By the end of their Montessori education, students have become confident and curious learners who are eager for a new challenge. We noticed that students are engaged and ready to learn. While the environment will definitely be different in a traditional school system, students tend to adapt fairly quickly and are able to interact with their peers and succeed in the classroom.

An understandable concern is that by having multiple ages in a single classroom, a teacher’s t Montessori programs are designed in a way to address the developmental characteristics of each individual child, regardless of age.

Classrooms are grouped in to children’s spanning into 2 to 3 years of their age because this system allows younger students to learn and adapt naturally from older children, while older children in turn feel empowered by their roles as a role model for someone else. Additionally, since each child learns at their own, they are given individual attention and lessons that are designed on their capabilities rather than a prescribed schedule that may not be suited to that child. Staying together for a span of 3 years also help children to remain stable within a group, giving them a sense of community & togetherness.

The Montessori curriculum is designed in such a way that teachers will spend time teaching lessons in small groups rather than the whole class at same time. A key point of this process is that this allows a child to meet his or her specific needs while also developing an interest in learning basic skills enough to make them want to work with the material on their own in the future. As Montessori teachers spend time with each child they will also continuously review the child’s progress and since they normally work with each child for two or three years, they get to know the student’s strengths, weaknesses, interests, and personalities extremely well.

Dr. Montessori believed that teachers should focus on the child as holistic individual, and not solely the lesson plan of the day. In its purest form, a Montessori education is a preparation for life, allowing a child to develop his or her independence, confidence, and curiosity.

Montessori is a sensory-based education and the children are effortlessly able to classify and categorize the work that they do. Montessori teachers lead children to ask questions, explore, investigate, and discover new ideas for themselves.

The overall curriculum is sequential in nature, starting from concrete sensorial experiences to developing an abstract understanding of the world. A Montessori education prepares the child to be a socially engaged through their personal experiences. The objective is to help children learn independently and retain their curiosity, creativity, and intelligence with which they can face real life situations.

Maria Montessori was an Italian physician, educator, and innovator, acclaimed for her educational method that builds on the way children naturally learn. She opened the first Montessori school—the Casa dei Bambini, or Children’s House—in Rome on January 6, 1907. Subsequently, she traveled the world and wrote extensively about her approach to education.

The Montessori education is made up of a very specific curriculum with activities in the areas of Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Math, Science, Art, Geography, and Cultural . Teachers work with the children on sequential presentations of exercises in every area, while also allowing the child to grow and learn and their own pace.

 Practical Life

The Practical Life area is designed to help the child develop coordination, concentration,  personal independence, and a sense of order. The Practical Life materials challenge the child to concentrate, work at her own pace uninterrupted, and to complete a cycle of work which typically results in the feelings of satisfaction and confidence. Practical Life helps children to care for person & environment, Grace & courtesy while gaining control of movements. 

Sensorial

The Sensorial (sensory) area is created to help guide the nervous system process information from all five senses. When these inputs flow in an organized manner, the brain can use these sensations to form perceptions, behavior, and learning. Sensorial work helps children to create gradations of color, dimension, sound, tactile impressions, comparisons of smell and taste, geography, and geometry. 

Language

In the Language section, children begin to understand the letters of alphabet by not only the sound they make, but also how it feels it feels to write them by tracing sandpaper letters. After learning the letters, students then move towards a ‘moveable alphabet’ which allows the child to reproduce his or her own words, phrases, sentences, and even stories. Children also learn non-phonetic spelling and grammar, which is crucial for developing their reading and writing skills.

Math

Mathematics begins with introducing numbers, shapes and mathematical operations. A child first learns abstract mathematical concepts by learning to add, subtract, multiply and divide with the use of concrete materials. Through these sensory experiences, children are able to understand the concepts of distance, dimension, graduation, and sequencing.