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Montessori PreschoolChildren under six have extraordinary powers of mind. They have a once-in-a- lifetime ability to absorb knowledge from their surroundings just by living. They take in their environment- the physical space, the language and movement of adults and children- with what Montessori called the “absorbent mind”. The absorbent mind is at its peak receptivity during the preschool years.
Because of the absorbent mind, preschool-age children do not need direct teaching in order to learn. The Montessori preschool classroom therefore allows them to move, touch, manipulate and explore. It gives them the freedom to choose their own work without the interference from an adult. In this environment, they learn to work independently, based on their own initiative, which builds concentration and self-discipline. Before Montessori made these discoveries, it was generally taken for granted that many subjects- geometry, botany, zoology, grammar, geography etc. were limited to older children. But Montessori education reveals the extraordinarily high level of learning- both conscious and unconscious- that can come with ease to children under the age of six. Furthermore, Montessori early childhood education not only enhances young children’s knowledge in the present; it also establishes the foundation for true comprehension on a more abstract level later in life. The Montessori preschool classroom is made up of children of mixed ages. Three- four- and five-year-olds all share the same classroom, and each child usually has the same teacher for three years. The mixed-age grouping of children corresponds to Maria Montessori’s theory of child development, which is based on three-year cycles. In the multi-age setting the children learn from each other, and they learn because of each other. Younger children get a chance to look ahead and see what is coming next by watching the older children. Older children have the opportunity to reinforce their knowledge by sharing it with younger children. Because of their constant interaction, the children learn to take responsibility for themselves and for each other. They also learn to get along with children of different ages and abilities, to respect each other’s work and workspace, and to treat each other with courtesy. They learn to excuse themselves, to greet each other, and to phrase requests politely. They also take an active role in maintaining their classroom by, among other things, putting materials away in their proper place, ready for the next child to use. In short, the classroom becomes a living community where children are treated with respect and dignity and want to treat others in the same way. In addition to being a child-centered community, the Montessori preschool classroom is also a “prepared environment”. The prepared environment is Maria Montessori’s concept that the environment can be designed to facilitate maximum independent learning and exploration by the child. The Montessori preschool is a “living room” for children. All of the furniture is child-sized and all of the materials are scaled to fit the physical dimensions of a preschooler’s body. The space is usually divided into four distinct areas: practical life, sensorial, mathematics, and language. Although these areas represent the parts if the curriculum, it is important to remember that no subject is taught in isolation. The Montessori preschool curriculum is interdisciplinary and interactive. In the prepared environment there is a variety of activity as well as well as a great deal of movement. A three-year-old, for example, way be washing clothes by hand while a four-year-old nearby is composing words and phrases with letters known as the movable alphabet. Although much of the work at this stage of development is done individually, often children enjoy working on an activity with friends. Sometimes the entire class is involved in a group activity, such as storytelling, singing, or movement. Maria Montessori wrote that an adult works to perfect the environment while the child works to perfect herself. The Montessori prepared environment respects and protects the child’s rhythm of life. It is calm, ordered space constructed to meet her needs and match her scale of activity. Here, the child experiences a blend of freedom and discipline in a place especially designed for her development. All of the materials for each area are arranged invitingly on low, open shelves. The children have access to the materials. They may choose what they like throughout the entire open-work time, usually about three hours, and they may work for as long as the material holds their interest. When they are finished with the material, they return it to the shelf from which it came. The materials themselves invite activity. There are bright arrays of solid geometric forms; knobbed puzzle maps metal insets and various specialized rods and blocks. Each material in a Montessori classroom isolates one quality. In this way, the concept that the child is to discover is isolated. For example, the material known as the pink tower is made up of ten pink cubes of varying sizes. The child constructs a tower with the largest cube on the bottom and the smallest on the top. This material isolates the concept of size. The cubes are all the same color and texture; the only difference in their size. Other materials isolate different concepts: color tablets for color, geometry for form etc. Moreover, the materials are self-correcting. When a piece does not fit or is left over, the child easily perceives the error. There is no need for adult “correction”. The child is able to solve the problem by himself, building independence, analytical thinking and the satisfaction that comes from true accomplishment. As the child’s exploration continues, the materials interrelate and build upon each other. For example, various relationships can be explored between the pink tower and the broad stairs, which are based on precise dimensions. Even later, in the elementary years, new aspects of some of the same materials unfold. The child may, for instance, return to the pink tower and discover that its cubes progress incrementally from one cubic centimeter to one cubic centimeter. Practical lifeAs every parent knows, the preschool child wants to be with adults, to take part in the activities of daily adult life. The Montessori practical life materials allow him to do just that. When a child enters the preschool at three years of age, the practical life area provides the link between home and school. In the classroom, with child-sized tools that really work, the young child is able to perform the same activities he has seen adults do; polishing, scrubbing, pouring, sweeping. The pace is unhurried, and an adult is nearby to help if needed but not to interfere. A thee year old is, of course more interested in the scrubbing motion of washing a table than he is in getting the table clean. The motions help him to gain gross motor control and hand-eye coordination, which will enable him to perform more successively in more precise tasks. In the Montessori classroom, there are four distinct groups of practical life exercises:
It is often difficult for adults to appreciate the sense of accomplishment and pride that children take in mastering practical life skills. To the adult, care of the house and body are necessary chores. The young child, however, is attracted to these activities for very different reasons. They are meaningful, creative, filled with intricate movements and achievements that hold the child’s attention. They are easily understood from start to finish; they have visible, easily imitated movements; they appeal to the child’s will; they lead to greater physical skill, perfection of movement and concentration. The young child Is attracted to the practical life exercises because these activities allow her to function independently in the adult world. After learning how to button her coat, tie her shoes, and wash her hands, she spontaneously repeats the exercises, working on mastery, free from unnecessary adult intervention. These exercises correspond to the child’s sensitive period for refinement of movement and coordination as well as her growing sense of independence. “I can do it by myself” is the motto of the young child, and Montessori encourages and fosters this independence. Sensorial: Exploring the WorldThe world is color, size, dimension, shape, form, sound, touch, taste, and smell. Children live in a world of senses. In order to continue their creative task of development, children need to classify and express the impressions they have already received, Through sight, touch, sound, taste, and smell, the Montessori materials enable the child to clarify, classify, and comprehend their world. The concepts of long and short, for example, are perceived in the red rods of varying lengths. Likewise, rough and smooth are experienced by touching rough sandpaper and smooth paper. Later these lessons are repeated with the sandpaper globe, helping the child to distinguish between land (rough) and water (smooth). The child gains tools and knowledge to complete and understand his sensory exploration of the world: leaf and flower shapes, geometric polygons and solids, three-dimensional land and water forms, cutout maps, and painted globe. Besides enabling a child to clarify and internalize such concepts as size, shape, color, taste and sound, the sensorial materials also provide a basis for the development of other skills, such as music, mathematics, or language. Tracing a sandpaper letter m with his finger, a child not only sounds out the symbol m but also feels it! Later the muscles of his hand will remember the tracing motion as he writes the letter. Montessori sensorial materials, by appealing directly to the young child’s active e sensory antennae, make learning a natural result of the child’s desire to explore. Mathematics: From Concrete to AbstractPreschool-aged children have naturally mathematical minds. They have the capacity to reason, to calculate, and to estimate. They are intensely conscious of quantity, counting pebbles on the beach or cookies for desert. The concrete Montessori mathematical materials allow these sensorial explorers to begin their mathematical journey from the concrete to the abstract through manipulation, experimentation and invention. Rods, spindles, cards, beads, cubes, and counters are some of the concrete tools used to symbolize mathematical abstractions. The child does not merely learn to count; she understands the concept of “how many” because she holds the amount in her hands. Likewise, she is able to perform the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division using concrete materials. She is also presented with possibilities of fact memorization at a young age when combinations like “3 + 2 = 5” offer a real fascination and can be absorbed readily. Like all Montessori materials, the mathematics materials build on each other in increasing complexity so that the child using them will experience the thrill of discovery for herself as part of a natural progression. Language: From Spoken to WrittenThe Montessori Preschool classroom emphasizes spoken language as the foundation for all linguistic expression. Throughout the entire Montessori environment, the child hears and uses precise vocabulary for all the activities, learning the names of textures, geometric shapes, composers, plants, mathematical expressions, and so on. In addition, certain materials in the language area are particularly supportive of spoken language. The materials for written language first introduce the chills to the marvelous twenty-six letters of the alphabet and their sounds, which make it possible for us to express ourselves in writing. Later, the child may begin composing words, sentences, and whole stories using the moveable alphabet. At this developmental stage, the child is fascinated with the relationships between letters that form words, the order of words in a sentence, and even the grammatical analysis of the parts of a sentence. Writing and eventually reading are often acquired spontaneously, sometimes accompanied by explosions if activity and joyous exclamations: “I can write!” “I can read!” Art and Music: Integrated into the Prepared EnvironmentThe Arts are not treated as specialty subjects in Montessori. Instead, art and music, activities are viewed as forms of self-expression, and, as such, they compliment and enhance the children’s ongoing explorations, including the enrichment of vocabulary. The materials for art and music are integrated into the prepared environment as part of the day-to-day activities of the children. Various media, such as crayons, chalk, pencils, paint, clay, textiles, and a variety of papers, are available as are the opportunities for singing, humming, dancing, beating time, playing instruments, moving to rhythms, and even songwriting. |
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In order to be calm and happy, children under six need to explore and discover. They see the world through “new” eyes and are therefore curious about everything. And since they learn by touching and manipulating objects, they want to touch everything! They are keenly attuned to everything that stimulates their senses: shape, sounds, smells, textures, and tastes. They also respond to order because of their innate need to know where things belong and how pieces fit together. They want to master the movements of their bodies by learning to balance, run skip, and jump.