Montessori International Children’s House (MICH) of Annapolis, MD, is pleased to submit an application for Recertification Sustainer as a Green School by the Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education. Our school is located on the Broadneck Peninsula in close proximity to the Severn River, immediately adjacent to the B&A Bike Trail. We provide a Montessori education for 144 students in grades from Toddlers through 6th grade. It is important to note that in any given year approximately one hundred of our students are aged 18 months to 6 years and approximately forty-five are 6 - 12 years.
Maria Montessori wrote "All things are part of the universe, and are connected with each other to form one whole unity." This philosophy, as applied to the classroom, curriculum and the individual student, stresses the interdependence of all living things as a basic tenet of how we approach education. Ecological stewardship has been a component of our teaching since the founding of the school in 1985 and as a major component of the montessori philosophy since its founding over 100 years ago. As the field has matured, so have we in our teachings and actions.
Teachers introduce concepts and impart the wonder of nature to our youngest students. There is minimal separation between the indoor classroom and outdoor learning environment because Dr. Montessori believed children under age six do not see themselves as being separate from nature. As she said, “The land is where our roots are. The children must be taught to feel and live in harmony with the Earth.” Our elementary teachers use an interdisciplinary approach to further define, refine and expand on these concepts. At every level, students learn about their relationship to the environment and their responsibility for protecting it.
Our efforts these last four years has continued to focus on major endeavors to upgrade our physical plant to be more energy efficient while expanding and deepening our daily efforts to recycle, repurpose, and reuse. We have continued working on establishing a butterfly garden, increasing our use of our wonderful outdoor areas including our proximity to the B&A trail, our outdoor learning spaces, and our vegetable gardens. The current Covid 19 pandemic has occupied much of our time as we strive to remain open for face-to-face instruction, provide virtual learning when necessary, and maintain the social-emotional well being of not only our students but also our staff. We closed for in-person learning when everything shut down in March of 2020 and pivoted to virtual learning. We quickly learned the need to incorporate outside activities, socially connecting via the 'screen' with our students, and promoting well being along with maintaining our academic learning. In the 2020-2021 school year, some of our students were virtual learners and some were face-to-face. We rapidly came to appreciate the outdoor classrooms that our property provided. Weather permitting, classes and lunches were held outside. We were able to schedule recess time to provide individual class times to preclude any mixing of our classroom cohorts. We took children's temperatures upon arrival, they entered their classrooms via the exterior classroom door, the students maintained the integrity of olassroom cohorts. We taught children how to mask properly, provided mask 'breaks', monitored every possible Covid symptom all the while continuing to teach to our high level. The 2021-2022 school year saw all our students back in school, virtual learning only happening if a class had to quarantine
(thankfully a rare occurrence). Ever mindful of our student's safety and well-being, we increased ventilation, installed special air filters, created an online Covid screening form, weekly Covid testing and a multi-layered approach to creating a more normal approach to the school day. As we have weathered these last three tumultuous year, we have emerged stronger and more than ever convinced "That the land is where our roots are. The children must be taught to feel and live in harmony with the earth." [Dr. Maria Montessori]
Montessori International is Recognized by the Association Montessori Internationale [AMI USA]. To receive the AMI certificate of recognition indicating that a level is fully recognized, 100% of the lead teachers are AMI trained and all of the AMI pedological standards are achieved.
[Certificate]
Maria Montessori wrote "All things are part of the universe, and are connected with each other to form one whole unity." This philosophy, as applied to the classroom, curriculum and the individual student, stresses the interdependence of all living things as a basic tenet of how we approach education. Ecological stewardship has been a component of our teaching since the founding of the school in 1985 and as a major component of the montessori philosophy since its founding over 100 years ago. As the field has matured, so have we in our teachings and actions.
Teachers introduce concepts and impart the wonder of nature to our youngest students. There is minimal separation between the indoor classroom and outdoor learning environment because Dr. Montessori believed children under age six do not see themselves as being separate from nature. As she said, “The land is where our roots are. The children must be taught to feel and live in harmony with the Earth.” Our elementary teachers use an interdisciplinary approach to further define, refine and expand on these concepts. At every level, students learn about their relationship to the environment and their responsibility for protecting it.
Our efforts these last four years has continued to focus on major endeavors to upgrade our physical plant to be more energy efficient while expanding and deepening our daily efforts to recycle, repurpose, and reuse. We have continued working on establishing a butterfly garden, increasing our use of our wonderful outdoor areas including our proximity to the B&A trail, our outdoor learning spaces, and our vegetable gardens. The current Covid 19 pandemic has occupied much of our time as we strive to remain open for face-to-face instruction, provide virtual learning when necessary, and maintain the social-emotional well being of not only our students but also our staff. We closed for in-person learning when everything shut down in March of 2020 and pivoted to virtual learning. We quickly learned the need to incorporate outside activities, socially connecting via the 'screen' with our students, and promoting well being along with maintaining our academic learning. In the 2020-2021 school year, some of our students were virtual learners and some were face-to-face. We rapidly came to appreciate the outdoor classrooms that our property provided. Weather permitting, classes and lunches were held outside. We were able to schedule recess time to provide individual class times to preclude any mixing of our classroom cohorts. We took children's temperatures upon arrival, they entered their classrooms via the exterior classroom door, the students maintained the integrity of olassroom cohorts. We taught children how to mask properly, provided mask 'breaks', monitored every possible Covid symptom all the while continuing to teach to our high level. The 2021-2022 school year saw all our students back in school, virtual learning only happening if a class had to quarantine
(thankfully a rare occurrence). Ever mindful of our student's safety and well-being, we increased ventilation, installed special air filters, created an online Covid screening form, weekly Covid testing and a multi-layered approach to creating a more normal approach to the school day. As we have weathered these last three tumultuous year, we have emerged stronger and more than ever convinced "That the land is where our roots are. The children must be taught to feel and live in harmony with the earth." [Dr. Maria Montessori]
Montessori International is Recognized by the Association Montessori Internationale [AMI USA]. To receive the AMI certificate of recognition indicating that a level is fully recognized, 100% of the lead teachers are AMI trained and all of the AMI pedological standards are achieved.
[Certificate]