MŠ a ZŠ Sofie

BŘEZEN V MŠ A ZŠ SOFIE

Každý měsíc se snažíme v Říčanském Kurýru poskytovat informace o tom, co a jak u nás děláme. Tento měsíc na tomto místě necháme promluvit Patrícii, naši hostující učitelku angličtiny ze Španělska. Toto je doslovný záznam z jejího deníku z prvního dne, který strávila v naší mateřské škole. Patrície u nás do konce školního roku pracuje jako asistent v mateřské a základní škole, věnuje se dětem v průběhu celého dne na skupinové i individuální bázi a současně učí anglický jazyk v mateřské i základní škole. Aktuální novinky z naší “kuchyně” najdete tentokrát na našich stránkách: www.ms-sofie.cz a www.zs-sofie.cz.

Těšíme se na viděnou,
Patrik Matlák, ředitel školy

Monday morning, it is 6:30 a.m. and I jump out of the bed, curious to discover what I will find at this new school. I have read about Montessori education before but this is my first on-site contact with it and I am incredibly excited.

We arrive at school at around 8:00 and I meet Lenka and Lucie. They are the kindergarten teachers whom I will spend the day with. As I cross the doorway, I see a beautiful, colorful and cozy space that does not look like the regular classrooms I am used to. There are posters up the walls and lots of shelves full of boxes and geometric figures. A round carpet presides the center of the stage.

While I am inspecting everything with my five senses and taking in all the information I can, the teachers receive the pupils and their parents at the door. As soon as they get in, the children start working freely, drawing, making origami and taking boxes out of the countless shelves at their disposal. Some of them need some time to get into school mood and some run to the window to say goodbye to their parents as they drive off.

Suddenly, the busy buzz is interrupted by the sound of rain coming from what seems to be a musical instrument that Lenka is playing. Quietly, students clear all the activities they have been working with and sit around the round carpet. The teachers join the students at the center stage and sing a song to greet the new school day: “Dobre rano, dobre rano …”

I am already enchanted by the sound of Lenka and Lucie’s beautiful voices. They do not speak, but whisper words into the air as if they were reciting some kind of magical spell. Children are relaxed and take turns to express how they feel. Quite shockingly, they are open about their true feelings; there is no pretending that everybody is happy. The message is “it is OK to be sad; we are here to help you”. When they grow up, these kids will probably be much healthier than many adults I know.

After that, we learn together, under the guidance of Lenka and Lucie, how different fruits taste differently and I find it connects wonderfully with our previous talk about feelings. “Sometimes life gives you lemons” and I smile to myself as I see the funny faces children have while they taste the grapefruit.

Next, it is time to play with the material. I am incredibly impressed by a 3-year-old who is carrying a huge tray with plastic containers full of different objects. He does not need any help. Nor do the others, who are now absorbed by their own set of materials. After an hour, we go to the playground for a break.

First, children get changed; despite their young age they manage to do it by themselves, only the little ones need some help. We run downstairs, wait until everyone is ready and get out after choosing the toys we want to play with. Here again, I am amazed by how independent and organized these children are. Not only have they learnt how to manage their work time, but also their free time. At the sound of the triangle, everybody puts their toy back to its place and gets ready for lunchtime.

At the kitchen, both the younger and the older ones lay the table and help themselves to food. Ladles, bowls of soup and jars look gigantic in those tiny hands, but children are able to use them. Once lunch is finished, students go to the reading room and relax for some time with the soft voice of their teachers. Thus, the succession of activities goes on up to 17:00 p.m. when the last children are picked up by their parents.

At home, before going to bed, I text some friends who ask me about my first day at school. I can only say that I feel like Will Farnaby in Island, when he discovers the holistic approach of the Palanese educational system, combining Science, Art, self-control techniques and a personal search for spiritual self-fulfillment. I fall asleep thinking how much I would have loved as a kid to go to a school like Sofie.