Exploring Montessori Together: Family Events and Learning Opportunities
Rebecca Lingo • November 4, 2024

Many of us didn’t grow up with Montessori. As a result, we often find ourselves drawing upon a great deal of trust. We may intellectually understand how this unique method supports our children and their development. Still, we don’t always have the experiential knowledge to explain how and why it works!


We understand that life can be busy, and we aim to provide you with valuable information to help you address your questions and those of others. Additionally, we believe that the more engaged you are, the greater your chances of understanding the authentic and accredited Montessori education we provide, ultimately enhancing your child's experience with Montessori's child-centered approach!


Goals for Family Education Events


At Wheaton Montessori School, we have some goals as we design parent and family education events. We want to deepen your understanding of Montessori philosophy and practice. We want to work together in partnerships, and we often hear that families want to better understand how Montessori can be implemented at home. We are excited to help with this, especially knowing that when we are all aligned, we can work together to foster independence, responsibility, and self-discipline in our children.


Supporting Your Child’s Development


We hope that as you learn more about what we do and as we learn more about what you do, we can use a shared understanding of Montessori principles to support your child’s development both in and outside of Wheaton Montessori School. Understanding developmental stages through a Montessori lens often leads to children feeling a stronger sense of belonging and connection because they feel understood and supported. This can translate into easier day-to-day interactions, better collaborative problem-solving, a long-term love for learning, and an increase in confidence and independence. 


Partnership in the Parenting Journey


We want to help build a strong home-school partnership. Through consistent and varied communication and learning opportunities, we hope to create a collaborative environment and opportunities for meaningful dialogue. Parenting is a tough job, and we want to ensure you know you aren’t alone on this journey! Through different platforms, we aim to address common misconceptions and help you feel good about answering questions that come up at family gatherings and neighborhood events! 


We cherish an engaged community and aim to foster your connections with fellow families from Wheaton Montessori School. By sharing experiences and challenges with like-minded parents, we can navigate the ups and downs of parenting together. Our goal is for our school community to offer both emotional support and practical guidance.


Ultimately, we want you to gain a deeper understanding of the Montessori education we offer. This knowledge will empower you to effectively advocate for your child's learning and prepare you for the transitions they will face at various stages of their life.


UPCOMING EVENTS AT WHEATON MONTESSORI SCHOOL


We hope you can join us for our upcoming Parent Discovery Nights and Better Together Get-Together event. We value your participation and your partnership! 


Parent Discovery Nights

During the Parent Discovery Nights, you will gain insights into the curriculum and ask questions. There will be interactive sessions to engage with your child's daily materials and methods. This is a great chance to connect with other parents and foster a supportive community for nurturing children's growth. Please RSVP by clicking on the links below for the events you will attend. Prospective Families, please kindly note that the only Parent Discovery Night available for your participation is the Primary one. 





Better Together Get-Together

As parents, we aim to ensure our children's well-being and success while balancing control and freedom. Join Ms. Christine Carr, one of our primary teachers, to explore the concept of "lighthouse parenting”. We stand strongly like a lighthouse and guide our children with support without dictating their actions. This approach helps children build confidence and resilience as they learn to navigate life's challenges independently.


All families are invited to attend to socialize and increase their knowledge of lighthouse parenting. Toddlers are welcome in our playroom during the meeting.



In addition to attending our school events, prospective families interested in our school are encouraged to schedule a tour by clicking on this link or the green Schedule a Tour button on the upper right-hand corner of this page.



Allowance and Accountability

Allowance and Accountability

By Tracy Fortun, Lower Elementary Teacher
 • October 13, 2025
Discover practical allowance strategies that teach kids responsibility, money management, and the value of work. Learn how to tie chores and rewards to real-life lessons that stick.”

What’s So Great About the Great Lessons Part II: The Story of the Coming of Life

By Tracy Fortun • October 7, 2025
Where it All Began: The Story of the Universe In the first Great Lesson, the Story of the Universe, students were introduced to the concept that as the universe formed, every particle was given a set of laws to follow. As each speck of matter set about following its laws, they gathered together into groups and settled down into one of three states: the solid, the liquid, and the gaseous. The Earth gradually cooled into a somewhat spherical form with a surface marked by lots of ridges and hollows. The ridges are the mountains, and the rains filled in the hollows to make the seas. The Coming of Life: A New Beginning The Story of the Coming of Life picks up here, with the sun looking down at the Earth and noticing some trouble going on. As the rains fell, they mixed with gases from the air, which introduced a lot of salt into the seawater. Additionally, the rocks were being battered by the sea and breaking off, adding more minerals and salts to the water. Dr. Montessori anthropomorphizes the sun, the air, the water, and the mountains very entertainingly as they each blame one another for all the trouble. The Timeline of Life: Evolution Unfolds Then, an answer appears in the form of a little “blob of jelly” which arrives in the sea. This bit of jelly is given a special set of directives that none of the others have: the ability to eat, grow, and make more of itself. Gradually, the blob of jelly divides into multitudes of creatures who set about eating the minerals from the sea and developing into increasingly complex organisms. Some of these animals ate one another, while others used the minerals in the sea and the light from the sun to make their own food. Our Timeline of Life accompanies the story. Dr. Montessori purposely does not try to show every type of animal that has ever existed on this timeline. She selects just a few examples to show the progression of life from the single-celled organisms and trilobites to the first animal with an internal skeleton (the fish) to the first animal to try out life on the land (amphibians – also the first voice!) to the reptiles, who worked out a way to live independently of the water by cultivating scaly dry skins and eggs with shells. The children hear about how the reptiles grew in size and in number to become the masters of the earth, while some enterprising small creatures learned to survive on the fringes, raiding the reptiles’ nests and developing warm body coverings to survive in the colder temperatures that the reptiles couldn’t tolerate. These birds and mammals also learned to care for their eggs and babies. These adaptations helped them to thrive while those giant reptiles…well, we don’t have them around anymore, do we? Wonder, Curiosity, and Ongoing Discovery  The childr en are fascinated by this story, which sets up for them the basic laws that govern all living things, providing a framework for the biology work they will undertake in the elementary classrooms at Wheaton Montessori School. It also serves as an epic tale of how the earth was prepared for the coming of one very special animal that was unlike any other…us! From here, the students will pick up on any number of details to investigate further. Already, I’ve had first graders studying the fossils of trilobites and crinoids (sea lilies) and others embarking on dinosaur research. The key concepts that were introduced in this story will be refined throughout their time in the Elementary community by lessons on the parts of the plants and their functions, the classification of plants and animals, and the systems of an animal’s body. And these ideas are further integrated as they apply them in their research projects about plants, animals, fossils, rocks, minerals, and limestone, oceans, rivers, and mountain.