Maryland’s First Charter School

Maryland's First Charter School

Monocacy Valley Montessori Public Charter School is the first charter school within the Frederick County Public School (FCPS) system. Attendance is open to all FCPS students. The school's academic program is based on the philosophy and methods of Dr. Maria Montessori.

Mission

MVMPCS is a small, intimate, and democratic learning community where children learn actively, think critically, and solve problems creatively. Students’ innate desire to learn is fostered using the Montessori approach: a prepared environment, hands-on materials, mixed-age classes, and self-directed learning. Students are empowered to become responsible, confident, caring citizens who possess strong academic skills and an enduring love of learning.

vision

Our Vision includes the hopes and dreams of our Founding Members:

We will build a sense of community based on a shared vision
We will give intellectual priority to the centrality of language, understood broadly as the use and study of symbols: words, numbers, and the arts
We will develop a curriculum with coherence, based on the successful implementation of the Montessori Scope and Sequence by certified teachers and supplemented with cross-reference to the Frederick County Public School curriculum
We will create a climate for creative, active, learning
We will educate the whole child, body, mind, and spirit

Strategic Plan

Parents/guardians, teachers, and administration design a five-year strategic plan to become our pathway into the future. Our goals (which include budget, building, etc.) are addressed in this document. The Governing Council reviews these goals monthly and votes to accept them every five years.

PROGRAM PHILOSOPHY AND MODEL

What is Montessori?

01The Montessori classroom is a prepared environment in which a multi-aged group of children self-select their work. Children may work independently, in pairs or in small groups of their choosing. They work at their own level and at their own pace.

02In addition to books, art supplies, maps, and other resource materials, Montessori materials include specially designed manipulatives, each of which focuses on a particular concept or skill. These materials are designed to be self-correcting so students receive immediate feedback regarding their understanding and proficiency.

03In the classroom, the teacher will rarely be found talking to the entire class, but instead will be circulating among the students assessing their progress or introducing them to new lessons individually or in small groups.

04The multi-age makeup of the group facilitates meaningful observation and exposure to advanced lessons, peer modeling, reduced competition, and the opportunity to solidify one's understanding of their material by "tutoring" others. New students enter a class that is already functioning smoothly and over the years can move up to take leadership in the group. Teachers develop a strong relationship with each child.

All the materials in a Montessori classroom are organized into one of five curriculum areas: Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Cultural, and Math. Montessori materials are carefully sequenced so that each activity has an orderly and logical process to follow. The materials introduce concepts that increase in complexity and abstraction as the child progresses through the years. This allows children to organize their thinking and problem solving skills in a clear way, and to absorb this knowledge through their senses.

If classroom equipment is to be challenging enough to provoke a learning response, it must be matched to the standard which an individual child has already developed in his past experience. This experience is so varied that the most satisfying choice can be made only by the child himself. The Montessori classroom offers him the opportunity to choose from a wide range of graded materials. The child can grow as his interests lead him from one level of complexity to another. Having children of ages grouped together permits the younger children a graded series of models for imitation, and the older ones an opportunity to reinforce their own knowledge by helping the younger ones.

Because the children work individually with the materials, there is no competition in the Montessori classroom. Each child relates only to his own previous work, and his progress is not compared to the achievements of other children. Dr. Montessori believed that competition in education should be introduced only after the child has gained confidence in the use of the basic skills. "Never let a child risk failure," she wrote, "until he has a reasonable chance of success."

In a Montessori classroom there is no front of the room and no teacher's desk as a focal point of attention, because the stimulation of learning comes from the total environment. Dr. Montessori always referred to the teacher as a director, and their role differs considerably from that of a traditional teacher. The montessori teacher must be a very keen observer of the individual interests and needs of each child, as their daily work proceeds from their observations rather than from a prepared curriculum. The teacher carefully watches the progress of each child and keeps a record of his work with the materials. Sometimes they must divert a child who chooses material which is beyond his ability, at other times they must encourage a child who is hesitant. Whenever a child makes a mistake, they refrain, if possible, from intervening and allows him to discover his own error through further manipulation of the self-correcting material. This procedure follows Dr. Montessori's principle that a child learns through experience.