montessori
Spring 2012
Montessori Education By: Christina Miller: President Millhopper Montessori School, LLC
What’s Inside: SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL PAGE 3 CONFERENCES PAGES 6-7 MENTAL HEALTH CORNER PAGE 8-9 CLASS UPDATES PAGES 10-39 PTO WINE & CHEESE RECAP PAGE 42-43 CALENDAR PAGE 44
Montessori, a developmental approach to learning, is a tried-and-tested curriculum. Each Montessori school is independent from the next, however, and should be observed for its unique qualities and differences. The following is an explanation not only of the Montessori philosophy but the particular program found at Millhopper Montessori School. The Montessori philosophy is designed around four planes of development of about equal length from birth to maturity. Each plane identifies special psychological characteristics. Making use of these developmental planes in an educational environment enables a child’s natural tendencies to enhance his potential. A Montessori school is more than a classroom. It is an environment that allows for an appropriate amount of liberty. It is also a micro-society that places children in multi-age classrooms. This is one of Montessori’s greatest strengths. Multi-age groupings foster team teaching, cooperative learning, less elimination of grade retention, and flexible pacing. Flexible pacing includes any program in which students are taught material that is appropriately challenging for their ability and allows them to move forward in the curriculum as they master content and skills. For able learners, flexible pacing generally means moving the student up to advanced content or by moving advanced content down to the student. This enables all students to progress through school at a pace that provides a steady challenge without frustration or unreasonable pressure. By consciously bringing children together in a group large enough to allow for about half or more of the children to return every year, continuity is promoted along with the development of a very different level of relationship between children and their teachers, as well as children and their peers. In preschool, Montessori education provides the child with the freedom to select what attracts him in his environment and to work without interruption for as long as he likes. This brings about healthy freedom which can only exist in an environment with large uninterrupted time blocks. These large time blocks are compatible with Montessori’s emphasis on the use of carefully designed manipulatives. Through the repetitive use of these materials, children learn by discovery. There has been much research in the past thirty years on the importance of manipulative learning tools. Manipulatives refer to objects that can be touched and moved by students to introduce or reinforce a concept. Children learn best through active, handson activities with concrete materials. Individuals with different learning styles rely to different degrees on auditory, visual, and kinesthetic cues and spontaneous investigation (close observation, experimentation, and inquiry).
QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER FROM MILLHOPPER MONTESSORI SCHOOL
In the elementary years at Millhopper Montessori School, structure is adjusted to include required work with built-in choices that encompass different learning styles. Some of the most important lessons take advantage of what Montessori called the “impressionistic” approach; that is, a lesson or demonstration designed through the use of the child’s imagination to make a lasting impression. At this age level, small group instruction occurs more often as the students move gradually away from the hands-on materials towards higher imagination and abstraction.