Alcuin Montessori Rocks

Alcuin Montessori Renames Classrooms in Honor of its Most Unusual Mascot, The Rock

It began almost 60 years ago; part happenstance, part magic as many legendary tales tend to be. During the construction of Alcuin’s newest campus on Ridgeland and Randolph, a massive chunk of minerals was unearthed—enormous, yet somehow endearing. And at that moment, a star was born. The Rock soon became a beloved cornerstone of the school community. Countless end-of-year and graduation photos have featured The Rock, and many alums consider the day they were able to scale the stone of over five feet tall a milestone of their years at Alcuin. Today, The Rock sits happily on the Alcuin Main Campus lawn on Oak Park and Superior.

To pay tribute to our past and continue to celebrate our future, the decision was made to name each of our twelve classrooms in honor of The Rock by choosing from rock-inspired names that emphasize growth and purpose. Alcuin’s Director of Education for ages 6-14, Nicole Cochrane, spearheaded the project and stated, “The idea to rename our classrooms came from the desire to unite our two campuses and pay homage to The Rock.  Inspired by our mascot, we took our students’ love of geology and gave everyone a shared story and vocabulary across levels with rock-themed classroom names. The Montessori three Planes of Development aligned perfectly with the three types of rocks (igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary), as if it were meant to be.”

During Alcuin’s first Community Day, an initiative that is part community service and part pep rally, the classroom names were randomly selected from a list of various rocks including igneous for the 0-6 classrooms which celebrates energy, curiosity, first formations, and foundational skills, metamorphic rocks for the 6-12-year-old classrooms which celebrates perseverance, collaboration, and moral reasoning, and finally sedimentary rocks for the 12-14-year-olds which celebrates reflection, integration, voice, and contribution. Encouraged by cheers and camaraderie, the classroom names and attributes were shared with the community:

• Toddler Room 1 - Felsite: clear thinking, precise, quick-to-learn
• Toddler Room 2 - Perlite: light, supportive, uplifting
• Toddler Room 3 - Tuff: collaborative, adaptable, creative
• Infant Room 4 - Pegmatite: observant, generous, patient
• Infant Room 5 - Scoria: adventurous, bold, resilient
• Primary Room 4/5 - Basalt: grounded, steady, resilient
• Primary Room 6/7 - Granite: reliable, strong, long-lasting
• Primary Room 8 - Pumice: uplifting, helpful, light-hearted
• Junior El - Slate: dependable, organized, purposeful
• Senior El - Quartzite: tough, persistent, goal-driven
• Redwood - Marble: polished, growth-minded, refined
• Middle School - Limestone: supportive, community-minded, nurturing

Like their newly minted classroom names, Alcuin children continue to prove they are strong, resilient, have purpose, an ability to endure, and an effect on their surroundings. And as Nicole stated, “We will continue our tradition of building a learning foundation as solid as stone.”  Simply put, Alcuin totally rocks!