The Montessori Method

Seeing that I have posted a lot about Montessori in the past few weeks I thought I would compile a few resources I have found. I am by no means pure montessori, there are some aspects I just don't care for or see the point in. But the aspects I do like are the early instruction for practical life and getting the children to be more independent early on. I like the level of concentration the children can achieve when given appropriate material. The subjects of math is one of my favorites, and I really like a lot of the math manipulatives used to help children really understand they why behind the process. Geography is also a big one. Map puzzles and pin maps are used a lot to help children really see the world and learn the location of all the different countries and other geographically important places. I've got 2 in the early stage and 1 in the elementary and then Cale somewhere in the middle I am trying my best to creat an environment that is a good fit for everyone. We are on an off week from school and I am in the middle of planning our next 4 week block. I am trying to figure out what I want to incorporate into our classroom and what I want to stay the same. Anyway...on to the links...

To start here is a basic FAQ on the Montessori Method. And another informational site on the basics of the Montessori method and history.

This site is a wonderful resource, especially for someone who is not at all trained in the Montessori method. The site is broken down into the different subjects and each subject is described and along the sidebar you can look at all the different activites, the directions for all the games and activities and how to present it to the child is right there for you.

For the younger kids- ones working with numbers up to 1000s, understanding the logic behind numbers and place value, you can view videos online of the activities.

Another good site for some of the activites for the 3-6 age group is Montessori Mom. There is a lot of explanations of the different activites from sorting to the addition. Some info on language and Montessori in general. And here is another album of activities for the 3-6 age range

Here you can view a scope and sequence for the different age ranges, 3-6, 6-9 and 9-12. They also have teacher training albums for the different subjects for the different levels too. THis is one of the few sites I have come across with a good amount of info on the older ages.

Montessori for Everyone has a selection of inexpensive materials you can buy- and some free to to download. Lots of sorting cards and parts of an object cards. I personally don't like too much of the card work but I see a place for some of it in our schooling esp. for independent work and refining the skills. I also use these to get ideas on how to make my own; I have made animal classification cards and Living/non-living classification cards using printable business card paper. It makes it much easier with no cutting. Another site for free resources is Montessori Materials it has free, donated material from other teachers and homeschoolers.

There are also a few good catalogs to buy, or if you are like me, get ideas and put them into play using your own resources. Montessori Services has a wonderful selection for practical life and Michael Olaf has an online catalog, you can purchase a print copy, but the catalog is divided into age ranges and there is a lot of good information on methods as well as products.

And since I am a visual learner and I like to see how a lot of this goes together and how it looks, Sew Liberated has a lot of pictures of her materials and classroom (again, 3-6 but you can use your imagination for older kids, and the set up is similar just different materials for their level). She also has a lot of pictures in herprepared environment gallery. Another nice blog is My Montessori Journey. There are also a few youtube videos where you can see an elementary classroom at work.

This is by no means a complete list of resources, but a jumping off point for someone looking for more information. And a way for me to organize some of the information I have come across.