Montessori Matters

The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say, "The children are now working as if I did not exist."

- Maria Montessori

Question: What training did Maria Montessori have concerning the education of little children?

Answer: She didn’t have much... at first.

But what she did have was:

True grit to go against the grain of the times. She was Italy’s first woman physician. No easy task in a male-dominated culture.

A strong sense of direction and purpose. As a doctor, Montessori chose pediatrics and psychiatry as her specialties. While teaching at her medical-school alma mater, Montessori treated many poor and working-class children who attended the free clinics there.

Great observation skills. During that time, she observed that intrinsic intelligence was present in children of all socio-economic backgrounds.

Compassion and desire to improve or correct outdated ideas. Through her observations and extensive studying, she concluded that all children not only have the innate ability to learn but the passion to do so.

Ingenuity, stamina, and dedication. With her new awareness, Montessori was able to develop lessons that were universally available and understandable to all children. And as the bearer of these new and critical insights, she was able to speak out and advocate for them, and for their education, during her many travels around the world.

When you really stop to think about it, isn’t that we want for all children growing up: grit, a strong sense of self and purpose, clarity of vision, compassion and the desire to improve - all coupled with the ingenuity, stamina, and dedication to do so? Isn’t that what you want cultivated in your own children? Aren't these some of the most critical attributes by which the whole world advances?

Come join us on Monday, Feb. 25th at 12:30 pm out at the flagpole (weather permitting) as we kick off Montessori Education Week. Besides our regular flag ceremony, we will be doing a Peace Walk: “Take my hand; we will walk. We will only walk...”

Please join us in wearing MSA shirts this Friday in celebration of Montessori Education Week.

March 1 - Wear MSA shirts for Montessori Education Week

March 11 - 21 - MAP testing

March 17 - MSA Open House, 1-4PM

March 19 - Third quarter ends

March 22 - Teacher professional development day

March 25-29 - Spring parent conferences

March 30 - Spring Benefit at 6:30PM at the T. Ed Garrison Event Center

Upper Elementary students hosted family, friends, and community members for Poetry Night, during which they presented poems they have been researching and writing over the past couple months. The students put a great deal of work into their poetry choices, poses during the presentation, and their delivery. The class also presented to Primary and Lower Elementary students during the day in preparation for the night showing, fielding questions from the younger students looking forward to their own Poetry Nights in coming years.The preparation led to a special night that truly showed the students' love of poetry!

The students coordinated their outfits for the night showing -- they chose a tacky theme.

The Mock Trial team has prepared for several months for the regional Mock Trial competition they took part in this weekend. The weekend before, they held a practice Friday followed by a Saturday scrimmage against the T.L. Hanna team that they would compete against this weekend. Here are a few photos from the Friday practice.

Unfortunately, due to illness, one of our team members had to sit out the regional competition this Saturday. The team did an incredible job of reassigning and relearning roles in the day and a half that they had to prepare -- you would have thought they had been preparing for those roles for months! They did an amazing job and gained valuable experience to prepare them for their next competition. Attorney coaches Susan Johnson and Joshua Raffini had the students well-prepared and did provided valuable insight from their own courtroom experience between rounds of the competition. The following photos are from the competition this Saturday.

Dr. Valverde and Señora Ada presented their recent travels to Egypt to Upper Elementary this week, showing the students pictures, videos, and artifacts from their trip.

One of our students in Infant Two taught our Infant One student what he has to look forward to after moving up.

Maria Montessori believed that the right materials could inspire children to not only learn as they interact with them but they could ignite the desire to learn. Jenae Chiles was able to capture this moment in the Primary Three classroom this week.

Riser students in Lower Elementary visited the High School Spanish room this week to work on another Montessori work; in this lesson students use symbols to identify parts of speech.

Love and peace surround us all in our Montessori community.

As part of the High School's effort to find their own version of the "peace table," the students have decided to use the conference room whiteboard as a monthly community art board. Students may use the drawing time to cool down and take breaks if they're stressed or experiencing conflict. They created this Valentine's-themed work of art over the past month.

Students in Dr. Mahajan's High School Biology class extracted DNA from bananas and strawberries during a hands-on lesson as they learned about DNA replication.

During horticulture, Middle School students made soil blocks with herb and fruit seeds inside to be planted this spring.

During STEM time this week, Middle School students were tasked with coming up with their own design for a paperclip using scraps of cardboard to get them to see the engineering process that went into the original design. They were given time to plan out their design, create their clips, and redesign and improve upon their original designs. The students came up with many creative products, including this clip that included a stand for holding paper upright.

Special thank you to our Spring Benefit Sponsor of the Week, Superior Bands! The Spring Benefit will take place at 6:30PM on March 30 at the T. Ed Garrison Arena. Tickets admit two and can be purchased at the MSA front desk for $150.

Thank you to these sponsors as well:

Our mission is to nurture the whole child, physically, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually, preparing students for academic excellence, lifelong learning and responsible, caring lives.

Email: mdabney@msasc.org
Website: msasc.org
Location: 280 Sam McGee Road, Anderson, SC, USA
Phone: 864-226-5344
Facebook: http://facebook.com/MontessoriSchoolofAnderson