On Friday and Saturday, February 10 and 11 from 12pm - 4pm, Community Montessori Charter School will bring Montessori education to the Wheaton neighborhood. For two afternoons, Crossway Community’s Montessori program will move its early childhood classroom (ages 3-6) to Westfield Wheaton. (It will be held at the Macy’s courts.) There you will see the special Montessori learning materials, teachers giving lessons, and most important of all, children purposefully engaged in the daily activities that make Montessori education such an exciting new option for Montgomery County.
Community Montessori Charter School staff will be available to answer questions, assist with applications, and discuss plans for our August, 2012 opening.
The Glass Classroom
For four months in 1915, a spread the theory and practice of Montessori to a large international audience. The classroom was immensely popular with fairgoers, quite a few of whom came day after day to observe the diligently working “miracle children” in this beautiful classroom setting.
The classroom was housed in the Palace of Education and Social Economy, one of eleven large exhibit palaces in the sprawling, 635-acre world’s fair. The Palace of Education, as it was normally called, was a massive 207,000-square-foot building. The classroom was tucked inside on a platform surrounded by the vast hall with its numerous educational exhibits and other demonstration classrooms. Three of the classroom’s walls had extensive glass windows, allowing observers to watch the children and teacher inside. The 30 children in the classroom ranged from 2½ to 6 years of age and were selected from a pool of several thousand applicants. Observers either sat in the rows of seats or politely stood, transfixed by what they saw during the half-day class. Lunch, during which the children served themselves and cleaned up afterwards, became a crowd favorite. People would flock to watch the “amazing” self-discipline!
Individuals in the back of the classroom, from left to right, are Mario Montessori, Helen Parkhurst, Maria Montessori, and Adelia Pyle.
Westfield Wheaton
11160 Veirs Mill Road
Wheaton MD 20902-1094
Telephone: (301) 942-3200
