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 are raising siblings, you see the way in which younger children learn from older brothers and sisters. Older students love […]
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 schools are warm and supportive communities of students, teachers, and parents. Montessori pre-school classes commonly group together twenty-five to thirty […]
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 questions. Montessori children by age six have spent three or more years in a school where they were treated with […]
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 through exercises and achieves mastery of concepts quickly will be able to continue learning at a satisfying pace. At the […]
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 assigned to older children, it rarely involves page after page of “busy” work; instead, the children are given meaningful, interesting […]
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, manipulates, and builds a storehouse of impressions about the physical world around her. Children learn best by doing, and this […]
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 School of Westminster, parent/teacher conferences are an integral part of the program and are held regularly throughout the school […]
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 giving a formal presentation. The students also take and prepare their own written tests to administer to their friends. Montessori […]
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 do whatever they want. At the early childhood level, external structure is limited to clear-cut ground rules and correct procedures […]
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 to discover how to find answers for themselves. Students are actively engaged in the process. Children are driven by their […]
