Rearranging

“The first aim of the prepared environment is, as far as it is possible, to render the growing child independent of the adult. ” Maria Montessori

Happy Wednesday!

We are in the final stretches of the crawl to spring break. If you are a teacher, are you feeling me? The energy is high, the weather has been gloomy. We are all simply over it. So we decided to rearrange a little.

In our now seven years of teaching together, Stephanie and I have constantly re-arranged our environment with the children. Stephanie is a wizard at arranging classroom furniture—she has a way that makes the space feel fresh. We have spent whole morning work cycles cleaning and re-arranging the classroom together. It’s good work for everyone. We move shelves and the children come behind us and sweep. They work alongside us to roll up the big rugs and move them around. One year, I steam mopped the entire classroom with the children. Nearly every child participated in some way—moving furniture and large rugs. A few older children helped run the steam mop around the room. It was a Friday, if I remember correctly, and the perfect way to work collaboratively and feel a sense of accomplishment together when we were all low on energy and patience.

“The importance of the work does not bother children, they are satisfied when they have done as much as they can and see that they are not excluded from an opportunity to exert themselves in their surroundings. The most admired work is that which offers the greatest opportunities to each one. ” Maria Montessori, The Discovery of the Child

Yesterday, while our youngest community members took their afternoon nap, we began re-arranging the classroom with some of our older children. We rolled the big rugs and worked together to carry them to their new spot. Stephanie and I moved shelves and the children rushed with small brooms and dustpans to sweep the messes that had collected behind them. At one point, four shelves were in the middle of the classroom. One of our youngest children came in from his nap, still waking up and a little disoriented. I told him we were rearranging the furniture and asked him if he wanted to sweep under the shelves that had been moved. He ran to get the small broom and dustpan and precisely swept up little piles of dried beans that had fallen behind the Practical Life shelf. “What do you think about a table here?” some of them asked. When they arrived this morning, some of them proudly gave their family a tour of the classroom that they helped rearrange.

Observation should inform all of our classroom practices, including how we arrange the furniture. What is happening socially? Are there places in the classroom where unwanted behavior consistently happens? That’s what sparked this change for Stephanie and I, who swapped math and Practical Life. Our snack area has invited a bit of mischief lately, so we made some adjustments there, as well.

The community of children changes as each child grows and develops. Why should the environment stay the same? There should be consistency and routine, of course, but don’t be afraid to re-arrange the furniture if you feel that things are a little stagnant. And don’t forget to include the children. Moving the furniture around is really good work for us all now and then.

“The first aim of the prepared environment is, as far as it is possible, to render the growing child independent of the adult.” Maria Montessori, The Secret of Childhood, pg 267