The Montessori preschool is a special environment designed to allow children to learn at their own pace, discover what it is they want to learn about, and obtain social and cultural awareness and skills at the same time. In a traditional classroom, all the children are taught the same lesson at the same time, and they progress in a group. However, the Montessori method sees each child as an individual and understands that every child learns at his or her own pace.
One standard of the Montessori
preschool is the "prepared
environment", a term used to describe the
learning environment used at Montessori schools. In this environment, children
will learn and work on different things at the same time. One child might be
working on multiplication or letter recognition, while another may be learning
about cultural music from a particular country. The Montessori preschool
teachers will "follow the child", a Montessori phrase used to
describe the process of taking the child's lead as far as what he or she wants
to learn, and recognizing when that child is ready to move up a level in a
certain subject. This environment allows children to learn at their own pace,
discover what interests them, and develop skills they will continue to use for
the rest of their lives.
Another defining feature of the
Montessori preschool is its emphasis on leadership. Dr. Maria Montessori
devised a learning environment in which older children tutor and help younger
children while younger children model successful behaviors of older children.
This helps both the younger and older child and helps each become more
self-reliant and compassionate members of society.
The Montessori preschool is full
of specific materials designed for the Montessori program,
including beaded cubes that can be manipulated and are scaled appropriately so
that the hundreds cube is ten times larger than the tens rod, and so on. This
provides the child with a foundation for future math lessons while learning the
physical implications of math in the real world.
Your child is unique and deserves
to follow the path on which he or she learns best. This will help your child
flourish. A Montessori preschool is designed to provide enough guidance to
ensure education and safety, but enough freedom to allow your child to become
the person he or she was born to be.
If you’d like to learn more about
our preschool program, contact the Montessori Children’s Center
in Fremont today.