West Side Montessori School - Teacher Education Program

10/20/2026

You don’t need a forest to study botany! Tree pits, window boxes, community gardens, and even the weeds growing through cracks in the pavement are full of plants waiting to be explored. A walk around any neighborhood, even right here in New York City, can become a lesson in the living world.

Slowing down to really look is where it begins. What shape are the leaves? How many petals does the flower have? Where is the stem, and what might the roots look like under the soil? These are the same questions children ask when they’re given the time and space to wonder.

These observations can travel right back into the classroom. A fallen leaf can be matched to the botany leaf cabinet. A flower can be gently taken apart to find the parts children have learned in the nomenclature cards. Sketches, pressed specimens, and a small nature table can all bring the outdoors inside, connecting classroom work to the living world just outside the door.

And for children growing up in the city, discovering that nature is all around them, even on their own block, is a lesson in itself.

10/19/2026

When exploring the Constructive Triangles, adult learners discover firsthand that the triangle is the foundation of plane geometry. This beautiful material builds big ideas: that complex shapes are made from simpler ones, and that different combinations can create the same figure.

In the Hexagonal Box, triangles are joined along their black guide lines. As the pieces come together, different polygons emerge, such as hexagons, rhombuses, trapezoids, and parallelograms.

This material allows children to feel these concepts with their hands before they learn the words for them, laying the groundwork for later work with geometry, fractions, and area.

By experiencing the material themselves, our future guides gain a deeper understanding of the curiosity, concentration, and joy of discovery that children bring to this work.

10/16/2026

Did you know that a vertical line points straight toward the center of the Earth? Hang a weight from a string, and gravity does the rest. That’s a plumb line!

In the Montessori elementary classroom, children don’t just memorize the word “vertical.” They watch gravity create it. Soon they’re spotting vertical lines everywhere: door frames, buildings, trees.

It's a great connector to history as children go on to explore how builders have trusted the plumb line for thousands of years, from ancient Egypt to construction sites all over the world today. Geometry, physics, and human ingenuity, all on one string.

10/06/2026

It's a perfect time of year to study native leaves in your area. Do you remember all the parts of a leaf? What's your favorite fall-themed work you've created?

10/05/2026

Happy to educators around the world!

We know that "the teacher's task is no small or easy one! They have to prepare a huge amount of knowledge to satisfy the child's mental hunger, and they are not, like the ordinary teacher, limited by a syllabus." (Maria Montessori, To Educate the Human Potential)

Thank you for committing to a better world through your work with children. 💙

10/02/2026

That feeling when it's Friday and ! 🙂 Did you know the iconic yellow smiley was created in 1963 by artist, Harvey Ball? In 1999, he founded World Smile Day as a way to remind people to “Do an act of kindness. Help one person smile.”

Who was the last person that made you smile? 🙂

09/22/2026

It’s impossible not to fill your camera roll when a prepared environment is so gorgeous.

09/21/2026

Dr. Maria Montessori saw education as the path to a more peaceful world. This is the work we carry forward.

09/18/2026

Countdown to the weekend hits differently when you’re in your own classroom! Many of our interns in the northeast just completed their first full week with their own students.

Enjoy this throwback to their TEP days! What a week to celebrate!

09/18/2026

"At the center of Montessori education is a deeply prepared adult. An adult who understands human development, knows how to observe, understands the materials and their progression, prepares an environment intentionally, and develops the discipline of knowing when to intervene and when to step aside." Munir Shivji, American Montessori Society

What does the Montessori name really mean? Explore why quality standards, teacher preparation, accreditation, and accountability matter in Montessori education.