04/23/2026
Today was a very, very cool day for a couple of five-year-olds. These two buddies started with a lesson on the squaring chain of 5, and they took it from there…
Something as simple as introducing material, presenting the lesson to one child while the other connected pin punching to the metal insets nearby unfolded in incredible ways.
I walked away after the lesson and just observed. They made the connection that five sets of five could be turned into a pentagon - they asked for clarification on that, after realizing, “no, it’s not an octagon because that’s a stop sign shape and this is a house” - which is the shape that had been carefully traced then pin-punched.
The next thing I know, the five chain is put away, and one of them is staring and gently touching each of the cubes for the long chains (he is DESPERATE to explore those!). He asked if he could try something, and I said, “of course!” And the rest is history.
They connected the size of the cubes to the pink tower. They connected the thousand cube to the thousands in our bank, then they realized their layout resembled a city, and they pulled this world landmark card work off the shelf to remember the name of the building they recalled.
Then, they wanted to “glue the five chain onto the pin punching so the light could shine through when we tape it on the window,” so we figured out how to use pony beads and metallic twist ties from the atelier together and we made our own squaring chain!
As one does, when encouraged to follow their curiosity and not bound by the too often strict sequence of Montessori and instead encouraged to experiment, create, investigate, explore, and connect.
These children have my whole heart💞
