Tag Archives: child development

Prepping for Preschool

By: Alex Chiu, Hannah Ferris, and Jax Pisciotto

Your child’s first day of school is a major milestone for your family. It is undoubtedly a very exciting time and likely will be marked by new clothes, a new backpack and lunchbox, and many adorable “First Day of School” photos. While the anticipation of a new school year is very exciting, it can also be stressful, for you and your child alike. Many years of experience have provided the staff of The Montessori Children’s Academy (MCA) with special insights into some simple things parents can do to prepare their children, and themselves, for preschool. We hope you find that these tried and true methods will help alleviate any stress that may be surfacing as the new school year approaches and that they will allow your family to truly enjoy the excitement of your child’s first school experience

1. Don’t miss “Meet the TeachersDay”

The first day of school at MCA is a bit different than what one might expect. We call this special day “Meet the Teachers Day”, and it’s coming up very soon! Parents and children come to MCA together to visit their new classrooms and meet their teachers face-to-face.

Meet the Teachers Day is followed by a “Phase-In” period that is aimed at helping to alleviate any separation anxiety and provide the children with a smooth transition into their new school environment. Meet the Teachers Day is just one piece of the school orientation that allows the children to acclimate both socially and emotionally to being apart from their parents and begin to take part in all aspects of their classroom community.

2. Take your child shopping for school supplies

Allow your child to get excited about going to school by bringing him or her with you when you go shopping for school supplies. Giving your child the freedom to pick out his or her backpack and lunchbox will also create a sense of ownership of these items, which will inherently point your child in the direction of being responsible for his or her belongings.

3. Begin evening and morning routines before school starts

Many of our teachers at MCA have already begun to re-adjust their internal clocks, which have been set to summer mode for the past two months. During the summer, we often stay up later, knowing that we can sleep in a bit. However, as we approach the start of a new school year, it is helpful to get back into a ‘school day rhythm’.

We know that it’s not always the simplest task to settle your little ones down for bed, especially when the sun is still shining, but it is important to establish a healthy bedtime for the school year. School days at MCA start early, at 8:30 or 8:45AM. If an early bedtime is proving to be tricky, you may consider implementing family “quiet time” in the evenings. This can involve quiet play, or you could engage in the time-honored tradition of reading before bedtime. Have your child pick out 3 or 4 favorite books to settle down with if he or she isn’t quite ready to sleep. As your quiet routine continues in the days leading up to the first day of school, cut back to 2 – 3 books until your child is prepared to settle down a little earlier.

In the morning, try the lure of a favorite breakfast to help rouse your little one while your family’s bodies adjust to school mode. Perhaps even do a practice run, where you and your child have breakfast and leave the house together to drive past the school. This will also allow you to assess how much time it takes to actually get out the door.

4. Differentiate your anxieties about separation from your child’s

Whether this is your first child heading off to preschool or your fourth, it is normal for parents to have some hesitation about leaving their children in the care of others. In order to assist children in making a smooth transition, it is important for parents to display a positive attitude and send children off with a big smile, a brief hug, and the assurance that you are looking forward to sharing stories about each of your days when school and work are done. Your positive attitude helps your child sense that you believe he or she will be able to manage the school day just fine, and that positive attitude just might be contagious!

To help you maintain a smile before you say goodbye, take some time to reflect on the successes your child has exhibited in playgroups or at other times when you were not by his or her side. Be confident that should your child need some extra support, the teachers at MCA will help you both through this transition until everyone is comfortable with a new school routine.

5. Talk about school at home using the names of teachers and classmates

After Meet the Teachers Day, and then throughout the school year, invite your child to share stories about the events of his or her school day. Keep a class list handy to help you both remember the names of new teachers and friends until they become familiar. Ask open-ended questions to encourage your child to share details, and be patient if it takes some time to remember events from the day. You might ask, “What story did you listen to during circle time?”, “Who did you eat snack with today?”, or “What did you do on the playground?” Gradually, you may find that your child will initiate and guide the conversations about school.

6. Take the time to meet other parents

Chances are you won’t be the only parent who is nervous about leaving your child at school for the first time. Some veteran parents may feel the very same way! We can guarantee that there will be friendly and sympathetic faces willing to lend advice to a first-time preschool parent. Take the first step and introduce yourself to another parent after drop-off, and set up time to meet over coffee to share your experiences. The other parents in your child’s class will be wonderful resources at the beginning of the school year, and in time, you may find that they become good friends as well. Just as your child will be experiencing new things and making new friends during his or her school experience, so will you.

We can’t believe that the summer is almost over, but we are anticipating a wonderful 2016-2017 school year! Our teachers are busy preparing their classrooms, just as your family is preparing for the school year in your own way. Everyone at MCA is excited to welcome you on September 7^th. To all of our new and returning MCA families, we look forward to seeing you very soon!

MCA Book Club Inspires Summer Reading List

By: Alex Chiu

In the fall of this past school year, The Montessori Children’s Academy (MCA) was proud to host Dr. Eileen Kennedy-Moore as a guest speaker for a Speaker Series event. Dr. Kennedy-Moore shared her professional insights on a variety of parenting topics, balanced with her own honest experiences as a mother of four. She was an engaging speaker, and she enlightened everyone who attended this special event. Her focus on the topics in her book Smart Parenting for Smart Kids stirred up lively conversation. The book, which is filled with vignettes and strategies for raising smart kids who will become healthy, happy, and independent adults, raised a great deal of interest and intrigue among the audience members.

In order to keep the conversations going, MCA sponsored a Parent Book Club featuring Smart Parenting for Smart Kids in the spring of 2016. Twenty parents from all three MCA campuses participated in the six weekly sessions, with each week zeroing in a different topic of discussion taken from sections of the selected book. A Head Teacher at each campus guided the conversations where parents exchanged personal experiences about the challenges of parenting, asked questions, and bonded over the content of the conversation.

The Book Club provided a platform for delving into a variety of issues that were commonly experienced by members of the group, and together, using the book as a guide, they brainstormed methods for better understanding and helping their children. Certainly this was the common denominator for the group – all parents seek new techniques for working with their children as they grow up.

We reached out to Dr. Kennedy-Moore and invited her to share some background information about why she wrote Smart Parenting for Smart Kids. She shared the following:

“One of the comments that my co-author, Mark Lowenthal, and I hear a lot from parents in our practices is “My kid is smart, but…” The “but” could be that their children get very upset when they make mistakes, or they have trouble getting along with other kids, or they constantly argue with adults… These parents know that their children are bright, but they worry because they also know that it takes more than school smarts to create a satisfying life…

This book is about helping children develop inner strength and outward empathy. The world tells bright children that their performance matters; they need us, their parents, to tell them that they are much more than the sum of their accomplishments. They need to know that we love them for their kindness, curiosity, imagination, determination, and sense of fun. Qualities like these aren’t necessarily impressive, but they matter deeply.”

MCA’s Director of Montessori Development, Camilla Nichols-Uhler, added that many of the tenets in Dr. Kennedy-Moore’s book complement Montessori education, making this book choice something which dovetails with what our parents are learning about how their children work within a prepared Montessori environment. She explains:

“In Montessori classrooms, teachers guide the children to develop solutions to challenges and problems in a practical way while at the same time gaining self-confidence. Children find ways to be successful working independently and in groups through each stage of their development and throughout their Montessori education. The focus is not just on academics, but also on developing the whole child. Smart Parenting for Smart Kids and the Montessori philosophy share the value of nurturing the whole child. Parents learn how to lay the best foundation at home just as we lay the foundation for our students’ academic, social, and emotional growth while at MCA.”

Our Book Club facilitators and parent participants enjoyed Dr. Kennedy-Moore’s book and the discussions about positive parenting that ensued at the club meetings.

Mrs. Gallo, one of the club facilitators, shared her experience with us:

“I thoroughly enjoyed hosting the MCA Book Club. The parents were great and really positive and supportive of each other. We had five parents and most were able to attend the entire series. We typically started out with the chapter topic, but often parents had parenting issues that they wanted to talk about. The biggest takeaway from the series was tuning into the child by reflecting what the child is saying. This enables the child to know that you heard him or her and allows the parent to slow down and focus on the child. I think a forum for parents to come together and discuss parenting concerns is so needed… All-in-all it was a positive experience…”

With so many challenges facing parents and children today, having a place where people can come together to exchange ideas and glean insights from experts and peers can alleviate some of the stress of parenting. It can also foster feelings of confidence when parents realize that they are not alone and that there are people and resources out there to support them in their efforts to be the best parents that they can be. As the saying goes, “It takes a village.”

A parent participating in our Book Club commented:

“The Book Club offered me an opportunity to pause and reflect on some of the struggles I face as a parent in addressing my children’s needs. I found it helpful to hear other parents’ experiences and to discuss strategies with them…. I enjoyed participating in the Book Club and found it helpful, overall.”

We were thrilled by the positive response to our inaugural Parent Book Club and are looking forward to hosting another in the 2016-2017 school year. Stay tuned to learn when it will be held and which book will be the focus for the next set of meetings! If you were unable to be a part of our Parent Book Club this year, we recommend that you add Smart Parenting for Smart Kids to your summer reading list. And while you’re at it… Here are some other titles you may want to check out while traveling, lounging poolside, or just taking a lemonade break in your backyard:

Montessori Madness!: A Parent to Parent Argument for Montessori Education, Trevor Eissler
The Childhood Roots of Adult Happiness: Five Steps to Help Kids Create and Sustain Lifelong Joy, Edward Hallowell, MD
The Big Book of Parenting Solutions, Michele Borba, Ed.D.
Getting It Right with Children, Madelyn Swift
Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius, Angeline Stoll Lillard
Parents Do Make a Difference, Michele Borba, Ed.D.
The Pressured Child, Michael Thompson, Ph.D.
Raising a Self-Disciplined Child, Roberts Brooks, Ph.D. and Sam Goldstein, Ph.D.
Building Moral Intelligence, Michele Borba, Ed.D.
Generation Text, Michael Osit, Ph.D.

Pennies for Peace 2015-2016

By: Camilla Nichols-Uhler, Hannah Ferris, and Alex Chiu

Since September, MCA students have been raising funds for Pennies for Peace, a “service learning program that brings cultural and philanthropic education to students and educators all over the world”. Each campus recently totaled its pennies, with the help of our math-savvy students, and now plans to send the contributions on to assist children at schools throughout Asia. Read on to learn how many pennies our MCA students counted, resulting in a significant contribution to this very worthy cause!

Program Overview

Pennies for Peace is part of the educational component of the Central Asia Institute (CAI). CAI is an international development organization that works with communities to improve access to education in Asia. The CAI believes that education can alleviate poverty and reduce conflict.

Pennies for Peace is a fundraising program designed specifically for children, and its philosophy of “students helping students” is relatable even to preschoolers. MCA students, whose capacities for compassion find their foundation in the Montessori Philosophy, have taken ownership of this yearlong project. The children collected pennies from home and then brainstormed additional ways to engage the community to help them with their fundraising efforts.

Through their classroom Cultural studies, the children have learned a great deal about the state of education in certain areas of Asia. And perhaps of more significance, they have also come to understand the importance of sharing some of what they have with others who are less fortunate. When the MCA students discovered that just a few pennies could buy school supplies like notebooks and pencils for children in these far-away communities, they realized that many pennies could do even more. They wondered if they could work toward collecting enough pennies to build an entire school.

Connecting Curriculum with a Cause

The Pennies for Peace program ties in nicely with the Montessori Culture and Science curriculum. Over the course of the year, MCA students have learned a lot about life in the more educationally deprived areas of Asia. For example:

In many communities, the need for children to work on family farms often prevents them from going to school;
Often the physical terrain is very difficult to travel, and many children cannot get to schools in larger villages because roads through the Himalaya Mountain Range are dangerous;
Cultures place an emphasis on boys’ education at the expense of girls’ education. In some areas, only 12% of girls can read.
The culture in countries is very different from that in the United States: many families move from place to place based on the seasons to farm, they celebrate different holidays, and they eat different types of food.

In addition, participation in Pennies for Peace relates to the Montessori Peace curriculum, which aims to teach children how people working together peacefully can make the world a better place for everyone. The Pennies for Peace program also taught the MCA students about organizing their efforts for a good cause. They learned the process of brainstorming ideas, developing a plan for collections, and then putting that plan into action. All of these efforts resulted in building their understanding that working together towards a common goal is hard work, but that it reaps wonderful results and is well worth it!

MCA Students and Families Take Initiative

At first, the children came to school with handfuls pennies that they found around their homes. The sound of the pennies clinking as they were dropped into the collection jars was music to the children’s ears. As the number of pennies in the jar grew, so did the enthusiasm and creativity of our students, leading some of our students and families to go beyond dropping their pocket change in the classroom penny jars. We are extremely grateful to everyone for supporting this schoolwide project, and we wanted to recognize a few for their extra special effort:

One of our students took advantage of the warm autumn weather and sold lemonade to his neighbors. He accepted payment only in pennies and explained to his customers that the lemonade proceeds would benefit MCA’s Pennies for Peace He collected thousands of pennies in one afternoon!

Back in December, on an unseasonably sunny and warm Saturday, one family spearheaded a community fundraiser with the help of our friends at Café Beethoven in Chatham. Their children and friends from MCA created posters illustrating facts about the project and shared their knowledge about the countries they studied through the program with passersby. Many kindly donated their coffee change after learning about the project. This group of friends raised a total of $270 at the Saturday morning Café Beethoven fundraiser.

Recently, our MCA Elementary students sent a letter to the Short Hills Director, Mrs. Amy Hidalgo, and our Elementary Director/Senior Director, Mrs. Jeanine Christiana, pitching an idea for yet another Pennies for Peace In this letter, they asked permission to host a car wash before the end of the school year. They explained in the letter:

Bragging Rights

The students at MCA are growing in their sense of responsibility as citizens of a global community through their involvement with the Pennies for Peace project. As part of the Pennies for Peace philosophy, MCA students have helped spread the word about the project to other Montessori schools in the Tri-State Area, including sharing information about their participation with their pen pals at Brooklyn Heights Montessori School. Our students recently found out that their friends at Brooklyn Heights are also in the process of totaling their pennies. They realize that together they are making a difference!

Across our three campuses in Morristown, Chatham, and Short Hills, the MCA community has raised a grand total of $1,081.43 so far this year for Pennies for Peace. That’s a lot of pennies… 108,143 to be exact! Our Elementary students are currently working on a Math project to determine exactly how many school supplies this $1,081.43 can purchase for their friends on the other side of the globe. Perhaps they will not build an entire school, but they are well on their way to building enormous positive changes in the lives of children in Asia who will benefit from their hard work this year.

We are incredibly proud of our students for sharing information about Pennies for Peace with their families, their Montessori counterparts at other schools, and their communities. And we want to sincerely thank all of the parents, staff members, and community members from Chatham, Morristown, and Short Hills who contributed their pennies and their time to our various projects this year.

For more information about the Pennies for Peace program, please visit their website http://www.penniesforpeace.org.

References for this post:

“Pennies for Peace – a Free Service Learning Program.” Pennies for Peace. Central Asia Institute, Oct. 2015. Web. 10 May 2016.

A Joyful Start to the Montessori Journey with MMC&M

By: Camilla Nichols-Uhler and Alex Chiu

This fall, The Montessori Children’s Academy (MCA) proudly launched an exciting new program called Montessori, My Child, & Me (MMC&M). Designed for children ages 18-30 months, this program offers young children the opportunity to explore a modified Montessori environment with their parents or caregivers. MMC&M also provides the adults with an opportunity to learn about Montessori education and to see firsthand how it benefits children.

MMC&M sessions are 1 ½ hours once a week for eight weeks and are held in a classroom specifically designed for this younger age group. The classroom is a beautiful, welcoming environment equipped with specially designed furniture and materials that are the appropriate size for little arms and legs. Everything in the classroom is of the highest quality, obtained from renowned companies such as Hello Wood in Rickman, Tennessee and Community Playthings in Ulster Park, NY.

During each class meeting, the children and adults are introduced to a sampling of age-appropriate Montessori materials from each of the five main learning areas found in a typical Montessori classroom: Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Math, and Culture. However, the materials for the MMC&M classroom are adapted to meet the distinct needs and abilities of the young children in this special program.

One example of a lesson modified for MMC&M participants is the Pink Tower from the Sensorial area. In the MMC&M classroom, the tower contains five cubes for our little explorers to use in order to build the tower from the largest cube at the bottom to the smallest cube at the top. In our MCA 3-6-year-old classrooms, the Pink Tower contains ten cubes, and the children learn to transfer one cube at a time from the shelf to their workspace. As children use this material, they gain a sense of sequence and order. When they are finished, they return the Pink Tower to its place in the classroom and arrange it in the same way that they found it when they began their work. This way it is ready for the next person to use.

As our youngest MMC&M students began to learn the process for using the smaller version of the Pink Tower, the adults observed that this activity is so much more than what it appears to be on the surface. Many of the parents and adult caregivers marveled at how the children were able to follow directions, concentrate on the activity, and put away the materials in the appropriate place when they were finished! This is just one example of how Montessori engages the whole child in each activity. Gaining skills in independence, small and large muscle control, planning, and care of materials all are the essence of this seemingly simple lesson. And as our adults observed, even the youngest children can be successful when given the guidance and opportunity to take on new challenges!

In addition to using a sampling of modified Montessori materials, the MMC&M children and adults participate in music, movement, art, and yoga activities under the guidance of a certified Montessori Head Teacher. Movement is an important aspect of the Montessori environment. Studies have shown that children engaged in movement while learning are able to retain information more easily. In Montessori classrooms, the children often are moving to choose and complete their work. Movement provides time to release energy, to think, and to plan.

Within the MMC&M classroom, children have many opportunities to move and to develop their large motor skills as they crawl through a tunnel, push a carpet sweeper, or balance a wooden wheel on a yellow line. The MMC&M children also practice yoga poses and participate in a variety of songs and games that allow them to move their bodies in controlled, purposeful ways. At the same time, they are having quite a lot of fun!

And it’s not only the children who benefit from participating in the MMC&M program. The adults also glean a great deal of knowledge not only about Montessori but also about their own children. By welcoming parents and caregivers into the prepared Montessori environment and guiding them while their children explore the materials, the adults are given the opportunity to see their children through a different lens. This allows them to come to a deeper understanding of their children’s needs and unique capabilities.

During the course of the morning, the parents and caregivers are invited to visit the cozy adult area that offers a comfy couch, lounge chairs, and a coffee table. There, with a cup of coffee or tea, they can sit back and observe the classroom in action. Past participants have told us that by taking note of how the classroom is organized and seeing the types of child-sized tools we provide, they have learned how they can model the Montessori layout in order to promote their children’s independence at home. There are some simple things parents can do to adapt the kitchen, bathroom, and child’s bedroom to facilitate more practice with important daily life skills. As Dr. Montessori once said, “The essence of independence is to be able to do something for one’s self”. By modeling the Montessori environment at home, parents give their children the gift of independence, as well as a sense of pride in being able to do things for themselves.

The adults in our MMC&M program also have the opportunity to peruse Montessori resources, including books and articles related to the Montessori philosophy and methodology, and to read a collection of parent testimonials from current and former Montessori parents. Through observation and in conjunction with the parent education materials provided and guidance by the Head Teacher, the adults can witness how the Montessori environment addresses the needs of the children and fosters their natural curiosity, making learning meaningful and fun! They can also begin to build a bridge between home and school by implementing what they see in the MMC&M classroom in their own homes and family routines, which is one of the main goals of the program.

The Montessori Children’s Academy plans to expand the successful Montessori, My Child, & Me program in the future so that it is available at all three of our campuses—Morristown, Chatham, and Short Hills. We are excited to offer even more parents the opportunity to join our community and to embark on a beautiful Montessori journey together with their children.

“The greatness of the human personality begins at the hour of birth. From this almost mystic affirmation there comes what may seem a strange conclusion: that education must start from birth.” ~ Maria Montessori

More Than Blocks

By: Alex Chiu and Hannah Ferris

There is no question that Montessori materials are beautiful and intriguing. However, there are often many questions asked about how these materials help children learn. Today, we’d like to give you a peek inside one of our Montessori classrooms with a close-up view of some of the most notable Montessori materials.

Maria Montessori, as a medical doctor, applied her knowledge of the developmental stages of the child to her educational method. She understood above all that children learn by doing. The materials that are used by our students today are specially designed to allow children to learn a lesson by engaging with them. In fact, many of these materials are designed according to specifications left behind by Dr. Montessori.

In our mixed-age (3-6 years) classrooms, the materials first are presented by the teacher and then utilized by the students at different levels of difficulty according what is appropriate for each child. The teacher introduces materials in a formal lesson where the teacher demonstrates how the materials are meant to be used. The child will then conduct the lesson independently according to teacher’s (usually non-verbal) demonstration.. Materials are controlled for error and the use of physical objects allows abstract, complicated ideas to become accessible to young children. As children become ready to learn more complex concepts, the same materials ‘grow’ with the children, offering new information to add to their understanding, moving from very concrete to more abstract learning.

This post will highlight one material from each of the five main areas of the prepared learning environment that MCA provides in its 3-6 classrooms. It will serve as an introductory guide to the Montessori curriculum and to the science behind the materials that your children encounter daily.

Practical Life

The Practical Life area of the classroom contains activities that are designed to improve fine motor skills through daily functions like spooning, pouring, and hand washing. Dr. Montessori believed that learning how to carry out daily functions fostered independence, coordination, concentration, and confidence even among her youngest students. At MCA, the youngest members of our family begin their Montessori journeys in the Practical Life area.

Parents and visitors alike are always amazed to see our students engaged in Food Preparation, using real cooking utensils, inviting friends to eat snack with them, and then cleaning up when they are finished. Child-sized tools welcome students to the Practical Life area and provide greater opportunity for success in completing the activities. Parents are delighted when the confidence and skills gained in this area transfers to home life and children participate in cooking, setting the table, and cleaning up with their families.

Recently, during our Montessori Education Week celebrations, our students demonstrated their Practical Life skills for parents and visitors. Using the ‘flower arranging’ materials, they made lovely decorations with fresh flowers for their classrooms to mark the 109^th anniversary of Montessori education. This task required planning, measuring, careful handling of the flowers, and resulted in making our classrooms bright and cheery. It was a popular Practical Life activity!

Sensorial

The Sensorial area of the classroom contains materials designed to develop sensory perception. The most basic materials, designed for the youngest students in the classroom, may force the isolation of the senses. For example, Color Tablets focus on the visual sense and Sound Boxes focus on the auditory sense. As students grow and progress in this area, the activities become more complex and begin to prepare children for reading, writing, math, and logical thinking.

The Pink Tower is perhaps the most famous Montessori material. The Pink Tower is more than blocks; the ten cubes are classified in size from one centimeter cubed to ten centimeters cubed. A child is able to visually and physically differentiate between large and small as he or she carries one cube at a time from the shelf to the workspace to construct the tower. This pattern of movement forces the child to be aware of the surroundings, to control the body, and to concentrate on the task. Over time, understanding of the ten size classifications of the cubes will help prepare the child’s mind for math.

Language

Although our classrooms have a specific Language area, language lessons are not restricted to just one part of the classroom. Students practice their spoken language and vocabulary skills through conversation with their teachers and classmates, by singing songs, and when engaged in reading or listening to stories at circle times. Like the Sensorial area, the materials in the Language area of the classroom gradually become more advanced, and the children’s language skills progress into independent reading and writing exercises.

Sandpaper Letters help with both verbal and written language skills. Consonants (pink cards) and vowels (blue cards) are introduced to students by their sounds to teach recognition of the letter. The focus is on the sound the letter makes rather than the name of the letter. This allows for greater ease and understanding when moving from sound identification to reading words and later, sentences and entire books. After the sound of the letter is presented, students are instructed to trace the letters with their middle and index fingers – the fingers they will later use to hold a pencil. Again, as we have seen with so many Montessori materials, this provides the foundation for future skills. Sandpaper Letters may be used in a variety of other activities, like forming patterns and complementing sound games. Students will move on to the Moveable Alphabet to make words and sentences once they have mastered recognition of letter sounds using the Sandpaper Letters.

Mathematics

Montessori math allows students to physically hold the materials they are counting. This teaches them to recognize and distinguish between quantities of the numbers 1 through 10 and beyond. Such a hands-on approach makes understanding abstract math concepts easier when the student is ready to forgo materials and do math in his or her head. More complex math lessons for children ages 3-6 years include an introduction to the decimal system with the Golden Bead Material and forming large numbers with Number Cards. Montessori students graduate Kindergarten with a very strong foundation of mathematical ideas.

Number Cards and Counters are used by children who are ready to demonstrate that they recognize the numbers and can relate quantity to numbers. Our students often use seasonally-themed objects to count instead of beads or discs. These Valentine hearts nicely complemented our February holiday celebration, which is part of the fifth and final area of the classroom: Culture.

Science and Culture

The area of the classroom dedicated to Science and Cultural studies encompasses many activities, including maps, flags, calendars, and holiday celebrations, as well as the study of plants and animals, changing seasons, simple machines, and how things work.

Through the study of geography and different cultures, tolerance, grace, and curiosity are fostered and contribute to the Montessori ideal of Peace Education. At MCA, we are fortunate to have families and staff from various cultural backgrounds across all three of our campuses. These members of our community truly complement the study of culture when they come into the classrooms and share traditions from their home countries.

Students use Puzzle Maps to gain understanding of both physical and political geography. This promotes curiosity about different countries and demonstrates to the children that the world is a big place!

Science exploration often overlaps cultural studies as students learn about animals and climates in the regions of the world that they are studying. Creating a relationship with nature by observing the changing seasons, collecting natural objects to study closely, and caring for plants and animals in the classroom also shows our students that there are connections to be made across all disciplines and in their lives both inside and outside of school.

In every 3-6 classroom at The Montessori Children’s Academy, you can distinguish between Practical Life, Sensorial, Math, Language, and Science and Culture areas. When observing our students during a work cycle, you will likely see materials from each area being used diligently and appropriately. Our teachers, who are skilled observers, determine when a child is ready to advance in a particular area to further sharpen his or her skills. Such careful observation on the part of our teachers provides great insights into each student’s personality and learning style, and therefore allows MCA’s teachers to give each student individualized lessons that will lead to their success. It is a very special environment indeed! The best way to learn more is to spend time in one of our classrooms. Call us to schedule a visit:

Morristown

(973) 410-9669

Chatham

(973) 665-0071

Short Hills

(973) 258-1400

Montessori Musings