The Early Learning Center

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We Believe

Learning during preschool years is spontaneous and prepares children to enter elementary classes with a clear, concrete sense of many abstract concepts. All children have an innate drive, an ability to learn, and individual learning needs.

The Montessori Approach

The Montessori approach requires the cultivation of a child’s natural desire to learn, think, and act independently. In a Montessori classroom, children become self-motivated and self-disciplined, and they retain the sense of curiosity that some children may lose along the way in traditional classrooms. The children are able to work at their own pace and ability, and they are taught to act with care and respect toward their environment and each other. The Montessori experience nurtures a joy of learning that prepares children for further challenges.

Montessori teachers lead children to ask questions, to think for themselves, to explore, to investigate, and to discover. Our ultimate objective is to help students to learn independently and retain the curiosity, creativity, and intelligence with which they were born.

Montessori emphasizes learning through all five senses, not just through listening, watching, or reading. Children in Montessori classes learn at their own individual pace and according to their own choice of activities from hundreds of possibilities. Learning is an exciting process of discovery, leading to concentration, motivation, self-discipline, and a love of learning. Montessori classes place children in three-year age groups (3-6, 6-9, 9-12, and so on), forming communities in which the older children spontaneously share their knowledge with the younger ones. Montessori represents an entirely different approach to education.

Our Mission

To provide a multi-age classroom where children can learn from each other, their prepared environment, and their teachers to develop the skills necessary to succeed in their classroom, their school, and their community.

How does Montessori differ from traditional education?

Montessori education differs from traditional education in many ways but probably the most fundamental difference is that Montessori is child-centered whereas traditional education is teacher-centered.

Montessori Traditional
3-year age range per class One age per class
Freedom to move about and choose work Seated at desks
Community atmosphere Little socialization
Individual / small group lessons Large group lessons
Self-correcting materials Teacher as source of answers
Natural, logical consequences Rewards and punishments
Longer free-work periods Frequent interruptions
Enhanced curriculum Limited curriculum
Progress of student as test Peer comparison as test
Emphasis on learning Emphasis on grades
Progress at individual rate Annual promotion
Emphasis on “self” control Teacher as disciplinarian
Observation based progress reports Graded report cards
Child-centered schedule Adult-centered education

How does a classroom work with different ages?

Younger children usually want to do what the older children are doing. A multi-age Montessori classroom offers an inherent motivator for children to constantly challenge themselves. The older children benefit tremendously from this grouping, as they become teachers and leaders, developing confidence and independence. This process of sharing what they know reaffirms what they have already learned.

Children in a multi-age classroom advance in the complexity of their work without waiting for the group as a whole. If a child is progressing more rapidly or more slowly in a certain area, s/he has the opportunity to work at his/her own level of understanding. A child’s progress is measured against his/her own ability not that of others. Every child will advance more quickly in some areas than others. This is a natural part of growth, and the Montessori classroom is able to adapt to the individual needs of each child. For instance, if a child is mastering material quickly the teacher will simply give a lesson on more complex materials, which are already in the classroom for older children. If a child is having a difficult time grasping a particular concept, the child is allowed to focus on that area until she is ready to move on. Often a second presentation or a slight variation will help a child understand a concept more easily.

A multi-age Montessori classroom naturally entails different levels of ability and therefore offers diversity, stimulation, and a path for growth integral to the success of a child.

A typical day in our Montessori classroom

An extended work period

Our daily classroom schedule includes a two- to two-and-a-half-hour uninterrupted, work periods each day, not broken up by required group lessons. Children work individually or in self-selected groups and with the teacher when necessary. Adults and children respect concentration and do not interrupt someone who is busy at a task.

Work centers

The environment is arranged according to subject area, and children are always free to move around the room instead of staying at desks. There is no limit to how long a child can work with a piece of material. At any one time in a day all subjects — math, language, science, history, geography, art, music, etc., will be being studied, at all levels.

A “Teach by teaching, not by correcting” teaching method

There are no papers turned back with red marks and corrections. Instead the child’s effort and work is respected as it is. The teacher, through extensive observation and record keeping, plans individual projects to enable each child to learn what s/he needs in order to improve.

Attention to a variety of learning styles

All kinds of intelligences and styles of learning are nurtured: musical, kinesthetic, spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, intuitive, and the traditional linguistic and logical-mathematical (reading, writing, and math). Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences backs up this particular model

Character education

Education of character and academic education are of equal importance: Children learn to take care of themselves, their environment, and each other – cooking, cleaning, building, gardening, moving gracefully, speaking politely, being considerate and helpful, and doing social work in the community, for example.

Assessment

There are no grades, or other forms of reward or punishment, subtle or overt. Assessment is by portfolio and the teacher’s observation and record keeping. The test of whether or not the system is working lies in the accomplishment and behavior of the children, their happiness, maturity, kindness, love of learning, and level of work.

For more information about our Early Learning Center, contact Gail Strassel at (904) 827-2257.