I am delighted to feature Pine Cottage from the Montessori School of Syracuse (MSS) in our Classroom Showcase series this week!
My Montessori spiritual roots lie at this school. This was the school where I first discovered Montessori. I found a job here as an assistant teacher right out of grad school. I then went for training and received by Montessori credential and came back as a teacher. Later I became an administrator at the school. I left in 2009 to start Trillium Montessori in North Carolina, but a couple of years ago I became officially associated with MSS again as a member of their board.
I cannot begin to tell you how much I love the spirit of this school. If you are ever in upstate New York, I hope you will carve out some time to visit this darling place.
The photos below are from Pine Cottage, one of the primary (3-6) classrooms. Each of the primary classrooms are located in a stand-alone cottage with an attached garden.
A view of Pine Cottage from the Montessori School of Syracuse
This is the north end of the cottage.
Science and Geography shelves
A closer look at some of the Geography shelves
Another science shelf and the map cabinet
I love this idea of using magnets to attach the apron to the front of the easel! Such a great visual reminder to start and end the process with the apron, and to make sure the easel is clean before you leave! I will have to adopt this! By the way, I have this same easel and I love it. It’s from Community Playthings.
A microwave to heat up lunch and some cleaning supplies below.
The dishwashing setup. I believe this was made by the Lord Co. and is no longer available.
The snack and food prep shelf.
Some preliminary practical life activities.
Sensorial materials
The Knobbed Cylinders and Pink Tower
The Montessori Bells and more sensorial materials
Beginning math materials
The math area
The bead cabinet and operations materials
I love this little window seat!
Looks like someone was in the middle of the decimal layout!
Each cottage has a little attached garden space. This is one of the beds in the Pine Cottage garden.
About the Montessori School of Syracuse
The Montessori School of Syracuse was started by three women — Mary Lawyer O’Connor, Susan French-Lawyer, and Patricia Choice Getz — who wanted to offer a Montessori education to their children and the wider Central New York community.
In 1995, they opened the Montessori Learning Center with seven students and one teacher. I (Seemi) first joined the school in 1998.
In its first five years, the school grew from one classroom to five and from seven students to nearly 100. The school underwent a true test of strength and character when there was an arson attack at their school’s location at Temple Beth-El. Parents, trustees and administrators worked tirelessly to find and finance a permanent home for the school. Their new campus, a former teachers’ retirement home on Waldorf Parkway in Syracuse, opened its doors in January 2001.
The school’s beautiful new campus is in a residential area, surrounded by 10 acres of woods, an arboretum of trees, multiple recess areas and a soccer field. The four Children’s Houses are located in beautiful cottages, each with an attached garden and area for outdoor work. The Main Building houses the three Lower and Upper elementary classrooms, administrative offices, rooms for specials classes and a Great Room for school-wide gatherings.
You can get more information about MSS on their website or follow them on Facebook.
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Seemi holds a Master's degree in education, and an AMS Early Childhood credential. She has twenty years of experience in Montessori as a teacher, school administrator, and school owner. Seemi is the founder of TrilliumMontessori.org.