History and Vision- Colleen Noll

Colleen Noll

When I opened Calaveras Montessori in 2001, I had already taken over another school and sold it, started a school in San Jose with a partner and already had eight years under my belt as a Program Director for 6 Montessori schools in San Jose.  I ran Calaveras Montessori until 2009 working in the children’s garden, the very place I hope to return when I retire.  I will tell you about my experiences in the garden later.  Whether or not I own one small school or 6 large schools, my vision is the same – “Children First, Always”

Our Vision – Our schools are a community where people take personal responsibility are truthful and treat others as they would like to be treated.  Schools where children have a deep respect for one another, are open to change and new opportunities, children who think for themselves, work together and continue to think and grow outside of the box. Children who cooperate and can find passion and happiness in what they do.  Teachers who love children, love working with children and who have made the Montessori classroom their passion and commitment. Teachers who continue to learn and grow using the work of Dr. Montessori, working together for the common vision of the school.  Everyone thinks of the child first, always. A school where parents slow down and enjoy their child, meet them where they are and appreciate the person they are developing into.  Allowing them to learn at their own pace and guide them to be compassionate and understanding people.

Our Mission Statement

It was around the year 2001, I was driving in my car in San Jose, and I had been operating my teachers college teaching young teachers the Montessori Method. I had also taken over a school in Milpitas that was on the brink of being shut down by state licensing.  After about 3 months of working on the floor of the classrooms and turning the school back around, it hit me - “Children First, Always”. It became crystal clear to me as I sat at a stop light. If we always consider what would be best for the children, we will never go wrong. It is now 2014 and I still live by the mission statement.  Although I still believe I have much to learn and hope that I will always have the open mind to grow professionally and personally, I stick to this statement. I allow my staff and enrolled families’ full permission to let me know if there is ever a time in any of my schools that this mission is not being followed.

The Road to Writing and Reading in a Montessori Class

The Montessori environment is rich in language. Whether through conversation or language games the young child is surrounded by vocabulary. Dr. Montessori's approach to teaching children to write and read phonetically is nothing short of brilliance, and should have long ago become a basic element in every early childhood classroom around the world.

At our schools we use a phonetic approach to writing and reading. Phonics is a method of teaching reading and writing by developing the ability to hear and identify sounds of the English language.Montessori believes that writing comes before reading. While writing is the thought of the children reading is a skill to interpret the thoughts of others.

Writing is a developmental process for children.  While babbling signifies development towards oral language, scribbling can be looked at as the first steps to writing.

                                                             

              

In a Montessori classroom children learn the sounds of the alphabet with the sandpaper letters.Beginning around age 3.5 Montessori children are introduced to a few letters at a time, until they have mastered a good portion of the alphabet. Using the sandpaper letter they trace the sound, as it would be written. They see, they feel, they hear the sound being pronounced.The shape of the letter becomes part of their muscular memory. Montessori children learn through touch and not memorization.

Dr. Montessori found that children were capable of encoding words months before they developed the hand eye coordination needed to control a pencil.Words are built using the movable alphabet using objects or pictures representing cat, bug, mat, etc.The child will sound out the letter and begin to build the words.They will naturally write larger words that don’t have a phonetic spelling as they increase their work and interest in this area.                       

                       

                                    

Children then begin to compose words with the movable alphabet, they build words one letter at a time. Children increase the level of difficulty and can correct themselves.Children learn not to be afraid of making mistakes. Mistakes are natural steps in the learning process. The teachers facilitate, coach, and assist the child to correct own self. Being able to correct your own mistakes is far more rewarding, meaningful and leads to a confident, independent and self- assured person.

During the time children compose words with the Moveable Alphabet they are practicing concentration and body control with the Practical Life and Sensorial Materials. Letters are being written in sand, with chalk and even water against chalkboards.These materials allow for practice without the frustration of writing on paper with an eraser. They are then introduced to the Metal Insets, whichoffers practice in pencil control, lightness of touch, as well as design qualities. 

It is these three materials, Sandpaper Letters, Moveable Alphabet, and the Metal Insets, which are the core of the handwriting and word building curriculum for the three and four year old.

Reading skills normally develop so smoothly in Montessori classrooms that children tend to "explode into reading."They often begin to read back their own writing, their own thoughts, and then soon enough they are sounding out the words of others.Material is available to the children that focus on phonetic skills. Cards are organized to teach skills from short vowel to long vowel patterns, and more difficult work. Montessori teachers are trained to teach the young children parts of speech in very meaningful and interactive ways. One favorite work in the class is reading of action words (verbs). Children can read and perform actions like, jump, eat, dust, and mop. Soon enough they are diagraming sentences and understanding the ‘job’ of each word in a sentence.sThe children will naturally expand these new skills to interpret the world around them