Perth Children's House

• Why Choose Montessori
|
• The Montessori Teacher
|
• The Montessori Approach

The Importance of the Kindergarten Year in the Montessori Classroom

The following are excerpts from the Winter 2006 issue of Tomorrow’s Child, The Magazine for Montessori Families. Feel free to borrow it from the school to read the full article.

“The kindergarten year is a critical component of the three-year Early Childhood Montessori program. This is the year when children’s earlier experiences are internalized and reinforced. When they leave Montessori before kindergarten, many of their earlier learning experiences may be lost because they are not reinforced or completely understood.”

“When a child transfers from Montessori to a new kindergarten, she spends the first few months adjusting to a new class, a new teacher, and a whole new system with different expectations. This, along with the fact that most kindergartens have much lower expectations for five-year-olds than most Montessori programs, severely cuts into the learning that could occur during this crucial year.”

“By the end of Kindergarten, Montessori children are generally doing very well academically. Montessori offers them enriched lessons in math, reading, and language, and if they are ready, they normally develop excellent skills.”

“When older children work with younger ones, they tend to learn more from the experience than their “students”. Experiences that facilitate development of a child’s independence are often very limited in traditional schools.”

“The value of the sensorial experience that the younger children have had in Montessori are often underestimated by both parents and educators. Research is very clear that young children learn by observing and manipulating their environment, not through textbooks and workbook exercises.”

Learning to be organized and learning to be focused is as important as any academic work. Doing worksheets quickly can be impressive to parents, but there is rarely any deep learning going on. By the end of age five, Montessori students will often develop academic skills that may be beyond those of traditional schools. Academic progress is not our ultimate goal. Our real hope is that they will feel good about themselves and enjoy learning.”

“As a ‘developmental’ approach, Montessori is based on a realistic understanding of children’s cognitive, neurological, and emotional development. Because Montessori teachers are developmentally trained, they normally know how to present information in an appropriate way.”

(Excerpts taken from The Importance of the Kindergarten Year in the Montessori Classroom, by Tim Seldin, President of The Montessori Foundation, Tomorrow’s Child, Winter 2006, Vol. 14, Number 2)