McNamara writes, “growing adolescents must fnd out what they are good for and they do this by fnding what they are good at” (116). By experiencing these different roles during the adolescent years, he moves into the fourth plane confdent in what he is good at and good for. “So, what we do and have done at the Farm School is to develop a collection of multi-disciplinary projects…that are either in the feld of occupations, which are practical tasks that the farm or the community needs done through which students also learn academic expertise to get the job done, or are humanities projects, which study the role of human beings in different times and places, and engage role-playing as a key methodology” (Elements of Erdkinder 44) Te projects become a practical life work for the third plane adolescent.

Tere is another component of Montessori’s third plane plan. Montessori writes, “Te essence [of social life] is that something is produced which is useful to the whole society, and is changed for something else. Production and change, exchange, are the essence of social existence” (Oxford Lecture 180). Tis practice leads to economic independence. By helping the adolescent become independent in this way we avoid “the feeling of dependen[ce] on adults for every act of life, like keeping a bird tied by its legs so that it cannot fy” (Oxford Lecture 187).

Moving into the fourth plane, the plane of maturity, the new adult is prepared. Te personality has been constructed through effort and experiences from birth. He has an appreciation of work. He knows how society works, accepts responsibility, and has a moral conscious. He understands how the interdependency of his own life and of life as a whole works. He knows that he belongs to civilization as a contributor and that his story is a part of the human story. His own contribution can transform society (Hoglund, Part of Civilization). Margaret Stephenson says, “Success in life depends on self-confdence, born of a true knowledge of one’s own capacities, combined with many-sided powers of adaptation – in fact what we have called ‘valorization of the personality’” (Hoglund, Valorization).

62 THE THIRD PLANE: THE ADOLESCENT

Works Cited Ewert-Krocker, Laurie. “Elements of Erdkinder at the Farm School.” NAMTA Journal: Te Tird Adolescent Colloquium. 31:1. David Kahn. Burton, Ohio: NAMTA, 2006. 39-48. Print. ---. “Introduction to Self-Expression.” Lecture. Adolescent Orientation. Hershey Farm School, Huntsburg, Ohio. 3 July 2012. ---. “Te Moral Development of Adolescents: A View from the Farm.” NAMTA Journal. 30:1. David Kahn. Burton, Ohio: NAMTA, 2005. 115-126. ---. “Te Prepared Environment for Adolescents.” Lecture. Adolescent Orientation. Hershey Farm School, Huntsburg, Ohio. 29 June 2012. ---. “Psychological Characteristics of the Adolescent.” Lecture. Adolescent Orientation. Hershey Farm School, Huntsburg, Ohio. 29 June 2012. ---. “Role of the Adult in the Adolescents.” Lecture. Adolescent Orientation. Hershey Farm School, Huntsburg, Ohio. 26 June 2012. ---. “Tree Period Lesson: A Learning Cycle and Design Framework for the Tird Plane.” Lecture. Adolescent Orientation. Hershey Farm School, Huntsburg, Ohio. 2 July 2012. Hoglund, Jenny Marie. “Montessori Teory: Valorization.” NAMTA Journal: Te Tird Colloquium. 31:1. David Kahn. Burton, Ohio: NAMTA, 2006. 151-160. Print. ---. “Valorization: Feeling a Part of Civilization: Te Fourth Plane.” Lecture. Adolescent Orientation. Hershey Farm School, Huntsburg, Ohio. 6 July 2012. Kahn, David. “Occupations as Preparation for Adult Life.” Lecture. Adolescent Orientation. Hershey Farm School, Huntsburg, Ohio. 2 July 2012. ---, “Te Plan of Work and Study: Humanities as Preparation for Adult Life.” Lecture. Adolescent Orientation. Hershey Farm School, Huntsburg, Ohio. 5 July 2012. McNamara, John. “Helping the Adolescent Personality.” NAMTA Journal: Te Montessori Adolescent: Analysis in Retrospect. 26:3. David Kahn. Burton, Ohio: NAMTA, 2001. 175-188. Print. Montessori, Maria. From Childhood to Adolescence. Amsterdam: Montessori-Pierson, 2007. Print. ---. Te Secret of Childhood. New York: Ballantine, 1966. Print. ---. “Dr. Montessori’s Tird Lecture Given at the Montessori Congress in Oxford, England, 1936.” NAMTA Journal: Te Montessori Adolescent: Analysis in Retrospect. 26:3. David Kahn. Burton, Ohio: NAMTA, 2001. 175-188. Print. Pendleton, Renee. “Summary of the Proceedings.” NAMTA Journal: Te First Colloquium. 23:3. David Kahn. Burton, Ohio: NAMTA, 1997. 1-67. Print.

63 TODDLER DAY

A Day in the Life of a Toddler As the day begins… Children arrive between 7:30 and 8:30 either into their classroom or to the toddler play yard. We encourage parents to walk their child into Raintree and not carry him to the classroom door. By walking next to your child you are respecting his independence and developing will.

Your child has a special place at the coat rack where coats or jackets can be hung and a place for boots or outside shoes. Encourage your child to do as much for herself and give assistance as needed. Outside each toddler community is a stack of “Daily Reports.” Please fll out the top portion about your child’s morning. Tis note may also be used as a way to communicate information with the teacher.

Give a warm and brief goodbye to your child at the door of the classroom or at the gate to the play yard. Encourage your child to give a handshake to the teacher. If the children are inside, understand that this time is part of the children’s uninterrupted work cycle. Te teacher will be giving individual lessons or working with small groups of children. Tis is not a time to have a lengthy discussion at the classroom door with the teacher or assistant as that would be disruptive to the children’s concentration.

Depending on the toddler community’s daily schedule, outside time is either at the beginning of the morning or the end of the morning. If it is a beautiful day the children may spend a longer period outside, perhaps bringing materials from the classroom to the outside patio to work or taking a long walk in the “Back 40” or exploring the primary or elementary playground. Te outside world is such a new place for the young toddler that we joyfully welcome novel adventures!

During the morning work time children are responsible for setting up their own snack place: tray, small water pitcher, glass, plate or bowl and cloth napkin. Each item is carried by the child one at a time to the space she chooses. When the child has fnished, she is either offered snack by the teacher or she may help herself at the snack “buffet.” When she is satisfed and ready to get back to work, she cleans her space by putting away each material.

At every transition in the day, the children take the opportunity to use the toilet and wash hands. Tis happens when coming in from the outdoor environment, before snack, before lunch, after lunch, after nap, and again in the afternoon. It becomes part of the natural schedule of the day and therefore just part of what we do. Children are asked to sit on the toilet and wash hands. Child cubbies, a hamper and a drying rack are accessible to the children so that when a spill happens or clothing gets wet or soiled, the child can take care of himself independently or with assistance.

Developmentally toddlers are in the sensitive period for order, movement and language. Te classroom environments are prepared to support these developmental periods in the young child. Toddlers need external order in order to develop their internal order. Tey need a large enough space for free movement inside and out. Tey need purposeful activities that encourage movement. Te Montessori environment is rich with language - spoken language through conversation, song, storytelling, and materials that enrich their vocabulary. Te world around the toddler is so interesting and wonderful that their is no need for baby talk or fantasy. Children want the accurate names of the interesting things they see around them.

64 TODDLER DAY

Toddlers are developing their will which is a wonderful thing! You may hear, “No! I do it myself.” Tis is their path to independence and we need to support this natural development. An environment that is child-centered means that it supports the developmental needs of the child. Te furniture is toddler-sized and all the materials are accessible to the children. Children have freedom in the environment in which to choose what they wish to do.

Te children eat lunch family-style in community serving themselves and passing dishes around the table. Tey clear all of their dishes: plate, utensils, glass, cloth napkin when fnished and head to the restroom. Te children use the bathroom, wash hands and brush teeth before fnding their cot. Te transition from lunch to nap time is a natural procession and is child-driven. As more children are resting on their cots, the blinds are slowly closed, lights turned off and soft music turned on. Te teachers assist children with gentle back-patting if needed.

As children begin to wake, lamps are turned on and blinds are opened. Children use the bathroom and help put their cot away. Depending on the schedule for each community, children may choose work, snack or prepare to go outside (or swimming) until parents pick-up.

65 PRIMARY DAY

A Day in the Life of a Primary Student As the day begins… Children arrive between 7:30 and 8:30 or in the case of an afternoon student, 11:30 or 1:00, joining their classmates either inside in the classroom or on the playground. If the class is inside, children are encouraged to hang up their own coat, change into their slippers and put away their own materials. Te greeting process differs slightly in each classroom depending upon the daily schedule. Check with your child’s teacher regarding schedule and greeting procedure.

In most classrooms, the day begins with a handshake so allow your child to enter independently if the teacher is not near the door when you arrive. One of the adults will greet your child, often with a handshake. Tis simple gesture not only reinforces a courtesy but is also a sign that your child is in our care.

If the children are in the classroom, you may fnd that your child’s teacher is giving a lesson. Tis is not a time to have a lengthy conversation with either the teacher or the assistant because their focus is on the children who are working in the classroom. If you have a question or comment keep it brief or jot down a note and place it in the teacher’s basket. Te teacher will reply by phone or send an email later in the day.

During work time children move about the room freely choosing activities from the shelves that they are interested in and have had a lesson. Tey may work with the materials as long as they wish. Exploration and repetition are ways in which the children internalize the concepts.

Te teacher plans lessons for each child based on the child’s readiness and interests. Trough careful observation of the child at work, the teacher determines the appropriate time to give a lesson and what the lesson will be. Children are never interrupted when they are working by the teacher or the assistant, even to give a lesson; work time is sacred. Montessori’s famous quote, “Follow the child,” means that a teacher must be prepared to go in a completely different direction if the child shows more interest in another area of the classroom than what was originally planned.

Because repetition leads to internalization, new lessons occur with regularity but not on a daily basis. As the child’s work repertoire increases and work cycles lengthen, his independence grows and his day is flled with work of their own choosing, often expanding beyond a basic lesson. For example, a child gets a lesson in measurement and decides to measure everything in the room! No teacher would stop such a wonderful challenge as the child goes about the room, ruler in hand, pencil and list at the ready, to record the fndings. Dr. Montessori recognized the best time to learn is when interest is heightened and this is one advantage our classrooms offer.

Te child's reason for, and way of, working is different from ours. Adults will usually choose to do things the most efficient and quickest way and to rush through or avoid anything labeled “work.” A child, on the other hand, is working (subconsciously) to master the activity and to practice and perfect her abilities. She may scrub a table in the classroom every day for weeks, then turn her attention to some other activity to master. We must not look upon this method as inconsistency or laziness but rather cumulative mastery of abilities. Te child's purpose is not to complete the task as much as to construct the self. (Michael Olaf, Te Child of the World).

Sometimes children are drawn to one area at the exclusion of others. Te teachers can tell the difference between passionate exploration and “hiding out” in an area. Yes, children are allowed to pursue math

66 PRIMARY DAY lessons, for example, ad infnitum because the teacher knows that teachable moments especially those that come in streams are when the child is most receptive. A perfect metaphor would be how some people eat a plate of food. One will eat a little of each food item: a few bits of salad, then some of the main dish followed then by the vegetable, but others dive right in eating all the main dish, then the salad and fnish with the vegetables. Te result is the same: a full tummy and in the Montessori class, a full day!

Snack is typically an individual activity meaning that during work time the child may choose to eat snack when she wishes. She may eat with a friend or two at the snack table. It is her responsibility to set up the things she needs and clean up when she is fnished which often includes washing her dishes, wiping her space at the table, sweeping under her chair and perhaps washing her cloth napkin. Everything that the children use in the classroom are real items whether it be glass, ceramic, or porcelain. In this way, children are respected and learn how to care for the beautiful items in their environment and experience the consequences when care is not given. “An adult works to perfect the environment, but a child works to perfect himself.” —Montessori

Outside time is either at the beginning of the morning or at the end. Check with your child’s teacher for the schedule. We go outside every day at Raintree unless it is raining, snowing or extremely hot or cold. It is important that your child has outerwear appropriate for outdoor play. As stated previously in this handbook, boots for gardening, hats/mittens and warm coats for cold weather, and sturdy, closed-toed shoes for the playground are essential for a child at Raintree. Montessori said, “Tere is no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.” In the summer time the child’s outside time includes swim time. See “Swimming.”

Preparation for lunch is done by the children - setting tables with plates, glasses, cloth napkins, silverware and fowers. Children serve themselves either buffet style or family style. After lunch the children are responsible for cleaning up their own space.

In all-day classrooms, approximately half the children are nappers and go to the adjacent nap room and sleep on cots for about 1-1 1/2 hours while the resters roll out mats for resting on the foor listening to music or stories for about 30 minutes. Ten lights come on and children resume their work. When the nappers awake, they are invited to join their friends for afternoon work. Again, afternoon outside time is either at the beginning of the work cycle or at the end.

In a half-day classroom, transitions occur before lunch and after lunch as some children leave after their morning stay and afternoon children join their class. Work time and outside time (or swim) mimic the morning routine.

In a half-day class, some children depart at 3:30 while others continue into the late afternoon hours. Late afternoon is either an extension of the afternoon work time if the class went outside earlier in the afternoon, or it is a time to be outside. Later afternoon work may also include class preparation for the next day such as making a special snack, preparing food items for lunch the next day, or larger class jobs such as cleaning animal cages.

Note to parents: Te children concentrate on work in the afternoon just as they do in the morning so it is important to enter Raintree just as you would in the morning. Turn off your cellphone and fnish adult conversations outside before entering the school. See Departure in the Raintree Procedures.

67 ELEMENTARY DAY

A Day in the Life of the Elementary Student As the day begins… Some students arrive early (7:30-8:15 AM). Tese early arrivers congregate on the playground where equipment is set up for their use. Early morning is also a perfect time to jog on the pathway or just visit with friends. In the winter, if it is too cold, students gather in the library.

At 8:15 the students go to their classrooms where they put away their personal belongings and join others who arrive at 8:15 to socialize before class begins. Socializing is important. Tat is why there is no charge for this 15-minute period. Arriving on time, or even a few minutes early, is an important life lesson and something that will serve the child well throughout her life.

At 8:30, the teacher begins morning announcements. Some days there are no announcements, and the teacher calls the frst group to her table for a lesson. Some students begin the day in a lesson while others prepare a snack and read the newspaper before starting their work. Some students work individually while others begin their day working on a group project with others. Teir work plan or work diary helps guide them in their choices throughout the day. A buzz of activity flls the classroom as the three-hour uninterrupted work cycle unfolds.

About that buzz… A lower elementary class is noisier and messier than an upper elementary class because the younger students are developing social skills. Most of the work they do is with concrete hands-on materials requiring movement. Upper elementary classes, in general, are quieter because they are refning their social skills and gradually giving up the concrete materials and moving into abstraction. Lower elementary is characterized by movement and noisier collaboration while upper elementary students are involved in pencil and paper tasks. Montessori’s “Planes of Development” diagram illustrates this phenomenon, something she observed in children all over the world, in every socio-economic strata, in every classroom. Te frst sub-plane of the six-year cycle is one of intense activity while the second sub-plane is a time for refning concepts and is calmer, one for refection.

During the three-hour work cycle, students record their work in a diary or check off tasks in a work plan. Te ebb and fow of classroom life varies from day to day, Te students have access to the library located in the Phoenix building, the staff in the classroom who act as guides and the campus to further their lessons.

At the end of the cycle, the lower elementary students complete their diary or plan, recording the last bit of work accomplished for the morning. Te students who are responsible setting up the lunch buffet, while the rest of the class clean their tables and put away their work. In the lower elementary students prepare for lunch, but in the upper elementary, students go outside for a 45-minute recess followed by lunch. Te recess time is staggered with the upper elementary going outside frst followed by the lower elementary 45 minutes later. Once the lower elementary students fnish lunch and clean up the classroom, they go outside for their 45-minute recess. In the interim between lunch and outside time, the students who are not involved in jobs get out a book for silent reading. Studies have shown that uninterrupted sustained silent reading is one of the best ways to develop good reading skills.

In the afternoon, another two-hour uninterrupted work cycle begins with the same procedure as the morning.

Once a week during the day… • Te students conference with the teacher. All the week’s work is brought to the teacher along with the student’s work diary or plan. A number of strategies are used to guide the student in his work. A notebook with the goals and objectives of the public school at each grade level is sometimes used to show the student what the expectations would be if he were in a traditional classroom. Most often the notebook serves as a baseline. Occasionally a student will require more frequent conferencing, especially if the student is new, or has been in a

68 ELEMENTARY DAY

traditional classroom. Te conference is a time to evaluate the students work choices, the quality and quantity of their work and the goals for the coming week.

Once a week in the afternoon… • Te lower elementary students participate in Orff music in small groups, while the upper elementary students go to choral music. • Te class has a meeting to discuss issues which involve the immediate classroom community, but may also involve all school, campus, city or global issues as well. • Students have an opportunity to present a fnished work to the class. Presentations are an outgrowth of lessons and may include anything from a math presentation to producing a play. Sometimes students present a group research project to the class.

69 ERDKINDER DAY

A Day in the Life of the Erdkinder Student As the day begins, some students arrive early (7:30-8:15 AM) and assist in the set up of the classroom with the teacher, do chores outside, and prepare themselves for the day. Students may participate in band (led by Amy Waldron), from 7:30-8:15.

At 8:15, the rest of the students arrive, put belongings in their lockers, visit with friends and gather their materials for their morning classes.

At 8:30, student-led morning announcements begin. Attendance is taken, daily goals are shared by both teachers and students, and special announcements are made.

On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Tursdays at 8:45, students transition to either Humanities or Occupations. Humanities and Occupations classes switch off mid-morning. Each unit of Humanities or Occupations lasts about six weeks. On Tursdays, students work on improving their writing skills before transitioning to either Humanities or Occupations.

Humanities projects connect our adolescents with the stories of other people. By studying our history and the histories of other cultures, the student develops gratitude and faith in the general ‘progress’ of humanity. Our purpose is to impart upon students the belief that every individual has the potential to contribute to the greater good of society. In our Humanities sessions, the Montessori three-period lesson approach is used. Te frst period offers an invitation to the students. Tis invitation takes the form of key lessons, which serve to unlock or reveal the scope of the project. In the second period, students engage in group or individual work in order to delve deeper into the historical time period. Engagement comes from reading more about a specifc topic of interest, having a dialogue with an expert, debating with classmates, researching documents in another library, or studying the art, music, and literature of that time in history. Te adult is there to give feedback, aid in research, facilitate discussions of issues and interpretations, and check in with students. Te third period is a demonstration by students of their understanding and mastery of the time and place studied. Tis can be done by way of written assignments, oral presentations, creative expressions, enacted timelines, dramatis personae monologues, reenactment of historic events, PowerPoint presentations, puppet shows, collective poems, and ceremony reenactments. Te opportunities are endless.

Occupations offer purposeful engagement that initiates development of the self and opportunities for valorization. Work on the land is a ‘limitless feld for scientifc and historic studies.’ At times, the occupation projects center around the development of a micro-economy, such as raising chickens and marketing their eggs. As in the Humanities projects, the three-period lesson approach is used. First, a task or a challenge is identifed from the land or the community. Te group could decide, for example, that they want to sell eggs to raise money for their Odyssey trip. Second, the students decide what they need to know and what they need to do in order to accomplish the task or solve the problem. Tey work as a group to acquire the knowledge and profciency necessary to accomplish the task. Key lessons are given by the adult to build up knowledge. Finally in the third period, students share their work and complete the task or solve the problem.

At 11:15, work is cleaned up and the students set up lunch. Eating together is a social time. On Friday, students will have the task of planning the menu and preparing lunch for the group. the students are responsible for clean up everyday. Before the afternoon’s work begins, there is time to complete classroom jobs.

At 12:30, math and language lessons begin. We offer two different levels of both math and Latin. Incoming students will participate in Math I and Latin I, and returning students will take Math II and Latin II. Classes are conducted simultaneously in two separate classrooms, so that, for example, incoming students will be taking Math I at the same time that returning students are taking Latin II.

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Language Montessori said that, “Words are the natural means of expressing thoughts and establishing understanding between men.” Te study and fuency of more than one language in today’s society is paramount. Students in our program will study Latin. Tis eternal language not only furnishes a key to over two thousand years of history, it also provides insight into the vocabulary and grammar of English and many other modern languages.

Mathematics Te three-period lesson is used in the study of all subjects, but is particularly useful in the study of mathematics. Students begin where they left off at the end of the 6th year in the elementary, moving into the study of algebra and beyond. Lessons are presented using concrete materials. Students practice with the materials to solve problems and fnally, students apply the concepts to real life problems. Te approach is evaluative and diagnostic with the next lesson following after mastery.

At 3:00, the students clean up their environment, and then head to Advisory Circle. At the beginning of their 7th year, students are assigned to one teacher who will be their advisor throughout the two years of our program. During Advisory Circle students update their planners, share their progress on their goals, and spend time working on assignments.

Creative and Physical Expression Te adolescent has a great need for self-creation, deep friendships and love which can be expressed through the arts. Te nature of the arts is to wed the emotional and the intellectual into unique, original expression. Art (in any form) has dual value: it is both a powerful expression of the inner self and a profoundly effective avenue for connecting one human being to another. In contrast to academic work with a social context, the arts and physical exercise offer the most engagement because they allow for personal expressions within that context. Te whole day is devoted to self-expression, pursing the study for six weeks. Half the day is devoted to the arts, half the day to physical expression.

Wednesdays may fnd the students in a ceramics studio in the morning, getting a lesson from a potter on how to make a coil pot, maybe using clay that they unearth from the creek bed in the Back Forty. With each successive week, they learn to refne their techniques and learn about glazes and fring. In the afternoon, the students may learn how to play lacrosse or take a rowing lesson, perfecting their skills week- by-week.

On Fridays students have a Council Meeting in the morning to share information about the week and make plans for the following week. Issues that need the group’s input are discussed, and student managers share their report on the current state of the Erdkinder fnances, egg sales, and progress on Market preparations, among other things. At the end of the meeting a list of things that need to be done is compiled by the group. Tese items are then divided among the class and our Community Work time begins. Te students may perform community service jobs on-and off-campus.

After lunch on Fridays, the students will participate in Writing Seminar or Math Seminar. In Writing Seminar, students review grammar rules and build and practice creative writing skills. In Math Seminar, students share the process of solving problems that they have been working for the week. In addition to these two workshops, the group will have a discussion of current events and be given time to talk about the books the class is reading.

71 ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE

Classroom Life - School Policies ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE Separation (Toddler Communities and Primary Classrooms) A smooth, easy transition is as important to us as it is to you and your child. For this reason, we invite parents to join their children for their frst visit to Raintree (Orientation.) Ten on the frst day of school, we recommend that children stay about one hour if possible. Tis way the child will have an opportunity to establish the ritual of saying goodbye, to work for a short period and to meet new friends. When the parent returns, he realizes that his parent will be picking him up. Ideally this pattern should be repeated for several days, each day increasing the period of time the child stays.

Some time during their preschool career children experience separation anxiety. If your child cries upon being brought to school, you should put on a happy face, treat her objections as matter-of- factly as possible, assure her that you will return soon, bid goodbye kindly, but frmly, and leave quickly. Tears are rarely long lasting and often a method of testing your resolve. Once class begins, curiosity usually overcomes anxiety, and the child becomes actively involved in the classroom. Sometimes coming to Raintree with a purpose makes the young child feel an immediate sense of contribution often alleviating her feelings of fear or anxiety. Your child may bring a simple breakfast or some fowers for the snack table to share; there are ways that help make the transition easier.

Leaving a crying child at school can be a heart-breaking experience (as all of our guides who are parents know.) If you are still distressed when you arrive at work, or home, please call the school. We will be glad to let you know how your child is doing. 99% of the time the child is playing happily, and you are the one who is miserable. Relax. Trust us. Your child will have great days at Raintree.

Absences and Tardiness (All Levels) Every classroom at Raintree has a scheduled three-hour, uninterrupted work cycle in the morning and a slightly shorter one in the afternoon. (During the summer this time may be a little shorter due to swimming.) Please be consistent with your child’s attendance at Raintree. Tere are several reasons for this:

• Order and consistency in the child’s formative years is important. A consistent schedule and environment provides security for the child. • Te child’s hands-on experiences with the Montessori materials is cumulative, one lesson leads to the next in the sequence. • When you as the parent make a commitment to your child’s attendance you are modeling the importance of education and being part of a community.

Very important: Please schedule family vacations during the school breaks and make appointments for your child either outside of classroom hours or at the beginning or end of school. It is very disruptive to all the children when a child leaves in the middle of work time and returns at lunch or during rest. Young children especially toddlers are just developing their sense of time and place. Tey take their cues from their environment and when a parent comes to pick up a child in the middle of the day, that signals to a toddler or young preschool it is time to go home, too, and the aftermath can be very disruptive to others.

Arrival (Toddler Communities and Primary Classrooms) We ask that you arrive at Raintree promptly for the start of your child’s school day and arrive promptly at departure. It is difficult for our teachers to supervise and care for children before and

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after class when they have other duties to perform. When arriving with your child, please give hugs and goodbyes when possible outside the classroom entrance. Please remember that Raintree is a "children's house" and even the presence of an adult just by his mere size can be a distraction to children working in the environment. Also, please help us keep our classrooms peaceful by speaking softly. Children must be accompanied by an adult during arrival and departure. During registration parents fll out Release Authorization Information which lists those persons other than parents who have permission to pick up the child. Release of your child to anyone not authorized by you will require your permission through the main office.

ATTIRE Dress (Toddler Communities and Primary Classrooms) Please dress your child in comfortable and appropriate clothing that is easy for her to take off and put on. Please avoid clothing with belts, tiny buttons, difficult closures, or “onesie”-type shirts. Tere is nothing more frustrating for a child than to be trapped in her clothing when nature calls. Clothing that is fairly loose-ftting, have elastic waistbands lead to more success. At this age we often hear children say, “No, I do it myself!”

Please save the latest super-hero clothing for non-Raintree days. Wearing this type of clothing leads to aggressive play on the playground. With our sandbox and water activities in the classroom, non- dressy, functional clothing is best. Murphy's Law of the Montessori Classroom states that "the child with the most expensive, or newest clothing will get the dirtiest." Please remember that the business of learning is often messy! Jewelry and stick-on tattoos should not be worn to school.

Specifcally for Toddlers: Please keep two to three extra pairs of pants (or shorts), shirts, and socks at Raintree, all clearly labeled. Tese will be kept in your child’s high cubby or low cubby in the bathroom. If your child is beginning the process of toileting independence, please keep about 6-8 pairs of plastic covered underwear at Raintree. Once your child has had some successful toileting experiences, you may bring thick, cotton training pants as well! See Toileting Independence for further discussion. You are welcome to check his bathroom cubbies to make sure that he has plenty of extra clothes at the beginning or end of the day (if separation is going well).

Specifcally for Primary: Please keep two changes of clothing in a bag at the child’s coat rack space. Include a sweatshirt or sweater in spring or fall. Clearly label all clothing that comes to Raintree.

Dress (Elementary and Erdkinder) Students should dress in clothes which are comfortable to allow for movement and exploration on the campus. Lessons may take them straight to the garden, the pond or the creek to work so sturdy, closed-toed shoes are a must. Clothing must be presentable in the event the student leaves the campus for a “going out” activity either to gather materials for class work or to do further research visiting an expert, a museum or library.

Hats (Toddler Communities and Primary Classrooms) We have had great success with the Toddlers wearing sun hats when we go outside to play and to swim. So, in the spring and summer, please send a hat, labeled with your child's name, with a brim to protect the eyes and the back of the neck. We will hang it outside on one of our swim hooks or

73 ATTIRE place it in a basket on the patio. While the primary playground has lots of shade, we will encourage your child to wear a sun hat, if you send one.

Footwear (Toddler Communities and Primary Classrooms) Four types of footwear are required at Raintree: 1. Shoes that are easy for your child to put on and take off and which offer good support for the child’s growing feet. For very young children, shoes with Velcro fasteners work best. Please do not send your child to school in cowboy/girl boots, hiking boots, fancy patent leather pumps or fip fops. Tey are either too difficult for children to get on or fasten, and they compromise the child’s ability to participate in outdoor play. When a child can put on his own shoes, his independence grows, and he becomes more self-confdent. 2. Boots are a necessity at Raintree. Whether we are playing in the snow, taking a walk after a spring rain, or working in the garden, children need to have boots at Raintree. Please choose the kind that does not need to be pulled over shoes! 3. Slippers or inside shoes are worn in the classroom. Because we use our foor as a work surface, it is important to keep it as sanitary as possible. Te slippers should be simple and functional, easy for the child to put on and small enough to ft in our slipper cabinets (5” x 8” x 12”). Please do not send slippers with animal-heads, super heroes or lights. It is often difficult to fnd slippers during the warmer months; you may send other styles of soft-soled slip-on shoes such as canvas deck shoes, ballet slippers or Crocs. Please put your child’s name on each slipper so that mix-ups do not occur. (Unnamed items are automatically put in the Lost and Found at the end of the day.) 4. Swim shoes are worn to the pool. Any type of pool shoe is fne as long it has a strap on the back and slips on easily such as Crocs and fip fops with a backstrap.

Winterwear Remember Montessori’s famous quote, “Tere is no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.” We go outside every day, and warm clothing is a must especially with our sledding hill in the Back Forty. Please remember to label every piece of outerwear with your child’s name! At the end of the day coat racks are cleared and unnamed clothing is put in the Lost and Found baskets. Once a semester items from these baskets are put on display for a week. Remaining items which can be used at Raintree in emergencies are tagged with a Raintree and put in our emergency clothing containers. Te rest of the clothing is donated to a local charity.

What the Warmest Dressed Child is Wearing at Raintree: !

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Swim Gear

!

Labeling It is very important to put your child’s name on any item that may be taken off during the day. Coats, hats, scarves, mittens, boots, slippers…even shirts and pants should be labeled with your child’s name. Unnamed clothing is placed in the Lost and Found at the end of the day, and if it is not claimed by the end of the semester, the clothing is donated to a local charity.

Lost and Found Unnamed clothing is placed in the Lost and Found at the end of the day. Locations of Lost and Found baskets are located near the stairwell in the Phoenix building and in each classroom of the elementary.

Laundry (Toddler Communities only) We are very fortunate to have laundry facilities in the room next to our classrooms. We are happy to wash your child’s clothing that gets dirty at school. Any underwear that has urine is soaked in bleach water then washed. KDHE regulations require that soiled clothing must go home wrapped tightly in a plastic bag. On Fridays all laundry goes home to be washed.

FOOD AND NUTRITION Snack and Lunch Menu Our monthly menus are posted on the main bulletin board in the foyer and on the bulletin board outside our kitchen as well as on our Raintree web site at www.raintreemontessori.org. Nutritious homemade food is served at Raintree along with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. In planning our lunches and snacks, we keep refned foods to a minimum and the sugar content low.

Lunch (Elementary) Lunch is served buffet-style in the elementary with the children responsible for set-up and cleanup. Lunches are prepared in the main kitchen and sent to the elementary via a lunch cart. Fresh fruits and vegetables make up the largest percentage of our food budget. Most every meal is made from scratch with vegetarian dishes a larger percentage of daily diet than ever before. If your child does not want the prepared lunch option and prefers to bring a sack lunch to Raintree, please make sure it is a

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healthy alternative. No candy, pop, fun fruits, fruit rolls, gum or Lunchables please. A steady diet of such unhealthy fare not only compromises our children’s health, but sets the stage for future food cravings in adulthood. Please use a cold pack or thermos, if necessary. No microwave meals, please. Children may warm up leftovers, but no cooking in the microwave during lunch. Remember children can make their own lunches at home. Just provide nutritious ingredients.

Food Allergies If your child has a food allergy or is vegetarian, not only must it be written in the required paperwork but the protocol must be discussed with your child’s teacher. Each classroom has a refrigerator to store food items sent from home to accommodate allergies. Arrangements can be made at Raintree for simple substitutions to the regular lunch and snack fare.

Snack and Lunchware (All Levels) Te children use glass or ceramic dinnerware for snack and lunch. Tey also use utensils, even the toddlers. We do not use plastic glasses or dishes at Raintree. When they are ready, toddlers and primary students are given lessons for cutting fruit, bread, and cheese. Please prepare your toddler by using open cups and utensils at home. Consistency and maintaining similar expectations in the school environment and home eases the transition into the classroom and fosters independence. Table manners is a focus at all levels.

CLASS WORK Written Work (Primary and Early Elementary) Te product of a Montessori classroom is the child, not the written work she produces. Te growth within the child occurs during the process of an activity. Tus, the quantity and quality of the written work that only sometimes accompanies these activities may or may not refect the true growth that has taken place. Some classrooms will send home written work occasionally, but others may save the work to be shared at conferences. When written work does come home, let your child know you value the effort required rather than just the product you see before you. Critical comments can be very destructive, and pressure for more and harder work takes the joy out of discovering and working spontaneously. Te end result of pressuring a child or expecting her to produce can cause the child to lose interest or to be turned off to learning. Te best approach is to encourage her and be always aware that your child’s biggest developmental leaps at this age are often intangible. Remember that in the primary especially repetition is important. Seeing the “same work” many times is a manifestation of your child’s path to internalization of the concept.

Written Work (Elementary) Your child’s classroom work will come home periodically or examples of her best work will be shared with you at conferences. Unless there is a request for you to send back a piece of work, your child’s papers may be kept at home. First-year students may not produce a great deal of paperwork because the classroom provides a smorgasbord of materialized abstractions which do not produce an end- product. As children mature, however, the paper production grows. Some of the work will be examples of your child’s very best work, but some may be practice pages with incorrect answers. Rest assured that at the weekly conference, the student and the teacher use the practice pages to focus the child’s attention on the next week’s work. Montessori said, “We must make friends with our mistakes. Tey serve as reminders of the work left to do.” In the elementary years, it is important our children feel supported in their endeavors. Overcoming obstacles and being able to persevere are qualities essential to success in life.

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Homework (Elementary and Erdkinder) Raintree does not require busy work of students and/or parents in the evenings, but it is important to set aside time each evening for reflection and family time. We expect all our students to contribute to family life doing household chores. For this reason, some elementary classes send home “work journals” for students to record the contributions they have made to the family. We feel these tasks are just as important as “homework,” maybe even more so. Tere are times we ask parents to work with their child at home on school work, but the request is specific and grounded in our work with the child in the classroom. Practicing math facts, for example, is one such task. When and if this request is made, we ask your support. In the upper elementary and Erdkinder, more classroom- related assignments are given in math, vocabulary and reading which a child can accomplish independently at home. Setting aside quiet time for refection and preparation for the next day creates a template for success later in life. A good rule of thumb is 10 minutes per grade level which would mean for a frst-year elementary student spending about ten minutes in the evening making a box lunch for school, if he brings his own lunch, selecting clothes to wear the next day, or reading before bedtime, either the child reading himself, or the parent reading to the child. Developing good habits in the short term sets the stage for a successful morning routine and pleasant school day, and in the long term, a self-disciplined life. By the time a child is in Erdkinder, he is accustomed to an hour of preparation for the next day which may include ironing one’s clothes, folding laundry, completing a vocabulary assignment, or writing an essay. Children who consistently do not contribute to family life, or complete assignments and then make excuses, are not only failing to develop good study habits, but may jeopardize their placement in the elementary program or the Erdkinder. Developing good work habits both in the home and at school fosters lifelong learning and good citizenship.

Handwriting - Cursive Writing (Primary and Elementary) Before children enter elementary school, they show an interest in writing.

At Raintree we introduce the Cursive alphabet. Here is the rationale for using the cursive style: 1. Letter formation is taught at the same time we introduce letter sounds when the nerve endings in the fngertips are very sensitive. Tis is done through the use of the sandpaper letters. Te natural movement of the hand of a small child is to scribble in a circular motion. Cursive letters are formed in a series of circular movements. 2. Tere is less confusion between the cursive forms of “b,” “d,” “p” and “q” because they are not mirror images, e.g., “b” looks like a backwards “d.” 3. Cursive writing is a more natural way of writing because the pencil fows along the paper without frequent stopping within and between letters. Te circular movements natural to cursive writing correspond developmentally to the stages of a young child’s artwork. 4. Te child who can read cursive can also read manuscript, but the reverse is not true. 5. In printing, the child often confuses and interchanges lower case and capital letters. For example, “AndY” instead of “Andy.” Tis is rarely a problem with cursive.

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6. Since Cursive writing is used primarily throughout one’s life, it should be learned when interest is greatest. Many older children and adults who were taught manuscript frst have not made the transition to cursive, and continue to use the slow and more awkward manuscript. 7. In the primary classroom, children learn to associate the sound, not the name, with the letter. For those children who have previously learned the alphabet/name, introducing the cursive forms with sound offers less confusion.

Please do not force your child to begin writing early. Use these guidelines only if your child wants to know how to form the letters: • Practice making the letters yourself before showing your child. • Pay careful attention to how the letters are formed and the direction of the stroke. • Show your child how to hold the pencil correctly. Gripping the pencil in the proper way is just as important as forming the letter correctly. • Do not force your child to write if he is not interested.

Cursive Alphabet

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Group Work (Elementary) One of the characteristics of the elementary child is the need to work in a group. Tis “herd instinct” is very strong at this age. Unlike the primary child who works alone or in parallel with others, the elementary child enjoys the social interaction and the physical contact. It is not uncommon to fnd two elementary students wedged into the side of a table where only one chair was meant to be, discussing their work or reading a reference book together. Tis means an elementary classroom is noisier. Although the same respect for one another and the materials in the environment is emphasized, the fact that children interact and work in groups creates a very lively classroom.

Reading (Primary and Elementary) It is not uncommon to see children reading as one enters a Montessori classroom, but there are no reading groups. Instead, children receive individual help to learn to read. Uninterrupted sustained silent reading is encouraged in our classrooms, something research tells us is one of the best ways to strengthen reading skills. Our job is to create the optimum conditions for reading. Children love to be read to when they are very young. What many parents fail to realize is that children love to be read to even when they are older. Studies show that children who are read to at home are more centered and are better students in school.

Reading to children not only enriches their awareness of the world, but it also strengthens the bond between child and parent that is so important as children mature. We encourage you to read on a daily basis to children through the elementary years.

Math Facts (Elementary) Tis subject is so important it has its own special place in this handbook. We feel, and math professors back us up on this, that learning one’s math facts is just as important as learning how to read. Math facts are practiced at Raintree consistently, but for some children, practice is not enough. Tink back into your own childhood. How did you learn your times tables?

• We use fash cards in the classroom with children quizzing each other with “quizzing out” the goal. Practicing at home is necessary for some children. Using fash cards or playing math fact games are two options. • Math fact CDs help others, especially those who are auditory learners. Hearing the fact in a song, or short jingle is the best method for them. • Tis is the one time we recommend using a computer. Go to www.mathfactpro.com. By practicing each day for about 5-10 minutes, students improve their math fact recall.

With consistent practice, a student will learn his facts making it possible to do math calculations faster and allowing him to engage in more complex math problems. Parents sometimes have math phobias themselves which can cause math aversion in children. We recommend a book called Te Number Devil by H. M. Enzensberger, a book “where we are taken further and further into mathematical theory, where ideas eventually take fight, until everyone-from those who fumble over fractions to those who solve complex equations in their heads-winds up marveling at what numbers can do.” John Snyder, an administrator and former upper elementary teacher at Austin Montessori School says about this book, “Tis an especially good book for people who have not yet learned to love math, but those who have will enjoy the book, too. Every Upper El student should read this book.”

Sharing Although we do not conduct “show and tell” sessions at our group times, fowers for the table, a carrot for a classroom pet or specimens from nature are always welcome. Tese are pleasant ways of

79 CLASS WORK becoming a contributing member of our classroom community. Please check with your child’s teacher about specifcs. Toys, dolls, money, candy, jewelry, cosmetics, gum or stickers should stay at home.

“Stuff“(All Levels) Human beings collect a lot of stuff. It seems to grow exponentially around them. Our goal is to minimize the distractions “stuff” can cause and help children focus on what is really important while we are at school. Hildegard Solzbacher, a Montessori trainer, often used to say, “If you clutter up a classroom with stuff, or if a parent gives a child too many things, the child will become more interested in material possessions than knowledge.” Please help us minimize the ever-growing mound of stuff that accumulates at Raintree by monitoring what comes to school with your child so real learning can happen.

Going Out - Right of Passage (Elementary) Dr. Montessori said, “Te child in the frst plane (primary) is always washing his hands, and the child in the second plane (elementary) is always washing his feet.” What she meant by this was the young child is a child of the prepared environment (the classroom) and the elementary student and adolescent are a students of the world. At the elementary level, Montessori said that we should not bring the world into the classroom and put it on a shelf rather the child should go beyond the walls of the classroom to learn. “Going out” is a natural outgrowth of the child’s study of a particular subject or a necessity. When all the resource materials have been exhausted in our school library, the child is encouraged to “go out” to further his knowledge or if the classroom requires additional items for study. In Montessori’s day, this involved learning survival skills, how to build a fre, pitch a tent and use a compass! Now preparation for Going Out includes making appointments, arranging transportation, using a city map, learning how to interview someone, and writing thank you notes to those who have helped in this process. While “Going Out” is more of an upper elementary activity, younger students have also participated in this experience in the past. One way parents can help is to volunteer as a driver for a student who is ready for this important step in his education, however, parents may not take their own child on a Going Out excursion. Going Out is as much about developing independence, social skills and logistical skills as it is about learning more about a particular subject.

Cultural Exploration As an extension of the Geography area and as a way for our children to become world citizens, we invite parents to share information with us about other cultures. In the past, we have had visitors from India, Japan, Holland, Iran and Africa share their customs, clothing and food with our children. If you are from another country, or have a friend who is, please consider sharing your culture with the children in your child’s class.

Art (Toddler Communities and Primary Classrooms) Just as music is integrated into the day, so is art. From the beauty that surrounds the children both inside and outside at Raintree to the careful preparation of our classrooms and the lush gardens outside, the children are enveloped by an aesthetic which fosters a love of art and beauty. We believe the art of children rivals the art of the Masters, and for this reason, whenever we display children’s art, it is framed with the same care we would frame a reproduction of a Master’s work. At the toddler level, art materials are always available to the children, and as children move into the primary, formal lessons exposing the children to various media and art techniques and tools begin. Once the child has had lessons in how to do watercolor, draw with charcoal, or work with pastels, and other lessons, the art cache is available to the child, a treasure trove of materials to create anything the child can

80 CLASS WORK imagine. In addition, the children are introduced to the work of the Masters and stories about their lives as well as art from other countries introducing the children to the richness of other cultures. Te study of art continues at the elementary and Erdkinder levels with art, an organic element of the educational experience along two lines: art for art’s sake with children creating art for the sheer enjoyment of creative expression and art as illustration incorporated into a research study and creating a painting to further describe illuminate a subject of interest.

Art (Elementary and Erdkinder) Art is integrated into daily classroom life not taught in a vacuum. In addition to lessons in the use of art materials, students study art history, the contributions made by famous artists, their style of expression and the infuence their work has had on others. A child may choose to study a particular artist, learn about his life and his contribution to the art world. He may decide to create reproductions of the artist’s work, or study the artist’s life. As the “enlightened generalist,” a Montessori teacher (guide) acts as a conduit pointing the way to further exploration by the student. Some students use art to more fully expand a topic of study, e.g., a child who studies the stages of a butterfy may decide to illustrate it, while another, after studying the planets, may decide to make a paper mache replica of the solar system. Art in a Montessori elementary classroom is as important as any other area of study. Whether it is art for art’s sake, or art as a means to another end, we think of Picasso’s famous quote, “Every child is an artist. Te problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” For more on this important topic, read Sir Ken Robinson’s book Out of Our Minds.

Music (All levels) From the moment children walk in the door at Raintree, they experience music from the fnger plays and songs introduced at group gatherings to the simple songs used to help make transition times pleasant. Introduction to rhythm instruments and the Montessori bells make up the formal instruction given to the children in the primary, but they also are introduced to composers and different genres of music, as well as instruments and folk dances from other countries. “Walking on the line” is a grace and courtesy lesson which develops poise and concentration, but it also integrates music and movement as children carefully walk in rhythm to different types of music, something the children choose independently often joined by friends. Te Montessori bells are available to the children in the primary and sometimes in the elementary introducing the children to tone and scales, and at the elementary level the Montessori tone bars continue the musical training started when the child was very young. It is not unusual to enter an elementary class and hear a student either composing his own music, or playing a familiar tune on the tone bars. One of the best ways to end our day together is in song. At the elementary level each class has formal music instruction weekly. Te lower elementary students are given instruction in the Orff method on beautiful wooden xylophones while the upper elementary students have choral music instruction. At the Erdkinder level, one entire afternoon each week is devoted to creative expression with music as one of the many options.

Testing - Standardized Testing (Elementary and Erdkinder) Standardized tests are not administered to the children in our school. Volumes could be written here regarding this topic, and if you would like more information, may we Te Case Against Standardized Testing by Alfe Kohn, Coloring Outside the Lines by Robert Schank, and Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto. (See Suggested Readings for Parents.) We can administer a norm-based reference test which compares your child with others of the same age across the country, if you request it, but it is not recommended until a child is no longer using concrete materials and is in the upper elementary. In the sixth year, some families want their child to be tested prior to moving on to the next educational setting to see if they qualify for special services such as the gifted program. It is the responsibility of the parent to contact the Gifted Consultant in the school district and the child’s

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home school to make arrangements for the test. It is recommended that this contact be made early in the second semester.

Assessing Student Performance (Erdkinder) Te goal for students in our program is for them to achieve mastery in a variety of skills and academic subjects. Students will be given opportunities to demonstrate mastery through discussions, participation in projects, individual presentations and seminars. While grades and test taking will not be the main focus of our program, we will expose students to the different types of tests and the rational behind their uses. Montessori is a preparation for life, and one encounters tests throughout life, so we will help students develop strategies for taking different kinds of tests.

THE ALL-DAY CHILD (Toddler Communities and All-Day Primary Classrooms) Nap Time and Nap Gear Children who spend a long day in such a stimulating environment need time to rest. All toddlers take a nap. Tey settle down around 12:30 and nap until 2:30 or 3:00. All-day primary children have a rest during the day, too. Some require more rest than others, and for this reason, we have two schedules for rest. Tose children who require a longer rest go to the room adjacent to their classroom for a nap. Tese children are called Nappers, and they sleep on little cots in their sleeping bag for about 1 1/2 hours. Te older children who require less rest relax on little resting rugs in the classroom. Tey are called Resters, and they rest for about 30 minutes. Placement in either the Napper or Rester group is decided by the teacher and is based the needs of the child and maintaining the correct teacher/child ratio in each group.

All toddlers and nappers must bring sleeping gear for napping. Please ask your child’s teacher about the appropriate nap gear for your child. In the past, parents have sent a sheet (unftted, child-sized,) small pillow and child-sized blanket, or a child-sized sleeping bag. We have found that the sleeping bag offers the most comfort for the child as well as keeping him warmer during the winter months. Please label all nap/rest gear with your child's name in bold letters.

Toileting Independence (Toddler Communities) We refer to toilet training as toileting independence. Children entering the Raintree Toddler Class are not expected to be "toilet trained." In the Toddler classroom, helping the children become independent in using the toilet is ongoing. It is a process and just as learning in the classroom, we follow the child's lead.

In the Toddler classroom, we often take natural breaks to use the toilet. When the children are transitioning to outside or snack, we ask them to use the restroom and to wash hands. Because of the mixed age grouping that we have, the youngest ones see the older ones using the toilet and wearing cotton underwear. Tis is great motivation for the little ones. Often it is just a few days or weeks before the younger ones are sitting on the toilet and wearing underwear in the classroom. And before you know it they are having success on the toilet!

Not only are the children gaining toilet independence, they are also gaining awareness of their bodily functions and independence in caring for those functions. As soon as children step into our classroom, they are involved in caring for themselves. When we assist the toddlers in taking shoes on and off and undressing and dressing in the bathroom, we talk to them about what we are doing (just as you have done since your child was an infant) and encourage them to do some of the work themselves. "Look you can pull your own pants down...hook your thumbs right here, now push

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them down..." "When pulling up, one hand holds in front and one holds in back... up and over." Te focus of discussion during dressing and toileting should be on how our hands and bodies work together, "...use you hand to fush." "Wet or dirty”, or “dry and clean?" Soon, we hear the words we have been waiting to hear, "I do it myself!" From then on we can simply assist when they need it. All areas of our classroom encourage the children to become independent from snack preparation to shoe scrubbing. All the lessons given to the child are carefully chosen so that the child can be successful and each activity has all the materials required within the child's reach so that the child can be independent from choosing the work - to doing the work - to putting it back on the shelf.

Toileting begins with the mastery of taking off and putting on clothes. We have the children wear cotton-training pants so that they can feel wetness when they have urinated. When they urinate in their training pants we matter-of-factly state, "I see that you are wet. Let's get some dry clothes." Soon, the child understands that he urinates in the toilet, but if he doesn't make it to the toilet, he can take care of the situation. Dirty clothes are either put in the laundry basket or in a bag to be sent home, and the child gets dressed and returns to work. Te work of learning to use the toilet should be matter of fact and as free from stress as possible. Children want to care for themselves - and if they feel confdent, they can. It is the consistency between school and home that will foster the child’s desire and ability to successfully use the toilet.

For this to be successful, certain steps need to be taken at school and at home. Children need to be wearing clothes and shoes that are easy for the children to take off and put on. Pants, skirts, shorts are easiest for small children when they are elasticized. Overalls are very difficult for small hands to master. Dresses are easy for children to wear, however, they often fall into the toilet as well does t- shirts with the snap between the legs. Soft t-shirts and sweatshirts are comfortable, practical and easy to wash. Children explore their environment and as a result learn that food, paint, dirt, water, etc. show up quite nicely on our clothes! Fancy or special outfts are best saved for special days.

In the classroom children wear cotton training pants and a shirt. Tis gives the child few clothes to take off when it is time to use the toilet! It also provides freedom of movement within the classroom.

When your child frst joins the Toddler Community, it is perfectly fne that she comes in diapers or a pull-up. At the frst transition of the morning, we will help her fnd cotton underwear out of her cubby to put on after toileting.

BEFORE AND AFTER SCHOOL OPTIONS (ELEMENTARY) Late PM Some of our students stay beyond school hours for what we have always called “Late PM.” Te regular schedule for Late PM is a balance of indoor and outdoor activities. A snack is served at this time of day. Late PM is a privilege, and if a student cannot handle the responsibilities of this less structured time of the day, he may be asked to attend only during school hours. (See Enrichment Classes.) If a child is not scheduled to stay for Late PM, arrangements must be made through the office.

Enrichment Classes Raintree is blessed to have talented individuals working in the classroom, but we also have highly trained and experienced instructors outside the classroom, too, providing enrichment classes either before or after class. Parents may take advantage of music instruction in both voice and piano for primary, elementary and Erdkinder students. In the past we have also offered enrichment classes in art, French, Spanish, Chess and Latin. Watch for notices on our school web site for notices about

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offerings each semester. Enrichment instructors are independent contractors who send out information to prospective students before the semester begins. All payments are made directly to them with a percentage of the payment going to Raintree to offset Raintree’s overhead and insurance costs.

CAMP RAINTREE (ELEMENTARY) Our elementary program runs from August through May. In the summer, we offer a day camp for our elementary students and elementary students from other schools. Raintree frst through sixth- graders may attend. Non-Raintree students who have fnished their frst-grade year through students who just completed their ffth-grade year may attend.

OUTDOOR CAMPUS When we started Raintree, pastures surrounded the school for as far as the eye could see. As neighborhoods developed around Raintree, we began to develop our campus adding a parking lot, gardens, and walkways, making the school accessible to all students regardless of their mode of transport. Te frst of our fve swimming pools was added in the early 90s followed by more pathways linking the undeveloped land to the amenities in the front of the property. Raintree Pond stocked with fsh, a creek running the back of the property and the waterfall garden and the natural playscape complete with tunnels and a bridge on the primary playground are just some of the recent additions. But probably the most popular, and the most benefcial is the undeveloped land called Te Back Forty. Montessori wrote, “Tere is no description, no image in any book that is capable of replacing the sight of real trees, and all the life to be found around them…” Te Back Forty with its gurgling creek, camp site, Monarch garden, sledding hill, fre pit and recycled log and tree branch tipi is a way station for birds and butterfies, and a treasure for the children, a place where imagination takes fight and memories are made.

Swimming (Toddler and Primary) Swimming at Raintree could be classifed as a controlled swim more than the the kind of experience one has at a public pool or lake. Here is a detailed description of swim time for our toddler and primary children:

1. Before the summer begins, all staff take CPR and First Aid training. For most of our staff, it is re- certifcation because they have been at Raintree for many summers and participated in many training sessions. 2. In addition to CPR and First Aid certifcation, the lifeguard is also lifesaving certifed. We are fortunate to have lifeguards who return year after year so they are experienced and knowledgeable, too. 3. At the beginning of the season, the emergency procedures are reviewed by all staff. 4. Te lifeguard checks the pool chemicals, something she does three times a day, before the frst group arrives. She also puts all the safety equipment in place: the walkie talkie, pool emergency phone, frst aid kit, rescue equipment, and makes sure the pool rules and emergency checklist are in place. 5. Te lifeguard vacuums the pool, cleans the pool decks and removes any debris from the water surface. Te pool toys are placed near the pools for easy access by the children.

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6. Te most important safety feature of swimming at Raintree is that the teachers and the lifeguard know the students. Tis is different from a public venue where the lifeguard doesn’t know the swimmers. At Raintree the same classes swim at the same time every day. Te adults who swim with them are the same adults who work with the students in the classroom so everyone knows the swimmers and the swimmers know the adults. 7. Meanwhile in the classroom, staff and children change into their suits and sit in a group as each child is doused with sunscreen from head to toe which takes about 20 minutes with another 5-10 devoted to the transition to the pool, the perfect amount of time for skin to absorb the sunscreen. 8. Regular shoes are exchanged for pool shoes, towels are placed around the students’ shoulders and the walk begins to the pool in a single fle line with one adult at the head of the line, the assistant at the rear. 9. One to two classes swim in each 30-45 minute session. Classes entering the pool sit and wait until the other swimmers have left the pool area. 10.Te teacher signals it is time to hang up their towels in the cabana and fnd a place on the edge of the pool to sit until the lifeguard (in the case of swimmers in the junior pool) gives the signal to swim. 11.One or two classes swim per session with three to fve adults supervising: two teachers from each classroom and the lifeguard. Te large wading pool and the junior pool are for primary classes. Te small wading pool for toddlers. 12.Teachers sit in the pool with the children or on the edge of the pool (wading pool) to oversee the swimmers. In the junior pool, teachers help students practice swimming strokes, or sit on the edge of the pool to supervise swim time. Te lifeguard supervises the junior pool seated in a chair above the deep section. 13.All teachers wear swim suits and get in the pool with the children or are seated on the edge of the pool. Staff do not use the swim time to visit with one another, or sunbathe. Swim time at Raintree is all about careful supervision. Primary only: • At the beginning of the season, more students are in the wading pool and therefore, more adults are there, too, but as the children improve their swim skills, they move to the junior pool where they swim in the shallow area practicing their new skills with the staff who are in the junior pool. • Once a child is a good swimmer, she is tested by the guard to determine if she can swim in the deeper water, the middle area of the pool. If the swimmer passes the test, she is given a brightly colored wristband to wear which alerts all staff that this is a student who can swim in the deeper water. • As the summer progresses, more and more students become better swimmers, and therefore the numbers of adults and children decrease in the wading pool and increase in the junior pool. 14.At the end of the swim session, the lifeguard blows the whistle, and the students get out of the pool, go to the cabana, get their towel and put on their swim shoes. Students form a line as before and walk back to their classrooms with the teacher leading the group and the assistant at the rear.

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What if my child doesn’t want to swim? If children do not want to swim, they are never forced to, however, they dress for swimming along with their classmates, get doused with sunscreen, too, and use their towel as a sit-upon, watching from a shady spot at the pool while their classmates enjoy the water. It is rare for a child to stay seated on the towel all summer. What happens 99% of the time is that they inch closer and closer to the water, eventually sitting on the edge, dangling their feet in the wading pool and fnally their whole body. Tis can happen in a matter of minutes on their frst day or after a few days of observing. May my child wear a life jacket? No, it is not necessary at Raintree. Lifeguards say life jackets are a hindrance more than a help because they restrict movement making it more difficult for children to learn to swim. It also gives the child a false sense of security, and without a PFD, he has no idea of his limits. Most of the literature supporting a PFD are in articles about swimming in lakes, water parks or with parent supervision, but a PFD gives the adult in charge a false sense of security, too, because once the child has on a vest or jacket, the adult is not as attentive. Lifeguards interviewed said they have rescued children whose life vest slipped off, or caused the child to turn over in the water face down which can happen if the device is not ftted properly. Again, our answer is “no” with two exceptions: if a child has special needs, or there are serious extenuating circumstances. May my child wear swim diapers? No, not unless your child is a toddler, has special needs or there are serious extenuating circumstances. What if there is a fecal accident in the pool? KDHE regulations state, “Te primary objective of a response to a fecal accident is to discontinue the use of the pool until the quality of the water returns to a level that minimizes risk of disease transmission. Diarrheal accidents pose a higher risk for the transmission of infectious organisms the use of the pool until the quality of the water returns to a level that minimizes risk of disease transmission.” What if my child is on an antibiotic and it causes diarrhea, can he still swim? Te issue is not the cause of the diarrhea, but the fecal matter itself. No. Regardless of the cause, children may not swim when they have diarrhea. Do you give swim lessons at Raintree? No, we do not give swimming lessons per se, but by swimming everyday, children learn to be comfortable in the water. In the wading pool, children learn how to put their face in the water, hold their breath going underwater to fnd toys on the bottom of the pool and eventually learn how to foat. Some children love the water and progress quickly, others are more cautious and take more time developing swimming skills. When their skills are strong enough, they may move to the junior pool where they continue to practice in the shallow ends of the pool. When they are a good swimmer, they get a wristband and have access to every area of the junior pool. Te goal of our daily swim times is not to develop a Raintree swim team, but to have safe, fun swim times each summer. What can parents do to help make the swim session successful? Take your child to the bathroom before swim time especially if your child’s class has the frst morning or afternoon swim time. Deliver the child to the teacher with suit on and sunscreen applied. Make sure that you make eye contact to ensure that supervision is transferred from parent to teacher if your child arrives when the class is already at the pool. Pass any messages to Kelli in the office and not to the teacher at the pool. Teachers must stay focused on the water and the safety of the children. Shut all gates each and every time you pass through the pool area to maintain the safety of all children

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including siblings. Hold the hand of or carry younger siblings to ensure the safety of our youngest visitors.

Animals and Nature Our animal program is a very important part of our school. Over the years we have had four horses, goats, sheep, chickens, our own pot-bellied pig named Wilbur, guinea hens, ducks, and rabbits in our outdoor environment. Inside the classroom, we always have a fsh aquarium and one or two other animals, usually a reptile or amphibian. Depending upon allergies in a classroom, we may have mammals in the classroom, too. During the warm months we bring in specimens from nature, sometimes a corn snake or tadpoles or a chrysalis or perhaps a Luna moth. Tese are kept temporarily in our classroom and then returned to nature.

SPECIAL SERVICES (PRIMARY, ELEMENTARY AND ERDKINDER) Te local school district provides vision and hearing screenings at Raintree for all our students. Special services such as speech, occupational therapy and physical therapy are provided by the school district for primary students who qualify up to age fve. Beginning the kindergarten year, children who continue to qualify must go to their home school to receive services. If it is determined that a child needs services, arrangements can be made through the district Special Education Services office.

Raintree also has a “dream team” of highly trained professionals, the best in their respective felds, in speech, occupational therapy, and reading plus a gifted educational psychologist who can assess children and provide strategies for our teachers to help children in the classroom. All these people are independent contractors. Contact the Head of School, or our Special Education Coordinator for more information.

STUDENT CONDUCT Found Objects (Toddler Communities and Primary Classrooms) If perchance a piece of school equipment shows up at home, please send it back! All our Montessori equipment is imported from Holland or Italy, and it is very expensive and difficult to duplicate. Some things that seem inconsequential are really an important part of the material best loved by your child, and out of fascination, children often want to take a piece of Raintree home with them. Please do not scold or embarrass her. Just slip the object in an envelope and give it to a staff member.

Discipline Te goal of a Montessori experience is a self-disciplined, compassionate individual. One is not afraid to stand up for what she believes in, who champions causes and strives to make the world a better place. How is “discipline” addressed in a Montessori classroom.

It is proactive. Te Montessori primary experience lays the groundwork for appropriate behavior through the lessons of grace and courtesy and the design of the classroom, Te Grace and Courtesy lessons provide guidelines for appropriate behavior, and the design of the classroom with materials accessible to the students at all times, allows the child the freedom to work. In the elementary, opportunities for collaboration gradually add another layer to the experience, by students establishing a class constitution, they are empowered to do the right thing. Grace and courtesy lessons which form the cornerstone of civility in the primary, continue in the elementary teaching the child appropriate ways of behaving, e.g., how to close a door quietly, how to introduce a friend, how to serve a guest.

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It fosters responsibility. Te Montessori approach respects the students’ learning style in a relaxed learning environment. It is not a laizze faire approach, but rather, a system in which the teacher has the fexibility to adapt lessons to the student’s learning style, and the student has the freedom try out different ways to learn. A strong work ethic is fostered with “gainful employment in noble pursuits” the goal. Te more responsible a child, the more freedom he has to make choices. “Freedom but with responsibility,” said Montessori.

It creates community. Te mixed-age grouping means the student is surrounded with possibility, possibility to learn from older students and help others younger than he. Te community cares about each of its members, and the expectation is that the student becomes a contributing member of the classroom community, not only in her academic performance, quality of her work and the care of the classroom, but as a kind and caring person.

Raintree expects each student to: • Treat others with respect. • Treat the work and property of others with the same respect. • Bring only the necessary materials to school. • To have consistent attendance and punctual arrival.

It is rare to have discipline problems, but… if we do, the student meets with the teacher to resolve the issue. If it involves failure to complete work, he may stay inside to fnish his work. If it involves acting out during class, he may join another classroom taking his work with him. A change of scenery can sometimes stop the cycle. Parents are required to attend parent nights throughout the year to gain further insight into the type of structure a Montessori classroom provides. By working together the child gets a clear message about expectations regarding appropriate behavior. We highly recommend a Love and Logic parenting class or other positive discipline approaches that mirror the Montessori approach we use in the classroom. Sometimes parents are required to take a class if a child has discipline problems. Our Parent Education Coordinator schedules classes yearly so watch for notifcation in the information box on the corner of the lower elementary building, or on the school’s web site. Registration is on a frst-come, frst served basis.

If a pattern of unruly, disrespectful behavior develops, parents are notifed, a meeting is scheduled and a plan is formulated. Sometimes the student attends the meeting and participates in the discussion to develop a plan. If a child continues to have difficulty making appropriate choices in classroom, we may decide that the self-discipline required of a student in a Montessori setting is too overwhelming. In the event this happens, we will help you fnd another educational setting for your child.

Discipline Policy in the Elementary: Protocol for Misbehavior Please note: Te policy outlined below is primarily for elementary students. Inappropriate behavior is rare in a Montessori school especially during class time, but occasionally rough and rowdy behavior occurs during recess, or at the end of the day. Misbehavior includes, but is not limited to, profanity, intentional pushing, shoving, tripping, name calling, scratching, hitting or taunting.

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In the event this happens, we employ many strategies to solve the problem ranging from going to another classroom, cooling off in another area of the playground, fnding a job to do away from the group, or spending time with the teacher. If the matter is resolved, apologies are made, and all is well. During the School Day If a student misbehaves during recess we use the same techniques, but if they don’t work, the student misses the remaining recess time and stays in for recess the next day. If the behavior continues, the teacher notifes the parent. Sometimes a conference is scheduled to discuss the issue. On the rare occasion a child continues to misbehave, an Incident Report is written. Tree such reports result in possible suspension, or dismissal from the school. During Late PM If the student misbehaves and the same techniques do not work, late pm staff call the office and escort the student to one of two offices in the Phoenix building and an Incident Report is written. Te student remains in the office until the parent arrives. Te original is given to the parent at pick- up, a copy is fled in the office and a copy is placed in the classroom teacher’s log book. If a student receives three Incident Reports, s/he is suspended from Late PM indefnitely. Whether or not a student is reinstated, depends on the severity of the behavior and his/her behavior in the classroom in the days/weeks ahead.

Responsibility Learning to be responsible is one of the most important lessons children can learn at Raintree. In the elementary classroom we give the child a worldview illustrating how we are all dependent upon one another: animals, plants, and human beings. In the day-to-day running of the classroom, children are asked to be responsible for their personal care and belongings as well as their work space. Children are given jobs to maintain the order in the classroom. Tey are also required to bring their own belongings to and from school. Please allow your child to assume this responsibility herself. Living with the consequences of forgetting to bring one’s boots, for example, is a good life lesson. It is okay if a child loses the opportunity to go sledding one day, in fact, it is essential in shaping one’s character. Te children help care for animals and keep the school grounds neat and tidy. Te older children participate in service projects in the community. In this way our children gain an understanding of what it means to be a contributing member of our society.

Responsibility for one’s actions can carry over to the home. For example, if a student breaks something in the classroom or damages a piece of material, he will be asked to take it home and the child and his family will be responsible for repairing it or replacing it.

EVENTS Birthdays (Toddler and Primary) Te child with the help of his teacher and friends bakes his own birthday cakes "from scratch," a portion of which he shares with his friends during his birthday celebration at Raintree and a portion he takes home to share with his family. It is not necessary to provide refreshments for your child's celebration. Instead you may want to donate a book or a plant the classroom for the campus in honor of your child. Ask your child's teacher for suggestions. A few days prior to your child's birthday, please send one photo of your child when he was a baby and another more current photo. Tese will be placed in a special birthday frame to have on display in the classroom during the day and at your child's birthday celebration.

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Birthdays (Elementary and Erdkinder) Te elementary and Erdkinder student either makes his own birthday timeline or creates his own birthday book to celebrate. Tey make their own birthday cake or birthday treat in their kitchen classroom. Each classroom has different requirements regarding this celebration. Some have a list of approved recipes with ingredients available at the school while others have a different system. Check with your child’s teacher before your child’s birthday to fnd out what the expectations are for the celebration.

VERY IMPORTANT: Please do not bring invitations to parties or birthday thank you notes to Raintree. Do not bring gift bags for students and leave them on the coat rack. or gifts to school for students. We recommend low-key birthday parties, not major galas. Celebrating one’s birthday should not be a competition, and the focus for more and more gifts and bigger and bigger parties does not ensure happiness only the desire for a bigger party next year.

Bureau of Lectures (All Levels) Te Bureau of Lectures provides excellent school programs for Raintree. Each year we schedule several programs which we host in the amphitheater or in the Great Room. Some are all-school programs, others are specifc for elementary students. Past shows have included musicians from Japan, acrobats from China, native dancers, African dancers and drummers from Africa.

Other On-campus Presentations (Primary) Instead of transporting children in cars or buses, we import local experts to share their talents with our students from community helpers such as local frefghters presenting fre safety with their Safehouse to professors skyping from a research station in Antarctica.

Field Trips (Primary) Some primary classes go on pumpkin hunts on campus while others go to the pumpkin patch for their yearly hunt. A driver sign-up sheet is put on the bulletin board asking for your help in transporting the children. A seat belt is required for each child over 40 lbs, and a car seat is required for children under 40 lbs. No children may ride in the front seat of the car. Both an Emergency Care Release Form and a current medical assessment are taken for each child who goes on the trip. Tese forms along with the rules and regulations of travel are given to each of our drivers to protect the safety of the children.

Field Trips (Elementary) Students attend performances at the University of Kansas theaters and the Lied Center. Our third- year students spend the day at Tall Oaks Outdoor Center in Linwood, Kansas where they attend classes on ecology and participate in team-building activities. Our upper elementary students go to Tall Oaks each year staying in cabins overnight where they participate in a ropes course, horseback riding and attend classes on ecology and the environment. What sets a Montessori school apart, is the concept of “going out,” the opportunity to go beyond the walls of the classroom to learn about a specifc topic of interest. (See Going Out.)

Tall Oaks (Elementary) Being independent and learning how to cooperate are two important life skills. Not only do students have ongoing opportunities in the classroom, they also have special events scheduled throughout their tenure at Raintree. Tall Oaks Outdoor Education Camp in Linwood, Kansas located on 350 wooded acres has both high and low ropes courses, equestrian facilities, cabins, a dining hall and much more. When our lower elementary students are in their third year, they spend one day at Tall Oaks participating in a low ropes course, attending classes on ecology and geology, enjoying arts and crafts,

90 EVENTS and eating lunch together in the dining hall. Every year for three years our upper elementary students go to Tall Oaks in the fall for two days and one night staying in cabins. Horseback riding is added to the schedule of activities as well as an evening hayrack ride, cooking over a campfre and participating in cooperative games. Going to Tall Oaks at the end of their tenure in the lower elementary sets the stage for the longer stays when they are in the upper elementary. For the upper elementary students, the Tall Oaks adventure sets the stage for the coming year and bonds the students together.

Te Chicago Trip Since the inception of our elementary program, our sixth-year students have gone to Chicago, the fnal rite of passage for the elementary students as they make the transition from childhood to adolescence. Te trip is a week-long excursion in the Windy City. Te students research the places they want to visit, create an itinerary and raise funds for the trip by operating a coffee cart in the early mornings during the school year. In the past students have traveled by train and airplane, but with the increased numbers of students in our elementary program, we now charter a bus. For two weeks before the trip, students practice the skills needed to navigate in a large city, even learning how to walk down a busy city street flled with busy people on their way to work. Te guidelines for making the trip a success are extensive as we “prepare the environment” behind the scenes so the trip is not only educational and memorable, but safe, too. Students return from Chicago “an inch taller” than when they left!

Odyssey Trips Stay tuned for exciting news about Erdkinder’s exciting trips.

Tanksgiving Feast Tis Raintree tradition is always scheduled the day before Tanksgiving. Feast preparation begins when the classroom posts a list of ingredients needed and a schedule of food preparation. Parents sign up to bring ingredients according to the schedule, and the children spend several weeks preparing food and decorating the classroom. Invitations are sent out about two weeks before the feast inviting two guests to the luncheon. Watch the fall newsletters and the Raintree Web site for more details.

Peace Celebration Jennifer Baker-Powers started this tradition over ten years ago when the students in her primary class decided to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. day by making posters and marching through the school singing, “We Shall Overcome.” From that beautiful event has grown Raintree’s Peace Celebration, an all-school event hosted in the Great Room. Classes march throughout the halls singing, banners held high meeting in the Great Room where students recite speeches about Civil Rights and peace

Slumber Parties In 1985 when we built our frst parking lot, we did two things to fund the project: we sold engraved curbing by the foot and we hosted slumber parties. Te slumber party tradition has continued, now an integral part of the Raintree experience. Hosted about once a month, parents of primary and elementary children register their children for the evening paying a fee to offset the cost for supplies and staffing and raising funds for the many projects we have ongoing at Raintree. Children arrive dressed in pajamas with sleeping bag (and cuddly in the case of younger children), and our staff have special activities planned including arts/crafts, group games and special snacks. Just before bedtime, a story is read or a short movie is shown to slow the pace of the evening as children nestle in their sleeping bags and drift off to sleep. Breakfast is served the next morning and parents pick up their

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children in the classroom, or outside on the playground. We think of this experience as a win-win- win. Happy children, happy parents, happy school.

Campouts (Elementary) Usually the domain of the summer camp, campouts occasionally are scheduled during the fall and spring for our elementary students. Te same requirements apply to campouts as slumber parties; parents register their students and students bring their sleeping bag and pajamas. Dinner is provided, and students cook on an open campfre. Tey also play nighttime games on the playground, swim, if the pool is still open, and sing songs around the campfre while they make s’mores. Breakfast is served the next morning, and parents pick up their children on the playground.

Performances (Elementary) Several events have been scheduled over the years in the elementary. In the past we have had cultural nights where each classroom serves food, creates art and entertains with music from a specifc country. Te upper elementary have produced plays, music performances and poetry readings. Each year is unique. Watch for notices from your child’s classroom regarding what is planned this year.

COMMUNITY SERVICE Toddler through Primary From washing the leaves of the plants in the hallway to taking compost and recycling to the collection sites on campus to baking refreshments for parent nights to arranging fowers for office staff, the Raintree child begins in these small ways to be of service to others.

Elementary and Erdkinder Te elementary and the Erdkinder students continues these efforts going beyond the campus to serve others in the community and globally taking donations to the humane society, food to the homeless shelter and raising funds for projects worldwide.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP Coffee Cart (Elementary) Each year our sixth-year students operate a coffee cart to earn money for their Chicago trip. Children prepare food at home and sell at the cart in the morning. Students who work the cart are expected to arrive at 7:15 to prepare the buffet so it is ready to for service at 7:30 AM. Guidelines are given to parents at the orientation meeting each August. Students meet with the Head of School for a training session and receive job descriptions at the meeting. Te coffee cart opens at 7:30, but closes at 8:20 to all elementary students and to all other customers at 8:45 A.M.

Micro-economies/Winter Sale (Erdkinder) Be on the watch as our Erdkinder students develop their own micro-economies throughout the year, handmade and homegrown products sold at local markets in the community.

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Resources ATTACHMENTS Montessori Glossary by Annette Haines Montessori Lexicon by Saasha Huston Misconceptions about Montessori adapted from Barbara Hacker Tasks Children Can Do to Learn Responsibility Gateway Parenting by Wendy Calise 101 Tings Parents Can Do to Help Children Home and Family Responsibilities for the Elementary Child Cosmic Education Interdependency Chart Te Great Lessons Montessori and the Mathematical Mind No Man’s Land Syndrome by Lleanna McReynolds Observation Guidelines by Callie Borszich Handbook of Communicable Diseases - Kansas Department of Health and Environment

PARENTING, MONTESSORI AND EDUCATION Web sites: AidtoLife.org MariaMontessori.com

Books Te Brain Tat Changes Itself by Norman Doidge, M.D. Te Hurried Child by David Elkind Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto Te Outliers by Malcom Gladwell Punished by Rewards by Alfe Kohn Te Homework Myth by Alfe Kohn Coloring Outside the Lines by Roger Schank Te Whole-Brain Child by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. Parenting from the Inside Out by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. and Mary Hartzell, M.Ed. Mindsight: Te New Science of Personal Transformation by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D.

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INFANT-TODDLER Web sites Aid to Life - AidtoLife.org

Books Montessori From the Start by Paula Polk Lillard and Lynn Lillard Jessen Understanding the Human Being by Silvana Quattrocchi Montanaro, M.D. Te Scientist in the Crib: What Early Learning Tells Us About the Mind by Alison Gopnik, Ph.D., Andrew N. Meltzoff, Ph.D., and Patricia K. Kuhl, Ph.D.

PRIMARY Web sites Maria Montessori - MariaMontessori.com

Books How to Raise an Amazing Child Te Montessori Way by Tim Seldin Montessori Learning in the 21st Century: A Guide for Parents and Teachers by M. Shannon Helfrich Understanding Montessori: A Guide for Parents by Maren Schmidt, M.Ed. Montessori and Your Child by Terry Malloy

ELEMENTARY Books Montessori Madness by Trevor Eissler Why Montessori for the Elementary Years? by Sanford Jones

ADOLESCENT Books Becoming Adult: How Teenagers Prepare for the World of Work by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Barbara Schneider Mindset: Te New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D. Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect by Matthew D. Lieberman Brainstorm: Te Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. Why Do Tey Act Tat Way: A Survival Guide to the Adolescent Brain for You and Your Teen by David Walsh

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GLOSSARY OF MONTESSORI TERMS

Any science has it own vocabulary and terminology and the Montessori Method is no exception. Montessorians share a very specifc set of references, references which of themselves are brief and succinct, yet each one evokes the world of the child as described by Maria Montessori. Montessori language acts as a password, enabling the sender and the receiver to immediately decode the message being transmitted. A glossary is an alphabetical list of special or technical words or expressions.

Te Glossary of Montessori Terms presented here relates to the theory and practice for the primary (3-6) level. It was prepared by Annette Haines at the request of Molly O'Shaughnessy to accompany her lecture at the Joint Annual Refresher Course, held in Tampa, Florida in February 2001. Annette is the Director of Training at the Montessori Training Center of St. Louis and Molly is the Director of Training at the Montessori Training Center of Minnesota.

Absorbent Mind A mind able to absorb knowledge quickly and effortlessly. Montessori said the child from birth to six years has an absorbent mind.

Adaptation Related to the idea of an absorbent mind (Haines, 1993) is a special power of the young child that can be called the power of adaptation. Tis power is a process whereby the young child uses the environment to develop and, in so doing, becomes a part of that environment. Te young child absorbs the culture of her time and place, taking in all the spirit, the customs, the ambitions/aspirations and attitudes of a society simply by living in that society.

Analysis of Movement A technique used by Montessori teachers. Te adult, when showing a complex action to a child, breaks it down into its parts and shows one step at a time, executing each movement slowly and exactly. Te action thus becomes a sequence of simple movements and the child has a greater chance of success when 'given the liberty to make use of them.' (Montessori, 1966, p. 108)

Children's House Te English name for Montessori's Casa dei Bambini [Italian]. A place for children from 3-6 years to live and grow. Everything necessary for optimal human development is included in a safe and secure environment.

Classifcation Sorting. Allocating or distributing according to common characteristics. Te young child engages in classifcation activities because the process is essential for the construction of the intellect. Te Montessori classroom offers many opportunities for classifcation.

Concentration Recognising that 'the longer one does attend to a topic the more mastery of it one has,' the great American psychologist William James remarked, 'An education which should improve this faculty would be the education par excellence.' (1892/1985, p. 95) Montessori, who knew of James, set out to do just that. She believed that if environments could be prepared with 'objects which correspond to…formative tendencies' (1949/1967, p. 169) the child's energy and interest would become focused on that aspect of the environment which corresponded to the developmental need.

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Concrete to Abstract A progression both logical and developmentally appropriate. Te child is introduced frst to a concrete material that embodies an abstract idea such as size or colour. Given hands-on experience, the child’s mind grasps the idea inherent in the material and forms an abstraction. Only as the child develops, is she gradually able to comprehend the same idea in symbolic form.

Control of Error A way of providing instant feedback. Every Montessori activity provides the child with some way of assessing his own progress. Tis puts the control in the hands of the learner and protects the young child's self-esteem and self-motivation. Control of error is an essential aspect of auto-education.

Coordination of Movement One of the major accomplishments of early childhood. Trough the child's own effort, she wills herself to refne her muscular coordination and consequently acquires increasingly higher levels of independent functioning. Because of this developmental need, children are drawn to activities that involve movement and especially to those which demand a certain level of exactitude and precision.

Creativity/Imagination Imagination involves the forming of a mental concept of what is not actually present to the senses. Creativity is a product of the imagination and results from the mental recombining of imagined ideas in new and inventive ways. Both are dependent on mental imagery formed through sensorial experience.

Cycle of Activity Little children, when engaged in an activity which interests them, will repeat it many times and for no apparent reason, stopping suddenly only when the inner need which compelled the child to activity has been satisfed. To allow for the possibility of long and concentrated work cycles, Montessori advocates a three-hour uninterrupted work period.

Development of the Will Te ability to will, to choose todo something with conscious intent, develops gradually during the frst phase of life and is strengthened through practice. Te Montessori environment offers many opportunities for the child to choose. Willpower, or self-control, results from the many little choices of daily life in a Montessori school.

Deviations Behaviour commonly seen in children that is the result of some obstacle to normal development. Such behaviour may be commonly understood as negative (a timid child, a destructive child, etc.) or positive (a passive, quiet child). Both positive and negative deviations disappear once the child begins to concentrate on a piece of work freely chosen.

Discipline from Within Self-discipline. Te discipline in a well-run Montessori classroom is not a result of the teacher's control or of rewards or punishments. Its source comes from within each individual child, who can control his or her own actions and make positive choices regarding personal behaviour. Self-discipline is directly related to development of the will.

Exercises of Practical Life One of the four areas of activities of the Montessori prepared environment. Te exercises of Practical Life resemble the simple work of life in the home: sweeping, dusting, washing dishes, etc. Tese purposeful

96 MONTESSORI GLOSSARY activities help the child adapt to his new community, learn self- control and begin to see himself as a contributing party of the social unit. His intellect grows as he works with his hands; his personality becomes integrated as body and mind function as a unit.

False Fatigue A phenomenon observed in Children's Houses around the world-often at approximately 10 a.m. Te children seem to lose interest in work, their behaviour becomes disorderly and the noise level rises. It may appear as if the children are tired. However, if the directress understands this is simply false fatigue, they will return to work on their own and their work will be at an even higher level than before.

Grace and Courtesy An aspect of Practical Life. Little lessons which demonstrate positive social behaviour help the young child adapt to life in a group and arm her with knowledge of socially acceptable behaviour: practical information, useful both in and out of school.

Help from Periphery Te periphery is that part of the child that comes into contact with external reality. Te child takes in impressions through the senses and through movement. Help from the periphery means presenting objects and activities in such a way so as to evoke purposeful movement on the part of the child. 'We never give to the eye more than we give to the hand.' (Standing, 1957, p. 237)

Human Tendencies A central tenet of Montessori philosophy is that human beings exhibit certain predispositions that are universal, spanning age, cultural and racial barriers; they have existed since the dawn of the species and are probably evolutionary in origin. 'Montessori stresses the need to serve those special traits that have proved to be tendencies of Man throughout his history.' (Mario Montessori, 1966, p. 21)

Independence Not depending on another—‘with various shades of meaning.' (OED, p. 836) Normal developmental milestones such as weaning, walking, talking, etc. can be seen as a series of events which enable the child to achieve increased individuation, autonomy and self- regulation. Troughout the four planes of development, the child and young adult continuously seek to become more independent. It is as if the child says, Help me to help myself.

Indirect Preparation Te way nature has of preparing the intelligence. In every action, there is a conscious interest. Trough this interest, the mind is being prepared for something in the future. For example, a young child will enjoy the putting together of various triangular shapes, totally unaware that because of this work his mind will later be more accepting of geometry. Also called remote preparation, the deeper educational purpose of many Montessori activities is remote in time.

Indirect Presentation Because of the absorbent nature of the young child's mind, every action or event can be seen as a lesson. It is understood that children learn by watching other children work or by overseeing a lesson given to another. In the same way, they quickly absorb the behaviour patterns and the language used by the family, the neighborhood children and even TV.

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Isolation of a Difficulty Before giving a presentation, the Montessori teacher analyses the activity she wants to show to the child. Procedures or movements that might prove troublesome are isolated and taught to the child separately. For example, holding and snipping with scissors, a simple movement, is shown before cutting curved or zigzag lines; folding cloths is shown before table washing, an activity requiring folding. A task should neither be so hard that it is overwhelming, nor so easy that it is boring.

Language Appreciation From the very frst days in the Montessori classroom, children are given the opportunity to listen to true stories about known subjects, told with great expression. Songs, poems and rhymes are a part of the daily life of the class. Te teacher models the art of conversation and respectfully listens to her young students. Looking at beautiful books with lovely, realistic pictures is also a part of language appreciation.

Learning Explosions Human development is often not slow and steady; acquisitions seem to arrive suddenly, almost overnight, and with explosive impact. Such learning explosions are the sudden outward manifestation of a long process of internal growth. For example, the explosion of spoken language around two years of age is the result of many months of inner preparation and mental development.

Mathematical Mind All babies are born with mathematical minds, that is, they have a propensity to learn things which enhance their ability to be exact and orderly, to observe, compare, and classify. Humans naturally tend to calculate, measure, reason, abstract, imagine and create. But this vital part of intelligence must be given help and direction for it to develop and function. If mathematics is not part of the young child's experience, his subconscious mind will not be accepting of it at a later date.

Maximum Effort Children seem to enjoy difficult work, work which tests their abilities and provides a sense of their growing power. Tey exult in giving their maximum effort. For example, a tiny child will struggle to carry a tray with juice glasses or push a heavy wheelbarrow whereas school- age children, if allowed to make up their own problems will prefer to sink their teeth into a challenging equation (I + 2 + 3 + 4... + 10)2 rather than drill on 3 + 5 = ... and 6 + 2 = ... .

Mixed Ages One of the hallmarks of the Montessori method is that children of mixed ages work together in the same class. Age groupings are based on developmental planes. Children from 3-6 years of age are together in the Children's House; 6-9 year olds share the lower elementary and the upper elementary is made up of 9-12 year olds. Because the work is individual, children progress at their own pace; there is cooperation rather than competition between the ages.

Normalisation If young children are repeatedly able to experience periods of spontaneous concentration on a piece of work freely chosen, they will begin to display the characteristics of normal development: a love of work, an attachment to reality, and a love of silence and working alone. Normalised children are happier children: enthusiastic, generous, and helpful to others. Tey make constructive work choices and their work refects their level of development.

Obedience Obedience is an act of will and develops gradually, showing itself 'unexpectedly at the end of a long process of maturation.' (Montessori, 1967, p. 257) While this inner development is going on, little children may obey

98 MONTESSORI GLOSSARY occasionally, but be completely unable to obey consistently. As their will develops through the exercise of free choice, children begin to have the self-discipline or self-control necessary for obedience.

Points of Interest Montessori realised that if children spent too long a time on a complex task or failed to master the necessary details, the exercise would cease to interest them. Terefore she suggested that points of interest be interspersed throughout each activity. Tese points guide the child toward his or her goal and stimulate repetition and interest by offering immediate feedback, or what Montessori called control of error. Te child's performance becomes refned through trial and error, the points of interest acting as signposts along the path to success

Prepared Environment Te Montessori classroom is an environment prepared by the adult for children. It contains all the essentials for optimal development but nothing superfuous. Attributes of a prepared environment include order and reality, beauty and simplicity. Everything is child-sized to enhance the children’s independent functioning. A trained adult and a large enough group of children of mixed ages make up a vital part of the prepared environment.

Presentation Te adult in a Montessori environment does not teach in the traditional sense. Rather she shows the child how to use the various objects and then leaves her free to explore and experiment. Tis act of showing is called a presentation. To be effective, it must be done slowly and exactly, step by step, and with a minimum of words.

Psychic Embryo Te frst three years of life is a period of mental creation, just as the 9 months in utero is a period of physical creation. Te brain awaits experience in the environment to fesh out the genetic blueprint. Since so much mental development occurs after birth, Montessori called the human infant a psychic embryo.

Repetition Te young child's work is very different from the adult's. When an adult works, he sets out to accomplish some goal and stops working when the object has been achieved. A child, however, does not work to accomplish an external goal but rather an internal one. Consequently, she will repeat an activity until the inner goal is accomplished. Te unconscious urge to repeat helps the child to coordinate a movement or acquire some ability.

Sensitive Periods Young children experience transient periods of sensibility, and are intrinsically motivated or urged to activity by specifc sensitivities. A child in a sensitive period is believed to exhibit spontaneous concentration when engaged in an activity that matches a particular sensitivity. For example, children in a sensitive period for order will be drawn to activities that involve ordering. Tey will be observed choosing such activities and becoming deeply concentrated, sometimes repeating the activity over and over, without external reward or encouragement. Young children are naturally drawn towards those specifc aspects of the environment which meet their developmental needs.

Sensorial Materials Te sensorial materials were created to help young children in the process of creating and organising their intelligence. Each scientifcally designed material isolates a quality found in the world such as colour, size, shape, etc. and this isolation focuses the attention on this one aspect. Te child, through repeated

99 MONTESSORI GLOSSARY manipulation of these objects, comes to form clear ideas or abstractions. What could not be explained by words, the child learns by experience working with the sensorial materials.

Simple to Complex A principle used in the sequence of presentations in a Montessori classroom. Children are frst introduced to a concept or idea in its simplest form. As they progress and become capable of making more complex connections, they are eventually able to handle information that is less isolated.

Socialisation 'Te process by which the individual acquires the knowledge and dispositions that enable him to participate as an effective member of a social group and a given social order.' (Osterkorn, 1980, p. 12) 'Optimal social learning takes place when the children are at different ages.' (Hellbrügge, 1979, p. 14)

Sound Games Many children know the alphabet but have not analysed the sounds in words nor are they aware that words are made up of separate sounds (phonemic awareness). From the age of two (or as soon as the child is speaking fuently), sound games can make them aware of the sounds in words. In England, they use the nursery game "I Spy." Te sound of the letter and not the letter name is pronounced.

Tree-Hour Work Cycle Trough years of observation around the world, Montessori came to understand that children, when left in freedom, displayed a distinct work cycle which was so predictable it could even be graphed. Tis cycle, with two peaks and one valley, lasted approximately three hours. In Montessori schools children have three hours of open, uninterrupted time to choose independent work, become deeply engaged, and repeat to their own satisfaction.

Vocabulary Enrichment Te young child's vocabulary increases exponentially in the years from 3-6. To feed this natural hunger for words, vocabulary is given: the names of biology, geometry, geography, and so forth, can be learned as well as the names of qualities found in the Sensorial Material. Te child's absorbent mind takes in all these new words 'rapidly and brilliantly.' (Montessori, 1946, p. 10)

Work From an evolutionary perspective, the long period of childhood exists so children can learn and experiment in a relatively pressure-free environment. Most social scientists refer to this pressure-free experimentation as play (e.g., see Groos, 1901), although Montessori preferred to call this activity the work of childhood. Children certainly are serious when engaged in the kind of play that meets developmental needs and, given freedom and time, will choose purposeful activities over frivolous make-believe ones.

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© Annette Haines January, 2001

References

Groos, K., (1901), Te Play of Man, New York: Appleton Haines, A., (1993), "Absorbent Mind Update", NAMTA Journal, Spring, pp. 1-25, Cleveland, Ohio Hellbrügge, T., (1979), "Early Social Development", Te NAMTA Quarterly, Vol. 4, no. 3, Cleveland, Ohio James, W., (1985), Psychology: Te Short Course, (Allport, G., ed.), Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press (original work published 1892) Montessori, M., (1983), Te Secret of Childhood, (Carter, B.B., trans.), Hyderabad, India: Sangam Books (original work published 1936) Montessori, M., (1967), Te Absorbent Mind, (Claremont, C., trans.), New York: Dell Publishing (original work published 1949) Montessori, M., (1966), Te Discovery of the Child, (Johnstone, M., trans.), Madras, India: Kalakshetra Publications (original work published 1948) Montessori, M.M., (1966), Te Human Tendencies and Montessori Education, Amsterdam: Association Montessori Internationale Montessori, M., (1946), Dr. Maria Montessori's International Training Course held in London Osterkorn, J., (1980), "Socialization and the Development of Self Concept", NAMTA Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 3, Cleveland, Ohio Standing, E.M., (1957), Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work, New York: New American Library Te Compact Oxford English Dictionary, second ed., (1991), Oxford: Clarendon Press

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MONTESSORI LEXICON Absorbent Mind Te absorbent mind is the mind of the child between the ages of zero and six. From zero until three, the child has an unconscious absorbent mind and from three until six it becomes a conscious absorbent mind. Montessori called this child’s mind absorbent because he has the ability to absorb all of his environment without discrepancy through his senses and body. Te child’s mind is created by these impressions by what he absorbs through the environment. Tese impressions form him and they last a lifetime.

“It may be said that we acquire knowledge by using our minds; but the child absorbs knowledge directly into his psychic life. “ -Dr. Maria Montessori, Te Absorbent Mind, p. 25

“Impressions do not merely enter his mind; they form it. Tey incarnate themselves in him. Te child creates his own ‘mental muscles,’ using for this what he fnds in the world about him. “ –Dr. Maria Montessori, Te Absorbent Mind, p.25-26

“Te things he sees are not just remembered; they form part of his soul.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Te Absorbent Mind, p.62

Adaptation Montessori’s view of adaptation by the child is much different than that by the adult. Montessori believed that a child effortlessly adapts to the place and culture of which she were born. It is an instant love, one that will never be forgotten. She takes in the language, the customs and the mannerisms of her people and they form the person that she is.

“He comes to love the land into which he is born, no matter where it is. However hard the life may be there, he can never fnd equal happiness elsewhere. One man loves the frozen plains of Finland, another the sand dunes of Holland. Each has received this adaptation, this love of country, from the child he used to be.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Te Absorbent Mind, p. 63

“All the social and moral habits that shape a man’s personality, the sentiments of caste, and all kinds of other feelings, that make him a typical Indian, a typical Italian, or a typical Englishman, are formed during infancy, in virtue of that mysterious mental power that psychologists have called ‘Mneme.’” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Te Absorbent Mind, p. 65

Cosmic Education Cosmic Education is Montessori’s view of how the child in the second plane should be taught. She believed that we should present the story of the whole universe to the child through the cosmic fable “God Who Has No Hands.” It is with this story that the child is frst introduced to the role of the cosmic task and the interconnectedness of all aspects of the universe. Trough appreciation of even the smallest of things to the unnamed people who have come before, the child begins to question: What is my role?

“If the idea of the universe is presented to the child in the right way, it will do more for him than just arouse his interest, for it will create in him admiration and wonder, a feeling loftier than any interest and more satisfying.” – Dr. Maria Montessori, To Educate the Human Potential, p. 6

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“Since it has been seen necessary to give so much to the child, let us give him a vision of the whole universe. Te universe is an imposing reality, and an answer to all questions. We shall walk together on this path of life, for all things are part of the universe, and are connected with each other to form one whole unity.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, To Educate the Human Potential, p. 6

Mathematical Mind Children frst exhibit their mathematical mind when they show their need for order. Te mathematical mind orders, compares, and measures objects in the surrounding environment. Every human has a mathematical mind. In the Children’s House the child is introduced to the practical life exercises: pouring, folding, etc. and to the sensorial materials. Te sensorial materials isolate a sensorial difference and this aids in fortifying the mathematical mind.

“But even in the natural state the human mind has a mathematical bent, tending to be exact, to take measurements and make comparisons, and to use its limited powers to discover the nature of the various ‘effects’ that nature presents to man while she conceals from him the world of causes.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, p. 76

“And if we look now at the sensorial apparatus which is able to evoke such deep concentration (remarkable in very small children between the ages of three and four), there is no doubt that this apparatus may be regarded not only as a help to exploring the environment, but also to the development of the mathematical mind.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Te Absorbent Mind, p. 186

“Tat the mathematical mind is active from the frst, becomes apparent not only (as we have hinted) from the attraction that exactitude exerts on every action the child performs, but we see it also in the fact that the little child’s need for order is one of the most powerful incentives to dominate his early life.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Te Absorbent Mind, p. 189-190

Materialized Abstractions By working with the materials in the prepared environment of the sensorial area, the child when ready is able to abstract concepts through materialized abstraction. Te materials act as a bridge to the building of the mind. For example the pink tower isolates the concept of small and big. From here the child can look about his world and classify other objects based on their size.

“Because of this vital importance of mathematics the school must use special methods for teaching it and make clear and comprehensible its elements with the help of plenty of apparatus that demonstrates the ‘materialized abstractions’ of mathematics.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, p. 76

“Articles of mathematical precision do not occur in the little child’s ordinary environment. Nature provides him with trees, fowers, and animals, but not with these. Hence the child’s mathematical tendencies may suffer from lack of opportunity, with detriment to his later progress. Terefore, we think of our sensorial material as a system of materialized abstractions, or of basic mathematics.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Te Absorbent Mind, p. 186

Planes of Development Montessori believed that there are four planes of development from birth until 24 years of age. Each plane lasts about six years and is characterized by marked physical changes. With these physical changes comes a

103 MONTESSORI LEXICON change in the child’s psyche as well. For example the child in the frst plane is an explorer of his senses while the second plane child is an explorer of his senses with his imagination.

“…psychology now accepts that there are different types of mentality in the successive phases of growth. Tese phases are quite distinct from another, and it is interesting to fnd that they correspond with the phases of physical growth.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Te Absorbent Mind, p. 18-19

“We must, then, constantly bear in mind this fact that the growth of the child, from birth to maturity, is not like that of an oak tree which grows by simply getting bigger, but is rather to be compared with that of the butterfy; for we have to do with different types of mind at different periods.” –E.M. Standing, Maria Montessori, Her Life and Her Work, p. 108

“Tese periods indeed differ so greatly one from another that some psychologists, including Montessori, have compared the development of the human being to a succession of new births. Tis is of course an exaggeration; but nevertheless it does almost seem as though, at some periods of life ‘one psychic individual ceases and another is born.’” –E.M. Standing, Maria Montessori, Her Life and Her Work, p. 108

Planes of Education Te planes of education correspond to the planes of development in that the child’s educational needs are dependent on which plane of development that he is in. By taking into consideration which plane of development a child is in one can curtail the environment to match the needs. Te child in the frst plane, for example, is a thinker of the concrete while the child in the second plane is a thinker of the abstract. How and what we offer to these children has to change.

“We must take man himself, take him with patience and confdence, across all the planes of education. We must put everything before him, the school, the culture, religion, the world itself. We must help him to develop within himself that which will make him capable of understanding. It is not merely words, it is a labour of education. Tis will be a preparation for peace –for peace cannot exist without justice and without men endowed with a strong personality and conscience.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, “Te Four Planes of Education,” p. 15

“With regard to the child, education should correspond to these stages, so that instead of dividing the schools into nursery, primary, secondary and university, we should divide education in planes and each of these should correspond to the phase the developing individuality is going through.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, “Te Four Planes of Education,” p. 4

Prepared Environment Te prepared environment is the optimum environment for the child depending on his stage of his development. It contains work for the child so that he can become independent from the adult. When preparing this space for the child one should only include that which aids in the development of the child, no more. Te prepared environment changes at each stage of development. Te prepared environment is designed so that spontaneous, purposeful activity is natural for the child so that true development can occur.

“Te frst aim of the prepared environment is, as far as it is possible, to render the growing child independent of the adult. Tat is, it is a place where he can do things for himself –live his own life –without the immediate help of the adults.” –E.M. Standing, Maria Montessori, Her Life and Her Work, p. 267

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“In this environment only those things are allowed to be present which will assist development. Out of it must be kept anything that would act as an obstacle –not least a too interfering adult.” –E.M. Standing, Maria Montessori, Her Life and Her Work, p. 267

“Once the environment exists the directress will become the link between it and the children…Montessori always insists that she must be a dynamic link. Tis requires a great variety of qualities—knowledge, patience, observation, discrimination, tact, experience, sympathy—and above all charity. Te science of being a Montessori directress consists in knowing beforehand the general function of the prepared environment and the nature and purpose of each material in it…Te art of being a directress lies in knowing how, and when to give any particular lesson to any particular child, or group of children.” –E.M. Standing, Maria Montessori, Her Life and Her Work, p. 305

Sensitive Periods/Sensitivities Te sensitive periods are a time when a child is drawn to certain elements in the environment. Tey urge the child to acquire certain skills over another. Te sensitivities rise and fall as skills are mastered. Te skills acquired will build a foundation for the next sensitivity to come to fruition.

“A sensitive period refers to a special sensibility which a creature acquires in its infantile state, while it is still in a process of evolution. It is a transient disposition and limited to the acquisition of a particular trait. Once this trait, or characteristic, has been acquired, the special sensibility disappears. Every specifc characteristic of a living creature is thus attained through the help of a passing impulse or potency.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Te Secret of Childhood, p. 38

“A child learns to adjust himself and make acquisitions in his sensitive periods. Tese are like beams of lights interiorly or a battery that furnishes energy. It is this sensibility which enables a child to come into contact with the external world in a particularly intense manner.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Te Secret of Childhood, p. 40

“A child’s different inner sensibilities enable him to choose from his complex environment what is suitable and necessary for his growth. Tey make the child sensitive to some things, but leave him indifferent to others. When a particular sensitiveness is aroused in a child, it is like a light shines on some objects but not on others, making of them his whole world.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Te Secret of Childhood, p. 42

Society by Cohesion Te society of cohesion is found in the frst plane children. Children in the frst plane work side by side and are bounded by love. He stops working for his own personal gain, but instead sees the need of the group in which he exists above all others. Trough the activities of setting the table for lunch or planting a garden, for example, the children see the beneft of working collectively. Te child also sees the cosmic task of himself as it relates to the whole.

“Tey come to feel part of a group to which their activity contributes. And not only do they begin to take an interest in this, but they work on it profoundly, as one may say in their hearts. Once they have reached this level, the children no longer act thoughtlessly, but put the group frst and try to succeed for its beneft.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Te Absorbent Mind, p. 232

“Tey appeared all of a sudden just like any other proof of development is going on, as when a child cuts his teeth at the age prescribed by nature. Tis unity born among the children, which is produced by a spontaneous need, directed by an unconscious power, and vitalized by a social spirit, is a phenomenon needing a name, and I call it ‘cohesion in the social unit.’” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Te Absorbent Mind, p. 232-3

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Human Tendencies Every human being no matter the place or time of birth has the same human tendencies. Tey are timeless and unchanging. Tey are used by the child to create the person that she will become. Te human tendencies help us survive and adapt to our environment. Te tendencies include the need to order, to orientate, to explore, to observe, to abstract, to imagine, to work, to manipulate, to be exact, to repeat, to calculate, to perfect oneself, to communicate, to associate, and to control oneself.

“Tere are certain basic factors which do not change. What may change is what is given to the mind. It is these factors that make the child adapted to any society, no matter what its pattern of behaviour. Tese all important factors are what nowadays psychologists call ‘human tendencies’. Tese tendencies can be helped or hindered towards the fulfllment of their tasks.” –Mario M. Montessori, Te Human Tendencies and Montessori Education, p. 15

“As we have seen, tendencies do not change and human tendencies are hereditary. Te child possesses them in potentiality at birth, and makes use of them to build an individual suited to his time.” –Mario M. Montessori, Te Human Tendencies and Montessori Education, p. 16

Normalization Normalization is the goal of the child in the frst plane of development. It is attained through a deep connection to work through concentration. Trough work the child is at peace. When normalization is reached all deviations subside and the child can reveal his true self.

“Te work of the teacher is to guide the children to normalization, to concentration. She is like the sheepdog who goes after the sheep when they stray, who conducts all the sheep inside.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Basic Ideas of Montessori’s Educational Teory, p. 17

“Normalization comes about through ‘concentration’ on a piece of work. For this we must provide ‘motives for activity so well adapted to the child’s interests that they provoke his deep attention.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Te Absorbent Mind, p. 206

“What is to be particularly noted in these child conversions is a psychic cure, a return to what is normal. Actually the normal child is one who is precociously intelligent, who has learned to overcome himself and to live in peace, and who prefers a disciplined task to futile idleness. When we see a child in this light, we would more properly call his ‘conversion’ a ‘normalization.’ Man’s true nature lies hidden within himself.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Te Secret of Childhood, p.148

Erdkinder Te name that Montessori gives the children in the age of adolescence is the Erdkinder translated as the land children. Erdkinder is both a physical environment as well as a plan of education for the third plane. Te children of this age need to be connected to the land around them in such a way that they can work with their heads and their hands. Te child at this age is mastering economical independence and from the land can draw resources and fruit to sell and/or make goods to sell to the community.

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“We have called these children the ‘Erdkinder’ because they are learning about civilization through its origin in agriculture. Tey are the ‘land-children.’” –Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, p. 68

“Terefore work on the land is an introduction both to nature and to civilization and gives a limitless feld for scientifc and historic studies. If the produce can be used commercially this brings in the fundamental mechanism of society, that of production and exchange, on which economic life is based.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, p. 68

“[Montessori] would have the whole life of the adolescent revolve round this idea of society, its structure, and its obligation. In these ‘land settlements’ for youths the life of the adolescent would be so arranged that, through his participation in a special form of social life (the new ‘prepared environment’ which corresponds to this stage), he would be made ready for his participation in the great world of adult society.” –E.M. Standing, Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work, p. 117

Grace and Courtesy Grace and Courtesy lessons are part of the practical life exercises in the classroom. Another word would be manners. Tey could include, for example, how to greet a visitor in the classroom, how to blow your nose or how to push in your chair. Grace and courtesy lessons should be presented throughout all planes of development. Grace is harmony between mind and body and courtesy is harmony between oneself and others.

“Te lessons…just mentioned, are so akin to the exercises of practical life that they can be treated together, just as they should be presented to the children in the same epoch of development (i.e. the period when the child has a special interest in learning precise movements and a correspondingly special capacity for fxing them). It is therefore an important part of the directress’s duty to give defnite and precise lessons on how to behave with ‘grace and courtesy.’” –E.M. Standing, Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work, p. 215-6

“In a word, there is no action which we do not try and teach so as to approach perfection. We leave nothing to chance.” –E.M. Standing, Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work, p. 216

“Here the young one incarnates respect and the practice of culture in its most admirable form.” –Pat Ludick, “Te Culture of Civility: Te Cohesion of the Social Community,” NAMTA 26:3, p. 40

Hand/Head Montessori believed strongly that there should not be a separation of the head and the hand in work. In the frst plane of development the child is absorbing his environment through the work that he does with his hand. Te need to work both intellectually and manually does not stop after the frst plane, however. Without the connection between hand and head a person is undisciplined and cannot reach his true potential. Working with the hand and the head allows the whole personality to function.

“Must a man be classifed as a worker with his head or with his hands, instead of being allowed to function with his whole personality?” –Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, p. 9

“But to us the children have themselves revealed that discipline is the result of an entire development only, of mental functioning aided by manual activity. Allow the whole to function together and there is discipline, but otherwise not!” –Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, p. 9

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“Te human hand, so delicate and so complicated, not only allows the mind to reveal itself but it enables the whole being to enter into special relationships with its environment. We might say that man ‘takes possession of his environment with his hands.’” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Te Secret of Childhood, p. 81

Moral Development Moral Development is occurring in all planes of development in a social setting. We must provide the student with a moral code and a moral orientation at each plane. Tere is a sensitive period to moral independence in the second plane of development. Particularly in adolescence it is developed within a social context. Te adolescence is experiencing the effects of his actions on others. Others include his peers, the adults and the environment.

“Te special province of morality is the relation between individuals, and it is the very basis of social life. Morality must be regarded as the science of organizing a society of men whose highest value is their selfhood and not the efficiency of their machines. Men must learn how to participate consciously in the social discipline that orders all their functions within society and how to help keep these functions in balance.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Education and Peace, p. xiv

“Moral care here refers to the relation between the children, the teachers, and the environment. Te teachers must have the greatest respect for the young personality, realizing that in the soul of the adolescent, great values are hidden, and that in the minds of these boys and girls there lies all our hope of future progress and the judgement of ourselves and our times.”-Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, p. 72

“Moral education is the source of that spiritual equilibrium on which everything else depends and which may be compared to the physical equilibrium or sense of balance without which it is impossible to stand upright or to move into any other position.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, p. 76

“Te adolescent absorbs the precepts of morality that our programs are imbued with (even if we don’t always see it in them), which means that the social morality we establish in our environments must be carefully thought out and regularly examined.” –Laurie Ewert-Krocker, “Te Moral Development of Adolescents: A View From the Farm,” NAMTA 30:1, p. 125

Occupation An occupation is the study of a particular aspect of the physical environment. Dewey said that an occupation provides direct experience, which is by nature urgent, intimate, and engaging. An occupation is limited by the work that needs to be done.

“Te hotel run on modern lines, with artistic simplicity and with gaiety and free from artifcial constraint, should provide an interesting and pleasant form of occupation, and an opportunity for developing good taste and efficiency in domestic matters.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, p. 69

“…the thing that is important above everything else is that the adolescent should have a life of activity and variety, and that one occupation should act as a ‘holiday’ from another occupation.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, p. 70

“Trough his studies, which would be related to practical activities, he would become acquainted with the structure of society –its very ligaments –which are production and exchange; because, says Montessori, ‘the basis of all civilization rests on the products of the earth.’” –E.M. Standing, Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work, p. 117

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Personality/Character Personality is the totaling of one’s potentialities while character is the positive side of personality (virtues). Personality develops through work in a prepared environment with free choice without adult interference. It is derived from the child’s social experiences. When there is a healthy organization of personality then there is character. When choice is taken away from the child or an adult interferes with his work then his personality and character suffer. He will not become the person that he was meant to be.

“Te characters of all children change in this environment where they can work without being disturbed, and they become calm and able to concentrate.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Education and Peace, p. 79

“Te levels of education must have a foundation, a human aim –the progressive development of the child’s personality, which our experience with him has made us see in an entirely new light; for the child who is free to act and to do so without being infuenced by the suggestion exercised by the adult shows us the real laws of human life.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Education and Peace, p. 104

“It is difficult for us even to conceive of the slavery that prevents man from being himself, that cuts off at the very roots the human personality we so desperately need.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Education and Peace, p. 105

Social Development Social Development is developing the individual within the social context. Tis social context takes different form depending on the plane of development. Tere is a need to succeed through the adolescent’s own efforts in real work within society. Te adolescent is exploring his own identity and value. It is important to have appropriate adult role models to mirror how others perceive the adolescent’s actions. Tey need both support and challenge from those around them. Te adolescent is striving for social independence.

“Social life is not sitting in a room together or living in a city. It does not regard social relations. Te essence is that something is produced which is useful to the whole of society, and is changed for something else. Production and change, exchange, are the essence of social existence.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, “Dr. Montessori’s Tird Lecture Given at the Montessori Congress in Oxford, England, 1936,” NAMTA 26:3, p. 180

“If puberty is on the physical side a transition from an infantile to an adult state, there is also, on the psychological side, a transition from the child who has to live in a family, to the man who has to live in society.” Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, p. 60

Valorization Valorization is achieved through real work, deep concentration, and maximum effort where a level of independence is reached. It is a part of every plane of development, however the work changes at every plane. For example the second plane child cannot be valorized by the work of buttoning his coat. Te adolescent is fnding valorization in a social context meaning he is seeing how his work is valued by others.

“So, even if a boy were so rich that his economic security seemed above all the vicissitudes of life he would still derive great personal beneft from being initiated in economic security seemed above all the vicissitudes of life he would still derive great personal beneft from being initiated in economic independence. For this would result in a ‘valorization’ of his personality, in making him feel himself capable of succeeding in life by his own efforts and on his

109 MONTESSORI LEXICON own merits, and at the same time it would put him in direct contact with the supreme reality of social life.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, p. 64

“What is valorization? Valor, in current usage, means ‘courage’ or ‘bravery.’ It is derived from the Latin word valere, ‘to be strong or worthy.’ Tis is the sense of Montessori’s meaning: to enable the individual, the adolescent, to understand her own worthiness, her own strength.” –John Long, “Toward Key Experiences for the Adolescent,” NAMTA 26:3, p. 69

“How is valorization accomplished? It is through work, by activity, by experience, by action, by being active with one’s own hands. It is through the development of self-discipline, through mingling with people of different ages and different social classes, through active efforts and positive experiences.” -John Long, “Toward Key Experiences for the Adolescent,” NAMTA 26:3, p. 69

Work Montessori defned work as purposeful activity. Work can be viewed as a human tendency, as self- construction, as love made visible and as a cosmic task. It is a part of every plane of development. In the adolescent period the work should be adult-like with all the responsibilities attached to it. Often times during the adolescent years the work is done side by side with an adult until independence is achieved.

“A child’s desire to work represents a vital instinct since he cannot organize his personality without working: a man builds himself through working. Tere can be no substitute for work, neither affection nor physical well-being can replace it.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Te Secret of Childhood, p. 186

“Te work both of the child and of the adult has a defnite relationship to the environment. We may say that the adult works to perfect his environment, whereas the child works to himself, using the environment as the means.” – E.M. Standing, Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work, p. 143

“Real earnest work and the exchange of its products constitute the mechanism or working of social life, because the aggregate of human society is based on the division of labor. Labor is requisite to carry on the production essential to the existence of mankind. All the rest follows as the consequence of that (e.g., organization).” –Dr. Maria Montessori, “Dr. Montessori’s Tird Lecture Given at the Montessori Congress in Oxford, England, 1936,” NAMTA 26:3, p. 182

Tree-Period Lesson In the frst plane the three-period lesson is a way to teach in the Montessori classroom. It was borrowed from Seguin. In the frst plane it is a way to introduce a concept or vocabulary to the child. Te frst period is an introduction to the concept or vocabulary. Te second period is giving the child the opportunity to practice with lots of repetition and the third period is where the adult is checking by asking, “What is this?” In the second plane of development the frst period is a big picture story or demonstration of use of a materialized abstraction with precise language with an invitation to do more. Te second period, the longest period, gives the opportunity to explore and practice with variation and the third period is where the child shares the big work with others or with an adult. Te child demonstrates knowledge of key concepts and details. In the third plane of development the three-period lesson becomes the three-period learning cycle. Te frst period is and invitation to meaningful work: a problem to solve, a task to accomplish. It can include a “sweep” story as a framework for historical study. Te second period, again the longest period, involves research, experimentation, discussion, physical work, collaboration, analysis, decision-making, etc. all in the framework of the initial frst period lesson. Te third period portion is where the student gives back by

110 MONTESSORI LEXICON presenting, demonstrating, writing, expressing what has been worked. Many researchers have supported this concept.

“Tis is the manner of it (using the prisms): PERIOD I. (Naming) ‘Tis is thick; this is thin.’ PERIOD II. (Recognition) ‘Give me the thick one; give me the thin one.’ PERIOD III. (Pronunciation of the word) ‘What is this?’” E.M. Standing, Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work, p. 307

“It is impossible to fx a priori a detailed program for study and work… because a program should only be drawn up gradually under the guidance of experience” –Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, p. 71

“Terefore, the work of the soil is at the same time an introduction to nature and to civilization. Te work of the soil is the approach to limitless scientifc and historic studies” –Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, p. 68

Discipline Montessori believed that discipline is in direct linkage with freedom and choice. It comes from the inner part of the child. When given purposeful activity in an environment that speaks to the development of the child discipline spontaneously reveals itself. It is a self-regulating phenomenon.

“Being active with one’s own hands, having a determined practical aim to reach, is what really gives inner discipline. When the hand perfects itself in a work chosen spontaneously and the will to succeed is born together with the will to overcome difficulties or obstacles; it is then that something which differs from intellectual learning arises. Te realization of one’s own value is born in the consciousness.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, p. 87

“Te environment must make the free choice of occupation easy, and therefore eliminate the waste of time and energy in following vague and uncertain preferences. From all this the result will be not only self-discipline but a proof that self-discipline is an aspect of individual liberty and the chief factor of success in life.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, p. 73

Freedom Montessori believed that given freedom in the prepared environment that the child could construct himself through purposeful activity. Freedom does not mean that the child is allowed to whatever he wants instead it is linked to discipline and responsibility. We should never burden the child with more freedom than he can be responsible for. It aids to his development.

“Young people must have enough freedom to allow them to act on individual initiative.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, p. 73

“...given the right kind of environment, with the right kind of work in it – along with freedom to choose – the child reveals itself as one who prefers work to play, reality to make-believe.” –E.M. Standing, Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work, p. 346 Human Development Human Development is a natural process the individual goes through from birth to maturity. Montessori’s philosophy is closely linked to human development. Te old theories of growth believed that the child merely grew in size and intelligence. As his body grew, he intelligence grew. Montessori found that this was simply

111 MONTESSORI LEXICON not true. Te child went through distinct stages of physic development that coincided with his physical development. It was not just a linear path.

“…we must constantly bear in mind the fundamental difference between the child and the adult. But what is the fundamental – the essential difference? Is it that the child is small and the adult large? Or that he is weak whereas the adult is strong? Or is it that the children are ignorant whilst we are rich in experience? Or is it, perhaps, that children live largely in a world of concrete things, and we in a world of ideas? Or shall we say that it lies in the fact that the child is all activity – ‘perpetual motion’ – whereas we adults, by comparison, are sedate (which means seated)? Not in these, nor in many other points one could mention, does Montessori fnd the fundamental difference, but in this, that ‘the child is in a continual state of growth and metamorphosis, whereas the adult has reached the norm of the species.’” –E.M. Standing, Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work, p. 106

“It differs very much from ideas previously in vogue. Tese held that the human being was of little account in the early years, but added to itself by growth. According to this, the tiny child was something small in process of development, something which increased gradually, but always preserved the same form. Giving up this older view, psychology now accepts that there are different types of mentality in the successive phases of growth.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Te Absorbent Mind, p. 18

Human Potential Every human is born with a potential. Potential is defned as the qualities or abilities that may come to fruition in the future. If given freedom of choice in a prepared environment that is curtailed to the appropriate plane of development the child’s potentialities unfold and are revealed. Montessori’s vision of human potential that through the child comes positive change for peace for humanity has not yet been reached.

“Education should no longer be mostly imparting knowledge, but must take a new path, seeking the release of human potentialities. When should such education begin? Our answer is that the greatness of human personality begins at birth…” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Education of a New World, p. 2

“A ‘great work’ must be undertaken. An extremely important social task lies before us: actuating man’s value, allowing him to attain the maximum development of his energies, truly preparing him to bring about a different form of human society on a higher plane.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Education and Peace, Preface xiii

“For success in life depends in every case on self-confdence and the knowledge of one’s own capacity and many-sided powers of adaptation. Te consciousness of knowing how to make oneself useful, how to help mankind in many ways, flls the soul with noble confdence, with almost religious dignity.”–Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, p. 64

“Te child—this “son of man”—endowed with “capable and godlike reason,” has need of a very much richer environment to bring out his potentialities. He will require not only those things which will satisfy his vegetative and animal requirements—food, light, air, opportunity for movement, etc.—but also those factors which will satisfy his intellectual, moral, and social needs.” -E. M. Standing, Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work, p. 269-70

Imagination Imagination is a creative potential and a key to the advancement of human civilization. To imagine is the ability to think inside your head. One can form images or new ideas with their imagination. In the second plane, cosmic fables are told to children to engage their imagination. Te imagination helps them imagine the

112 MONTESSORI LEXICON creation of the universe, the coming of life and man, etc. Te adolescent begins to think about how others are thinking so it is a use of imagination in the social context.

“Everything invented by man, physical or mental, is the fruit of someone’s imagination.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, To Educate the Human Potential, p. 10

“Te secret of good teaching is to regard the child’s intelligence as a fertile feld in which seeds may be sown, to grow under the heat of faming imagination. Our aim therefore is not merely to make the child understand, and still less to force him to memorize, but so to touch his imagination as to enthuse him to his inmost core.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, To Educate the Human Potential, p. 11

“Reality is studied in detail, then whole is imagined.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, p. 18

Independence Independence is the ability to do something by oneself. Montessori was a strong believer that we should not do for the child what he can do for himself. Montessori believed that each plane is striving for different types of independence. Te frst plane is moving towards physical and mental independence, the second plane moral and social independence and the third plane economical and social independence.

“Te whole aim of the Montessori system can be summed up as the ‘valorization of personality’ at each stage. Tis involves, amongst other things, that the child should acquire as much independence as is possible for him to acquire at each stage of development.” –E.M. Standing, Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work, p. 177

“Independence, in the case of the adolescents, has to be acquired on a different plane, for theirs is the economic independence in the feld of society. Here, too, the principle of ‘Help me to do it alone!’ ought to be applied.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, p. 67

Maximum Effort Maximum Effort is defned as a rigorous or determined attempt. Te child, if given the freedom to do real work in the prepared environment, will naturally give the maximum effort in his work with deep concentration. Te end product is not the goal for the child rather the process of getting there. Tis effort constructs the child. When the child does work with maximum effort, he comes out refreshed.

“A child does not follow the law of minimum effort, but rather the very opposite. He consumes a great deal of energy in working for no ulterior end and employs all his potentialities in the execution of each detail. Te external object and the action are in every case of only accidental importance.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Te Secret of Childhood, p. 196

“… at puberty another form of intercourse arises; a new kind of social instinct; society is conceived of as work. Now real work, work of absorbing interest, work that is worth the effort it costs us, is not in the main creative, hence not individual; it requires the collaboration of others; and this cooperation implies association and discipline. Tis shows how economic independence, such as it is realized by disciplined association of carrying on work, is itself the foundation, the moral cornerstone of higher grade study.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Principles and Practice in Education p. 59.

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Mixed Age Group Montessori believed in mixed age groupings. Tese groupings are based on the planes of development and the needs of the child at that plane. Usually the groupings are broken into three-year spans: infant to walking (12 months), 12 months-three years, three-six years, six-nine years, nine-12 years, 12-15 years, 15-18 years. Tis allows modeling and teaching from the older members of the group. Same-age groupings lead to comparisons and competition.

“Tere are many things which no teacher can convey to a child of three, but a child of fve can do it with the utmost ease.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Te Absorbent Mind, p. 226

“To segregate by age is one of the cruelest and most inhumane things one can do…” – Dr. Maria Montessori, Te Absorbent Mind, p. 226

“What matters is to mix the ages. Our schools show that children of different ages help one another.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Te Absorbent Mind, p. 226

“Another important point to remember is that Montessori will have none of that horizontal grading of children according to age and attainment, or intelligence, which is so common today. She insists on having, if possible, several age groups together –for this very reason, vis., that mutual helpfulness can have full play.” –E.M. Standing, Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work, p. 177

Nature/Supernature (Supranature) Nature is defned as the physical world including plants, animals and landscape. As man interacts with nature with his mind and intelligence he develops supranature. A web of interdependencies is woven between ‘animal and man,’ ‘plant and man,’ ‘the earth and man’ and ‘man and man.’ Supranature is the collective whole of human knowledge given to us from the past and present. It is given to and drawn upon by all humans. It is beyond just the natural world but is instead a world that is created by the work of human beings. Some of these humans are the unnamed heroes of the past that contributed to the greater good of our world today and we should be forever grateful.

“…that civilized man is becoming more and more ‘supra-natural’ and the social environment progresses correspondingly. If education does not help a man to take part in this ‘supra-natural’ world he must remain an ‘extra-social’ being. Te ‘supra-natural’ man is the king of the earth, of all things visible and invisible, he penetrates the secrets of life, growing new fowers and breeding new animals that are supercreations, increasing through chemistry the natural produce of the earth, transforming things as though by produce of the earth, transforming things as though by magical powers. Tese are the proofs of the greatness of collective humanity: each man may add something to them.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, p. 77

“Te man of supernature is no longer the man of nature. Having discovered how to tap enormous energies, he has to learn how to use them, to make them subservient to his life task, to set them to work. He has created a miraculous supernature by harnessing and using the energies of nature. And this very creation has made man a prodigious being, who sees and listens and rises above matter.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Education and Peace, p. 98

“Man is the creator of a supernature. He is the master of matter. Today he even wrests from the universe what nature herself could never have given him. He has learned to exploit sources of energy lying deep below the surface of

114 MONTESSORI LEXICON the earth and is using them for the creation of the supernature.” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Education and Peace, p. 97

Preparation of the Adult Te preparation of the adult is a constant dialogue that she has with herself when she is in service to the child. Te adult must be prepared from the inside out. She asks herself if she has the appropriate knowledge base. She sets up an environment that is appropriate for the child’s psychological characteristics for the appropriate plane. When interacting with the child she asks if she is aiding in the development of the child or hindering development. She also has the ability to step away from the child so that the child can master independence.

“What is the greatest sign of success for a teacher thus transformed? It is to be able to say, ‘Te children are now working as if I did not exist.’” –Dr. Maria Montessori, Te Absorbent Mind, p. 283

“I don’t know who or what, put the question; I don’t know when it was put. I don’t even remember answering. But at some moment I did answer Yes to Someone or Something, and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life, in self-surrender, had a goal.” –Dag Hammarskjold

"Not in the service of a political creed should the teacher work, but in the service of the complete human being, able to exercise a self-disciplined will and judgment, unperverted by prejudice and undistorted by fear." –Dr. Maria Montessori, To Educate the Human Potential

Tis lexicon was written by Saasha Huston during her AMI-NAMTA Adolescent Orientation training during the summer of 2012.

115 MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT MONTESSORI

SOME COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT MONTESSORI By Barbara Hacker

Choices: the children should be able to choose whatever they want. Te ability to make good choices is an important life skill to learn, but it is not accomplished by giving children open-ended choices about everything! It is facilitated by giving limited, age-appropriate choices in certain circumstances. It can begin with an infant, by placing two or three appropriate toys within the child’s reach and then observing what attracts the baby enough to make the effort to reach and grasp: the knitted ball, the rattle, or the bell?

When we see children in tank tops on chilly days we suspect the parent has a misunderstanding about choices. It is never appropriate to open the closet door to a young child and ask, “What do you want to wear?” or the refrigerator door and ask, “What do you want to eat?” Children do need to develop a sense of personal preference and a sense of what is appropriate for the situation. Tis can be facilitated by a parent saying something like “It is a cool day: a good day for a turtleneck. Would you like to wear the red one or the blue one?”

Remember, offer limited choices where all the alternatives are good. In school the children can choose from the activities they have already been shown how to do.

Independence: in Montessori schools, children have to do everything themselves. We do encourage the fostering of independence, but a key component of this effort is teaching children the specifcs of how to do things themselves. First, the child must be taught a skill—such as how to hang up his coat on a hook he can manage— and then he is expected to do so. If the task is too hard (such as a hook set too high) the child can’t be successful. If the task is manageable, but the parent picks up the coat where the child has dropped it, the child will not gain responsibility and independence. Using the example of coats again, at school we teach the children to hang their coats on their coat rack hooks. First, we show them to pull through any inverted sleeves so the coat will be ready to put on. In dressing, we show them how to place the coat on the foor with the front facing up, stand by the collar, and insert both arms at the same time, fipping it over their heads—the easiest way for a child to put on a coat, sweater, or jacket.

Some children do it easily. Others stand and hold their coat without making an attempt and say, “I can’t.” We show them again and assure them they can, but I wonder if they are being dressed by an adult at home. If a child is not allowed to exercise a skill within her grasp but instead is always dressed, carried, and buckled in she will not learn to be independent. Te adult’s role must be to teach the skill, allow enough time for the child to do it alone, and then step back and allow the child the dignity and self-esteem that comes from being able to take care of his own needs.

Academics: the aim of Montessori is to teach the children academics at an early age. Wrong! Te aim is what Montessori called the normalized child, which is a child who is centered, well balanced, and free of “issues” to act out. A normalized child is calm, hard-working, motivated, self‐directed, able to make reasonable choices, joyful, helpful, respectful, non‐possessive, characteristics are in place, we see a by‐product of accelerated learning that seems to happen effortlessly.

Home: the home needs to be made into a Montessori classroom. It is not necessary or helpful to transform one’s home into a Montessori classroom. Parents should not buy pink towers or sandpaper letters or moveable alphabets. Tese things are for the school environment.

116 MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT MONTESSORI

One can extract certain principles from a school environment to apply at home. In order for the child to become independent in appropriate home tasks, the physical arrangements should make independence feasible. For example, if a child is to be independent in brushing his teeth, he may need a steps tool to access the sink. If a child is to be independent in making her bed, the bed may need to be placed away from the wall. If a child is to be independent in managing his coat, pajamas, etc, a set of hooks and a hamper at the child’s level are appropriate. In order to clean up her/his own messes, a child-size whisk broom, dustpan, mop, and dust cloth should be accessible to the child.

Another principle to take from the classroom is that the children’s activities are arranged on shelves where they can be seen and accessed easily. Toy boxes are not a good idea. Today many well-designed storage units are readily available at reasonable prices; Target has some great things for children’s rooms. Te racks with tubs for sorting out and storing things like Legos are ideal. Be cautious about not having out too many toys at one time; it is preferable to have a few well-chosen activities that are appropriate for the child’s current developmental stage and keep the rest in storage to rotate.

Children want to feel part of the family and of ongoing household activities. A steps tool in the kitchen that allows the child to participate in cooking at the counter is appropriate. Ideally, for eating, the type of high chair that pulls right up to the family table (rather than the type with a tray) can be used. Lacking one of these, the phone books have served many families well! Children need a small table of their own for their own activities, but they want to be part of the family at meal times at the big table.

Tough it is not suggested for parents to order Montessori materials for their home, one of our suppliers does offer a catalog for families with many books, games, and practical-life supplies (like real knives that work but aren’t too pointed). Since practical- life materials are the bridge between the home and school, parents may want to obtain their catalog: Montessori Services, phone 877‐975‐3003 (toll-free) or website www.montessoriservices.com.

117 TASK CHILDREN CAN DO TO LEARN RESPONSIBILITY

TASKS CHILDREN CAN DO TO LEARN RESPONSIBILITY Te Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter, 1999

18 MONTHS - 3 YEARS OLD Turn off lights while being carried. Help put groceries away. Carry in the newspaper or mail. Carry in light groceries. Get her/his own cereal or snack from kidfriendly Put her/his own clothes away. Take containers. clothes out of the dryer. Pick up toys and clothes. Help make beds. Wash tables/counters with a damp sponge. Put plastic dishes in the dishwasher. Put a soiled/wet diaper in the diaper pail. Make salads. Wash vegetables, tear lettuce, stir. Bring recyclables to the garage. Help set the table. Lead family prayer. Feed and water pets. Scramble eggs, make toast. Help clean up after meals and play. Tell you when the traffic light turns green. Wake up siblings. Clear dishes from table. Run simple errands around the house. Seal and stamp envelopes

4 - 6 YEARS OLD All of the above, plus: Put dishes in the dishwasher. Help fnd grocery items in the store. Measure soap for the dishwasher and start Help fold towels and wash. the cycle. Pour things. Be responsible for compost buckets. Give you a back rub or foot rub. Haul things in a wagon. Help measure ingredients. Assist in meal planning. Count goods at the grocery store. Make a simple meal. Sort white and dark clothes for laundry. Empty dishwasher, stack dishes on counter. Water plants. Rake leaves for short periods of time. Help vacuum, sweep, and dust. Help wash pets. Take library books/videos to/from the car. Prepare her/his own lunch. Put gas in your car. Walk well-behaved pets. Help younger siblings. Carry in frewood. Help plant a garden. Start to manage her/his own money Wash the foor.

7-10 YEARS OLD All of the above, plus: Run the washing machine and dryer. Get her/himself up in the morning. Change sheets on a bed. Help wash and vacuum the car. Help with projects around the house. Wash dishes. Address and stuff envelopes. Fix snacks and light meals. Read to younger siblings. Help read recipes. Bathe younger siblings.

11-15 YEARS OLD All of the above, plus: Baby-sit.

118 TASK CHILDREN CAN DO TO LEARN RESPONSIBILITY

Cook meals. Order out for the family. Buy groceries from a list. Wax the car. Wash windows. Mow the lawn. Change light bulbs. Operate saws for home projects. Make appointments. Help in a parent’s business.

Adapted with permission from Redirecting Children’s Behavior by Kathryn J. Kvols (Parenting Press Inc., Seattle, WA). 1998.

119 GATEWAY PARENTING

GATEWAY PARENTING by Wendy Calise May 13, 2013

Te theory goes something like this: If you use legal drugs such as tobacco or alcohol, or even what some consider “soft drugs” like marijuana, you are more likely to slip down the slope to using “hard drugs” like amphetamines, cocaine and heroin, than people who never get started in the frst place. Te starter drugs are often referred to as “gateway drugs” because use of them is seen as the frst step through the gateway to even more dangerous behaviors.

But this is not an essay about drug use. Nor is it about some of the bad choices young people make. Rather it is a veteran educator’s ruminations about 21st century parenting--or what I call Gateway Parenting.

To my knowledge, the words “gateway” and “parenting” have not been paired together. But parenting a young child is rife with opportunity to make troublesome choices that seem harmless at the time, notwithstanding the nagging feeling that something is amiss. and much like that only-experimental, peer-pressure-initiated, totally innocent frst puff of a cigarette, oftentimes it leads to more.

So what does Gateway Parenting look like? Does it start with something like you throwing your coat over every puddle so your child doesn’t have to get his feet wet? Unfortunately not. I say unfortunately because if it started with ridiculous acts such as these, few of us would be guilty. Tat would be akin to starting out on heroin.

Tis is what the slippery slope actually looks like. More often it starts with something like this: “Let me help you cut that.” “Sure you can have a bagel while we walk through the grocery store.” “How was school today? Were all the children nice to you?” “I will tell Grandma you don’t like chicken.” “She was just misbehaving because she had too much sugar.” Or gluten. Or because the other children excluded her. Or the teacher is impatient. Or she fell off her bike earlier in the day.

Listen up. Tose are the sounds of your frst puffs.

As you read the article, if you are like most parents, you will irrationally assume the article is about you. Not because it is, but because we all participate in these activities at one time or another. And more often than not, thankfully, we see our children in some setting independent of our homes, and we realize that they are capable of much more than we are asking of them. We realize that we are spoiling them, to borrow an old-fashioned word. Some of us, however, will continue on to the hard drugs. Some of us, too many I am afraid, are doomed to the life of a junkie. Stressed out and strung out and sure that if we do it one, just one more time, we promise it will be the last.

Perhaps you have heard horror stories in recent years about parents who show up to job interviews with their children. Or call college professors about a grade on a term paper. Or call their children’s employers about better pay or benefts.

How does that happen? How does a parent get to that point? I can assure you that we would not fnd among even the most hardened enablers a parent who would believe that he will be the one ffteen years from now to call a college professor. But some of you will. Because once you start doing for your children what they can do for themselves, there is a tragic feedback loop which receives from and expresses to both parties, parent and child. Te less your child does for himself, the less you think he is able to do. Te less you think he is able to do, the less he thinks he is able to do. Te less he thinks

120 GATEWAY PARENTING he is able, the more convincing he becomes to you that he is not. I am feeling anxious just writing about it.

It goes from having a sippy cup in the car so the children won’t get too thirsty on the seven minute ride home, to carrying their backpacks for them, to dropping off the lunch they forgot in the car, to the quick conversation with the teacher to inform her that she is not handling the social struggle in her class quite fairly, to calling him out of school because he had a lot of homework the night before and worked really hard to get it done, to a quick call to the English professor. Just this once.

And therein lies the real danger of Gateway Parenting. Like many drugs, it is addictive. We all swear we can stop, we just don’t want to. Parenting language equivalent: “I will stop when she is a little older. She’s just a kid. It will be easier later when she can better understand why.” Except it won’t be easier later. It will only get harder. As you continue to intervene, the opportunities for your child to build his skills to manage challenges are passing him by. And with the loss of those opportunities goes the loss of his skills. He doesn’t get any better at solving problems and facing challenges. He gets older, but the problems just get harder and the consequences more dire. And he seems to always be one step behind. And you feel forced to always stay one step ahead.

So what to do? Just say no. No to alternative dinner choices. No to skipping soccer practice because it is raining. No to calling the teacher to let her know that your son would like her to tell Janie that she is hurting his feelings. No to extra allowance. No to driving her to her friend’s house three blocks away instead of having her walk. No to helping with homework. Say no. Tere is no substitute. Tere is no workaround.

And when you do try to give up Gateway Parenting, be prepared. Your children will make it hard. Your neighbors will make it even harder. And the nanny or babysitter will make it darn near impossible. Beware, I tell you, the rate of recidivism is high.

Te frst part of the struggle will be to recognize when you are doing it. Many suggest that you think of your child’s life as a path. Everyday you will face choices that present two options. You can prepare the path for you child by removing the big rocks, the medium stones, and even every little pebble. Or you can prepare your child for the path by letting him face as many challenges as you can stand. Tis isn’t easy parenting, but it is a good parenting And though it won’t always feel very good for you, it will make you child’s life a whole lot easier. It really will.

Wendy Calise graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in psychology in 1988. A Montessori student herself, she is Head of School at Countryside Montessori School in Northbrook, Illinois. Before her role as Head of school, Wendy taught classes of children ages three to twelve for 19 years. She hold Association Montessori Internationale diplomas at the Primary and Elementary Levels. In August 2009 she founded the Montessori Teachers Institute for Professional Studies which offers a variety of continuing education opportunities for Montessori teachers as well as support for teacher and schools in the form of mentorship and consultation.

“Don’t handicap your children by making their lives too easy.” - Robert Heinlein

121 101 THINGS PARENTS CAN DO

101 THINGS PARENTS CAN DO TO HELP CHILDREN compiled by Barbara Hacker

1. Read about Montessori education and how it applies to your child. (Refer to the Background Reading section of this handbook for suggestions.) 2. Subscribe to Te Michael Olaf Catalog. Tis wonderful publication is a clear introduction to Montessori for parents as well as a source book of ideal toys, materials, books, etc. for the home. 3. Take the time to stand back and observe your child carefully and note the characteristics he/she is displaying. 4. Analyze your child’s wardrobe and build a wardrobe aimed at freedom of movement, independence, and freedom from distraction. 5. Make sure your child gets sufficient sleep. 6. Make both going to bed and getting up into a calm and pleasant ritual. 7. Teach grace and courtesy in the home. Model it. Use courtesy with your child 8. Refrain from physical punishment and learn ways of positive discipline. 9. Have a special shelf where your child’s books are kept and replaced after careful use. 10. Make regular trips to the public library. Become familiar with the librarians and how the library works, and enjoy books together. Borrow books and help your child learn the responsibility of caring for them and returning them. 11. Read together daily. With younger children, stick to books with realistic themes. 12. See that your child gets to school on time — that is, by 8:30. 13. Allow sufficient time for your child to dress herself/himself. 14. Allow your child to collaborate with food preparation, and encourage your extended day child to take at least some responsibility for preparing her/his own lunch. 15. If possible, allow your child a plot of land, or at least a fowerpot, in which to experience growing things. 16. Take walks together, at the child’s pace, pausing to notice things and talk about them. 17. Help your child be in a calm and prepared mood to begin school rather than overstimulated and carrying toys or food. 18. Eliminate or strictly limit TV watching and replace it with activities that involve the child rather than making her/him a passive observer. When the child does watch TV, watch it with her/him and discuss what you see. 19. From the earliest age, give your child the responsibility to pick up after herself/himself: e.g., return toys to their place, put dirty clothes in the laundry basket, clear dishes to the appropriate place, clean off the sink after use, etc. Tis activity requires preparing the environment so that children know where things go. 20. Hug regularly but don’t impose affection; recognize the difference. 21. Assign regular household tasks that need to be done to maintain the household to your child as age- appropriate. (Perhaps setting silverware and napkins on the table, sorting, recycling, dusting, watering plants, etc.) 22. Attend school parent education functions. 23. Arrange time for both parents to attend parent-teacher conferences. Speak together in preparation for the conference and write down questions to ask. 24. Talk to your child clearly without talking down. Communicate with respect and give the child the gift of language, new words, and new expressions. 25. Talk to your child by physically moving to her/his level; be still and make eye contact.

122 101 THINGS PARENTS CAN DO

26. Sing! Voice quality doesn’t matter. Sing together regularly; build a repertoire of favorites. 27. Refrain from over-structuring your child’s time with formal classes and activities. Leave time to “just be”—to play, explore, create. 28. Teach your child safety precautions. (Deal with matches, plugs, chemicals, stairs, the street, how to dial 911, etc.) 29. Teach your child her/his address, phone number, and parents’ names. 30. Count! Use natural opportunities that arise. 31. Tell and re-tell family-based stories. For example, “On the day you were born...” 32. Look at family pictures together. Help your child be aware of her/his extended family, names, and relationships. 33. Construct your child’s biography, the story of her/his life. A notebook is ideal, so that it can be added to each year. Sharing one’s story can become a much-loved ritual, which can also be shared with the child’s class at birthday time. 34. Assist your child to be aware of her/his feelings, to have a vocabulary for emotions and to be able to express them. 35. Play games together. Trough repetition children learn to take turns, to win and lose. 36. Together, do things to help others. For example, take food to an invalid neighbor, contribute blankets to a homeless shelter, give toys to those who have none, etc. 37. Speak the language of the virtues. Talk about patience, cooperativeness, courage, ingenuity, cheerfulness, helpfulness, kindness, etc. and point out those virtues when you see them demonstrated. 38. Refrain from giving your child too much “stuff.” If there is already too much, give some away or store some and rotate the selections. 39. Memorize poetry, teach it to your child, and recite it together. 40. Put up a bird feeder; let your child have responsibility for flling it. Together, learn to be good watchers and learn about the birds you see. 41. Whenever you go somewhere with your child, prepare her/him for what is going to happen and what will be expected of her/him at the store, restaurant, doctor’s office, etc. Whenever you go somewhere with your child, prepare her/him for what is going to happen and what will be expected of her/him at the store, restaurant, doctor’s office, etc. 42. Express appreciation to your child and others, and help your child to do the same. Send thank-you notes for gifts. Young children can dictate or send a picture; older children can write their own. What is key is learning the importance of expressing appreciation. 43. Help your child to learn to like healthful foods. Never force a child to eat something he/she does not like, but also don’t offer unlimited alternatives! Make trying new things fun. Talk about foods and how they look, or describe the taste. Introduce the word “savor,” and teach how to do it. Engage children in food preparation. 44. When food shopping, talk to your child about what you see-from kumquats to lobsters. Talk about the people who help us by growing, picking, transporting, and displaying food. 45. Provide your child with appropriately sized furniture: her/his own table and chair to work at; perhaps a rocker in the living room to be with you, a bed that can easily be made by a child; a stool for climbing up to sink or counter. 46. While driving, point things out and discuss them—construction work, interesting buildings, vehicles, bridges, animals. 47. Teach the language of courtesy. Don’t let your child interrupt; teach how to wait after saying, “Excuse me, please.” 48. Analyze any annoying behavior of your child and teach from the positive. For example: door slamming suggests teaching how to close a door; running in the house, teaching how to walk; a runny nose, teaching how to use a tissue.

123 101 THINGS PARENTS CAN DO

49. Spend quality time with people of different ages. 50. Teach your child about your religion and make her/him feel a part of it. 51. Help your child to have positive connections with people of diverse ethnicities, languages, and beliefs. 52. Laugh a lot. Play with words. Tell jokes. Help your child to develop a sense of humor. 53. Share your profession or occupation with your child. Have her/him visit at work and have some appreciation of work done in the world. 54. See that your child learns to swim—the younger the better. 55. Have a globe or atlas in the house and, whenever names of places come up, locate them with the child. 56. Make sure your child has the tools he/she needs—a child-size broom, mop, dust pan, whisk broom, duster, etc.— to help maintain the cleanliness of the household. 57. Learn to say “no” without anger, and with frmness and conviction. Not everything children want is appropriate. 58. Arrange environments and options so that you end up saying “yes” more than “no.” 59. Refrain from laughing at your child. 60. Alert children to upcoming events so they can mentally prepare, e.g., “In ten minutes, it will be time for bed.” 61. Help children to maintain a calendar, becoming familiar with days and months, or counting down to special events. Talk about it regularly. 62. Get a pet and guide your child to take responsibility for its care. 63. Refrain from replacing everything that gets broken. Help children to learn the value of money, and the consequences of actions. 64. Take a nighttime walk: listen to sounds, observe the moon, smell the air. 65. Take a rain walk: wear coats and boots to be protected, but then fully enjoy the rain. 66. Allow your Primary-aged child to use her/his whole body and mind for active doing. Save computers for the Elementary years and later, when they become a useful tool of the conscious mind. 67. If you must travel without your child, leave notes behind for her/him to open each day you are gone. 68. Expose your child to all sorts of music. 69. Talk about art, visit statue gardens, and make short visits to museums to look at a couple of pictures. Make it meaningful and enjoyable; don’t overdo. 70. Help children learn to sort: the laundry, silverware, etc. 71. Help them become aware of sounds in words. Play games: “What starts with “mmmm? What ends with‘t’?” 72. 72. Organize the child’s things in appropriate containers and on low shelves. 73. Aid the child in absorbing a sense of beauty: expose her/him to flowers, woods, and natural materials, and avoid plastic. 74. Help your child start a collection of something interesting. 75. Talk about the colors (don’t forget shades), textures, and shapes you see around you. 76. Provide art materials, paper, appropriate aprons, and mats to define the workspace. Provide tools for cleaning up. 77. Evaluate each of your child’s toys. Does it help her/him learn something? Does the child use it? Does it “work,” and are all pieces present? Is it safe? 78. Refrain from doing for a child what he/she can do for himself/herself. 79. Provide opportunities for physical activity: running, hopping, skipping, climbing. Teach them how. Go to a playground if necessary.

124 101 THINGS PARENTS CAN DO

80. Teach children how to be still and make “silence.” Do it together. Children love to be in a meditative space if given the opportunity. 81. Teach your child her/his birthday. 82. Read the notes that are sent home from school. 83. Alert the teacher to anything that may be affecting your child: lack of sleep, exposure to a fight, moving, a relative visiting in the home, a parent out of town, etc. 84. Provide a place to just dig. Allow your child to get dirty sometimes, without inhibitions. 85. Refrain from offering material rewards or even excessive praise. Let the experience of accomplishment be its own reward. 86. Don’t speak for your child to others; give space for the child to speak for herself/himself, and if she/he doesn’t, it’s okay. 87. Apologize to your child when you’ve made a mistake. 88. Understand what Montessori meant by sensitive periods. Know when your child is in one and use it. 89. Learn to wait. Some things people want to give their children or do with them are more appropriate at a later age. Be patient; the optimal time will come. Stay focused on where they are right now. 90. Play ball together: moms and dads, boys and girls. 91. Tell them what you value in them. Let them hear you express what you value in others. 92. Always tell the truth. 93. Go to the beach and play in the sand. 94. Ride the bus, take a train—at least once. 95. Watch a sunrise. Watch a sunset. 96. Share appropriate “news” from the newspaper: a new dinosaur was discovered; a baby elephant was born at the zoo; a child was honored for bravery; the weather forecast. 97. Evaluate your child’s hairstyle. Is it neat and not a distraction, or is it always in the child’s eyes, falling out of headbands, etc? 98. Let your child help you wash the car and learn the vocabulary of the parts of the car. With this and other tasks, take time to focus on the process for the child more than the end product. 99. Talk about right, lef, straight, turns, north, south, east, west, in a natural way so your child develops a sense of direction and the means to talk about it. 100. Place a small pitcher of water or juice on a low refrigerator shelf, and a glass in a low place, so your child can be independent in getting a drink. 101. If your child is attached to things like pacifiers, start a weaning process. Enjoy life together!

125 HOME AND FAMILY RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE ELEMENTARY CHILD

SUGGESTED HOME & FAMILY RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE ELEMENTARY CHILD

6–9 YEAR OLDS Make a simple breakfast Make the bed Set the table Clean the room Clear the table and sponge it off Take phone messages and write them down Help wash and dry dishes Fold laundry Put away groceries Arrange clothing in drawers Help prepare simple foods (e.g. toast bread, boil Hang up clothes in the closet eggs, make salad, wash and cut vegetables) Dust Prepare a sandwich or other food for lunch Take care of pets Take out the garbage Water plants Take out the recycling Clean out the inside of a car

9–12 YEAR OLDS (in addition to the above suggestions) Read a recipe and help prepare it Sort clothes by color and learn to use the washing Plan menus for the upcoming week machine. Do her/his own laundry or some Write out a shopping list (as dictated by a laundry for the family parent) Sew on buttons Plan and prepare lunches for school Vacuum Shop for groceries with a parent Rake leaves, pull weeds Take a calculator to the store and compare Wash the car items (“How much will we save if we buy Check the oil in car Brand X? Do we like Brand Y better? How Put siblings to bed much more sodium is in this one?”) Help an elderly neighbor (by taking a paper to the Keep a record of family expenses for a week door, or rolling a trash can out to the street)

Tis list is meant to suggest possibilities. Children may be able to accomplish tasks at ages above or below those given. When making decisions about household responsibilities, keep the following principles in mind: ◆◆ It is best to involve children in identifying the work that needs to be done and in choosing who will be responsible for each job. (Not doing anything is not one of the choices!) ◆◆ Use common sense in deciding the number of tasks a child will do.

He or she may wish to give input about which jobs can be accomplished efficiently alone, and which would be more easily done with you or another family member. Remember the social nature of the elementary child: household jobs are more enjoyable when done with someone else. Your child may resent doing certain jobs alone, but delight in doing them with you. ◆◆ It is also best if children help set the standards for the work and evaluate the completed job. ◆◆ Ask children to set an appropriate time limit for completing tasks. Some children work better with a check-off chart for the week. ◆◆ Vary the tasks: children like the challenge of a new or unusual job. ◆◆ Remember you are a model to the child. Expect no more order or cleanliness from the child than from yourself.

126 HOME AND FAMILY RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE ELEMENTARY CHILD

Other Home and Family Activities for the Elementary Child Te following list was generated by Montessori teachers and students. Again, these are suggested activities and are intended to be a catalyst for your own ideas.

• Have a family reading time during which everybody reads in the same room. Start with 15 minutes after dinner. • Have a read-aloud time: one person reads aloud while the others clean up from dinner. • Play board games. • Take a walk, penny hike, or bike ride. • Write a family newsletter. • Start a family journal. (It can consist of lists of things to do around the house, what you plant in your garden, messages from guests, refections on a movie or vacation... See Peter Stillman’s book • Families Writing for inspiration.) • Study maps. Figure out the best way to get to your piano lesson or to New Braunfels. • Do some gardening. • Turn off the TV. You can do it! Make plans for the weekend that do not include looking at any screens or monitors. • Listen to books on tape while driving to school or while doing chores. • Memorize a poem to share with your family or the class. • Practice calligraphy. • Practice typing. Keep track of your speed and accuracy if you want to. • Write letters to friends and relatives; this is the best way to get mail. Write a letter to your teacher! • Practice a musical instrument or make up a song. • Make your own percussion, string, or wind instruments from found objects. • Read a newspaper article and discuss it with your family. • Write a story or poem and send it off to a magazine for publication. • Make a drawing of your house or your friend. • Design an art project to teach the class. • Camp out in your backyard. Make a tape-recording of any animals serenading you! • Knit, crochet, spin, weave, sew, quilt, hook rugs, embroider, tie-dye, do bead work. • Make a mobile. • Help plan the family vacation. Research the landmarks, terrain, special attractions, etc. of the area you’ll visit. • Plan a talent show or art exhibit with other children in your neighborhood. • Interview an older relative or neighbor. Write a few specifc questions frst. “Who do you think was the best president of the United States? Why? Do you keep anything special for sentimental reasons? Have you ever experienced a hurricane, tornado, or earthquake?...” • Write a word-search puzzle. Choose a topic, such as countries in Europe, invertebrates, holidays... • Write words from the topic forwards, backwards, and diagonally on grid paper. • Find a long word in the dictionary. See how many short words you can make out of the letters of this word. • Check some picture books out of the library. Look at the artwork in them. Make your own picture book of a fairy tale or myth you like. • Pretend you own your own business. Make a brochure to advertise your product or service. • Measure the length, area, or volume of things at home. • Do an experiment from a chemistry set, or from a book of experiments for children. • Practice yoga. Learn a new outdoor game. Dance. • Visit a museum. • Do a craft project. (Get ideas from books at the library.) Organize a group of children to make a gift for someone else. Prepare a surprise treat for a member of your family (a glass of iced tea, a card or picture, a fve-minute shoulder and neck massage)

127 COSMIC EDUCATION

COSMIC EDUCATION Montessori

128 INTERDEPENDENCY CHART

INTERDEPENDENCY CHART Mario Montessori - Te Human Tendencies and Montessori Education, p. 6

Energy'

Nature’s) Interdependence) Land'

Air' Water'

Animals' Plants'

Human) Interdependence)

129 25 REASONS TO KEEP YOUR CHILD IN MONTESSORI THROUGH KINDERGARTEN

25 REASONS TO KEEP YOUR CHILD IN MONTESSORI THROUGH THE KINDERGARTEN YEAR Every year thousands of Montessori parents whose children are about to move up to kindergarten face a common dilemma: Do they allow their child to remain in a Montessori environment or do they transfer their children to a more traditional kindergarten program. Although there are plenty of issues that factor into this important decision, most Montessori administrators, educators, and parents will agree that perhaps the most compelling factor for most parents has to do with basic economics. Simply put, their child can attend a local public school kindergarten program free. Although each family must make this decision on their own, we offer a number of thoughts which should be considered before transferring a child in the kindergarten year. 1. Does your child love school and can’t wait to go every day? If so, consider yourself lucky. Why tinker with a winning school situation when so many families are frustrated and disappointed? 2. Your child has waited for two years to be one of the fve year old leaders of her class. Te kindergartners are looked up to as role models for the younger students, and most children eagerly await their opportunity to play this role. 3. Te third year, the kindergarten year, is the time when many of the earlier lessons come together and become permanent part of the young child’s understanding. An excellent example is the early introduction to addition with large numbers through the Bank Game. When children leave Montessori at age fve, many of the still forming concepts evaporate, just as a child living overseas will learn to speak two languages, but may quickly lose the second language if his family moves back home. 4. As a fve year old, your child has many opportunities to teach the younger children lessons that he learned when he was their age. Research proves that this experience has powerful benefts for both tutor and tutoree. 5. As fve year olds, Montessori children normally go on to still more fascinating lessons and more advanced Montessori materials, such as the Stamp game. 6. Te Primary Montessori curriculum is much more sophisticated than that found in most kindergartens. 7. Having spent two years together, your child’s teachers know her very, very well. Tey know her strengths and areas that are presenting challenges. 8. Your child already knows most of her classmates. She has grown up in a safe, supportive classroom setting. 9. If your child goes on to another school, he will spend the frst half of the year just getting used to the new educational approach. 10. Montessori math is based on the European tradition of unifed mathematics. Montessori introduces young children to basic geometry and other sophisticated concepts as early as kindergarten. 11. In many Montessori schools, fve year olds are beginning to read the Junior Great Books; kindergartners in other schools may be learning to recognize letters and numbers. 12. Five year olds have a real sense of running their classroom community. 13. In Montessori, your child can continue to progress at her own pace. In traditional kindergarten, she will have to wait while the other children begin to catch up.

130 25 REASONS TO KEEP YOUR CHILD IN MONTESSORI THROUGH KINDERGARTEN

14. Even in kindergarten, Montessori children are studying cultural geography and beginning to grow into global citizens. 15. In Montessori, fve year olds work with intriguing learning materials, like the Trinomial Cube instead of coloring books and insipid basal readers. 16. With the Land and Water Forms, he’ll learn about lakes, islands, isthmuses, straits, capes, archipelagos, peninsulas, and other geological forms, rather than circles, squares, and rectangles. 17. In art, she’ll learn about Picasso and Renoir, rather than learn her basic colors. 18. In Montessori, your child has been treated with a deep respect as a unique individual. Te school has been equally concerned for his intellectual, social, and emotional development. Unfortunately, despite lip service to the contrary this is often not the case in traditional classrooms. 19. Montessori schools are warm and supportive communities of students, teachers, and parents. Children can’t easily slip through the cracks! 20. Montessori consciously teaches children to be kind and peaceful. 21. In Montessori schools, learning is not focused on rote drill and memorization. Our goal is to develop students who really understand their schoolwork. 22. Montessori students learn through hands-on experience, investigation, and research. Tey become actively engaged in their studies, rather than passively waiting to be spoon-fed. 23. Montessori is consciously designed to recognize and address different learning styles, helping students learn to study most effectively. 24. Montessori challenges and set high expectations for all students not only a special few. 25. Montessori students develop self-discipline and an internal sense of purpose and motivation.

If you still have any doubt, spend a morning observing in your child’s class and compare it with a morning in a kindergarten class in the other school you are considering. Sit quietly and take mental notes. Te differences may be subtle, but most likely they will be signifcant. Ten project your child into the future and ask yourself how the positive differences you observed in the Montessori classroom might help shape your child to become the teenager, and later the adult, you envisioned for your child’s future. Reprinted, with permission, from Tomorrow’s Child Copyright by Te Montessori Foundation. All rights reserved.

131 THE GREAT LESSONS

THE GREAT LESSONS

“Te child should love everything that he learns, for his mental and emotional growths are linked. Whatever is presented to him must be made beautiful and clear, striking his imagination. Since it has been seen to be necessary to give so much to the child, let us give him a vision of the whole universe. Te universe is an imposing reality, and an answer to all questions.” -Maria Montessori

Perhaps it happens on the frst day of the elementary class or perhaps a few days later. A child, smiling broadly arrives home to tell about the wonders of the day - the chart with the fairies that carry the fre and the ice, the piece of terra cotta that is suddenly smashed, the paper that seems to defy gravity, and the volcano that really sparked and hisses and overfows with ash. And the story the teacher told! Tat exciting and wonderful story about the coming of the universe and the earth! Te Montessori elementary has begun its new school year with the frst Great Lessons, the story of the formation of the universe and the earth and presented to the elementary child for his contemplation and study.

Dr. Montessori called up on a need to do “cosmic education.” To give the children the “whole” and the ability to see how the parts of the whole are interconnected was, in her view, the only approach that would truly satisfy the elementary child - the child who asks endless questions. Rather than force such a child to sit still an learn what has been chosen for him she believed the child should be given every things to explore. Te Great Lessons introduce everything that can be explored in one way or another. Te Great lessons inspire and activate the studies of the children and the work in the classroom.

Te Five Great Lessons are not really lessons to be learned but are impressionistic stories to be told. “Impressionistic” means that these lessons are told as grand stories that will inspire and ignite imagination, interest, and curiosity in the child rather than as a listing of facts. Tey are presented with drama, mystery, rich language and awe. Dr. Montessori said that the Montessori elementary teacher must be a “storyteller of the truth.” She told her teachers to sow as many seeds of interest into the fertile minds of the children as possible - some will germinate now; others will be held to do so later. When the child enters the elementary, he brings with him a reasoning mind, a mind capable of imagining the vastness of space and the march of time - so now we open the door to all of that through these Great Lessons of the elementary.

As well as possessing a powerful imagination, the child at this time is physically and intellectually strong. His need to know is as large as the universe and so that is what we lay before him. From this, he may eagerly choose his studies.

Generally the children are told when a Great Lesson will be presented. Even for the children who have seen them each year, it is exciting to know one is coming. Every year they are a little different. Perhaps the teacher has brought some new artifacts to examine along with the story. Perhaps he adds some interesting facts that were not mentioned before. perhaps there are additional experiments. Perhaps the child hears some information that was missed in previous years. Te children recognize elements of the stories - ideas and facts that come from their own interests and independent studies. And then, there is always much that is new and fascinating and worthy of exploration. Te Lesson is given; the discussion is opened; the exploratory work begins.

132 THE GREAT LESSONS

Te Firs Great Leson Te Coming of t Universe and t Earh From nothing came into being the elemental universe. From that came our sun and the planets. Tis lesson has many impressionistic charts and experiments that introduce geology, chemistry and more. From this lesson came earth science studies and the inspiration to appreciate an ordered and harmonious universe.

Chemistry Astronomy Physics Work of Water Geology Geography states of matter solar system magnetism the water cycle rocks/cycle maps/globes mixtures,solutions stars, galaxies electricity distribution land forms formation latitude/longitude reactions, atoms comets gravity weather water forms formation time zones,climate Periodic Table constellations energy clouds volcanoes, earthquakes land/water forms molecules/ observation light, sound glaciers plate tectonics, Pangaea countries/cities compounds telescope friction, motion erosion ice ages, eras of the earth chemical formulae experimentation equations, radioactivity experimentation

Te Second Great Leson Te Coming of Life As a long, undated timeline is rolled out, the teacher points out the coming of the microorganisms, plants and animals that appeared on earth--each with a life to live and a contribution to make to the earth. When all was ready, at the very end of the timeline, we see human beings appearing. From this lesson came life science studies and the inspiration to appreciate the service that all things do for each other and the great diversity of life. Cells Habitats Plants Animals Ancient Life Other Kingdoms types, defnition locations classifcation classifcation eras of the earth what they are of living organized biotic/abiotic function how they live/needs evolution, extinction classifcation groups (organs, factors needs similarities/ fossil records observation systems) food chains/webs work of the parts differences specimens, symbiosis, observation observation dissection adaptation human systems observation, ecosystem, nutrition, hygiene microscope conservation

Te Tird Great Leson Te Coming of Human Beings When human beings came, they came with three special gifts: a mind that could think and imagine, a hand that could work, and a heart that could love. And so it is today, as human beings, we must think, imagine, work and love. From this lesson comes history, culture and philosophy studies and the inspiration to appreciate what makes us fully human and the universal need to make a life for oneself in every place in every time. History Culture Social Studies Discovery/Invention timelines art/artists current events scientists/inventors prehistory music/composers government scientifc method ancient drama, dance economics simple machines world architecture, design commerce American philosophy, religion economic geography state, city manners and courtesy peoples of the world family volunteers/charity

133 THE GREAT LESSONS

Te Forh Great Leson Communication in Signs We tell the story of the development of a written alphabet and the awesome ability we have to commit our thoughts to paper--the thoughts that might endure for all time--using only 26 little, but very powerful symbols. From this lesson came all language studies and the inspiration to appreciate the magnifcent power of being able to read, understand and write to communicate. Structure Reading Writing Language alphabets, script literature, poetry sentence, paragraph origins of spoken language bookmaking nonfction, genre style, function history of English grammar authors voice, mood, tense etymology punctuation comprehension composition speech, drama sentence analysis story elements story elements foreign languages word study, spelling literary forms literary terms history dictionary library research skills history

Te Fift Great Leson Te Story of Numbers We tell the story of the development of our decimal system of numeration and the powerful language of science, music and design--mathematics. With only ten symbols and the use of the right place, any number can be symbolized and easily manipulated--thus making it possible to calculate and express even what we cannot encompass in our minds. From this lesson came math and geometry studies, and the inspiration to appreciate the discovery of secrets of the universe, invention and our modern world.

Numbers Mathematics Geometry Application origins of numbers/systems four operations congruency story problems decimal and non-decimal bases fractions similarity measurement types: whole, mixed, negative, decimals equivalence estimation/rounding prime, etc. conversion between angles, lines fnancial math scientifc notation fractions/decimals shapes/solids mathematicians multiples/factors measuring angles divisibility perimeter/area squares/cubes/roots volume powers/percentages theorems--Pythagoras, ration/proportion Euclid probability/statistics intro to algebra

More than mere stories, Dr. Montessori saw these stories as setting the stage for the children to feel gratitude and admiration. In the frst three lessons, gratitude to the power that governs the universe--to some that is God, others the Great Spirit, or Nature. In the last two lessons, gratitude to man--often the unknown man or woman whose labor and insight built the foundations of knowledge and craft that gave us what we enjoy today. As St. Bernard said, “We are like dwarfs seated on the shoulders of giants. We see farther than the ancients, but it is due neither to the sharpness of our sight nor the greatness of our state, but because we are borne aloft on that gigantic mass.” In the elementary classroom we celebrate the accomplishments of those hidden from view, from the spotlight of fame whose contributions have shaped the world.

Te Great Lessons are the starting point from which all the work of the classroom begins. Tey are referred to when new work is introduced. Tey are never a work unto themselves for the children but are a tool to aid the teacher to inspire the children’s work. Te Great Lessons are the heart and soul of the Montessori elementary classroom.

134 MONTESSORI AND THE MATHEMATICAL MIND

MONTESSORI AND THE MATHEMATICAL MIND “If men had used only speech to communicate their thoughts, if their wisdom had been expressed in words alone, no traces would remain of past generations. It is thanks to the hand that civilization has arisen. Te hand has been the organ of this great gift that we inherit.” - --Maria Montessori

Te study of mathematics and and geometry as symbols on paper arose from a very real and sensorial base. Removed from very real objects, these studies become dry and meaningless. Children naturally have an interest in all aspects of mathematics--weight, order, systems, series, time, quantities and symbols. We can serve the development of the mathematical mind by feeding this interest, giving sensorial experiences frst, and only then their representatives on paper.

Montessori primary classes for children ages 3-6 are probably more famous in this country for their math program than anything. When one tours a primary classroom at Raintree, it is the beautiful math materials displayed in sequence from the long rods which teach the concept of 1:1 correspondence of 1-10 through the bead cabinet with its long beaded glass chains and cubes to the cube of 10 and beyond that capture an observer’s interest. People think there is something magic about sensorial math materials. Yes, the materials are ingenious, but the real value of “Montessori Math” is the support of the natural love of math concepts and activities that occurs early in life. Tese activities include counting, sorting, classifying objects, experiences with series of sizes and colors, weighing and measuring, carrying out housework such as dishwashing with many sequential steps--these are activities that nourish the mathematical mind.

Manipulative Materials Te Primary Years

When Dr. Montessori opened the Casa dei Bambini in Rome in the beginning of the 20th century, she did not begin to teach math until the children showed they that they wanted to work in this area. It was when the children asked to use the math materials from the elementary classes and were more successful at learning these concepts (!) that math began to be an important part of Children’s Houses for younger children.

Many people misunderstand at frst what it means to learn math at this age. Tey remember how they learned the multiplication tables, for example, the tedious and boring hours of painful repetition that was certainly not their frst choice of activities to pursue.

In the 3-6 class, children love to learn the quantities and symbols for numbers in the thousands. Tey often learn addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with the decimal system and with fractions, all simultaneously. It is not uncommon to see one child counting the thousand chain, another solving addition problems with the strip boards and still another small group of children exchanging quantities of golden bead material for symbols into the thousands as they learn place value.

None of this work is required of the children, but it is offered, presented with manipulative materials to one child at a time--by the adult and sometimes by another child. Tere are no teachers lecturing to a group of children who are required to sit still and listen. Te children choose this work and repeat each step with joy and enthusiasm until they are ready to move on to the next step.

Certainly not ever child masters or works with every piece of math material in a Montessori Class because the sequence of lessons go far beyond what most students receive until later in traditional elementary school. But he is surrounded by other children joyfully exploring math. What a different and wonderful introduction to a subject often feared by many of us. A child who is allowed to explore with real mathematical objects at an early, motor-sensorial age becomes a real math lover later in life.

135 MONTESSORI AND THE MATHEMATICAL MIND

Geometry, Math and Invention Te Elementary Years Geometry, math and invention are languages used to explore and manipulate, to theorize and create real objects in a real world. Einstein’s scribbles on paper were symbols for the relationship between galaxies and atoms when he worked on quantum physics. We must keep sight of this fact when teaching children.

Te study of mathematics and geometry make much more sense and are more interesting when they are presented with manipulative materials, or related to real problems and situations in a child’s life. In the Montessori elementary class stories are told and experiments carried out to show children how humans used their imaginations to solve problems and come up with great inventions--the use of fre, measuring the earth, the development of compasses, the designing of boats and many others. Tey see how inventions using geometry and math came about as a result of human progress to meet specifc needs.

Geometry, for example, arose from the practical need to reestablish planting boundaries after the annual fooding of the Nile River in Egypt. In the Montessori classroom the students learn the word “geometry,” comes from “geo” for “earth” and “metry” for “measure,” and they are told the story of the harpendoptera, the people who invented the process of measuring the land along the Nile. Later they go to the felds behind Raintree with a long, knotted rope representing the measurements of a right-angle triangle necessary to recreate the planting boundaries.

Children of this age love to reach back into history with their imaginations and reconstruct these needs and their solutions which creates for them a framework for a system of learning. Another story is told of the Hindus who introduced the use of zero. Te children are then challenged to try to do math without it! Where did algebra, calculus, trigonometry come from? Tey want to know. Children are inspired by these stories and by examples and pictures to fnd out more. Tey come to realize that mathematics has evolved and is still evolving from a practical need. Math, graphing, fractions, all become logical tools for recording and measuring, and algebra a shortcut for recording.

We encourage children to make up their own problems--especially story problems related to their lives and the subjects they are studying--for themselves and for their friends, in order to come to a very practical and clear understanding of geometry and math. We give manipulative materials in all areas of math and leave it to each child to decide when he is ready to work without materials--into the abstract.

Why not teach math with computers? Computer As Educational Tool

Of course computers are valuable tools for education, but we must keep them in balance with other experiences. Let me share a quote from the July 1997 issue of the Atlantic Monthly: Tere is no good evidence that most uses of computers signifcantly improve teaching and learning, yet school districts are cutting programs--music, art, physical education--that enrich children’s lives to make room for this dubious nostrum. ...and “Sesame Street”...has been around for twenty years. Indeed, its idea of making learning relevant to all was widely promoted in the seventies as the Internet is today. So where’s that demographic wave of creative and brilliant students now entering college? Did kids really need to learn to watch television? Did we infate their expectations that learning would always be colorful and fun? ...and fnally I see a parallel between the goals of “Sesame Street” and those of children’s computing. Both are pervasive, expensive and encourage children to sit still. Both display animated cartoons, gaudy numbers and weird random noises...both give the sensation that by merely watching a screen, you can acquire information without work and without discipline.

136 MONTESSORI AND THE MATHEMATICAL MIND

Yes, the computer is here to stay, and it certainly has its place and an important one, but it should not replace the precious time a child has to learn to create a life worth living. As Joseph Weizenbaum, a professor emeritus of computer science at MIT, told the San Jose Mercury News, even at his technology-heavy institution new students can learn all the computer skills they need in “a summer.” --Peter Gebhardt Seele, Physicist, Author and Montessori Teacher-Trainer of many Raintree staff

Since Peter wrote this, a lot has changed. Recent brain research in the last decade has revealed the human brain is changing. Human beings can multi-task, but we are becoming less social, less able to interact with one another on a personal level. With the introduction of more and more technology, we work faster and faster, but we are less able to concentrate and do the kind of deep thinking necessary to learn. Television used to be the major distraction, but now there we have the computer with email, facebook, and video games and handheld devices for texting, sending voicemail, and twittering. Te cumulative effect is that we are in a fght-or-fight state similar to early man whose survival rested on his ability to be alert, hunting for food and warding off predators. Children must have opportunities to do real problem solving in a community that supports deep concentrated work at an unhurried pace, where they are not only receive academic instruction, but learn the social graces as well, place where the development of emotional intelligence is valued just as much as academics. Respecting one another and honoring those whose contributions throughout history forms the foundations of our work in the elementary every day.

Te elementary child wants to know where, how, and why. In a Montessori elementary class many lessons are taught through storytelling. Te storytelling vehicle provides a glimpse into history, satisfes the child’s curiosity for why a particular tool or system is used, and at the same time, pays homage to those who came before us. Te following quote from St. Bernard illustrates this point:

We are like dwarfs seated on the shoulders of giants. We see farther than the ancients, but it is due neither to sharpness of our sight nor the greatness of our state, but because we are borne aloft on that gigantic mass.

137 NO MAN’S LAND SYNDROME

THE NO MAN’S LAND SYNDROME At Raintree we strive to maintain an oasis of calm for the children. Peacefulness is essential to the well-being of human beings. Quiet allows us to appreciate the beauty around us. For small children who spend their day in a group setting, quiet and peacefulness is key. Te younger the child, the more important peacefulness and tranquility are whether at the start of the day, or at day’s end. It is also important for their safety.

Little toddlers can be distracted by the smallest change in the environment. A cool breeze wafting through the classroom or the frst snowfake falling onto the playground can be enough to make a toddler stop what they are doing. Preschool children continue to be affected by changes in their surroundings whether it is the comings and goings of adults in their daily schedule or the placement of familiar objects in the classroom. Order is so important for the young child that it is not uncommon for a preschooler to place an activity in the “old” location if a teacher rearranges materials on the shelf.

Between the hours of 4:30 and 5:30 PM, all the peaceful calm that is the hallmark of our time together in the classroom and on the playground is undone during pickup time. Tis is not playground time where running, jumping and climbing are encouraged. What can develop is “no- man’s-land syndrome.” Because there are more children picked up at the end of the day, the syndrome is magnifed, but I have seen it at other pickup times as well.

Tis “no man’s land” is created when the responsibility of the child is transferred from the teacher to the parent. To the child this “netherland” has no rules, at least the child can perceive it that way. Te parent is here but the child is not at home, so the home’s rules must not apply, and the teacher is here, but the child is no longer in the classroom, so the classroom rules must not apply, hence “no man’s land.” Te syndrome is characterized by frenetic activity on the part of the children which creates noise in the hallways and foyer as children run away from parents, climb on the planters at the front of the Phoenix building and speed down the walkways. Te worst part of this is the danger it poses with a busy parking lot nearby.

Tere are several reasons this may be happening. One is that it is embarrassing to discipline one’s child in front of others. Tis is our way of saying “It’s ok!” In fact we ask that you do so. Hold your child’s hand, if necessary or, if all else fails, carry him to the car, but please do not allow him to run away from you. A child allowed to run with abandon will fnd himself in a busy parking lot, something that could have unimaginable consequences, and in the long term, when he is older, will be a child who one day will grab the car keys and you won’t be able to stop him.

Another may be that you think your child needs exercise. Tis is not the case. A child’s day is flled with movement in a Montessori classroom, and not just the 2-3 hours they are outside (if they are an all-day child), but throughout the day. Montessori studied human development from birth to adulthood, and she recognized the young child’s need for movement into the lessons with opportunities to move. Even in the elementary classes, students spend time moving, gathering leaf samples from the garden, feeding fsh at the pond, or doing lesson follow-on work outside. When we factor in the extended outdoor classroom space on decks and patios at Raintree, it is clear the children get plenty of exercise.

Te third may be that you are distracted by work, a cell phone call, or other adults. Once you are in the building, we ask that you turn off your cell phone and limit your conversations to brief exchanges with adults. Tese brief exchanges do not release you from supervising your child. In fact, in order

138 NO MAN’S LAND SYNDROME to get your attention, children often choose these moments to act out, so be ready to hold your child’s hand and end your conversation. Every parent will understand. While the peacefulness at Raintree is important, the safety of the children takes priority over everything else.

• Drive slowly in the parking lot. • Children from the elementary classes perform community service functions at Raintree throughout the day going from the lower elementary and upper elementary buildings and into the Phoenix building. Please always drive slowly going in and out of our parking lot. Watch for children at all times. • Do not talk on your cell phone. Please put it on mute when coming into a Raintree building. • Go to your child’s coat rack and gather items. • After your child shakes the teacher’s hand, she is in your care, and the responsibility for her safety and behavior is yours. It is now your job to make sure she is safe. • Do not say to your child, “Do you want to play some more? I’ll sit here and watch you. Let me know when you are ready to leave.” If you do this, the syndrome metastasizes. No horsing around or negotiating departure. • Do not allow your child to run ahead of you or climb on the railing, front planter, a car. • Do not allow your child to go up or down stairs, into classrooms, or leave the building without you. • Do not allow shouting or loud voices. Tere are still children trying to concentrate in the building. • Do not allow your child to bother children who are still in their classrooms, including the toddlers on their playground.

As parents arrive and depart each day, they often see friends with whom they would like to visit. Unless your child is already in the classroom or fastened safely in her car seat, we ask that parents refrain from having lengthy conversations with other adults. Children sense when adults are not focused on them, and left unsupervised, may do things they would not normally do at home or in a classroom at Raintree.

Please note: Tese same guidelines apply to other events that require parental supervision. If you attend a potluck, hold a scout meeting or arrange to have your soccer group use our campus, the safety of your child and others is in your hands.

139 OBSERVATION GUIDELINES

PARENT OBSERVATION GUIDELINES

Welcome to Raintree! We are delighted that you have decided to step into the world of a Raintree student. In order to see the classroom function as normally as possible, please try to observe the following guidelines.

• Bring a notebook and pen to note events or conversations during your observation time. Please fll out the questionnaire before you leave and set up a time to chat with me to answer any questions you may have. • Please sit quietly in the observation chair. Our children are accustomed to observers and should continue their work as normal. • Please do not engage the children. If a child asks you a question or begins to talk to you, respond with a brief but kind answer. It is appropriate to tell an inquisitive child that you are observing and must get back to work. • Please remember that you are here to learn more about Montessori and observe how the classroom works. You are not here only to observe your own child. Your child may become excited by your presence. He/she may try to perform for you, become shy, or become distracted from his/her own work. You may not get an accurate glimpse into your child’s normal social, emotional, or academic tendencies. • As you leave, we ask that you respect the privacy of the individual children in any subsequent conversations you may have about our school.

Please look for the following: • Children at work. • Children of different ages working together. • Children solving problems on their own. One of our main goals is to foster independence. When an adult jumps in and provides solutions or help, children do not have the opportunity to develop their own abilities and problem solving skills. • Children in transition from one work to another. • Children using materials to learn. • Children who move around the room with a purpose. A child who appears to walking aimlessly around the room may be contemplating his next work or observing others. • Children who exhibit qualities of independence, self-discipline, self-direction, attention, concentration and joy.

When you are ready to leave, please let the teacher know so that he/she can answer any immediate questions you may have. It may also be helpful to set up a short meeting or have a phone call with your classroom teacher to share your thoughts about the classroom observation.

140 OBSERVATION GUIDELINES

Observation Questionnaire

Before you leave, we would appreciate if you would fll out this questionnaire. Tank you for visiting our classroom!

Date and time of observation:

What did you fnd most interesting?

What other classrooms/schools have you observed?

Did you see any children solving problems on their own?

Is there anything you observed that you have questions about?

Do you feel that you have more of an understanding about Montessori after this observation?

Would you like to receive more information about the Montessori method of education? What could we do to make your observation more rewarding?

141 HANDBOOK OF COMMUNICABLE DISEASES

KANSAS CLASSROOM HANDBOOK OF COMMUNICABLE DISEASES Update: July 2003

Kansas Department of Health and Environment Bureau of Epidemiology and Disease Prevention Epidemiologic Services Curtis State Office Building 1000 SW Jackson, Suite 210 Topeka, Kansas 66612-1274 Phone (785) 296-2951 Fax (785) 291-3775 www.kdhe.state.ks.us/immunize

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