Montessori school opens in Gasport serving students to kindergarten

Photos by Ginny Kropf: Brandi Silsby of Gasport points out a shelf of learning bars at the new Bergamot Montessori school she opened Sept. 16 at 8403 Rochester Rd. with Rachel Struckman.

GASPORT – Once Brandi Silsby had two children of her own, she knew she wanted to raise them in the Montessori method of learning.

On Sept. 16, Brandi Silsby and co-founder Rachel Struckmann opened the Bergamot Montessori School at 8403 Rochester Rd. The school is affiliated with the Wildflower Organization, which helps schools around the country with funding.

The method of teaching was founded in Italy in the early 1900s by Maria Montessori, who applied the scientific method of learning and observed children’s natural tendencies toward learning.

Montessori schools accept children ages 2 years 10 months to kindergarten.

“In a traditional Montessori school, children stay with us three years,” Silsby said.

Both Silsby and Struckman are highly trained educators. Silsby, a reading specialist, taught in public schools in the area since 2008, the last year being at Towne School in Medina. She has a dual major in childhood and early childhood education and a master’s in literacy. Both ladies are Montessori trained. Struckmann, who has a degree in social work, did an observation of Montessori at Nardin Academy and St. Columba Brigid in Buffalo.

In traditional classrooms, students follow the same lessons, leaving some children behind while others forge ahead. In Montessori classrooms, students challenge themselves when they’re ready, developing greater self-sufficiency and personal independence, and building an internal sense of purpose and motivation.

In Montessori, each child has an individualized learning curriculum which follows the child.

(Left) Rachel Struckmann watches as Brandi Silsby demonstrates a child’s learning exercise on a work rug. The rug defines a child’s space and they learn to respect other children’s rug and walk around it. (Right) Brandi Silsby points out number rods, which help children learn to count.

Bergamot Montessori School is one of only two authentic, full-day Montessori schools in Niagara County, and will be the only one licensed in Niagara County through the Office of Children and Family Services.

“This allows us to offer financial assistance to our families,” Struckmann said. “We also have to follow strict guidelines for health, safety, administration and education.”

Fourteen children are registered at the school, which has the capacity to accept up to 24. If they reach 19 students, they will hire a third person, Silsby said. They hope to draw children from Middleport, Medina and Gasport.

Struckmann said their method of learning creates independence in every aspect.

“We are setting the foundation for independence,” she said.

Rachel Struckman and Brandi Silsby stand by a sound chart, which helps children learn the alphabet and associate letters with certain sounds.

When children arrive, the first thing they do is go in a small room called the Cubby Room, to hang up their coats, take off their outside shoes and put on their inside shoes. They next walk to a counter and choose a popsicle stick with their name on it.

 All learning activities are done individually. The only group activities during Circle Time, are songs, movement and reading aloud.

Children are assigned a work rug, and are taught the meticulous, calculated way to unroll it. All activities are completed on their rug, which defines their space, and other children quickly learn to respect it and walk around another child’s space.

The method also makes time for learning grace and courtesy, a hallmark of Montessori, Struckmann said.  Respect for others is also part of the curriculum.

“Children learn how to tuck in a chair, blow their nose and wash their hands properly,”  she added.

A sensorial area is for refining the senses and preparation for the mathematical mind.

“Everything we do is precise,” Silsby said. “If a child is talking, he’s not moving. If he’s moving, he’s not talking.”

When a child has picked an activity, he is asked if he wants to practice more or put it back on the shelf. They cannot choose an activity until they’ve had a lesson in it, then they may choose it any time.

“Montessori is incredibly structured,” Structmann said.

“We call it ‘freedom within limits,’” Silsby said.

Bergamot Montessori is a 501c3 organization through Wildflower.

An open house is planned for the public from 4 to 6 p.m. Sept. 26.