Wacky Wednesday

Today’s the big day! One of the two preschool classes has their much-anticipated Mother’s Day tea today! Because of configuration problems with the set up for the tea, today was deemed “Wacky Wednesday” at the preschool. One of the classrooms was all set up for the tea, so both preschool classes shared space in the other classroom this morning. Talk about a crazy start to the day. In actuality, though, it all worked out quite well.

For the students visiting the other classroom, they had a great time trying out all the new and different jobs, most of which were different than the ones in their own classroom. There were magnets, pouring activities, a wide variety of building materials, different colorings, and so much more to explore. I also noticed that there was a lot of intermingling between the two classes, as students who are not usually together during the day were playing together all morning.

While there are a few sets of siblings in the two classes, I didn’t really expect to see so much mixing between the two different classes. As I think about it more now, though, I’m starting to realize that this is one of the hallmarks of a Montessori education: mixed age group classes.

The Montessori Method of teaching encourages classes to mix up the ages of students. This doesn’t mean that an infant and a five year old will be in the same class, but ages will differ within reason, typically with one class encompassing a two to three year age span. The general idea behind this is that students will be able to learn from each other; there will always be another student working at your level. Additionally, students tend to stay in the same class for two or three years before moving on, so having a range of ages allows there to be some turnover each year without completely disrupting class dynamics. This gives the students the opportunity to both feel confident in class while also encountering new people and new dynamics.