Maria Montessori and the Origins of her Methods.

Maria Montessori was born in Italy in 1870 where she trained as a doctor before progressing to working with children with special needs. When others saw the high achievements of Montessori’s students her methods and philosophies spread quickly and are now a worldwide experience.

Maria Montessori believed that the child learned through doing and resulting from this the child would become independent. To help each child reach this independent state Maria Montessori created a specific environment for the children which she called the prepared environment.

Within this prepared environment the child has freedom of choice and of movement. The room is suitably structured and contains order, all materials are real (for example: glass not plastic) and child sized materials are also used.

Social development occurs in the Montessori environment as vertical grouping or classes with children of different ages (2½-5 years) and different developmental stages work together to achieve common goals.

Within this prepared environment Montessori designed specific didactic materials for the curriculum areas of practical life, sensorial, language, maths and culture, most of these materials have an inbuilt control of error which allow the child to complete their work independently.

Within the Montessori environment the teacher has a specific role. She/he must be the dynamic link which links the environment to the child and thus allows the child to become an independent learner. The teacher is called a directress, as their role is to direct and guide the child. As the children become more familiar with the prepared environment the directress role changes from active to passive.

Maria Montessori believed that each child has sensitive periods during which the child’s senses are most heightened and as a result the child learns with ease. Montessori designed her equipment with this in mind and it is this equipment and these sensitive periods upon which the child becomes an independent learner in their prepared environment. 

Montessori Curriculum. 

Maria Montessori designed different materials so that every child could experience each section of the Montessori curriculum in a practical concrete way. Within our Montessori environment we have large selection of materials to cover all five of the Montessori curriculum areas- Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Maths and Cultural. As many of our children will remain with us for two years we have designed a junior and senior programme based on the principles of Montessori and the curriculum areas below to ensure children continue to progress throughout their entire time at Buzzy Bees Montessori School.

Practical Life.

Within the practical life area children have the opportunity to work with materials that are common to their everyday life. Through completion of exercises the child learns many new skills which he/ she will use in their everyday lives- Spooning, pouring, buttoning, lacing etc.

Sensorial.

Maria Montessori believed that children learn through their nine senses, and with this in mind she developed didactic material with an in built control of error to allow the child to learn independently through their senses.

Language.

To complete the language curriculum Montessori designed a number of different materials to help the child learn. Language materials focus on the childs ability to write, phonic sounds and then progress on to word building activities which result in the child reading and writing.

Maths.

Math exercises are completed with concrete materials in a sequence which allows each child to progress. Children work with concrete materials whilst solving mathematical problems- addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

Culture.

Within the Montessori curriculum cultural can be further divided into geography, history, science and biology. Within this section children experience the environment and world around them through practical experiences.

Extra Curricular Activities.

We offer a huge variety of extra curricular activites at no extra cost to parents.  We celebrate each childs birthday with special birthday parties and games at our school.  We complete an annual christmas show in which the children have the opportunity to build their confidence and preform for their excited families.  We also have seasonal end of term parties for the children.
 

Approved for the ECCE Scheme.