My students attend a public Pre-K through 8th grade Montessori school in Cleveland, Ohio. Our school is comprised of students from all over our city, which has one of the highest poverty rates in the nation. Our Montessori students follow a child-centered approach to develop each child physically, socially, emotionally, and cognitively. Students learn in multi-age classrooms and remain with the same teacher for several years. My classroom is a STEAM Lab, where students of all ages and abilities spend at least 8 weeks using technology and other building materials to create.
Our school has been working towards AMS Accreditation for the last five years and we plan to have the national team's site visit next year.
All of our classroom environments need to align more fully with the Montessori components and be student-centered, while safe for all students. One of the AMS Accreditation standards includes an expectation that all classrooms have accessible and neat storage for student and teacher materials. Our computer lab is unique in that we have a Maker Space attached. Having matching, roomy shelves will allow us to group our materials by activity (LEGOs, Robotics, Sewing, Crochet, Circuits, EL Wire, Building Blocks, T-Shirts, etc.) and place them on shelves so that students can easily access materials. This makes our space safer for students with special needs because sharp tools can be organized in locked areas while keeping our basic supplies available to all students. We plan to organize the room by zones, making the majority of the space safe for all ages and abilities.
Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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