Montesorri

By Julie Halzel

It’s a sunny Tuesday afternoon and the playground at Boulder Montessori School is bustling. A group of children tend to a garden with the help of a teacher, while others work intently on sifting sand in a large box. Inside, the children in the toddler program are settling down for their afternoon nap. Teachers rub backs and read stories to some, while other children, preferring to read by themselves, sit quietly with a book in their laps. A single glance tells you that this is not an ordinary preschool. Montessori schools all follow a particular philosophy, designed by Maria Montessori in the early 1900’s.

"The Montessori program is designed to support and foster independence; a curiosity about learning and the world in an environment that’s prepared especially for this age level," says Karen Olson, the administrator at Boulder Montessori School.

The main goal of a Montessori program is to help children reach full potential in every area of life. Children are encouraged to explore what interests them, and they are taught with as many interactive, hands-on lessons as possible.

"The hands-on concrete manipulation of materials is very beneficial to young children," says Carolyn Goetz, a teacher at Countryside Montessori School in Boulder.

Alecia McClure, who has two children at Boulder Montessori School, agrees. "I think taking pride in learning to do something yourself is a quality that will benefit my kids in the years to come," McClure says. She added that her three year old will often come home eager to try out a new skill he learned in school.

"Kyle will come home and tell me how he did ‘window washing’ or ‘sweeping’ work that morning," McClure says. "Whenever I am cooking, Kyle wants to help out as much as possible - especially measuring, pouring and stirring. His favorite thing is to make pancakes."

Olson cites stories like this as a prime example of the benefits a Montessori program has to offer. "It instills in children an interest in the world," she says. "Because the program is individual, each personality gets to develop its own potential."

The classrooms at Boulder Montessori School are 100 percent accessible to children, with small-scale furniture and big patios off of the classrooms to incorporate a natural environment.

There are roughly ten Montessori schools in the Boulder area, most of them non-profit and run by parents. All of them, however, are founded on the same principles of Montessori education. In the early 1900’s, Maria Montessori based a new type of education on her scientific observations of young children’s behavior. The first Montessori school opened in Rome in 1907.

The Montessori philosophy is built around three year cycles. Boulder Montessori School, which is a pre-school, offers the first three years of a Montessori program. Typically, a child is enrolled for all three years, the third year being an "extended day" kindergarten class. All of the classes are kept small; small class sizes help teachers to focus on the unique needs of each child.

Overall, Olson says, "The independence that the Montessori program develops in the child is a worthwhile thing."