The Toddlers are bursting with life in their new year. Many are encountering very new experiences, such as being away from mom for a morning and learning to do a lot more for themselves. One child in our program in the middle of his separation anxiety decided he wanted to help another child who was also having a tough moment. It turned into an absolutely delightful interaction between two two and a half year-olds. In these beginning days of the year our main goal is to help the children adjust and be happy in this new environment. Once that happens we are able to show them some of the ground rules of the Montessori classroom as well as skills for accomplishing all the new works they are doing.
We are now beginning to show them how to put their work away. I have already seen children who had not yet developed this habit begin to do this spontaneously. After a child finishes a work, we encourage them to take it and put it back on the shelf where they found it. It is common for this age child to actually forget that they are engaged in one activity because they become intrigued by another activity. They then drop the first work and go to the next one. If this continues, chaos in the environment sets in which is not very conducive to concentration or order in the child's mind. It is a definite discipline to finish one task completely before going on to the next one. Of course, in the adult world there are times when multitasking is essential but one cannot do efficient multitasking if one is unable to bring any one thing to completion.
In our environment we aim for order because in children of this age there is a particular sensitivity to order. It is one of the main "Sensitive Periods" that Montessori refers to in many of her writings. Order in the environment is what the child bases reality on. For us, order enables us to function well and peacefully in our world. An adult will often feel unsettled in a disorderly environment. A child on the other hand, has a much deeper dependence on a given order in the environment. The child's mind is being constructed by the experiences and the encounters of his or her daily life. A good friend who used to teach Jr. High and High School in a local school used to counsel her students with the words, "organization is the key to success." Even students of only average ability could do well in a very demanding curriculum if they had a handle on organization and order in their stuff and in their schedules. On the other hand, some of her extremely gifted students might flounder if they did not have the ability to keep their lives in order. Our Montessori alumni often come back to us and tell us how well they are doing in high school and college. One of the big things that they refer to is their ability to manage their time. Time management at the elementary and Jr. High level here is an outgrowth of what we begin in the Toddler room, learning to bring one thing to completion; learning to put our work away. Learning to maintain order with very simple things at this stage in the child's life will help him to become more effective in his life as he grows into adulthood.
Submitted by Lori Twinning
