I've been thinking about creating something like this for our classroom for a while...
Not exactly another school newsletter—and definitely not another place for me to remind you what needs to come back on Monday. :)
I wanted a place to share a little more of our classroom with you throughout the year.
The little stories. The things I notice. The Montessori behind what we're doing.
And those small moments that sometimes tell us much more than we realize.
Some of you already know our classroom well, and for some of you, this is the very beginning of your Hummingbirds journey with us.
So I thought there was no better place to start than with the story behind our name.
Have I ever actually told you why we're the Hummingbirds?
During my Montessori certification, my training took place in the Dove classroom. There were Manatees, Owls, and other classrooms, each with their own animal name. I thought it was cute, but honestly didn't think much more about it.
That period of my life was incredibly meaningful to me.
Finding Montessori felt almost like finding something I had been looking for without knowing I was looking for it.
So much of what I was learning felt strangely familiar. I remember thinking, Wait... someone already thought about all of this?
I was amazed that Maria Montessori, more than a century ago, had observed children so deeply and put into words so many things about children and human development that I already intuitively felt.
It reflected how I had been raising my own child and how I already saw children—as individuals in their own right, having their own experiences, becoming who they are, with us there to guide them along the way.
Montessori gave language and structure to something I think I had already felt intuitively.
And while all of this was happening, outside the Dove classroom window, I would see hummingbirds.
They would come to drink nectar from the flowers right outside, and I loved watching them.
There wasn't some deep meaning behind it at the time. I definitely wasn't sitting there thinking, Ah yes, the hummingbird—the perfect symbol for my future classroom. 😂
I just thought they were beautiful.
But during this very meaningful period of my life, they stayed with me.
So when I eventually received a classroom of my own and had the opportunity to give it a name, I knew immediately.
The Hummingbirds.
While creating From the Hummingbirds, I started thinking about them again.
And I began to understand why the symbol feels so aligned with what Montessori and children mean to me.
Children and hummingbirds both ask us to pay attention.
A hummingbird moves quickly. If you're distracted, you can miss it.
But if you stop and really watch, suddenly you see an extraordinary amount happening in something very small.
Childhood is a little like that too, don't you think?
So much development happens in moments we adults could easily overlook.
The growth happening in childhood can be easy to miss from the outside.
But when we slow down enough to observe, we begin to see just how much is actually happening underneath.
And sometimes, we don’t need to do anything at all.
We simply get to witness it.
There was another connection I hadn't thought about until recently.
Those hummingbirds outside my training classroom were coming to the window for nectar.
For something sweet.
And maybe that's part of what I want this little newsletter to be about too:
Noticing the sweetness in small moments.
Bringing some of those moments home to you so that you get to see a little of what I get to see.
Because childhood moves quickly.
And I don't want us to miss the small moments because we were moving too quickly ourselves.
The Montessori Behind It...
One of the things Montessori has taught me most deeply is the wisdom of observation.
I never dreamed simply of "becoming a teacher." Teaching young children has always felt connected to something bigger for me.
Children are our future, and I choose to put my energy into these formative years because I believe that helping children develop into capable, conscious human beings is one small way of helping shape the world that comes next.
And I feel incredibly grateful for the families whose paths cross mine along the way.
For this little period of your child's life, I get the privilege of knowing them, observing them, guiding them, learning from them—and sharing some of what I see with you.
That's really what I hope From the Hummingbirds becomes.
Not only a place to tell you what we're doing in the classroom, but a place to share some of the why behind it too.
My little observations. My Montessori lens. The things your children make me stop and think about.
And every once in a while, something for all of us to take home.
That's what you'll find here.
I'm looking forward to a beautiful year together.
And I can't wait to see what our Hummingbirds give us to notice.
From the Hummingbirds,
Ms. Andrea 🙇♀️
