Lakewood Montessori

Studies have shown that the most proliferate learning period for a human is from age 0 through 6.  And we know that the mind of a child processes things differently than the mind of an adult.        

Montessori educators believe that education is child centered rather than teacher centered and that each child is truly an individual with individual needs, differences and gifts.  One child will learn things at a different pace and at a different time than another child of the same age.   

The Montessori teacher knows that a child needs to be nurtured and taught in many different areas in order to be all that he/she is capable of being.  This includes the intellectual, physical, social and spiritual soul inside each and every child.  A child in a Montessori environment, then, receives guidance in more than just academic areas. Your child’s teacher believes that education should respond to meet the specific need and sensitivities of each age and each individual child.  This is why you do not see all of the children doing the exact same work at the exact same time.

A normal Montessori classroom will be filled with students who are working at their own pace, within their own interests, gently guided by their directress/teacher in an open and free flowing environment.  The structure and discipline can’t easily be seen for it is a discipline that has been internalized by each individual child.  It is a peaceful freedom within learned and disciplined limits.  

The environment in a Montessori classroom is specially prepared for your child to develop and grow to become capable, successful, independent thinkers.  The classrooms, and work within, are intended to be beautiful and peaceful.  The furniture and the materials are more child-sized and made for the child’s comfort and benefit.  The shelves are set up for the children to easily access materials and put them back with ease.  The layout of the classroom is such that a student can flow from one area of learning to another with ease and purpose.  You may have noticed that it is set up in specific and different subject areas: practical life, sensorial, mathematics, language, cultural, biology and botany. Everything in the Montessori classroom environment has a purpose.  It is an environment of whole learning and order.
 
Anita Murnighan
Lakewood Montessori, Boise, Idaho

At Lakewood Montessori, we feel that pets are an important element of the prepared environment. There are many documented pieces of research which would indicate that including live animals in a child’s daily life experiences greatly enhance their ability to learn responsibility, sympathy for others, kindness, respect for life, and the natural processes of living things.

These virtues help develop a more well rounded and caring individual who can make a positive contribution to society. The classroom is a great place to study the needs and life cycles of our classroom pets so we can bring these and other benefits into the lives of our students.

Anita Murnighan
Lakewood Montessori, Boise, Idaho

Montessori environments are specially prepared for your child to develop and grow to become successful, independent thinkers. In both the Pre-primary and Primary levels, care and attention is devoted to each area of the classroom. The class flows from one area to the next with table and floor spaces interspersed. The rooms are intended to be peaceful and beautiful. That is, there may be one piece of artwork on the wall instead of a wall covered with many things. The furniture is child size and made for the child’s comfort. The shelves are set up for the children to take materials as needed.

Montessori classrooms have a large group gathering area. In the 3-6 age environment the area has an enclosed line. The line activities provide an opportunity for many activities including grace and courtesy lessons and silence activities. The Montessori classroom is set up in different subject areas: practical life, sensorial, mathematics, language, and cultural.  As you visit the classroom, you can appreciate the care your child’s teacher has taken to create the prepared environment.

Karen Dugmore
Lakewood Montessori, Boise, Idaho

•    If you leave a small pitcher of juice in the fridge (of a full flip-n-sip for younger ones), I can pour myself drinks.

•    If you put low hooks on the wall and create a place for my boots, I can get ready for going outside.

•    If you take away all of my toys but my favorite few, I can look after them and keep them neat (and then swap other ones in from time to time to keep it interesting)

•    If you put a stool in the bathroom, I can get on and off the toilet and brush my teeth and hair in the mirror.

•    If you give me chores to do, such as setting the table or filling and starting the dishwasher or folding clothes, I can help with housekeeping.

•    If you give me shoes, shirt, pants, and jackets that fasten easily, I can dress myself.

•    If you give me a dustpan, brush, and sponge, I can clean up my messes and other people’s too.

•    If you give me simple math problems while cooking, shopping, traveling, and any other time, I can practice my adding and subtracting.

•    If you sound out words and writing with me, I can practice my own reading and speaking.

•    If you use grown-up words for objects such as bathroom instead of potty or appaloosa instead of horsie), I can learn them just easily as the baby ones.

Help me do it myself, and I will be a happier, more competent, and more dignified young person. (And it will make your job easier too!)

Julie Webster in the Co-Director of the Misty Mountain Montessori School in Mount Airy, MD. This piece was published in the Winter 2004/2005 issue of Tomorrow’s Child Magazine.

Lakewood Montessori, Boise, Idaho

Montessori environments are specially prepared for your child to develop and grow to become successful independent thinkers.  

At each level, care and attention is devoted to each area of the classroom.  The class flows form one area to the next with table and floor spaces interspersed.  The rooms are intended to be peaceful and beautiful.  That is, there may be one beautiful piece of artwork on the wall instead of a wall covered with many things.  

The furniture is child size and made for the child’s comfort.  Furniture is light enough that the child can move it himself.  The shelves are set up for the children to take materials as needed.  The shelves are sequenced from the easiest (most concrete) work to the hardest (most abstract) from left to right.  The work is also organized from the most simple to the most complex.  At the conclusion of a lesson, the work is put back in the correct spot on the shelf and the child is invited to perform the task.  

The best Montessori classrooms are set up in different subject areas: practical life, sensorial, mathematics, language, and cultural.

Now when you visit the classroom you will have a better understanding of the areas of the classroom.

Lakewood Montessori, Boise, Idaho