More Top Picks Net Light
player ready...Hope Montessori school in Tinley Park on St. Patrick’s Day was filled with the aroma of toasted Irish soda bread. Children ages 3 to 5 were enjoying their bread while learning about the climate and flag of Ireland. They were making clovers and painting rainbows.
But there was something else to be excited about. Their caterpillars were coming. They will be kept in a tank and the children will be able to watch them grow and change until they emerge from their cocoons as Painted Lady butterflies.
Spring is a very busy time at the school. Director Traci Tyszka said the school focuses on the seasons and the experiences each brings.
The children walked outside to look for signs of the spring and to check on the perennials and bulbs they planted last year. They and their parents have put in a vegetable garden, an herb garden and a native Illinois wildflower garden. They also compost and maintain a worm farm. They’ve been very busy starting seedlings for the vegetable garden, planting carrot seeds while I was there. Trays filled with little pots of dirt were by every window soaking up the sun. It looks like their peppers, beans, carrots and tomatoes will have a good start.
The best part of this is that the children understand how their food grows and they have an active part in the process.They and their families will share in the harvesting, then learn to use a mortar and pestle, choppers and grinders to process the herbs and to make fresh salsa with the tomatoes, peppers and cilantro they grow.
The Montessori method of learning is hands on. At Hope Montessori, children are encouraged to be active involved learners, not passive observers.
Spring gives them plenty of opportunities. Beside the gardens to plant and butterflies emerging, there is the changing weather to keep an eye on and migrating birds to watch for.
The school is located at 17007 Oak Park Ave. in Tinley Park. They offer programs for ages birth through 6. You can visit http://www.hope-montessori.com or call (708) 614-7577 to learn more.
I know I’ll be heading back soon. I want to see those butterflies come out.
Julie Dekker is a freelance columnist.