Montessori Observations and Milestones
Write what you saw, tag the child and the lesson, set the stage and tick the milestones in one go. The observation, the child's progress record and the reports stay in step.
Where to find it: Learning & Progress → Observations, or Add observation on the Progress Grid
What an observation holds
An observation is a dated note about one or more children. In the Montessori framework it can also carry a lesson, a stage and the milestones the child showed. Saving it writes the stage and the milestones to each tagged child's progress record, so you never record the same moment twice.
The Observations page: each card shows the note, the lesson with its stage, the area and sub-area, and any milestones.
Add an observation
Press Add Observation (Observations page) or Add observation (Progress Grid). From a grid cell, Add record opens the same form with the child and lesson already tagged.
Check the date. It defaults to today; change it if you are writing up yesterday.
Write what you saw. Type @ to tag a child and # to tag a lesson as you write, or use + Tag students and + Tag lessons below the box. AI assist can polish or expand a note once you have written something.
Pick the stage the child reached on the tagged lesson: Introduced, Practiced or Mastered.
When the tagged lesson has milestones, a Milestones section appears. Tick what the child showed. With several children tagged, a half-filled box means only some of them have it already; ticking applies to all of them.
Attach a photo, video or file if you have one, decide whether parents can see it, and Save.
The observation form: date, visibility, the note with @ and # tagging, stage, attachments.
Hidden from parents. The switch at the top right starts on, so a working note stays staff-only. Turn it off to share the observation in the parent app. Staff-only observations show an orange Staff only tag in the list.
What saving does
You tagged | illumine writes |
A child and a lesson, with a stage | The stage on that child's record for that lesson, dated by the observation, with a link back to the observation in the history. |
Milestones | Each tick on each tagged child's record, dated by the observation. The observation lists the milestones too. |
Several children | The same stage and milestones for every tagged child. Children who were already further along keep their stage. |
A lesson but no stage | Only the note. The record is untouched. |
The other direction: stages and ticks create observations
Recording on the Progress Grid also produces observations, so a child's timeline is complete whichever way the teacher works:
Changing a stage on the grid creates a short staff-only observation for that child and lesson.
Ticking a milestone on the grid or the Progress Board appends the milestone to the same-day observation linked to that lesson when there is one, and otherwise creates a staff-only observation for it.
Administrators can switch both off under Settings → Lesson Settings → Don't create an observation when a lesson plan status changes. Observations you write yourself are never affected by that setting.
Reading the list
Cards are grouped by date. Each shows the children, the time, the author, the NOTE, the LESSON with its stage, the AREA path and the MILESTONES reached.
Filter by observation type, room, date range (Today, Yesterday, This Month, Last Month, This Year or a custom range) and sort by created or observation date. Filters adds author and development area.
View details opens the full observation with attachments and comments; Edit observation there reopens the form with the lesson, stage and milestones pre-filled.
An observation's detail panel.
Common mistakes
What people do | What happens | Do this instead |
Write the note without tagging the lesson | No stage or milestone can be recorded; the note is not linked to the lesson | Type # and pick the lesson, or start from the grid cell |
Leave the visibility switch on and wonder why parents saw nothing | The observation is staff-only by default | Turn Hidden from parents off before saving, or edit it later |
Look for last week's observation with the date filter on Today | The list shows "0 observations found" | Widen the date range to This Month or a custom range |