Observation - 2:

Arav's school lets parents observe their children at work in the classroom for about 11/2 hours. This was my second observation and I was looking forward to it. Only in the morning, while we were getting him ready, I told him I would be coming over to his school. He was very excited. I guess it is every kid's dream to have their mom with them at school! (Atleast in every 4 year old's dream..!!)

The rules during observation in his school were:
1. You can observe your child from inside his class.
2. Do not interact with your child in any way..(talk, gesticulate, mime..nothing)
3. You have to be a piece of furniture in class. period.
4. At 10: 30 you have got to leave the school premises..

So, he held on to my hand and led me inside his school with a proud smile. The other children were all wide eyed and murmuring.."Hey it is Arav's mom today" (almost patting Arav's back..like as if he did them proud!) It was really sweet to watch all that interaction between children.

Arav's class was in the first floor and we had to climb stairs. Children in his school are supposed to remove their bags and shoes outside and leave them neatly in an open shelf that has been provided for that purpose.  Arav did the same thing and he told me where to put away my shoes too. When he met his teacher, she told him to give me a chair. Then he walked in and gave me a small chair and placed it in the corner of the room for me to sit on it. After I sat on it , he went and brought his mat. In his school like any other montessori school in Chennai, children use mats extensively. They are called work mats.

He brought geometrical solids and he started to work with them..(occasionally yawning)!. He then passed it on to me and aunty scorned. That disturbed this sensitive child who wanted to proudly show off his skills. Then I softly murmured "It's ok..show me your work". Then he got alright and he brought the Binomial cube and he completed the cube, after that he worked with the Trinomial cube.

He suddenly forgot I was even there and started to work, daydream a bit, had a word or two with a friend and then noticed me.."Oh my gawd..mom is still here !!!"

 Then he worked with Golden Beads and started counting. After that "aunty" told him to take out Number Cards. I was surprised and proud at the same time to know that my son can now count and read numbers in ones, tens, hundreds upto one thousand. The method is so beautiful that learning Math is easy and fun. 

I did not want to leave the classroom. It was like being in an energy ball for 1 1/2 hrs. Infact I wished I studied there..but I had to leave..it was 10:30.