Montessori Method

Dr. Maria Montessori

Dr. Maria Montessori developed a unique educational method known as the Montessori Method. Dr. Maria Montessori based her education philosophy on her scientific observations of young children's behavior. Her scientific training and experience were broad based and remain, even today, quite unique among educationists. She found that young children learn best in a nurturing environment, filled with developmentally appropriate materials that provide experiences contributing to the growth of self-motivated, independent learners. Her approach to education encompasses the whole development of human from birth to adulthood.

Through observations, Dr. Montessori declared that

✫Children are to be respected as individuals who are different from one another, and different from adults.

✫Children create themselves through purposeful activity.

✫The most important years for learning are from birth to age six.

✫Children possess unusual sensitivity and mental powers for absorbing and learning from their environment, which includes people as well as materials.

THE WHOLE CHILD APPROACH

The primary goal of a Montessori program is to help each child reach full potential in all areas of life. Activities promote the development of social skills, emotional growth, and physical coordination as well as cognitive preparation. The holistic curriculum, under the direction of a specially prepared teacher, allows the child to experience the joy of learning, time to enjoy the process and ensure the development of self-esteem, and provide the experiences from which children create their knowledge.

Montessori Environment

The Prepared Environment

In order for self-directed learning to take place, the whole learning environment - room, materials, and social climate - must be supportive of the learner. The teacher provides necessary resources, including opportunities for children to function in a safe and positive climate.The furniture, the aesthetics are designed such hat they are physically proportionate to the child.

The Montessori Materials

Dr. Montessori's observations of the kinds of things that children enjoy and go back to repeatedly led her to design a number of multisensory, sequential, and self-correcting materials which facilitate the learning skills and lead to learning of abstract ideas by the construction of knowledge.

The Teacher

The Montessori teacher functions as designer of the environment, resource person, role model, demonstrator, record keeper, and meticulous observer of each child's behavior and growth. The teacher acts as a facilitator of learning.

Curriculum

The curriculum at IMPERIAL MONTESSORI SCHOOL is designed to bring learning through observation, self-help, teaching aids, Montessori Materials, Montessori trained adults, spontaneous sharing of knowledge of older children with the younger ones, physical activities and audio-visual modules. The School follows CBSE Syllabus.

The Working of a Montessori Environment.

✫Each Montessori class, from toddlers through elementary, operates on the principle of freedom with discipline.

✫Every program has its set of ground rules which differ from age to age, but is always based on core Montessori beliefs - respect for each other and for the environment.

✫Children are free to work at their own pace with materials they have chosen, either alone or with others.

✫The teacher relies on his or her observations of the children to determine which new activities and materials may be introduced to an individual child or to a small or large group.

✫The aim is to encourage active, self-directed learning and to strike a balance between the of individual mastery, small group collaboration and the whole group community.

✫The multi-age grouping in each class provides a family-like grouping where learning can take place naturally. More experienced children share what they have learnt while reinforcing their own learning. Because this peer group learning is intrinsic to Montessori.

✫There is often more conversation - language experiences - in the Montessori classroom than in conventional early education settings.

"Our work as adults does not consist in teaching, but in helping the infant mind in its work of development." Dr. Maria Montessori

The Five Areas of a Montessori Classroom