What is a montessori childcare centre about?

Question

Do they still set up activities for the children or do they choose their own?

What do they do that's different from other centres?

What does the manager of a montessori centre do?

Your help is much appreciated.

Answer 1

Montessori schools are about learning first hand, by doing and experiencing.  Not as much lecturing and book learning.  I travel to teach at various schools and have always thought that Montessori was the best (management is very important though).  Some non-Montessori schools are just glorified baby sitters.  The kids watch TV and play games with each other - there is no guidance.  If you are looking to place your child in a center, visit it of course, ask questions of the director and staff, but also of the parents.  Google them too.  Good luck.

Answer 2

It's more child directed.  Children get 'lessons' on objects before they are allowed to use them.  Everything has a 'place'.  Children usually do their 'work' on mats or rugs that they pull out.  It's a very organized and child friendly way of learning.  They learn cursive writing before print as the hand movements of young children is more of a flowing cursive movement than a choppy print type movement.  They learn in phonics first.  They learn a lot about the history of the earth and of people.  It's a great way to educate most children.  It's different in that the kids are more self directed but with careful attention paid by the teacher.  They use 'hands on' learning...that is every concept (math, e.g.) is learned using counting beads and other objects.

Answer 3

You do have some good answers.  The thing is, you've seemed to ask very specific questions, so let me try to answer those.

"Do they still set up activities for the children or do they choose their own?"

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by this.  Activities are set up throughout the classroom.  Materials familiar to the students are there as well.

It seems more like you're asking about choice.  Choice is one of the key things that sets apart a Montessori classroom.  The class offers children a 3 hour work period where the children work with the materials of their choice.  This enables the children to spend as much time as they need to fully understand the concepts behind the materials.  The materials themselves are designed to teach the child something when used properly.  With the three year age span in the classroom, older children often act as teachers, teaching the younger children how to do something (or it may be someone the same age where they work together on a project).  In essence, it is not uncommon for a child to have 3 teachers immediately available to them:

--The actual teacher

--The other child

--The materials

The teacher's job is to interfere as little as possible and provide the students with the confidence and tools they need to work on solving problems themselves.  There are, of course, times when the teacher will be helping students.  The majority of time is actually spent with the student working on the materials.  For example:

A child might select the 45 bead layout.  This is where the child sets out materials that give them a very concrete understanding of numbers from 1-9999.  The child can actually see the difference between 1 and 1000 because they have held them in their hands consistently for the past 3 years.  This work may take the child 1/2 hour.  They work with it for a long time, so they have a true understanding of what they are learning.  At this point, I have the children actually make numbers with the cards and bring them to me to tell me what they are.  The reverse is also done - where I provide the child with a number and they bring me that many beads.  (If I give them 4362, they bring me 4 thousand cubes, 3 hundred squares, 6 ten bars, and 2 unit beads).  

So the time spent in that activity is 95% for them to understand the concept and 5% with me helping them (a rough estimation).  This enables the child to have the time to really develop an understanding of the material rather than feeling like they're being rushed through it.

"What do they do that's different from other centres?"

--Free Choice

--Long work cycle

--Multi-age grouping

--Child centered activity as opposed to teacher-directed activity

"What does the manager of a montessori centre do?"

The administrator has a lot of the same jobs as any other administrator of a school.  They are also in charge of parent education.  A good administrator will help parents understand the Montessori Method and why we do things differently.

If you are more a visual person, if you go to youtube.com and search for "Montessori," there are many good videos about it.

Matt

Answer 4

I agree with what the other people have given as answer but if you are going to observe or considering placing a child in a montessori school be careful because Maria Montessori never trademarked her name or the Montessori Method so anyone can call themselves Montessori if they really want to. i would check out The American Montessori Society, their website should give you great information.