A Montessori Education
What exactly is a Montessori education?
Dr. Maria Montessori developed her theory on education over 100 years ago. Today, it is still widely known as one of the most enduring models. Across the country and across the globe, Montessori classrooms are changing lives everyday.
MONTESSORI PRESCHOOL CLASSROOMS:
Montessori is a highly hands-on approach to learning. Children aged 3 to 5 years work together in the same classroom. This leads to many great educational benefits for all children involved.
Geography, Science, Famous Artists, Nature systems, Life Cycles, Math, Geometry, Multiplication, Division, Geometric solids, Binomial cube, Fractions, parts of the human body, birds of North America, Independence, Self help skills, Respect for the classroom, Respect of the environment, Songs, Large Muscle Movement Activities, YOGA, Painting, Puzzels, Language, Reading, Writing, Globes, Maps of the world, Flags of the World, Famous Composers, History.
Montessori educators "follow the child", adjusting their strategies and timelines to "fit" the development of each child as all children learn at their own individual pace. (alone, in a small group, one-on-one with the teacher, or with a peer)
Learning is enhanced with hands on materials available in the environment. All in a calm, supportive and relaxing environment where the children
"choose" their work and build their skills at their own pace. These areas and subjects are not forced upon a child in a Montessori classroom.
FAMOUS MONTESSORI CHILDREN:
Founder of Amazon.com, Founders of Google, Founder of Wikipedia
Bill Gates, Julia Child, Anne Frank ...just to name a few!
A Montessori teacher creates and divides out several sections of the classroom, just as a traditional preschool program. However, in the Montessori classroom our sections or areas have a different name, different educational materials, and most importantly a different philosophy (or concept) of how we best feel that children LEARN.
A Montessori Classroom will have such sections (areas) as:
- Practical Life
- Sensorial
- Language Arts
- Math , Geography, Science, Peace
Maria Montessori felt that a child, in many indirect ways, is trying to say to the adults in his demanding world ...
"Help me to do it alone." ~M. Montessori
Dr. Montessori stressd that we should..."Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed". We (the teacher) do not come to the child as the one with all the answers, with a mind full of knowledge to impose upon them...we come as one to prepare the environment and spark their interest, but walk away and let them discover it for themselves. This is how they learn to get truly absorbed in a subject, when they have the freedom to work with and manipulate whatever they choose. Not someone else deciding their "work" for them. (Just as adults are happier when they decide their own career path for themselves.)
Across the country and across the globe, Montessori classrooms are changing lives everyday. Call for a TOUR to see how the Montessori classroom operates.
QUOTES:
"It's developed around each child and what they individually need to learn. I do not group all the children together and teach a concept in a large group. Each child will miss an aspect of what I'm teaching if it's done that way, instead it's on an individual level. At the pre-school age there is no other way to 'teach' them. It's ALL about leaving the cookie cutter at home." ~L. Franke, MS
"They explore amazing materials and learn about maps, math, language, and self care. There are no trucks and plastic play kitchen sets in the preschool classroom. The education of the child is rooted in stronger materials than that." ~L. Franke, MS
