justin – Paula Lillard Preschlack

Montessori Sensorial Materials, Part II December 16, 2022

Imagine you are watching a four-year-old boy carry a wooden box with a red lid to a table. Then, he goes back to the shelf of Sensorial Materials and brings over a matching box—this one with a blue lid. (These are called the Sound Cylinders. Each is filled with about one ounce of grains of…

Montessori Sensorial Materials, Part I November 15, 2022

Why Are Montessori’s Sensorial Materials Important for Children? Great question! We all recognize those beautiful wooden prisms and the pink tower of cubes as being Montessori’s distinct materials for children’s development. The glossy red rods and the blocks with rows of tiny wooden knobs are intriguing. They seem to call out to be touched and…

Parents, Take Charge! August 7, 2022

“Jerry, it’s time to get out of the pool. Time to go now, please.” A father stands at the edge of a hotel pool in summer, clearly exhausted, as his wife walks past him carrying a crying baby girl, a floaty, a diaper bag, and two huge towels. “NO!” The boy in the pool, who…

Returning to Our Montessori Values After Two Years of Screens

We are more grateful than ever for the technology in our lives! During the pandemic, being physically separated from one another was painful, especially for our children who crave social interaction. Out of necessity, we learned inventive ways that computers, iPhones and iPads could connect us–to one another and to information about the world.

Let’s Play! Montessori’s Playful Nature

As a parent, you may hear Montessori teachers describe your children’s activities as “work.” Your child may use the word, too, saying, “I love my work,” or, “I did a lot of work today!” But then you may wonder, “Why does my child go skipping in there every day?” and, “Why is my child dying…

An Education that Matches Children’s Development

Paula Lillard Preschlack - girls doing a Montessori activity.

September 2018 by Paula Lillard Preschlack Developmentally, children pass through distinct phases as they age, which are universal across time and place. These phases, or planes, are the basis for Maria Montessori’s approach to education, which caters to the specific needs and characteristics of each plane.

Natural or Man-Made: What do Children Need First?

Paula Lillard Preschlack - children in the prairie with a teacher.

November 2018 by Paula Lillard Preschlack Which environments—natural or man-made—do our children need to be exposed to for understanding the world they are growing up in? Maria Montessori recognized the need to begin with exploration of and curiosity about the natural world, as we launch into humanity’s great inventions.