The Montessori Method
Montessori is a philosophy and method of education, which emphasizes the potential of the young child. It develops this potential by utilizing specially trained lead guides and special teaching materials. The Montessori materials help the child to understand what he/she learns by associating an abstract concept with a concrete sensorial experience. The Montessori Method stresses that children learn and progress at their own pace.
Dr. Maria Montessori
Dr. Maria Montessori was an Italian physician who, through happenstance, dedicated her studies and life’s work to children. Dr. Montessori discovered that the characteristics at each stage of human development are unique, and that the foundation of a human being’s entire personality is built during his/her early years of life. The mind of the child, from birth through six years of age, is unlike any other stage of development. Dr. Montessori coined this crucial time the Absorbent Mind.
The Montessori Environments
The Montessori environments are “prepared environments” meaning that the structure and materials within the environment are developmentally appropriate, structured from within and sequentially presented on the shelf and to the child. The classrooms are beautiful, appealing and logically structured. The natural materials, the neatness, and the lack of plastic, as well as the freedom with which the children move are often striking to the observer. Children are allowed to choose any materials that they have presented and they may work with that material for as long as they wish. Children are free to interact with each other, work together or be by themselves. Visitors are impressed with the love with which the children choose their work and enjoy their life in the classroom.
The Montessori Lead Guide
The lead guide prepares the environment, directs the activities, functions as a leader, offers the child stimulation, but it is the child who learns, who is motivated through the work itself to persist in his/her given task.
At every step of the child’s learning, the lead guide is designed to test his/her understanding and to correct any errors. Dr. Montessori recognized that the only valid impulse to learning is the self-motivation of the child. Children move themselves toward learning.
The Montessori Environments in Practice
In a Little Flowers Montessori School environment bilateral learning occurs on a daily basis - due to the carefully prepared environment and the careful preparation of the trained lead guide.
In an environment of mixed aged children, children have the opportunity to spontaneously and independently use materials specifically designed by Dr. Montessori. These materials maximize the child’s capacity to grasp complex and abstract concepts.
Children in a Montessori environment are free to choose their own activities and develop their own practical intellectual abilities through discovery and exploration in language, mathematics, geography, geometry, art, and music.
The highly social atmosphere of the Montessori environment stems from the exclusive combination of freedom and structure, which is founded on respect. Montessori education supports the fullest development of a child’s potential and provides each child with the foundation for a life of joyful discovery, exploration, and learning.
“The most important period of life is not the age of university studies, but the first one, the period from birth to the age of six. For that is the time when man's intelligence itself, his greatest implement, is being formed.”
Dr. Maria Montessori