Principles
Have you ever thought what children need to learn their mother tongue or to go upright? There is no external pressure necessary, they follow their own internal motivation - whenever time is ready for them! Following the Montessori Method, the same is true for reading and writing, mathematics, biology and further branches, as long as the environment is correctly set up for learning. The child's whole being is arranged from its very foundation to make progress step by step. Each child has a fundamental desire to learn, to do things by himself!
"Help me to do it by myself"
This educational theory and guiding principle of Maria Montessori forms the basis of our work. The team helps to unfold the strengths and talents of each individual child with affection and skill.
The Montessori approach provides:
- An environment in the class room that serves the particular needs of each child`s stage of development.
- An adult who understands your child`s development and acts as a guide in order to help them to find their own natural path.
- Freedom for your child to engange in his own development according to his own timeline
Within this triangle, the aim of the teacher is, to create the right circumstances so that your child can be guided to find what he needs from what is on offer. He learns at his own rhythm and pace focussing on his own individual development needs at that moment. He then becomes an active learner is able to reach his own unique potential.
Within the Montessori approach we differentiate the following five important areas:
Practical life
The practical life area is the link between the child's home environment and the classroom with regard to four main areas: Control of Movement, Care of Person, Care of Environment, and Grace & Courtesy. The practical life materials involve the children in precise movements which challenge them to concentrate, to work at their own pace uninterrupted, and to complete a cycle of work which typically results in the feelings of satisfaction and confidence.
Sensorial
The practical life area provides a key to the world, a means for a growth in perception, and understanding that forms the basis for abstraction in thought. The sensorial materials give the child experience initially in perceiving distinctions between similar and different things, later the child learns to grade a set of similar objects that differ in a regular and measurable way from most to least. Each piece of equipment is a set of objects which serves a fundamental quality perceived through the senses such as color, form, dimension, texture, temperature, volume, pitch, weight and taste. In addition experiences with regards to loud/soft, long/short, rough/smooth, circle, square, cube is then attached to make the world even more colorful and meaningful to the child.
