What is Montessori
The Montessori Method of Education, developed by Dr. Maria Montessori, embraces a child-centered educational approach based on scientific observations of children from birth to adulthood. Dr. Montessori’s Method has been time tested, with over 100 years of success in diverse cultures throughout the world. The Montessori Method embraces a student-centered approach to education that encourages each child to reach their full potential through creativity, curiosity, exploration, and independent thinking.
Montessori is the original educational system, dedicated to the development of the whole child and still remains on the cutting edge of current thinking in education, brain research and child development. Its longevity and continuing relevance is due to Dr. Maria Montessori’s years of intense study of children and how they learn and grow. The carefully designed and sequenced educational materials engage the child and support physical, intellectual and emotional development at each stage of growth.
The Montessori Method views the child as one who is naturally eager to obtain knowledge and capable of initiating learning in a supportive and thoughtfully prepared learning environment. It is an approach that values the human spirit and the development of the whole child: physically, socially, emotionally and cognitively.
The trained Montessori teacher, the child and the environment create a learning triangle. The classroom is prepared by the teacher to encourage independence, freedom within limits, and a sense of order. The child makes use of what the environment offers to develop him/herself, interacting with the teacher when support and/or guidance is needed.
In early childhood, Montessori students learn through sensory-motor activities, working with materials that develop their cognitive powers through direct experience: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching, and movement.
Later, the child continues to organize his/her thinking through work with the Montessori learning materials and an interdisciplinary curriculum as they pass from the concrete to the abstract. They begin to apply their knowledge to real-world experiences.