Parent Handbook Online!

Please look to the right under the heading "Our Favorite Sites" to the title "Parent Handbook." If you click on that title, it will link you to the site containing our Parent Handbook. You can bookmark that site or reach it through this blog. Any changes to the Parent Handbook will be updated to that site.

For our first Parent Orientation "Session," I would like to highlight the mission statement for the Amarillo Montessori Academy. In an effort to reach our goal of providing "quality education" we know that we must love the children and help them get comfortable in their environment. If a child is worried or insecure, his brain cannot process all of the learning opportunities he is offered.

In order to provide a "Montessori setting" we try to have one Montessori Certified teacher in each classroom. Because the Infant/Toddler certification is still fairly new, we have Montessori Certified teachers consult with teachers who are not certified. Some of our pre-school classes have two Montessori Certified teachers!

I always like to tell parents that Montessori education is different from traditional education because we are trying to encourage the children to become "self-directed learners." That means that instead of teachers saying "here is what I know and I am going to teach it to you" Montessori teachers say "here is a world full of knowledge and I am going to show you how to find it."

Finally, we at AMA believe that every child has a gift and that it is our responsibility as teachers to help them find that gift and make the most of it. Some children have intellectual gifts, some have artistic gifts and some have spiritual/emotional gifts. As parents and teachers, we also need to remember that children don't always have the same gifts that their parents and siblings have! Try to take time this week to celebrate your family's gifts.