Trillium Montessori

Elementary Behavior

Executive Functioning Skills in Elementary

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As Montessori guides, we know that executive functioning skills like planning, focus, and emotional regulation don’t just happen automatically. In fact, they need thoughtful nurturing to fully develop. When we speak of executive functioning skills, we’re talking about the set of abilities that help us manage our thoughts, emotions, and actions effectively.  This episode explores […]

Handling Classroom Transitions

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Anyone who has been a teacher knows that classroom transitions can be tough. Children often find it challenging to transition between physical places, activities, and objects of attention. Having to stop one thing and start another can lead to the manifestation of unwanted behaviors. by Letty Rising   Follow the Trillium Montessori Talks podcast Thanks to […]

Fostering a Connected Community: Helping Your Students Branch Out from their Preferred Work Partners

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by Letty Rising   Follow the Trillium Montessori Talks podcast Once when I was a school administrator, there was an elementary classroom that I observed as being slightly “off.” A new teacher had taken over the class, and the energy in the community felt different
both inside the classroom and out at recess. I noticed that there […]

Leadership in the Montessori Elementary Classroom with Peter Piché

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by Letty Rising   Follow the Trillium Montessori Talks podcast Peter PichĂ© is MACTE-credentialed (Primary, Elementary I–II,) Montessori educator who founded and designed the Secondary I Montessori program at Montessori Community School in Durham, North Carolina, after attending Great Work’s Orientation to Montessori Adolescent program. In addition to getting his professional leadership coaching certification from the […]

Is it Ever Okay to Praise a Child?

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by Letty Rising     Follow the Trillium Montessori Talks podcast   In Montessori training, most of us have been cautioned about offering praise to children.  This flies in the face of what many of us grew up with, as it was implicitly communicated that praise was to be used as a measure of counteracting the […]

What Does Building Relationships with an Elementary-Aged Child Look Like?

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by Letty Rising   Follow the Trillium Montessori Talks podcast Throughout the history of education, there are initiatives, movements, and even sayings that come and go. Some of them stick and become interwoven within the fabric of education, and some fizzle out after a while.  Examples of recent buzzword terms and concepts that have been all […]

Human Tendencies as Witnessed in the Elementary Child

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by Letty Rising Follow the Trillium Montessori Talks podcast Maria Montessori observed that human beings did not possess the same kind of instinctual behavior that other animals do.  Instead, she observed in people from various cultures throughout the world what came to be referred to as Human Tendencies.  These Human Tendencies are a driving force that […]

Balancing Freedom and Responsibility in the Elementary Classroom

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by Letty Rising Follow the Trillium Montessori Talks podcast   One of the hardest aspects of guiding a Montessori classroom is helping the children understand how to balance freedom with responsibility.  In fact, this very concept is often woefully misunderstood!  It often is the tendency that beginning teachers will veer in one direction or another favoring […]

Pearls of Wisdom: Working with elementary aged children

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I recently returned from the AMI Elementary Refresher Course, and I enjoyed it so much that over the course of the two days I took 25 pages of notes!  Alison Awes, the presenter and a Montessori trainer, was a very inspiring and engaging speaker, breathing fresh life into some familiar concepts, lessons, and theories, while […]

Choice in the Elementary Classroom

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Understanding how to facilitate, organize, and prepare an environment that fosters student choice is one of the most challenging aspects of being a Montessori elementary teacher. But it can be done and done well. Students can have choices in their work and still develop the skills needed to master standards. Follow the Trillium Montessori Talks podcast […]

How to Guide the Young Elementary Child

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The youngest elementary children
the beginning of a new cycle.   When the 6 or 7-year-old child enters into the elementary classroom, teachers sometimes struggle with understanding this newly emerging second plane child.  When I was teaching and had the benefit of observing my students in their primary classroom environment before they transitioned into elementary, it was […]

Is it a Request for Help or a Bid for Connection?

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Identifying the True Need Under the Request Throughout my years of teaching and leading schools, I have witnessed certain personality characteristics surface and resurface again. There’s a particular one that I want to address and that has cropped up a few times during my career in education. Though the children are different, the script is […]

The 6 Year Old: The Age Of Tattling 

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If you have taught elementary, you surely have noticed that your youngest community members have a tendency to tell on one another, otherwise known as “tattling.”  I remember when I was a teacher, I always had at least a couple of 6-year-olds who tattled frequently, and I also clearly recall feeling some annoyance with this […]