Red Maple Montessori

Red Maple Montessori Planting seeds for the roots of learning.

We prepare Montessori environments filled with beautiful, purposeful work.But there is a peculiar reality during the fir...
09/04/2026

We prepare Montessori environments filled with beautiful, purposeful work.

But there is a peculiar reality during the first weeks of school:

The children who most need something accessible to do may be the children who have received the fewest presentations.

A first-year child cannot independently choose work they haven’t yet been shown.

They may not know where to find what they can use.

They may not yet understand what to do when they’re waiting for an adult.

And they may be surrounded by returning children who seem to know exactly how everything works.

So what have we prepared for them?

What familiar, accessible activities are available from the beginning?

Are there opportunities for movement?

Practical work?

Books?

Art?

Simple activities they can repeat successfully?

Can they observe?

Can they participate alongside someone else?

Do they know what they can choose—or only what they cannot touch yet?

And when we see a child wandering, watching, touching materials they haven’t been shown or repeatedly seeking an adult, can we resist immediately interpreting that behaviour as a problem?

They may simply not have an entry point yet.

Independence doesn’t begin when we step away.

It begins when children have enough knowledge, experience and access to begin taking over.

So as you prepare for those first days, look at the environment through the eyes of the child who knows the least about it.

What have you prepared that allows them to experience themselves as capable on Day One?

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We cannot anticipate everything that will happen during the first weeks of school.But we can anticipate quite a lot.A ch...
09/03/2026

We cannot anticipate everything that will happen during the first weeks of school.

But we can anticipate quite a lot.

A child may have difficulty separating from their parent.

Someone will have a toileting accident.

A child may become overwhelmed by the noise, activity or unfamiliarity of the environment.

Someone won’t know what to do next.

A transition will be harder than expected.

A child may need far more adult support than we anticipated.

These aren’t failures of preparation.

But how we respond to them can be prepared.

Before the children arrive, ask:

Who will support a child having difficulty separating?

What happens if that support is needed for twenty minutes rather than two?

Who remains available to the rest of the group?

Where can a child go when the environment becomes too much?

What is our response to a toileting accident that protects dignity?

How will we communicate with families?

And do all of the adults who may be involved know the plan?

Because the middle of a child’s distress is not the ideal moment for adults to begin negotiating who is going to do what.

A prepared environment includes a prepared response.

We won’t anticipate every need.

But when a challenge is predictable, we can prepare for it.

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Some children seem to simply know.They know how to enter a group without interrupting.How to wait when an adult is helpi...
09/02/2026

Some children seem to simply know.

They know how to enter a group without interrupting.

How to wait when an adult is helping someone else.

How to find something to do when they’re waiting for a lesson.

How to tell someone they don’t want to play.

How to ask to join.

How to disagree.

How to recognize when someone wants space.

How to ask for help.

How to make a mistake—and recover from it.

But children don’t arrive in September with equal access to this knowledge.

And when we treat these expectations as obvious, the children who haven’t yet learned them can quickly become the children who are “always being reminded.”

Montessori gives us something extraordinarily valuable here:

Grace and Courtesy.

Not simply lessons in how to carry a chair, roll a mat or walk around someone’s work.

Grace and Courtesy can make the invisible expectations of a community visible, explicit and learnable.

And those lessons aren’t only for the youngest or newest children.

Returning children are entering a newly formed community too.

So during these first weeks, notice the moments when you find yourself repeatedly saying:

Don’t interrupt.
Wait your turn.
Find some work.
Give them some space.
Ask before you join.

Then ask:

Have I corrected this expectation more often than I’ve actually taught it?

Because if children are expected to know it, we need to teach it.

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We know what we hope the classroom will eventually look like.Children choosing purposeful work.Longer periods of concent...
09/01/2026

We know what we hope the classroom will eventually look like.

Children choosing purposeful work.
Longer periods of concentration.
Increasing independence.
A community whose rhythms have become familiar.

But on September 8?

We’re not there yet.

The children are learning the environment—and one another.

Some are entering a Montessori classroom for the first time.

Some are returning to a classroom that feels familiar, but to a community that has changed.

Some don’t yet know what to choose when they’re waiting for their next presentation.

Some need to be explicitly taught routines we assume they already understand.

And some simply need more connection with the adults before they are ready for greater independence.

So the first weeks might include more small-group lessons.

More stories.

Spontaneous singing.

More Grace and Courtesy.

More community gatherings.

More modelling, repetition and adult presence.

That’s not a disruption to the “real” work of the classroom.

It is the work.

The classroom children need in September may not be the classroom they need in October.

Our job isn’t to rush them there.

It’s to prepare the conditions that help them get there.

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Before the children arrive, we prepare.We arrange shelves.Choose materials.Plan first lessons.Think about routines and s...
08/31/2026

Before the children arrive, we prepare.

We arrange shelves.
Choose materials.
Plan first lessons.
Think about routines and schedules.

But there is something else worth preparing just as intentionally:

Belonging.

How will the child who hangs back and watches know there is a place for them?

How will the child who needs to move experience the classroom without spending their first weeks being corrected?

How will a child who doesn’t yet understand the routines know what to do next?

How will the child who finds separation difficult be welcomed into the community?

How will the returning child—who may be very different from the child who left in June—know that we are curious about who they are now?

Before children can take risks, make mistakes, ask for help and become increasingly independent, they need to experience themselves as members of the community.

Belonging isn’t something we wait for children to find.

We prepare the conditions for it.

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Next week, many educators will walk back into their classrooms and begin preparing.Shelves will be washed.Materials will...
08/28/2026

Next week, many educators will walk back into their classrooms and begin preparing.

Shelves will be washed.
Materials will be sorted.
Furniture will be moved.
Lessons will be planned.
Labels will be made.

All of that matters.

But there is another part of the prepared environment that deserves our attention.

The adult who enters it.

Before the children arrive, make some space to think about how you want to meet them.

What will curiosity look like when a child surprises you?

What will you do when the plan doesn’t work?

How will you respond when someone’s nervous system — including your own — needs something different?

What assumptions are you carrying into the year?

The prepared environment has never been only about the materials on the shelves.

We are part of it.

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A reminder for the educators whose minds are beginning to wander back to classrooms, schedules, materials, new students ...
08/17/2026

A reminder for the educators whose minds are beginning to wander back to classrooms, schedules, materials, new students and everything that needs to be done:

You don’t need to have September figured out in August.

Some of the most important decisions you’ll make this year will come after the children arrive.

After you’ve observed.

After you’ve listened.

After you’ve learned who they are.

Prepare what you can.

Leave room for what you don’t know yet.

The children will give you the rest of the information.

We know how much thought goes into preparing an environment for children.But preparation for a new school year happens a...
08/13/2026

We know how much thought goes into preparing an environment for children.

But preparation for a new school year happens at more than one level.

Leadership prepares an environment too.

Through the way time is protected.

Through the expectations that are communicated.

Through opportunities for educators to connect and collaborate.

Through the relationships built with families.

Through the support that remains available after the first day of school has come and gone.

The beginning of a school year asks a great deal of educators. If we want them to create calm, connected, responsive environments for children, we need to consider the conditions we are creating for them too.

The prepared environment doesn’t stop at the classroom door.

As September approaches, what is your school doing to help educators and families begin the year feeling supported, connected and ready?

🍁 Leadership is an Intervention

“But I’ve seen them do it before.”I’ve heard some version of this sentence countless times.And it makes sense.When we kn...
08/10/2026

“But I’ve seen them do it before.”

I’ve heard some version of this sentence countless times.

And it makes sense.

When we know a child can organize their materials, manage a transition, begin independently, remember the routine, or sustain attention sometimes, it’s easy to assume they should be able to do it consistently.

But executive function doesn’t work that way.

Capacity changes with context.

Stress. Fatigue. Interest. Sensory load. Emotional state. Task demands. Relationships. The environment.

So when a child succeeds sometimes and struggles at others, I don’t think the most useful question is:

“Why aren’t they doing it now?”

I want to know:

“What was different when they could?”

That shift matters.

Because observation isn’t only about noticing where children struggle.

It’s about becoming curious about the conditions in which they succeed—and then asking what we can learn from them.

Don’t just observe the struggle.
Observe the conditions for success.

That’s where some of our most useful information lives.

🍁 What changes have you noticed in a child’s ability to access a skill depending on the context?

We often talk about preparing the environment before September.And we should.The prepared environment is one of Montesso...
08/06/2026

We often talk about preparing the environment before September.

And we should.

The prepared environment is one of Montessori’s greatest gifts.

But there is another environment we prepare just as intentionally.

The environment of relationships.

One of the most powerful relationships in a school is the one between the classroom educator and the family.

Trust doesn’t appear the first time a difficult conversation is needed.

It is built in the ordinary moments.

A warm welcome at the beginning of the year.

A conversation at morning arrival.

Sharing something wonderful that happened during the day at dismissal.

Learning siblings’ names.

Remembering family stories.

Showing parents, through small daily interactions, that their child is genuinely known.

These moments are not incidental.

They are part of the work.

As school leaders prepare for September, I think there’s an important question to ask:

What systems have we intentionally created to help classroom educators build trusting relationships with families?

Not just administrators.

Not just newsletters.

Not just curriculum nights.

The classroom educator.

Because the educator who knows the child best should also have meaningful opportunities to know the family.

Leadership isn’t only about vision.

It’s about designing systems that make those relationships possible.

🍁 Leadership is an Intervention is a new Red Maple series exploring how the systems we create shape school culture, educator capacity, and children’s sense of belonging.

I’d love to hear from you:

What has your school intentionally put in place to help educators and families build strong relationships before September?

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