All hard at work

The children returned to school after Easter full of their usual joy and enthusiasm.The class room is a hive of activity and they are all eager for new work. In fact, there is a wonderful sense of calm in the room and the children are completely absorbed in whatever they are doing…I introduced setting the table(for dinner and for tea), using a knife and fork and as always this has proved to be a big hit.Sensorial work has been taken to a new dimension as we can relate the smelling jars to garden herbs .The tasting jars are a firm favourite and each child must practise patiance as he awaits his turn.Both Leah and Vivienne have turned 5 so after seperate school parties they did their walk on planet earth around the sun 5 times as I related the story of all that had happened since their birth.. On Friday,we listened to a cd on bird song and then opened the school door to see if we could recognise the songs..very quickly the children could recognise great tit,robin, blackbird and chaffinch.We have continued with our rainforest project,(we are now looking at forest floor)The children are fascinated at all the little creatures that live here especially as we have been looking at matching cards on invertebrates. I am amazed and delighted at their enthusiasm as at times I feel that I may be overloading these little ones with my own  love of nature and conservation..However,my fears are in vain as they listen earnestly as I tell them about each animals role and the work he does in conserving our planet.To  my great joy Sean arrived the next day with a fabulous tarantula project and Leah with an equelly fascinating project on strawberry poison arrow frog.Through work like this I hope to show them how each little creature has a special role to play and how important his work is to keep harmony and balance in the forest ecosystem.Thus,I hope the child will see his own role and the future  of our fragile world which lies  in his hands. Maria Montessori referred to this as his “cosmic task”.