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About Us

Our Owner & Founder: Cheryl Laux

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Cheryl, the owner & founder of Roots and Wings Montessori, discovered the Montessori method when looking for child care for her son.  After moving to the Capital Region, she joined a private Montessori school.  Cheryl started out as an Assistant in the primary classroom and the following year became the Administrator.  Since then she has opened Roots and Wings Montessori.  All of her three children have graduated from Montessori preschools and now the eldest has graduated from college and one of them currently attends college and the youngest is in high school.  She earned her Master's Degree in School Counseling from Niagara University and earned her Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from Potsdam College. 

The Differences Between Traditional & Montessori Preschools is....

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Traditional Preschools

Emphasis on: social development

Teacher is center of classroom

Teacher acts as primary enforcer of discipline

Group and individual instruction 
Same age grouping 
Most teaching done by teacher

Curriculum structured for child
Child guided to concepts by teacher

Child generally allotted specific time for work

Instruction pace usually set by group norm 
If work is corrected, errors usually pointed out by teacher
Learning is reinforced externally by repetition and rewards 
Fewer materials for sensory development

Less emphasis on self-care instruction

Child usually assigned own chair; encouraged to participate, sit still and listen during group sessions

Voluntary parent involvement

 

(American Montessori Society K.211)

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Montessori Schools

Emphasis on: cognitive and social development 
Teacher has unobtrusive role in classroom 
Environment and method encourage self-discipline 
Mainly individual instruction 
Mixed age grouping 
Grouping encourages children to teach and help each other 
Child chooses work 
Child discovers own concepts from self-teaching tasks 
Child works as long as they wish on chosen project 
Child sets own learning pace

Child spots own errors from feed back material 
Child reinforces own learning by repetition of work and internal feelings of success 
Multi-sensory materials for physical exploration 
Organized program for learning care of self and environment (serving self food, wiping a table. etc.)

Child can work where they chose, move around and talk at will (yet not disturb work of others); group work is voluntary 

Organized programs for parents to understand the Montessori philosophy and participate in the learning process.

The Montessori Philosophy

Maria Montessori was the first woman in Italy to graduate from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Rome in 1896.  Her work with young children led Dr. Montessori to develop an approach to education strongly influenced by her scientific training.  This approach is used by thousands of Montessori programs all around the world. 

The Montessori Method is an educational approach with a strong philosophical foundation.  Our Montessori trained teachers place materials on the shelves with the educational needs and ability levels of each individual child in mind.  The children are not put on time constraints.  Thus giving them a chance to delve into the materials and really solidifying what they are learining.  The community of teachers and children learn from one another for three full years. 

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