Thursday 14 October 2010

Classroom at home!

I've lost count of the number of times I have set up a Montessori classroom! I thought it would get easier the more times I do this, but it's getting harder! I'm finding it hard to get motivated! Things are dragging on and I'm just so frustrated I want to get it finished! Frustration and motivation aside, I'm really happy that finally I've accomplished one of my dreams: I have a beautiful Montessori classroom in my home! I do feel really lucky. But I wish I can find the motivation to get it finished! There's so much left to do. So much!!! I want it to be perfect!

Over the summer my plans for teaching changed a lot. Firstly Big-S who is now 10yrs will no longer be attending. After many discussions, me and her mother felt it was best for her to go into regular school in order to prepare her for secondary school next year. She is now attending a private school and has settled in well enjoying the socialisation. I will miss her so much, however it is best for everyone this way. All the really advanced activities have been put away. The students I am left with are my son Little-N [6yrs] and his friend Little-S [6yrs] . Then two weeks ago we were joined by Little-M [5yrs], he's a wonderful, funny and cute boy. He needs a lot of sensorial and practical life activities to develop his concentration and focus, I had to rearrange the class to include some of these for him. Also my nephew Mu-Mu turned three and I decided that I must find away to include him in the classroom somehow [I'll post separately about my plans for Mu-Mu]. As you can see there have been big changes. My classroom now consists of 3 boys between the ages of 5-6yrs and we have a little 3yr old on the side.

Anyway here are some pictures and detailed posts will follow once I feel that I have perfected each area. The classroom is actually very small, somehow it looks bigger in the pictures!


The shelf to the right has practical life activities. The centre shelf is sensorial and shelves to the left are for mathematics.
The shelf to the left of this photo is the science section.
My map shelf which also contains the continent boxes and some folders containing geography related activities.
Oliver making sure he leaves cat fur on the maps.
This is the reading corner with non-fiction books to the left and fiction reading books to the right.
The shelves on the right are for literacy activities.

Mathematics shelves. I made a bead cabinet which is on the left of this photo but I will post about it separately.
Grammar shelf and the pink tower.

Many of the shelves are still empty!!! And I am not happy with the order of some of the materials. I will still be doing a lot of rearranging and material making over the next few weeks.

I'm eagerly awaiting everyones feedback on the classroom set up and any advice is welcomed. If you see anything that I can do better or have any neat ideas for arranging the materials then please do let me know!!

8 comments:

Paul and Ines said...

Wow! It's so beautiful...i must admit it's one of my fave parts, putting the classroom together :) have fun!

Annicles said...

wow - it must be hard in such a confined space but how nice to have a 3-6 age class. I always start with practical life and work around the room in order - PL, sensorial, literacy, maths, cultural, art, so that in fact, PL, art and cultural are all together, as they are what a 3 year old is most likely to be drawn to first and they all feed off each other. Sometimes it is hard to tell whether an activity is PL, art or cultural!
The fun is in making it personal to your students and you. I'm looking forward to your promised posts about areas of the classroom.

N from the Learning Ark said...

Paul and Ines, thank you, I am trying to enjoy it!
Annicles, I'm still hoping to keep my class as 6-9, although I wont be having any older children just yet. I will be training the three year old so that he can come in the afternoons and hopefully not cause any disruption. Usually I set my classroom up just like you, starting from practical life and working from that, however due to limitations of space I must have mathematics on specific shelves and science in a certain area. That's messed up the sequencing! I might just pull everything down and start again!!!

nun said...

Wow....Looks really great....the classromm is very very nice....i can feel it....just as the one u did set up here once....great days...keep it up...and please post more about MU-MU..

Sangitha said...

Hi, got here blog hopping and had a quick question. My son is in a montessori school and has some issues with concentration. What were you talking about with your new 5 year old that could help with concentration and focus? Will be of great help to me at home and am sure his teacher will appreciate it too! ;-D Thanks.

Leptir (Nataša) said...

Classroom looks great :-)

Gigi said...

Your classroom looks so beautiful. I am having a hard time with space and sequence of materials. I don't think the kids notice but I do!

Mz Bel. said...

I am constantly working my classroom at home. We have moved three times since starting montessori and added two new babies since we began. I now have four different age groups working in the one room. So I can totally relate to not having the sequence in order. I love your set up though. You have made it fit into a small space maybe that's what I need to do, make it more compact so I can fit everything in. Thanks for posting suh practical advice.