pinestraw: Back to School
Moore Montessori breathes new life into an old building
By Jenna Biter
Photographs by John Gessner
Gold sparkles from a crack bisecting the concrete. Rather than banish the blemish to history with a swipe of mortar, someone at Moore Montessori Community School chose to draw eyes to the fissure by practicing the Japanese art of kintsugi — golden joinery — on the main hallway floor.
Developed to repair broken pottery, often tea sets, sometime around the 15th century, kintsugi restores an object’s function with glue and clay while highlighting evidence of the repair in metallic lacquer.
The art form treats the cycle of growth and decay as something to be appreciated rather than disguised, a philosophy that lives comfortably at Moore Montessori in that crack in the floor of its recently renovated school on Massachusetts Avenue in Southern Pines.
Previously known as “B Building,” now Voss Hall in recognition of generous support from the Voss family, the Georgian Revival originally opened for the 1948–49 school year. The neoclassical structure remained part of Southern Pines city schools and then the county school system for more than seven decades — through segregation, integration and beyond — until 2021.
That’s when Moore Montessori purchased the L-shaped building, distinguished by its gracious columned porch and endless stretch of yawning windows, along with the rest of the old elementary school campus, for $1.6 million.
“The front building on May Street was basically turnkey,” says Moore Montessori’s founder and head of school, Katherine Rucker, “but this building needed quite a bit of renovation.”
Two years of improvements and a community’s worth of sweat equity later, Voss Hall partially reopened for the start of school in 2023, with the final wing of the public charter school reopening that winter.
Thanks to Moore Montessori, an old school has new life.
Across from the May Street churches, uphill on East Massachusetts Avenue past Emmanual Episcopal, Voss Hall is a neat red brick building with wide steps and a wrought iron railing leading up to a pair of welcoming white doors. The sprawling structure occupies more than 17,000 square feet, set back a generous distance from the road where lilting birdsong could convince passersby they’ve stepped into a nature preserve.
On Sept. 3, 1948, soon after the school opened, The Pilot printed a description that could still be written today: “The one-story building, whose external architecture is Georgian Colonial (there is nothing Colonial about its modern-as-tomorrow interior), is on a large, wooded lot, its beautiful entrance shaded by the longleaf pines and magnolia trees which are distinctively Southern Pines.”
With the expertise of Raleigh architect Tim Martin and monies raised in a capital campaign, Moore Montessori was able to preserve that original picture while updating the interior to remain “modern as tomorrow” well into the next generation.
“I was just trying to get out of the way of the building coming back into its own,” Martin says.
The school’s original architect, the prolific William H. Deitrick (1895–1974), known for his completion of the potato chip-shaped Dorton Arena in Raleigh, had designed the building in elegant, hand-drawn blueprints that now hang on the walls of Voss Hall. The tail end of 2021 saw the start of renovations that returned the school closer to Deitrick’s vision.
“The first step was to waterproof the building while maintaining the historical authenticity of the Buckingham slate roof,” Rucker says. Slate roofs are very nearly a lost art, and the original stone tiles for this particular build came from a quarry in Buckingham County, Virginia, hence Buckingham slate.
Despite the challenges, Moore Montessori found a slate-savvy crew from Charlotte to order the rock and complete the job. The flashing was redone and the eyebrow dormers were coppered, as was the weather-vaned cupola that crowns the roof.
“The next summer we worked on waterproofing the windows,” Rucker says. The school still has its original 9-foot-tall, single-pane windows that needed to be reglazed and repainted.
“Then it was time to take on the interior,” Rucker says. That’s when Martin came onto the project. “Tim has a passion for restoring buildings using current footprints and materials that are already there, with minimal extras.”
That meant reclaiming the original, in-class bathrooms for easy access, stripping away carpets to reveal concrete floors, rearranging a few walls and repainting them all, updating the HVAC system, and removing the dropped ceiling that had been added sometime in the ’80s.
Rucker actually attended grades four through eight in the very building she now heads. “I remember the blue carpet. I remember the lockers, the cubbies, which we still have,” she says. “I don’t remember the windows being as extraordinary as they are now.”
The ceilings had been dropped to minimize the space that needed to be heated and cooled, and the view through the windows suffered. With the ceiling height and view now restored, Moore Montessori is clawing back efficiency by way of passive heating and cooling. Cross breezes flow through open windows, and a dehumidification system and ceiling fans have been added. This way, the school shouldn’t have to rely on its new HVAC system as life support while it’s in session.
During the summer, it’s easy to see the empty building as just another historical renovation project, but come the end of another August, a rainbow of backpacks will hang in the hallway, while children pre-K through third grade work away inside classrooms aglow with natural light and the low hum of learning, as they did last year.
At one table in a primary classroom, a youngster presses his lips into a thin line of concentration while polishing a dinosaur figurine made of silver. The next table over, a vase of neatly arranged flowers hints that a pair of little hands has recently completed the task.
“Montessori is small group; it’s hands-on materials,” says Rucker, explaining why the students weren’t lined up in rows, all learning the same material, like in a traditional classroom. “The hand is the tool of the mind, and you learn by doing. When they’re ready for the next lesson, they can get it and work on it until they master it.”
Down the hall, in a lower elementary classroom, five or six students sit crisscross around a floor mat while a teacher shares a lesson. A few feet away, three other children are working together around a low table, called a chowki.
“There’s no front or center of a Montessori classroom,” Rucker says.
Each long, rectangular classroom has clean, white walls. They’re filled with wooden, child-sized furniture punctuated with splashes of color. “There’s no teacher’s desk. It’s a space designed for children. There are different areas to work — at desks, chowkis or on rugs,” she says.
Near the trio at the chowki, a blond-haired boy arranges tactile cursive letters to name objects: “dune,” “mule,” “tube.” The contented, self-directed activity is the goal of Montessori instruction, an educational model designed to put kids in the driver’s seat.
“I just think this is one of the most beautiful school buildings in North Carolina,” Rucker says. “It’s just so awesome. It’s one story, it’s accessible, it’s beautiful, and it’s ideal for Montessori, so I feel really lucky that we were able to save it.”
And, in the process, honoring the cycle of growth to make it a place of learning once again. PS
Jenna Biter is a writer and military wife in the Sandhills. She can be reached at jennabiter@protonmail.com.
Dedication of Historic Schoolhouse Building at Moore Montessori Community School
On April 11, 2024, Moore Montessori Community School will dedicate its recently renovated building along with five classrooms in a community ceremony. The building will be named Voss Hall, in honor of the Voss family’s multi-generational legacy of education and generosity.
Originally dedicated in 1947, Voss Hall was designed by school architect William H. Deitrick of Raleigh. The Pilot newspaper wrote at the time: “The one-story building, whose external architecture is Georgian Colonial, is on a large wooded lot, its beautiful entrance shaded by the longleaf pines and magnolia trees which are distinctively Southern Pines. The columned porch, with wide steps and wrought iron railing, is floored in light tan ‘crab orchard’ flagstone; above it soars a weather-vaned cupola reminiscent of the New England from which the community’s founders came.”
The building, the article continued, “combines beauty with practical ideas,” designed as it was for “health, learning and safety” while being hailed as “one of the most modern and beautiful schools in the country*.”
In 2021, Moore Montessori Community School (MMCS) purchased the campus from Moore County Schools. Over the past three years, MMCS has invested in historic renovations of “B Building,” led by architect Tim Martin of Raleigh. MMCS prioritized three design principles: quality learning environments, historic authenticity, and environmental compatibility. The work has included restoring the original Buckingham slate roof and copper cupola and removing the dropped ceilings which obscured the full impact of the original 9-foot windows. The classrooms now feature abundant natural light, high quality air filtration systems, and easy access to the outdoors. Voss Hall houses primary and elementary Montessori classrooms, an art studio, administration offices, and a beautiful library for MMCS students.
In addition to the building renovations, teams of community and parent volunteers have been restoring the landscaping of the 12-acre campus to complement the beauty of its five buildings. Future projects include creating world-class outdoor learning environments and restoring the cafeteria and gymnasium. If you would like to support MMCS and its continued efforts to preserve and transform this incredible campus, please contact Katherine Rucker, Head of School.
* Historical information from 2011 Southern Pines Landmark Ornament: The Southern Pines Elementary School; Sponsored by Friends of the Southern Pines Public Library
Local Leaders Build with Habitat
BY ANA RISANO || Staff Writer ana@thepilot.com Oct 2, 2023
Local leaders donned hard hats and swung hammers last Friday during Habitat for Humanity of the Sandhills’ annual CEO Build day.
Sandhills Habitat Executive Director Amie Fraley said CEO day is an important build because it shows local leadership who Habitat builds for.
“If they think, let’s say, if we give our houses away to people who are jobless and homeless, and just looking for a handout, they’re never thinking about their own staff and colleagues as potential buyers for habitat homes,” Fraley said.
“And especially in today’s climate where affordable housing is getting so challenging for people, we know that our employers want to help find those solutions for their employees, especially really good employees that you want to keep, and so we always say a great employee makes a great Habitat homeowner.”
The Habitat model has homeowners help build their own homes alongside volunteers and pay an affordable mortgage. Homeowners give 300 hours of sweat equity and are guaranteed a mortgage that is no more than 30 percent of their income.
Those at CEO day helped to “raise the walls” of Porsche Hollis’ house. She is a teacher’s assistant at Moore Montessori School. She’s lived in the Sandhills area for over 15 years. Hollis said it’s a “complete dream come true” for her and her son, Brayden.
“I’m so grateful for all the support, learning how to maintain my future home and for introducing me to such amazing people in my community,” Hollis said. “Thanks to Habitat for Humanity, my dream of becoming a homeowner is finally coming true. This means the world to myself and my son.”
Fraley said it’s important for the local leaders to not only know the Habitat demographics but also be able to encourage their employees to apply and become homeowners. She said great Habitat homeowners are those who “show up early” and “members of your team that you want to make sure you can keep around for years and years.”
“It’s also just nice for our community to see, we think, those local leaders out swinging hammers and doing something a little normal guyish and girlish,” she said. “And so we think it’s fun.”
Moore Montessori’s Head of School Katie Rucker attended CEO Day, saying she’s excited to partner with Habitat and “make sure people who work in the education sector” have affordable housing. She’s worked with Hollis for five years, calling her an “important part of our team.”
Fraley said each CEO Build is by invitation-only, with Habitat choosing leaders from different sectors that have some tie to the particular home. This year the focus was on education and healthcare, with many familiar faces in attendance.
Aberdeen Mayor Robbie Farrell said Habitat is “filling a void” by building in Aberdeen because there are many people “who can’t afford the current housing projects, housing costs.”
It’s great for the neighborhood,” Farrell said. “It’s great for the people who can afford these new homes. It’s building a community. It’s great to have this many volunteers come out to do this. If it wasn’t for the volunteers, this could not happen. It would not happen. It’s filling a need in this area for affordable homes. It’s difficult for young, single or couples to find affordable housing in this area, and this is a way to alleviate some of that.”
FirstHealth CEO Mickey Foster said he’s been volunteering with Habitat for Humanity for nearly two decades.
“Every community I’ve lived in, I think it’s about giving back to your community, and it’s really important to me to give back and volunteer and help people out. Our core purpose is to care for people at FirstHealth, and this is a prime example of that.”
Sandhills Community College Vice President for Continuing Education and Workforce Development Fallon Brewington said it’s her “favorite event of the year.”
“I like to get to build with all of the movers and shakers in Moore County,” Brewington said.
SCC President Sandy Stewart said he is “honored to be with this group here because this is an example of a community coming together that really makes a difference.”
Mid Carolina Regional Association of Realtors CEO Sandra Barnhardt said building with Habitat is special.
“It’s a chance for us to get out,” Barnhardt said. “And see what’s going on — give back. Anytime we can give back as realtors we try to do that.”
She later added, “There’s a desperate need for affordable housing, and a housing shortage overall. So Moore County’s experiencing a housing shortage not just in affordable but any houses. Our inventory’s super, super low.”
The day kicked off with a tiny home dedication for Tytonia McRae, right down the street. The build was completed in partnership with a Sandhills Community College class. Fraley said it’s nice to start the day with a visual of a finished product for those helping on the build.
Since its inception, the local Habitat has housed 319 local families as of last year. It also helped about 300 people through the repair program and partnered to build 319 homes internationally. Fraley anticipates reaching 1,000 families this year.
Sandhills Habitat’s goal for this fiscal year is to build another 12 homes across the three counties it serves, Moore, Hoke and Richmond. Fraley said the organization received 95 complete homeowner applications during this year’s submission period.
She said Habitat has picked about 15 applicants to move forward with next steps, which include a volunteer committee visiting the home of each applicant and then “triageing” based on need.
“Because we may end up with more people than we can financially build for,” Fraley said. “So we just take whoever has the greatest need.”
She said the potential homebuyers should know by mid-October if they were selected this year.
Sandhills Habitat also just wrapped up its application period for home repairs through its Aging in Place program, which provides home repairs for individuals over 55 years old or with disabilities.
Fraley said it is now matching up applications with the close to $500,000 awarded for this year’s repairs. For most, the program operates with the homeowner paying 25 percent and Habitat covering 75 percent of the cost of the repair.
For further questions, Amie Fraley can be reached at (910) 295-1934 ext. 2310 or afraley@sandhillshabitat.org. Visit sandhillshabitat.org to learn more, or sign up to volunteer.
https://www.thepilot.com/news/local-leaders-build-with-habitat/article_c00677a6-6142-11ee-8708-a7d42f69de87.html
Father Capodanno Gains Home Field Advantage Through Montessori School PartnershiP
Contributed Aug 1, 2023
Sports as an extension of the learning environment took on new meaning as the Grunts from Father Vincent Capodanno High School tackled a grueling obstacle course on the school’s new property in Vass, off NC 690. The weeklong football camp ended this past Friday and saw 23 Grunt football players push themselves to new limits and grow as a cohesive team.
“I did not want to get into that pond,” said senior team captain Sam Attar. “But it’s about being a team and sticking together through hard challenges for the win.”
“This camp culminates a summer of intense weight training and positions us for a highly competitive season,” said head coach Aaron Hartley. “We’ve brought in some talented coaches with a combined 70 years of experience. We’re entering the North Carolina Independent School Athletics Association’s Big Eight Conference with a very real chance for a playoff berth and maybe even advance well into the postseason.”
The Grunts will play their five regular season home games in downtown Southern Pines this year.
“We’ve entered into a valuable partnership with Moore Montessori Community School,” said Capodanno’s director of development and leadership instructor Joshe Raetz. “We’re eager to team with Montessori teachers and students in a variety of mutually beneficial ways. We’re planning to run obstacle courses and various outdoor activities, as well as provide in-class mentorship between our students. Montessori is providing Capodanno use of their football field and gymnasium for home volleyball and basketball. Friday night lights in downtown Southern Pines and leadership interactions between Capodanno and Montessori students is a win-win.”
Father Capodanno’s volleyball starts the season off Aug. 8 at 6 p.m. with a home game at Moore Montessori versus Fayetteville’s Northwest Baptist Academy.
“Our volleyball team and girls and boys basketball teams will be competing this year in the Central Carolina Christian Conference,” said Capodanno athletic director Andy Attar. “What a great opportunity to now have all our team sports eligible for postseason play.”
Father Capodanno’s football season kicks off with a 1 p.m. matinee home opener Aug. 18 against Bellhaven’s Pungo Christian Academy at Moore Montessori Community School.
https://www.thepilot.com/sports/father-capodanno-gains-home-field-advantage-through-montessori-school-partnership/article_eb985ce0-3082-11ee-a47c-fffc7600b7c6.html
New Middle School Program Teaches Lessons of Life
The Pilot By MARY KATE MURPHY || mkmurphy@thepilot.com June 4, 2023
Seed packets, potting soil and chicken feed aren’t usually included on the typical sixth-grader’s back-to-school shopping list.
But in one school where students choose their own learning adventure day to day, a group of middle schoolers is following their interests into entrepreneurship.
Moore Montessori Community School has received about $15,000 worth of grants to provide them with equipment to start an “urban agriculture” program on its campus.
The Southern Pines charter school is adding a middle school program in the next school year and plans to top out at eighth grade in 2024. Montessori education prioritizes student-driven, hands-on learning in all subjects throughout the grade levels.
Moore Montessori’s seventh and eighth grade program — sixth grade is part of Upper Elementary in its mixed-age classrooms — will be designed as a bridge between elementary Montessori education and traditional high school.
But putting new concepts, quite literally, in students’ grasp will extend to basic financial principles in the expanded middle school microeconomic program.
Current sixth-graders have already gotten started raising chickens and planting seeds for their future enterprise. It will all happen on an unlikely patch of pavement behind the main school building.
That’s thanks to a set of hydroponic gardening systems with space to grow 440 plants without the use of soil. Teacher Rebecca Few secured a grant worth $10,000 from Green Our Planet, a nonprofit conservation organization that supports school gardening programs nationwide.
A second grant from the N.C. Outdoor Heritage Advisory Council funded a greenhouse where sunflowers, zinnias and pumpkins are already beginning to sprout.
Teacher Rebecca Few outside the chicken structure. Students Eli Burgin, Harmonee Rosario Liam Buis and Josef Pfannkuch with their chickens at Moore Montessori Community School in Southern Pines. Ted Fitzgerald/The Pilot
Moore Montessori’s own funds have gone toward a chicken coop and eggs. Students put in their share of planning and sweat equity, spending a Saturday last month assembling the coop from a kit.
Students came up with a project budget and presented it to the school’s board of directors, realizing that the kit was a more economical option than buying raw materials.
“One person would list the materials and how much it cost and one would kind of write a letter and tell them what we were going to do with it,” said Malia Young, a rising seventh-grader.
“We looked up all the materials we needed online. That was excruciating. It took such a long time.”
Field trips have abounded: to hardware stores, LadyBug Farm in Pinebluff for fertilized eggs. Aberdeen Supply threw in some seeds when students went shopping for chicken feed and heat lamps.
Students have already learned that in business, things don’t always go to plan. Their initial purchase of 22 eggs resulted in four live chicks after a power outage interrupted incubation.
Whether Blurg, Maverick, Smoky and Squirt will be female and lay eggs won’t be clear until the chicks mature. So another set of eggs is now incubating in the hope of ending up with a large group of profitable producers.
“Our goal is education. We spent some money and we lost some money in that learning process,” said Few, who will be one of two middle school teachers at Moore Montessori.
“Even if we lose money in the endeavor, we still were successful if we learned.”
Produce from the greenhouse and hydroponic lettuces will be sold at a school farmer’s market and in-house. At a school where every classroom has a pet guinea pig, rabbit or reptile, the students will have their work cut out for them out-producing their own demand.
Landon Andrews and David Phillips tend to the plants in the green house at Moore Montessori Community School in Southern Pines. Ted Fitzgerald/The Pilot
“We’re going to be breeding some mealworms to feed to the reptiles: we have lots of leopard geckos and a bearded dragon,” said sixth-grader Bethany Bolyard. “The chickens will eat them too.”
The students already have big plans for their eventual proceeds: funding a field trip to Washington, D.C. by the end of their eighth-grade year.
“We’re hopefully not having to ask parents to pay,” said Haley Martin. “We’re going to use the money from the plants, and the chicken eggs and making the food and whatever we’re going to do next year to raise enough money to go.”
By then they might realize, too, the intangible lessons they’ve already started to learn: dealing with setbacks, getting their hands dirty, and coming to agreement with 20 of their closest friends.
“After we talk through everything,” Few said. “They are usually pretty much on the same page.”
https://www.thepilot.com/news/new-middle-school-program-teaches-lessons-of-life/article_bd7f6de8-02ed-11ee-ae06-9b1cfca86018.html
Education NC Perspective
For North Carolina parents seeking innovative education models, one option is public Montessori. Montessori is a hands-on, individualized approach that fosters a student’s love of learning while developing academic and executive function skills. National research has demonstrated the long-term benefits of a Montessori education, which include elevated psychological health and well-being for children, higher ACT scores, and a diminished opportunity gap.
In the past, this premier education model has been out of reach for working and middle class families, as over 90% of Montessori programs were in private, tuition-based schools. Today in North Carolina however, we have almost 20 public programs offering Montessori at no cost to families. Students in these schools perform at or above local and state academic outcomes on end-of-grade standardized testing. And families want more: for every one available public charter Montessori seat, ten North Carolina families remain on waitlists.
Public Montessori schools deliver strong student outcomes in part because their teachers are trained in intensive, Montessori-specific teacher preparation programs. To complete Montessori training, teachers must have a bachelor’s degree and successfully finish Montessori coursework — including observation, practice teaching, and exams —typically over a span of 12 to 24 months, and a cost of $10,000 or more.
Yet public Montessori schools in districts across our state are not able to hire an already highly trained Montessori teacher, unless that teacher has also completed a traditional teacher preparation program, which is designed for a different pedagogical approach.
In other words, to obtain a North Carolina teaching license, an already trained Montessori teacher has to take costly, redundant coursework.
The current licensure requirements are actively discouraging these otherwise qualified, classroom-ready teachers from entering existing public Montessori classrooms across North Carolina at a time when parental demand greatly exceeds supply. In fact, we are at risk of losing these qualified teachers to nearby states like South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, and Maryland, where legislators have already updated their licensure processes to create a pathway for public Montessori teachers.
Fortunately, there is a solution already at hand: promising legislation is included in the North Carolina House Budget, as an amendment introduced by Representative John Bradford, which passed overwhelmingly by 107 to 8. This legislation would allow teachers who have a bachelor's degree and Montessori credentials and have completed State Board of Education examination requirements to obtain a North Carolina teaching license to teach in Montessori-specific classrooms within our public school system.
The Montessori Association of North Carolina is heartened by this support from the North Carolina House of Representatives. Parents, teachers, and administrators from across North Carolina are now working alongside the Montessori Association of North Carolina and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Montessori Parent Advocacy Group to build support for this provision to ensure it is included in the final state budget later this year.
If included in the final budget, this provision would place additional passionate, qualified teachers in North Carolina classrooms as soon as August of this year. This is a smart, no-cost solution to address parental demand for public Montessori education, and the statewide teacher shortage.
This article first appeared on EducationNC and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Moore Montessori Expanding Middle School
By MARY KATE MURPHY || mkmurphy@thepilot.com. Jan 22, 2023 Updated Jan 23, 2023
Moore Montessori Community School might be the most recent addition to the charter school scene locally, but it has steadily gained ground toward filling its educational niche.
Now, in its second full year on its historic May Street campus, the school has grown into its original vision of a K-6 school. It originally opened on Pennsylvania Avenue with kindergarten through second grade in 2018 before buying the former Southern Pines Elementary from Moore County Schools.
In the next two years, the school’s leaders plan to expand that original vision to add seventh and eighth grades.
“We feel like there's an opportunity in the community for a small middle school program that is really designed for self-motivated and curious children who want to learn not only the (state) Standard Course of Study, but beyond that,” said Head of School Katherine Rucker.
“It’s an ideal fit for students who want to take an active role in their education and have real-world learning experiences.”
Moore Montessori currently enrolls just over 200 K-6 charter school students as well as private preschool students. Like a typical Montessori program, classrooms incorporate mixed-age groups: pre-K3 through kindergarten in Primary, grades one through three in Lower Elementary and grades four through six in Upper Elementary.
Addition of seventh and eighth grade will bring the school to 250 public school students in 2025. Current sixth-graders have priority for next year’s seventh-grade class, but about 15 spaces will be open for new students.
“We've always, from our founding here, had a small group of, I think they were second graders when they started with us,” Rucker said. “So we're in a position to add children whose families think they would benefit from a Montessori middle school program next year.”
The Montessori program for early childhood strives to develop each student’s intrinsic motivation for discovery and the pursuit of knowledge. So learning is largely self-guided based on each child’s individual interests, with support from a lead teacher and assistant.
Rebecca Few is taking the lead in developing Moore Montessori’s middle school program. Few has been an Upper Elementary classroom assistant at the charter school for the last two years, and previously taught at New Century Middle School in Carthage.
She will be the humanities teacher for the new seventh-grade class this fall, as well as for eighth grade when it’s added next year. The school is currently scouting for a middle school math and science teacher.
Few has observed middle school programs at other Montessori schools in preparation for expanding Moore Montessori’s program.
“Having that middle school mindset and education background, I feel like the way they do middle school at the Montessori schools was the way middle school was meant to be taught and I feel like it’s the way children learn,” she said.
She said that the middle school will be a “hybrid” between the relaxed structure of a Montessori classroom and the more focused instruction of a traditional middle or high school.
The interdisciplinary approach to learning will still be in place, but instead of mixed-age classrooms instruction will be tailored specific to grade level.
“Some of the Montessori elements of choice and freedom of movement will still be in place. Students learn best and become invested in their education when they are put in charge of it, so that will still be an element of our middle school program,” Few said.
“We really feel like this would be a good time for students to join who haven’t had that Montessori background. Because it’s kind of a hybrid and we’re preparing them for high school this would be a good time to bring in some new families.”
An element of middle school Montessori education that will be new to the school is the “microeconomy:” a student-led small business endeavor that Maria Montessori envisioned as a real-world way for preteens to learn basic economic principles.
The current class of sixth graders has already begun brainstorming ideas for what will probably be an agriculturally-based business. Students will also have to work together to decide how to spend any proceeds: into program materials, expansion, or to cover costs for a field trip to Washington, D.C.
“I love middle school because 12-to-14-year-olds are the perfect age. They’re young enough to still have fun, but they’re old enough to really have mature, intellectual conversations,” she said.
“They’re ready for that, they're eager to be taken seriously. Also I feel like it’s such a malleable time in their lives and if you can set them on the right trajectory they’re going to be set for life.”
Open seventh-grade seats, as well as seats for the incoming kindergarten class and any available seats in first through sixth grade will be filled through Moore Montessori’s enrollment lottery.
Interested families can enter the lottery through Jan. 31. To enter, visit mooremontessori.org or call the school for more information at (910) 636-1325.