Dear Montessori Parents,
On January 29th we have a very exciting school event that we call Parent and Child Night. This is a special time when your child invites you to come with them to their classroom. They will then choose lessons to show you. The Classroom Directress stands back and lets your child just be with you. I love this experience. The children always surprise me with their knowledge, their enthusiasm and their expertise.
I have the honor every day of seeing the children grow and learn. I look in the classroom and I will see students concentrating...grasping beautiful objects...sensing the world around him/her. Shapes...dimensions...relationships...amounts...all represented by concrete objects that prepare the mind for deep understanding of the principles.
Let's return to our exploration of Montessori principles and methodology. Maria Montessori discovered that children understand the world, through their senses, and that only by making use of this knowledge can their understanding be developed to its fullest potential.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the Montessori mathematics curriculum. As the student progresses from early childhood through the Elementary years, the Montessori math curriculum moves from the concrete, to increasingly abstract concepts of mathematics.
As with all Montessori materials, the mathematics curriculum is performed by the individual, using self-teaching and self-correcting materials. These materials are presented to the child as interest is expressed or observed and then the adult moves away, to allow exploration through repetition, until the concept is mastered.
In the small sequential steps, each learner develops a mathematical mind at his or her own pace. The Montessori sensorial materials form the foundation, in preparing the child for the abstract world of numbers.
Montessori gave the Sensorial equipment the credit for helping the child explore his environment and also for developing the mathematical mind-the mathematical structures necessary for the order, sequencing and precision of mathematics.
During the day-to-day manipulation of concrete objects the child builds her concept of numbers and the ability to concentrate. Montessori emphasized that all materials must be beautiful, stimulating to the senses, inviting children to take them from the shelves to explore them again and again.
Over the next few weeks we will explore the formal mathematics curriculum from the number rods to the powers of the numbers and algebra.
Mark your calendars for the Parent and Child evening. Watch for more detailed information to come home next week from the classroom.
Many thanks,
Peggy Higgins
School Directress
