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
