The 2nd First Day

It went well - not quite as good as the 1st first day, but I think part of that is because two of our friends and Super actually come every day, so it was their second day. Many were wiggly by the end of line time, but most of them were able to find work to keep them occupied during our entire work time without suggestions from me.

I'm debating about whether I have the right mix of materials out. I seem to have a lot of puzzles out - the continent map puzzle, the botany puzzles, the demonstration tray of the geometric puzzle, a number puzzle, and five "regular" puzzles.

I don't have much in my Math area - sandpaper numbers, the bead stair (my version of it anyway. I had the real version, but got rid of it a few years ago because I rarely have attend that are over 4. This one uses connecting cubes, and the colors aren't the Montessori colors.), one set of magnetic numerals on a cookie sheet (all red).

The Geography shelf has only the continent and land/water globe and the continent map puzzle. The Science area has the botany puzzles and labeled and unlabeled control cards for the puzzles and Dover sticker books for flowers, trees, and leaves.

The Language area has some memory/matching cards about summer, sandpaper letters, one set of magnetic letters on a cookie sheet, the red material that is talked about on this blog, and some DK cards that I use for vocabulary building and also later when we start using the moveable alphabet. The language area also has the metal (well, my version is plastic) insets.

The Sensorial shelf just has the block tower, the brown stair, knobbed cylinder A, and color box 1 and 2, the demonstration tray for the geometric cabinet, and geometric solids.

The Practical Life shelf has cloths/clothespins/closeline activity, cutting wood food, dressing vests (actually wearable and in their size) for zipping, buttoning and snapping, and opening/closing containers.

Art has a cutting activity as well as crayons and paint. I turn on the CD for music. There are also some building blocks, large dominoes, and shells. (I know, I'll get some pictures soon.)

I have many of the other Montessori materials and plans for some seasonal works to add to the other areas and I plan on introducing them gradually, as well as doing quite a big of rotating in the Practical Life area. I've done Grace and Courtesy lessons so far.

Things have gone well, better than I expected. So why do I still feel nervous? Why do I still feel like this is my 2nd year instead of my 6th? I need to keep reminding myself to trust and observe the children. If I do that, everything else will fall into place.

- Mrs. F