WHAT IS A MONTESSORI LEARNING ENVIRONMENT?

• Carefully prepared environment – In the Montessori classroom great care and effort is put into creating a beautiful, orderly, calming environment in which a large variety of complete and ready-to-use, hands-on learning activities are ready to peak the interest of the young learner.
• Self Correcting Materials – In the Montessori classroom the teacher should be a guide with an endless supply of interesting facts and activities to show. But the child, as much as possible, is provided with activities which are self-correcting. In other words, the child can tell when the activity has been successfully completed without the approval of the teacher. The child gains great pride of accomplishment when they can look at their work and exclaim “I did it! ”
• Individualized Learning – In the Montessori classroom there are very few group activities because it is rare for 12 or more children to be interested in the same thing at the same time, or for them to be working at the same level. Instead each child is allowed to work on self-chosen activities and at his/her unique academic level. Teachers offer guidance or introduce new levels of challenge to each child as they are ready. .
• Concrete Foundations – Many learning materials created by Dr. Montessori provide a concrete foundation for complex ideas which the child will return to working with in a more abstract way later in their academic path. For example, the children are introduced to concrete representations of two dimensional and three dimensional shapes, which they will continue to interact with all the way through high school. In math, the children use a variety of bead materials to explore the base 10 number system and to do advanced math operations including addition and subtraction of 3 and 4 digit numbers, multiplication and division, and fractions.
• Active Learning – In the Montessori classroom the child is encouraged to ask questions and then seek out the answers for themselves. They are taught to observe carefully and wonder why.
• Emphasis on Respect – In the Montessori classroom respect for the child is the priority. Respect is shown through the freedom of choice offered to the children, through the language used when addressing the children, and through the focus on allowing independence and teaching the children how to do things for themselves. .
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Scotts Valley Children's Center
255B Mt. Hermon Rd.
Scotts Valley, CA 95066

Phone: 831-461-9330
Email: mindy@scottsvalleychildrenscenter.com

Quail Hollow Montessori
187 Laurel Dr.
Felton, CA 95018

Phone: 831-335-4710
Email: mindy@scottsvalleychildrenscenter.com