The Montessori Message

The Montessori Message

Tag Archives: time

What happens when school starts?

10 Tuesday Sep 2019

Posted by Lisa Lalama in Wilmington Montessori School

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after school, back to school, recess, social curriculum, summer, time

Heather Siple-Frst Day010
The carefree days of summer are behind us. Were they as carefree as we romanticize them to be? Summer means time – time spent outdoors, long stretches of time with “nothing” to do, time spent with siblings, neighbors and other kids with minimal adult intervention. Maybe you have memories of playing baseball on summer afternoons, hitting, missing, and throwing down the bat and heading home in a huff. Or perhaps you spent hours at the pool with your friends. Or maybe you lived in a more rural location and were able to amble through the woods, fighting imaginary villains, climbing trees and building forts – all without adult help.

Things change. And one of the things that has changed is the amount of unstructured time available to children. They are enrolled in programs after school, on weekends and sometimes in the summer months. If a child really wants to excel in a sport or interest, participating in it as part of a school program may not be enough. And everyone is expected to excel.

As school is starting, there are more and more articles appearing such as this one, focusing on the increasing levels of anxiety in our children. The upshot of this and much of the research about this topic points to the same things: “Kids need recess. They need longer lunches. They need free play, family time, meal time. They need less homework, fewer tests, a greater emphasis on social-emotional learning.” And all of these things that are stated as “needs” are things less and less available in our culture today, for many reasons. We know what children need – what they’ve always needed: time to dream, imagine, play, and enjoy the company of their friends and families – just like they always have. 

Time Frames, Not Timelines

13 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by Lisa Lalama in Learning, Montessori Education, Wilmington Montessori School

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learning, montessori, three-year age group, three-year cycle, time

Time. It’s one thing many of us say we don’t have enough of. It’s finite, yet also unlimited. Thinking about the time that has come before today is, in many respects, incomprehensible – just as it is to think of time far into the future. Children know now... it takes years for them to understand yesterday or tomorrow. They truly live in the present moment, which is something many adults strive to do.

It can be said that time is an artificial construct. It is divided into seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries and so on. In other ways, it provides the structure we need to manage our lives. School years mean something different than fiscal years or calendar years. Within each of these “years” are other divisions of time. In schools, each year brings new classrooms and students as well as different aspects of the basic subjects taught there. Continue reading →

Time to Learn

28 Thursday Apr 2016

Posted by Lisa Lalama in Learning, Montessori Education, Research, Wilmington Montessori School

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engaged learners, engagement, environment, learning, montessori, Montessori education, time, Wilmington Montessori, Wilmington Montessori School, work model

_DSC6351I just read this article, which shares the wisdom that students perform better when having math class in the morning. The premise is that although many high schools have later start times than they used to because we all know teens need more sleep, it may not be serving them well. The data shows that students who have math in the morning outperform those who have it in the afternoon. The question this article really raises is, “What is the optimal time for learning?” That is an entirely different question.

Our education system is devised to suit a “work” model; children are at school when their parents are at work. If you think about yourself and the people you know, my suspicion is that some of them are “morning people” and others night owls. It’s a way that we categorize ourselves. I, myself, am a morning person. If I want to be sure to have the energy to complete a challenging or demanding task, I do it right away. This applies to everything from exercising to doing chores I don’t enjoy, such as grocery shopping. I can manage later in the day; I’m just not as energetic or fresh. When my son was in high school, he was once scheduled for an afternoon math class. I was appalled. I decided I was going to call the school and request a change in his schedule. He told me, in the way our children do, that he would be quite unhappy if I made that call. “I don’t wake up until noon. It will be better for me to have that class in the afternoon.” This was a learning opportunity for me…a chance to learn what I thought I knew. We are not all ready to learn at the same time in the same ways.

As I read about the difference in test scores, I was reminded once again that the time to learn cannot be determined by us. Teachers, schools or parents can’t decide when children learn. What we can do is provide an enticing, inviting, safe and creative environment that promotes a sense of wonder and engagement. We can offer experiences that engage children in things familiar and new. We can ask them what they want to learn, listen and create lessons that allow them to do just that…learn. They will learn when they are ready to learn. And when they are ready it won’t matter what time it is because for them it will simply be the time to learn.

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