a compilation of free montessori resources!

For the last few years, at the end of the year, I reread Julie Volkman’s The Promise of Fall. It’s not because I am a super teacher that is constantly thinking about how I can improve, or what I can do better, it’s just that I finally realized it is the perfect time to reevaluate and think about your classroom, your homeschool routine, your co-op. At the end of the year we can see and remember “what’s going well” and “what’s not going well, and honestly driving me crazy.” Come September, the summer sun has faded those thoughts and feelings, everything has a rosy glow and I can’t even remember how I have the shelves arranged.

To that point, I wanted to share this article so you too can also start thinking about next Fall. I also complied of some of the best and free Montessori resources I could find on the internet. I purposely kept this list not based on free downloads and printables and more philosophy/albums/lesson plan based.

scope and sequence

I really like looking at different scopes and sequences. It gives you a good bird’s eye view of how the Montessori lessons go, and about when they should be presented. I think it is vital that we don’t get too caught up in “he’s not old enough” or “he hasn’t done the teen boards (or other material) yet.” I do maintain a progression in my class, but if a child is ready and would rather work with the bank than the teen boards, I am going to have the flexibility to rearrange the lessons to meet the needs of the child.

Maitri Learning (Can you tell I like Julie?) has a Scope and Sequence for Practical Life, Sensorial, Math and Language. These are in the second to last section under Setting up the Classroom. While I don’t keep my shelves exactly this way, I do consult these articles every year.

Montessori Print Shop

• Practical Life Scope and Sequence
• Sensorial Scope and Sequence
• Math Scope and Sequence
• Language Scope and Sequence

Montessori Compass – now these are in-depth and intense! They go from toddler through 6th grade and Montessori Compass is one of the few that offer a scope and sequence for geography, cosmic curriculum, art and science. These are definitely worth the look.

free albums

Now that you know what lessons go when, it is important to have the appropriate lesson!

Shu-Chen Jenny Yen’s Albums (I remember reading these when I was in training!)

Montessori Album wiki – this is an ongoing project, there are many lessons here!

Info Montessori – These are pretty thorough lessons, and many include a video. Click on the subject areas across the top to reach the different albums.

Montessori Teachers Collective (Moteaco) – A collection of free montessori albums. When I started this post (that was three weeks ago) these were online, but now the site is down. I am going to leave it on the list with the hopes that it comes back online!

Montessori by Hand – Now these require a little more effort to get, but I think they are worth it, they are from Meg McElwee, the blogger behind Sew Liberated. To access the albums you must first join the montessoribyhand Yahoo group and be approved by the moderator (no instant gratification here). You must then go to the “More” tab and find the link “Links”. The albums are at the bottom on the list. They are password protected, and the password is listed under the link.

on being inventive, and a few more resources

Albums are a great resource, and I love to flip through any album I can find. But as I said in the beginning, it is best to not become bogged down with the mentality that you must do every lesson in the exact order. If we constantly stayed true to our albums, I would only have one sewing lesson on my shelf, and my coteacher would never have been able to convince me to ventured off to add a movement shelf in our class.

One of the best ways to come upon new lessons is to read blogs, look at Pinterest, join Facebook groups. If you see a lesson in one of the Scopes and Sequences, Google it. Most likely, someone somewhere has a post about it, and they may have a variation that you don’t know. Carrots are Orange is currently posting many full Montessori lessons.

Montessori Blogs: Rather than try to list all the Montessori Blogs, What DID we do all day, has a comprehensive list along the left sidebar of her site.

Facebook: Most bloggers have a Facebook page you can follow, here is the Montessori Blogger interest group that you can follow and you will see updates from 25 Montessori bloggers.

Enjoy your summer and start thinking about Fall, before you have forgotten everything that you wanted to do!

** these are the albums, scope and sequences and other resources that I know of and use. If you have any other links, please share them in the comments! **

Never miss another post, subscribe to montessori works by email!

[mc4wp_form]