Child-Centered Approach To Build Confidence and Independence
Montessori education is a fundamentally child-centered approach to early learning which builds around the developing interests and learning needs of the individual child. It provides children with a rich and diverse learning environment, indoor and outdoor, and has the capacity for the widest range of learner interaction: self-directed, child-to-child, child group, and adult-child. Freedom of choice and independence are at the very heart of Montessori, and in this learning environment, children grow into confident and enthusiastic learners.
The Role of Teachers & Assistants
Montessori education does not tell a child what activity to do, when, where or for how long. But this does not mean that it is passive – quite the opposite: as the children work and interact in the learning environment the Montessori teacher constantly observes, records, and assesses each child’s development and developing interests in order to create a tailor-made series of activities for them. The teacher and assistants work together quietly as a team to provide help only where and when it is needed.
Unique Learning Materials
The unique Montessori learning materials give children experiences of abstract concepts in the concrete form. Number, shape, weight and ratio, for example, are complicated mathematical ideas for a young child to grasp without respective solid learning materials to help their understanding, and so their enjoyment, of arithmetic. One set of learning materials are called the Binomial and Trinomial Cubes – they are wooden cubes made up of different sized and coloured wooden blocks that represent the algebraic formula for finding the volume of a cube. Children learn to reconstruct the cubes with the blocks and although different configurations are possible, the algebraic formula remains the same and by overcoming the challenge of construction the child is able to build valuable mathematical awareness. Solid objects and tactile graphemes are used to link spoken language to the written form and as we use the phonic approach – teaching the sounds in words – children will in many cases spontaneously begin reading once a sufficient degree of awareness has been reached.