The Montessori Program
Practical Life Exercises
The child is attracted to activities that give him independence and control of his own life. A most important need of they young child is to develop his muscles and coordinate his movement through such practical life exercises as sweeping, polishing, carrying water, pouring and washing a table. Special Montessori materials enable him to tie, button, snap and use many other fastening devices. The purpose of these exercises is to develop concentration, to pay attention to detail as the child follows a regular sequence of actions, and to learn good working habits as he finishes each task and puts away all material before going on to another activity. These activities provide the very foundation on which the child approaches more intricate academic exercises. The Practical Life Exercises are of greatest significance during the ages 2 ½ to 4, although the advanced exercises continue to play an important role in the classroom.
Sensorial Exercises
Sensorial materials in the Montessori classroom are designed to sharpen the senses of the young child and to enable him to understand the many impressions he receives through them. Each of the Sensorial material isolates one defining quality such as color, weight, shape, texture, size, sound and smell. Sound boxes, for example, are all the same size, shape, color, and texture; they differ only in the sounds which are made when the child shakes them. Other Sensorial material includes geometric solids, smelling jars, color tablets, temperature jugs, sandpaper letters, baric tablets, cylinder blocks, etc.
The Montessori Sensorial materials help the child to distinguish, to categorize, and to relate new information to what he already knows. The child finds a sense of order in these materials and acquires the joy of learning that his environment has order. His intellect is trained to make order out of a multitude of experiences, which is the learning process.
Through the Practical Life and Sensorial Exercises, a young child develops the sensory awareness and concentration and attention span that prepare him for the academic subjects.
Mathematics
The materials for mathematics introduce the concept of quantity and the symbols for quantity – the numbers 1 through10. The quantity is introduced initially by a series of the rods which the child can count and compare. He matches sets of symbol cards with the rods. Using a variety of beads and symbol cards, the child becomes familiar with the numbers as a decimal system including concrete experiences with the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. These exercises not only teach the child to calculate, but they provide a deep understanding of how numbers function. He learns concrete mathematical concepts and material lead him to the abstract, so that his understanding has substance. Because of the concrete nature of the materials, the child is able to work with basics of fractions and geometry.
Language
According to Dr. Montessori, the evolution of language begins with the infant’s unique capacity to absorb intact fragments of language which will serve as a basis for his development. This continues through an orderly, unconscious process of assimilation and abstraction. The child first discovers that sounds have meaning, and then he isolates the parts of speech. Finally, he grasps the use of sentences. The constant assimilation of language results in a sudden expansion of vocabulary.
The child learns the oral language naturally – he automatically takes it from his environment. The work of the teacher is to expose him to the equivalent forms of written language, which he learns through the same general pattern of development.
The Montessori child begins reading when he is ready and proceeds at his own pace. His experiences in practical life and sensorial education serve as a preparation for this.
In the Montessori approach, the sounds of the letters are taught before the child is introduced to the names of the letters. Research has shown that it is best to learn one thing at a time. It is too much to have to remember both names and sounds. If the child is taught both the names and the sounds in the beginning, it has been found that the child gets confused when trying to sound out a word because it is difficult to remember which the letter represents. Therefore, to avoid the added difficulty, the phonetic sound of each letter is taught first, and the names of the letters are taught later. In addition, since some letters can represent more than one sound the other sounds which are less frequently used than the phonetic sound are also taught later. In this way, the child only has to learn one sound for each letter in the beginning.
After the child has learned the sound of all the letters, including the short vowel sounds, reading development continues in a logical, sequential order over a period of 1 to 2 years until the child is generally reading independently sometime during the kindergarten year. Since reading is such an individual skill, most children in the same class will be working at different levels. To be allowed and encouraged to develop intellectually at his/her own pace is of lasting long-term benefit to the child.
Sciences
It is the purpose of the Science Program to encourage the child’s natural curiosity in his world, to help him learn to observe carefully, to ask questions about the phenomena he observes, to learn to experiment to find his own answers to his own questions, and to inspire in him a feeling of wonder for nature. In addition to the usual science collections and exhibits and learning to care for plants and animals, the child in a Montessori school learns how to conduct simple experiments using basic substances and apparatus. Thus he learns, not that the phenomena in nature is magic, but that science is, in reality, an investigation of his surroundings; he learns in what ways his surroundings affect him and in what ways he can control them.
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How Can I know if I’ve found a “Real”
Although most Montessori schools try to remain faithful to their understanding of Dr. Montessori’s insights and research, they have all, to some degree, been influenced by the evolution of our culture and technology.
Perhaps the more relevant question in selecting a Montessori school is to consider how well it matches your sense of what you want for your child. No one educational approach can be right for every learner. The wisest goal is to seek out the best fit, not only between the student and the school, but also between the parents’ values and goals for their child’s education and what a given school can realistically deliver. I believe that finding the right school for mom and dad is as important as finding the right school for the child.
In the end, the selection of a Montessori school comes down to a matter of personal style and preference. If you visit a school and find yourself in harmony with its ambiance and practice, it will represent a least one example of what you define to be a good school.
In determining which school is best, we all have to trust our eyes, ears, and gut instincts. Nothing beats personal observation. The school that one parent raves about, may be completely wrong for another’s child. Conversely, another parent may have decided that “Montessori doesn’t work,” while it clearly is working very well for your family. Rely on your own experience, not hearsay from other parents.
Characteristics of an Authentic
Dr. Nancy McCormick Rambush, founder of the American Montessori Society and co-founder of the Montessori Foundation, identified the following characteristics of an “authentic” Montessori school: *
* The following ideas are excerpted from The Authentic American Montessori School: A Guide to the Self-Study, Evaluation, and Accreditation of American Schools Committed to Montessori Education, by Dr. Nancy McCormick Rambush and Dr. John Stoops, published in 1992 by the Commission on Elementary Schools of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and the American Montessori Society.
The Montessori Learning Environment
A Child-Centered Environment: The focus of activity in the Montessori setting is on children’s learning, not teachers’ teaching. Generally students will work individually or in small, self-selected groups. There will be very few whole group lessons.
A Responsive Prepared Environment: The environment should be designed to meet the needs, interests, abilities, and development of the children in the class. The teachers should design and adapt the environment with this community of children in mind, rapidly modifying the selection of educational materials available, the physical layout, and the tone of the class to best fit the ever changing needs of the children.
A Focus on Individual Progress and Development: Within a Montessori program, children progress at their own pace, moving on the next step in each area of learning as they are ready. While the child lives within a larger community of children, each student is viewed as a universe of one.
Montessori Learning Activities
Hands on Learning: In Montessori, students rarely learn from texts or workbooks. In all cases, direct personal hands-on contact with either real things under study or with concrete models that bring abstract concepts to life allow children to learn with much deeper understanding.
Spontaneous Activity: It is natural for children to wiggle, touch things, and explore the world around them. Any true Montessori environment encourages children to move about freely, within reasonable limits of appropriate behavior. Much of the time they select work that captures their interest and attention, although teachers also strive to draw their attention and capture their interest in new challenges and areas of inquiry. And even within this atmosphere of spontaneous activity, students do eventually have to master the basic skills of their culture, even if they would prefer to avoid them.
Active Learning: In Montessori classrooms, children not only select their own work most of the time, but also continue to work with tasks, returning to continue their work over many weeks or months, until finally the work is “so easy for them” that they can teach it to younger children. This is one of many ways that Montessori educators use to confirm that students have reached mastery of each skill.
Self-directed Activity: One of Montessori’s key concepts is the idea that children are driven by their desire to become independent and competent beings in the world to learn new things and master new skills. For this reason, outside rewards to create external motivation are both unnecessary and potentially can lead to passive adults who are dependent on others for everything from their self-image to permission to follow their dreams. In the process of making independent choices and exploring concepts largely on their own, Montessori children construct their own sense of individual identity and right and wrong.
Freedom within Limits: Montessori children enjoy considerable freedom of movement and choice; however their freedom always exists within careful defined limits on the range of their behavior. They are free to do anything appropriate to the ground rules of the community, but redirected promptly and firmly if they cross over the line.
Intrinsic Motivation to Learn: In Montessori programs, children do not work for grades or external rewards, nor do they simply complete assignments given them by their teachers, Children learn because they are interested in things, and because all children share a desire to become competent and independent human beings.
Montessori’s Communities of Learners
Mixed Age groups: Montessori classrooms gather together children of two, three, or more age levels into a family group. Children remain together for several years, with only the oldest students moving on to the next class at year’s end.
A Family Setting: Montessori classrooms are communities of children and adults. As children grow older and more capable, they assume a great role in helping to care for the environment and meet the needs of younger children in the class. The focus is less on the teachers and more on the entire community of children and adults, much like one finds in a real family.
Cooperation and Collaboration, Rather Than Competition: Montessori children are encouraged to treat one another with kindness and respect. Insults and shunning behavior tends to be much more rare. Instead we normally find children who have a real fondness for one another, and who are free from the one-up-man ship and needless interpersonal competition for attention and prestige. Because children learn at their own pace, and teachers refrain from comparing students against one another.
To Awaken and Nurture the Human Spirit
The Child as a Spiritual Being: Montessori saw children as far more than simply scholars. In her view, each child is a full and complete human being, the mother or father of the adult man or woman she will become. Even when very young, the child shares with the rest of humanity hopes, dreams, and fears, emotions, and longing. From her perspective, this goes beyond mental health to the very core of one’s inner spiritual life. Montessori consciously designs social communities and educational experiences that cultivate the child’s sense of independence, self-respect, love of peace, passion for self-chosen work done well, and ability to respect and celebrate the individual spirit within people of all ages and the value of all life.
Universal Values: Montessori deliberately teaches children not only appropriate patterns of polite behavior, but seeks to instill basic universal values within the core of the child’s personality, these values include self-respect, acceptance of the uniqueness and dignity of each person we meet, kindness, peacefulness, compassion, empathy, honor, individual responsibility, and courage to speak from our hearts.
Global Understanding: All Montessori schools are, to a large degree, international schools. They not only tend to attract a diverse student body representing many ethnic backgrounds, religions, and international backgrounds, but they actively celebrate their diversity. The curriculum is international in its heritage and focus, and consciously seeks to promote a global perspective.
Service to Others: Montessori’s spiritual perspective leads Montessori schools to consciously organize programs of community service ranging from daily contributions to others within the class or school setting, to community outreach programs that allow children and adults to make a difference in the lives of others. Thu fundamental idea is one of stewardship.
The Montessori Teacher
Authoritative: The teacher is firm at the edges and empathetic at the center, the kind of adult who responds empathetically to children’s feelings, while setting clear and consistent limits.
Observer: The Montessori teacher is a trainer observer of children’s learning and behavior. These careful observations are recorded and used to infer where each student is in terms of his or her development, and leads the teacher to know when to intervene in the child’s learning with a new lesson, a fresh challenge, or a reinforcement of basic ground rules.
An Educational Resource: Montessori teachers facilitate the learning process by serving as a resource to whom the children can turn as they pull together information, impressions, and experiences.
Role Model: Like all great teachers, the Montessori educator deliberately models the behaviors and attitudes that she is working to instill in her students. Because of Montessori’s emphasis on character development, the Montessori teacher normally is exceptionally calm, kind, warm, and polite to each child.
What Montessori Teachers Do
Respectfully Engaged With The Learner: The Montessori teacher recognizes that her role is not so much to teach as to inspire, mentor, and facilitate the learning process. The real work of learning belongs to the individual child. Because of this, the Montessori educator remains conscious of her role in helping each child to fulfill his potential as a human being and creating an environment for learning within which children will feel safe, cherished, and empowered.
Facilitates the “Match” Between the Learner and Knowledge: Montessori teachers are trained to identify the best response to the changing interests and needs of each child as a unique individual. Because they truly accept that children learn in many different ways and at their own pace, Montessori educators understand that they must “follow the child,” adjusting their strategies and timetable to fit the development of each of their pupils.
Environmental Engineer: Montessori teachers organize appropriate social settings and academic programs for children at their own level of development. They do this to a large degree through the design of the classroom, selection and organization of learning activities, and structure of the day.
Often one sign of a school’s commitment to professional excellence is its membership in one of the professional Montessori societies, such as the Association Montessori International (AMI), the American Montessori Society (AMS), or the newly organized International Montessori Council. These organizations also offer schools the opportunity to become accredited. There are several dozen other smaller organizations as well. Further, it is important to remember that many excellent Montessori schools choose not to affiliate with any national organization. They are independent.
