Not challenging enough? and other concerns...

[FoxintheSnow]

Ds started at Montessori a couple weeks ago. He just turned 4. His school has 2 rooms-one for the older kids and one for the younger kids. They have ds in the younger room but honestly all the trays in the younger room seem kinda babyish and not at all challenging for ds. He is dying to go in the older room and work with the beads and whatnot. The other day one of the teachers commented that he's a lot more advanced with the work than they expected. I asked if he could move to the older room and she basically gave me a long winded "no"

Then she went on to say that he wont participate in circle time or singing and just wants to work. She said it in a very negative way. She said he would rather sit to the side quietly than do any group activities. I told her that's just his personality and my husband is the same way. Ive always known ds was like that and never considered it negative till she presented it that way. What do you think?

[Flor]

Wow. I'm so sorry! My ds sounds a lot like your son and that is why I've always felt that M was perfect for him! He doesn't do many group activities, either (just like his dad) and his teachers were always 100% fine with it. They said, he'll do circle time when he's ready (took 6 months, but one day he came to the rug and now he does it everyday). I'd be concerned that they see this as a negative. I would talk to them more about your concern about the work being "babyish." I can't really think of anything in ds's classroom that seems "babyish." There are puzzles that he tells me only the 2 y os do, but other than that, I think all the children enjoy all the work. What kind of things were you seeing?

How are the rooms divided? Ours is 2-6 year olds then 6-12 year olds.

[Lingmom]

What is the age division?

I agree with the previous poster - he only just started a few weeks ago... I'd definitely give him time to settle in. As for the materials, assuming that they are more or less similar to other montessori materials, I'd imagine that a child of any age can get something out of them... so the problem may not be the materials themselves, but his perception that they are babyish. With regards to the teacher... It's a shame that you felt her response was negative. Hopefully that one comment was just miscommunicated and she's not generally negative.
Good luck!

[BCFD]

My DD's first day of Mont school is tomorrow and she will be starting in the transition room. This room will only have a max of 9 children and is for 2.5 to 3.5 year olds (DD is 3.3). I figure by summer there will be openings in the 3 to 5 year old class which has a max of 24 students and we will switch her over. I believe the transition room will be perfect for her since she is just starting school for essentially the first time (had a bad experience in a former school, but she only went for one day until I pulled her from the class). From what I recall, they have the same jobs in the smaller classroom as they do the larger one, but maybe on a much smaller scale (there might only be 50 things out and not 100 because the room is MUCH smaller).

I'd give it at least another month or so. And I agree that I hope the teacher is not negative and you just caught her during an off moment. Oh, and my DD has NEVER wanted to participate in circle/singing/story time. It will be interesting to see what the teachers have to say about this (I'll let you know).

[Lillianna]

Sometimes children are ready to move up before the age cutoff. Montessori always advocated meeting a child at his level and responding to his needs. The ages are just a guideline.
We don't even have circle time every day. We do it for birthdays and some whole class holidays. Everyone is invited which means they are free to choose not to come. It really is important that planned activities like "circle time" don't infringe on the child's work cycle.

[mightymoo]

The division sounds strange to me. My child's school does 'childrne's house', all the classrooms are 3-6, they don't divide the older children from the younger kids, learning from older children is part of the process.

That said, when they start at the beginning of the year, there is a transition period, they only have out what they call 'premontessori' materials - these are things that are like typical preschool toys, foam puzzles, etc. The idea is that they help the children understand the guidelines of the montessori classroom before putting out complicated works. My DD on coming back to her class the second year was very disappointed the beads were not out yet, but the teachers worked with her to get them out sooner than usual. I could see wanting to keep him in this younger classroom for this reason maybe, but I don't get the division of ages anyway, as that isn't what I've seen in our school.

I'm not sure what to tell you about the circle time thing, I definitely agree it shouldn't be seen as a negative trait in your son, every child has things they like and dislike, are comfortable with and are uncomfortable with. However, I will say in our school all the kids are expected to come to circle during circle time - it isn't optional. The teachers all employ gentle redirection, but they wouldn't let one child continue working if they called them to circle.

Keep in mind that the newness is a factor - my DD was enthralled with the works and the school when she first started going and didn't want to leave at all. While she still loves school, she knows she can work on something tomorrow, today isn't the only opportunity and she is willing to put away work and leave school much more willingly.

[MattBronsil]

I have some thoughts on this. I would like to know the age divisions between the classes before I give a reply.

[FoxintheSnow]

2-4 and 5-6

[MattBronsil]

Originally Posted by Jokerama

2-4 and 5-6

You usually have 3-6. One gigantic reason for this is because many 4 year olds ARE ready for the other materials. I've had 4 year olds that read as well as kindergarteners in the past.

It sounds to me like they're missing out on one of the most important parts of Montessori. Montessori states that children have different sensitive periods for development, but their learning should go along with what they are ready to learn. The multi-age environment is also a key part of Montessori. That is something that is not available at that school.

Those 2 aspects really are what people first notice about Montessori.

Matt

[Anandamama]

Yes, I wonder why they don't have the 3-6 yr old class? Is the school an AMI or AMS member school? What sort of training do the teachers have? I don't want to assume, but it's important to be aware that the word "montessori" is not trademarked and anyone can use it.
Yes, give it some more time, but if your son doesn't feel challenged, then he will be bored and probably not feel motivated to participate in classroom life in a way that will be satisfying to either him or the teacher. One of the main tenents in Montessori philosophy is to "follow the child", which means having teachers who will closely observe a child and provide him with the learning opportunities he is eager for. The 3-6 classroom is, ideally, organized in a way to be able to provide all the children with the challenges they crave.

[Flor]

My school is actually 2-6 in the primary. I wonder if they are divided like that because they have 2 yos. I think a lot of schools have this situation where they want to take 2 year olds, (there is differently licensing for under 2's so many don't want to do an infant/toddler program, they just add the 2's to the Children't House) but then it give you 2-6, a large age span and maybe too many kids. So, I wonder if that is why they are dividing like that.

[FoxintheSnow]

here's their site: http://www.oviedomontessori.com/

[MattBronsil]

From their web site, it looks like a nice school. Still curious why the age difference between the two classes.