Everything we do at our montessori is based on the following patterns:
Our Goal
of the child’s success is when we hear the child exclaiming,
“I did it myself!”
This is a strong indication that the child has reached a point of independence, self trust, self confidence, and self direction.
After introduction by the teachers to the material, the children have the freedom to choose their work, as all the equipment is placed at the child’s eye-level and all furniture in the classroom is child-sized.
Once the children feel comfortable, all their energies can then be utilized to explore materials and experiences which have been designed to develop them intellectually, physically and psychologically. Each child has an individual map or “blue-print” that governs his/her personal capacity and speed of learning. All the Montessori materials and methods have been carefully designed to allow each child to progress at their own rate, spending a personally appropriate amount of time with each stage of development.
There are five main areas of concentration in the Montessori Method being Practical Life, Sensorial, Reading and Writing, Arithmetic and Cultural Subjects such as History, Geography, Music and Art.
This last area may assume even more importance in the 1990s, with the advent into the children’s world of television, videos, and computer games. Stimulating the imagination of children with these very real Cultural Subjects adds greatly to their feelings of comprehension and self esteem, and engenders a very constructive curiosity about their world that will last them a lifetime.
The Montessori approach was designed to help children grow by letting them explore the world around them.
Classrooms are called “prepared environments” where children‘s innate zeal for learning is encouraged allowing them opportunities to choose among an array of purposeful activities to work on with the guidance of a trained adult.
Through Montessori work, children are able to develop concentration and self-discipline by following the work process outlined by the teacher, also called the “Directress”. Children progress at their own pace, according to their capabilities and inclinations.
A unique element of the Montessori program which sets it apart from traditional teaching methods is the “decentralization of the teacher”. Rather than being the center of attention in a classroom, the teacher’s task is to observe and to intervene from the sidelines, essentially the ‘keeper’ of the environment, letting children get on with their activities, guiding and intervening only when necessary.