Gore Range Montesssori - Edwards

The Montessori philosophy and curriculum is based on the life and work of Maria Montessori who founded the first Montessori school in Italy in 1907. Through her extensive research and observations of the development of young children, Montessori discovered what she described as the absorbent mind. Every child starting at birth absorbs the sensory input that surrounds him. This sensory input, such as sounds, visual impressions or tactile impressions, is stored in the childs mind for future use. As the child reaches the age of 3, he continues to absorb sensory information, but now his mind is beginning to organize, categorize and make sense of this information. As parents, or as adults who have spent some time with young children, we have seen the absorbent mind at work and often heard the comment that a child is like a sponge. In order to enable the childs absorbent mind, the Montessori program offers a sensory rich environment in which a child can explore and absorb in order to learn.

Another discovery of Maria Montessoris was that of a childs sensitive periods. As we observe a child absorbing information from around her, we also see that each child progresses through different periods of interest and increased sensitivity to a certain area of learning. For example, when an infant learns to crawl usually at around 8-10 months of age, she is often attracted to crawling up stairs. No matter how often an adult removes the infant from the stairs, she will keep heading back to the stairs. This is the infants sensitive period for learning the motor skills related to crawling and mobility. A Montessori environment fosters a childs natural progression through her sensitive periods for skills like independence, order, language, and motor development by including six curriculum areas: Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Math, Science and Geography and Culture. The child is invited to move freely from one area of interest to another.

One of the strongest sensitive periods for a child between the ages of 2 and 6 years is that for independence. If you have parented a 2 year old, you are very familiar with the phrase Me do it! The Montessori environment is a safe, well-prepared environment in which a childs independence is encouraged and developed. The prepared environment enables the child to choose his work independently and move freely from one interest to the next without requiring adult assistance. In addition, within the Montessori classroom, the child is expected to take care of his personal needs through tasks such as dressing or changing himself, preparing his own snack, setting the table for lunch, etc.

The Montessori program is very different from the traditional education program; therefore, it assumes different responsibilities for the teachers. The Montessori teacher is responsible for preparing the classroom to ensure that it offers opportunities for each child to follow her interests and needs. In addition, the teacher utilizes a detailed record keeping system to track each child as she progresses through the classroom materials. Lastly, the teacher serves as a guide to the child by connecting her to materials and work pertinent to that childs level of development and interest.

Another emphasis of the Montessori philosophy is that of respect and responsibility. The young child is transitioning from being entirely focused on himself and his needs to becoming aware of others around him. The first community for the child is his family, and the second community is his school. Within a Montessori program, the child is expected to respect his community of peers and the classroom environment by accepting responsibility for it. This is demonstrated through daily peer interaction, conflict resolution at the Peace Table, acknowledging another childs workspace, handling the classroom materials with care, and replacing work how and where it belongs so it is ready for the next child. The child also helps take care of the environment through activities such as watering the plants, feeding the class pet, gardening, cleaning and recycling.

Through her research and observations, Montessori uncovered natures own educational process. The traditional educational model assumes that it is the adults responsibility to form the child. On the contrary, Montessori has shown that it is in fact natures responsibility to form the child. Nature accomplishes this by giving the child the means by which to form herself, and it is the adults responsibility to enable nature to take its course because by nature, the child seeks for independence by means of work; an independence of body and mind. Little he cares about the knowledge of others; he wants to acquire a knowledge of his own, to have experience of the world, and to perceive it by his own unaided efforts (Montessori, Absorbent Mind 91). In other words, a child learns through her own experiences. Montessori offers a safe and appropriate environment that encourages these learning experiences.