MONTESSORI EDUCATION

The Montessori Method
The Montessori approach to early childhood education is based on the method of seeing children as they really are and of creating environments which foster the fulfillment of their highest potential - spiritual, emotional, physical, and intellectual.

The Role of a Montessori Teacher
Dr. Maria Montessori based her method of teaching upon the spontaneous interest of children in learning. This gives each child the freedom and opportunity to explore the self-learning environment and find the circumstances which are most appropriate to his/her own particular stage of development. The Montessori classroom is thus centered on the activity of the child, not that of the teacher.

The Curriculum Areas in a Montessori Classroom -- there are four major areas and several adjunct areas:

Practical Life Exercises
Acquisition of coordination movement and independence through the exercise of "Practical Life."

Sensorial Activities
Sharpen the perceptual skills of the child while indirectly preparing for the writing and reading through a wide variety of sensory motor exercises.

Math Exercises
Development of a mathematical mind through indirect and direct preparation for arithmetic and geometry via manipulative materials leading to number and measurement precepts and concepts.

Language and Communication Skills
Phonics via sandpaper letters, matching exercises leading to sound and visual recognition of letters and words, the building of words via the "Movable Alphabet," oral communication, hand-eye writing control exercises which allow her/him to blossom into reading.