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Montessori Institute of America
3410 S. 272
nd
St Kent, Washington 98032Phone:
253-859-2262
Fax:
253-859-1737
Email:
mia@montessoriplus.org 
Grand View IntergenerationalCenter Receives $30,000 Grant
G
rand View IntergenerationalCenter (formerly Grandview
Continued page 3
 JASMINE LAU WINSAMS NATIONALTHESIS AWARD
Jasmine Lau, 1992 MTP of WA 3-6level graduate, has been selected bythe American Montessori Society toreceive the 2002 OutstandingMontessori Master's Thesis award. Theaward will be presented to Mrs. Lau(Kuan-Lau Swee-Chin) at the 2003annual AMS conference in Covington,KY, on Friday, May 2, 2003.Mrs. Lau received her M.A. in"Planned Individualized Curriculum"from St. Mary's College of California inMay, 2002. She also received theOutstanding Thesis award from St.Mary's.Her thesis topic was "Comparisonof Montessori and Skill-Language ArtsInstruction with Kindergarten Childrenin a Title 1 School."MIA VISIONS will print moreinformation about the research resultsand where they can be obtained inthe fall newsletter.Preschool) in Dubuque, Iowa, re-ceived a $30,000 grant in January,2003, from the Iowa CommunityEmpowerment Initiative. The IowaCommunity Empowerment Initiativeis a partnership between communi-ties and state government, “with aninitial emphasis to improve the well-being of families with young chil-dren.” This collaboration betweencommunities, individuals and otheragencies in the community is ex-pected to bring about improvedquality of life for children, ages 0-5,and their families. The grant isintended to enrich the 0-3 classroomand train the infant–toddler teachers.For the past two years TinaNauman, educational director, andother members of Grand View UnitedMethodist Church, have worked tofind acreage and to raise funds for anew church building that would
 
house their worship and educationalservices as well as school, child careand an adult care program. Thenew building will open in June,2003, on forty-six acres on thehighest elevation in the city of Dubuque. The new church, childand adult care and school will havea panoramic view of the MississippiRiver Valley and the states of Iowa,Illinois and Wisconsin. Ms. Naumanstates, “In celebration of thisbeautiful view, we have designed abuilding with large, low windowsfor the children, an extensivecovered porch area, and a naturalplayground/park/garden ‘inter–generational’ space to enhance thebeauty of our surroundings.”Having taken the Montessori Teacher Preparation of Washington3-6 level course in 1991, TinaNauman was instrumental inopening the Grand View Preschoolin 1997 with two morning classesand twenty children. The followingyears have brought preschoolexpansion with additional hours,programs and
Inside
From the Editor..........................2MIA Annual Conference............4Book Reviews.............................5MIA Board Nomination Form...6
Visi ns
MIA 
IA
in a Changing World
Winter, 2003
 
 Pride In Our Accomplishments, And Gratefulness To A Woman, Ahead Of Her Times
Sharlet J. McClurkin
E
ven though the theory of the “great leader” inhistory may be out of fashion among historians, I, never-theless, can’t see any other way of explaining what hashappened to education in the last century withoutlooking again at Dr. Maria Montessori. In 2007 we willcelebrate the 100
th
birthday of her first school in Rome,and it is time to think about what would have happenedto education without her vision andgenius. Traditional education, i.e. desks ortables, work sheets, authoritarianteachers, and classrooms empty of manipulative materials, are still the rule,after nearly 100 years. Adults just can’timagine any other way than usingpower and control to teach children. There are exceptions, however, as onetravels around the world to viewchildren learning. These oases of beauty can be seen in hundreds of countries. In a Montessori researchproject in Beijing, the parents of Montessori teachers said to the princi-pal, “My children love to come toschool. They love their teacher!” In thisschool two of the foundational principles of Montessorieducation had been ignored (children were divided byage and had only a one-hour work time), but it was stillenough of a taste of “freedom of choice” and “learning bydoing” that it was a success. In Korea the competitiveculture drives the Montessori director to implement longcircle times, work choices made by teachers, and tradi-tional lessons in English. Despite the aberrations to theMontessori philosophy, the Korean children are learningwell and are happy. In Hong Kong the governmentrequirements for each age group can restrict the mixedage classroom, or can limit the freedom of the child frommoving among all areas of learning. To see a Chinesechild washing a table, however, is a lovely thing to behold.A few years ago a vice-president of a major university innorth China said to me, “We know that the Chinesecomprehensive curriculum can teach our children thebasics, but we believe that Montessori education canbring them creativity!”Despite the challenges in today’s culture, newMontessori schools are opening in many places in ourcountry. Even with under-capitalization, restrictive schoolzoning codes, and lack of understanding in the publiceducational community, Montessori entrepreneurs, withvision for children in their communities, work ten totwelve hours per day, choose to spend their money on theclassrooms rather than themselves, and keep the faithdespite the occasional complaining parent or challengeof monthly payroll taxes. Our rugged individualism asAmericans, our belief in the capitalist system and theindividual entrepreneur, provided the fertile soil for theMontessori philosophy of education inthe 20
th
century, and will, I believe,continue to do so in the 21
st
century.Where would education be todaywithout Montessori’s vision of manipulatives? Look in school catalogsto find copies of her decimal materials,geometry, movable alphabet, and manymore, and it is clear that educationtoday has benefited greatly from herview that children learn best throughtheir senses. Boxes of 1,000 cubes sit inpublic school teachers’ closets, however,often not used, mainly because theteachers are not sure how to use themsuccessfully. Isn’t it ironic, as well, thatMontessori’s concepts of sensoriallearning arose in the same century ascomputer technology? Without Montessori’s view of theneed for concrete materials, would three and four-year-olds be sitting at their computers in classrooms?Although Howard Gardner stated that he would sendhis own child to a Reggio Emilia school, he has built uponmany of Montessori’s ideas in his theories of multipleintelligences. One “multiple intelligence” classroom Iobserved in my city could have been a Montessori el-ementary classroom in many respects, with the exceptionthat math was still done with workbooks.Perhaps the most outstanding and effective student of Montessori, Nancy McCormick Rambusch, said somethingvery provocative to a group of teachers in Chicago shortlybefore her death: “We were just a small band of Catholicwomen with a dream of a better education for ourchildren. . . I believe that Montessori education was a“charisma” (a special gift) for the 20
th
century.”
2
From the Editor 
 
staff. Ms. Nauman states,
“…at Grand View we operate our  preschool to the highest standards, asa form of ministry with children of all faiths and backgrounds and their  families… A healthy church exists for its non-members. We, at Grand View,do not exist for ourselves; we exist to serve others.”
Expanded Special Needs Program:A priority of Grand View’s ministry isto serve families with special needs,including non-English-speakingchildren and those with specialhealth, educational and developmen-tal needs.Expanded Scholarship Program:Grand View has a tradition of strongcommitment to low-income familiesand a policy of “never turning away arequest for financial aid.” The scholar-ship program helps families in needby providing a reduced tuitionprogram. Twenty-six percent of thechildren in the current programs aresupported by scholarship aid. As Ms.Nauman emphasizes, “This traditionwill be expanded to continue to meetthe needs of even more families.”Expanded Physical Facilities: Thenew facility will include:1. 138 on-site spaces for infants,children, and the elderly;2. Large, modern rooms designedfor the highest quality of infantand preschool care;3. A large, all-purpose room foractivities during inclementweather and for cross-genera-tional activities;4. A fully handicapped-accessiblefacility;5. An unconventional “play-ground” witha) Complete accessibility for allages;b) Raised and ground-levelflower, vegetable and butter-fly gardens;c) Safe playgrounds withseparated areas for age-appropriate play for each agelevel as well as areas for com–bined play and socialization;d) Shelters for the elderly andchildren to sit together inshaded comfort and forimaginative play;e) A variety of trees includingdeciduous and evergreen, forshade and aesthetics;f) 46 acres for participants andto experience the wonders of nature in its many forms,including sunsets, prairiegrass, grasshoppers, mud,snow, sand, butterflies,vegetable gardens, birds, etc.g) Picnic areash) A meditation garden, includ-ing a labyrinthInfant Program: The program willfacilitate each child’s growth into ahealthy, balanced, generous, happy,and wise human being in a safeenvironment. It will assist infants tofollow their natural rhythms, interestsand developmental needs. MissNauman continues, “During the firstmonths of life the child develops hisbasic attitudes toward the world.Children in these early years literallyabsorb the life around them.”Preschool Program: This programemphasizes child-directed, individual-ized, hands-on learning within anenvironment especially prepared tomeet the developmental needs of two-to-six year-olds. The classroomwill promote a sense of communityamong children, teachers, elderly,families and school. “The generationswill work together helping, caring,celebrating, honoring and respectingone another,” Ms. Nauman adds.Adultcare Program: Due to thegrowing need for adult care in thearea, Grand View offers a supervisedcare program for adults who needsocial stimulation or who arehomebound due to health problems.Based on positive research results,Montessori materials will be usedwith Alzheimer’s patients to helpthem relearn lost skills, increase theamount of time they are alert andawake, and to regain lost communi-cation skills. Adult participants willreceive the benefits of a Christiancommunity comprised of a diversepopulation. The program will offermany opportunities for the genera-tions to interact together in artprojects, music, gardening, socializing,reading and story-telling, eating andrecreation.Grand View IntergenerationalCenter’s philosophy is as follows:
Our approach can be described asan “education for life.” When wedefine what children take away fromtheir years at Grand View, our visionincludes more than just the basic academic skills. Grand View teacheschildren:
•
to think and discover for themselves
•
to discover their unique talentsand possibilities
•
to be flexible and creative
•
to learn more than just theright answers
•
to learn how to be a life-long learner 
Grand View
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Grand View School 
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