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What is Montessori?

​" The environment must be rich in motives which lend interest to activity and invite the child to conduct his own experiences" Maria Montessori

Montessori is a method of teaching that is based on self directed activity, hands on learning and collaborative play. It nurtures each child's individual strengths and interests. It helps to develop a child's confidence in their own abilities and promotes trust in themselves. Children get to make creative choices in their learning, the teacher's role is to act as a guide to support the child, as well as creating a well prepared environment that caters to meet the individual needs of the children. Children may work in groups, individually or one to one with the teacher to discover, explore and to develop to their full potential.

 

Vertical grouping is very important in a Montessori environment, as children can learn and gain a lot from each other. Each child has a lot to offer, either through gaining another role model, extra help, teaching another, or through exercising kindness, patience, empathy and greater sense of community.

All the Montessori materials support an aspect of a child's development, the materials are not only inviting but serve a purpose . Children are able to learn by watching others as well as by experiencing things on their own at their own pace.

There are 5 areas of learning which support the EYFS

Practical Life:

The exercises of Practical Life provide the foundation for all other activities in the Montessori classroom, fulfilling the child’s plea: “Help me to do it myself!” Through exercises in daily living, such as pouring and scrubbing, sewing and gardening, or practicing grace and courtesy, the child gains confidence and mastery of the environment, After individual skills are refined, children apply them in purposeful work, such as serving juice or polishing. Specifically, these activities contribute to the control and coordination of movement, development of concentration, and the self-esteem that comes with making a real contribution to the group.

Sensorial:

Children from birth to age six are in their “sensitive period” for exploring the world through their senses. Maria Montessori encouraged us to provide children with many opportunities to organize the sensory impressions they’ve been receiving since birth. By your careful selection of items of different textures, colors, sizes, and geometric shapes, children will discover relationships and exclaim, “This bolt is a hexagon,” or “This cloth is rough.” Sensorial experiences also indirectly prepare children for future exploration of language, mathematics, geometry, art, and music.

Language:

Montessori perceived the miracle of language development as “a treasure prepared in the unconscious, which is then handed over to consciousness, and the child, in full possession of his new power, talks and talks without cessation.”

Absorbing and perfecting language depends on human contact, but language is not taught. Words are the labels for our experiences. A child who has varied experiences and is given the words for those experiences will develop a well-rounded means of expression. Just as a rich vocabulary is dependent on the child’s experience, the transition to reading and writing is dependent on a strong vocabulary. Soon, the child, explorer of the world, will be able to express thoughts and understand and interpret the thoughts of others.

Mathematics:

All of their work with the Practical Life and Sensorial materials brings order to children’s experiences, important indirect preparation for the mathematical mind. The developing child yearns to organize, classify, and abstract. Fortunately the whole world obliges with toes to count, temperatures to read, rain to gauge, and clocks to check. The Montessori math lessons lead the child through progressive hands-on activities, emphasizing concepts while preparing the child for abstractions. The extensions and variations we offer complement and support work with Montessori’s legendary math materials.

Geography and Culture:

Geography is the study of place and how humans have adapted to all of Earth’s environments. Physical geography looks at the outward appearance of the environment. Cultural geography looks at what Maria Montessori called humankind’s ability to “continue the work of creation.” Through meeting the basic human needs for food, shelter; and clothing, groups of people developed language, tools, transportation, rituals and celebrations, religion, music, art, and crafts. By celebrating other traditions with food, music, and stories, children can begin to see the uniqueness of other cultures, yet come to understand how much we all have in common.

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