Aline D. Wolf is the author of 27 books, including the classic, A Parents' Guide to the Montessori Classroom. Highly regarded as a modern interpreter of Maria Montessori's philosophy, her books also address parenting, teaching peace, spirituality and reading. She is the founder of Parent Child Press, which was recently acqu... Read More

From attending a one-room schoolhouse and growing up on a wildlife preserve in northern Minnesota to his Montessori teacher training in Bergamo, Italy and consulting for schools around the world, Michael Dorer has had a fascinating life. In this interview, Michael shares his history, insights, and humor, and discusses his n... Read More

"Poems are like the flower arranging of spoken language."—Joen Bettman, "Building Spoken Language in the First Plane, "NAMTA Journal, Winter, 2016All over the world, poetry touches the hearts and minds of adults and children alike. In Chile, everyone - from teachers to truck drivers - knows the poetry of their country's bel... Read More

We've all seen young children doing any number of imaginative things with wooden blocks: building a toy animal corral or a parking lot for cars, or a doll's cradle. What makes block play open-ended, after all? Merriam-Webster's definition of open-ended, applied:"not rigorously fixed": the outcome of the child's activity is ... Read More

Maria Montessori herself said, "The greatest sign of success for a teacher... is to be able to say, 'The children are now working as if I did not exist.'" You have prepared the environment with the child's inner needs foremost in your mind. Now you're probably thinking ahead to the day when your classroom will be normalized... Read More

"Even when helping and serving the children, she (the teacher) must not cease to observe them, because the birth of concentration in a child is as delicate a phenomenon as the bursting of a bud into bloom."—Maria Montessori, The Absorbent MindRecently I observed something marvelous in a primary classroom. A child of almost ... Read More

"Thus it was that we shared in the moving experience of the first developments of writing among our children... We felt as if we...had assisted at some miraculous events."—Maria Montessori, The Absorbent MindThe Sandpaper Letters are one of Maria Montessori's most brilliant materials. Tracing the letters gives children the ... Read More

"I try to get my students to memorize a little bit of poetry, and it's interesting because their reaction is they groan. But once they get a sonnet in their head, or even a little poem by Emily Dickinson, they line up outside my office ready to recite it for me."—Billy Collins (New York Times podcast, 5-13-20)Schools are cl... Read More

"If we are to teach real peace in this world... we shall have to begin with the children."—Mahatma GandhiMontessori education has been referred to as "peace education"; Montessorian Sonnie McFarland calls peace education a "Montessori best practice" (Montessori Life, January 2005); and even Gandhi praised Montessori's appro... Read More

Many teachers think of language objects only as those in boxes used for I Spy or sound games or the First Phonetic Object Box. But language objects are everywhere - they don't need to come in a box.In the Montessori classroom, everything has a place and a purpose. This principle is apparent in how we go about placing small,... Read More