Betsy Lockhart 9/12/26 Betsy Lockhart 9/12/26

Great Expectations:

Betsy Lockhart 8/21/26 Betsy Lockhart 8/21/26

Home, Sweet Home

This week, I began thinking about how aptly “Home, sweet home” captures the kind of classroom environment we want for our children—the place where they will spend half of their waking hours each school day. This isn't a Pollyannaish desire for everyone to be happy all the time. A sense of safety and belonging gives children the security to take intellectual risks, sustain effort, regulate themselves, and engage more deeply with both their work and their classmates.

Betsy Lockhart 8/8/26 Betsy Lockhart 8/8/26

Job One

Congratulations! The classroom is beautiful, intentional, and inviting. Record-keeping systems and initial lessons, activities, and materials are prepared. We have created a plan for our own self-care and spiritual development. We have prepared ourselves and our environment to be exciting and intriguing, inviting children into meaningful work.

Now what?

Betsy Lockhart 7/18/26 Betsy Lockhart 7/18/26

Before the Beginning

Teachers know that intentionally preparing the classroom, lessons, and procedures at the beginning of the year ensures that everything starts off on the right foot. But the prepared Montessori environment begins with the prepared adult. This is the foundation on which everything else rests. It deserves as much time and focus as establishing the classroom. Here are some ideas for how to prepare yourself physically, mentally and emotionally, and spiritually now, before things get busy.