The Montessori private kindergarten looks and operates differently than traditional schools, and the secret is in the prepared environment.
Authentic Montessori schools are a special type of private kindergarten. In addition to traditional academic studies and a minimal amount of physical activity, With Montessori students, the focus is on physical activity and developing vital social, emotional, and academic skills in unison, along with valuable practical skills such as measuring and using household tools and utensils. To Illustrate, let’s look at 3 ways a Montessori prepared environment stands apart.
1. The Children’s House
It is a logical step for a private kindergarten to be a children’s house because everything in the classroom is centered around the children. Tables and chairs are child-sized, along with other furnishings. The idea is to create an environment where children feel comfortable and empowered because that fosters a willingness to explore and manipulate the activities and workstations.
2. Self-Directed Learning
Children play an active role in their own education in a Montessori kindergarten. This helps them identify their own strengths, and builds self-esteem. Additionally, children who are able to make active decisions about the workstations they engage with are more eager and interested in learning the lessons provided by those chosen activities. As a consequence, children also learn to be more responsible and to participate more creatively in individual and group activities.
3. Developing the Total Child
There is a lot more to private kindergarten education than academic subjects, but those can be incorporated into the other aspects. Practical life experience requires physical activity, mathematics, and language skills, for example. In the process of learning those skills, children also develop a sense of self-esteem and learn to recognize their value to their social groups at home, at school, and in the community.
The next time you visit your child’s private kindergarten, take a moment to look at how well everything is suited to the children’s experience. You will also notice the bustle of quiet activity that surrounds the children at their various tasks. The Montessori Method is the cornerstone of everything you see in the classroom, right down to the careful observations of the teachers in the class.