Education for Life

Sometimes Montessori is criticized for not allowing children to be creative and sometimes for allowing too much creative freedom. Perhaps that contradiction comes from how we think of creativity. What exactly is it and what does it look like when children are creative in our CMS classrooms? The loose definition that comes up in a google search is "the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work". Dr. Montessori differentiated between imagination and imitation. Imitation is very visible in the first plane of development, as young children try out things they are seeing around them. Imagination truly kicks in during the second plane when the child becomes capable of imagining things that aren't around them or don't actually exist in the current time. This is reflected in the big work of the elementary level. What is most apparent in our Montessori classrooms every day is the second part of the definition - original ideas. When children have the freedom to explore and try things out, they often find a path less traveled which is quite wonderful to see!

Reflecting & Taking Stock Last Friday was Conference day - an important event on our school calendar. I'm happy to report that we met our goal of 100% participation ! That is a strong statement from our parent community regarding the high value you have all placed on education. We are truly grateful to have such a committed and supportive parent body at CMS. Conferences are a good time to pause and reflect on things your child has done and also to look ahead at what is next to come. In the business of our day-to-day activities, we don't always take the time to marvel at the amazing capacity kids have to learn and to take stock of what they've accomplished and the progress they've made and continue to make. We're glad to collectively take a moment for this!