People always ask, can you explain to me what Montessori is all about? So that’s what I’m going to do for you in this blog. Montessori education promotes concentration, coordination, independence, and a sense of order using specific materials in real life activities.
- Providing independence means at any time during our work period, there are 18 to 20 children doing different activities.
- The classroom is set up into 9 curriculum areas. Practical Life, Sensorial, Geography, Culture, Peace, Language, Math, Science, and Art. Lessons are added to each area every week or every month, and switched with the other classroom every 2 weeks.
- Children make their own choices for their work and take it to a table or to a rug. We give them a lesson on how to carry a rug and where to place it in the circle. We also show them how to roll up the rug and put it away when they are finished. There’s also a song!
- When a child is having trouble making a choice, a teacher will help them by giving them a lesson on a material. And then they encourage the child to use it after. We also do this when a child tries to take another child’s lesson, which happens a lot at the beginning of the school year.
- Children can eat their snack whenever they are hungry. The first step is to wash their hands and then get everything they need from the snack shelf. Place mat, napkin, fork or spoon. When they are finished, they need to pack up their things and throw out their trash. The cubbies are used to store the children’s snack and lunch.
- Montessori classrooms have lots of labels. We label as much as we can to help the child learn to recognize their name, and other words. It’s called a print rich environment.
- Each classroom has a book corner or quiet corner. This space is for one child at a time. The child puts on the necklace which shows that it is his or her turn.
- All lessons in a Montessori classroom promote coordination and fine motor development. Hands-on lessons directly prepare children’s hands for writing activities in the future.
- At the beginning of the year, we focus on the ground rules of our classroom.
Walking feet
Quiet voices
Careful hands
Waiting for an activity
Returning the lesson to the shelf
Pushing in a chair
Rolling a rug
Respecting other’s work
“All our work is for one”
- We repeat the schedule and routines every day so that they become 2nd nature to the children. That’s why they adjust so quickly, because we are in school 5 days a week. It’s only the beginning of November and we have made so much progress so far!
