Support Montessori Communities in Puerto Rico

The school year has come to an end in Puerto Rico. 

From a safe distance or online meetings, the students and teacher guides in the Montessori public schools have celebrated the end of a semester where they continued to learn and grow, despite all the challenges. The Montessori Public Project also celebrates some miracles that have happened during the last months. 

Before the semester ended, some of the Montessori public schools obtained the authorization to receive students in their classrooms. Even though this face-to-face interaction didn’t last long, it was enough to prove that children are ready and happy to return to school safely. 

Also, six communities around the Island are either expanding or creating new Montessori environments in nearby schools previously closed. These communities have come together to provide an excellent education for their children and it is expected that by the incoming fall semester, at least three of them will be ready to serve. 

Thanks to technology, Instituto Nueva Escuela (INE) has served the community with workshops, forums, and other types of support. As an example, in our Casa Familiar program, 126 families participated in support groups. 

As an organization, INE was recognized by Puerto Rico's Chamber of Commerce with the 2021 Zenit prize. Received the Felisa Rincón de Gautier medal for Public Service and was honored by the Federal Department of Justice as a "successful program" for its Casa Familiar project. 

As this semester comes to an end, we look forward to the future where hopefully all children can return to school and leave all the struggle the pandemic has brought in the past.

From INE, we continue to work tirelessly to serve these communities in their pursuit of a better public school for their children and youth.

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Instituto Nueva Escuela's (INE) mission is to accompany, train and serve communities in Puerto Rico through public Montessori education to develop prepared human beings that contribute to the common good.

We train public school staff in Montessori curriculum, work hand in hand with the communities and provide them resources and strategies to empower them and to help them thrive.

Thanks to the generosity of donors like you INE has faced the challenges of the pandemic and continued to be there for the Montessori public school community in order to give continuity to the high quality education all its students deserve. The collaborative work with the communities have strengthened successful initiatives, such as:

• Montessori at Home: This project that was born out of the Covid-19 emergency keeps growing stronger and now includes educational guides to help the teachers, assistants and even families in the important task of working with children and youth in their home environment. These guides are available online for all the levels from Infants to High School.
• Cajitas Viajeras: Thanks to many donors and alliances, our amazing assistants could make "Montessori materials" adapted for the students to use at home. These materials, mostly made out of laminated cardstock, replicate the ones available in the classrooms and support academic areas like geography, geometry, psychomotor skills, movement, practical life, music, language and mathematics. The packages also includesd books, pencils and other instruments depending on the student level. 
• Virtual Montessori Courses: For the first time in INE's history Montessori courses were taught online. An evaluation made by the participants show that 94% were satisfied with the work of the facilitators and resources, highlighting as positive aspects their punctuality, commitment, fulfillment of the agenda and the offer of rich material while 99% evaluated the virtual courses as a good experience.
• "Casa Familiar" Online: Through the Casa Familiar strategy INE has been serving families who have been impacted by any circumstances that affect their wellbeing. During the pandemic professionals from Casa Familiar have been offering music therapy, recreational activities, yoga, telepsychology among other services using the technology. This summer the project was selected by the Director of the External Resources Division, Mrs. Mariela Cabán from the PR Department of Justice as one of the most successful projects.

Now more than ever, the continuity of the education of the students in public Montessori schools is a matter of social justice and equity and we are gratetful to have you in our side for this important task. 

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