Bloom! Montessori will be holding Parent Teacher Conferences Sunday, November 22- Tuesday, November 24.

Parent Teacher Conferences are one of the exciting times of the year. It is such a joy to be able to show parents the work that their child has been engaged with over the past few months.

Because Montessori materials are designed to give children a concrete experience of abstract concepts (like number, symbol, etc), most are not activities which result in a paper work product (a worksheet or coloring page, for example). Additionally, in a Montessori classroom, the emphasis is on doing one's best, concentrating deeply, and enjoying work- on the process, not on the product. Children do not take work home daily because doing so can encourage quick, messy work just to have something to take home. Instead, we encourage children to expand their concentration spans until they are capable of doing time consuming projects over multiple work sessions; as a result, children are encouraged to sign and date their work and place it in their portolio.

Montessori schools have different ways of keeping parents informed of their child's progress despite the lack of written work products. Throughout the year, all Montessori guides make detailed written observations of the children during the work cycle. At Bloom! we also take copious photographs of children engaged with the materials.

At conference time, parents are presented with a written report about their child's progress, a copy of the book A Parent's Guide to the Montessori Classroom (to serve as a reference for helping them achieve a better understanding of their child's Montessori experience), an album of photographs showing the child using Montessori materials (annotated with the guide's written explanation of the objectives of the work, the child's accomplishments with the material, and the corresponding page numbers in A Parent's Guide to the Montessori Classroom), and a CD containing additional photos taken of their child during the term.

We sincerely hope that you enjoy watching your child work as much as we do, and we feel priviledged to work with you in the service of your child.