School Supplies at The Glen Montessori
The first day of school is right around the corner; where is my school supplies list?
This is a question we often hear at The Glen, and one that we love to answer. We relish answering it because it opens the door for us to talk about how important a sense of community is to our students and our school.
Our students share supplies in our classrooms from a common supply area. There are many benefits of sharing supplies. The children all have access to the same high-quality supplies carefully chosen by their teachers. Our teachers are provided with a monthly budget to cover the cost of these consumables. These are supplies that the teachers choose because they have worked with them and know they will work well for the children. No child is made to feel more than or less than because of the supplies they are using. No child will agonize over the types of supplies they should choose and then feel some responsibility for them later.
Shared supplies, like the Montessori materials in the classroom, also help the children organize their time and materials. As they gather what they need to complete a work, a student may find that a classmate is already using the supplies that they need. This allows them to practice their patience, make another choice, and return to that work when all the materials are available. Shared supplies are a carefully planned part of the Montessori-prepared environment. The teachers intentionally consider how many pencils, how many pairs of scissors, and how to arrange them on the shelves so they are attractive and easily gathered.
These supplies are just one of many conscious decisions made in the design of the classroom and its operation. Montessori is a system of education that works to instill real-world skills. As the teacher chooses the supplies and places them in the classroom they are also placing the emphasis back where it belongs. The focus is the work, not the tools to execute the work.