As the pandemic surges through the summer and into the fall, we are beginning to see the ways in which our world is reshaping. From working remotely and learning from home to businesses being transformed forever by the economic turn, we are just beginning to see that our lives will not return to normalcy. Children are entering into a world that will be vastly different from what we grew up with, and they need to be ready.
Montessori education was founded during another tumultuous time – the early 1900s in Europe. Through two world wars, a global pandemic, and a shattering economic crisis, Dr. Maria Montessori saw to it that her model equipped students with the tools to think critically, adapt, and persevere. Over 100 years later, her tenets are still followed today by a growing number of Montessori schools as well as parents adapting the Montessori method at home.
The truth is: the world needs what Montessori children can do.
Anne Frank in her Montessori classroom in 1936.
Montessori children think creatively and innovate
Unlike traditional learning in which the lesson and assessments are the heart of the school experience, exploration is emphasized in Montessori classrooms. Students are encouraged to follow their interests, decide how to demonstrate their learning, and share their discoveries with their peers. By learning at a young age to manage their time and think creatively, Montessori children are able to be thought leaders in the adult world, especially in science, engineering, technology, and mathematics. Montessori truly builds innovators.
Upper Elementary students dissect a cow brain as part of their chosen science work.
Montessori children develop strong leadership skills
Whether learning remotely or on campus, our Guides are dedicated to setting up an environment that allows the child to work at their own pace, encouraging them to ask questions and push themselves to learn more. This shift allows for students to take ownership of their own learning, having a sense of pride around education and discovery. Multi-age classrooms expand upon this, with our older children taking on the role of leaders in the classroom, teaching their peers as they themselves begin to master a subject. From the start of their Montessori education, our youngest children learn that they can do hard things, setting the stage for the work to come in the Elementary and Adolescent classrooms.
Upper Elementary students attending the Montessori Model United Nations Conference in New York to represent the country of Gayana.
A Greenspring student presents his biography research to parents and peers.
Montessori children engage in thoughtful dialogue about our past histories
Children are given the “big picture” – especially through the Cosmic Curriculum at the Elementary level. Academic subjects are not taught separately but woven together to show the interconnectedness of the disciplines. In our Elementary classrooms, children begin to wonder about how the world works, and we are consistently surprised and inspired by the ways in which these young people are ready to change the world for the better. In the Adolescent Community, students are eager to engage in respectful dialogue with their peers, discussing everything from moral philosophy to civil rights and beyond.
An Adolescent student reads a speech she wrote in support of Leia’s Law for gun control on the steps of the Baltimore County Courthouse.
Montessori children have an unwavering commitment to supporting those most vulnerable in our communities
In the Toddler and Children’s House classrooms, much of the child’s work involves the need and desire to serve the community in a way that challenges them. From serving tea and feeding classroom pets to organizing food and clothing drives and sharing art with people in a local retirement community, the children begin to generate their own service initiatives when they see there is a need in the world. Throughout their time at Greenspring, children and adolescents are taught that they have a voice and that they matter in the world. These early lessons help to define who they are and push them to continue making a difference, as we’ve seen with countless Greenspring alumni dedicated to service, the environment, and their communities.
Adolescents plant seedlings with Real Food Farm in Baltimore to support people with limited access to healthy food.
As we look toward the coming year and beyond, we are inspired to think about the direction our children will take us. This is truly a pivot point in history and we as Montessori educators are here to help shape that world with our students. We are not just looking for ways for our children to catch up on academics. We are looking ahead in order to understand what our children need in this new world.
To learn more about Montessori and learning options for your child, plan your visit today.
A Lower Elementary student writes about the research she is doing.
In the Montessori Children’s House program, students learn letter sounds before the letter names. For example, they learn that the sound of “d” is “duh,” not “dee” and the sound of “b” is “buh,” not “bee.” (See our blog post about Language in the Children’s House for more information.) Spelling is not the focus during the Children’s House years because the focus is on children hearing and learning the letter sounds rather than recognizing the letter names.
A Children’s House student uses the Moveable Alphabet to craft a message.
By using the Moveable Alphabet, children are able to put different letter sounds together to form a word (long before they have the hand strength necessary to hold a pencil). When a young child is asked to form the word “photo” with the Moveable Alphabet, she sounds out how she hears the word, letter by letter.
“Fuh”, “oh”, “tuh”, “oh”.
She would likely place out Moveable Alphabet letters like so:
f-o-t-o
While the word is spelled incorrectly, it is phonetically correct. This “spelling” is age-appropriate for a student in the Children’s House.
Later, once students have a firm grasp of letter sounds and have associated the letter names with these sounds, we work to introduce phonograms, which are when you put two sounds together to make a new sound (think, ee, ea, y, e-e all make the sound “ee”). With this work, which often begins during the Children’s House and continues into Lower Elementary, students become aware that there are options in spelling and become conscious of how to spell words when writing.
Once the child begins to internalize the phonograms, we can begin to explore the complexities of the English language. (Unlike Dr. Montessori’s native language of Italian, English is not a phonetic language; there are so many exceptions to every rule!) We practice reading “sight words” and finding “rule breakers.” This feeds the interest of the Lower Elementary student, who naturally begins to show an interest in how to correctly spell words.
Spelling is reinforced through extensive reading. The more a child reads, the more they will be exposed to spelling patterns. As a result, children are able to edit their work to identify words that don’t “look” right in context and begin to self-correct. In addition, children use a variety of strategies to determine the correct spelling of a work. Things like “have a go,” where the child will write a word that is misspelled, then write it again to see if it is correctly spelled, and if not try again until they get it right. Another strategy children may use to spell longer words is to “chunk” the word into single syllable pieces. As they move to Upper Elementary, children are exposed to Latin roots, which helps them understand the spellings of many English words.
Lower Elementary students write in English and Spanish to their pen pals at a Montessori school in Spain.
Keep in mind that even with more emphasis on spelling in Elementary, guides will not correct students’ spelling while writing rough drafts of reports or stories. We allow the children to focus on developing their skills of self-expression. The expression of the idea and the flow of creativity is more important than the limiting, halting prospect of getting every word right. Corrections are made during the editing stage of the writing process – whether individually, with a peer, or with the assistance of a guide. As children begin to create more polished work to share with others, such as the letters to pen pals shown above, they are more internally motivated to edit and correct their spelling.
A Lower Elementary student reads through his spelling dictionary.
Lower Elementary students keep their own personal spelling dictionaries, in which they can write words they want to remember how to spell. It allows the children to help themselves! It also teaches the very basic and beginning steps of learning how to use a dictionary. But most importantly, the words the student put into their personal dictionaries have meaning to them.
Just as with all other areas of the curriculum, the Montessori approach to spelling is rich, interdisciplinary, and meaningful.
For more on what you can do at home to support this work, take a look at this blog from How We Montessori.
To learn more about the Elementary Curriculum, please email us at learn@greenspringmontessori.org or visit the Elementary page of our website.
