A little Montessori Musings for a Monday evening. I walked into Fireflies this afternoon and was filled with joy at all the different 'work' that was going on. Yet the work was not a maths lesson or an english lesson - it was work of a different type.. Creativity in song writing and scene painting, collaborative work in scene writing and decision making about who should do what - supporting and encouraging all the individuals in the class. Developing ideas from the class book that the children have had read to them by a teacher at the end of the school day over the last 5 weeks - a book with a depth about climate change and our world in the future - so lets throw in some learning about compassion for others, how to protect our environment, understanding other peoples pain - through the story called Floodlands. Remembering the teacher who cried as she read the last chapter - learning about emotion and deep felt feelings as words were read out loud. Raising children up - together as a class.. working as a team to pull together a simple performance sharing the thoughts of an amazing story - a performance which has required planning and developing ideas - together. Is our class just about the academic progress in maths and english - no it is so much more- and so it should be... This is our Montessori classroom x