Birthdays the Montessori way

Jenna started school at Raintree last year on September 5th, right after her 3rd birthday. She has been waiting all year long to get to celebrate her birthday at school. Montessori method has a very cool way to celebrate birthdays which involves the child holding an earth while standing in the middle of a circle representing the four seasons. Then the child walks around the circle four times (or however old they are) representing the years that have passed. They get to bake their own birthday cake during school and wear a special crown all day. The teacher also puts together a 8 X 11 frame of the birthday child - using pictures of when they were an infant, up to their current age. I have to send the pics with Jenna to school tomorrow, so I've been reminiscing......

Jenna at 2 weeks:


Jenna at 1 year:


2 year-old Jenna:


Jenna at 3:


And finally -- the big 4 year-old: