BRAIN POWER: Studying Young Minds, and How to Teach Them

New research on when young brains are best able to grasp fundamental concepts could reshape early education.

From the New York Times

Click here to read.

Why Montessori?

Enjoy this 2 part video, "Why Montessori"

Part 1

Part 2

How Schools Stifle Creativity

Sir Ken Robinson, Ph.D, an expert in creativity, innovation and human resources, gave this popular talk at the TED conference in 2006. In this article he explores why the message has resonated with audiences. Robinson is a best-selling author whose latest book is "The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything (Viking)." He received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in 2003 for his service to the arts and education.

To read the full article, Click Here.

Life 101

What every child should learn before you let them fly the coop.

To read the article, click here.

Life lessons: The learning never stops as kids grow up

A recent story about instructing children in tasks they'll need for the rest of their lives -- using a screwdriver, loading a dishwasher and the like -- brought suggestions of other activities that kids should master before being launched into the world.

Click here for article.

The Great Baby Einstein Scam

An article from Yahoo on Baby Einstein.
To view the article, click here.

The latest figures from Nielsen have children's TV usage at an eight-year high. Children's health advocates warn of adverse effects.

Click here for article.

Baby Einstein

Here is a New York Times article worth reading.

Click Here

WHEN "THE END" IS JUST THE BEGINNING

Reading The Hundred Dresses wasn’t enough for the girls at Countryside Montessori School. After completing the story, the girls analyzed the story by identifying the theme, plot, setting, protagonist, antagonist, conflict, climax and resolution. Had they had enough then? NO!

They next decided to scour the text for all the information that helped them to learn about the characters. They then took that information and created representations of what each of the girls imagined the characters looked like. Job well done.

But wait… Mrs. Calise, their teacher, mentioned to the girls that a play based on the book was showing at The Royal George Theater. So the girls organized a trip down to see the show last Friday. They used the Internet to find out the times and ticket prices, found some parents willing to accompany them to the show, got driving directions, explored parking options, and off they went.

They are finally satisfied. But, who knows where the next book will lead.

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Stay At School Until 4:30?

“I get to stay at school until 4:30 every day? Awesome,” said a 3rd grade boy on hearing that new this year, Countryside Montessori School is offering a longer day for their Elementary class. The class consists of forty-seven children in 1st through 6th grade. They study together in one large, bright classroom at the school on the corner of Pfingsten and Techny in Northbrook. In the Elementary classroom, children work individually and in small groups in self-directed learning. As in the past, attendance is required from 8:30 AM until 3:30 PM, but children can now arrive as early as 8 AM and leave any time until 4:30 PM.

“The children really love school and there just didn’t seem to be enough time in the day to do all of the things they want to do,” Wendy Calise, Elementary teacher and Educational Director, says. “Adding the hours has made the class feel more like a neighborhood of sorts, instead of a formal class.”
The new extended day is voluntary, and Countryside assures parents that children who don’t stay the extra time will receive, “the same volume of teaching and attention that they have in previous years.” As might be expected, parents are pleased with the program. To their delight, so are their children.
“Come back in 15 minutes,” begged one 3rd grade boy, whose mother arrived at 4:15 on the first Friday of school, a sunny, still-summer day. “Please! Please! Please! I want to go back upstairs.” And back to the classroom he went to his reading interpretation lesson, leaving his mom to shake her head, remembering how she had watched the clock, waiting for her school day to end. When this boy’s older sister, a Countryside graduate now in 8th grade, heard of the extra time in the classroom, she complained, “Why didn’t they do that when I was there?”

Another child, a 3rd grade girl, tested the water on the first day of school by staying until 4 P.M. The minute she greeted her mom that afternoon, she said, “About tomorrow, pick me up at 4:30 please.”

Other families don’t leave the choice up to their children. That includes 1st grade twin boys, who are new to Countryside. Last year they were in public school half-day kindergarten, so the change is dramatic. Still, their mother reports they are loving the long day.

Several children, including a 6th grade girl, report they are enjoying the extra time with friends. So what happens in this extra time? In the morning as the children trickle in, Mrs. Calise says the teachers now have time to chat a little and hear about the things the children do out of school. Then as late afternoon arrives, she says, “children start to be called to go home, as in the morning not all at the same time. Many work up until the very last minute. Some listen to stories read aloud from William Bennett’s, THE BOOK OF VIRTUES, some younger children watch the 6th graders feed the snake, others organize the art cabinets, attend a geometry lesson, or continue with water color illustrations.”

Countryside decided to offer the longer day partly, Mrs. Calise points out, because American children have one of the shortest school years and shortest school days in the industrialized nations. The other inspiration came from Countryside’s All Year Montessori classroom, which is open to its 3 to 6-year-olds from 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM year round. “That classroom has a relaxed feel,” Mrs. Calise says. “There never seems to be a rush for time. We wanted that same feeling in Elementary. And so far,” she adds, “that is exactly what we have gotten.”

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School's Founders Prepare to Retire after 40+ Years

One more first day of school. One more back to school picnic. One more parent orientation dinner. One final, exhilarating, exhausting, surprising, inspiring year. One last graduation day.

Frank and Annette Kulle have been the guiding spirits at Countryside Montessori School since they opened their first classroom in Glenview 43 years ago. Each event they host at the school this year will feel like a conclusion, a “one more time” event, a final celebration before they retire at the end of the year.

Annette composed her speech for the Parent Orientation Dinner over the summer. “I could talk about the kids who remain in my mind and heart, or the families who remain in my heart,” she said. “I think I will talk about what I am proud of . . . . I will tell stories. I love the stories.”

The Kulles founded Countryside in 1967. It was then a single classroom in Glenview United Methodist Church. After filling satellite classes in Skokie (1969) and Northbrook (1970), the Kulles purchased a piece of property. In 1971, they moved the school to the house on Pfingston Road that has remained the school’s home.

A major renovation and a large addition to the house were completed between 1995 and 1999. Today, Countryside is a not-for-profit Montessori school with an enrollment of about 150 students. The school accepts students as young as 16 months into the toddler program. Children graduate from Countryside at the age of 12.

When Countryside students enter the school through carpool each morning, the words printed above the vestibule door remind them of their school’s mission: “respect, responsibility, resourcefulness.” Most Countryside students can read the words independently by their kindergarten year.

The Kulles said they knew very little about Maria Montessori’s philosophy or educational method when they opened their first classroom. Frank had just been discharged from the army and was working as an engineer; Annette was at home with three young children. When their eldest daughter was ready for pre-school, every school Annette called had a waiting list.

“Frank came home one day in May, and I said, ‘how hard would it be to start a school?’”

Marty Fishman, a Lincolnwood accountant and life-long friend of the Kulles, has served on Countryside’s board since they founded the school. “I spent a lot of time with Frank on the phone from the outset, considering options, paying attention to progress and failures,” he said.

Fishman said he will continue to serve on the board after the Kulles retirement. “It started out as friendship and business,” he said. “With something like this, that you start and watch grow . . . it’s something you just don’t let go of.”

Fishman said the school’s purchase of property in 1971 and the subsequent renovation were pivotal events. “It was a large, courageous undertaking for the school,” he said.

The Kulles were not able to obtain a loan from the bank for the purchase – their classrooms were not yet profitable -- so they borrowed money from Frank’s Uncle Charlie.

“Uncle Charlie loved little kids,” Annette said, smiling. Uncle Charlie was then approaching his 100th birthday. He came to live with the Kulles and their three children shortly after they moved the school to it current location. He lived with them, watching the school he helped establish thrive and grow, until he was 103.

Fishman remembers how strong and firm the Kulles were -- and have remained -- in their commitment to the highest educational standards for very young children. “We are a school, an educational facility.” he said “We did not want to be billed as a babysitter.”

“There were times when things were rough, when (the board) had to consider day-care as a revenue source,” Fishman said. “Annette absolutely would not let the school grow into a day-care facility.”

Countryside is one of only two schools in Illinois to earn and maintain the highest, international accreditation for Montessori schools, granted by the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI). The school has also met or exceeded all requirements for accreditation through the Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS) and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA-CASI).

Dr. Elizabeth Raspanti is a Countryside alum and parent. She attended the school from 1973 through 1979. Her two oldest daughters are now enrolled in the school’s elementary and primary programs. “Montessori helped me develop self-discipline, patience and tenacity,” she said. “I learned to be methodical and pay attention to details, as well as take pride in my work.”

“I believe that with the Montessori materials, learning the basics comes in a fun, appealing, and natural way. The grammar I learned in Montessori helped me show my classmates how to diagram a sentence in sixth grade.”

“Everything I learned at such a young age became a part of me,” Raspanti said of her years at Countryside. “I had a great foundation on which to build. I wanted to pass on that experience to my girls.”

When the Kulles retire at the end of the year, their multiple responsibilities and ongoing projects will be distributed among the administrative staff they have been training for many years. Current Director of Education Wendy Calise will assume the position of Head of School.

Calise also attended Countryside as a child. She has three children enrolled in the school, the oldest of whom will graduate this year. After graduating from Northwestern University and completing AMI primary training, Calise began teaching at Countryside in 1990. Calise completed elementary training and began teaching in an elementary class in 1998. Soon thereafter, she began her work as Director of Education.

“I would like to preserve the benefit that comes from the Kulle’s 40-plus years of experience,” Calise said. “I hope to have their steadiness when steering us all in the CMS community through difficult times of a dizzying variety.”

What about the Countryside experience is unique? What distinguishes Countryside from the many other options available? “The classroom experience children have,” Calise said. “Teachers who care deeply about their profession, who understand intellectually and practically that every child has a unique path.”

The Kulles will remain in Norhbrook. The enjoy traveling. They have enjoyed “dabbling” in local and national politics. They hope to volunteer, and to enjoy the company of their seven grandchildren. They will continue to enjoy the stories they have collected through four decades of innovative work in education.

Fishman said that of the many stories he has exchanged with the Kulles, his favorite is now more than 20 years old. At that time, he was developing a hotel in Minneapolis. Several times a day he collaborated with an interior designer he had worked with on previous occasions. She was extraordinarily smart, talented, hard working and friendly, he said. The project was long and plagued with difficulties. “She was a great help to me,” he said.

“I knew she had a grandson who was born with everything in the world wrong with him. He had learning problems and physical problems.” On the plane ride home from Minneapolis, Fishman said he asked her how her grandson was doing. Though they were exhausted, Fishman said her face “immediately lit up.”

“She talked for the whole ride to Chicago about how well he was doing, told me all about the great school he was attending, all they were doing to help him. She went on and on,” Fishman said. “ You know when I finally asked her where he went to school, she said ‘Countryside Montessori School!’ I’ll never forget that.”

Posted in the TribLocal