The Ultimate Post About Montessori Albums
I get a lot of questions about albums, so I’m going to try and answer them all in one helpful post! In this post, I will also give an in-depth review of the printed Montessori albums that are available, and give some links to online albums as well.
Disclosure: I have purchased some albums from each of the companies mentioned below, but I am not affiliated with any of the companies mentioned, and receive no compensation from anyone if any of you decide to buy their albums.
Frequently Asked Questions About Albums
1. What are albums?
Albums are basically instruction manuals for using Montessori materials. They may be called “manuals” or “guides”. They are traditionally given to students who take the Montessori training at a training center. They also include background about Maria Montessori’s teachings, the purpose behind many of the materials, and information about child development.
2. Do you sell albums?
No, I do not have my own albums or sell anyone else’s. I would like to write my own someday, but haven’t had a chance yet.
3. Are there albums available online?
Yes, there are several websites that provide instructions for using Montessori materials.
Shu-Chen Jenny Yen – 3-6 albums
Montessori World – 3-6 albums
Montessori Teacher’s Collective – albums for 3-6 and 6-9
There are also 3-6 albums available for purchase as e-books from Montessori Book that are reasonably priced and fairly well done.
4. Can I buy an album with a schedule of presentations to do day by day?
There is only one set of albums that has a day-by-day format, and those are the 3-6 albums from New Child Montessori. However, those albums do not contain presentations, but rather consist of lesson plans to follow for each day. You can find a full review of the New Child Montessori albums in the “Album Reviews” section below.
Generally, Montessori teachers do not use a pre-made day-to-day schedule, since the presentations are supposed to follow each individual child’s progress and interests. You can, however, certainly plan a week or month at a time, basing your schedule on the children you work with.
5. What albums are available, and which do you recommend?
I can’t endorse any specific albums, but if you read on, I will give a review of the various albums that are available. Situations vary, so some people might prefer certain albums over others. I’ll give as much info as I can, but in the end the decision is up to you.
Album Reviews:
Montessori Matters from Nienhuis
First, we have Montessori Matters Albums from Nienhuis. I can’t link to individual albums because Nienhuis changes their product links frequently, but if you visit their main site and search for “Montessori Matters”, you will find the albums I mention.
The Montessori Matters albums were written by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. They were all written in the 1960’s, although they’ve been updated many times since then. They are similar to the albums I used in my own training, since one of the authors, Sister Mary Motz, was my elementary trainer. They are spiral-bound with soft covers and reasonably priced ($20-30 per album).
A. There is one album entitled simply “Montessori Matters”; it does not list an age range at the Nienhuis site, but it is for ages 3-6. Covering all the curricular areas, it contains many drawings and black and white photographs, and is written in a clear, easy-to-understand style. The one drawback is that it does show its age, in terms of writing style and photos. Still, most of the information in it hasn’t changed in the past 40 years. I would consider it a “classic” album that could be used by anyone at home or school.
B. Nienhuis also carries three other Montessori Matters albums: Language, History, and Mathematics. All three were written by my trainer, Sister Mary Motz (one of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur), and are for ages 3-9 (primary and lower elementary). They are similar to the first Montessori Matters album in terms of writing style and content, but contain more in-depth information about each of the curricular areas they cover.
Albums from North American Montessori Center
Second, we have the North American Montessori Center (NAMC) albums.
A. First, they offer Classroom Guides specifically for each age group; each classroom guide talks about children’s physical, social, emotional, and academic stages and gives information on setting up a classroom, arranging the materials, and working with the children for that age group. The Classroom Guides do not contain presentations for the materials.
B. They also have albums for each curricular area and each age group (toddler through 9-12). These albums are fairly expensive ($150 each), although they can be purchased in sets (all the Toddler albums, all the 3-6 albums, etc.) at a discount. They come in sturdy 3-ring binders and the album pages are laminated. They also include color pictures of each material and presentation. If you can afford them, they are excellent; the clear writing and pictures make the lessons very easy to follow.
C. There are also materials on CD-ROM, including blackline masters and support materials like self-testing worksheets and nomenclature materials. They are designed to coordinate with the NAMC albums.
Guides for the Montessori Classroom from New Child Montessori
Gini Newcomb has authored several guides that are helpful in the Montessori Classroom.
A. First, she offers four Guides for the Montessori Classroom, one for each season: winter, spring, summer, and fall. Each guide is spiral bound with a soft cover, and contains lesson plans for each day (with an emphasis on nature, biomes, and continents). The guides include suggestions for activities to go with the lessons (songs, art projects); and book lists, which give recommended titles for each topic covered. The seasonal guides do not contain presentations for the Montessori materials. Each guide is $30, or you can buy the set of four for $100.
B. Second, she offers a Supplement to Guides for the Montessori Classroom: Instructions for the Montessori Work. This book does contain step-by-step presentations for the Montessori materials. This book should be used in conjunction with the seasonal guides, since the presentations are laid out day-by-day to coordinate with the guides, rather than grouped by subject matter the way other albums are. The supplement is $65. Both the seasonal guides & the supplement are for ages 3-6.
C. Third, there is a guide entitled Art for the Montessori Classroom. This guide is for ages 3-9 (I think it could be stretched to age 12 depending on the abilities of the child). It contains instructions for setting up a Montessori art area, and specific directions for teaching many different kinds of art activities and skills. It is $75.
Teacher Manuals from Montessori Research & Development
Montessori Research and Development offers teacher manuals for Infant/Toddler, 3-6, and Elementary. The elementary albums are not specified for 6-9 or 9-12, but they do let you view each album’s table of contents as a PDF, and it appears that the albums are appropriate for the full span of 6-12. The albums range in price from $8 – $40, depending on the number of pages in the album. You can choose between spiral or smooth binding.
The Montessori R & D manuals are extremely detailed and well-written. They include quite a bit of information on how the presentations aid in brain development. However, they do not include pictures of any of the materials or presentations.
In Conclusion
In a perfect world, we could buy all the albums from each of the above companies – each set of albums has something to offer the Montessori classroom. Most of us can’t do that, though, so hopefully this post will help you decide which album(s) work best for you. You may want to buy a one from each, so that you can better decide which ones would work in your situation.
Dear Lori,
We greatly appreciate the opportunity for NAMC’s resources to be included in Montessori for Everyone’s album review, and especially for the very positive comments received on our curriculum albums. We kindly invite all interested to either visit our website: http://www.montessoritraining.net, and click on the flower to view sample pages from each and every one of our over 40 curriculum albums, or call us at anytime at: 1-877-531-6665 to discuss our resources further.
We wish to extend our gratitude to Lori for her valuable time and attention to this project.
Sincerely,
North American Montessori Center
Dale Gausman, Program Director & Founder
Hi, Dale! Thank you for stopping by. I was very impressed with your albums, and with the classroom guides as well. Thank you again for your kind words, and have a wonderful holiday season!
Hi Lori,
Thank You for your generous work promoting Montessori. I want to express my gratitude for your review of the New Child Montessori materials.
To see sample pages from all the materials go to http://www.newchildmontessori.com
I welcome any questions about the materials. Just use the contact link on my website.
Peace to All,
Gini Newcomb, New Child Montessori
Hi, Gini! I’m so glad that there are lots of Montessori resources out there for both teachers and parents. One of the many nice things about living in the internet age
Thanks for your hard work, too! And happy new year!
i am a Mom of two boys 18 mos and 2 1/2 at the time of this note, I know I want them to have a Montessori educatioal experience and I know that I want to homeschool them. I live in the DFW area and I am so impressed by the resources I am finding here and in the sites listed on this page. i am just wondering if there are ever home school coops formed that emphansize Montessori methods. I would love to have something ive out here but even a facebook group or meetup might be good. Do any exist? If not have you ever thought of founding something like that.
Hi, Jennifer! There are lots of groups like that, especially Yahoo groups. If you go to Yahoo and click on Groups, you can search for “Montessori” and find lots of active groups, many specifically for Montessori homeschooling.
And, this discussion board is fantastic:
Real Learning Forums: Early Childhood Learning
I’ve never thought about starting something like that because there are already so many, and I’m already so busy
You can buy albums now??
*shocked*
Why do the training?
Hi, Mandy! Albums have been available for years (the ones from Nienhuis, for example, have been sold by them for decades). So that’s nothing new. I can tell you that having albums available definitely doesn’t mean people choose not to take the training – at the training center where I went in the Chicago area, their enrollment is higher than ever.
There are many legitimate reasons to buy albums, including people like me who are trained but would like additional resources to use in the classroom. People who trained years ago may want updated information. And people interested in Montessori may buy albums to get an idea of what it’s about.
When I took my training “they” made such a big thing about “your own albums” – understanding, etc. I can see your observations about updated info and additional resources – however I’m still surprised that AMI is comfortable with Neinhuis (their number one supplier of materials) selling them. Just my 2 cents
I’d like to share an additional album/training option. Karen Tyler has a yahoo group you can join: worldwidemontessori. I am taking her worldwidemontessori12 group and I am REALLY impressed. I have learned a lot of information from her albums – they are very affordable.
I have NAMC & while the albums were nice they left a lot out. I felt I learned more from reading MM’s books. Karen’s stuff really breaks things down and shows so many steps/how to do the presentation. I didn’t find NAMC hard to do at all, & neither do I find Karen’s hard. I loved the CD that came with my NAMC but I LOVE the albums Karen made. So…I recommend Karen’s (which is also a LOT cheaper but has a LOT more extensions/quality/amount of info…and it’s done in a year) over the NAMC albums.
Good Morning! I am so excited about what Montessori for Everyone is doing on this site! My name is Karen Tyler and Honey notified me of having left a post (see above) about the albums that I have available on my website (being updated) and through my online Montessori Teacher Training courses that I give on Yahoo Groups. I have 12 Montessori “Albums”….Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Mathematics, Physical Science, Ecology, Geology, Botany, Zoology, Geography….and later this month History and Astronomy! Very affordable from an AMS certified teacher with over 20 years teaching children! If interested…just email me at karen@amontessorimarketplace.com Most of the albums are $25 (ages 2-6).
Hi, Karen! Thanks for adding your info. I hope people check out your albums!
I have purchased all the albums from Montessori Research & Development – early childhood, primary & elementary. They are very detailed & thorough and each lesson flows naturally into the next, so they are very easy albums to use.
I am a homeschool montessori parent of primary & elementary aged children & have found it extremely difficult to source 6-12yr albums. The elementary albums from Montessori Reserach & Development are the more comprehensive I have been able to find, so for those wanting to continue the montessori curriculum past primary I definitely recommend them!
I also have a couple of albums from NAMC but have found these ones to be more detailed & methodical.
The albums also make comprehensive notes on suppliers to source various materials from depending on the lesson & also list detail on many of the Niemhuis word study label sets, so you are able to make them yourself and save the expense!
There is only one draw back & that is they are written with the assumption that you know what you are doing, as their are no diagrams. If you are a parent of a montessori child or have had experience with some of the equipment that it shouldn’t be an issue. I am a parent that home schools my children (who used to attend a montessori school) & I have been able to work through & understand the lessons. Note – you must follow the albums in progression, as I have found that when I have taken exercises out of context sometimes they do not flow smoothly or I do not understand how to present them. This can be a draw back when wanting to “follow the child’s” rate of progress.
Lori –
Thank you so much for including Montessori R & D in your discussion of Montessori albums. How wonderful that more and more parents are home schooling their children with Montessori! You provide a great service to the community.
We hope to meet this growing demand better than we currently do by including more illustrations. Many of our manuals do offer illustrations of the materials, but not of the actual presentation. Our manuals were originally developed for those in a Montessori teacher training program who would draw their own pictures to create a “personal” album. They are used at dozens of AMS training programs including Princeton TEC, Michigan MTEC (Montessori Teacher Education Center), MTEC- San Francisco, Follett Bookstores (Xavier University, Barry University, South Mountain CC, Palm Beach CC), MTEC Sacramento, MT of Southern Nevada and Center for Contemporary Montessori Programs (College of St. Catherine’s).
Zsuzsa, thank you for taking the time to write about our manuals. Your comments will be useful, I’m sure, to many parents preparing to home school their children. We do have sample pages for each of our manuals that we hope provide an accurate representation. Our manuals are comparatively detailed yet visually unrefined – a drawback we hope to rectify!
To view our manuals you can visit Montessori Research and Development Teacher Manuals.
If you choose a certain manual, for example, Early Childhood Geography,
you can click on “VIEW TABLE OF CONTENTS IN PDF” or “VIEW SAMPLE PAGES IN PDF” to get a better sense of the manual’s content, structure, visuals and presentation format.
It’s such a great feeling to have enthusiastic users of our manuals and materials… but all feedback is most welcome!
If you or any of your readers have questions about the manuals, please feel free to contact me at ckreuzer@montessorird.com or 510-278-1115.
Warm Regards,
Chandra