Birds Nest is a Year-Round Montessori School, and a 10-month program is also available.
Programs
Toddler Full-day Program: 8:30am – 2:30pm.
Primary Program: 8:30am – 2:30pm.
Kindergarten Program: 8:30am – 2:30pm
Lower Elementary (1st- 2nd Grade): 8:30am - 2:30 pm
The Montessori Philosophy
The Montessori Method stems from the observations, work and principles of Dr. Maria Montessori, who became Italy’s first female doctor in 1896. Montessori spent time observing children and as they evolved, so did her philosophy.
In 1907, Montessori opened the Casa de Bambini where she formulated her educational method based on years of study and day-to-day observations. Over 100 years later, this method continues to thrive, as do children in the Montessori classroom.
The Child
“The 'absorbent mind' welcomes everything, puts its hope in everything, accepts poverty equally with wealth, adopts any religion and the prejudices and habits of its countrymen, incarnating all in itself. This is the child!”
–Dr Maria Montessori
Montessori observed what she referred to as “the absorbent mind,” a time period between ages 0 – 6 when children soak up their environment by just existing in it. The child’s mind is open to all learning experiences because the brain, not fully formed, is open to all sensory input in a natural way.
She also discovered there are times – which Montessori labeled “sensitive periods” –when a child focuses on certain skills feverishly, sometime forgoing all others. Montessori saw many sensitive periods in young children pertaining to order, language, learning manners and refinement of the senses. For example, an adult learning a new language may study endlessly and still barely grasp it. A two-year-old child, however, absorbs the language as it washes over them. During sensitive periods, learning comes naturally as opposed to being teacher-directed.
The Classroom
Maria Montessori believed that children are the bridge that can empower us and nurture society for the enlightenment of mankind. The classroom is a place where children are encouraged to practice peace. The classroom curriculum offers exercises in grace and courtesy that provide a basic framework. For example, children are given lessons on how to properly interrupt a teacher or a friend. This and other lessons like it provide children with tools allowing them to respect the classroom, their peers, their teachers and themselves.
The materials in the Montessori classroom are offered with a direct aim in mind. Each material isolates a concept and allows for repetitive practice with a certain skill and allows the child to solve challenges inherent in the materials without help. Through experience and without the teacher's direction, a child is able to gain an understanding of the concrete dimensions that give this work meaning.
The Montessori classroom is prepared before a child enters the room to encourage the child to have freedom and independence by focusing on a child-centered, as opposed to teacher-directed, curriculum. Each child has his or her own distinct pattern for learning, and the classroom is set up in a way that enables each child to follow his or her own divergent path in harmony with and alongside other children.
The Teacher
“The teacher's first duty is to watch over the environment, and this takes precedence over all the rest. Its influence is indirect, but unless it is well done there will be no effective and permanent results of any kind, physical, intellectual or spiritual.”
– Dr. Maria Montessori
In the Montessori environment, the teacher’s role is to observe. She sets the tone for the classroom, is watchful of the children and their needs, and presents lessons to individuals or small groups. Her basic ground rules establish an understanding of respect for the environment, the work within the environment, and above all, respect for fellow classmates.
Programs
Toddler Full-day Program: 8:30am – 2:30pm.
Primary Program: 8:30am – 2:30pm.
Kindergarten Program: 8:30am – 2:30pm
Lower Elementary (1st- 2nd Grade): 8:30am - 2:30 pm
The Montessori Philosophy
The Montessori Method stems from the observations, work and principles of Dr. Maria Montessori, who became Italy’s first female doctor in 1896. Montessori spent time observing children and as they evolved, so did her philosophy.
In 1907, Montessori opened the Casa de Bambini where she formulated her educational method based on years of study and day-to-day observations. Over 100 years later, this method continues to thrive, as do children in the Montessori classroom.
The Child
“The 'absorbent mind' welcomes everything, puts its hope in everything, accepts poverty equally with wealth, adopts any religion and the prejudices and habits of its countrymen, incarnating all in itself. This is the child!”
–Dr Maria Montessori
Montessori observed what she referred to as “the absorbent mind,” a time period between ages 0 – 6 when children soak up their environment by just existing in it. The child’s mind is open to all learning experiences because the brain, not fully formed, is open to all sensory input in a natural way.
She also discovered there are times – which Montessori labeled “sensitive periods” –when a child focuses on certain skills feverishly, sometime forgoing all others. Montessori saw many sensitive periods in young children pertaining to order, language, learning manners and refinement of the senses. For example, an adult learning a new language may study endlessly and still barely grasp it. A two-year-old child, however, absorbs the language as it washes over them. During sensitive periods, learning comes naturally as opposed to being teacher-directed.
The Classroom
Maria Montessori believed that children are the bridge that can empower us and nurture society for the enlightenment of mankind. The classroom is a place where children are encouraged to practice peace. The classroom curriculum offers exercises in grace and courtesy that provide a basic framework. For example, children are given lessons on how to properly interrupt a teacher or a friend. This and other lessons like it provide children with tools allowing them to respect the classroom, their peers, their teachers and themselves.
The materials in the Montessori classroom are offered with a direct aim in mind. Each material isolates a concept and allows for repetitive practice with a certain skill and allows the child to solve challenges inherent in the materials without help. Through experience and without the teacher's direction, a child is able to gain an understanding of the concrete dimensions that give this work meaning.
The Montessori classroom is prepared before a child enters the room to encourage the child to have freedom and independence by focusing on a child-centered, as opposed to teacher-directed, curriculum. Each child has his or her own distinct pattern for learning, and the classroom is set up in a way that enables each child to follow his or her own divergent path in harmony with and alongside other children.
The Teacher
“The teacher's first duty is to watch over the environment, and this takes precedence over all the rest. Its influence is indirect, but unless it is well done there will be no effective and permanent results of any kind, physical, intellectual or spiritual.”
– Dr. Maria Montessori
In the Montessori environment, the teacher’s role is to observe. She sets the tone for the classroom, is watchful of the children and their needs, and presents lessons to individuals or small groups. Her basic ground rules establish an understanding of respect for the environment, the work within the environment, and above all, respect for fellow classmates.