Grace and Courtesy in a Montessori Classroom Written by Annie Green, MCS Primary Teacher There are many pieces of a Montessori environment that set it apart from your typical classroom. From the way the children independently work at woven rugs and wooden tables, to the way the teacher gives lessons to only a few children...
Very early in my career, there was an administrator at the school where I was teaching who had a sign in her office that read: If you promise not to believe everything you child says happens at school, I’ll promise not to believe everything your child says happens at home. While, on the one hand, I’m...
“If losing builds character, then we’ve got enough characters on this team to fill up a Dickens novel.” While I can’t recall precisely who said this, I do remember it well, for it was a quote attributed to a member of the Northwestern University football team back in the late 1970s. I was a student at...
“Getting started is like getting a rocket off the ground. You need the most energy and the most push to get started; once you’re up there and going, then it’s easier to keep going. But getting going is always tough.” That’s how cartoonist R. Crumb characterized how he viewed his own creative process,...
May 5, 2018 At the beginning of our trip, we arrived at 4:15 am to go to the airport. On the plane most of us either went to sleep or listened to music. When we arrived in San Juan, we had lunch at the mall and then we settled into our rooms at Casa Coral....
A poem by Sam Furman read at today’s Garden Day Assembly: If friendship were a garden, Then flowers be the friends How well our gardens cultivate On each gardener that depends. Some flowers must remain in light, And some will need support But all require love and care Regardless of their sort. We grow our...
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MCS TO BECOME FIRST SCHOOL IN NATION TO CONSTRUCT BIO-DOME OVER ENTIRE CAMPUS New $40 million structure will create an idyllic environment amid harsh North Carolina summers and unpredictable winters. Durham, NC—April 1, 2018: Montessori Community School announced today that it has secured a pledge of $40,000 to launch a $40 million bio-dome fundraising...
On more than one occasion this past weekend, I thought of the baseball Hall-of-Famer (and oft-quoted philosopher for the common man) as I listened to Charles Terranova address the more than 200 teachers, administrators and parents who came to MCS for the Triangle Montessori Schools Association’s Winter Symposium. While the general topic of the weekend...
A little over a week ago, I posted an essay about the Peace Education curriculum at MCS. That essay was just the latest of many instances over the past two years when I have referenced in my blog posts those qualities of Grace and Courtesy that are at the very heart of Montessori philosophy and practice. Just a few weeks...
“Averting war is the work of politicians; establishing peace is the work of education.” Maria Montessori Long before We are the World became a global sensation back in 1985, Maria Montessori recognized and espoused the philosophy of children as the redeeming factor in the evolution of humankind. If we are to bring about a world of peace...
