Big Work in Elementary
Happy Friday, everyone.
One of the abiding joys of my job is that I get to see a steady stream of student work samples from across our network. Whether from parent communication copied to school leadership lists (which I try to skim and peruse every day), or examples of Transparent Classroom or Altitude photos and captions (which I sample regularly), or Facebook or IG posts in my feed every time I open those apps, or examples of work some of you forward directly to me, my heart sings daily at the sight of the beautiful work children in our programs are accomplishing.
(I should add that all this is on top of the amazing photos and work samples that I see as a parent. The ongoing peek into the work my own three children are doing is a highlight of every day.)
Recently, I’ve been paying particular attention to the “big work” our elementary children are doing. Laura Mazer explains big work in this wonderful blog post, in case you missed it: https://www.guidepostmontessori.com/blog/big-work-in-elementary-classrooms. Big work is a unique feature of Montessori, and speaks to the child’s need to take on demanding, challenging scope that develops the capacity to take on purposeful, ambitious projects throughout life.
I was looking today at some photos that Laura sent me from some of our program team’s school visits, and I just loved them so much that I thought I’d share them with you all. Enjoy!
To start, before seeing some big work, here is an example of materials practice on language, from Ms. Michelle’s class at Guidepost Brushy Creek. This type of targeted work is what nurtures the capacity to take on significant challenges:
Here are examples of anatomy lessons from Ms. Shoba’s class at our Guidepost Stonebriar campus:
Here are examples of math work (on the area of a circle, and on angles) from Ms. Kris’s class at our Brushy Creek campus:
Here’s an example of work on LCM, from Ms. Thana and Ms. Katherine’s class at Guidepost Foothill Ranch:
And to close it out, for those who say that Montessori classrooms are too serious and not full of joyous activity, here is a cute little poem a student wrote to her work journal, from Ms. Jess’s class at Guidepost Brooklyn Heights:
Have a great weekend,
Ray Girn
Founder and CEO, Higher Ground Education