What is Montessori. Part 5.

Why five year olds thrive at Montessori

As parents and caregivers we all want the very best for our children. We want, and try, to do everything we can to make sure that our children are happy, confident, and successful. With so many choices and opinions it can be a real head swimming mission to know what is “right”. Many parent’s are now choosing to keep their children in a preschool environment until they are six, but how do you decide if this is right for your child?

The advantages of joining the local primary school often seem obvious, especially if you have an older child already attending and doing well. It’s also most likely the choice your family and friends have made, and there is a strong tradition in New Zealand to send children to school as soon as they turn 5. The advantages of staying that extra year from 5-6 at Montessori preschool are numerous, below is a portion of a fantastic article written by Aleksandra Zajac from the Capital Montessori School, who wrote this so eloquently I decided not to reinvent the wheel. Included are some things to think about that might help you make the best decision for your family and your child.

The Montessori 3-6 programme is based on a 3-year cycle.

The Montessori 3-6 programme is based on a 3-year cycle. Your child joins the class as a 2.5 - 3 year old and enjoys the guidance and mentor-ship of his or her older peers - usually the 5 year olds, who know the curriculum, know the class, do all the exciting work with reading slips and bead materials, and show the younger ones just how much there is to look forward to in this environment.

As your child grows, they progress through the Montessori curriculum. They learn to concentrate and make informed choices, and with time, they become that 5-year old leader who can reap the benefits of ‘knowing’ and ‘being there’. From 5-6 they not only develop their academic skills, but they also build and consolidate their sense of self, their self-esteem and resilience, to become self-assured young children ready to enter the second plane of development with confidence - whichever environment you choose for them next!

They will have learnt how to learn and how to find information. Their work with concrete materials to visualise such concepts as ‘thousand’, how many hundreds make a thousand, how to ‘put together’ to do addition, and ‘share equally’ to divide, will gradually allow them to form a mental picture that guides them towards abstract work. By helping the younger children with these kinds of concrete concepts, they consolidate their knowledge and then build on this foundation with our designated five-plus classroom materials such as grammar, the function of the words, analysing sentences in language and all operations in maths.

However, academic progress is not our only our ultimate goal. Our hope is that, by the end of this first cycle, your 6 year old will have an innate enthusiasm for learning and the curiosity to pursue it, and an enormous sense of self-confidence - to feel good about themselves and enjoy their learning journey at whichever school they join.

Montessori children, with all those amazing social benefits, normally easily adapt to all sorts of new situations. At 6, they will be excited and ready to join a new school environment and their mind will be at the stage where imagination, aided by their well-developed confidence and independence, will make them a delight for any future school to have.

It is always such a pleasure to observe the workings of the Bambini classroom and the five year old children we have attending Athenree Montessori. They are caring, respectful, kind, so capable and real leaders. I am consistently blown away by their social competencies, emergent maths and literacy. I believe this is linked directly to the Montessori way of teaching, with the child’s individuality in mind and the smaller adult to child ratios. The Ministry of Education have recognised the benefits of children starting school after five, and fund the 20 hours up to the age of six years old, giving parents a choice about the age for their child to start school to best suit the child. The time-honoured tradition of starting school on your fifth birthday is not always in the best interests of the child, university lecturer and neuro-science / brain development expert Nathan Mikaere-Wallis says.

"Research shows that the majority of children are disadvantaged by starting school at age 5 and the children's brains need them to be physically active as the neuro science shows that movement and learning go together."

What is Montessori? Part 2

The Magic of the Montessori Classroom

A Montessori classroom is a respectful, nurturing, and empowering environment that has been created specifically for children. Tim Seldin (2007) explains that “children who are treated with respect and who are encouraged to try new skills learn more readily to do things for themselves. Montessori taught that a child who feels respected and competent will develop a far greater level of emotional well-being than a child who is simply loved and doted upon. Montessori teachers share a conviction that success in school is directly tied to the degree to which children believe that they are capable, independent human beings.”

In a Montessori classroom children are shown practical life activities, pouring, cutting, sewing, measuring, etc. These practical life activities help with coordination of movement, concentration and following a process, which supports logical thinking. Spending time building these skills are wonderful foundations for future work in maths, which all combine and come together incrementally as children experience their Montessori environment. The classroom resources are designed to promote independence and to build on each other as the children grow and learn. When children develop a meaningful degree of independence, they set a pattern for a lifetime of good work habits, self-discipline and a sense of responsibility.

freedom to learn. In a Montessori classroom there are some basic ground rules about behaviour and tidiness, but beyond these children are are free to choose whatever activity they wish, and to work with it for as long as they want to. They are free to move about, and work alone or with others at will. Much of the time children select work that captures their interest, although teachers help them to choose activities that will present new challenges and new areas of inquiry. When they are finished with an activity they are expected to put the materials back where they belong. The children in a Montessori classroom have a strong sense of belonging. “Children and their families experience and environment where know they have a place. Over time and with guidance and encouragement children become increasingly capable of taking care of this place” Te Whariki 2017

What is Montessori? Part 1

One hundred years ago a young Italian woman devised a new approach to education based on a foundation of encouragement and respect.

Maria Montessori was born in 1870 in Italy, Despite many obstacles, Montessori was the first Italian woman to become a doctor. She went on to teach at the medical school of the University of Rome, and, through its free clinics, came into frequent content with the children of the poor. Through her work she became convinced that all children are born with an amazing human potential, which can develop only if adults provide them with the right stimulation during the first few years of life.

Anxious to prove her point, in 1907 Montessori started to oversee a nursery for working-class children who were too young to go to school. Located in one of Rome’s worst slums, this became her first Casa dei Bambini or “Children’s House”. The conditions were appalling and many of the children who attended were aggressive, impatient, and disorderly.

Montessori began her work by teaching the older children how to help with everyday tasks. To her amazement, three and four year olds took great delight in learning practical living skills. Soon these children were taking care of the school, assisting with the preparation and serving of meals and helping to maintain a spotless environment.

Montessori recognised the children experience a sense of frustration in an adult-sized world, so she had miniature jugs and bowls prepared, and found knives that fit into a child’s tiny hand. She had carpenters build child-sized tables and chairs that were light enough for children to move without adult help. The children loved to sit on the floor, so she provided them little rugs to define their work areas and they quickly learned to walk around them rather than disrupt each others work.

Montessori observed how children respond to a calm and orderly environment in which everything has an allocated place. She watched the children learn to control their movements and gave them the opportunity to develop their sense of independence. Montessori observed the children’s increasing levels of self-respect and confidence as they were taught and encouraged to do things for themselves.

Montessori’s work lives on today. Some people are attracted to the calm, responsible behaviour shown by the students, and appreciate their love for learning. Others applaud the freedom, spontaneity and independence that Montessori gives young children.

Please note: Much of this information was sourced from “How to raise and amazing child, the Montessori way to bring up caring, confident children” by Tim Seldin, President of the Montessori Foundation.