My DS just started at a new Montessori school this year and is in the lower elementary classroom. He just turned 6.
He went to a different Montessori school last year, was in a 3 to 6 year old class and loved it. I have Montessori certification for the 3 to 6 age group, and so have been really clear on what a 3 to 6 year old class should be like. While his school last year did some things that were "un-Montessori", it was an overall wonderful school and I am so happy he was able to go there. He loved it, I loved it and part way through the school year, HE asked if he could start staying the full school day instead of just the half day because "I just love doing work".
We are on week three at the new school, and he says pretty much every morning that he doesn't want to go to school, tries to negotiate different things ("maybe I could just go half days like some of the younger kids"), tells me pretty much every day that he is bored at school, etc. I feel so sad to see him go from loving school to dreading school.
There are a number of differences I see between the schools - the teachers at the last school were really warm and nurturing. The head teacher also had a wonderful sense of humor and just "got" my son. They were also a lot stricter and expectations were a lot higher. I think that the change in the school culture has been a hard adjustment for him. I get that we really lucked out with a wonderful school last year and we can't expect all teachers to be like his last teacher.
An equally hard adjustment, I believe, is the work they are doing at this new school. Everyone has an assigned desk, there is a lot of desk time, DS does between 3 and 5 worksheets/pages in a workbook a day, minimal use of the Montessori materials (really maybe only 1/3 of the stuff on the shelves is Montessori), they work from a work plan and the teacher writes down what they should do that day (so the kids don't choose their own work). To be fair, I am really trying to give this class the benefit of the doubt, especially because I am not trained in this age group and so I really don't know how an elementary Montessori class should function. My gut tells me it isn't authentic Montessori because it differs so much from the philosophy and psychology that I learned for the younger age group. I have a hard time imagining that the philosophy would move from allowing younger children to be self directed by choosing their own work to not allowing older children to do the same thing; or that despite all of the beautiful math materials I know are available, Montessori says that in this age group, worksheets are more beneficial; or that despite the emphasis on the importance of freedom of movement for the younger kids, being required to sit in a desk is better for this age group....
So I am curious how other Montessori elementary classrooms are run. Does your child have an assigned desk? How much time do they spend in their desk? Do they have a work plan that the teacher creates? Do they choose any of their own work? How much emphasis, if any, is placed on worksheets/workbooks? Or do they primarily use the Montessori materials to learn with? Do they have reading groups and spelling tests? Is there some major philosophical shift within the Montessori philosophy for this age group that I am not getting?!
He went to a different Montessori school last year, was in a 3 to 6 year old class and loved it. I have Montessori certification for the 3 to 6 age group, and so have been really clear on what a 3 to 6 year old class should be like. While his school last year did some things that were "un-Montessori", it was an overall wonderful school and I am so happy he was able to go there. He loved it, I loved it and part way through the school year, HE asked if he could start staying the full school day instead of just the half day because "I just love doing work".
We are on week three at the new school, and he says pretty much every morning that he doesn't want to go to school, tries to negotiate different things ("maybe I could just go half days like some of the younger kids"), tells me pretty much every day that he is bored at school, etc. I feel so sad to see him go from loving school to dreading school.
There are a number of differences I see between the schools - the teachers at the last school were really warm and nurturing. The head teacher also had a wonderful sense of humor and just "got" my son. They were also a lot stricter and expectations were a lot higher. I think that the change in the school culture has been a hard adjustment for him. I get that we really lucked out with a wonderful school last year and we can't expect all teachers to be like his last teacher.
An equally hard adjustment, I believe, is the work they are doing at this new school. Everyone has an assigned desk, there is a lot of desk time, DS does between 3 and 5 worksheets/pages in a workbook a day, minimal use of the Montessori materials (really maybe only 1/3 of the stuff on the shelves is Montessori), they work from a work plan and the teacher writes down what they should do that day (so the kids don't choose their own work). To be fair, I am really trying to give this class the benefit of the doubt, especially because I am not trained in this age group and so I really don't know how an elementary Montessori class should function. My gut tells me it isn't authentic Montessori because it differs so much from the philosophy and psychology that I learned for the younger age group. I have a hard time imagining that the philosophy would move from allowing younger children to be self directed by choosing their own work to not allowing older children to do the same thing; or that despite all of the beautiful math materials I know are available, Montessori says that in this age group, worksheets are more beneficial; or that despite the emphasis on the importance of freedom of movement for the younger kids, being required to sit in a desk is better for this age group....
So I am curious how other Montessori elementary classrooms are run. Does your child have an assigned desk? How much time do they spend in their desk? Do they have a work plan that the teacher creates? Do they choose any of their own work? How much emphasis, if any, is placed on worksheets/workbooks? Or do they primarily use the Montessori materials to learn with? Do they have reading groups and spelling tests? Is there some major philosophical shift within the Montessori philosophy for this age group that I am not getting?!
s I'm no help. Our classroom is similar in ds's public school "Montessori" program, but I've learned that this is NOT what a lower el. classroom looks like. (You can read through some of my posts over the past 6 weeks and see what others have had to say on simlar subjects, if you want additional information to what people reply here.)
I'd address some of these issues with the teacher. I can't say that it's made a lot of difference in my ds's class for me to have talked with the teacher, but she has made some changes.
