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Northwood Montessori School expands to teach older kids
  
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By KEVIN KOLOIAN
Founded in 1975, the Northwood Montessori School in Spring enrolls about 75 students ranging in age from 2 and a half through first grade in the individualized teaching style that consists of language development, reading, math skills, botany, geography, art, music and movement.
Plans are in place to expand the curriculum to include a lower elementary class, which is made up of first, second and third grades, by fall 2009, and a fourth through sixth grade upper elementary class by fall 2010.
The Montessori classroom is unique in that each child learns in a noncompetitive atmosphere as the teacher carefully guides the development of academic and social skills catering to each child’s level of education. By designing the classroom to promote the student’s natural desire to learn, and to encourage independence and self-confidence, each child’s own observation skills is the main tool for teaching. Hands on activities that include the use of the five senses, kinetic movement, spatial refinement, small and large motor skill coordination and concrete knowledge leads to later abstraction.
“Each kid goes at their own pace, if a child is interested in math, their teacher will let them explore math,” said Karyna Gutierrez, whose kids; Javier, 7, Fernando, 5, and Ana Karen, 3, go to the school. “The teachers’ purpose is to make sure that kids cover all of the materials but at the same time make sure they are not being slowed by the pace of other children.”
This method allows kids to learn faster. Gutierrez’s son, Javier, is in the second grade and already doing Algebra.
By the time Javier and Fernando were 4, they were both reading and writing in English and Spanish.
“The children don’t learn because of a test or a grade, because they don’t have that there. They just learn for the joy of learning,” she said. “My kid has become very independent, reliable, self-confident and has a very high self-esteem because he knows he doesn’t need anybody standing behind help telling him what to do.”
The school adheres to a three-year age range of pupils all in the same class together to encourage an interactive social and learning environment. This system allows flexibility in learning pace and promotes older children to become teachers by sharing what they have learned.
Set to temporarily be housed at the Cypress Creek Christian Community Center, with plans to build an addition to the school, students’ parents are working on raising the $30,000 to $33,000 needed to pay for shelving, chairs and tables of the classroom as well as the special materials for the expanded program.
The learning devices aren’t cheap. Montessori teachers often stock their classrooms with nature shelves, living plants and small pets, and sometimes even a window sill garden, allowing children to experience as much of the natural world as possible while still staying indoors.
To add to the $6,000 raised at a recent golf tournament, parents are volunteering to work the concession stand at the Reliant Center and the Toyota Center, where 10 percent of the total sales goes to the school.
Another fundraising venture will be a multi-family garage sale planned for the springtime in which the school is still looking for a church or business in the FM 1960 area to host the event.
Because most other Montessori schools around Houston only go up to the age of 6, enrollment is expected to climb from the 15 kids already signed up by the time class begins in fall.
The next closest Montessori school to Spring that is accredited by the Association Montessori Internationale is around the Galleria area.
For parents interested in learning about the school, an information session will be held at the Barbara Bush Branch Library, 6817 Cypresswood Dr., Spring, on Wednesday, January 14 at 6:45 p.m.
Northwood Montessori School
INFO: 281-444-9433, www.northwoodmontessori.com
Plans are in place to expand the curriculum to include a lower elementary class, which is made up of first, second and third grades, by fall 2009, and a fourth through sixth grade upper elementary class by fall 2010.
The Montessori classroom is unique in that each child learns in a noncompetitive atmosphere as the teacher carefully guides the development of academic and social skills catering to each child’s level of education. By designing the classroom to promote the student’s natural desire to learn, and to encourage independence and self-confidence, each child’s own observation skills is the main tool for teaching. Hands on activities that include the use of the five senses, kinetic movement, spatial refinement, small and large motor skill coordination and concrete knowledge leads to later abstraction.
“Each kid goes at their own pace, if a child is interested in math, their teacher will let them explore math,” said Karyna Gutierrez, whose kids; Javier, 7, Fernando, 5, and Ana Karen, 3, go to the school. “The teachers’ purpose is to make sure that kids cover all of the materials but at the same time make sure they are not being slowed by the pace of other children.”
This method allows kids to learn faster. Gutierrez’s son, Javier, is in the second grade and already doing Algebra.
By the time Javier and Fernando were 4, they were both reading and writing in English and Spanish.
“The children don’t learn because of a test or a grade, because they don’t have that there. They just learn for the joy of learning,” she said. “My kid has become very independent, reliable, self-confident and has a very high self-esteem because he knows he doesn’t need anybody standing behind help telling him what to do.”
The school adheres to a three-year age range of pupils all in the same class together to encourage an interactive social and learning environment. This system allows flexibility in learning pace and promotes older children to become teachers by sharing what they have learned.
Set to temporarily be housed at the Cypress Creek Christian Community Center, with plans to build an addition to the school, students’ parents are working on raising the $30,000 to $33,000 needed to pay for shelving, chairs and tables of the classroom as well as the special materials for the expanded program.
The learning devices aren’t cheap. Montessori teachers often stock their classrooms with nature shelves, living plants and small pets, and sometimes even a window sill garden, allowing children to experience as much of the natural world as possible while still staying indoors.
To add to the $6,000 raised at a recent golf tournament, parents are volunteering to work the concession stand at the Reliant Center and the Toyota Center, where 10 percent of the total sales goes to the school.
Another fundraising venture will be a multi-family garage sale planned for the springtime in which the school is still looking for a church or business in the FM 1960 area to host the event.
Because most other Montessori schools around Houston only go up to the age of 6, enrollment is expected to climb from the 15 kids already signed up by the time class begins in fall.
The next closest Montessori school to Spring that is accredited by the Association Montessori Internationale is around the Galleria area.
For parents interested in learning about the school, an information session will be held at the Barbara Bush Branch Library, 6817 Cypresswood Dr., Spring, on Wednesday, January 14 at 6:45 p.m.
Northwood Montessori School
INFO: 281-444-9433, www.northwoodmontessori.com
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