Last week, I spent some time working in our full-year toddler classsroom. The program in that room in the summer is still part of Camp Montessori, but since all but one of the children have been in the room since September (or last June), the differences in the children's independence and the cohesion of the group are striking. The children clean up their own lunches, wash their hands, get out and set up their own nap mats, and transition to rest time with a smoothness that is hard to attain even in Primary classes with much older children.  

 

What's the difference? The full-year program gives them such a strong base of consistent experience that even when novel things occur, the children and staff know themselves, one another and the classroom so well that they manage the change easily.  Even though the children are toddlers and some don't have much expressive language, they are confident in their ability to both complete routine tasks without adult help and to master new and unique challenges as they arrive. Today, Lauren Harris (the classroom's lead teacher) had purchased a "garden in a box." One of the older children saw the box and asked what was in it. Lauren said it was a garden and asked who would like to help put it together.

 

Three children volunteered. Lauren said, "First I need to get my screwdriver!" One child repeated her sentence twice with delight, and all three waited eagerly for Lauren's return. They sat down with her and began the project, laughing with her when the partially-built plant rack fell apart, assisting her in putting it back together. They asked intelligent questions, wondered aloud about what they would do with it once it was constructed, and did not once doubt that they could accomplish it together.

 

Other children were playing in the sand, patting their palms into streams of water, or sitting on a blanket under a tree, looking at books. It was Montessori at its best, and it happens year-round!