The Montessori School of the Berkshires Introduction Brochure

– Established 2006 –

Contents: 413-637-3662

www.berkshiremontessori.org

21 Patterson Road, P.O. Box 422 Lenox Dale, MA 01242

Our History3

Our Campus4 Our Vision6

Montessori: Education for Life7 Unpacking Montessori9

Toddler Community: Toddler to 3 years16

Children’s House: 2.5 to 6 years18 Elementary Program: 6 to 12 years20

Adolescence Experience: grades 7 and 822

In their Words23

Where Do They Go from Here?25

Portrait of a Graduate25

Todd Covert, Head of School

Meagan Ledendecker, Director of Education

Kehr Davis, Director of Admissions

Bridget Rigas, Director of Advancement

Thank You

Thank you for your interest in The Montessori School of the Berkshires. We are delighted to share our educational philosophy with you. We understand that making the decision of where to send your child to school is one of the most important decisions you will make.

Welcome!

Nestled in the heart of the Berkshires, The Montessori School of the Berkshires wants children and their families to feel like they have found their home away from home. Enter our bright and comfortable lobby and experience how the administration, faculty, and supporting staff have created a safe and welcoming community where children and families are nurtured and supported. MSB is a school where children grow into confident, respectful world citizens with an appreciation for the planet and all living things on it.

Our desire is that what we offer fits with the expectations and dreams you have for your child.

Our History

2006

The Montessori School of the Berkshires opened with 24 Children’s House students.

MSB added an elementary class.

MSB relocated to its current site, expanding to a whole school Montessori approach encompassing toddlers through eighth grade.

MSB graduated its first 8th grade class.

MSB expanded the facility, almost doubling the square footage of the existing building.

2019

MSB added an enclosed outdoor work and garden space to each classroom and erected a year-round greenhouse.

Our Campus

MSB is located on 40 acres of beautiful woodland in a residential area of Lenox Dale, MA. The 16,000 square foot building has six spacious, well-appointed classrooms, a dedicated library, and a visual arts studio. There is also an enrichment room that connects with a large multi-purpose area and gymnasium, allowing for in-school theater productions, concerts, art exhibits, parent education offerings, and other assemblies.

Because Dr. Montessori believed that children recognize their place in the world through nature, the learning environment expands outside the walls of the school with purposefully designed landscaping and simple structures. Every classroom has an outside component enclosed with ergonomically-sized planters and shade-giving pergolas.

Toward the back of the property, adjoining the grassy playfield for group sports, our vegetable garden, a year-round greenhouse, and woodland trails augment our Land Stewardship Program.

Our Vision

...for the World.

MSB aspires to work with our community to create a world full of love and acceptance, a world rich with diversity, a world full of people pursuing their passions, and a world that is sustainable and environmentally-friendly.

...for the Child.

We want to help you raise children who become well-rounded individuals who are independent thinkers, internally motivated, reflective, self-disciplined, and confident. We want them to enjoy the process of discovery and genuinely love learning. We want to develop peacemakers who respect themselves and others, who appreciate differences, who embrace collaboration and cooperation, and who want to help and care for living things. We want children to learn how to take responsibility for their actions and care for their world both locally and globally.

...for the Parent.

We ask that parents in our community trust in their children’s unique developmental paths and respect their children’s passions. Rather than praising, rewarding, or punishing, our parents help their children learn to celebrate their own and others’ accomplishments, reflect on their process, and consider ways to welcome new challenges. As members of the school community, MSB parents maintain a strong connection to the school and staff, while also allowing their children the space to flourish independently. In addition, MSB parents allow their children to practice independence and pursue their own paths of discovery outside of the school setting.

...for the Teacher.

Teachers (Guides) in our school are compassionate, understanding, and flexible, while also maintaining high expectations and firm limits. As well-rounded, responsible individuals, MSB teachers are passionate and joyful about their own process of learning, as well as in facilitating others’ learning. As models of cooperation and collaboration, our teachers demonstrate collegial relationships, reflective processes, and peaceful ways of resolving conflict. MSB teachers are also caretakers—of themselves, the children, the classroom, the community, and the earth.

Education for Life

Rather than just preparing your child for the next step in school, we seek to support their academic, social, emotional, and intellectual development. We want them to be successful with life in the future, not just in early childhood.

Take a moment to imagine your child twenty years from now. What skills will they need to be successful in college, their chosen profession, and in life in general?

They will need to:

know how to regulate their behavior control their impulses learn to plan and strategize hone the ability to problem solve learn to be flexible and course-correct when necessary learn to take initiative develop responsibility engage in deep thought requiring long periods of concentration work collaboratively with peers on projects

Researchers who study the traits of successful adults coined the term for these skills executive functions.

These executive function skills, that are so important to life’s success, must be continually developed, day in and day out or else they will not materialize. They result from the way an activity is done and the time spent doing it.

The Link Between Montessori and Executive Functions

In September 2006, the prestigious journal, Science, published a study conducted by Dr Angelina Lillard, professor at the University of Virginia, comparing five and twelve-year-olds attending innercity Montessori schools with those attending traditional schools.

The results? Montessori students rated higher on executive function skills—selective attention, selfcontrol, problem solving, reasoning, and not getting into trouble.

On behavioral and social tests, five-year-old Montessori children scored higher than their peers from conventional schools, showing that they had a greater sense of fairness and justice. Out on the playground, they were more likely to engage more in emotionally positive play with their peers and less in rough housing.

Also among the five-year-olds, the research found that Montessori children were better prepared to enter first grade with stronger reading and math skills than children in traditional schools.

As for the twelve-year-old children, the Montessori students wrote more creative stories using more sophisticated sentence structures. They also used more constructive strategies in solving social problems and reported feeling a greater sense of community at school.

For more information on the research of Dr. Lillard go to : Lillard, A.S. Shunned and Admired: Montessori, Self-Determination, and a Case for Radical School Reform. Educ Psychol Rev 31, 939–965 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-019-09483-3

Unpacking Montessori

Dr. Maria Montessori created her methodology over a century ago, and those of us who study her work and practice her ideas know it really works for children, even all these years later. Like any specialized approach or body of work, Montessori education incorporates unique terminology.

Concrete and Abstract

Dr. Montessori believed that “the hand is the instrument of the mind.” She understood that children learn best by doing first and internalizing later. In Montessori classrooms, we give children specialized learning materials that they manipulate with their hands to begin grasping various concepts. Over time, they use materials that are less concrete and require more abstract thinking, until they are eventually able to master a skill without the use of concrete materials.

Control of Error

One hallmark of a Montessori education is supporting children to become independent learners. Most of the materials children use in our classrooms incorporate a control of error, as there is only one way to correctly use the material. If a child uses a material incorrectly, they will not be able to complete the activity and will understand they have made a mistake somewhere along the way. As children get older, the materials incorporate some form of an answer key so the children can learn from their mistakes. This provdes a natural opportunity: instead of a teacher correcting a child and telling them what to do differently, the child is able to self-assess and determine what changes they need to make on their own.

Cosmic Education

During the elementary years, children begin seeking out answers about the universe and their place in it. It is our job to provide children with lessons and experiences at this age that aim to satisfy their curiosity, and to give them a deeper understand of the interconnectedness of all things. We call this broad study cosmic education. Elementary classrooms use special impressionistic lessons to inspire children as they explore concepts such as the creation of our universe, the evolution of life on earth, the evolution of humans, and the origins of math and language.

Grace and Courtesy

This phrase is applied to the approach Montessori schools have when teaching children how to interact with others. Manners play a part in this work; we explicitly teach children how to say please, thank you, excuse me, and you’re welcome, but it’s so much more. We teach children how to navigate friendships, how to resolve conflict, how to express gratitude, and how to share their own feelings.

Planes of Development

As a scientist, Dr. Montessori carefully studied patterns in children’s development. Her observations led her to notice specific planes, or stages, of development. Each plane is marked by very specific differences in the way children experience the world and learn from it. Having this information assists educators in creating environments and utilizing approaches that support children according to how they are developmentally prepared to learn. The first plane includes children ages 0-6, the second plane 6-12, the third 12-18, and the fourth 18-24.

Practical Life

We make it a point to teach children a range of skills they will need to be successful. While math, language, and science certainly make the cut, there’s a lot more to life than traditional academic subjects. Practical life exercises teach children how to clean up after themselves, how to feed themselves, or how to do any number of tasks that are required of us as we grow to become independent humans. We do not give children pretend food to cook with or play tools; we give them beautiful, sturdy, child-sized versions of the real thing. This allows them to take this practice seriously, and to know that we take them seriously, too.

Prepared Environment

We typically refer to our classrooms as prepared environments, but the term could actually be applied to just about anywhere. When a Montessori adult takes special care in creating a space that serves the children at their developmental stage and allows children to explore and learn independently, we have prepared the environment.

Sensitive Period

During her years of observation, Dr. Montessori noticed that children go through typical periods in which they seemed primed and ready to learn specific things. While there is of course some variability, Montessori guides know when to expect children to be ready to learn early math skills, beginning language work, gross motor skills, and so much more. If we introduce a skill too early a child is likely to become overwhelmed and frustrated, if we miss the window, or sensitive period, the child is likely to have lost interest to an extent. During these windows of opportunity, the child’s learning is seemingly effortless.

Three-Hour Work Cycle

Montessori schools utilize a three-hour period of time each morning in which children are able to dive deeply into their work. We recognize that it can take some time to settle into the flow of the day, and giving children this gift of time allows them to fall into stronger patterns of learning and independence. Older children often have a second work period/cycle during the afternoon.

Our Programs

Toddler Community

Toddler to 3 years old

The gentle, homelike atmosphere of the Toddler Community builds on the toddler’s natural drive to act independently, with an emphasis on the process rather than the product. Children learn by doing, and doing it themselves—washing hands, putting on jackets, pouring water. This is an important part of the toddlers’ daily work. In this language-rich environment, teachers support and guide toddlers as they explore order and disorder, all while refining their emerging motor skills.

Toddlers crave sensory input, order, and information about the real world. One important (yet unconscious) goal of the child’s first three years is to acquire knowledge by developing language and labeling elements of the environment.

Children’s House

2.5 to 6 years old

The Children’s House is a community of children who live and learn together in a prepared learning environment. This multi-aged grouping serves children who would otherwise be in conventional preschool or kindergarten. The community provides children with the opportunity to develop through individual activities that aid their work of “self construction.”

Our Montessori guides support children as they learn how to sustain focused and concentrated attention, think clearly and constructively, resolve conflicts peacefully, and express themselves through language and the arts. As a result, the children also learn how to care for the people, the living things, and materials that make up their classroom community.

Elementary Program

6 to 12 years old

The Elementary Program serves children from six through twelve years old. Students discover how the concrete ideas and skills they gained in Children’s House fit into larger and more abstract concepts. The Montessori approach reflects children’s increasing independence and problem solving skills. Lessons combine themes from multiple disciplines like geology, history, language, math, art, music, and science, and students learn through in-depth and collaborative projects and research. Study materials reflect multiple levels of understanding and students progress at their own pace within the curriculum.

The work of the elementary student gradually moves from concrete to abstract, from simple to complex, from distinct to integrated.

Adolescence Experience

grades 7 and 8

This two-year program for seventh and eighth graders is designed to usher healthy, self-confident, wellprepared adolescents into the next phase of their development. The focus is on asking large questions, researching, interpreting, and connecting all of the disciplines. In the academic subjects, students do personal and group work that is integrated by overarching themes. We provide opportunities for adolescents to gain self knowledge, learn adaptability, achieve academic competence, and become leaders of our community, while empowering them with a vision for their own future.

The adolescent students also participate in local internships, community service, elective classes, and a micro-economy, among many other off-campus learning experiences.

In Their Words

I was five years old when I walked into Children’s House. I immediately walked up to Joey and told him that someone had put bubblegum in my little pink rain boot. So Joey and I made a song called bubblegum in my boot. This was my first great experience at Montessori. My years in Elementary were some of the best years ever. From reading with Cooper, to doing PEMDAS with Gussie, everything has helped shape me into who I am today. But the most valuable experience that I have had at MSB was probably my time in the AE. Group work taught me how to collaborate with my peers, daily work taught me how to be efficient and thorough with my work, and the people who brought it all together were Caitlin and Julie. I will always remember the kindness and calmness that you brought to the classroom.

I cannot express to you how much I have enjoyed my time here. I would like to thank my parents and grandparents for sending me to Montessori. I think it was a pretty great choice.

“

—Fiona Clary, Class of 2022

Montessori has gifted me with a lot of things but the most important thing that I was given was freedom. I had come from a school that had shut down my creativity and my ability to express myself. When I first came to this school in 7th grade I was shocked at how much the students were encouraged to voice their thoughts and to do it creatively and I saw how we really did have a voice and it mattered.

In my two years here I have learned basic things like math and science but I have also learned life lessons that I will carry on with me for the rest of my life.

“

—Mable Cooney, Class of 2022

Where do they go from here?

An MSB education builds on itself over the years, from the toddler room through eigth-grade, supporting the students educationally, socially, and emotionally, and preparing them for wherever they choose to go from here.

MSB graduates have attended the following high schools: Bard Academy at Simon’s Rock, Berkshire Waldorf HS, Berkshire School, Brunswick School, Buxton School, The Darrow School, Emma Willard,The Ethel Walker School, The Frederick Gunn School, Miss Hall’s School, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Lenox Memorial HS, and Monument Mountain RHS, Mt. Everett HS, Pittsfield HS, the Putney School, Smith Academy, Taconic HS, Waconah RHS, Waldorf HS, and The Williston Northampton School.

And beyond...

After high school our graduates have gone on to attend:

American University

Brandeis University

Bard College at Simon’s Rock

Case Western Reserve University

Cornell University

Georgetown University

Liverpool Institute of the Performing Arts

University of Massachusetts

Montana State University

Northwestern University

Parsons School of Design

Rhodes College

Smith College

University of Vermont

- The Honors College

University of Warwick

Warren Wilson College

Wesleyan University

MSB taught me that failing is okay...some people would have said ‘this is over my head’ but I was like ‘this is over my head, but it’s so interesting, I’m going to take it anyway.’ If I was afraid to fail, I would have never taken those classes.

Portrait of a Graduate

In 2012, the first eighth graders graduated from MSB. One of those graduates, Sara Sprague, recently received her Masters in Cancer Biology from Georgetown University after attending Cornell University for her undergraduate degree and Miss Hall’s for high school. At the time of this interview, she was working as a Medical Technologist in charge of running the COVID tests at the DC Public Health Lab. She took some time out of her busy schedule to answer some questions about how her time here at MSB impacted her life choices.

How did you decide what field you wanted to study?

Cancer is the biggest unanswered question. There are some short term answers and there might be cures to certain types of cancers, but it is your own cells mutating and what works to treat one, does not necessarily work to control another. It’s an endless question and it’s an important one!

How did your guides at MSB support your interests?

History wasn’t really my thing but I’ve been interested in science forever. When we did the Montessori Model UN, we had Holland as our country. We studied something to do with the nuclear aspect—the protections of nuclear weapons or something like that. We were studying history, but I got to bring science into that.

[In this way] we were able to pursue anything that was of interest to us. Also, I was allowed to allocate my free time and go as far as I wanted in a subject.

How did your time at MSB facilitate your academic success?

Some of the most useful things I learned were how to plan, time management, and how to filter information—what was extraneous and [what was] information I needed to retain. This was key to doing well in high school and college. Unless you’re really, really smart, the way you pass Cornell and get good grades, is by knowing what you need to know. There’s just not enough room in your brain for 22 credits of “you need to know everything.”

How well did MSB prepare you for Miss Halls and Cornell?

I was well prepared in every way. For example, at Cornell you can do Auto Tutorial Classes, where you just get a book and some self-directed lab time, and then [at the end of the class] you go into a testing center and circle the bubbles. A lot of students at Cornell are like “I could never do that” or “I don’t trust myself to do it.” I learned early on [at MSB] how to get it done. I learned to be self-motivated. Ironically, MSB taught me that failing is okay and not the end of the world. I took a lot of extra classes at Cornell that were interesting and intellectually stimulating that I didn’t have the prerequisites for. I would navigate what I didn’t know, and I learned a lot. Some people would have said “this is over my head” but I was like “this is over my head, but it’s so interesting, I’m going to take it anyway.” If I was afraid to fail, I would have never taken those classes.

Sarah Sprague (right) with Maddie McCain, 2009