|
|
Dear Laura,
Having served Montessorians in the Pittsburgh
area since 1979, Greater Pittsburgh Montessori
Society (GPMS) now presents the inaugural
publication of our E-Newsletter, Montessori
Messenger. We hope you'll enjoy our new
communication format.
Read, click and
explore!
 |
|
|
Spring 2006 Meeting
Reflections Dr. Angeline Lillard
On Dr. Maria Montessori At Mt. Lebanon Montessori
School and Academy on March 18, 2006, GPMS was
thrilled to welcome Dr. Angeline Stoll Lillard
as our guest speaker. Dr. Lillard, acclaimed
author of Montessori: The Science Behind
the Genius, presented the eight major
education principles discussed in her book. Dr.
Lillard also highlighted some of the research
supporting these principles and described how
they are implemented in a Montessori classroom.
The eight principles she
outlined for us are:
- Cognition is optimized when movement is
consistent with thinking.
- We learn best when we are interested in what
we are learning about.
- Extrinsic rewards reduce motivation and
level of performance once the rewards are
removed.
- People thrive when they feel a sense of
choice and control.
- We learn best when our learning is situated
in meaningful contexts.
- Children can learn very well from and with
peers; after age six children respond well to
collaborative learning situations.
- Children thrive on order, routine, and
ritual.
- Certain adult ways (counseled by Montessori)
are associated with better child outcomes.
Angeline signed every last
available copy of her book, including the copy
won by a lucky GPMS member at our Fall 2005
Meeting at Montessori Children's Schoolhouse.
Several Spring 2006 Meeting attendees also won
door prizes, many of which were generously
donated by sponsors such as Bruegger's, Great
Harvest, Pete Donati and Sons floral shop,
Pittsburgh Opera, Portobello gift shop, the
Sheraton Station Square and Starbucks.
Later in 2006, Dr. Lillard
gave a similar talk at Pantops Montessori School
in Charlottesville, VA, and it was recorded by
Paladin Pictures. It is now available as a
104-minute educational DVD. You're welcome to
visit Dr.
Lillard's Website to find out how to order
this video. In addition, Dr. Lillard's
publisher, Oxford University Press, has created
a short pamphlet entitled Why Montessori?
Eight Evidence-Based Principles for Optimal
Education, and copies are available to
schools who request them. The content of the
pamphlet is based on Angeline Stoll Lillard's
book, and Montessori schools may find it useful
in marketing and parent-education efforts. To
order copies of the brochure, contact John
Hercel, Assistant Marketing Manager,
at:
FAX: (212)
726-6450
john.hercel@oup.com
198 Madison
Avenue
New York, NY 10016
Look at Photos!
|
|
|
|
|
Centenary Celebration
One Hundred Years of
Montessori Education Join the nation and the
world in observing the 100th anniversary of
Montessori principles and practice.
February 16 - 19,
2007, in San Francisco, California, attend a
Refresher Course, Workshops and Centenary Event
entitled Yesterday's Discovery: Today's
Science. This program is presented by
the United States affiliate of the organization
Dr. Montessori founded in 1929 to maintain the
integrity of her life's work, and to ensure that
it would be perpetuated after her death,
Association Montessori Internationale
(AMI/USA). Among other highlights, Dr.
Angeline Stoll Lillard is scheduled to give a
talk on Montessori outcomes.
March 1 - 4, in New
York City, New York, the American Montessori
Society (AMS) will host its 2007 Annual
Conference, a gala celebration of
Montessori education’s first centennial – 100
years of innovation and inspiration. Among the
speakers featured on the program are Dr. Marlene
Barron, Dr. Maya Angelou, Senator Christopher J.
Dodd, education writer Jonathan Kozol and Dr.
Angeline Stoll Lillard. March 29 - April 1,
2007, the North American Montessori
Teachers' Association (NAMTA) invites you to
Houston, Texas, for Great Work/Great
Ideas: Celebrating the Century of the
Child. According to NAMTA, the
organization is bringing its International
Centenary Exhibit to Houston to celebrate its
first official tribute to the Montessori
Centenary. This conference will also feature
four video premieres: 1) an archival video
showing Montessori yesterday and today, 2) a
series of interviews with Montessori graduates,
3) a film on Montessori worldwide, and 4) a
series of short subjects on Montessori "best
beginnings" under age three.
Saturday, April 21,
we'll gather together here in Pittsburgh at the
GPMS Spring 2007 Meeting. For
Earth Day, we'll honor the first hundred-year
cycle of Maria Montessori's method in action
while anticipating the next. Help us celebrate
the beauty of her creation, and sow the seeds of
the future with presentations and discussions on
such topics as botany, horticulture and
Montessori outdoor-environment design.
October 18 - 21,
2007, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, NAMTA
presents The Montessori Revolution: One
Hundred Years Back to the Future. This
event will celebrate the opening of the first
Montessori International Museum as a permanent
collection at the Montessori Training Center of
Minnesota. Video highlights of Centenary
celebrations around the world will be screened,
focusing special attention on first-generation
Montessorians who will have spoken at the
January, 2007, AMI Centenary Conference in Rome,
Italy.
Find Out More!
|
|
|
|
|
Music and Young
Children Make Music Together
and Your Community Will Sing  All children are musical.
All children can learn to sing in tune, keep a
beat and participate with confidence in the
music of our culture, provided that their early
environment supports such learning. By
emphasizing actual music experiences rather than
concepts about music, we can introduce children
to the pleasures of making music instead of
passively receiving it from CDs or TV.
Young children learn best
from the powerful role model of caregivers who
are actively making music. By providing a rich
musical environment in the Montessori classroom,
we can help facilitate family participation in
spontaneous musical activity at home within the
context of daily life. In 1987 Dr. Lili M.
Levinowitz and composer Kenneth K. Guilmartin
developed a program for young children and their
families called Music Together. In step
with the recommendations of Dr. Montessori and
other child development researchers, Music
Together groups children of a variety of ages
together in order to foster natural,
family-style learning. Each child participates
at his or her own level in singing, moving,
chanting, listening, watching, or exploring
musical instruments. Music Together is committed
to helping families, caregivers and early
childhood professionals rediscover the pleasure
and educational value of informal music
experiences. As a professor of music
education at Rowan University of New Jersey,
Glassboro, Lili Levinowitz continues to conduct
research in the area of music and young
children. In the fall of 1998 she published an
article in General Music Todayas part of
the Music Educators National Conference.
Reading this paper, entitled The
Importance of Music in Early Childhood,
could help you enrich your classroom
environment, and your family life as well.
Read Dr. Levinowitz's
Article! |
|
We encourage you to renew your GPMS
membership. It's time! Your registration
for the Fall 2006 Meeting will be included as a
2006 - 2007 membership benefit.
We hope to see you at The Garden Montessori
School on November 11, 2006, and don't
forget to save the date for our Saturday,
April 21st Spring 2007 Meeting!
Sincerely,
| |