During the 2012-2013 school year, Metropolitan Montessori School, on Manhattan's Upper West Side, a school for 3-to-12-year-olds, adopted a reading workshop approach. This decision resulted from several recognized needs. One need was to provide teachers with a strong, clear framework for literacy instruction, particularly at the emergent…

During the author's first year teaching, she, like many first-year teachers, found that the most difficult task in creating a peaceful classroom environment was not in the lesson giving or preparation of the classroom, but in managing the "misbehavior" of the children. Meanwhile, her mentor, a veteran teacher of over 20 years, seemed to handle the…

Albert Bandura, the leading pioneer in the study of self-regulation, has defined the term as the child's ability to self-educate, self-direct, regulate motivation, and learn to think about what she is learning (1994). Lev Vygotsky's theory that children can be taught to think independently about how to solve problems expands upon Bandura's work…

Spiritual nurturing includes the recognition that children have valuable ways of knowing, such as pondering, sacred listening, intuition, and dreams and visions. Children nurtured in spiritual ways of being are supported through the traits of creativity, compassion, love, gratitude, affirmation, contemplation, and silence. These attributes are…

When Barack Obama announced his run for the presidency, he seemed an unlikely candidate. Against all odds, he was able to defeat an apparently overwhelming opposition by relating to the electorate in a more horizontal, collaborative manner. What Obama did differently was to empower the new, digitally active, younger political class by involving…

Recess beckons well before it actually arrives. Its allure can be heard in children's lunchtime conversations as they discuss imaginary roles, plans, alliances and teams, with an obvious appetite for play and its unbounded possibility. For some children, recess provides the most important reasons to come to school. In team sports, games of chase…

In this article, the authors describe the Reading Buddies program. In this program, children of varied ages experience cooperation and mutual respect, have fun together, and share themselves with others. When Reading Buddies meet, reading and learning to read are the activities, yet another real benefit appears to be the enhancement of the…

This article describes how second- and third-grade students joined their teacher, Mary Ann McTiernan, a marathon runner from Cape Town, South Africa, in a one-mile run every Thursday morning while she was training. Mary Ann's students had been asking, "Where do you run?" "How far do you go?" "How fast can you run?" "Can we run with you?" Mary Ann…

The author of this article describes her week observing a Montessori class in the Adam Vesviva School at Kibbutz Ga'ash, located on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. The headmaster of the school, Yariv Ya'ari, had previously been associated with Democratic Schools, an alternate to the public educational system, whose philosophy was established at Adam…

This author describes how her elementary students first became interested in studying ancient Egypt. Her students' interest in the ancient Egyptian studies began when a student checked out a library book on Egyptology that contained colorful images and was soon swarmed by interested classmates. Many of her students began practicing writing…

In this article, Aline Wolf discusses the challenges of teaching elementary reading at present time. She also raises her concern not only about the declining of reading skills, but also about the declining number of books that students actually read which creates a dilemma for teachers. She believes that the Montessori community must give priority…

As a teacher of 11-to 13-year-olds, the author sees that her role definitely requires a sense of humor. A charismatic personality and the ability to lighten things up go a long way toward an enjoyable relationship with this age group. For Michelle Willard, a certain amount of levity in dealing with typical developmental issues is the key to…

This article focuses on a teaching method developed by Maria Montessori, starting with activities in the primary classroom, which are continued through the elementary years. The author discusses a few child-centered techniques in preparing children for their work within a larger community--the whole human family. In the Montessori environment, the…

This article describes a teacher's approach of implementing hands-on musical experiences and expanding her repertoire of interesting activities that engage students and instill in them a love of music while remaining true to the philosophy and practice of Montessori education. The author shares her vision of Montessori music education which is a…