Entry Items for the Start of School – Part 2
As mentioned in Part 1 of this two-part blog series, I emphasized the importance of preparing and introducing “entry items” in the Montessori classroom to make the first day of the school year an enjoyable and successful day for my new and returning Montessori students.
Entry items are manipulatives (non-Montessori) that are already familiar to most preschoolers, such as puzzles, blocks, elastic band board etc. and I do like to keep them as natural looking as possible. Entry items don't require a specific presentation, aside from the basics of how to carry the activity to a table or mat and tidy it up upon completion. Even thought they aren't traditional Montessori materials, they should still be displayed in a Montessori manner - each item should be placed in a basket or on a tray and placed neatly on the “open” shelves.
On the first day of school, I take the children on a tour of our Montessori classroom and show the students which shelves are “open” and which shelves are “closed”. I have the children stay at circle but look with their eyes as I move throughout the room and stop in each subject area. For the first few weeks, I put a little sign on the closed shelves to serve as a visual reminder and I always make a point of showing each child what the closed sign looks like and explaining the purpose that it serves.
