The
Montessori School Environment
Children
love a Montessori classroom environment. They like the opportunity
to be with other children of their own age, and they like having
so many interesting things to do. The room is attractive, with
many carefully designed materials and activities from which
they are free to engage themselves in. Montessori teachers are
trained to care and guide, be patient and constructive in helping
the children to grow. Always teaching respect and positive values
through their modeling as well as through the way they teach.
Children like the teacher and the classroom.
A
Montessori classroom is well organised, with the intention of
making all the materials visible and accessible for the children
to find what they want and work without having to wait for the
teacher. It is an exciting place to be. There are many interesting
and beautiful resources for children to work, play and learn
through an active process. The materials set out in the room
are carefully designed with an educational purpose in mind.
The children are free to move from activity to activity. The
children can use the resource materials to make their own books,
draw their own maps, and develop their own projects. The children
are always engaged in purposeful activity which leads and develops
the intelligence. The classroom is a busy and happy place to
be.
The teachers are free to help individuals or in small groups.
The teachers job is to prepare the classroom, set out
the materials, and then observe the children and determine how
to help. The teacher does not need to test the children because
it is easy to see how the children are doing by observing their
activities and guiding them to grow. The classroom is activity-centred
rather than teacher-centred.
An
inviting classroom atmosphere allows the child to experience
the joy of learning and help them gain an understanding of self,
develop sensitivity to others and master the tools and skills
needed to pursue knowledge independently. Authentic Montessori
education to children as by Dr. Maria Montessori are :
- Practical
Life Learn to perform daily task, such as, developing the
independence and sense of responsibility of the child and
also physical coordination.
-
Sensorial Develop the sensory-motor capabilities of the five
senses. Sensorial education also provides the basis for other
areas of development.
-
Language & Phonics English and Chinese language skills
in hearing, speech, reading, writing and drama. The phonetic
approach using sandpaper letters and the word-building kits
takes new readers basic matching, word recognition and phrase-reading
exercises to the point where they can confidently tackle sentences
and stories.
-
Mathematics Montessori arithmetic is taught as early as three,
by giving the child objects to hold, count and manipulate.
These help him learn the fundamentals of simple addition,
subtraction, multiplication and division to ensure a good
math foundation before the child enters Primary One.
-
Cultural Geography, history and science concepts are illustrated
by simple experiment, charts, stories and educational excursions.