Principles of Montessori
Over 100 years ago, Maria Montessori, an Italian educator, pioneered a teaching pedagogy that was
a game changer for the formative years of children’s life. Her methodology was centred around
the children she taught and not the books she was teaching from.
The Montessori approach
is holistic and aims at the overall development of a child. Essential to the approach is the
belief that a child’s early years from birth to six are the period when they have the greatest
capacity to learn.
Emphasis on customisable nature of the curriculum
- Personal, Social & Emotional Development
- Communication, Language & Literacy
- Problem Solving, Reasoning & Numeracy
- Knowledge & Understanding of the World
- Physical & Creative Development
- Exercises to Develop Manipulative Skills & Coordination
- Exercise for Self Care and to Promote Self-development
- Exercises for the Care of the Environment
Enhancing Practical Life Skills
There is a wonderful peace and quietness throughout the classroom brought about through
concentration on the task in hand. Many of the early exercises use objects often found around
the home, such as small jugs for the ever popular pouring activities; dusting and polishing
exercises; folding and buttoning activities to name just a few. These are designed to teach the
children life skills, increase their dexterity and concentration. As the children are familiar
with the objects used, this will help them to make a smooth transition from home to
school.
As your child gets older they will be introduced to the Montessori materials
specifically designed to help develop their sensory awareness and ability to make finer
discrimination in size, shape and colour, for example. These are later followed by materials
ingeniously designed to develop the child’s concrete understanding of Language, Math and all the
other areas of the curriculum. When reintroduced to these concepts in their primary school, this
physical understanding will be invaluable to them.
