Upper Elementary is the last classroom at the Montessori school, my son (and formerly my daughter) attends. My son started in 2011 as a toddler, and this coming week, he will graduate from his current class that he has been a member of for three years. He came in as a first grader and an underclassman to the second and third-grade students. He looked up to the other students who could confidently read anything because he couldn't read at all yet. He watched them write detailed reports and give a fully memorized Mystery History presentation about a famous person in history. He watched them and was inspired. He learned from them as they graciously modeled proper behavior in the classroom. He grew and now, in just one week, he will leave his class and will start the process all over again.
Next year my son will be a fourth-grader in a class that also has fifth and sixth graders. But this time he will be one of the most senior students in the entire school. He will come early some weeks to perform a special duty as a "Toddler Walker." Only Upper Elementary students have this privilege because it requires maturity. He will stand at the front of the school during drop-off and help the tiniest members of our school, some who can barely walk, get to class as they hold their heavy purple bag proudly on their shoulder, demonstrating that even the smallest humans are capable—something the toddlers become very proud about once they've mastered keeping the bag from falling off their shoulder. Dragging the bag is allowed, however. The bottoms of my children's purple bags were worn through.
My son will do many other things, like reading books to the toddlers if he wants to volunteer for this coveted job. His class will do much in the way to help those in need and to help save the world by doing their part. They will begin to become members of their community, more than just children in grade school. This is one of the beautiful things about Montessori. And by the time he graduates and continues on to middle school, we won't have to remind him to do his homework, because he will have learned to be self-directed with a sense of time management—because he's been learning how to do so since first grade.
That's the future though. This weekend his class is celebrating his departure and graduation from their class. They have prepared a booklet, each student drawing a picture and writing their thoughts about him as they got to know him over the past one or two years.
It's a surprise my son knows nothing about. He hasn't complained about missing his annual camping trip with his class or the fact that the five-day trip to Washington, D.C. all third-years go on with their teachers was canceled. He hasn't complained about anything. I think Sunday will mean a lot to him.
There will be more people present than I've been around except in the grocery store in many months. The event is taking place outdoors in a large space at one family's home. We are meeting the same requirements that, for example, pools must adhere to in people per square foot. Still though, it is going to be a bit strange. It will be exciting too, getting to see his friends and he won't be the only one as I am very much looking forward to seeing the parents of other students who have become my friends since we joined the school.
The Move Out Decision: I think we're going to let my daughter, "move out" into Nana and Papa's bedroom. It is going to be a minor move in that we're not redoing the guest bedroom into a child's room; all we're doing is moving her clothes and belongings into the room. Later, we'll decide what to do once they've gotten accustomed to being apart. Her brother, who I thought would want to go first, has now decided he likes his room and wants to stay. He's not happy about her moving out though, he says he'll miss her and be lonely (this from the child who instigtes fights daily?) My daughter has offered a compromise: she will sleep two nights each week in what will now be "his" room. That's the plan as of lunchtime today. Things could easily change, knowing how children are. It's time though, and they're helping make the decision.
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