Sammy’s been at school for three months now and has pretty much loved it. He has moments where he’s shy when I drop him off and once told me that he cried because he missed me, but for the most part he’s very happy while he’s there.
His teacher is really good at sharing pictures from the classroom, so we get a nice view of what his classroom days are like. What he shares is different than the pictures show – we hear his exploits of touching a slug on the playground and when someone did something silly to make him laugh. The pictures are off the quiet times when he’s working in the classroom.
Scrubbing a table.
Chopping apples
Peeling and chopping carrots
Washing a “baby.” That’s actually a work that isn’t typically found in a Montessori classroom, but Clare asked for it one day and her teachers set it up for her. It’s nice to see that it’s so popular in the classroom.
Pouring red sand into a funnel.
Something with sponges – I think it’s absorbing water and squeezing it out.
Tracing shapes. This picture is a few months old – he’s pretty good at using a penmanship grip now.
Observing fish.
Sammy loves the fish in the classroom. He loves the other kids, though I think he’s fairly quiet and spends most of his time observing the other children. He likes the individual activities where he can focus and explore something at his own pace, though he is making friends. On the playground he mostly runs with Clare and her crew playing “family,” “kitties,” and “Frozen”, but in the classroom he seems to gravitate to some of the quieter, gentler children. His teacher does a very nice job of engaging him, communicating with him and helping him develop into a confident, if quiet, member of the classroom community.