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Today officially ends the palindrome days of 2019. Nothing set my mind soaring like hearing that the dates from 9/10/19 through 9/19/19 are all palindromes – numbers that are the same when written backward and forward. I love this! As we finish out these days of the palindrome, I have more questions that answers. When will this occur again? How often does it happen? Google helped me learn some of the answers and left some for me to continue to ponder. One thing was clear – the format one uses for dates drives the answer to the question being asked.
For some reason, numbers fascinate, inspire and soothe me. They are interesting and cause me to think beyond whatever fact they are describing. Recently I worked on a big project that required lots of data crunching. As our team crunched away, we asked more and more questions. We were working hard to make sure the numbers were telling the story that they appeared to be telling. It’s easy to find a numerical answer to a problem. It’s more difficult to make sure that the number being put forth is truly describing the situation clearly and accurately.
As palindrome week comes to an end, consider the patterns that are present every day. What do you notice? How are numbers influencing your thinking? What story can they tell?
Much of what we learn in school is memorized, tested and forgotten. Dr. Maria Montessori believed that children must experience learning through multiple senses; sensory experiences are crucial in the earliest years of development. She developed materials that you will find in most Montessori schools. These materials allow children to explore a concept through their hands, their eyes and language. They provide more than one pathway to learning. 
Stories. They are part and parcel of all of our lives. If we are lucky, we begin our lives with stories being read to us from a very young age. The books of our youth are often worn out before we tire of them. Children never tire of hearing a favorite book or story. Stories teach us the rhythm of words, the joy of surprise and the comfort of resolution. Our family stories may not be written in a book, though are shared from generation to generation. They too teach us the elements of a good story and are sometimes embellished, though rarely forgotten. 
At Wilmington Montessori School, we have just sent out a new progress report and are in the process of conducting conferences with parents. As we worked to help parents understand the new format of the reports and think about the reasons for including each element on the report, I have been thinking about progress. Now, you may be nothing like me in this way, but in my life I have progressed and regressed many, many times – probably more times than I would like to consider. Interestingly, as we observe children and their growth, we look for and yearn for steady progress with few, if any, bumps along the way. Is this realistic?
I am a huge…unbelievably huge…fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers. I grew up in the days of the 
Each of us has had the experience of learning something new and finding it easy. For some, learning about scientific theories comes easily and “just makes sense.” For others anything math may be fun, challenging and engaging. No two of us are exactly the same in these ways. I, for example, have learned about Greek and Roman gods many times…and I know very little. It’s not because I didn’t listen, read or do my assigned work. It’s simply because it doesn’t and never has interested me. Before you rush to judgment, think for a moment about what you have learned, perhaps multiple times, that you simply didn’t like learning. Now that you are an adult do you remember it? Do you know as much about that topic as you do about something that truly captured your imagination? Often it doesn’t matter how difficult the subject matter is. It’s about our engagement. 