Village
Montessori School is dedicated to the philosophy of Dr.
Maria Montessori. She was trained as a doctor thus
bringing a scientific approach to the education of young
children. This led to a unique method of learning,
helping the child during early development and
throughout his life.
Her philosophy is based on love for the
child and respect for his/her dignity and worth as a
person, with the objective of helping each develop to
his fullest potential. Characteristics such as
self-confidence, initiative, independence, persistence,
increased curiosity, ability to concentrate and a sense
of order are encouraged.
Dr. Montessori discovered that a child
from birth to three years old has an absorbent
unconscious mind. She felt that during this time
children unconsciously take in as a sponge the whole of
their environment. In so doing, they accumulate the
materials from which they will later construct their
conscious life. She felt that movement was integral to
this process.
Dr. Montessori called the period from
three to six the stage of the child’s absorbent
conscious mind containing sensitive periods in
development which are transitory, reveal psychic
aptitudes and possibilities which burn brightly and then
disappear.
She said the essence of a sensitive
period in human development is a burning intellectual
love, a drama of love between a child and his
environment.
When the education of children is in tune
with their sensitive periods, they work with a sustained
enthusiasm which has to be seen to be believed. If a
child misses some of the sensitive periods in his
development, he will still grow into an adult. However,
he will not be so strong or so perfect an individual as
if he had been able to utilize these fleeting periods in
his young life.
The sensitive period for learning
language begins long before a baby can walk and talk and
continues until around age six. From seven to nine the
construction of language fascinates the child and he
then enters a sensitive period for relationships between
words or grammar.
A child’s sensitive period for order
begins about his second year, is brightest in his third,
and begins to fade after the fourth. During this time
he displays an almost passionate interest in the order
of things both in time and space. The sensitive period
for the refinement of his senses begins in the child at
about two and a half and lasts until six. During this
time, the sensorial materials in the Montessori
classroom will be made available to him so that he may
compare and grade colors, textures, shape and dimension
of objects, sounds, scents and tastes.
A child is most interested in learning
how to perform precise movements from two and a half to
four years of age. The best age for learning to write
is from three and a half to four and a half. The
sandpaper letters will be introduced at this time while
the child is most interested in the shape of letters.
The introduction of math to a young child
begins with his drive toward order and exactness at
around age two. At around three he will begin to
recognize numerals and to work with counting exercises.
By six, most Montessori children are very comfortable
with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division
of four digit numbers, the decimal system and fractions.
Repetition is a vital part of the
Montessori philosophy of education. Since the work of
learning is internal, only a child himself knows how
many times he needs to repeat any given exercise to make
it part of him.
Learning good manners and social graces
are also most beneficial to a child of two and a half to
six years and are introduced in a Montessori way through
lessons in grace and courtesy.
We believe that our job in aiding the
child in his work of self construction from age two to
six is to provide the best conditions, the especially
prepared environment of a Montessori classroom. Then he
can act freely on his own initiative using his hands as
the instrument of his mind as he learns spontaneously
and without fatigue.
