Perhaps the best outgrowth of watching a Montessori elementary school in action is seeing how peer-age learning helps younger and older students grow while preventing bullying.   

Montessori elementary school teachers engage and embrace two-way student partnerships by pairing children of various ages. That means kids are not all the same calendar year age nor possess the same knowledge level.

During our Parent/Teacher conferences, many of you were asking about how we deal with temper tantrums here in our classroom, so I would like to expand more on this subject. Toddlers and tantrums tend to go hand in hand, and it is important to remember that this phase will pass. A temper tantrum is usually a result of the child not being able to effectively express himself verbally, which leads to intense frustration.

As a Montessori parent, I can imagine you have heard numerous times the importance of independence. I hope that you see how, inside the classroom, independence is encouraged and fostered. Maybe your child is asserting his or her independence at home too.

But the Montessori Method is over 100 years old!

Historically, Montessori students do better mastering specific tasks than their counterparts in traditional schools primarily due to what, when, and where preschoolers are taught.

Traditional School Methodology

By the time a five or six-year-old enters a California public Kindergarten school, a teacher can quickly spot who has not attended Toddler and Primary programs. Those first-timers are less fundamentally educated in academic, social, and emotional arenas.

Here are some guidelines on how to observe.   

The Montessori Environment is a prepared environment designed to aid your child in their search for independence, concentration, and happiness. Children need an interactive, hands-on, educational environment to become self-motivated and successful learners. Here, children are free to explore with their senses to fully understand the world around them. They are free to learn at their own pace.

At Lifetime Montessori School (LMS) in San Diego, a private toddler, preschool, and elementary school in Santaluz, our teachers work on identifying skill sets in children at an early age. 

How? 

Since students focus their daily attention on topics they like, we can identify, observe and evaluate a body of work that engages and engrosses them. 

In California, transitional kindergarten (TK) was designed to be a bridge between preschool and Kindergarten. If a child turns five years of age between September 2 and December 2, he or she can join TK as Year I of a two-year K program in any free public school. However, if the child’s birthday is December 3, he or she can’t. The child is held back simply based on chronological age! Sadly, this birthdate designation has little to do with a child’s academic, social or emotional development.

This upcoming year, I have a different set of hopes for our school. 

My 2021 Montessori school resolution: getting back to normal! 

2021: Where Old Normal Meets New Normal

The Old Normal seems like a lifetime ago! It’s how we used to do things before COVID-19.