Montessori Principles & Philosophy

The Montessori principles of schooling focus on the empirical discoveries of Doctor Maria Montessori (1870-1952) on how children grow from infancy to adulthood. Montessori found that children avidly consume knowledge from their experiences so that if such settings offer resources for instruction, children will be able to educate themselves. For more than 50 years, Montessori has established teaching values, essential lessons, and instructional tools that have equipped children with an ideal lessons climate.

PREPARED SETTING

The Montessori classroom is a structured atmosphere built to maximize learning. Characteristics include low open shelves, left to the right view of Montessori resources in order of development, specified classroom areas, children’s furniture, freedom of mobility, and freedom of preference.

It just sounds like “cleaning the classroom.” This training aims to make it as enticing to them as possible and to permit kids the chance to investigate and know. Every area we set up for our children can be a planned environment: a nursery, our house, a holiday rental, an outdoor location.

THE ABILITY TO KNOW

Dr. Montessori acknowledged that children had an innate incentive to study. Babies learn to reach an obstacle, learn to stand by attempting again and again and again, and master walking — all by themselves, in a welcoming atmosphere. The same relates to learning to communicate, learning to read and write, studying mathematics, and thinking about the environment around them.

Children’s findings create for themselves—especially in a prepared environment—to develop a child’s curiosity and enjoyment of learning. They don’t need to be guided to the setting. The backgrounds of the students are mixed up in the Montessori school. Younger children can benefit by watching older children, and older children may improve their learning by encouraging younger children. The child’s role is to dance. They are naturally intelligent learners—if we encourage them to be.

 HANDS-ON, DIRECT LEARNING

“We should put it this way: the intellect of the infant will grow to a certain degree without the aid of the hand. Yet if it grows through his hand, the stage it achieves becomes greater, and the child’s character becomes stronger .”— Dr. Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Brain The hand brings knowledge to the brain in a practical way. It’s one thing to hear or view, but we understand more profoundly as we combine our hearing or viewing into the use of our ears. We switch from inactive learning to constructive learning.

The tools in the Montessori classroom are so perfectly designed and enticing that the kid is attracted to create discovery by himself, using his fingertips. We’re offering them sensory learning opportunities. They keep the item as we call it, provide a range of lovely art materials to try, have magnetic fastenings to open and help us cook food in the kitchen, dig their nails into the pasta, or use a butter knife to break a banana. Another illustration of realistic instruction is the arithmetic resources used in Montessori’s 3-to-6-year-old school. A tiny golden bead is 1. The number of 10 beads is 10. The mat of 10 rows of 10 beads is 100. A stack of 10 mats contains 1,000 mats.

A small child will then contribute to this by utilizing specific resources. With the sum of 1,234 + 6,432, the child will get 1,000 tiles, two mattresses with 100, 3 strings for 30, and 4 single beds. They will do the same with 6,432. It’s really obvious as they start adding that there are already 7 out of 1,000 bricks, 6 out of 100 floors, and so on. The child will feel and keep specific ideas in their minds, unlike the theoretical manner that other children learn to apply to a sheet of paper.

If the child progresses through the upper elementary grades, they should be able to rely on this conceptual basis and transfer to abstraction. We won’t use the products, but they’re still around should we decide to reconsider them.

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SENSITIVE TIMES

Children experience different periods of growth as they are more likely to master new skills. In Montessori school, these are considered ‘sensible times.’ The Montessori learning philosophy embraces these cycles by supplying children with hands-on learning opportunities that promote persistence and problem-solving to improve learning during these gaps of opportunity.

Where a child has a strong interest in one area—for example, expression, voice, arithmetic, reading—it is recognized as a sensitive time. It represents a time where the infant is especially attuned to mastering a new talent or idea that occurs quickly than naturally.

We will monitor our children and their essential times, so we will take sufficient steps to support those desires.

If the infant starts to mimic us — parroting those words — we realize they’re in a vulnerable period for expression, so we should concentrate on teaching the infant new phrases to use.

When the kid is engaging in getting on the bench, they are likely to be in a vulnerable phase of activity and need to learn certain skills. Instead of encouraging them to crawl on chairs, we should build an obstacle course of pillows, covers, stuff to carry, and items to ascend.

Note: Many parents are worried that if they skip a critical period, for example, reading – the infant would have trouble learning to read. We will learn to understand so that it will require some concerted energy, like a person studying a foreign language.

OTHER ARTICLES

RESPECT FOR THE INFANT

You need to find out the specific psychological state and needs of a growing child. Do not judge the children on the grounds of competence; instead, admire their respective personalities. Montessori teaching supports various cognitive types and strategies and recognizes that each child’s early childhood experience is distinctive.

THE ABSORBENT BRAIN

The first six years of childhood are essential to the growth of infants as they gain an awareness of themselves and their environment. The Montessori community assists children in this role by presenting them with learning opportunities that foster their sense of identity, confidence, freedom, and agency.

TEACHING ROLES

Kids become the core of Montessori’s curriculum. The teacher’s task is to watch and direct, to be aware of children’s shifting desires, developmental needs, and emotions. Teachers schedule lessons for growing children every day.

MONTESSORI MATERIALS

Montessori materials are visual learning devices intended to separate one ability or idea. The books promote hands-on research, creative problem-solving, and critical thought. Especially unusual is that each Montessori content is built for visual error management.

THREE HOURS WORK PERIOD

Students take part in a three-hour workday every day. A duration of independent development offers children the ability to select their research and advance at their own pace.

FIVE CURRICULUM AREAS

The Montessori Curriculum is categorized into five primary curriculum areas: Practical Life, Sensorial, Logic, Language, and Culture. That program region has its room in the prepared setting.

NORMALIZATION

Normalization defines the phase in which small children learn to understand and concentrate on a goal over a prolonged period. This time of growth is represented by: enjoyment of life, dedication, self-discipline, and sociability.

SPECIFIC PRINCIPLES TO HOLD IN MIND

 ENABLE THE CHILD TO LEAD

Follow the speed and the needs of the kid. Let them take the time to select for themselves instead of proposing or guiding the action. Let them pick from the things they’re learning to master—nothing too simple or too complicated. Anything difficult but not so rough that they’re going to give up.

 LET THEM TACKLE THEIR TASK AS MUCH AS THEY WANT IT

When a kid learns the task, we don’t want to push things to the end — even if a competitor is waiting. When the exercise is done, see if they’d like to do something again. This promotes persistence and allows them the chance to learn, train, improve, and increase their focus. Ideally, we’re not interrupting the intense concentration of our kids. A quick remark from us will divert them from everything they’re trying to learn so that they can give up the task entirely. Wait until they ask for suggestions, jump in to provide support when they’re upset, or see what they’ve done before we create a request like going to a table for dinner.

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AVOID CHALLENGING THE KID

We may not know that we’re doing it, but we’re continually challenging our babies. “What kind of paint is this? “How many apples do I have? “Can you teach your grandma how to walk? “I did so when my son was a little kid. I will also challenge him to show some new talent or do some new tricks on the cue. You may want to show off in some way. Or maybe he’ll drive him to know a bit quicker. Now I see that this urging is a kind of kid check. And usually, there is only one right answer, but if the response they offer is incorrect, we have no alternative but to reply, “No, the flower is purple, not blue.” Not necessarily ideal for creating a child’s confidence. Instead, we should start to mark things, pose questions to arouse interest, and use intuition to see what the kid has learned and what they are not learning. Today, the only way I’m going to leave a kid is if I’m 100% positive they know the solution because I’m going to be happy to tell me. For example, if they had to recognize blue items on their own, I might point to something blue and say, “Which color is this? “They’re going to be happy to yell,” Red! “It normally begins when they’re around three years old.

PUT THE ACTIVITY AWAY ONCE IT IS OVER

Once the child’s game is done, we should ask them to return it to their position on the shelf. This routine points out that there is a beginning, a middle, and an end to a mission. Then placing items back in their special spot on the shelf brings the room balance then peace. For little children, we should first model where objects fit and incorporate placing items back as the last component of the operation. Then we should continue communicating with our kids to get items back to the shelf—they may be bringing one portion while we’re holding the other. And we will scaffold on this basis by allowing them to bring something back on their own, for example, by pressing the shelf where it belongs. Gradually, we’ll see them carrying things away more and more by themselves. We can not do this every day, much because we don’t feel like eating every day. Rather of demanding that they do something, we may ask, “Did you want me to do something? Okay, I’m going to bring this one, and you’re going to bring that one.” Sometimes older children may require some guidance splitting the job into manageable pieces. “Let’s bring the blocks back first, and then we’re going to focus on the text.” When they’ve gone on to the next thing, I don’t normally interrupt their attention. Instead, I put off the task myself, modeling what the next time I do for the boy. We do not directly see us doing anything, but they may see us from the corner of their mind, or they can unintentionally understand what we do.

MODEL, MODEL, MODEL.

The kid learns a lot by watching us and other people around us. Then we should think about how effective a small person might be and model that—for example, move in our two-handed chair, stop sitting on a low table or shelf, and hold only one item at a time.

ENABLE THE USAGE OF RESOURCES, JUST AVOID UTILIZING THEM IMPROPERLY

A kid can try things in various ways (and sometimes in ways we weren’t expecting). We do not want to hinder their imagination by taking action to correct them. If they don’t damage the goods themselves or anybody else, they don’t need to be disturbed. We may be able to make a mental note to give them their intent at another time. For example, if a child uses a watering can to fill a bowl, we might teach them how to use the watering can to water any plants at a neutral time. Nonetheless, if the child misuses the items, we should move in gently. Of starters, “I can’t let you knock the glass on the ground.” They should either teach them that the glasses are for drinking or give them an exercise that encourages them to utilize their ability, such as pounding a drum or performing a tiny hammer-and-nail operation.

MODIFY IN ORDER TO REACH THEIR STANDARD OR LEVEL

We can be able to adjust the task in order to make things simpler or more challenging. For eg, if our child is struggling to bring shapes into a shape sorter, we will hold the shapes simpler (like a cylinder) and delete the more complicated shapes. And we will build up gradually, incorporating a couple more shapes as our child gains more abilities. Often, for a smaller kid, as there are fewer things in the collection, the attention of the kid decreases. Of starters, in my school, we typically have between five and eight animals in our wooden stable, which is used all the time. We will allow more things accessible as the child grows up.

ARRANGE THE ACTIVITIES FROM THE SIMPLEST TO THE MOST CHALLENGING

Through placing the activities on the shelf in the complexity from left to right, we help the child transition from easy to more complicated things. If they consider the task too challenging, they will go on to the previous operation.

INSTEAD OF DELAYING, USE WHAT IS AVAILABLE 

There is no compelling reason to buy all the materials right now. These are intended simply to offer an indication of the kinds of events that would be of interest to children. Related ones can be created from items that we’ve always been sitting about the building.

Here are few instances: 

  • If our child has interest in knowing how coins go through a trap, cut a small trap through a shoe box and show the child a few large buttons to get into the opening instead of purchasing a coin box.
  • When our child is involved in threading, they will thread dried penne pasta onto a shoe loop with a large knot at the top. 
  • If our child is involved in opening and shutting, gather the old bottles and clean them out so that our child can practice putting the lids on and off. Using outdated wallets or separate button bags. Place some nice things inside to find out.

BE VIGILANT OF TINY PIECES AND SHARP ITEMS

Montessori tasks sometimes include items of small parts, or they can include knives or scissors. Such behaviors will also be tracked. We don’t need to hover — yet we keep checking quietly to make sure they’re healthily utilizing the things.