Montessori is Everywhere!

Here we are, on the dawn of our return home after an incredible experience in St. Petersburg.  We have been enjoying the local sites and I cannot help but think of Montessori everywhere we go!  How I long to take these sites and impressions back to my classroom and share with the children…  Here are some photos from the last several weeks that call out to the Montessorian in all of us:

Peterhof Palace

This man jumped into the water to save a squirrel that had fallen in.

At the Dolphinarium

Beluga Whale

Museum of the Arctic and Antarctic

Examining a walrus skull.

Eye-to-eye with a polar bear!

"Antarctica - The Continent of Peace and Friendship"
(I seriously wanted to transport my entire class to this museum…!) 

Tsarskoe Selo - Catherine Palace

Hmmm, what Montessori material does this remind you of?

Botanical Gardens of the Russian Academy of Sciences

And let's not forget the day I was inspired to develop a curriculum for Russian language and culture in the classroom…  I had been riding a bus down Nevsky Prospect when the idea came to me right when I least expected it…  Of course , I had to exit the bus and enter the nearest bookstore for materials:

Poems, stories, vocabulary cards, and yes - that is a set of Cyrillic Sandpaper Letters!  (not from the bookstore, but from the 'Montessori-Piter' store not far from our apartment…)

It's been an adventure of a lifetime, but it is time for our family's return home and my time to come back to the classroom that I've missed so much.  Even though this school year has just ended, I can hardly wait for the new one to begin…!