Engaging in the World

Toddlers learn English and Spanish in their bilingual classrooms. The Children's House After-School program is also bilingual. Learning Spanish continues through middle school. Here is an elementary student skyping with children at Escuela Montessori de Valparaiso in Chile.

Each year Middle School students travel to Nueva Escuela Juan Ponce de Leon in Puerto Rico. Students from both schools work on projects such as painting the library, establishing a flower garden in the schoolyard or sharing science experiments. This relationship begins in the lower grades of elementary until they meet each other in person as middle school students.

Having read The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis, upper elementary students made bookmarks to sell to raise money for girls' schools in Afghanistan. Students prepare other fundraising efforts for display at the Annual Arts Reception in May.

The Montessori Model United Nations in New York is an annual event. LMS middle school students prepare from September through March to engage with other Montessori students around issues of international consequence such as climate change and global trade. Countries our students have represented over the years include Kenya, Uganda, Kazakhstan, and Saudi Arabia. Pictured here is a middle school student from LMS speaking to her peers in the UN General Assembly.

Third year students in Lower Elementary research, write about and present the country of their choice in the last couple of months of the school year. They engage in the culture, history, society and economy of that country (in this case Myanmar) as they continue to learn the skills of presenting effectively.

Teachers and family members share traditions that are important to them. Children assume a cultural diversity they see everyday, made more real when they learn a song (as in this picture of Children's House children learning a song in Mandarin), play a game, bake or cook a treat, or read a book. Parents are encouraged to work with teachers to share with and participate in the classroom.