Tag Archives: New Jersey

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!

School Is In Session for MCTD’s Adult Learners

By: Hannah Ferris with Doreen Adamo and Bernadette Fasolas

The summer months are filled with activity at The Montessori Children’s Academy (MCA). We are busy running our MCA Summer Camp, preparing our classrooms for the upcoming school year, and our Teacher Education Program, Montessori Center for Teacher Development (MCTD), is hosting our third cohort of enthusiastic Adult Learners.

Montessori Center for Teacher Development, which is one of the seven subsidiaries of The Montessori Children’s Academy’s family of schools and services, was founded in 2014 and is one of just three Montessori Teacher Education Programs in the state of New Jersey. MCTD operates out of the Morristown campus of MCA and is led by Program Director Doreen Adamo and Assistant Program Director Bernadette Fasolas. Mrs. Adamo and Mrs. Fasolas are also Head Teachers at MCA during the school year that bonded over their own shared Montessori training experience years ago. Together with the rest of the talented and experienced MCTD staff and guest lecturers, they are excited about sharing their passion for the Montessori Method with future generations of Montessori teachers. MCTD’s Early Childhood Teacher Education Program is affiliated by the American Montessori Society (AMS) and fully accredited by the Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education (MACTE), and works closely with both to develop and deliver the highest quality education for future Montessori teachers. Upon successful completion of the program, the Adult Learners will receive Montessori Early Childhood Certification through AMS, permitting them to become Head Teachers at Montessori schools throughout the US.

In addition to our Early Childhood Teacher Education Program, MCTD is happy to announce a new Early Childhood Assistant Teacher Training Program that will be offered later this summer,.

Early Childhood Teacher Education Program

MCTD’s Early Childhood Program is affiliated by the American Montessori Society and fully accredited by the Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education. This program is for Adult Learners seeking certification that would allow them to become Head Teachers in a Montessori Early Childhood environment. Recent Adult Learners have come from diverse backgrounds to gain additional certification in the field of education, to re-enter the workforce, or to completely change careers.

The Early Childhood Teacher Education Program begins each summer with Academic Phase I. This involves a four-week, intensive session with courses in Child Development and Montessori Philosophy, as well as Practical Life and Sensorial curricula. Academic Phase II begins in September of the same year, as the Adult Learners reconvene for evening and weekend courses in Math, Language, and Cultural Studies (Science, History, Geography, Art, and Music). Throughout both phases, the Adult Learners participate in Student Teaching Seminars that are aimed at preparing them for a Montessori school setting during the Practicum Phase of their training. These Seminars include Parent Involvement, Classroom Management, Observation, and School Administration.

To begin the second year of the Early Childhood Teacher Education Program, the Practicum Phase, the Adult Learners seek an Internship in a Montessori school to fulfill the requirement for student-teaching hours. Gaining practical experience in a classroom alongside an AMS Montessori-certified Head Teacher is a perfect example of the “learning by doing” principle set forth by Dr. Montessori.

Some of MCTD’s current Adult Learners are looking forward to beginning the Practicum Phase in September, while others will continue to work through Academic Phase II. All are looking forward to the next steps in their Montessori journeys.

The 2017-2019 Early Childhood Teacher Education Program is currently accepting applications on a rolling basis. Open Houses will be held in January, February, and March of 2017.

Early Childhood Assistant Teacher Training Program

This summer, MCTD expanded its course catalog to include our Early Childhood Assistant Teacher Training Program. This program is designed for individuals currently employed as Assistant Teachers who are looking to expand their knowledge or for those interested in gaining employment as Assistant Teachers in a Montessori environment. MCTD holds the belief that a more thorough understanding of the Montessori Philosophy will allow Assistant Teachers to flourish in the classroom. This new program gives a foundational overview of the Montessori Philosophy and the basic curriculum areas of a Montessori classroom, with both lectures and hands-on experiences.

Two “Modules” are being offered for the Early Childhood Assistant Teacher Training Program. Module I includes two days of classroom instruction on the Montessori Method and Philosophy. Module II includes three days of training on the materials used in the Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Math, and Cultural areas of the classroom. Adult Learners have the option of taking either Module I or Modules I & II. (Module I is a prerequisite for Module II.)

Montessori classrooms, especially Early Childhood classrooms, are incredibly busy places. There is not always ample time, especially at the beginning of the school year, for a new Assistant Teacher to learn the ropes from his or her Head Teacher. MCTD recognizes this gap in teacher education and has designed this new program as a stepping stone into the world of Montessori. MCTD is excited to be welcoming Adult Learners into our new program this summer and hopes that it will inspire some of the current Assistant Teachers to become AMS certified Montessori teachers in the future.

MCTD is currently accepting registrations for the Early Childhood Assistant Teacher Training Program. The program will run from August 15-19, 2016. For more information and to register, please visit: http://www.MontessoriCenterForTeacherDevelopment.com/AsstTeacherTraining.html.

Lunchtime for the Adult Learners

I recently asked Doreen Adamo and Bernadette Fasolas (MCTD’s Program Director and Assistant Director) to share their favorite things about leading MCTD. They fondly reminisced about their own experiences as Adult Learners during their training years and then pointed me in the direction of the MCTD lunchroom. The MCTD Adult Learners studying this summer in Academic Phase I were preparing to share a meal. Once a week, a self-selected student takes her turn in preparing a family-style lunch for her classmates. They began this little tradition after bonding over their love of trying different cultures’ cuisines. This summer, they have already experienced a variety of loving prepared meals including homemade Sri Lankan curry. The most recent menu item was a colorful, fresh veggie and pasta salad. They are also eager for this cohort’s exceptional baker to take her turn to participate in this new tradition!

The current Adult Learners have more than just adventurous eating in common; they have bonded over their desire to work with children, their previous work experiences, and their varied life journeys. Their friendships are just beginning, and given the lasting friendship between Doreen and Bernadette, which was formed during their own Montessori training, it is likely that these, too, may last for many years to come. Moreover, these friendships formed during MCTD’s Teacher Education Program are complemented by the common passion of carrying on Dr. Maria Montessori’s legacy. Both MCTD and MCA is delighted to support this current cohort of Adult Learners as their Montessori journey begins.

For more information about MCTD’s programs, please visit http://www.MontessoriCenterForTeacherDevelopment.com/ or contact Doreen Adamo, Program Director at MC4TD@aol.com.

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