Today was Bee's first day of school, and my first day as a substitute assistant in a 6-9yo Mont3ssori classroom.
Bee loved her class.
"We didn't take a nap!"
Other than that, it's basically the same old same old for her, just in a different room with some older kids, most of whom she knew already from after-school daycare. The biggest change was moving from the little kids' playground to the big kids' playground.
It was a big day for her.
And for me. I got to work with a bonafide M-ssori teacher, Ms. A.
Ms. A is in her 50s or so. She has all the earmarks of a former hippie. She does not have The Teacher Voice. The children get quiet because she gets quiet.
It helps, perhaps that she has the perfect kind of face for teaching. She is sometimes expressionless and utterly unreadable. An adult looks at that face and - like a dog hoping for a treat - runs through all the tricks hoping to hit the right thing. Kids are equally thrown off-guard, and immediately start looking for instruction.
But then, when she smiles, her whole face lights up. It's a reward in itself.
We spent an hour on rolling mats, and it was riveting. We spent another hour cutting apples and spreading peanut butter on them for our snack.
I love this work.
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