Kids Life Magazine: Nov/Dec 2007
Montessori Education
How one Tuscaloosa Preschool Encourages a Love of Learning
by Sarah Eykyn
(Kids Life Magazine: Nov/Dec 2007)
Keeping young children occupied and engaged can be challenging if they’re not enrolled in a preschool program. It takes an enormous amount of time, energy, patience, and creativity to come up with activities that satisfy a young child’s insatiable thirst for knowledge.
Not all preschool programs are created equal however. Waitlists aside, finding a safe, secure environment that meets a child’s individual needs can seem like an impossible feat. Finding a program that works with parents’ busy schedules can be even harder.
Dr. Maria Montessori, the founder of the Montessori education, believed that the period from birth to six years of age – the preschool years – is the most important time in a human’s life. She believed that this is when intelligence is formed, and that a young child’s mind is like a sponge, absorbing information from the environment.
To that end, Dr. Montessori, an Italian physician, designed a classroom experience that focused on cultivating a child’s own natural desire to learn, using accessible materials that encourage exploration and understanding.
Dr. Montessori died in 1952 but the legacy of her Montessori program lives on, nurturing the minds and spirits of hundreds of thousands of children all over the world. In addition to cultivating a love of learning through hands-on experiences, Montessori schools encourage respect for nature, understanding, and acceptance of others, and virtues such as love, peacefulness, kindness, and compassion.
The Capitol School’s Preschool is one of just a handful of Montessori programs in the state of Alabama. It has two classrooms and offers a flexible schedule from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. for children ages two and a half to five.
Dr. Barbara Rountree, a former public school teacher, founded The Capitol School in 1993 to offer the ‘recognized best practices’ in early education. Her philosophy of education was influenced in part by the College of Education and the Alabama Museum of Natural History. Experience as a Visiting Professional at the Smithsonian Museums, and as Founding Director of the Children’s Hands On Museum (CHOM) in Tuscaloosa also shaped her idea of what a world-class learning experience should look like.
In 2006, Dr. Rountree was nationally recognized as one of the ‘twelve educators who are reshaping the future of education’ by Edutopia, the George Lucas Educational Foundation.
“As a professor at The University of Alabama in the College of Educatioin and a faculty member of Early Childhood and Elementary Education, I had the opportunity to consult with international schools and Montessori programs all over the world,” said Dr. Rountree. “I observed world-class schools, met their faculties and observed their curriculums for a month at a time. I would then come home and continue my work in Alabama public schools. Over the years, I determined that the children in the international schools in London, Athens, Lima, Asunsion, Munich, Quito, or Rome were not smarter than Alabama children – they just had more opportunities,” she noted.
On the basis of that experience, Dr. Rountree set out to create a school that focused on awareness of each child’s unique abilities, asking “how is the child smart?” rather than “how smart is the child?” The school’s mission – to educate responsible citizens of the world – is in sync with its attending students and faculty: over the past 15 years they have been drawn to the school from 56 different countries. The Capitol School is one of just two recognized international schools across the eleven southern states.
The Capitol School’s Preschool is housed in a light and spacious historic building close to Tuscaloosa’s beautiful Capitol ruins downtown. Expanding to accomodate demand, a second preschool classroom was opened in early 2007 with space for 22 new students.
Unlike many facilities, the Preschool’s four teachers have two Master’s degrees and two Montessori certificates between them. On the understanding that the optimal time for language development is two to three years of age, daily instruction is given in Spanish and German. Music is also an important part of the curriculum because research indicates that it enhances brain development. Kindermusik lessons are taught by a certified instructor. Classroom environments are designed for individualized instruction, with only one large group lesson each day.
“We live in an increasingly multi-cultural society, and our preschool classrooms really reflect that,” said lead teacher Kathy McGuire. “Every day we help the children to understand values like love, respect, and tolerance. We practice Spanish and German daily, and the children are encouoraged to develop a genuine awareness of all the other countries in the world. The value of that can’t be underestimated in today’s global economy,” she added.
The classrooms are purpose built to give children access to an extensive collection of approved Montessori materials. These include Sensorial Materials that help children to isolate and understand color, weight, shape, texture, sound, size, smell, and variations of each theme. Sensorial, practical, and creative activities from the foundation of knowledge that will be needed in later years for math, science, writing, reading, geography, history, and art. Physical exercise and healthy eating are also strongly emphasized. Parental involvement in school activities is particularly encouraged.
“Any school is only as good as its teachers, and the preschool teachers are consistently excellent,” said parent Rachel Fleming-May. “In my son’s two-and-a-half years there we became very 
fond of all his teachers, who in turn loved my sone and cared sincerely about his development. How many preschools present parents with an extensive written report about their child several times a year? It’s a special place, and I’m so glad that we entrusted our son’s preschool experience to The Capitol School.”
