Fundamental to the Montessori classroom, and more valuable than academic lessons, are the lessons which help children learn social strategies. These strategies help navigate friendships and collaboration with others, benefitting children throughout their life. Grace and courtesy is an integral part of the Montessori curriculum beginning in the early childhood classroom and continuing through the…
Collaboration in the Montessori Classroom
Collaboration is such an important facet of the Montessori classroom. On any given day, you could witness our younger friends paired up with their eagerly awaiting Elementary counterparts to learn from their expertise. Recently, our Elementary Students have been clamoring at the opportunity to be a reading buddy to our Kindergarten friends. This is a…
Words of Wisdom
Education must aim at improving the individual in order to improve society. — Dr. Maria Montessori
Words of wisdom
It’s not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can’t tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself. — Joyce…
A Vision of Peace
The Montessori six to nine classroom teaches dates and events but more importantly, it allows for children to understand human nature better by learning about people all over the world and their responses to their environment. This enables the child to decide if he wants to react in the same way he sees the adults…
Elementary and Cosmic Education
Maria Montessori’s vision of human development was the inspiration of her theory Cosmic Education. Cosmic in this sense meaning comprehensive, holistic, and purposeful. She described Cosmic Education as the path through which children develop a global vision. The children in the 6-9 age plane of development begin to gravitate towards others; they are not so…
New Addition to the Family
Any change in a child’s life brings new feelings and challenges. This is especially true when a new sibling enters the picture. A child’s routines are interrupted and even changed for good in some respects. Teachers and parents can work together to help the child adjust to family transitions. Age appropriate stories help to prepare…
Multi-Age Classroom
Montessori classrooms are one-of-a-kind. Their unique qualities stem around the principle of providing a rich environment for each child’s individual growth, but also the growth of the classroom community as a whole. The social connection, the human trait of feeling empathy, affection and responsibility, blossoms naturally in our classrooms fueled by the relationships of children…
What Children are REALLY Drawn To
As teachers, we spend a lot of time quietly observing the children. We learn what they are drawn to and excited about. Sometimes, it is a person whom the children are drawn to; they rush to greet them and give them a hug, dropping everything they were doing! Why are some people children magnets? When…
Education Isn’t About You
A child’s defiant behavior isn’t about you. A parent’s “baggage” while navigating school in regards to their child’s developmental needs isn’t about you. When building relationships with parents and families we need to exercise our exclusive ability as humans to be empathetic, engage genuinely and think critically about a solution. When we make their actions,…
