Today I Volunteered at ...

Riley's school! I love his classroom, his school, his teachers;Miss Sherrie & Miss Ada. Maria Montessori rocks! They have such a high standard for education. I know the typical judgement of Monetssori schools with no structure and so on. but I've taught in the public school system and now have witnessed this Montessori method and I am definitely seeing positive results. The class size is to die for. such one on one attention and instruction when needed. The children are treated like adults and encouraged to think constructively. So today the kids made handmade paper from scratch. It was amazing. Riley is only 3 and made 2 pieces of paper. I know he's a little embarassed here that I am taking pictures, but I am so proud!!!!! First of all, each child ripped up their "pulp" and then selected a colour, if desired. then soaked all the pieces in water. a teacher, parent or the guest speaker blended their paper/water mix to make a "smoothie look", when ready they poured it onto the screens and let the water drip out into containers.

They let the children do all the shaking to flatten the paper, the sponging, almost everything.

then they also made a different kind of paper from lint. The papers were ironed at the end but then we left them to dry. So hopefully I'll take some finished project pictures tomorrow or whenever Riley can bring them home.I can't believe how much they challenge the children to learn and outside the box too. It's nice to have confidence in a school. Can't wait to see what they continue to keep learning.