FAQ
Below are answers to commonly asked questions. If any of your questions still aren’t answered here, please feel free to contact us.
Where did Montessori come from?
Dr. Maria Montessori, the first woman in Italy to become a physician, founded Montessori education in 1907. She based her educational methods on scientific observation of children’s learning processes. Guided by her discovery that children teach themselves, Dr. Montessori designed a “prepared environment” in which children could freely choose from a number of developmentally appropriate activities.
What is a Montessori Method?
Montessori method has three main parts:
- The Child
- The Environment
- The Directress
What is a Montessori classroom environment?
The Montessori environment is your child’s “teacher” . In a Montessori school, your child teaches himself through the use of the specially designed Montessori materials. These are attractive, generally simple, child sized materials that are self-correcting, that is, if a child makes an error, he can see it by looking at the material itself.
Because he can choose his own work and do it at his own pace, your child has many opportunities for success. He will also have access to plants and animals and will help care for them. The Montessori classroom is an attractive place in which your child can be free from adult domination and can discover his world and build his mind and body.
What is a Montessori classroom?
The Montessori classroom includes children of different ages. By placing your child in a classroom with children of varying ages (usually between 2 1/2 and 6 years), you are exposing her to a wide range of learning possibilities. The Montessori classroom covers a number of different areas.
The “Practical Life” area is especially for the very young child (2 1/2 - 3 1/2 years) and teaches her how to care for herself and environment. Here, your child will learn to dress herself by using the dressing frames (buttons, snaps, zipper, buckles, pins, laces, bows, and hocks and eyes), to pour (rice and water), to wash a table, to polish silver and to properly wash her hands, among other things.
The “Sensorial” area allows her to use her sense to learn about the world. Here, your child will learn to judge different heights, lengths, weights, color, sounds, smells, shapes, and textures.
The language, math, geography, and science areas provide your child with aids for her intellectual development. Exercises in body movement assist her physical development and her awareness of her body and what it can do.
What is the role of the Montessori teacher (directress)?
The Montessori Directress has many jobs to do. Unlike the teacher in a traditional school, the Montessori directress is not the center of the classroom. Instead, she is very often hardly noticeable in the room as the children are working. She has no desk and spends her time working with children at child-sized tables or on the rug.
The directress is a keen observer of children and has a clear idea of each child’s individual level of development. She then determines what materials are best for each child to work with. She guides each individual child in this way and helps him learn the proper use of each material.
She must be flexible and willing to try new ideas to help each child. Your child will come to see the directress as a friendly helper and guide, someone who is there when needed, but thinks for himself.
If Our child is absent or we go away on vacation, do you make tuition adjustments?
No, we do not make tution adjustments for absenses or vacations. Absenses occur for many reasons but school expenses however are not diminished by a child’s absence. No tuition adjustments can be made for a child not in attendance. Nor is it possible to make up missed time due to licensing regulations. We encourage open communication between parents and the school.
How do we know how our child is doing at school?
Twice a year, parents will receive a progress report. Parent/teacher conferences are held so that we may discuss your child’s progress and development with you. Parents or teacher will arrange additional conferences when necessary to discuss any concerns or progress of the child. We sincerely encourage both parents to attend conferences as they are much more informative and helpful than progress reports. Conferences are voluntary and there will be a sign up sheet posted on the parent sign-up book and as well as a letter will be sent home with available times.
If you have a question or concern, please do not wait for conference time. A conference with your child’s teacher or the school Director can be arranged at any time by calling the office.
Do you require a child to be toilet trained?
Yes.
Although we do hope that by the time your child attends school they are fully potty trained and can remove their own clothes to go to the toilet, as well as wipe themselves, we will work with you and your child on potty training should they be almost there and only require a few reminders and a little help.
Please work with us and try to help your child to become potty trained as this will make the teacher’s job of teaching much easier.
Our teachers will remind all the children often throughout the day to attempt to “go potty” and will help them to feel safe and comfortable using our restroom facilities. We will help them to button and unbutton clothing etc but our goal is in helping them to be able to do these things for themselves.
Please do not put clothing on that is too tight or difficult for your child to get off in a hurry i.e. overalls, belts, “onezie’s” etc?, at this delicate stage in their lives it is our goal to help them to become self-sufficient and to achieve many successes, clothing that is restrictive or too many layers is counterproductive to this.
We do understand accidents happen and often your child may be fully potty trained at home but suddenly coming to school, they are unsure of their new surrounding and we will need to work with them to help them remain and become fully potty trained.
Please send one (1) complete change of clothing, well marked with your child’s full name in a “zip-lock” baggie. Example of items: One Outfit: a pair of socks, a pair of underwear, a shirt, a pair of shorts or long pants or skirt. These items will be kept at school and sent home on child’s last school day.
What kind of clothing should my child wear to school?
Please send your child in comfortable and practical clothing. The children do play outside, eat snack, glue, paint, and use markers. Although aprons are worn for many activities, there are bound to be accidents. Children should not be inhibited about participating in an activity because of their clothing. Tennis shoes are the best footwear at school. Send a jacket or sweater for cooler days and a cap for warm sunny days.
Please make sure ALL ITEMS your child brings to school are clearly marked/labeled with your child’s full name, including lunch boxes and backpacks. If you child’s name is not on the item a teacher may use a permanent marker to label the item on the inside or bottom where it is visible but not prominent to detract from the “beauty” of an item.
Please NO SUPER HEROS on shirts worn at school.
Some little girls are very sensitive to this: if you send your daughter in a dress or skirt please put shorts underneath so that they may be comfortable when they sit at circle and not worrying about their underwear showing.
Please try not to send your child to school in tights, as they are very difficult for children to pull down and up and thus make going to the toilet in a hurry very difficult.
Are Snacks and Lunches Provided by the School?
A mid-morning and a mid-afternoon snack are provided by the school for children. We try to provide a variety of healthy snacks: snacks include fresh fruits and vegetables, cheese, crackers, and cream cheese. We will try to reasonably accommodate children with allergies on a case by case basis.
Your child is required to bring a packed lunch from home to be eaten at lunch time. Please try to provide a healthy, nutritious lunch, a fruit or vegetable, some “growing food” i.e. a sandwich, etc. and a small snack i.e. a small cookie or treat, to be eaten after the child has finished an adequate amount of their “growing food” , Soda and candy will NOT be allowed at school, the child will be required to leave these items in their lunch box and will not be allowed to consume them at school. If the child doesn’t have a healthy meal or you foget to provide her lunch, the teacher may prepare lunch and the parents will be billed $5.00 for this lunch.
Will my child have homework or do we have to help him with his work at school?
No, we will not have any homework that the child has to complete at home. Periodically the teacher will send writing practice sheets so the child could practice at home. We will also keep the parent informed of the letter sound their child is learning so they can practice at home.
Can we teach our child the names of the alphabet?
We encourage all parents NOT to teach the names of the alphabet as it interferes with our specially designed reading program. Montessori language program teaches children letter Sounds. Names of the alphabet are not taught until they reach a certain point in the reading program.