Category Archives: News

Video: Dr. Hughes: Cognitive Effects of Montessori on the Brain

Dr. Hughes, of Good at Doing Things gives a profound lecture on how Montessori education effects the brain.  The video starts at about 10:50

Good at Doing Things: Montessori Education and Higher Order Cognitive Functions from Steve Hughes on Vimeo.

Wake Forest Montessori Preschool Open House 3/6/12, 6:00 – 8:00pm

Priority Registration (for currently enrolled families) starts January 23th -February 3rd  and Open Registration (for new families) starts February 6th

Tours are now available!  Call (919) 827-1148 to schedule.

Open House: Tuesday, March 6th, 6:00-8:00  Please join us for a tour of our facility to meet our teachers and see our classroom! Registration packets will be available.

Call for details:  919-827-1148

Video: 4 year old reads in Montessori classroom at Trillium Montessori in Cary

From our friends, Seemi and Rashidah at Trillium Montessori in Cary, we are treated to a young Montessori learner in the beginning stages of learning to read.

The Montessori reading curriculum has three essential components: A strong foundation in phonics, comprehension based on visualization, and whole language, or learning to read for meaning and using context clues. Montessori reading is based on a strong foundation of phonics. This multi-sensory approach is unique in that it has children building words (encoding) before actually reading them (decoding). Developmentally appropriate activities allow children to build their own understanding of how sounds are represented by symbols, and these symbols are joined together to form words. In the Montessori classroom, by the age of 4, children are developmentally ready and eager to begin the preparation for reading. Along with learning the sounds and tracing their symbols with the sandpaper letters, students simultaneously learn to hold a pencil and control its use with the insets for design.

UNC Study Shows How Quality Preschool Creates Advantages

Poor children who get high-quality day care as early as infancy reap long-lasting benefits, including a better chance at a college degree and steady employment, according to a UNC-Chapel Hill study that followed participants from birth to age 30.

The latest findings, published this week in the online journal Developmental Psychology, are from one of the longest-running child care studies in the United States.

Conducted by the Frank Porter Graham Development Institute at UNC, the research is widely cited in a body of evidence that early childhood education can change the trajectory of young lives.

The findings may be cited in a court battle looming over state-funded pre-kindergarten for low-income children. For months, Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue and Republican leaders in the legislature have been at odds over funding for preschool for 4-year-olds.

The UNC study, known as the Abecedarian Project, began in 1972 with 111 babies from low-income families who were randomly assigned to two groups.

Half were enrolled in quality early childhood education from infancy to kindergarten; the other half, the control group, received what ever care their families arranged.

Researchers have followed the children since then. Along the way, the child care group posted better scores on reading and math tests in school.

They were more likely to pursue education beyond high school and less likely to become teenage parents.  Full Article

Traditional Model of Education vs Montessori, U of Virginia Study

To understand the difference between all children learning at the same time and Montessori trained students look no further than this comic of traditionally based education.  A recent study at the University of Virginia researchers found large discrepancies when Montessori students tested against traditional students.

The children who attended the Montessori school, and the children who did not, were tested for their cognitive and academic skills, and for their social and behavioral skills.

“We found significant advantages for the Montessori students in these tests for both age groups,” Lillard said. “Particularly remarkable are the positive social effects of Montessori education. Typically the home environment overwhelms all other influences in that area.”

Among the 5-year-olds, Montessori students proved to be significantly better prepared for elementary school in reading and math skills than the non-Montessori children. They also tested better on “executive function,” the ability to adapt to changing and more complex problems, an indicator of future school and life success.

Montessori children also displayed better abilities on the social and behavioral tests, demonstrating a greater sense of justice and fairness. And on the playground they were much more likely to engage in emotionally positive play with peers, and less likely to engage in rough play.  Read Full Study.

WFM Original: Matching Kindergartners to Teaching Styles

Styles of kindergarten teaching

There are various styles of kindergarten teaching. People think every teacher has his or her own style of teaching the kindergarteners. This is very true but people do not know that the learning style of the students directly influences the teaching style of a teacher. This is specifically applicable in case of kindergarten teachers. The level of learning and the rate at which a kid grasps things happening around him impacts the style of the teachers.

This is known as multiple intelligence theory. According to this theory the learning style and capability varies from one kid to another. Therefore it is not necessary that what works with one kid may work with another also. There are times when teachers need to develop or acquire different styles of kindergarten teaching to teach the kids. A lot of teachers with considerable experience in the field of teaching small kids at kindergarten have developed their own style of teaching. Years of teaching have given them lots of helpful insights into the functioning of a kindergartner’s mind and attitude.

Let us discuss three major styles of kindergarten teaching. The first to be developed was auditory teaching. It was principally designed for students who are auditory learners. They understand things in a better way when they listen to them and not by merely reading the chapters. Teachers try to incorporate auditory lessons and even music sessions in their lessons so as to teach the kids in a better way.

Visual teaching is one of the major styles of kindergarten teaching. Some students learn the best when the things are taught on projectors and screens. If they do not get to see the things that referred in the text, they will only be left to imagine them. This creates problems for some children. For example they will not understand what is a prism or a pyramid unless you show the pictures to them. Teachers make use of videos, presentations and even one act plays to make the kids understand things in a better way.

Last but by the best style of teaching kindergartners is kinesthetic way of teaching. In this technique, kids are encouraged to participate in activities and gain firsthand experience, knowledge and understanding. Almost all the kindergarten teachers are now adopting this approach towards teaching the kids in their class as it is the most active and interactive way to learn.

Tech and Toddlers, A Wise Combination?

Balancing Tech, Play and Future Happiness: Is that iPad really a good idea for your toddler?

If you have to ask any number of today’s parents about children and technology, you would probably find a lot of varied opinions out there. Some would say that young children are not ready to experience and handle electronic items, and the rest would say that they must experience it as early as possible. After considering these two opposing ideals it seems that some common ground needs to be found between all the controversy.

Considering how most kids are with everything they handle, it doesn’t make much sense to give them your touch-screen device to play with for a couple hours. The chances of the device looking the same as when you gave it to them are slim. The biggest drawback of technology these days is that it has a tendency to be fragile and requires a fair amount of finesse to handle and keep it in good working order. Generally speaking, most youngsters would not take such care of your mobile device and who wants to get angry with a three year old for being a three year old?

Consider that most children can’t handle expensive equipment, and on the other hand we have a world that is constantly changing and evolving leaps and bounds on the technological frontier. So much so, that just about everyone has a piece of technology playing a functional important role in their lives. The presence of technology is so prevalent that it simply cannot be ignored, even if you tried to. So where does one turn to when trying to give your child the right exposure to cell phones, tablets or computers? How does a parent that wants to give their child the best possible start in this technological world of ours, get their little ones off to a good start?

The answer to this problem actually lies in the cause. By allowing a child to experience and work with technology as often as possible, they start to learn how to use it with the same care as you. Under the supervision of a knowing and patient adult, there is really no limit to how much a child can learn about technology. For most parents, the thought of letting their child handle expensive electronics is an unnerving one. Cell phones, iPads, computers, DVD players and televisions are can be rather expensive. If you end up having to replace them when you could have prevented it in the first place, you find that it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth.

The best place to start is at home, where you can sit with your child while they play a game on your phone. They could spend some time with you while you surf the internet on your computer. Letting them type in search entries into Google and going through the web pages with them is an ideal way to create an interactive learning experience while getting the exposure to technology that they need. Keeping a child occupied helps prevents boredom in a child, and every parent knows that a bored child can easily become a problem child. Let’s say you happen to be busy with a work project, and your child is bugging you for something to do. We often resort to a quick solution like putting on a DVD for them to watch. That too can become a tedious matter as they always have to decide which of the movies they want to watch. It causes frustration for the parent and the child experiences your aggravation when it isn’t necessary. If they know how to put a disc into the player, turn the TV on so they can sit back and watch their favorite animation, you can leave them to their own devices and you can carry on with your work unhindered.

For parents that don’t have time to teach their kids about technology but still want to offer their children a chance to experience it first hand, so they can learn and develop the skills they will need in future, there is the option of sending them to techno camps or summer schools where they get exactly that. These camps offer your child a chance to learn from hands on experience and develop a keen insight into what is required to master technology from an early age. There are countless examples of children all across the US where they have learnt from these exact opportunities, and they have developed skills that an adult would only learn once they have graduated from high school.

A thirteen year old girl is able to animate in 3D because she attended a workshop that taught her how to do it. By the time she finishes high school, she will have enough 3D design experience under her belt to secure a stable job that pays well. Another young boy from Alaska attended the Digital media academy at Stanford University, where he was able to study filmmaking. By the time he turned fifteen he had produced two documentaries based on places he visited with his father a few years earlier. These children are going to grow up being more prepared for some of the adversities in life, and they may even be responsible for making great changes for everyone.

This may sound a little off the topic here but it actually ties in quite nicely to the question posed in the title. If you take a look over the ages, we see that key individuals are responsible for great changes to mankind. They are people that have great talents and are exposed to the right environments to allow them to flourish. Individual potential needs to be identified early in life, so that it can be coupled with the child’s will to do what they really want. A lot of your child’s frustration stems from their inability to develop themselves and in most cases that tends to manifest itself in mischief. Once they have the means to do what they can, and need to do, they will flourish and go on to make positive contributions to their lives, their families and to society as a whole.