South End Montessori School
A Brief Guide for Parents
The School Curriculum
3 – 6 years
6 – 9 years
9 – 12 years
Our Motto is : “Learning is to live fully”
Introduction
South End Montessori School offers an education based on the philosophy developed by Dr Maria Montessori. Dr Montessori believed that in providing an education for the child, all aspects of the child’s development must be considered equally important. Immense respect for children and guiding them to self-discipline are central to the Montessori philosophy.
The Montessori curriculum reflects a holistic approach to education. In implementing the curriculum, the teacher starts with the whole picture and then concentrates on the details. This ensures children get the overview first and can then fill in the picture as they go. Maria Montessori believed that children should be motivated to learn by pursuing their own interests. Materials are designed based on the developmental stage of the children in order to explore, and self-discover, and also to encourage them, to be active rather than passive learners at all levels. Great emphasis is placed on the prepared environment whereby a structured and fully resourced environment allows students to engage in chosen activities, giving them the freedom to work with a specific task or a piece of equipment as needed. The interaction between the children and their environment is very important. Equally important is the relationship between the child, teacher and parents.
Montessori learning is based on three important cycles of learning and development which is why classes are in 3 year cycles starting at the age of three. The 3-6 year cycle operates as an independent pre-school and the 6-9 and 9-12 year cycles operate from classrooms at South End School. All primary teachers are state registered and have, or are studying for, Montessori qualifications.
The Purpose of Montessori Education
Since Dr Maria Montessori opened her first “Children’s House” in 1907, her then revolutionary ideas and method have been proven effective in studies and in real life. She found that children are full of curiosity and have a natural desire to learn about life, and she devised methods and materials to assist children to cultivate and foster this enthusiasm for learning.
She also came to realise that the best way to accommodate the children’s desire to learn was for adults to provide the right environment, but then to stand back and observe and facilitate, instead of making the children learn when and how it suits the adults.
In the Montessori classroom the objective is to accommodate the child’s development, not to mould it. The Montessori approach is not designed to create ‘geniuses’. Maria Montessori’s ideal was “to give each individual the chance to fulfil his potential to become an independent, secure and balanced human being”. This goal is approached in two ways:
- by allowing the child to make their own choice
- by helping the child to perfect all their natural tools for learning.
All materials found in the Montessori classroom have this dual long range purpose, in addition to their immediate purpose of giving specific information to the child.
Pre-school – The 3-6 years – How do Children Learn?
The use of the materials is based on the young child’s unique aptitude for learning which Dr Montessori identified as the “absorbent mind”. In her writings she frequently compared the young mind to a sponge. They literally absorb information from the environment, an example for this being the way in which a child learns his native language without formal instruction and without any conscious effort.
Over ninety years of experience have proved Montessori’s theory, that a young child can learn to read, write and calculate in the same natural way that he learns to walk and talk. The specialised equipment in the classroom invites him to do this at his own periods of interest and readiness.
Another point Dr Montessori emphasised was that the hand is the chief teacher of the child. In order to learn, the child must develop concentration spans, and the best way a child can concentrate is by fixing his attention on a task he is performing, with his hands.
Sensitive Periods and Readiness
What Montessori calls ‘sensitive periods’ are those periods during which a child shows intense fascination with a particular thing or skill, i.e. going up and down steps, putting things in order, counting or reading. During these times, it is much easier for the child to learn this particular skill than at any other time an adult might choose. This is why particular attention is paid to these sensitive periods in the classroom. The child shows he is ready and interested in a skill – it is then the teacher’s role to facilitate the learning and help the child to achieve what they set out to do.
For this reason the entire curriculum is purposefully structured. It is a unique approach to learning, designed to take advantage of the child’s sensitive years between three and six, when they want to develop certain skills.
The Montessori classroom is designed to represent a child’s world. Wherever possible, everything is geared to the size, pace and interests of the children. Things must be child sized and objects must be within easy reach. The mats are to enable the children to work comfortably on projects on the floor, where they can spread out as much as they feel they need to, yet have a defined space that other children know to respect.
The Montessori materials can be divided into the following main groups:
- The Practical Life Exercises
- The Sensorial Materials
- Language
- Maths
- Cultural materials (including science, geography, botany, zoology, music, art etc)
For the adult it is important to try and view these materials and activities from a child’s perspective. What a grown-up might perceive as a boring chore at home (say, sweeping the floor) is a meaningful activity for a child who wants to do the same as adults do. From an educator’s point of view things look different again: development of gross motor skills, management skills, decision making etc, are skills that the children acquire by doing just those activities.
The Practical Life Exercises
Using the child’s natural inclinations, practical life exercises help the child satisfy her need for meaningful activity. Familiar objects are best: buttons, brushes, dishes, pitchers, water etc which the child is already familiar with from home. Children regard activities such as pouring water, peeling vegetables or wiping a table as their ‘work’, and it is very meaningful to them. Several objectives are met in the practical life area of the classroom:
- By choosing their work, they make decisions and are independent.
- They improve co-ordination and motor skills (e.g. pouring water).
- They spend a long time on a task – thereby lengthening their concentration span.
- By following regular sequences of action they learn to pay attention to detail.
- By finishing each task and putting away all tools clean and ready for the next child to use, they acquire good working habits.
No learning takes place without concentration and attention. Any adult who has observed a child’s complete concentration while polishing or pouring knows that there is serious learning in progress. Sometimes grown-ups wonder whether there is any progress made, if their child seemingly spends a great deal of time on ‘non-academic’ activities. It must be remembered that even simple things such as cutting and posting require a great deal of concentration, dexterity and planning from a child – prerequisites for any future learning.
Sensorial Exercises
The purpose of these exercises is to help the child become aware of details. The ability to discriminate and appreciate is important, as it helps to distinguish, categorise and to relate, new information.
All five senses are used to distinguish, and the sensorial material is designed to assist the children in this.
Each of the sensorial materials isolates one defining quality such as colour, weight, shape, texture, size, sound, smell, etc. In working with the Pink Tower, for example, the child is introduced to size in three dimensions. Children must recognise the gradation in size and build the tower beginning with the largest cube and finishing with the smallest at the top. The Brown Stair introduces the child to differences in size in two dimensions. Here the concept of thick, thicker, thickest and thin, thinner, thinnest is introduced.
The art of listening carefully is not only a quality worth cultivating, but also vital preparation for reading and writing. The Sound Boxes and The Bells are examples for sensorial materials used by the children in the classroom.
Many of the sensorial exercises are also an important muscular activity. For example, each time a child grasps the little knobs when using the Cylinder Block, they do so with the same three fingers which they will later use to hold a pencil. With each exercise they gain control of their small finger muscles eventually required for writing.
The Role of the Teacher
The teacher is, above all, a keen observer of the individual interests and needs of each child. The teacher demonstrates the correct use of materials as they are individually chosen by the children. The teacher watches their progress, takes notes and keeps records. Sometimes the teacher must divert a child who chooses material which is beyond their capability, sometimes they must encourage a child who is hesitant. The teacher lets the child learn through experience and intervenes as little as possible.
Classroom Behaviour
Maria Montessori never equated good behaviour with silence and immobility. There is always a busy hum in a Montessori classroom, but most children display astonishing maturity. The reason for this is that, when a child becomes vitally interested in a particular activity, their behaviour almost always matures. The children are also expected to have respect for each other, the teacher, the material and for the work of others.
Having children aged from three to six together permits the younger children to use the older ones as models for imitation, and the older ones are given an opportunity to reinforce their own knowledge by helping the younger ones.
Maths, Language, Science and Cultural Materials
Pre-School 3 – 6 years.
The child at three, four and five has a unique fascination for words, both printed and spoken. The individual presentation of language materials in a Montessori classroom allows the teacher to take advantage of each child’s greatest periods of interest.
Every parent knows how futile it is to make a child learn or do something they are not ready and willing to do -– and how much easier it is if the decision was made by the child. Writing nearly always precedes reading in a Montessori environment. For this, the large Movable Alphabet is used, where the child forms words, placing the letters beside a familiar object on the mat.
Some children read at four, some at five, and some at six or later. The actual age is not as important as the right moment of readiness. If a child begins too early, they will be discouraged. If they are forced to wait until they have passed their initial period of interest, then they will miss that golden opportunity when they are propelled by their own natural enthusiasm.
Mathematics, geography, grammar, botany and history are also introduced to the children when they show readiness. Those abstract concepts are often easily absorbed – because they are presented with materials that can be manipulated by the children. For example, wooden puzzle maps are used to introduce the child to countries as well as climates and continents. History is presented by drawing time lines with photographs of the children.
Adding, subtracting and fractions are comprehensible when beads can be handled to show what is otherwise abstract.
Primary 6-12 years – What Happens Next?
While young children are more interested in their own activity, older children are social beings and are very interested in the mechanics of social interaction. Children at 6-12 years develop and understand their social selves, their relationships with others and the environment. They are better able to reason, to ask and search for answers to the how and why. Children are interested in the story of the Universe, the history and development of people, and the varied ways people have fulfilled their needs through time. We give them the big picture and their primary years filling in the spaces.
The Montessori curriculum and classroom materials give children the tools and methods to explore and discover the world. Children learn to structure their individual work schedules in conjunction with the teacher. They learn to set targets, achieve goals and meet deadlines. The environment is designed to maximise both independent and small group learning and exploration. The New Zealand curriculum is inter-woven with Montessori at all levels. Children participate in outside activities such as inter-school sports, music concerts, Life Education Trust and frequent field trips.
Disciplines included in the Montessori curriculum are
- biology
- chemistry
- botany
- geology
- geography
- astronomy
- physics
- language
- history
- art
- technology
- mathematics
- geometry
The essential skills and the objectives set out in the New Zealand curriculum and specified by the Ministry of Education are also merged within the Montessori curriculum.
The primary classrooms follow similar layouts to those of the junior school, and a child transitioning to the next class will find many materials they already know how to use.
The children in the older classes take an active role in caring for their environment, taking responsibility for tasks – caring for the plants, washing the dishes, wiping down the tables, shelves, microwave etc.
The relationships that are built up over time are very special, with people knowing each other well, and developing depth of relationships not usually possible – particularly with teachers.
Children who leave us and go on the College, go well prepared for the next step in life. They are often focused, goal orientated, socially adept and ready to take the world by storm!
Just some of the educational opportunities that South End Montessori School offers your child are specialist subjects offered by specialist teachers such as:
- Drama
- Physical education (e.g. swimming)
- Manual training for children in Years 7 & 8
- Ukulele lessons
Further information – Websites:
www.montessori.com
www.montessori.org
www.montessori.co.nz
www.montessoriconnections.com