Volunteering in your Child’s Classroom

Parental involvement should be considered a crucial part of childhood development and education. Aside from the benefits discussed below, volunteering in your child’s classroom will help your child build self esteem, and it will give you a direct view of how your child’s spends their school time. Especially in the Montessori classroom, parent involvement is part of the process, contributing to a well-rounded learning environment and promoting social interaction.

Benefits of Volunteering

Your presence in the classroom is beneficial to your child, your instructor, and to yourself. It builds a working relationship between yourself and the teachers, allows more interaction between yourself and your child, and gives you the satisfaction of playing a larger part in your child’s developmental years. As a member of Montessori advisory committees, you are able to have a say in how and what your child will be taught and some influence over classroom-specific decisions.

How To Play a Part

The first step to volunteering your time in the classroom is to make contact with the teacher and school administration. Ask them where assistance is needed and set aside the time to be there and do your part. Special occasions and school events, for example, are always looking for parent volunteers to help things go smoothly and provide a satisfactory experience for everyone. If you want to have a more pronounced role, ask about joining a parent advisory committee and become active in making school and classroom decisions which will affect your children’s education.

Parent-Child Relationships

Parent volunteers enjoy the benefits of spending more time with their children. This helps builds stronger family bonds and instills a sense of community participation in the children. It shows your children that you are interested in their success and has a positive influence on how children perceive the educational process. This, in turn, builds confidence in the children and gives them an accomplishment-oriented purpose in the classroom.

Parent-Teacher Interaction

Parent volunteers are able to establish a bond with the staff of the school. This creates additional channels for communication and displays to the children that their parents and teachers are all working together. Such involvement also reduces classroom disruptions and often has a positive effect on how children interact with each other.

Enrolling your child in a Montessori school is the first step in giving them a powerful tool for learning. To make that tool even more successful, volunteering your time in school functions, special events, and classroom activities will not only provide more learning potential for the children, it will build adult and student bonds that reinforce the importance social interactions.

At the Montessori School of Fremont, we invite parents and guardians to volunteer in our classroom.  Here, they have an opportunity to not only see their child learning, but also observe how other children thrive in the Montessori learning environment.  To see how you can play an active role in your child’s education by volunteering in the classroom, contact us today.

Transitioning from a Daycare to a Montessori School

Childhood is full of transitions, but one of the ones that is simultaneously the most anticipated and the most dreaded is starting a new school. This transition can be especially challenging when switching from daycare to a Montessori school because your child has to not only adjust to a new teacher and setting, but also a new set of expectations.

Fortunately, there are ways to make the transition a little easier on your child, and therefore on yourself. Here are a few ways to smooth things over.

Familiarize Your Child with Montessori-Type Expectations

Since the Montessori method is based around independent play and education, your child’s new classroom is bound to feel very different than daycare. One of the main differences is the independence expected of children in the Montessori environment.

You can help your child prepare by encouraging greater independence at home. Here are a few easy ways to incorporate independence into your child’s daily routine and help prepare him or her for the expectations of a Montessori classroom:

  • Get dressed, brush hair and teeth, get ready for the day
  • Help cook in the kitchen, serve food
  • Organize and clean up toys
  • Help with chores such as sweeping, unloading the dishwasher, and sorting and folding laundry
  • Encourage self-guided play, art, and reading (even if just looking at pictures)

Expect Some Challenges

Once your child starts at the new school, you’ll undergo a transition yourself: Instead of trying to prepare your child for their new Montessori school, you’ll have to be there to offer support. Kids under pressure from a demanding transition respond in a variety of ways. Depending on age, your child might:

  • Need extra sleep
  • Get upset more easily or throw tantrums
  • Struggle with drop-offs
  • Act needy or clingy

During this period, it’s important to keep the lines of communication open as much as possible with your child as well as with his or her teachers.

Support the Montessori Method at Home

You can help to ease the transition by continuing to support Montessori ideas at home, not only while your child is settling in to the new classroom, but afterward as well. Here are a few of the ways you can incorporate the same principles into your child’s home life.

  • Set up a “work space” at home. A table and chairs, tucked into the corner of your child’s bedroom or playroom, makes a great Montessori work space for home. Stock storage shelves nearby with art supplies and manipulatives.
  • Continue fostering independence. Look for opportunities at home to teach new skills and encouraging continued independence.
  • Follow the child. Allow time with your child where he or she chooses the activity, mirroring the Montessori theme of following the child.

The best way to prepare for a transition to a Montessori program is to understand what the Montessori method entails. If you have questions about the Montessori environment or how to prepare your child for the transition, please contact us today for a tour of our school.  The staff and teachers at the Montessori School of Flagstaff Westside campus work with parents, guardians, and students to ensure the child is prepared and excited for their new journey into Montessori education.

Montessori Kindergarten: What Children Learn

The Montessori learning model stands out because of the unique and innovative approaches it takes when educating young minds. It is based on many years worth of research into all of the different aspects of a child’s development including: cognitive, emotional, neurological, physical, and more.

The goal behind Montessori educational programs is to provide a well-rounded learning experience that fits children of all ages and backgrounds. Here’s what children will learn in a Montessori kindergarten classroom.

Academic Intelligence

Unlike the traditional learning model found in public classrooms, Montessori programs focus on more than just gaining academic knowledge. However, Montessori programs understand so-called “book smarts” are extremely important to a child’s overall development. As academics are such a vital part of the Montessori learning experience, Montessori schools have taken great care to design curriculum that is both fun and educational.

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is greatly underrated in our society, and that’s why the Montessori kindergarten program has developed new and exciting ways to enhance each students’ ability to process their thoughts and emotions in healthy and productive ways.

Much of our emotional intelligence is learned through simply knowing how to be self-sufficient and trusting our own judgments while still valuing the advice and guidance of others. Montessori schools will encourage their students to be independent and free thinkers alongside their teacher who will be there to guide them each step of the way.

Social Intelligence

Knowing how to start, grow, and maintain interpersonal relationships can be a deciding factor in our quality of life. That’s why Montessori kindergarten programs put special emphasis on teaching children how to relate to others.

Montessori educators believe it’s important to start this socialization process early so it becomes part of student as they continue to learn, grow, and develop throughout life. Every Montessori classroom is a place where differences and diversity are celebrated rather than just tolerated.

Critical Thinking

What does it mean to be a critical thinker? That’s a question we want every Montessori student to answer for themselves. Learning how to think critically is a process that must start early on to lay its foundations for the rest of their lives.

Critical thinking skills are what will allow students to stand out from the crowd later in life. It also gives students the tools they need to become expert problem solvers in all areas of their development, not just academically.

Key Takeaway

The Montessori kindergarten program works to provide children with a solid start in life by exposing them to a wide variety of skills, values, experiences, and academics. Not only that, each student is encouraged to work at their own pace and think for themselves. This natural and inclusive approach to education can make a huge difference in a child’s development – one that can continue to serve them all the way through to adulthood. Contact Montessori Children’s Center today to learn about our programs, including our Montessori kindergarten program. We invite prospective parents and teachers in to tour our classrooms and meet with our teachers.