Find your home!

After teaching for nine years in the same classroom at the same school, I am (very anxiously) preparing to open a new Montessori classroom at another public school.  Due to an outstanding group of generous parents, I have boxes and boxes of brand new materials.  (No furniture yet, but lovely, lovely shiny new materials.)  Already, I (along with kind family members and friends coerced into joining the crazy) am up 'til the wee hours, sorting through cards, finding containers, and herding tiny bits into the appropriate tiny boxes.

In the best of worlds, children would attend to our modeling and always carefully restore all of the little bits to their proper places, never leaving loose parts behind when the work is finished.  In the best of worlds, children would always carefully carry boxes of tiny bits and never drop them and their contents.  In the best of worlds, custodians moving furniture for summer floor-cleaning would never tip a puzzle map cabinet sideways in such a way that all of the countries all over the world fall into a single jumbled pile (a very serious international incident!).  In the best of worlds, I would never return to my room one summer morning very close to the start of school to discover that a mystery foe has sprinkled bead chain tags from a variety of boxes into a mixed mess on the floor.

I've been teaching long enough to know that we live in the real world, and these things sometimes happen.  As I contemplate the inevitable spills and wayward little bits, I am reminded of a post by P.S. Montessori, describing a hilarious insect situation in which children shouted "Find your home!"  Many materials (and bless these suppliers!) have codes on the back for just this purpose.  Some do not.  How will we help them find their home?  If someone discovers a wayward clock label, how will we determine in which of the many sets it belongs? How will we easily reunite numerous seemingly identical small countries with their respective continent puzzle maps?  If we find a lost chain tag (or a pile of them) on the floor, how will we help it find its home?  Certain dark blue tags might belong in any one of four boxes loaded with tiny tags!

My materials are new.  Nothing is lost.  No pieces are missing--yet.  Now is the time to be kind to my future self and prepare for these potential problems.  Feeling supremely sacrilegious, I turned over every tag for the square chains and used a Sharpie to (oh so carefully!) draw a thin black line across one end of the back of each.  This will help us distinguish a found square chain tag from its identical cube chain mate.  Next, I drew a thin green line on the back of the tags for the long ten chain.  I am even considering a small dot of paint carefully applied to the back of each of the tiny country puzzle pieces, color-coded to match its continent color.

I know, I know.  Montessori teachers everywhere are cringing at the thought.  If you've been teaching for a while, though, you just might be getting out your markers and your paint . . .

Clue #2: Tea time

How much do I love a place where people appreciate the importance of tea? 

Tea is a popular beverage in all four countries Fluffy and I visited this summer.  In fact, we were offered tea and snacks every afternoon!  Think about countries where tea is an important tradition (and other countries that might have been influenced by those countries). 

The photo of Fluffy at the top of this post was taken in a fifth country, where I spent the day waiting for my next plane.  If you look closely, you'll see that the brand of tea provided in that country was Twinings.  However, in the countries where Fluffy spent the rest of our trip, the brand we saw most was Five Roses.  Click on the photo and take a closer look at the tea aisle in a grocery store we visited!  Wowee!  Clearly, we were in a good place . . . We also enjoyed drinking a delicious herbal "tea" that is not made from the Camellia sinensis but instead from Aspalathus linearis (I'll let you look that one up on your own!).

Think about this new information, combined with what you learned in Clue #1.
Are you getting closer to solving the mystery? 
Remember, you'll need to identify all four countries.  More clues to come!

Why such a big stink

about a flower?

“If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder . . ., he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.”
—Rachel Carson









If you live in Houston, you know . . . This is indeed an exciting and mysterious world!  Folks all over town (and throughout the world) have been hovering on-line around the clock for weeks, watching and waiting with bated breath for Lois the Corpse Flower to bloom.  Due in part to her sLois development, Lois has become a media darling, earning crazy cash and a frenzy of free press for The Museum. 

Earlybird I have never been, but this scientific superstar motivated me to meet a friend at the museum at 5:45 a.m. on a Saturday.  (Despite the photo, she was really not so stinky anymore.  Only the vaguest Eau de Dead 'Possum pulsating through the air.)

As a teacher (and general nerd), what I love most about all the stink is that so many people have been swept away by a floral frenzy!  People are standing in long lines just to see and smell a plant!  This is exactly the type of passion (and yes, special brand of crazy) we need more of in the world: 

Wake up early just to get a whiff of a wacky flower.
Follow tracks to see where they lead.
Watch caterpillars. 
Be amazed!

“He . . . who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”
—Albert Einstein

. . . and to the mother who asked her sons, "Can we go now?" before they even got to the front of the line: Find your joy!

Clue #1: Brrrr

Does anyone recognize this mystery object?  (Not all of them come dressed in adorable little sweaters.)

What is it used for and why might I have found one in my bed each night?

Here's another hint: Fluffy has fur to keep him warm, but notice the way I'm dressed.  What temperatures would require such clothing?  Where on the globe would I experience such weather in June?  Think about our lessons about the earth, the sun, and the seasons! 

Yep, that's right.  While you celebrated Summer Solstice at home, I was celebrating my fourth Winter Solstice in a row (December 2008, June 2009, December 2009, June 2010) without any Summer Solstices in between!  Where on earth was I this year?

Up, up, and away!

Fluffy and I have packed our bags, and we are off on another big adventure . . . in more ways than one.

This summer's fabulous mystery travel adventure was generously funded by a Fund for Teachers grant. We spent three weeks traveling in four different countries.  Stay tuned for clues about where in the world we went!

Our second big adventure begins in August when we move to another campus (also a public school) and open a new classroom filled with brand new materials (and 15 first graders, again!). Whew! It's exciting (and exhausting) to think about.