The Montessori Method of education was developed by Dr. Maria Montessori (1870-1952), an Italian physician and educator.
The Montessori Program is designed as a three year program to achieve the full benefits. During that critical third year, when a child is about five years old, the transition from the physical world, where the child can develop motor skills and senses with self-teaching and self-correcting materials, into the abstract world of ideas and concepts usually happens. Many Montessori educators call it the "explosion into learning." This is the period when all the learning absorbed by the child during the previous years of training suddenly fit together, makes sense, and the child begins reading, writing, doing math, and showing other spurts of intellectual growth.
The Montessori School of Champaign-Urbana features the following programs:
For a child, the years between birth and six years are perhaps the most important ones. In these years, there are definite periods when the child has special aptitudes and can learn effortlessly. The Montessori School offers learning experiences to help the child satisfy his/her needs during these sensitive periods.
Freedom is a goal, not a starting point. The Montessori concept of discipline is that of inner-discipline. It is a control, which the child develops over his/her own behavior through interest in work with the Montessori materials. Self-discipline fosters creativity. A child's freedom of movement is essential to the Montessori Method of education. Dr. Montessori believed that children, like butterflies, should not be pinned to a chair.
The directress guides but does not dominate the child. She prepares the environment. She knows when to introduce new materials and when to offer help. She respects the inner rhythm of the child. She aims to foster independence and free choice of spontaneous activity.
The Montessori School affords the child many stimulations and exercises his/her senses in an orderly and controlled manner. The Montessori materials have been designed to provide a wide variety of learning experiences for the developmental needs of each child. The materials are arranged on low shelves so the the child has freedom of choice of his/her activity. Through working with the materials, which are self-corrective, the child becomes a secure, confident, independent learner. He/She experiences a deep inner-satisfaction, which leaves him/her with a positive attitude toward school and learning.
The Sensorial activities call for the manipulation of a wide variety of specially designed apparatus. Intriguing tasks involve the use of large and small muscles. The activities, besides developing the child's senses, allow him/her to develop powers of judgment, discrimination and decision-making.
The Academic materials prepare the child for future studies. The child can freely choose materials for learning reading, writing, spelling, grammar, science, math and social studies and can progress at his/her own pace. In the Montessori School, tasks are programmed so that each new step is built on what the child has already mastered. Success with learning builds the child's self-confidence.
In addition to the sensorial and academic materials, there are the materials for exercises in practical life. Through these exercises, the child increases his/her attention span and powers of concentration and the child learns self-responsibility and care of the environment.
The Montessori Method has been found to be very effective in helping the child develop habits of initiative and persistence. It gives the child the opportunity to make decisions and discernments and fosters in the child an abiding curiosity — an essential element in creative learning.
For more information about the Montessori Method, visit these websites:
Montessori Online: From the Montessori Foundation
Visit the Montessori School of Champaign-Urbana Website: http://www.montessorischoolofcu.org