Where Children Develop a Love for Learning

Many of us didn’t grow up with Montessori. As a result, we often find ourselves drawing upon a great deal of trust. We may intellectually understand how this unique method supports our children and their development. Still, we don’t always have the experiential knowledge to explain how and why it works! We recognize that life is pretty scheduled, and we also want to provide you with information that can help you navigate others’ questions and queries (as well as your own!). Plus, we know that the more involved you are and the more opportunities you have to be connected to what we do, the more your child will benefit from Montessori’s child-centered approach! Goals for Family Education Events We have some goals in mind as we design parent and family education events. We want to deepen your understanding of Montessori philosophy and practice. We want to work together in partnership, and we often hear that families want to better understand how Montessori can be implemented at home. We are excited to help with this, especially knowing that when we are all aligned, we can work together to foster independence, responsibility, and self-discipline in our children. Supporting Your Child’s Development Our hope is that as you learn more about what we do and as we learn more about what you do, we can use a shared understanding of Montessori principles to support your child’s development both in and outside of school. Understanding developmental stages through a Montessori lens often leads to children feeling a stronger sense of belonging and connection because they feel understood and supported. This can translate into easier day-to-day interactions, better collaborative problem-solving, a long-term love for learning, and an increase in confidence and independence. Partnership in the Parenting Journey We want to help build a strong home-school partnership. Through consistent and varied communication and learning opportunities, we hope to create a collaborative environment and opportunities for meaningful dialogue. Parenting is a tough job, and we want to ensure you know you aren’t alone on this journey! Through different platforms, we aim to address common misconceptions and help you feel good about answering questions that come up at family gatherings and neighborhood events! We value an engaged community, and we want to support your connections with other Montessori families. Sharing experiences and challenges with like-minded parents helps us all stay afloat during the ebbs and flows of raising children. We want our Montessori community to provide both emotional support and practical advice. Ultimately, we want you to better understand Montessori so you can be an effective advocate for your child’s education and so you can feel prepared for the transitions your child will experience throughout the different stages of their life. Upcoming Events We hope you can join us for the following upcoming events! We value your participation and your partnership!

One of the best parts of a Montessori education is that learning is so much fun! We provide hands-on activities and experiences that engage children’s hearts and minds and help them grasp abstract concepts and master complicated skills. For example, when we introduce grammar in elementary, we use the Grammar Boxes, a set of materials that involve reading, interpretation, acting, art, movement, pattern-finding, and even poetry. The result is that grammar becomes an experiential and joyful process that children get to play with and even embody. Grammar work in Montessori elementary classrooms is also a group activity, which our gregarious elementary-aged children absolutely love. The Materials The Grammar Boxes comprise an array of colorful materials that easily take up a whole shelf in the classroom. Like so many Montessori materials, they use color coding to help children establish stronger neural pathways to identify parts of speech and their function in sentences. Each of the eight grammar boxes has one large compartment that holds cards with sets of phrases and sentences, as well as smaller compartments for one-word cards. The cards are different colors for each part of speech: article (tan), noun (black), adjective (brown), verb (red), preposition (green), adverb (orange), pronoun (purple), conjunction (pink), interjection (yellow). Children experience the name, symbol, and function of each part of speech in a multi-sensorial way, maximizing their opportunity to acquire real and deep understanding. The Activity We start with little games to introduce the part of speech. For example, we provide commands, like skip, run, hide, hum, and so on, to experience the role the verb plays. Next, we select the grammar box and filler box to match the part of speech. Children fill the grammar box with the various cards, and then they choose one of the sentence cards and read the sentence. Using the one-word cards, they build the sentence by looking through the smaller compartments in the grammar box to find each word. In the preposition grammar box, one of the sentences states, “Lay the pen with the pencil.” When children look for each of the words, they will find that “pen” and “pencil” are on black cards because they are nouns. “Lay” is on a red card because it is a verb. “The” is on a tan card because it is an article. The new type of word – “with” – is a preposition. Children build the sentence and then act it out. The next sentence on the card is exactly the same except for one variation. “With” changes to “behind” so the sentence reads “Lay the pen behind the pencil.” So children keep the constructed sentence but just change the one card. They act out the sentence again, experiencing how changing the preposition changes the sentence in a certain way. The final sentence on the card reads “Lay the pen beside the pencil.” This acting out and playing around with what happens when one-word changes provides a sensorial experience of the parts of speech. We also share key phrases that highlight the function of the part of speech. For example, when working with pronouns, we’ll state, “This kind of word stands in place of a noun.” The children come to appreciate how words do important work just like they do. As a result, they experience an inspired interest in the functions performed by different words. Continued Exploration Once children have mastered this first step, the Grammar Box materials offer multiple forms of follow-up to promote deeper understanding. Symbolizing We link each part of speech with a color-coded symbol. For example, nouns are represented by black triangles and verbs by red circles. Children love to “symbolize” the grammar box sentences, as well as sentences they have written or even sentences from books. This practice is essentially an early form of sentence diagramming and children begin to notice visual patterns in the structure of sentences. Quizzing We can also play a little game to quiz children on the parts of speech and their functions. One form of this is to cover all the smaller, labeled compartments with color-coded paper. We might prompt the children, “What is the name of the word that told you the action?” They’ll call out “verb!” And we reveal (or they will check) the answer by removing the red slip. Transposing When we move words around in a sentence or phrase, the meaning may remain essentially the same, change dramatically, or be lost entirely! So, with the grammar box cards, we play around with shifting the order of the words in the constructed sentences and phrases. This highlights the importance of word order in our language and also opens up some creative thinking about poetic phrases (which often enlivens the imagination of young poets!).