Facts About Our School

Year School Built           2002

Square Footage             54,470

Number of Students       417

Grades Served               PS-4

School Hours                 8:00 - 3:00

School Colors                Navy and White

Principal:

Melva Stricklin- melva.stricklin@mnps.org

District 4 School Board Representative:

Steve Glover- stevegloverD4@comcast.net

District 15 Metro Council Representative:

Phil Claiborne- phil.claiborne@nashville.gov

What Makes Our School Unique?

    Maria Montessori was a charismatic woman of exceptional genius. In 1896, she became one of the first women medical doctors in Italy, and immediately became a prominent feminist, lecturing widely. She subsequently went to work in a clinic for mentally ill patients, in addition to maintaining a private medical practice. In this time, children with learning difficulties were sometimes placed in mental hospitals. Her interest in educating these children led her in 1899, at the age of twenty-nine, to become director of a new school for mentally retarded children in Rome. Intrigued by this work, she returned to the university to study teaching methods, hygiene and psychology. Eventually she was put in charge of a teacher training course at the University of Rome.

    Montessori was an outstanding lecturer and she began to experiment with new teaching methods at a school in the slums of San Lorenzo. Her idea was to observe the tasks that children are naturally drawn to and enjoy, and to create learning materials which would meet their needs at each developmental stage. As each material was designed, Montessori observed which were in great demand and which were ignored by the children. Those which were ignored were removed. By 1909, there were four schools using Montessori's methods. Traditional schools with rows of unsmiling children adhering rigidly to rules began to be transformed by Montessori's approach and materials into bright, exciting places full of exploration and discovery. In 1910, Montessori published the results of her experiments in The Montessori Method.

    Montessori's teaching methodology is now practiced all over the world by individuals with varying interpretations, training and ideas. The system itself, however, is so clearly laid out and so clearly meets the needs of children that Montessori schools and organizations continue to grow and prosper everywhere.