Nurture Your Child…

By giving them their own freedom to learn and develop, the Montessori way.
Imagine a classroom environment that gives children the freedom to choose their own activities, do the things they want to do when they want to do them, work at their own pace and complete things in their own time.

A classroom that not only teaches your child the essential educational skills they require but also simple and valuable practical skills such as sweeping the floor, setting a table, washing up, learning to tie a bow or even polishing their own shoes.

If you walked into a Montessori classroom this is just what you will find. Children will be doing things for themselves; some will be working in small groups whilst others will be happily working alone. The classroom appears almost child sized – sometimes even the adults look out of place! There are low shelves and cupboards from which the children will be choosing their own work. The children are responsible for maintaining their own environment; picking up tiny pieces of litter they may have dropped, caring for plants, doing the washing up and sometimes even preparing their own food.

For those of you not familiar with Montessori you may be thinking, ‘ok – it sounds like the perfect learning environment, but what is a Montessori classroom?’

Dr Maria Montessori was one of the most influential pioneers in early childhood education in the 20th century. She began her work with children by simply observing how they learned best and went on to base her teaching methods on her observations.

She was born in 1870 and became the first woman to graduate from the Rome Medical School. Through her work as a doctor treating children with special needs, she became interested in education, and because of her medical background she approached education in a more ‘scientific’ way. She observed the children until she came up with ideas of how to work with them using different materials to enable them to achieve their full potential. Her theories were built around the needs of a young child but originally stemmed from her intense love and respect for all children.

Her ideas have become known and recognised throughout the world over the past ninety years and yet still seem fresh, modern and child-centred when encountered for the first time. In the UK alone there are now over 700 Montessori Nursery and Junior Schools.

You will frequently hear Montessori teachers referred to as Directors or Directresses. This is because they ‘direct’ your child towards learning, teaching them how to learn for themselves rather than just ‘dictating lessons’. Children learn to think for themselves and as a result they gain excitement through their own discoveries. These learning discoveries enable a child to recognise the need to conquer problems and tasks, improving their concentration skills and building their self-confidence amongst many other things.

The teachers in a Montessori classroom never shout, never loose their temper, never smack, shake or push a child or even speak crossly. They are pleasant and polite, firm without anger and are able to deal with a situation using sympathy and assistance rather than punishment. Children are shown respect and are never humiliated or laughed at. Maria Montessori’s approach to learning recognises the tremendous capacity and desire of very young children to discover and explore their immediate world. The environment in which they learn helps them to develop self-confidence, independence, self-discipline and a love of learning.

Tiffany Bisby O’Rorke from Hearter Montessori West Cliffe School in Keighley, W.Yorks says, "As a mother and teacher I have seen the enormous benefits of enabling children to become independent and to learn and think for themselves. The biggest difference from mainstream schooling is the high self esteem seen in children who have been through the Montessori pre-school. I aim to provide access for all pupils to a broad based curriculum and a wide range of educational experiences, through the didactic Montessori apparatus as well as employing the best practice from mainstream education."

Maria Montessori favoured contact with plants and animals. She felt this contact was often lacking for children from urban areas. Today’s Montessori classrooms are often alive with plants and animals, all cared for entirely by the children. The feeding, watering, re-potting of plants, cleaning cages and so on provides them with valuable hands-on experience, responsibility, and enjoyment. The Montessori classroom reflects order and structure in various ways. Every piece of equipment has a place and the children always return equipment to its proper spot after use. This way the materials they want to work with can always be found and it is rare that anything is broken or has missing parts. As children learn to develop order and structure in the classroom, they automatically take these skills home with them. Not habits many of us can say come naturally to our children!. If a child wants to use a piece of equipment being used by another child, you will not see tantrums and squabbles, instead children are taught to wait patiently until the other child has finished with it. Consequently, courtesy is developed. Children have the opportunity to work with many of the different Montessori materials available to them, as and when they like. In a typical classroom you may find one child working alone with something from the sensorial shelves, using specially designed materials to encourage development of the senses such as geometric solids or puzzle blocks. There may be a group of children working with practical materials, practicing pouring water, using jugs or pairing socks and folding clothes. Some may be working with Montessori materials that aid in the development of the appreciation of mathematics or on a geography activity such as placing flags on the specially adapted map of Europe. There may be painting, drawing, singing and dancing, and language learning. Two children may be chatting over a glass of milk or water they have poured for themselves. Whatever the area, whether it is practice in the skills of daily living, exercises to refine the senses or language, mathematics, science, nature study, music, art and other cultural subjects presented in the Montessori way, the overall aim is to provide a good and rich experience to assist in nurturing the very being of the child.

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