Just Because I Like Maria

90-95% of the books relating to Montessori that I own are bought from montessoribooks.com.au. When I emailed them to see if I could pop over after Christmas to purchase a few books in person I was sad to learn that my favourite bookseller (Mr G) had sold his business to another organization. Not very good with changes beyond my control, I felt kind of odd that I would now have to deal with another unknown person whenever I buy Montessori related books. Yes, I was a little apprehensive even though I was communicating via email. LOL

The lady in charge now replied in an email stating that they are re-opening on the 11th of January. Desperate to finally pore over two of the three books I was interested in purchasing, because they have a tendency to be out of stock, I jumped at the opportunity without thinking twice about the weather. Monday turned out to be the hottest day in the New Year so far. I normally do not venture out of the pigeon hole when the temperature goes above 36°c but that day I was bursting with excitement to leave. I will do anything just for Maria. LOL. M was late because of work commitments and we made it to the school just before 1:00 pm. I did indicate in the email that we would be there between 12:00 – 1:00 pm. As we looked for a gate on a side street to enter the school, I saw two small groups of women leaving the school building. I instantly turned to M and said, “Oh WOW! M, those women are Montessori teachers!” M looked puzzled and asked, “How do you know? Is this a Montessori school? This is a state school isn’t it?” and I answered, “They are. I am sure of it. They have just finished a day of training.” Despite walking past them, I typically didn’t give any of them any eye contact while M was probably wondering if Montessori teachers have distinctive features making them easy for me to tell apart. LOL.
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The women leaving made it easy for us to find the entrance to the office. We just followed the way they had come from. Nothing prepared me for what was up the stairs; I was just hoping that Ms A was just as friendly as Mr G. M did let the front door slam shut loudly startling me a little. Yes, I am not very good with sudden loud noises. Funnily though, loud noises made by children do not bother me. When we got up to the landing, we entered an open door that led into a large room. There standing slightly to the left was Ms A and guess what? Her facial features are like mine. She is an East Asian! (Before we entered the building, I told M that I thought that Ms A was of Indian origin. He was puzzled but he predicted that Ms A was of Italian origin because Maria Montessori is Italian.) Next I tried really hard to scan her voice to see if she was OK about us. At this point, I was still making sure that I was looking in her direction courteously, which meant that I was looking towards the left side of the large room. After she said something about me picking up my books, she came towards us to get to the door behind us and that was precisely when I turned my head to the right and saw what I had been wanting to see for really a long time. The problem was that Ms A had left the large room and as guests, I thought we ought to follow her but by the time we stepped out onto the landing again, she had disappeared into another room. I really liked what I saw and couldn’t resist popping back into the large room.

So what did I see? I saw a full scale 3-6 Montessori Classroom on display. For someone who had only seen some Montessori apparatus and visited classrooms with some Montessori apparatus (while the rest was locked up) all so many years ago, and for someone who had been reading so much about Montessori in recent years, the display was truly quite a sight. The only thing missing would have to be the children (+ the teacher)! How delightful it would be if only there were children working, for me to observe from a separate room, how they interact with such a special environment made especially for them! People like me do not normally engage in excessive physical displays of affection but that day, I felt like squeezing M to make sure that he was also absorbing the sight in front of him. When Ms A came back with my books, I told her that the classroom was very special and she told me that it is a typical 3-6 classroom. After I paid her, I asked for the permission to look at the farm and the ‘video camera’ inside my head went to work. The farm looked somewhat different from the one inside my old Nienhuis catalogue but someone told me that Nienhuis changes their product design ever so slightly from time to time. I did notice that the craftsman had applied gorgeous lashings of glossy red paint on the barn’s roof making it very attractive. Yes, I have a tendency to notice little things that are usually insignificant to most people. LOL. I do prefer my own collection of Schleich animal figurines but theirs were better scaled. See, Schleich should really make scaled figurines for consistency. (I am aware that Schleich makes a small range of scaled dinosaurs and another small range of scaled sea creatures. The other animal figurines are realistic but are not scaled.) The Long Division material that fascinates me so much was also there. It is smaller in real life. Why it was there is a mystery. I thought that it belonged to the 6-12 class. Nevertheless, I am happy to have seen it. The Fraction Circles that could have saved me from pain and humiliation were also there. Worried that we might have overstayed our welcome, I went over to say goodbye and we left. As I stepped out of the building, M quietly asked, “Are you happy?” I was more than happy. Despite the heat, I was talking non-stop about the things we saw. I even forgot to put on my hat and got sunburnt!

I have been reliving the footage I taped in my head a few times since that day. It would have been so wonderful if when I was between the ages of 3-6, I had a classroom such as the one I saw to go to. The freedom to be allowed to get on with one’s work with as little distraction as possible would be PRICELESS. As for the books, they are sitting on my desk waiting for me to cover them with Contact before I can study them in earnest. M suggested that if I hurry, we could organize to buy more books for my birthday so I could see the classroom display again. That would be great but imagine when we rock up next time and they have turned the display into a 6-9/6-12 classroom. I think I might collapse to the ground. LOL. Raise your hand if you would like to see the timelines that the children use in the Montessori elementary classrooms. “Yes, me please!”