The following is an overview of Montessori education. If, after reading it, you would like to look at our program, call and set up a morning to come and observe the program any time from October-April or during the months of June/July. The times of the observations are always 9:30-11:00. It involves a short video on the Montessori program and then we visit each of our classrooms. By the end of the observation we hope to have answered all of your questions. We ask that during this time you do not bring your child. If you decide to enroll your child, they will have an opportunity to come and meet with the teacher one-on-one. When Maria Montessori started the program 100 years ago, it was to help underprivileged children. It turns out to be a great program for most children. Montessori is just a different approach to learning. Ideally, Montessori runs in three-year cycles. If our program were full service, the first cycle would be birth to three years then three years to six years, six to nine years old, etc. all the way through high school. We begin our program at age three when the child is fully potty trained. This particular cycle ends at the end of the kindergarten year. Of course, some children start when they're four and some leave before kindergarten. During the cycle from age three - kindergarten, the children stay with the same teacher in the same classroom. All of our teachers have a four-year degree and an additional year of Montessori training. The classes are a blend of three, four and five year olds. The older children are role models and can sometimes help the younger children with their work. The younger children are thrilled to have an older child paying attention to them and are also being exposed to the work of the older children. This is often the way the younger children get interested in new works and will then ask, (i.e.) "Can I do sound work?" This particular request is often a major step towards reading. At Montessori the children choose what they want to learn at the time they want to learn it. If a child is choosing what they want to learn, whether it's pouring water or adding numbers, they will be paying more attention because they chose it. When you walk into a Montessori class you typically have 20-25 children doing 20-25 different things they have chosen to do. The teacher moves around giving lessons to individuals or checking what has already been completed. Some children will have a lesson with the teacher and over the next several days or weeks do the work 3-4 times on their own. When they understand the concept,they will be ready for the next work in that area. Another child might need to do a work 20-30 times before they feel confident with the concept and ready for the next work. Everything is in the child's own time, not according to the calendar. Montessori wants children to find the joy of learning. We ask all parents interested in our program to come and observe the children in the classroom. Often they say how amazed they are by the calmness in the room and how each child seems to be busy doing their own thing. This may be an example where seeing is believing. Montessori is not a free-for-all, but is about choices within the structure. For example, a child can take out a work they've had a lesson on, but if they haven't had a lesson on it, they cannot choose it (although they can ask for a lesson from the teacher). Or, a child cannot take out a work until they have put the previous work away. They can work alone or with one friend. By the end of the kindergarten year, you can expect the "average" child to know their consonant letters, short and long vowels and to be reading books. Some children go further and some children don't master all of the long vowels, but on average they do. There are a certain number of children in each class that will master all the sounds and be reading for comprehensive understanding in their kindergarten year. In math they are able to add numbers in the thousands and be familiar with units, tens, hundreds and thousands place value. They will also be introduced to multiplication concepts. On occasion some children will even go further. The cultural area is very broad based. They will learn the names of about 20 bones in the body (patella, scapula, etc). Give them the correct name and they will want to use it! They will know the works of 5-6 famous artists, parts of the plant, etc. In geography they will typically know about a 1/3 of the United States, a little less than a 1/3 of Europe, all the countries of South America, and some countries in Asia and Africa on unmarked maps. Again, some will know a little more and some will know a little less. (We often have one or two students who will know the names of all the countries of the world and as well as all of the United States by the end of kindergarten. They don't have to wait for everyone to have their same interest!) The idea is for them to be aware of the world around them. The overall main idea is for children to be well-rounded and fall in love with learning at their own pace, not based on the calendar or what other students in the class are doing. We hope you will come to visit and see how the program works in person. Registration starts the January of the fall you want your child to start, but you have to have completed an observation before you can register. We are often full by mid-February for the fall start date. If you need more information or would like to receive a packet containing tuition information and samples of newsletters we send out to our parents each month, please see our information under Contact Us on this web site. The newsletters will give you a good overall feel for life here at Montessori. Sincerely, Diane M. Barron
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