Montessori Radmoor

I was talking to several parents at our open house in January and the topic of the prepared environment came up on more than one occasion. I started thinking about how much parents know or possibly don’t know about preparing an environment for a child in a Montessori setting and the role of the adult?

The first role of the adult is to look at the human environment which entails who the child comes into contact with on a daily basis. In this case, it would be the lead teacher and the assistant’s in the classroom. The adults need to prepare themselves emotionally, professionally, and personally. This means coming into to the classroom happy, healthy, and emotionally ready to be present.

Professionally, the adults in the room continue to read materials, attend conferences, workshops, utilize observation and communicate openly with one another.

The second role of the adult is to prepare the physical environment for the children that are in that classroom. This is done through observation.  As a staff, we meet to see the level of ability of the child and what they’re interests might be. The key is to link the child with the environment.  It’s important for the adult to model behavior while in the environment, to give lessons in practical life and language. When doing so, the adult might see obstacles, and then remove them. An obstacle might be the child can’t reach the faucet or a table is too tall. It could also be the adult not giving a child the time or space a child needs. Once the obstacles are removed, the adult takes time to directly observe the classroom. Are the children working well? Is there too much open space? Are the materials appropriate?

Once the adult has observed she needs to allow for freedom. Give the child a chance to explore without being that obstacle.

My staff and I do this to the best of our ability every week. We observe your child’s interests. We share with each other and prepare the books, language activities, and snack ideas, all with your children in mind.

We enjoy this time and preparing the environment for your children! Daniel and Cash joined us in January and we have enjoyed getting to know them. We say goodbye to Dishan and best wishes to him in Primary.

Sincerely,

Kristy

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