Today Emily's preschool class celebrated her birthday (since it had occurred during their vacation time). Emily was quite excited to have her moms at school for the ceremony.
The Montessori birthday celebration is pretty involved. First she set up the sun plate with four candles in it, then she carried the globe around the circle while Mom read her "life story" aloud. Basically Mom told the class where Emily was born, where she lived before Maine, and what things she likes to do.
Then came the best part--Emily used material representing the four natural elements (clay for earth, a feather for air, a shell for water, and a candle for fire) and she created a sculpture while we all watched.
Then she got to walk around the circle and show her sculpture to all the other kids. She was very proud!
Finally, she put out the candles while all the kids sang "Happy Birthday".
Em was thrilled by her moment in the spotlight, and we were impressed to see her completing the ceremony all by herself in front of everybody.
Last year her class celebrated her third birthday in the same way, but she had just started school and was very shy, and needed lots of help from the older kids. This year she breezed through it, no problem. There has been a lot of growing up this year for Emily!
Montessori is so great, what a special day for Emily at school. I am hoping to get my girls in Montessori here once Lauren is 18 months old. I can hardly believe she is already 4! How the time flies anymore...
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