Successful early literacy consists of development in listening comprehension, print knowledge, environmental print, alphabet knowledge, phonemic awareness, phonological short-term memory, rapid naming, visual memory and visual perceptual skills. These skills do not need to be taught separate of each other but rather integrated in oral language, knowledge of print and alphabet knowledge. The Montessori approach encompasses it all.
Maria Montessori believed language acquisition began with the development of Spoken and Written language as pre-cursors to Reading. In the stages of early literacy children who are exposed to pre-reading and writing are building a solid foundation for reading and writing. The Montessori Primary environments prepare the child for reading the first year they enter the classrooms. The Montessori Method prepares the child for learning to read to reading to learn through indirect and direction preparations starting in the practical life and sensorial training. First year Primary children are immersed in the dynamics of their own language development while Second and Third Year Primary students learn to understand that sounds make words through exposure to phonics. Other materials follow which present the intricacies of non-phonetic spelling and grammar.
The Montessori approach provides a carefully thought-out program to facilitate this process. All of these steps set the foundation for reading to learn; which is an essential part of the learning process in the Elementary classrooms. Please join Primary and Elementary teachers on October 13th from 5:30-7:00 as we reveal the unique steps to the process of reading the Montessori Way!

Dr. Maria Montessori observed that young children go through a number of different intensely-focused periods of learning and concentration. These periods are what we now call the “sensitive periods.” Brain research from Stanford University Neurobiologist Eric Knudsen echoes Dr. Montessori’s findings, stating “When the effect of experience on the brain is particularly strong during a limited period in development, this period is referred to as a sensitive period. Such periods allow experience to instruct neural circuits to process or represent information in a way that is adaptive for the individual” (Knudsen, 1412). The brain actually uses the information learned during a sensitive period to hard wire brain circuitry. These strong connections between the experience a child has and new brain function help build a positive “stability landscape”, leading to more efficient information processing capabilities. These brain connections must be used repeatedly to form and grow properly, leading to the repetition and concentration we see in the child experiencing a sensitive period.  (more…)

Montessori Academy of Chicago students enjoy an array of after school extracurricular activities. These classes are scheduled at times that are convenient for families and optimal for student development. We also partner with North Shore Pediatric Therapy to offer small group activities centered around emotional awareness, fine motor control, and sensorial exploration. See below for some of the extracurriculars our Primary and Elementary students experience!  (more…)