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It is amazing to consider how much we can be grateful for when we think about the people around us and the experiences we share. If we try hard enough, we can even appreciate mistakes we’ve made, because they help us change and move forward. As a Montessorian, there are a number of things for which I am grateful. I am thankful for Dr. Montessori’s ground-breaking contributions to education. I also appreciate the staff at NAMC who make it their priority to support our schools, students, graduates, and homeschoolers. Most of all, I am grateful for the amazing and diverse Montessori community we have developed around the world. As part of NAMC’s anniversary celebration, I have been asked to share 20 lessons that stand out in my experience of providing Montessori teacher training programs worldwide over the past 20 years. We are happy to share the next tip in our series that we are presenting over the next few weeks. I hope you find some of these ideas helpful in your own Montessori journe...

Knowledge can be best given where there is eagerness to learn, so this is the period when the seed of everything can be sown, the child’s mind being like a fertile field, ready to receive what will germinate into culture. —Maria Montessori To Educate the Human Potential, p. 3. Studying the human body and investigating the different systems is fascinating for elementary students because they enjoy learning about topics that they can relate to personally. Students seem to especially like exploring the skeletal system and identifying all the bones in their body. They build a strong understanding of the human body and related abstract concepts by working on the many hands-on activities and extensions presented in the NAMC Lower Elementary Health Sciences manual. And they are especially drawn to the many practical extensions to the NAMC lesson on investigating the skeletal system. Along with presenting these activities, I make a point of engaging my students through the addition of a number...

The aim of the children who persevere in their work with an object is certainly not to “learn”; they are drawn to it by the needs of their inner life, which must be recognized and developed by its means. —Maria Montessori Spontaneous Activity in Education, p. 220. The hands-on Montessori chemistry activities always spark my students’ curiosity and excitement about the microscopic world of atoms and molecules. They are fascinated with the idea of miniscule parts and how they combine to form molecules with different properties, distinct from their properties as individual atoms. While completing the NAMC activities on the parts of the atom, learning about molecules, and investigating the periodic table, students always show great interest and enthusiasm as they create models of atoms and water molecules. Chemistry Ideas for the Montessori Lower Elementary Classroom To build on their enthusiasm for this topic, I set out activities for those interested to continue their explorations. One a...