We have many exciting things planned for this summer. Our Infant / Toddler AMS training begins on June 3rd, followed by our AMS Administrator’s training beginning June 27th. We will wrap up our summer training with AMS Early Childhood training which will start July 15th. As you can see, we have a busy training schedule which will greatly benefit everyone who attends and all of their students. Check the website for details.

Next month our 2012-2013 AMS Early Childhood trainees will receive their credentials. A celebration is scheduled at Ms Maryann’s bay house. We give our sincerest congratulations to all of the graduates.

Meanwhile, our schools have been busily planning fun, interesting and educational Summer Camp schedules for the school age children. Trips have been planned to visit the local parks, splash pads, theaters, and many other fun and interesting places. The children will be involved in art, cooking, and craft projects on days when they are not on field trips.    Let’s not forget that they will have learning experiences while they are attending. Give them a call to find the right fit for your children.

John Weinacker was proud to represent Weinacker’s Montessori School and attend the ceremony.  He was accompanied by his wife, Elizabeth.  They arrived in Washington the weekend before the conference so they would have an opportunity to visit some of the historical sites and monuments in our country’s capital.  They had a wonderful time during an exciting occasion!

Please see the picture of Mr. Weinacker receiving our award from Thomas J. Donohue, President and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The award ceremony was held this past Tuesday morning, April 30, 2013.

Photo from Blue Ribbon Award trip

Administrators Course Scheduled

AMS Administrator’s Credential Course

Hello again everyone!  I have another VERY EXCITING announcement to make.  Houston Montessori Center has agreed to partner with us in offering the Administrator’s Credential Course at our training center in Mobile Alabama. Take a look at our website to see the great line up of instructors who will be presenting this wonderful training.  The first classroom portion of this course will begin June 27^th and conclude Jul 14^th  this summer. We will have the second classroom period June 26, 2014 through July 13, 2014.  Practicum will be done from November 2013 through November 2014 with some exciting seminars in between. Take a look at all of the fantastic training schedules that are on our website for details. If you have any questions about the administrator course, please contact Cheryl Marrison .  Cheryl’s  e-mail is :cmarrison@weinackersmontessori.com">cmarrison@weinackersmontessori.com or  feel  free to call her at 251-259-5342. We look forward to hearing from anyone who is interested in any of the courses that are being offered.

Summer Training Scheduled

Infant/Toddler and Early Childhood (3-6) Teacher Credential Courses

Hello everyone!  As you may know, we sponsored the Early Childhood Teacher Credential Course last year and the students are now nearing the end of their practicums.  The participants will receive their certificates next month and will be honored at a luncheon in June. So, needless to say, we are very excited to announce that we are sponsoring another round of AMS certification training for both  Infant / Toddler and the Early Childhood (3-6) classrooms this summer.  The Infant/Toddler  training will begin on June 3^rd and run through June 26^th with the practicum period of September 2013 through May 2014. The Early Childhood Teacher Credential Course will be taught July 15, 2013 through May 18, 2014.  The practicum for this course will also run from September 2013 through May 2014. Please take a moment to look at the training schedules that are on our website for details. If you have any questions about either of these opportunities, please contact Maryann Byrne.  Maryann’s e-mail is :mbyrne@weinackersmontessori.com">mbyrne@weinackersmontessori.com or  feel  free to call her at 251-209-3659. We look forward to hearing from anyone who is interested in these courses.

This year’s 100 Blue Ribbon winners will be honored at America’s Small Business Summit 2013, which will be held from April 29 – May 1 in Washington, D.C.  On February 15, seven of the Blue Ribbon recipients will be announced as award finalists, and one will be named the DREAM BIG Small Business of the Year during the summit. The winner will be presented with a $10,000 cash prize courtesy of the U.S. Chamber.

To cast your vote for Weinacker’s Montessori School to win “The Community Excellence Award” Please click on the link below and cast your vote.  They will be collecting votes until the 22nd of February, 2013.

 https://dreambigaward.wufoo.com/forms/community-excellence-award-2013/

What languages are taught as part of the school’s curriculum?

Of course, English is our primary language.  Currently we also teach Spanish and, from time to time, languages such as French and German, depending on parent interests and volunteers.

Why is it so important for small children to begin learning other languages and information about other countries/cultures?

During the ages of birth to six years, Maria Montessori observed that children have what she termed “absorbent minds” where they are most naturally able to acquire new language skills with very little effort.  This is why we see adults who try to learn a different language struggle while their young children seem to learn the new language perfectly and without effort.

As far as learning about other countries and cultures, we feel it is important for young children to learn about the differences and similarities in which people do things.  This covers transportation, food, celebrations, family activities and other traditions and customs.  The more children learn early in life the greater understanding they will have later.

What prompted the school to offer this class/ where did the idea come from?

We have traditionally offered some form of second language instruction, usually in Spanish.  After graduating from college, our owner spent a year in Taiwan at Feng Chia University in Taiwan teaching English.  He also studied Mandarin at the same university with many other foreign students.  While there he observed, as he later learned from Montessori, that children acquire language most naturally the younger they are.  This understanding occurred to him as he asked people from the same country, both native and immigrants, how each other spoke their country’s language.  From the responses he determined most of the children who were younger when they moved to their adopted countries spoke with a more native accent.

So, the best time to learn a new language is at an early age and the best way is to be immersed in the language so that the child can learn through the context in which the language is used rather than by translation and memorization.  Unfortunately, the latter is the way most adults learn another language.

Is there a limit to the class size?

Initially, the classroom size should be approximately 30 students ages 3-6 years old with three teachers.

How is this more beneficial than a tradition language class?

The children will learn the language effortlessly while experiencing a setting in which Spanish is naturally and continuously spoken.

Why offer Spanish vs. other languages?

First, Spanish is one of the 2-3 most spoken languages in the world today.  The other two are English and Chinese.  Spanish is also the most prevalent second language in the Mobile Bay area so it is both easier to find available teachers and potentially more useful for the children learning Spanish.  We would love to offer a Chinese immersion class but we will first have to find the teachers and then train them in Montessori.

Please retell the anecdote of the child from Chile whose classmates spoke to him in Spanish.

We offered a similar Spanish immersion class in the 1990s, also with children ages 3-6 years old.  One day a family from Chile came by the school with their five-year-old son.  They wanted an educational setting for their child where he could also learn English.  One of the native English-speaking students in the Spanish immersion classroom came up and introduced himself to the child and asked him what his name was.  His only response was “Que?”  At this, the child at Weinacker’s asked him the same question again, but this time in Spanish!  The family from Chile enrolled and the boys became good friends.

Please provide the names of the three Spanish teachers, identifying which two are native speakers and their homelands.

Stephanie Edwards will be our lead teacher.  She has her bachelor’s degree and is trained in Montessori.  Her mother is from Cuba and she speaks Spanish as a second language.  Tulia Perez and Annya Garcia will also be teaching in the Spanish immersion Montessori classroom for three to six year-olds.  They are both originally from Columbia and both native Spanish speakers.

Who is in charge of the training?

Weinacker’s Montessori School is sponsoring the training and Maryann Byrne is the site coordinator for the AMS training.  The training will be held for two levels.  One will be for teachers of children ages three to six years old.  The other will be for teachers of infants and toddlers ages birth to three years.  For more information on the schedule and cost of the training please go to our home page and click on the “About Us” button.  Then scroll down to “Career Opportunities” and click.  There you will find a flyer with more detailed information about the training.

Is this restricted to teachers who are current Montessori employees?

No.  It is open to the public.  We will have a number of our own teachers attending as well.

How long has Weinacker’s hosted the training?

We hosted AMS 3-6 training in 2003.  But, other than this, we have mostly sent our teachers to other cities to do their Montessori training.  So, we are very excited to be able to offer our teachers the opportunity to stay in Mobile to do their training.  And, of course, anyone is welcome to join us.  The first week of the AMS 3-6 year-old teacher training will occur July 9-13.  Seven other weeks will be scheduled throughout the rest of summer and the school year.

We will also be offering AMS Montessori teacher training for teachers of children ages birth to three years old.  This will consist of six weeks of training and is scheduled to begin in September and run through the school year.

What is the purpose/benefit of the training?

This is a great opportunity for Mobile as, with one or two exceptions, people interested in teaching using the Montessori Method have had to travel away, usually outside the state, to do their training and gain their certification.  We currently have two teachers who have been going to Chicago for their 3-6 year-old training.  So, to be able to offer this training in Mobile speaks volumes about the growth of Montessori in our area and to the commitment of those who want to learn more about this hands-on, child-centered approach to learning.

The fact is, even though the shopkeeper’s words weren’t meant to be disrespectful, they are.  And this is not just because they’re overly familiar, but because they sound like the speaker is addressing someone inferior.  You can now imagine the same emotions that a child might go through when the well-intentioned adult unwittingly commits the same offense.

For instance, how would a five year-old, who is the youngest of three, respond to being proclaimed proudly by the mother as her “baby?”  In all probability all the child really wants is to be as big as his older siblings.  Similarly, the middle child, perceived as being neither as bright as his older sister nor as athletic as his younger brother would most likely prefer not to be compared to his siblings either, and certainly not those specific merits.  And of course, the oldest would just as soon prefer not being the “benchmark” for anyone.  She would naturally prefer to go about her life without feeling the pressure of having to keep one step ahead of her younger brothers.

All of which brings us to the importance of dealing with children as we ourselves might wish to be treated — with respect, which is not to say, however, that we should treat a five year-old as our equal.  Indeed, he is not an equal mentally, physically, nor emotionally.  He does, however, need objective, non-partial rules and interaction from which he can grow and develop his decision-making skills as well as his sense of self and his place in society.

What should be illustrated, though, is that treating children, and all people, with respect can range from how we address them (“Honey, can you get the glue for me?”) to the way in which we compare them to others (“Freddy ran the fastest of everyone.”)

As another example, we might ask ourselves if it is respectful to tell a child his artwork is beautiful when we can’t even determine ourselves what it is the child drew.  And that may have been the intent.  The child could have simply been painting in order to experience the process of making the brush strokes on the paper and seeing what happens or, possibly, to see how the colors mix when he paints over the same piece of paper time after time.  The objective may not have been to make something “beautiful” or, even, to make anything at all.  The goal may have just simply been to see what happens “…when I do this.”

We realize that most often it is the process that the child is going through that is important, and not necessarily the product.  If, in a similar example, we focus on the product we may end up making the mistake of calling what the child has painted a dog rather than the horse that was intended.  Then, not only have we offended the child but we have most likely lost his trust as well.  Few things can be so devastating, infuriating even, to a child than someone else not being able to see what is to him so obvious, not to mention so time consuming to have made.  This experience can be quite disheartening for a child.

A final thought to consider is that the child has already drawn his own opinion of whether or not his work is “good.”  By praising a child’s acts or works an adult is actually passing judgement on the child.  Perhaps, another way to handle a similar situation would be to simply ask the child how he feels about what he has done.  If the child is either unable or chooses not to explain his thoughts you may want to objectively point out some of the attributes of his work, “I see that you used a lot of red in you painting”, thereby acknowledging his efforts without passing judgement on what he has done.

In the end, the child will gain greater self-satisfaction by performing to his abilities and, hopefully, will have enjoyed the process while he was at it.  And this sure beats trying to perform to someone else’s expectations.