In my new role as Montessori Leadership Coach, I have the privilege of observing each environment, and one of my favorite aspects of this work is witnessing the growth and progression of each child, as well as their classrooms as a whole. This time of year offers a wonderful opportunity to step back and truly reflect on how much growth has taken place. From our youngest toddlers to our Lower Elementary students, the children of Greene Towne have been doing the quiet, steady, extraordinary work of becoming. Here is a glimpse of what that looks like across our three communities this spring.

Our Toddler Community: Help me do it myself

In September, many of our toddlers arrived navigating an entirely new environment with new routines, new adults, new expectations, and new children. Some were nonverbal or had very few words, and some needed significant support with daily tasks like drinking from a glass, pushing in their chair, or carrying a tray across the room. These things might seem so small to an adult, but they were a full-body, full-concentration undertaking.

Now look at them!

• Their bodies are stronger: they are able to navigate the classroom without dropping their work trays or bumping into furniture and can manipulate utensils with more coordination
• Routines are no longer something they are learning: they are the known, woven into the fabric of each day
• They move with growing purpose and intention: where a child once built a tower only to knock it down (and oh, the joy of that!), you now see that same child step back, hands at their sides, and admiring what they made. That deep sigh, twinkle in their eye, with the “I did it!”
  • That is not a small thing. That is the beginning of self-awareness, of pride in work, of the shift from pure impulse to conscious choice.
• For our older toddlers especially, they are beginning to move from what Montessori called the unconscious absorbent mind to the conscious absorbent mind.
  • It begins with a child who takes in the world like a sponge, driven by everything around them, to a child who is beginning to direct their own learning.
  • You see it in the child who decides on their own to trace the outline of a dinosaur or to carefully cut along a line. That is not a child following a direction, instead, that is a child making a choice.

The impulses don’t disappear overnight, but with the consistency of routine, the richness of work, and the warm, steady presence of their guides, those impulses begin to find a home in purposeful activity. Concentration builds and with it comes something that will carry these children for the rest of their lives: the beginning of self-regulation.

Our Primary Community: I can do it myself

In the Primary classrooms, there is a clear and growing investment in learning, along with a strong drive to “figure it out.” Children entering as first years are still emerging from that unconscious state. While they are curious and motivated, they are also adjusting to a new environment with new peers, adults, expectations, and social dynamics. During this time, moments of impulse are still present as they find their footing.

As they settle into the environment…

• Their focus deepens, and their relationships with peers become more intentional. 
• They begin to balance their own work with an awareness of others, learning to respect each other’s space and concentration. 
• Over time, they step into roles of both learner and teacher. They begin giving lessons to one another, helping a friend zip a jacket, demonstrating a sewing activity, or rolling out a rug to prepare a workspace.

In the Kindergarten year, also referred to as the “capstone” year of the Primary level, there is so much happening. The children continue to refine the skills they have built over the previous years while deepening their understanding across all areas of the classroom. 

• In math, they move into more abstract thinking like working with bead chains that introduce skip counting and early multiplication. The first time I observed a child with this work I was mesmerized.
  • They are also exploring operations with greater independence and beginning to understand concepts like time and money. 
• In language, their reading shifts from decoding tocomprehension.
  • They begin to explore grammar, sentence structure, and more purposeful writing.
• Just as importantly, their role within the community evolves. Kindergartners naturally step into leadership, guiding younger peers, offering lessons, and modeling the rhythms of the classroom. 
• This is where Montessori theory comes vividly to life, not only in their academic growth, but in their growing sense of responsibility, curiosity, and connection to the world around them. 

Our Lower Elementary Community: Help me think of it myself

I have spent twenty years at Greene Towne, with most of that being in a Toddler classroom, and with such enthusiasm I have to share that watching our Lower Elementary community this year has left me in awe. 

The children came in as a new community, learning to navigate not just new academic work, but a new kind of independence that asks them to know themselves as learners, to plan their own work, to hold themselves accountable, and to function as a true community of scholars.

What I have watched unfold over the course of this year is a gradual yet powerful transformation. 

• Children who began the year looking to adults for direction are now confidently driving their own learning and following their work plans with purpose.
  • Initially, each day began with a morning meeting which set the children up for their workday. Now, the children’s drive to work is paramount, and, in true “follow the child” form, they no longer require this initial meeting to get them centered and focused. This shift allows them to engage fully with their work without interruption. 
• Their growth is especially evident in the way their work has evolved from initial explorations through creations and cosmic studies to a more sustained engagement with increasingly complex content, such as moving from studying the solar system to understanding and comparing how the hearts of mammals, birds, and amphibians function and identifying the differences between vertebrates and invertebrates. 
• Rather than discussing weekend plans or birthday parties, they are seeking out peers for collaboration and thoughtful debate.
  • They share ideas, respectfully challenge one another, and often arrive somewhere entirely new through that exchange. 
• At a peak time for socialization, I am instead observing a heightened level of concentration during the work cycle and a connection to their work that feels almost professional.
  • Their energy for choreography along to their favorite songs (“we’re goin up, up, up, it’s our moment…”) is reserved for recess, while their focus in the classroom has taken on a new level of intention and maturity.

Watching our third graders this spring is something else entirely. The third grade year in Lower Elementary mirrors what the Kindergarten year does in Primary. These are children who have spent three years building the skills, habits, and community that make intentional, self-directed learning possible. They are in the midst of growing towards more abstract work, and they are not just doing more advanced work, they are doing their work differently. There is clear ownership with accountability and the kind of quiet authority that comes only from having truly earned it, and I’m excited to see how the third graders will further their roles as leaders in the environment. 

Across Our Community

Across every level, the same thread runs through it all: the child’s growing ability to choose, to sustain, and to take responsibility for their own learning. As the children grow, the environment changes, the adult’s role shifts, and the work grows more complex; but the child at the center is always becoming more fully themselves. This is a testament to the great work, or magic as I like to call it, that the teaching staff put into their environments, themselves, and to each other every day.

This is what we have the privilege of witnessing daily at Greene Towne, and I am so excited to see how each child continues to flourish this school year.

Thank you for trusting us with your children and your families.