Montessori Classroom - 2 K, 10 4-yo, 10 3-yo, and 1 teacher 1 assistant?

[Anonymous]

I know it's not ideal in the true Montessori ways, but would you have concerns or reservations automatically? the K and 4-yos are returning students but the 3-yos are all new. I worry how much interaction the older kids actually get from the teacher, at least in the first few months of the year. Am I wrong?

[Anonymous]

No way.

That would be a tough situation for my Kindergartener, who is pretty academically advanced. I would never want her in a classroom with kids who are basically still in late-stage potty training. The social development and play would be pretty bad, too.

[Anonymous]

It's actually a pretty low ratio around here for Montessori though. 22 per one teacher and one assistant. I'm not sure I'd want my K kid there, but I think it would be fine for the 3 year olds. Some people are all about academics though and like that they pretty much get a homeschool environment in the afternoon and don't care that there's only one other kid the same age in the morning.

[Anonymous]

I'd be concerned, mostly for the K students. There should be more even distribution among the different age groups in the class so that there's a more evenly spread out range.

[Anonymous]

i have visited three Montessori schools every one of them has less K students than younger kids. 5 out of 20 is the most I've seen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i have visited three Montessori schools every one of them has less K students than younger kids. 5 out of 20 is the most I've seen.

If it's five 5-6YO, seven 3-4YO, and eight 2.5-3YO, I don't think that's a problem -- that split is roughly proportional across the three age groups. But OP is talking about 10 of the littlest, 10 of the middle group, and only 2 of the oldest -- the ratios are way off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know it's not ideal in the true Montessori ways, but would you have concerns or reservations automatically? the K and 4-yos are returning students but the 3-yos are all new. I worry how much interaction the older kids actually get from the teacher, at least in the first few months of the year. Am I wrong?

I have the same concerns. My kid is in a similar situation right now and it's one of the things we're on the fence about (our school has other issues though too). I intend to have a long talk with the administration and the guide about it soon. I was waiting until the chaos of the first few weeks had passed.

(btw, are you at a public Montessori?)

[Anonymous]

Will the K students get small group time with the teacher while the 3 and 4 year olds nap?
I would be concerned because of the uneven ratio.

[Anonymous]

Isn't this the set up Lee has with just a few K students? Are you talking about Lee Montessori?

[Anonymous]

Actually, this spread of ages is pretty typical at my montessori school, even though it is obviously not ideal for the 5 YOs, the school can only do so much to retain K-age students (particularly with DCPS schools gaining in popularity). My kid's montessori class is roughly 10 3YOs, 11 4YOs, and 4 5 YOs. Last year, there were only 3 5 YOs.

Also, 4 YOs probably aren't napping. At our school the 4s and 5s are in the smaller class in the afternoon.

Personally, I would not want my 5 YO to be one of 3 kids in this environment. Although they are clearly treated as "leaders" in the class, I think 3 years in the same classroom/same teacher is just too much. I would be seriously worried about the transition to 1st grade from that environment.

[Anonymous]

PP here-- we have 3 teachers for about 26 kids. 2 teachers for 22 is tight.

[Anonymous]

My DC was in a Montessori class with 1 teacher and 1 assistant per 26 to 27 children and only 3-4 kindergarteners. It was complete chaos.

[Anonymous]

it certainly raises some flags, but it probably depends on the exact circumstances.
(I'm assuming your child is one of the two K kids)

Were the majority of the 4 year olds there last year? (So they know the ropes and are comfortable with the materials and rules) If they are mostly new, that would be really concerning.
Are most of the 4 year olds just-turned-4 or almost-5? Presumably at least some of those 4 year olds will be 5 within the next month or so.
Does the school do full day and half day and what's the age cutoff for that? How many kids are staying in the afternoons? At our school, the full day cutoff is 4.5, so many of the 4 year olds would be there in the afternoon. If your full day is truly just the 2 K kids, that would be concerning.

[Anonymous]

totally depends on the school. my son was in K in a montessori with 6 k students out of about 25 and things ran very smoothly. very experienced teachers and his class had some extra hands…a student teacher, and an aide who came at 12 or so. the k kids in his school had their own class in the afternoon as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:totally depends on the school. my son was in K in a montessori with 6 k students out of about 25 and things ran very smoothly. very experienced teachers and his class had some extra hands…a student teacher, and an aide who came at 12 or so. the k kids in his school had their own class in the afternoon as well.

This sounds a bit better though. At least there's enough to constitute a reading group or groups of 3. 2 or 3 total is pretty sparse and doesn't indicate good changes of your K child having peers who are at-level.