This is a great discussion!
Sydness - thank you so much for your detailed description and explanation. It really helped to understand the teacher's intended role as a guide, and that does make sense. As I thought about what I saw and framed it in the context you described, it really didn't seem like such a negative interaction after all.
Here is the good news... my son LOVED it. When I went to pick him up, the teacher brought him out (the one I talked about before) and you could really tell they had connected. My son, who was very shy and quiet at the other school, was talking on and on and on about his morning. He was THRILLED. The teacher told me she was very surprised that he knew letters, phonics, high math skills, etc. and said she could tell he needed to be kept busy and challenged to keep him happy in the classroom. There were zero behavior issues, which she attributed to allowing him to pick challenging tasks and keeping him moving and interested. It's amazing how much better this teacher knows my son after just a couple of hours than his previous school ever did.
Time will tell how his behavior issues will pan out. Once he gets comfortable in the classroom, things could change (for better or for worse), but at least his first morning was a huge success.
Oh, and my daughter really loved her morning too. Apparently it was quickly evident that she can read a lot of sight words and is great at counting things. So her teacher was pretty shocked, but was being really cool about it and not getting hung up on it. She didn't make it feel like my daughter was some sort of side show. So I was really pleased with the pre-primary teacher too.
Does anyone know of a good Montesorri book that is directed at parents? I'd love to just understand what happens in the classroom a bit better - you know, learn the lingo and whatnot.
