A Montessori program goes far beyond just a standard education. There are skills and concepts that may not even be on your radar that your child can conquer in a Montessori classroom because they have the time to explore and engage in activities that allow them to learn a subject more thoroughly. If you are considering a Montessori program for your child, understanding how a classroom is set up and what the goals of a Montessori education are, will give you a better idea of whether a Montessori education is a good option for your child.

Classroom setup

A Montessori classroom may look very different from what you imagine a preschool to look like. While everything is orderly and in its place, there are stations with brightly colored materials that engage your child in play. Maria Montessori believed that play was essential for children’s development. A Montessori classroom is also filled with natural materials of different textures and weights that help students understand real life concepts. Few items are made of plastics in a Montessori classroom.

The teacher does not present a lesson to the entire class but rather observes and encourages students as they are all at different stations of their choosing. The teacher may also record what stations each student is mastering as a way to track a student’s progress.

Benefits of Montessori

A few key benefits of giving your child a Montessori include:

• Independence: Children have very few choices that they get to make throughout their day. In a Montessori classroom, students get to decide how they will spend their time. They also practice skills such as hanging up their coats and bags, getting their own cups of water, learning how to properly wash their hands by themselves, serving their own food, and wiping their own faces. The choices they get in a Montessori program help them to take ownership of their day so they can be proud of their work.
• Picking up after themselves: With so many different activities going on in a Montessori classroom, you may think that the classroom could get chaotic. But this is not the case. Each student practices cleaning up their station thoroughly before moving onto the next activity. This gives the next student that interacts with the station a fresh, clean environment to learn and play.
• Hands-on skills: Montessori education also allows children to learn the way they learn best, through hands-on play. Students can pick up an item, feel it in their hands, and try a variety of different ways to get the outcome they are seeking. Through failure, they are simply learning what didn’t work so they can continue to problem solve until they master the task. This keeps the students engaged throughout the learning process.

If you are in Danville, CA and want to observe a Montessori classroom to see if it is the right fit for your child, give Fountainhead Montessori School a call today.