Montessori Curriculum | Montessori Academy Childcare (2024)

FAQs

What are the 5 areas of the Montessori curriculum? ›

The Montessori Curriculum offers children five key areas of study: Practical Life, Sensorial, Mathematics, Language, and Cultural Studies. Each area of study is made up of a set of educational materials that increase in complexity.

The Montessori approach to childcare is based on the belief that children learn best through their own experience and that education should be tailored to meet each child's unique needs and abilities.

Montessori education takes a holistic approach: social, emotional, and physical development alongside academic success. Daycare centers, on the other hand, may prioritize a certain area of development, such as academic advancement, while disregarding other areas entirely.

The Montessori classroom is referred to as the prepared environment. It is a meaningfully structured learning space where everything has a purpose and a place. Furniture is light and child-sized, learning materials are designed to fit in children's hands, and everything is designed to be open and accessible.

The four pillars, such as sensitive periods, a prepared environment, sensory education, and spontaneous activity through repetition, which play a significant part in teaching guidelines, were explained in the guidelines that were described by (Catherine et al., 2020) .

Traditional classrooms often emphasize disembodied education and memorization with seated book learning. To the contrary, the Montessori approach embraces embodied education, the philosophy that movement and learning are tied together. Montessori learning is hands-on, experiential, and investigative.

About the Classrooms

The classroom is prepared by the teacher to encourage independence, freedom within limits, and a sense of order. The child, through individual choice, makes use of what the environment offers to develop himself, interacting with the teacher when support and/or guidance is needed.

In a traditional preschool, kids more or less learn the same things at the same time, in the same ways, and are expected to meet the same benchmarks. Montessori preschools are focused more on individualized learning. There is less overall structure and more freedom for children to learn at their own pace.

Children in Montessori settings develop natural interests, without formal time-restricted timetables. They also benefit from enhanced social interaction and hands-on independent learning. Children can harness their curiosity in a Montessori nursery, which cultivates a life-long love of learning.

In addition to traditional educational training, Montessori teachers obtain additional certifications to work in the highly specialized environment. In order to attract and retain quality educators, tuition is often higher to compensate them for their knowledge and experience.

What type of child does best in Montessori? ›

Montessori education sparks curiosity in children by allowing them to explore and discover the world around them in a hands-on, experiential way. Naturally curious children who desire to learn will thrive in a Montessori environment. Montessori education also emphasizes collaboration and social skills.

This approach to learning is “hands-on.” Dr. Maria Montessori believed (and modern science has affirmed) that moving and learning are inseparable. In the prepared classroom, children work with specially designed manipulative materials that invite exploration and engage the senses in the process of learning.

Montessori curriculum is different from traditional classroom curriculum that focuses on children learning the same thing, at the same time, in the same way. Montessori curriculum emphasizes learning as a process that cannot be determined by a child's age.

Montessori is a method of education that is based on self-directed activity, hands-on learning and collaborative play. In Montessori classrooms children make creative choices in their learning, while the classroom and the highly trained teacher offer age-appropriate activities to guide the process.

At Casa Dei Bambini Montessori School, we wholeheartedly believe in these five guiding principles that underpin the Montessori philosophy: respect for the child, the absorbent mind, sensitive periods, the prepared environment, and auto education.

We all consider sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell as our basic senses. Dr. Montessori delved more deeply when developing her classroom materials to give experiences using ALL our senses: Visual/Sight - our ability to differentiate objects by form, color, and size.