About Montessori
At North Fork Montessori @ Crawford, we remain true to this philosophy and provide:
- Experienced and dedicated certified directors (teachers).
- Curriculum which doesn’t stop with state required benchmarks.
- Creatively-structured environment promoting excellence in academics, art and life skills.
- The fundamental belief in the goodness and giftedness of each child.
Students leave North Fork Montessori @ Crawford with a strong academic background and a quickened curiosity.
For more information on Montessori:
About Montessori
Over 100 years ago, Dr. Maria Montessori observed that children learn best by doing. Her extensive and exacting research produced a teaching method which matches teaching styles to the intellectual, emotional, and social development of children. Modern research, found in Angeline Stall Lillard’s “Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius,” has validated Maria Montessori’s method. And it is an amazing method to watch.
Montessori classroom is a happy and joyful place for a child to be. Each child develops and learns at his/her own pace. The children are respected and in turn they learn to respect themselves, their peers, and their environment.
Academics are introduced to young children by means of concrete, hands on materials. As the children progress, the materials lead into the abstract.
Though academic achievement is usually very high among Montessori children, the true value lies in the development of self-discipline, self-mastery, and love of learning. Because unique and fascinating academic materials are available, most children begin to read and calculate at an early age.
Music, art, drama, and cultural studies are an integral part in the Montessori curriculum. They are carefully interwoven into the daily activities and projects essential to the ongoing development of the “whole child.”
The teachers prepare an environment that is appropriate for each age group. Materials are attractive and well kept. Art prints, animals, and plants, surrounded the child in a place where it becomes a joy to learn.
Montessori Moments
“The secret of good teaching is to regard the child’s intelligence as a fertile field in which seeds may be sown, to grow under the heat of flaming imagination. Our aim therefore is not merely to make the child understand, and still less to force him to memorize, but so to touch his imagination as to enthuse him to his inmost core."
Maria Montessori
To Educate the Human Potential
This last week Becky shared that she was giving the lesson on the Wooden Hierarchical material. This lesson starts with a small unit and then shows how the numbers grow by tens. The material goes up to a million but we ask the children to imagine how big the material would be if it kept going. She shared how one of the students was amazed that the numbers kept going past a thousand. This child’s imagination and wonder have been ignited!
To learn more about The Wooden Hierarchical lesson:
https://www.montessorielementary.org/hierarchy-of-numbers-1-1000000/
Suggested Reading
- Montessori Today by Paula Polk Lillard
- Montessori, A Modern Approach by Paula Polk Lillard
- The Absorbent Mind by Maria Montessori
- The Montessori Approach by Maria Montessori