This week, we had Grandparents’ Day and our Peace Assembly. It is always so special when we have opportunities like these to gather as a community and learn more about what our children are doing. Maria Montessori believed that peace begins with education and that children are the ones capable of creating a more peaceful future. Peace education plays a significant role in the Montessori curriculum. It helps children develop both inner and outward peace by building empathy and respect, encouraging global citizenship and cultural awareness, and teaching them to care for their environment.

Events like our Peace Assembly serve as a reminder that peace is not just a concept we talk about, but something we actively practice in our classrooms each day. Through meaningful work, thoughtful conversations, and opportunities to collaborate, children learn how to be kind, patient, and respectful members of a community. These lessons extend far beyond the classroom, helping students grow into thoughtful individuals who understand the importance of compassion and responsibility.

“Within the child lies the fate of the future.”

Maria Montessori

One of the most meaningful parts of the Montessori curriculum is that it naturally follows a spiral approach. During the three years a child spends in the classroom, they revisit the same core concepts again and again, each time going a little deeper and a little further. This repetition allows their understanding to grow alongside their development. By returning to ideas with new maturity and perspective, learning becomes more meaningful, more connected, and more likely to last. It also lays a strong foundation for the more complex work they will encounter in the upper grades.

A spiral curriculum allows students to revisit concepts over time with increasing depth and complexity, building on prior learning as they connect it to new ideas. The Montessori spiral curriculum is grounded in the understanding that everything is interrelated and that children gradually move toward abstraction. Within each three-year cycle, the major themes of the curriculum are revisited and studied again, each time with greater depth and a higher level of abstraction.

This approach respects the natural pace of development. Children are not expected to master something once and move on; instead, they are allowed to grow into their understanding. As they mature, their thinking becomes more complex, and the curriculum meets them there. In this way, learning unfolds gradually and meaningfully.

“Growth comes from activity, not from intellectual understanding.”

Maria Montessori

In Montessori education, “big work” refers to projects and activities that fully engage a child and require sustained focus. These experiences are purposeful, often hands-on, and encourage children to think deeply, solve problems, and collaborate with others. Through big work, children take ownership of their learning and develop the skills and independence that support long-term growth and success. Our goal as guides is to support big work by encouraging child-led exploration, intentionally preparing the environment, providing meaningful hands-on experiences, encouraging collaboration among peers, and allowing time for reflection and self-evaluation. We do not want students to be limited to only what is directly taught, but to use what they are introduced to as a starting point. We want them to go further, asking their own questions, and seeking out answers through exploration and discovery.

During the second plane of development, children naturally gravitate toward substantial, meaningful projects that demand extended time, focus, and effort. They seek out work that stretches them, building both their mental endurance and physical stamina. At this stage, children crave purpose and experience great pride when completing something substantial. Big work becomes a pursuit of knowledge as students ask their own questions and use exploration and research to discover the answers. Because they drive the process themselves, the learning becomes more meaningful. They grow not only in knowledge, but in confidence and self-sufficiency, producing high-quality work rooted in their own interests rather than in the approval or expectations of peers or adults.

Big work is a concept that can be supported at home by protecting time, limiting unnecessary interruptions, and creating a space where your child can focus. It means paying attention to their interests and allowing those interests to grow into something deeper. Big work can look like researching a topic they care about, building something from start to finish, planning a project, or taking on real responsibility within the home. When we step back, resist over-directing, and allow room for productive struggle, children begin to take true ownership of what they are doing. In that space, children gradually develop focus, confidence, and independence.

“Scientific observation then has established that education is not what the teacher gives; education is a natural process spontaneously carried out by the human individual, and is acquired not by listening to words but by experiences upon the environment.”

Maria Montessori

Children in the second plane of development are highly social and increasingly relationally focused. They often define themselves through their friendships and relationships. With relationships, naturally comes conflict. At this age, children not only seek connection, but also develop a strong sense of justice and fairness, often defending their friends and what they believe is right. Conflict resolution is a crucial skill necessary for developing healthy, positive relationships. Our goal is to provide children with the tools they need to solve problems peacefully and independently, guiding and modeling how to speak up, express themselves clearly, and put words to their thoughts and feelings while supporting emotional articulation and regulation.

In our classroom, we have a peace corner. This space includes a table with resources to support self-regulation, calming strategies, and navigating peer relationships. It is an area where students can go when they need a moment to pause, reflect, and regulate their emotions before returning to work or approaching a conversation with a friend that may be bothering them. This helps them to practice the principle of thinking before speaking and reinforces the important lesson that when we are angry, we may not always express how we truly feel. Instead, we may say hurtful things that can make a situation more challenging to repair. We also have a “problem pumpkin,” where students can write down concerns they notice within our classroom community. For example, a student might share that materials are not being returned to their proper place. We address these concerns during our community line time, encouraging students to speak up and offer solutions to the problems they identify. When students are able to name and understand their feelings, those emotions often feel less overwhelming and much more manageable.

Supporting children in naming their emotions and practicing respectful language at home strengthens their ability to resolve conflict independently. When adults model calm communication and positive conflict resolution, children learn that disagreements are a normal part of relationships and can lead to children developing better communication skills, emotional awareness, and empathy.

“Establishing lasting peace is the work of education.”

Maria Montessori

This week, students’ writing prompt was “What does love mean to me?” With Valentine’s Day coming up, students have been exploring how they define love. Most of their responses reflect love as something shown through actions such as helping others, giving hugs, or being kind, all of which instill and reflect a sense of love.

This action-based understanding of love aligns closely with the developmental needs of children in the second plane of development. Students in the second plane of development (ages 6–9) are very social and have a strong desire for a sense of belonging and to find their place or role in their environment. They enjoy working together and appreciate opportunities to collaborate with their peers and participate in group work.

For children in the second plane of development, love is most often understood and expressed through relationships with others. Rather than describing love as an abstract feeling, children at this age show love through their actions within friendships and group settings. Helping a classmate, including others in work, offering kindness, and collaborating respectfully are all ways in which children experience connection and belonging. As students work together and build relationships, they are not only building and strengthening friendships but also developing important social skills such as empathy, communication, and cooperation.

In Montessori, social development is intentionally supported through collaboration and shared responsibility. As children work together and form friendships, they are practicing how to express love, respect, and empathy in ways that will continue to support them both in and beyond the classroom.

“Two things are necessary, the development of the individuality and the participation of the individual in a truly social life.”

Maria Montessori

In Montessori education, the prepared environment is an intentionally designed classroom that supports sustained focus, concentration, and the development of a love for learning. Materials and “jobs” are arranged on the shelves in a logical and sequential manner, and each is designed to engage the child and promote intrinsic motivation for learning. The furniture, like all elements of the classroom, is arranged with the child in mind. Everything children need is within reach to promote independence and self-sufficiency.

The purpose of the prepared environment is to set children up for success by giving them the tools and opportunities they need to take ownership of their learning while developing responsibility and a strong sense of belonging. This concept can be carried over at home by preparing the environment in ways that allow your child to be more responsible, independent, and confident in taking initiative. Simple changes, such as providing a small stool in the kitchen so your child can safely reach items, or placing water bottles and snacks on a lower shelf, give children the opportunity to meet their own needs and practice independence. Inviting children to participate in daily routines like dressing themselves, helping prepare meals, or cleaning up after an activity builds confidence and responsibility. These everyday opportunities support the same independence and sense of belonging children experience in the classroom.

“The environment must be rich in motives which lend interest to activity and invite the child to conduct his own experiences.”

Maria Montessori

In the Montessori classroom, you will often hear the phrase passage to abstraction. The passage to abstraction refers to the process by which a child moves from a concrete way of thinking to a progressively more abstract way of thinking. All of the beautiful materials you see present in the prepared environment support this passage. Some materials allow students to work in a fully concrete way, while others bridge the gap toward abstraction by pairing hands-on manipulatives with symbols that represent quantities.

For example, the golden beads allow children to work with quantity in a fully concrete way. Students can physically hold and manipulate units, tens, hundreds, and thousands, building a deep understanding of place value without relying on written numbers. As children are ready for more abstraction, they may transition to the stamp game, which still offers a hands-on experience but introduces tiles labeled with numerical symbols. This shift allows students to connect the quantities they previously explored concretely with the abstract symbols used in written mathematics.

When students begin learning through concrete experiences, they build a strong foundation for more complex learning. By physically working with materials, children develop a deep understanding of the relationships between numbers and operations. As students move toward more abstract work, such as solving problems on paper, the brain is able to connect these symbols to prior hands-on experiences. Processes like carrying or borrowing are no longer steps to memorize, but ideas that make sense because children have something concrete to reference. This connection between concrete experience and abstract thinking makes learning more meaningful and purposeful.

“Movement of the hand is essential. Little children revealed that the development of the mind is stimulated by the movement of the hands.”

Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori believed that children should be grouped in classrooms according to their developmental stage, rather than by exact age. She identified Four Planes of Development, each representing a distinct stage of growth with its own characteristics and needs:

In a mixed-age classroom, younger students naturally learn by observing and working alongside older peers, while older students take on leadership roles. Near the end of their three-year cycle, older students become veterans of the classroom whose work and behavior naturally motivate younger students as they look ahead to what they, too, will one day accomplish. Beyond providing the opportunity for older students to develop leadership qualities and to step into that role, there are many other benefits to mixed-age groupings:

• Improved Academic Outcomes
• Aids in the Development of Social Skills
• Builds Self-Confidence
• Provides Stability

Children stay with the same teacher for the three-year cycle. This allows the teacher to better understand each student’s individual needs and how to best support them. As students grow in confidence and mastery, they are given opportunities to present lessons, support peers, and model independence. These experiences naturally strengthen leadership skills, foster self-assurance, and build a strong sense of belonging within the classroom community.

“The main thing is that the groups should contain different ages, because it has great influence on the cultural development of the child. This is obtained by the relations of the children among themselves. You cannot imagine how well a young child learns from an older child; how patient the older child is with the difficulties of the younger.”

Maria Montessori

Resilience is the ability to withstand challenges and recover from difficulties. It is an important trait that helps children respond positively to challenges, manage their emotions, and work through setbacks. These skills contribute to a growth mindset and support success both in and outside of the classroom.

Children can build resilience through productive struggle. Productive struggle occurs when students engage in challenging tasks that require effort, persistence, and problem-solving. Through this process, children learn how to persevere through difficulties and deepen their understanding. Productive struggle often involves working through tasks that are slightly beyond a child’s current level of understanding, accepting the discomfort of uncertainty, making mistakes, and persisting until a solution is found.

Overcoming challenges through productive struggle increases students’ self-efficacy and confidence. Self-efficacy refers to a child’s belief in their ability to succeed in specific situations. As students experience productive struggle, they begin to understand that intelligence and abilities can be developed through dedication and effort. Productive struggle is supported by setting high-but-attainable expectations, providing meaningful feedback, and encouraging mistakes as a natural part of the learning process.

Parents can encourage productive struggle at home by allowing their child to wrestle with challenges, offering support, and resisting the urge to rush in with solutions. Praising effort rather than ease, talking openly about mistakes, and modeling perseverance all help normalize challenges as part of learning. In doing so, parents support independence, perseverance, and trust in their child’s capabilities. Over time, these experiences help children develop grit, flexibility, and confidence in their ability to overcome challenges.

“Help me to do it myself.”

Maria Montessori

I know we are all looking forward to winter break. The holidays are a wonderful time of year when children and their families can spend extra time together, carry on family traditions, and create new ones. However, the excitement of the holidays doesn’t always last, and children may begin to express feelings of boredom at some point during the break. Without the structure of the school day, children are suddenly left with large stretches of time they would normally spend engaged in work at school.

There are many benefits to boredom, including helping children build tolerance for less-than-ideal experiences and develop planning strategies, flexibility, and organizational skills. While boredom can make children feel restless or frustrated, it can also lead them to discover new interests and meaningful activities. When children engage in undirected, unstructured play, the creative part of the brain is stimulated. Boredom sparks curiosity and creativity, leading to natural, meaningful learning experiences driven by your child’s own interests.

Here are some ideas and activities for kids to do when bored at home that help build critical thinking skills, promote creativity, and help them develop resourcefulness:

• Board Games
• Puzzles
• Build a Fort
• Create an Obstacle Course
• Paint
• Building with Legos
• Look Through Old Photo Albums
• Draw on the Sidewalk With Chalk
• Play Hopscotch
• Go on a Walk
• Ride a Bike

We hope that you all have a wonderful winter break, filled with new experiences, and spend time creating lasting memories.

“The essential thing is for the task to arouse such an interest that it engages the child’s whole personality.”

Maria Montessori