6
sleeves-rolled-up Zoom support meetings. We found that we
Lillard’s (2012) words on keeping materials to the most necessary.
gained significant insight from other schools’ heads from across
Having fewer materials on the shelf ensured that all were sparkling
our state as we shared ideas and learned from each other. Two
clean, complete, and orderly at all times. Teachers rotated materials
of the schools, Anchored Roots Montessori and Dancing Moose
to meet student needs. Our classrooms looked like the photos of
Montessori School, remained open through the shutdown, and
Montessori’s original classrooms, with each child focusing on the
their experiences were invaluable as we headed into the unknown.
simple, classic material before them.
After months without income and missing the culminating
We simplified and expanded drop-off and pick-up so that
events of the previous year, closing ceremonies, our school fair,
classes were not mixing, and parents were not coming into the
and our faculty end of the year party, we were not sure what to
building; children were having their temperatures and symptoms
expect for the future of our school. We knew we had to provide
checked at the exterior classroom door at drop-off. We discontinued
normalcy for the children. We knew we had to support the families.
our snack and lunch programs and asked parents to provide them.
We knew we had to get back into the classroom.
Although it hurt to eliminate the classic community exercises of
meal preparation, this greatly simplified our daily preparation
After wrestling with all of these plans, ideas, and endless
checklists, we cautiously opened our school again on June 1st.
process and allowed additional sanitizing time.
We simplified rosters so we could begin with just ten students per
class. Students attended mornings only for the first week while
protocol we worried about most until one of our comrades at
we smoothed out the wrinkles. Teachers simplified materials so
another school discovered that isopropyl alcohol could be used. It
children could choose their work, return it to a cleaning shelf, and
was simply sprayed on and allowed to evaporate. Alcohol is hard
an adult could sanitize it and return it to its place in the class-
on wood, so we used soap and water for our wooden equipment.
room. There were fewer choices, but we were reminded of Angeline
We have tried to substitute plastic materials wherever possible to
Sanitizing everything in the room twice a day was the
©MONTESSORI LEADERSHIP | WWW.MONTESSORI.ORG/IMC | VOLUME 22 ISSUE 4 • 2020
