Frequently Asked Questions
Q. WHAT IS MONTESSORI EDUCATION?
Excellence. Brain-based. Beautiful. Capable. Profound. Progressive. Motivated. Curious. Absorbed. Time-tested.
These words all describe the phenomenon that is Montessori…More than just a school- It’s Montessori. As an 100 year old education model is both Progressive and Time-Tested, children emerge from Montessori school with a Love for Learning, Motivated and Curious about the world, and Capable of meeting the challenges that come their way.
No one “teaches” a baby to sit up, or crawl, or walk. Each of these Early Development tasks is followed on the individual child’s internal timeline as they scratch the “intellectual itch” to grow and learn in a new way.
With this understanding, the classroom offers a buffet of activities designed to capture a child’s interest, then challenges them to master it.
In a Montessori classroom, children are immersed in a carefully Prepared Environment whose teachers serve as Guides in their quest to satisfy their developmental curiosity.
Because children work individually or in small groups monitored by the teacher, a Montessori education is by default tailored to the specific child. Children progress at their own pace, following their own curiosity and learning an array of subjects simultaneously.
To learn more about Montessori education visit www.montessori.edu, www.montessori-ami.org, www.montessori-namta.org, and www.amshq.org.
Q. WHO IS THE FOUNDER OF MONTESSORI?
Dr. Maria Montessori- a woman of great insight, intellect, and observational genius- began developing the Montessori philosophy in the early 1900s. As the first female pediatric physician, she followed her intellectual instincts to better understand how children learned and developed.
Why did some children do better than others? How could a teacher and classroom become more conducive to learning? How did the brain work?
From these profound Child Development questions, Dr. Montessori discovered keys to learning which form the basis of a Montessori education today. Through her years of experience with children around the world, Dr. Montessori proved that children are able to learn to read, write and calculate as easily and naturally as they learn to walk and talk.
Her brain-based research is now over 100 years old and has withstood the test of time- evidence of the essential truth that Montessori works.
Spanning from birth to adolescence, Dr. Maria Montessori’s observations, technique, and teachings are passionately pursued here at Crabapple Montessori School. To learn more about Dr. Maria Montessori, we invite you to visit www.mariamontessori.com
Q. HOW IS MONTESSORI DIFFERENT FROM TRADITIONAL EDUATION
Traditional education emphasizes a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching and views the child as a blank slate on which to write information.
Knowledge is given to the students by the teacher… rote memorization of facts is considered success… and children trapped in desks acquire knowledge by gleaning whatever they can from the teacher talking at the head of the class.
Parents new to the world of Montessori always remark on how quiet the classroom is, how beautiful it looks, and how focused the children are- concentrated on the “work” of learning.
Seeing is believing! Stepping into a Montessori classroom (such as one of the six here at Crabapple Montessori School) parents immediately notice the differences. We invite you to experience Montessori yourself; please consider visiting us for a tour.
The Classroom is a “Prepared Environment” that the teacher changes daily to encourage growth and learning in the individual child. Filled with shelves of designed materials, children develop practical and intellectual abilities through individual exploration of language, mathematics, geography, geometry, art, music and more.
Q. WHAT IS THE “PREPARED ENVIRONMENT”?
Modern day pediatric brain research has taught us that the brain develops based on what the hands touch. The more activities a child learns to master with their hands, the more knowledge they gain.
The Montessori classroom is referred to as a “Prepared Environment” because it is filled with activities or tasks that the child engages with their hands and minds. Essentially, the Prepared Environment functions as a “teacher”, offering new things for the child to learn- prepared for them ahead of time and laid out for their use.
For example, a young child may arrive at school one day and choose to work with the famous Sand-Paper Letters. They take the activity off the shelf, choose a space to work with them, and then begin their work.
The Sand Paper Letters is a stack of cards with the individual alphabet letters on them. Each letter is made out of Sand-Paper, raised off the card. The child’s task is to trace each letter with their hands, making the sound of the letter as they do so.
Sand- Paper Letters combines the use of the hands to trace the letters, the auditory experience of the sounds of the letters, and the visual experience of seeing the letters.
The Prepared Environment is not shelves of toys laid out for children to engage roughly and then discard. Emphasis is placed on beauty and respect. The activities are all age appropriate and are designed to be challenging!
Q. WHY MIXED AGE GROUPS?
Dr. Maria Montessori’s research yielded results that parents of multi-age children already know: that children learn from one another, and love to teach each other things.
Developmental research shows that people reinforce their knowledge when they teach it to others. Anyone who has ever had to teach a skill to someone else knows that the process of explaining a new concept or helping someone practice a new skill leads the teacher to learn as much, if not more, than the pupil. An older child helping a younger one is pivotal to the success of a Montessori classroom.
Having children in classrooms grouped together in ages 3-6 means that older children often help younger children with their work while at the same time solidifying their own knowledge.
Q. WHY SHOULD MY CHILD STAY IN THE 3RD YEAR OF THE PRIMARY PROGRAM?
The Primary program is based on Maria Montessori’s theories of psychological development which concluded that children needed to be grouped according to their three-year development stages. Research indicates that things really begin to “come together” in the third year.
Because Montessori is not about memorizing facts but being able to ask questions and find answers, Montessori materials start out to be concrete and slowly move to the abstract. It is by the third year that facts begin to get internalized.
By going through a three-year cycle a child develops a high degree of self-confidence, independence, and enthusiasm for the learning process and can adapt to all sorts of new situations. While there are compelling reasons to consider keeping a child in Montessori through the Elementary program and beyond, but even if he/she goes off to a traditional school by the time he/she is in the first grade he/she will do so fully ready to make new friends and learn new things.
Q. IF MY CHILD IS LEFT TO CHOOSE THEIR OWN ACTIVITIES, WON’T THEY JUST DO THE SAME THING EVERYDAY…OR END UP DOING NOTHING?
No. The teachers are highly trained in observation. When a child has mastered a skill, the teacher will give the child a lesson that is more challenging, considering the age and interest of each child.
Because the environment is so stimulating and exciting, children seldom “do nothing.” There are hundreds of prepared lessons for the child to choose from everyday! This is another positive aspect of the Prepared Environment.
Q. HOW BIG ARE THE CLASSES AND WHY ARE THEY SO PEACEFUL?
A Montessori class for the Primary age is fairly large, typically around 28. Since it is a mixed-age class with ages between 3 and 6 years, a large classroom provides a better mix of different ages and sufficient numbers of the same age. This allows effective interactions between the children of the same age as well as different age groups.
This classroom size does not pose a challenge for the teacher since the carefully Prepared Environment allows children to function independently with minimal help from the teacher.
Peacefulness and beauty are common to Montessori classrooms- something traditional schools have yet to master. Just another reason why it’s more than just a school- it’s Montessori.
Q. HOW DO TEACHERS KEEP TRACK OF PROGRESS?
The teacher keeps an inventory of the lessons and projects completed by each student that is reviewed frequently. Additional, the teachers observe the activities of each student throughout the day. We invite you to visit the Blog of our individual teachers to see what’s happening in the classroom!
Teachers’ keep detailed records and notes about each individual child’s lessons. Progress in social and emotional development is also noted, detailed summary reports are prepared twice a year for parent conferences.
Q. HOW DO CHILDREN TRANSITION FROM MONTESSORI TO TRADITIONAL SCHOOLS?
It has been our experience, and the experience of virtually all Montessori schools, that the transition is very smooth. The brief adjustment period is no more than the adjustment that occurs when transferring from one traditional to another traditional school.
Additionally, Crabapple Montessori now has an Elementary program enabling students to continue their Montessori education.
Please click here for more information on our Elementary Program!
Q. HOW WELL DOES A MONTESSORI EDUCATION PREPARE CHILDREN FOR SUCCESS IN LATER LIFE?
Research has shown that Montessori children are well prepared for later life not just academically, but also socially and emotionally. They typically score well on standardized tests and consistently show enhanced ability for following directions, independent thinking, and adapting to new situations.
Q. WHO ARE SOME FAMOUS MONTESSORI ALUMNI?
There are many! Some of the well known ones are:
- Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Founders of Google.com)
- Jeff Bezos (Founder of Amazon.com)
- Katherine Graham (Owner/Editor of The Washington Post)
- Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (Editor and Former First Lady of John F. Kennedy)
- Anne Frank (author of the Diary of Anne Frank)
- Prince William and Prince Harry (English Royal Family)
- Jimmy Wales (Founder of Wikipedia)
- Chelsea Clinton (daughter of Bill & Hillary Clinton)
- Children of Yo Yo Ma (Cellist)