As many of you know, I get to work with an amazing group of Montessori adolescents as their teacher’s assistant. Today I wanted to give you a small visual tour of some aspects of our environment and give you just a little taste of what we experience every day. You will notice that most of these pictures are outside. I adore how much time I (and the students) get to be outside everyday. Enjoy!
The beans in one of our organic beds greet you as you enter the adolescent domain. The students are responsible for their care. They even built the planter box they sit in.
- The school’s chicken coup also greets visitors to the adolescent area. The rooster and hen are fed and cared for daily by the students. They are also a hands on resource for science lessons.
- Inside the classroom, the anatomy of the chicken model sits on the reference shelf in the classroom for students to explore what makes our own chickens tick.
Heading outside once more, an orange ripens on the vine in the school’s orchard. The students are the caretakers of the orchard and it serves as an extension of the classroom.
The tables in the orchard may be used by students during a work period, but more importantly they are used at lunch time. Yes, this is our cafeteria.
Through the gate, the pond is another learning environment that belongs to the whole school but is looked after by the adolescent students. It has also been used for lessons including a math exploration into finding the volume of the pond.
Back indoors, the classroom library houses computers, fiction, non-fiction, and reference books.
- During the bustle of daily chores, Oscar, the gecko, one of the classroom animals gets some sun with one of the weekly livestock attendants.
A chime is used to signal transitions. Time to restore the classroom for the day. Thanks for coming on our little tour.
Whining is Closed 
Lovely! Thanks for sharing!
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