Dear Laura,
Having served Montessorians in the Pittsburgh area
since 1979, Greater Pittsburgh Montessori Society
(GPMS) presents the Spring 2007 issue of our
E-Newsletter, Montessori Messenger. We
hope
you'll enjoy our communication format.
Read,
click and explore!
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Spring 2007 Meeting
Seeds of Tradition: The Child in Nature
On Saturday, April 21, we'll gather at The Glen
Montessori School for the
GPMS Spring
2007 Meeting. On the eve of 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. Our Guest Speaker Janet McDonell will help
us think about The Child in Nature,
and we'll even
have the opportunity to view the NAMTA video by
the same name during our meeting.
Janet is Primary (3-6) Director of Training at the
Washington Montessori Institute at Loyola College.
She holds the Primary, Elementary, and Special
Education AMI diplomas as well as a BA in
comparative literature from the University of
Wisconsin and a master’s degree in Montessori
education from Loyola College in Maryland. She has
more than 20 years of teaching and administrative
experience in various Montessori schools throughout
the country and serves as a member of the AMI
Sponsoring Committee. Janet will help us reflect on
the first century of Montessori education, and
envision the next.
In order to help bring GPMS and GPMS members into
the current century, Board Member Daisy
Klaber will also give an overview of some ways in
which
we can benefit from using available technology and
internet access. Her discussion will include such
options as free e-mail accounts; free public
website design and hosting; free and low-cost e-mail
marketing tools; and private, web-based
collaboration websites. Come with questions or
challenges and we'll get creative! No competence or
confidence is expected or required, but with an open
mind, your skills and comfort level will grow.
You can find our gracious host school in Emsworth
at
500 Huntington Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15202
412-766-3815
Click Here to Register and Join Us!
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Fall 2006 Meeting Reflections
Visualizing Mathematics with Dr. Ted Erickson
Special thanks to The
Garden Montessori School for
hosting GPMS on Saturday, November 11 for our Fall
2006 Meeting with Guest Speaker Professor Ted
Erickson, and
our discussion facilitator, Margaret Erickson.
The presentation Ted gave and the
discussion his wife Margaret led rejuvenated our
fascination with the manipulatives Dr. Montessori
designed for the mathematics area. They also
ignited new interest in the principles and history of
arithmetic, geometry, trigonometry
and calculus which can be represented concretely
using the Montessori materials.
Ted and Margaret recommended several resources to
Montessorians interested in augmenting their, and
their children's, mathematics experience:
Mathematics: The Science of
Patterns by Keith Devlin
Proofs Without
Words by Roger B. Nelsen
Calculus By and For
Young People by Don Cohen
The
Geometer's Sketchpad from Key Curriculum
Press
Ethnomathematics
by Maria Ascher
While we were discussing the deep, sensorial impact
of
the introduction to mathematics that Montessori
created, Ted shared with us the
published poem his son wrote at age seven.
One Times One by Andrew
Erickson
One times one is one,
Because one of the
ones makes the other one one,
but you can't tell
which one.
Click Here to Visit Ted's Department Online!
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Centenary Celebration
One Hundred Years of Montessori Education
Join the nation and the world in observing the 100th
anniversary of Montessori principles and practice.
March 1 - 4, in New York City, New
York, the American Montessori Society (AMS) hosted 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 were Dr. Marlene Barron, Montessori Parent
Dr. Maya Angelou,
Senator Christopher J. Dodd, education writer
Jonathan Kozol and GPMS Spring 2006 Meeting
Guest Speaker Dr. Angeline Stoll Lillard.
March 29 - April 1, 2007, the North
American Montessori Teachers' Association (NAMTA)
invited folks to Houston, Texas, for Great
Work/Great Ideas: Celebrating the Century of the
Child.
According to NAMTA, the organization brought its
International Centenary Exhibit to Houston to
celebrate its first official tribute to the
Montessori Centenary. This conference also
featured 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.
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.
Click Here to Find Out More!
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It's been our pleasure serving you, and Greater
Pittsburgh Montessori education, for the past two
years.
Members, please be
sure you've submitted your ballot
before the Spring
2007 Meeting!
We'll see you on Saturday, April 21
at The Glen Montessori
School.
Sincerely,
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