Mother's Day the Montessori Way

The Mother's Day tea that Hannah's class hosted last Friday was hands down my favorite Montessori event yet, and not just because I'm on the receiving end of the shebang. Well, maybe that had a little something to do with it...

The primary age classes at Hannah's school each host a mother's day tea every other year (they celebrate dad on the years in between). The mamas showed up a little after 10:00 and mingled until the kids filed in at 10:15. Hannah's face split into the biggest, cheesiest grin after catching my eye, and she cheesed at me through most of the singing as well. At one point she mouthed, "I like your necklace" and smiled even bigger (I was wearing a beaded necklace she had made me).

They sang a lot of cute songs, some I'd never heard before (like one about a kid who wants to pick papayas but mama says no because it's a work day) and some that were familiar (like You Are My Sunshine).

Then their teacher asked all the girls to find their partner. Hannah looked confused for a minute and then her partner called her name, and she walked over to stand in front of him.

They did the cutest dance! I wish I had video of her first partner dance, but I don't, just a couple of mediocre pictures.

After the dance, the girls moved out of the center of the circle and stood beside their partners, all except Hannah who lingered in front of Jack until he said her name again and pointed to the space on his right. It's a good thing she was partnered with a 5-year-old who could keep her in check! She's a bit spacey like her mama.

While waiting for them to file in I snapped a quick scenery shot. Some wonderful mamas arrived early and set up all the tables with fancy tablecloths, a fancy platter of delicious munchies, and a fancy tea pot. We each brought our own tea cups and saucers, a feat which proved more daunting than it sounds. All we have in our cupboards are giant tea mugs, and I came up empty-handed at the one thrift store I managed to make it to. My mom saved me from further headache by heading to the outlets on her lunch break and then priority mailing her findings. Thank you mama!

Hannah and I shared a table with a little girl who is allergic to nuts and can therefore only eat what her mom brings her; this means that Hannah and I had our pick of the foods on the platter and ate way more of it than we should have....yum!

Hannah's friend Ryder sat at the table next to us, and his mama snapped and shared the next two pics.

Photo courtesy of Ryder's mama

Photo courtesy of Ryder's mama

The classroom turned to chaos within about half an hour as sugar began pumping through all the children. Playground time!

Selfishly, I'm glad that this year was the mother's day tea because since they are in this class for 3 years, it means I'll get another Montessori Mother's Day tea before she heads to an elementary classroom. Wonder what they'll do for dad's day next year...