Curriculum

The Montessori approach is designed to assist the child in acquiring the information from the environment to develop the social skills and self-confidence, which are needed to fulfill his own learning process.

Since the child can learn by a dynamic process in which the whole personality of the child must be actively engaged, he must have the freedom to handle materials which would demonstrate basic educational information to him or her.

As Dr. Montessori realized, the only valid impulse in learning is the self-motivation of the child. The teacher directs the activity, but the child is the one who learns and is motivated by the work itself.

The classroom is designed to adapt to the size, pace, and interests of boys and girls between the ages of two and six.  In The Absorbent Mind, Dr. Montessori wrote, “The most important period in life is the first one, the period from birth to the age of six.  For that is the time when man’s intelligence itself is being formed.  At no other stage has the child greater need of an intelligent help, and  any obstacle that impedes his creative work will lessen that chance he has of achieving perfection”.

Another observation of Dr. Montessori, which has been reinforced by modern research, is the importance of the sensitive periods for early learning.  It is easier for the child to learn a particular skill during the corresponding sensitive period than at any other time in his or her life.  The Montessori classroom takes advantage of this fact by allowing the child freedom to select individual activities that correspond to their own periods of interest.

Large Number Cards 1-9000

Introduces a group of children to concepts in the formation of complex numbers and is used with the dynamic bead material / bankers game.

The child will begin with the simplest exercises based on activities that all the children enjoy.  The equipment, which he or she uses at the school, will help him/her develop the concentration, coordination and working habits necessary for the more advanced exercises he or she will perform at a later stage.  The entire program of learning is purposefully structured.  Therefore, optimum results cannot be expected either from a child who misses the early years of the cycle, or from the one who is withdrawn before he or she finishes the basic materials.

Binomial Cube

The binomial cube is a concrete representation of the algebraic formula (a+b+c)2. The factors of the equation are represented by the cubes and prisms. The preschool child uses it for sensorial exploration, while the elementary child uses the trinomial cube as a concrete step towards abstract algebraic understanding.

Because the children work individually with the materials there is no competition in the Montessori classroom.  The children are not compared to the achievements of others.   

 
Maria Montessori (1870-1952)

El sistema Montessori esta disenado para ayudar al nino adquirir la informacion del ambiente para desarrollar las habilidades sociales y de seguridad en si mismos, que son necesarias para completar su proceso de aprendizaje.

El nino aprende en un proceso dinamico donde la personalidad por entero esta comprometida, de ahi la necesidad de que el nino tenga la libertad de manipular los materiales, que le van a transmitir la inforamcion educativa basica.

Como dijo la Dra. Montessori, "el unico impulso valido en el aprendizaje es la  motivacion propia del nino.  La maestra dirije la activdad, pero es el nino el que aprende y es motivado por el trabajo mismo."

El aula esta disenada para adaptarse al tamano, tiempo e interes de los ninos y ninas entre las edades de dos anos  y seis anos.  En el libro, “The Absorbent Mind”, la Dra. Montessori escribio:  “El periodo mas importante en la vida del nino son los primeros seis anos, porque es el tiempo en que la inteligencia del hombre se esta formando.  A ninguna otra edad tiene el nino necesidad de una ayuda inteligente, y cualquier obstaculo que impide su trabajo creativo perjudicara la oportunidad de lograr la perfeccion”.

La Dra Montessori tambien enfatizo la importancia de los periodos sensitivos en el desarrollo intelectual del nino.  En esos periodos sensitivos, de ordern, movimiento, escritura, lectura, etc. es cuando el nino esta preparado para aprender estas habilidades.   El salon Montessori permite al nino la libertad  de seleccionar las actividades que corresponden al periodo sensitivo de interes.

En el salon Montessori no existe competencia y no se califican a los ninos de manera comparativa.