Three Essential Tools: Equipping the Elementary Child for Learning

By Sarah Fary, Upper Elementary teacher

The chill of fall is setting in, the seeds for our garden are in the ground, and both the children and I are settling into the routine of the classroom.  As guides in the Montessori classroom, our role is to prepare the environment and materials, connect the child to these materials through lessons, and then step back and allow the child to do their own work of self construction.  We must have faith that the child will take on this task with great enthusiasm.  It is, after all, their life’s work.  In the elementary classroom however, where it is more critical that the child acquire certain academic skills, this “stepping back” can sometimes feel like chaos—how can I be sure each child is practicing the lessons given? Are they responsibly balancing their work among all areas?  Are they using their time wisely?  Are they progressing? For the most part, yes they are.  There are “three essential tools” in the Montessori classroom that do not reside on the shelves, and it is these vital tools that help us to support the child in their freedom of work; they give a nudge in the right direction if the answer to any of the above questions is no.  We must never “step back” from a child who is not equipped to work on their own and manage their time.

The First Tool - Work Journals

The children know and embrace that they are here at school to work and learn. I have been very frank with them that I am able to do what is required of me in my own personal and professional life only because of the system of self-organization I’ve developed through time and practice.  Both the children and I keep a running record of our work throughout the day that we refer back to constantly.  My own work journal includes lessons given, times, who attended, notes from meetings and check-ins, to-do lists, poems that strike me, and a million other things.  In their own journals, the children record the work they do and when they begin and end it; they write stories, take notes for research projects, doodle, and keep a running record of the lessons they have received and need to practice.

The Second Tool - Societal Expectations

                It is essential to have available to the child a list of society’s expectations of what they should know and master at their particular age.  Because the elementary child is in the active process of learning how to be an individual living in society, they are naturally curious about and receptive to these imposed standards.  In our classroom this takes the form of a list of benchmarks, broken down by subject area, of what the Common Core curriculum expects from students moving into the 7th grade.  Each benchmark has notes about which Montessori lesson the child can practice to gain facility.  I presented these to the 6th years early on as a guide to their work and they jumped on them immediately.  It was a relief to them to have the expectations laid out in a clear and concise way and they quickly realized that they had mastered many of them in past years and needed only a little refreshment in order to feel confident in their knowledge.

The Third Tool - Regular Meetings Between Child and Guide

This is the most vital tool for both the child and the guide working as partners in the child’s education.  Meetings are a time when the child has my full and undivided attention.  As with lessons, I am unavailable to any other student during the duration of the meeting.  This is a time to check in with the child about how they have been using their time in the classroom.  We look through their work journal and evaluate what they have been practicing, the progress of long term projects, their readiness for further lessons in a particular area, and any lessons they would like to request.  Both of us take notes.  I stress to them that this type of record keeping is fundamental because without it we don’t have the information we both need to move forward.  For children who are having trouble with the work journal system, the meeting is a time when we work together to design their own organizational strategies and their implementation.  These meetings can be casual; if a child is wandering I will often pull them aside for these check-ins daily or even several times a day to help them get on track.  They can also be formal.  In these formal meetings I ask to see all the work the child has done since we last met.  The child will then organize their cubby and choose what finished work will go into their portfolio, what work is in progress and needs attention, and what goals they have going forward.

The minds and spirits of elementary children are a blessed, fertile ground.  I am constantly astonished and filled with joy at how a fact casually dropped in conversation, or information and skills acquired during a lesson, flourish in their care into an ambitious research project, work of art, giant math problem covering multiple sheets of paper, play, or song.  It never ceases to amaze me and replenish my love for this work.  As fall moves into winter and spring we will all continue working together, planting seeds of knowledge and delight, and looking forward to the harvest to come.