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The Four Tenets of a Montessori Education
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1.
The
"Whole
Child"
Approach
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The primary goal of a Montessori program is to help each individual child reach their fullest potential in all areas of life. Activities promote the development of social skills, emotional growth, and physical coordination as well as cognitive preparation. The curriculum and the environment empower children, ignite their creativity, and build a strong sense of self, allowing them to enjoy the process of learning and the excitement of accomplishment.
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2.
The
Prepared
Environment
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Children learn more by touching, seeing, smelling, tasting, and exploring than by just listening. To that end, the whole learning environment- room, materials, and social climate - is carefully designed to ignite a child's natural desire to learn through exploration and discovery. The Montessori classroom reflects the following:
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Order and beauty of the Environment
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Everything is on low shelves for easy accessibility
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Is set up left to right, easy to difficult
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Has one exercise of each kind to foster patience in waiting to be able to use it
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Encourages the child to make choices. A child who is not able to make choices will always depend on others
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Develops independence which is the vital foundation for development of freedom and discipline which are developed from within.
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3.
The Teachable Moment - Sensitive Periods
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Through her scientific observation, Maria Montessori discovered sensitive periods in children. A sensitive period is a time in a child's life when he or she is deeply interested in and highly motivated to learn a particular skill or understand a piece of information. It is during this unique time that he or she learns a task easily. It is the role of the Teacher to identify these sensitive periods in each individual child and link the child to the appropriate learning activities and materials found in the prepared environment.
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Language:
Birth - 6 years
A second language is learned easiest at this time.
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Movement:
1 - 4 years
Coordinated movements involve voluntary muscles directed by purpose and goals. The function of mind and body together is necessary for coordination and independence. The child acquires this coordination through repetition of purposeful motor activity.
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Order:
first 3 years
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Social Behavior:
2½ - 6 years
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Fascination for tiny objects:
1½ - 2½ years
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Refinement of Senses:
0 - 5 years
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4.
Montessori Materials
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Through her extensive observation of children, Montessori discovered several activities children enjoyed and repeatedly gravitated to throughout their day. From this learning, Montessori developed "beautiful" materials that stimulate, isolate, and self-correct a specific activity or skill. Her materials are multi-sensory, and demonstrate concepts at the concrete level (for the 3 year-old) and move to the abstract (for the 5 year-old). For Example:
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Number Rods
The first introduction to numbers and mathematical facts.
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The teacher helps the child to count the alternating red and blue sections of each rod as he or she arranges them in a stair-like formation from the smallest rod "One", to the largest rod, "Ten".
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The equipment then gives the child an opportunity to discover many mathematical facts. For example, if the child places the Number One Rod on the same line as the Number Two Rod, it will be exactly the same length as the Number Three Rod.
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Likewise, the child is also able to see basic division by seeing that the Number Two Rod will fit on the Number Six Rod three times.
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