Posts by Westshore Montessori School
‘Montessori-Inspired’ Is Not the Same as Montessori: Please Don’t Pretend That It Is.
Published in The 74 Million on Oct. 21, 2019 Sept. 13 marked the first anniversary of the announcement that Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos had pledged $2 billion to create and operate the Bezos Day One Fund. Part of it, the Day 1 Academies Fund, will create a network of full-scholarship Montessori-inspired preschools…
Read MoreA Surprising Favorite Game: Learning Geometric Solids
Written by Directress Cindy Genin Do any of you remember the game, Guess Who? It was one of my favorite games when I was younger. How about the game Headbands? This is a game that is fun for the whole family. In all of our classrooms, we have two very similar works on the shelves; the Mystery Bag and Guessing Game. The Sensorial…
Read MoreSound Games Come First in Montessori
Written by Directress Monica Dieter Contrary to popular belief, a child’s knowledge of letter-sound relationship is far more important than his or her ability to name letters or recite the alphabet. A child can easily memorize the names of objects or letter symbols, but that does not mean they can use that information to later…
Read MoreCelebrating Holidays in the Montessori Classroom
Written by Directress Denise Pawlukiewicz Our school community is made up of diverse cultures, ethnicities and traditions. With that in mind, our approach to holiday celebrations is very simple. We prepare our room in advance of the holiday, talk to the children about the event, and then celebrate in a manner appropriate for a toddler.…
Read MoreWork and Play in Montessori
“The children in our schools have proved to us that their real wish is to be always at work —a thing never before suspected. Just as no one had ever before noticed the child’s power of choosing his work spontaneously. Following an inner guide, the children busied themselves with something (different for each)which gave them…
Read More7 Key Phrases Montessori Teachers Use, and Why We Should, Too
by Christina Clemer Montessori can be hard to sum up in just a few words—it is a philosophy on education and child development that runs deep. It’s a way of seeing the world. I think one of the easiest ways to get an idea for what Montessori means is to listen to the language that…
Read MoreWelcome to Westshore
Tips and suggestions for the new school year! You may recognize this from our 2019 Parent Meeting.
Read MoreMs. Jessica Reflects on Another Fantastic Summer Program
Dear Parents, I wanted to take a moment to thank you for sharing your wonderful children with us this summer! Each and every child brought a very special element to our program. The children were able to share their knowledge, their personalities and their opportunities with peers from every classroom at Westshore Montessori. Because of…
Read MoreJoining the Toddler Classroom
Contributed by Denise Pawlukiewicz, Toddler Classroom Lead Teacher Parents often ask me what they can expect when their children join the Toddler class. The simple answer is that even I don’t know what to expect from year to year, since every child and every class is unique. Of course, this is part of the joy…
Read MoreAllowing Opportunities For Movement
Written by Maren Schmidt on March 8th, 2015 A kid’s got to move. Observing a few minutes at a playground will attest to that. You don’t see children sitting around if they have the chance to run, jump, climb, or skip. Children are in a sensitive period of development for movement from birth to about age five-and-a-half.…
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