Some differences between traditional childcare and Montessori Childcare
The Prepared Environment: The Prepared environment or Classroom is one of the most important aspects of the Montessori Method. The Classroom or prepared environment is a neat, orderly, consistent place where children feel safe to explore, learn and develop – essentially it is seen as the second teacher! Once you walk into a Montessori Classroom, you should feel calm, relaxed and attracted to what is on display on the shelves around you. The children should feel as though this is their space and subsequently they will take pride in caring for the upkeep of their environment. Activities are kept in their own particular spots and once a child works with the activity, they must return it to its spot. Reasons for this include, respecting the activity, ensuring the next child knows where the activity is when they want to do it and it also helps to keep the environment neat, tidy and orderly!
Joy of learning: Let me start by telling you a true story that happened to me a couple of years ago when I was teaching. A young boy named Matthew aged 4 and I were beginning our journey learning about the concept of thousand units – comparing the weight of a thousand beads to one bead, how it looks visually in concrete form and also how to write it, what each number represents. We got as far as the initial presentation and the time was running out before we had to pack away so I told Matthew “Tomorrow, we will do the Bank Game, where you can chose a friend to work with you to actually collect the number of beads that it states on the cards!” He was just so excited!
The next morning, he is first at the door waiting to come in, I opened the door, his mother rushes in asking if they were late… I said late for what? She said for the bank game… It’s all Matthew has been talking about all night, he was the first one up this morning in our house asking to go to preschool! I giggled to myself and the biggest sense of pride washed over me… I explained what we were doing to his mom and she couldn’t believe it! Her son was that excited to learn about math! There you have it, the purest example of the joy of learning!
Mixed Aged Groups: My favourite aspect of the Montessori environment is the mixed aged groups. Our classrooms are more of a community of everyone helping each other, teaching each other and learning from each other. No one is superior, no one person knows everything!
The younger children watch the older children completing complex activities and they get inspired and excited to accomplish what these older children are doing. When a younger child comes to me and asks if they can do what an older child does it is fantastic! We are then able to say to the child, when you can do x, y and z, you too can do what that child is doing! Watching that child work so hard at all the other activities so that she can do that particular activity is incredible! That is perseverance and dedication! The younger children are always being inspired by the older children.
As for the older children, the mixed age groups is an essential part of their learning too. The steps to really learning a new skill – being presented/shown the skill, practising the skill, mastering the skill and then show the skill to others. Children like to show others what they can do! Why not, they worked hard on it! So when an older child develops a new skill or masters a new activity, they then can pass this knowledge onto a younger peer. Children learn quicker from their peers. It gives the older child an immense sense of confidence and promotes their self-esteem when they can become the teacher! They must now use different language, they will learn what language needs to be used when presenting a new activity or skill to someone – Language we hope will continue with them throughout their lives and into their careers and parenting.
Independence: We encourage and strive to give children every opportunity to develop their independence. In a world that equates doing everything for your child and giving your child whatever they want is showing them love, we need to make sure our school is a haven where they are encouraged to be independent, to do things for themselves, to ensure they feel that sense of pride and responsibility and achievement. Maria Montessori says “Never do for a child what he can do himself”. I wholeheartedly believe that. When you cut something for a child, open something for a child, put shoes on your child, dress your child – the only thing you are showing them, is that you can do it better than them. Encourage them to try it for themselves without any expectations of perfection.
Movement: Children have an inbuilt human tendency for movement. They want to move, explore, touch, feel and experience different things. This is highly encouraged in a Montessori Classroom. Children move freely around the classroom, choosing their own activities that interest them. Instead of learning abstract concepts, they are now learning by touching, smelling, tasting, seeing and by being involved.