In the News
“I had seen it before and knew it had been beautifully renovated and was perfectly located. I knew if I didn’t do it now, this kind of a space wouldn’t be available — not just the inside but what’s outside,” said Kapoor.
The school will serve children between 3 and 6 years old, reflecting one of Montessori’s major principles: educating kids of different ages as a group. Students will learn together in the same large room, which will be filled with separate play areas, each emphasizing different subjects ranging from music to oceanography.
As the older kids graduate and leave for kindergarten, they are replaced by the youngest, meaning two-thirds of the classroom stays the same for the full three years. That stability helps build children’s confidence as they “take ownership” in the school, Kapoor explained. The mixing of ages also encourages peer learning, an interaction benefitting both older students and their younger classmates, she said.
“For the older ones it builds their confidence, consolidates their own knowledge,” she said. “For the younger, even if it’s not direct teaching, through indirect learning a little child sees an older one working on, say, a map of Africa, and though she may not be doing anything at that level, like osmosis, when it’s time for that lesson, she gets it.”
Children will be allowed to learn at their own pace in each subject area and given individual instruction. With a child who may be strong in math but writing below their age level, “we follow his interest, his level, catering for his needs,” said Kapoor. Starting at a child’s interest level is “half the battle” and “we don’t have to push him to do things he’s not ready for,” she said.
And then there’s the other feature of the Kemble Avenue location that grabbed Kapoor’s attention: the outdoors. Along with a small, gated porch set up for activities like gardening and painting, which will allow children to shift inside and outside as they please, there’s the whole of the Foundry Preserve, a mere 10-minute walk away, said Kapoor. The school’s summer campers “looked at hundreds of snails” during one excursion to the preserve.
Each room has multiple play areas.
Children will also be taking trips to Tot’s Park, writing letters and bringing them to the post office to mail, and visiting the Cold Spring firehouse for safety lessons and other local places.
