About Montessori Education
The basic idea in the Montessori...The basic idea in the Montessori approach to education is that every child carries unseen within him the man he will become. In order to develop his physical, intellectual, and spiritual powers to the fullest, he must have freedom – a freedom to be achieved through order and self-discipline.
The world of the child is full of sights and sounds which at first appear chaotic. From this chaos, the child must gradually create order, and by learning to distinguish among the impressions that assail his senses, slowly but surely gains mastery of himself and of his environment. Dr. Montessori developed the “prepared environment “ which possesses a certain order and disposes the child to develop at his own speed, according to his own capacities in a non-competitive atmosphere.
A child most easily learns the ground rules of human behavior between two and a half or three and six years. These years can be constructively devoted to “civilizing” the child – freeing him through the acquisition of good manners and habits to take his place in culture. The child who has had the benefit of a Montessori environment is better prepared at a later age to devote himself to the development of his intellectual potentialities. Since the child has learned to work by himself, in the prepared environment, enjoying the presence of other children, but not working necessarily directly with them. The Montessori teacher is able to teach a child individually, thus fostering within him competence as an independent learner. The structure of Montessori learning involves the use of many materials with which the child may work individually. At every step of his learning, the teaching material is designed to test his understanding and correct his errors. Programmed learning and teaching machines are now utilizing this principle.
Dr. Montessori has recognized that the only valid impulse to l earning is the self-motivation of the child. Children move themselves toward learning. The teacher prepares the environment, directs the activity functions as the leader, offers the child stimulation, but it is the child who learns, who is motivated through the work itself to persist in his given activity.
If the Montessori child is free to learn, it is because he has acquired from his exposure to both physical and mental order an “inner discipline”. This is the core of Dr. Montessori’s educational philosophy. Patterns of concentration, stick-to-it-ness, and thoroughness established in early childhood, produce a confident, competent learner in later years. Schools have existed historically to teach children to observe, to think to judge. Montessori introduced children to the joy of learning at an early age and provides a framework in which the intellectual and social discipline go hand in hand.
The world of the child is full of sights and sounds which at first appear chaotic. From this chaos, the child must gradually create order, and by learning to distinguish among the impressions that assail his senses, slowly but surely gains mastery of himself and of his environment. Dr. Montessori developed the “prepared environment “ which possesses a certain order and disposes the child to develop at his own speed, according to his own capacities in a non-competitive atmosphere.
A child most easily learns the ground rules of human behavior between two and a half or three and six years. These years can be constructively devoted to “civilizing” the child – freeing him through the acquisition of good manners and habits to take his place in culture. The child who has had the benefit of a Montessori environment is better prepared at a later age to devote himself to the development of his intellectual potentialities. Since the child has learned to work by himself, in the prepared environment, enjoying the presence of other children, but not working necessarily directly with them. The Montessori teacher is able to teach a child individually, thus fostering within him competence as an independent learner. The structure of Montessori learning involves the use of many materials with which the child may work individually. At every step of his learning, the teaching material is designed to test his understanding and correct his errors. Programmed learning and teaching machines are now utilizing this principle.
Dr. Montessori has recognized that the only valid impulse to l earning is the self-motivation of the child. Children move themselves toward learning. The teacher prepares the environment, directs the activity functions as the leader, offers the child stimulation, but it is the child who learns, who is motivated through the work itself to persist in his given activity.
If the Montessori child is free to learn, it is because he has acquired from his exposure to both physical and mental order an “inner discipline”. This is the core of Dr. Montessori’s educational philosophy. Patterns of concentration, stick-to-it-ness, and thoroughness established in early childhood, produce a confident, competent learner in later years. Schools have existed historically to teach children to observe, to think to judge. Montessori introduced children to the joy of learning at an early age and provides a framework in which the intellectual and social discipline go hand in hand.
PRACTICAL LIFE:
The activities of Practical Life or Daily Living Activities, help the child to develop concentration, coordination, a sense of order, and independence. These activities involve taking care of ones self and taking care of the environment. The child develops a sense of inner calm and a sense of responsibility. The lessons of “Grace and Courtesy” help the child to develop social skills and compassion for others. Safety and respect are the basic rules of the classroom.
Children learn to take care of the environment and develop a sense of order by washing their own snack dishes.
The activities of Practical Life or Daily Living Activities, help the child to develop concentration, coordination, a sense of order, and independence. These activities involve taking care of ones self and taking care of the environment. The child develops a sense of inner calm and a sense of responsibility. The lessons of “Grace and Courtesy” help the child to develop social skills and compassion for others. Safety and respect are the basic rules of the classroom.
Children learn to take care of the environment and develop a sense of order by washing their own snack dishes.
The pouring activities develop concentration, eye-hand coordination and judgment of volume.
For some activities, children work on small “work rugs” which define their work space. Others learn to respect this space by walking carefully around it. When finished, the child rolls up the work rug and puts it away for others to use.
SENSORIAL ACTIVITIES:
The sensorial materials help the children to sort out the various abstract impressions received through their senses and give language to it.
The sensorial materials in the classroom help children to learn by using all of their senses. Dr. Montessori stated, “The hand is the instrument of the mind.”
The sensorial materials help the children to sort out the various abstract impressions received through their senses and give language to it.
The sensorial materials in the classroom help children to learn by using all of their senses. Dr. Montessori stated, “The hand is the instrument of the mind.”
The knobbed cylinders help the child to learn about “big and small, thick and thin, tall and short, and wide and narrow”. When picking up the cylinder by the knob on top, the child is developing eye-hand coordination, strengthening the hand and developing the prehensile finger grip for writing with a pencil later.
The child learns colors and develops the chromatic sense by working with the color tablets. The first set consists of the primary colors, red, yellow and blue. The second set consists of the secondary colors. Afterwards the children work with shading and grading the colors with the next set.
MATH:
The math materials help the child to develop the mathematical mind. He learns the concepts of quantity, association, comparison, pattern, reasoning, operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, fractions, squaring and cubing and the decimal system.
The math materials help the child to develop the mathematical mind. He learns the concepts of quantity, association, comparison, pattern, reasoning, operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, fractions, squaring and cubing and the decimal system.
Children learn abstract mathematical concepts with concrete “hands-on” math materials. Children carry red and blue number rods one at a time, thus feeling the difference between the length of each of the numbers one to ten.
Girl arranges numbers 1-10 in sequence and learns the concept of “odd and even” numbers. Odd numbers have no partner. Even numbers have a partner.
Once a concept is understood, the child may do paper extension of the work.
LANGUAGE:
Language is the connecting link of society. The young child develops receptive language by hearing spoken language. During the first six years of life, the child easily absorbs language and can learn more than one language. The child then learns to express language, and learns to write and to read the language of others.
The red and blue metal insets on the far right side of the shelf help children to develop hand strength by tracing the geometric shapes.
Language is the connecting link of society. The young child develops receptive language by hearing spoken language. During the first six years of life, the child easily absorbs language and can learn more than one language. The child then learns to express language, and learns to write and to read the language of others.
The red and blue metal insets on the far right side of the shelf help children to develop hand strength by tracing the geometric shapes.
Children enjoy sorting, matching and classifying. Children develop reading readiness by matching cards and looking for similarities and differences. This helps them to later distinguish letter shapes.
Children feel the sandpaper letters with their fingertips and learn the phonetic sounds of the letters which leads to word building and reading.
Children work with matching cards and labels and learn to read simple phonetic words.
CULTURAL ACTIVITIES:
Through geography, history and science and celebrations children learn about the common needs of all people. While appreciating the diversity, they see the similarities of the human family of man.
Through geography, history and science and celebrations children learn about the common needs of all people. While appreciating the diversity, they see the similarities of the human family of man.
The teacher gives a “demonstration” with the world puzzle map. Children first learn about the globe of land and water, continents and oceans, and then work with the continent map, and later study each individual continent.The child works with the “self-correcting” puzzle map. Montessori materials allow the child to figure out for themselves if they are working correctly. The teacher will later give the “three period lesson” to teach the names of the continents.
OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES:
Children develop physical strength and coordination outdoors as well as indoors. They learn to appreciate nature and their place in it. They become stewards of the earth’s environment and its beauty and resources.
Children develop physical strength and coordination outdoors as well as indoors. They learn to appreciate nature and their place in it. They become stewards of the earth’s environment and its beauty and resources.
Children enjoy creative, constructive activities in the sandbox.
Children delight in watering the plants and watching them grow. Children see the life cycles in nature and the seasons of the world around them.