Independence in Primary The Primary program at the Montessori School of Westminster serves children who are almost three (and fully toilet-trained) through the kindergarten level.  Children throughout this age span share a classroom.  If you

Why do Montessori classes tend to be larger than those found in other schools? Many schools take pride in having small classes, and parents may wonder why some Montessori classes are so much larger.  Montessori

By the end of age five, Montessori children are normally curious, self-confident learners who look forward to going to school. They are normally engaged, enthusiastic learners who honestly want to learn and who ask excellent

In general, children who are highly gifted will find Montessori to be both intellectually challenging and flexible enough to respond to them as unique individuals. Because the Montessori approach is self-paced, a child who moves

How much homework are Montessori students expected to complete? Most Montessori schools do not assign homework to children below the elementary level, and this is true of the Montessori School of Westminster.  When homework is

What roles do freedom and independence play in the Montessori classroom? Children touch and manipulate everything in their environment.  In a sense, the human mind is handmade, because through movement and touch, the child explores,

Because Montessori believes in individually paced academic progress, most schools do not assign letter grades or rank students within each class according to their achievement. Student progress, however, is measured in different ways.  At the

Montessori teachers carefully observe their students at work. They give their students informal, individual oral exams or have the children demonstrate what they have learned by either teaching a lesson to another child or by

Is Montessori unstructured? At first, Montessori may look unstructured to some people, but it is actually quite structured at every level.  Just because the Montessori program is highly individualized does not mean that students can

What is a Montessori education? A key difference between a Montessori classroom and more traditional classrooms is this:  Rather than present students with right answers, Montessori educators lead students to ask their own questions and