Samantha Perkinson
Job Title
Children’s House Lead Teacher, Wheat Ridge Campus in the Mountain Room
How many total years have you worked in Montessori?
29
How many years have you worked at Compass?
16
Level of education and professional credentials
- Masters in Education with a concentration in Montessori, Montessori Certification
What is the most inspiring thing about working at Compass, with students and/or in Montessori?
Getting to see children learn to read is pretty amazing!
What is your favorite lesson in Montessori?
I love so many of the lessons that it's hard to pick just one or two. The language materials are so versatile and watching a child learn to read never gets old. As for choosing just one material, it has to be the Arithmetic Trinomial Cube which is the sensorial exploration of the equation (a + b + c)3. I love it so much that I have one on my coffee table at home. It was in my 3-6 training at Xavier University but if you look up the material, it says it's for children 10 years and up. Not discovering that until later, I have always had it on the shelf in my classroom and the children love it as much as I do! They think it's even cooler when I tell them that it's a material for children twice their age!
How were you introduced to the world of Montessori?
I have an aunt on each side of my family that taught Montessori and I loved getting an opportunity to visit their classrooms when I was 3, 4 and 5 years old. There was just something peaceful and welcoming about their classrooms that stuck with me long after. I also remember that pin punching was the hook that fascinated me first and brought me such satisfaction and joy about completing the work. It was that that gave me the confidence to try other things and the freedom to move within the environment and be able to ask all the questions. Thinking about that now still fills me with positivity and sharing that with my own students is icing on the cake!
Fun fact - If we held a staff talent show, I'd wow everyone with my talent doing.....fill in the blank!
procrastinating
List one passion you have outside of work
Anything outside in the summer!
