Montessori Education Week

February 26 - March 3

It has been 104 years since Dr. Maria Montessori first introduced her approach to education. Her methodology has helped provide countless children with a solid academic foundation and guided them towards to lifetime love for knowledge.

Anyone who has spent time around a Montessori learning environment has witnessed the shear joy that children exhibit when they discover a new concept or complete a task purely on their own. Just last week as I was taking some photographs of children during their extended work period, I heard a cry of "I did it!" As I turned to see what caused this shout of joy, a primary student was standing by himself with his arms held high, grinning from ear to ear at his accomplishment. There was no adult working with him, no gold star on his paper, just a child thrilled with his own success. Talk about a love for learning...

During the same work period, I observed a young girl carefully at work with practical life materials. As she finished her work, she neatly placed the materials back on the shelf and began her next task - cleaning the windows of the door to the playground. I watched as she sprayed the windows, put down the spray bottle and wiped every drop off of the window (and even the couple of drops that accidentally spilled onto the floor). Her attention and focus on her task were absolutely amazing. She displayed such a deep care for the appearance of her classroom, her environment.

We always enjoy hearing your Montessori stories, but this week especially we ask that you take a moment to share a story as part of our celebration of Montessori Education Week. We encourage you to post your experiences in the comments section here.