Montessori: What is it?
Montessori education, a revolutionary approach to learning developed by Dr. Maria Montessori over a century ago, stands out for its unique focus on the individual child’s natural development. Characterized by self-directed activities within a prepared environment and guided by specially trained teachers, this method nurtures children’s innate curiosity and desire to learn, fostering both academic […]
Going Beyond the Montessori Elementary Albums
by Letty Rising Follow the Trillium Montessori Talks podcast When fresh out of Montessori teacher training, you have at your handy disposal at least two armfuls of curriculum binders, often called “albums” which hold the entirety of the Cosmic Curriculum for you to present to your students. Whether you wrote your own albums composed of […]
Get Ready to Dust Off Those History Question Charts!
by Letty Rising Follow the Trillium Montessori Talks podcast Do you have History Question Charts on your shelf in your elementary environment? If so, are they being taken out and used regularly by students in your class? Do you not know where to begin, or how to keep the interest in this valuable tool alive? […]
How Do We Know When It’s Time to Present the Next Lesson?
by Letty Rising Follow the Trillium Montessori Talks podcast Most Montessori elementary training programs offer a plethora of information and resources to equip the emerging teacher with lessons to deliver, the philosophy behind “why” we do as we do. After all, this isn’t called Cosmic Education for nothing! We are introducing our students […]
We’re Hiring: Tech VA
Part-Time Tech VA We are in need of some assistance behind the scenes at Trillium and we would love to see some applications from BIPOC candidates for this role! This is a part-time, 1099 role, approximately 5-10 hours/week. You will be supporting our operations manager, Candace Barnard, with a variety of behind-the-scenes tasks such […]
Is it Okay to Interrupt an Elementary Child at Work?
by Letty Rising Follow the Trillium Montessori Talks podcast This is a question that comes up all the time with elementary teachers! It is a Montessori truism that we protect the child’s work cycle from interruptions. We talk with our colleagues about resisting the urge to do the following: Pulling children out of […]
How Do We Know When Elementary Students are Ready for Abstraction?
by Letty Rising Follow the Trillium Montessori Talks podcast One of the most inviting aspects of the Montessori approach is our beautiful materials. Other than the idea of following the child, the enticing materials are one of the main reasons why people are drawn to Montessori environments. And, how could anyone refuse these beautiful, […]
What to Do When Your Lesson Falls Flat
by Letty Rising Follow the Trillium Montessori Talks podcast If you’ve been teaching in a classroom for any length of time, you will know that even the best laid plans sometimes yield cringeworthy results. In Montessori training, we see our teacher trainers modeling how to present these interesting and fascinating lessons that […]
Time for a Reset! Revisiting Systems, Routines, and Agreements
by Letty Rising Follow the Trillium Montessori Talks podcast When coming back from a long school break, it is often the case that any progress that has been made to normalize has gone out the window. It might in fact be the case that a part or all of the classroom community […]
2021: Year in Review
Well here we are, at the end of another year. Are you ready to take stock of this year and step into the new one? Are you feeling optimistic about what lies ahead… or not so much? If you’re feeling overwhelmed, it might be a good idea to pause and reflect on the past 12 […]
Rebuilding the Elementary Environment During Late Stage Pandemic Times
by Letty Rising The Hope At the time of this writing, it is the Fall of 2021, and the hope has been that THIS is the year when we collectively bounce back from the worldwide Covid 19 pandemic. Children will be returning to school, reuniting with old friends, and will have the opportunity to […]
Why we opted NOT to make the P2P Summit free
Hello Everyone, We are really looking forward to sharing the expertise of this year’s P2P Summit speakers with you! I was going to start this email by saying that Tammy and I thought long and hard about whether to make this year’s Summit free. But that’s not true. This decision speaks to one of our […]
Behind the Scenes at Trillium: It Finally Happened
Y’all…. …I had to make some big decisions a couple of months ago. BIG. Like, the-future-of-Trillium big. Many of you have been following along on my Trillium journey for many years, some of you since way back in 2013 (love you!) You know that I closed my school in 2018 to live a semi-retired life […]
2020 Year In Review
It’s finally time to say goodbye to 2020. What a seismic year to live through. I have been so inspired and moved by the courage and determination I have seen in the Montessori community this year. You have rolled with the challenges of overhauling how you work with and educate children, closing schools and losing […]
Gender Creativity and Following the Child: A Montessori Connection
by Ashley McLean Connecting the two concepts of gender creativity and following the child should come easily to us as Montessorians. For me, it took my born-male-child asking to wear a skirt to jump start my journey of understanding the link. The Gender Journey My gender education started when Ben (name has been changed for […]
Let’s Get Ready for the Start of School
A Free Ebook by Angie Ma As many of us head back to a school year like no other, our children will likely need some extra reassurance that everything will be fine. This sweet, hand illustrated social story by Angie Ma is just what you need right now. It’s free to use. Simply click the […]
Distance Learning in Times of Disaster: Restoration and Renewal
A downloadable PDF of this article is available here. Read Part 1 here: Distance Learning in Times of Disaster: Phases of Responding to a Disaster By Elizabeth Slade Spring is making its way across the country reminding us all about the cycles of life – the earth as a great reminder of how to endure […]
Building Distance Learning around the Psychological Characteristics of the Elementary Child
A downloadable PDF of this article is available newsletter subscribers here. by Letty Rising As Montessori education moves forward on the path of distance learning while people all over the world are navigating life through a global pandemic, there is much to consider and still so much to learn. And it is not only the […]
Do you need a three-hour work cycle at home?
“Education is not something which a teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being. It is not acquired by listening to words but in virtue of experiences in which the child acts on his environment.”M. Montessori, pg 3 The Absorbent Mind. Recently, I spoke with a parent who […]
Montessori Lessons in Interdependence: Greater Relevance Than Ever
By Margaret Whitley Our elementary children’s imagination is immense. So too is their adaptability and resilience when honored. Today’s unusual pandemic reality calls on adults to be and talk to our children directly, both parents and teacher, balancing any possible fear in our elementary age children with understanding. One place we can turn which could […]
Ten Little Rocks
By Sara Bloomberg How many times have you casually cleaned out your child’s pockets or lunch bags and found a vast collection of rocks which your children have meticulously hunted? For most 3-6-year-old children, rocks are the stuff of dreams. To children, rocks are often more valuable than the most precious metals. Each rock holds […]