About Montessori
Montessori Method
Essential Montessori has one function: to assist at that wonderful beginning for your child in the school setting.
Education of the young person involves a careful approach to simultaneously guide progress through emotional, social, and academic areas. Each area is equally important, and a Montessori environment which is carefully prepared and administered by experienced personnel can benefit your child.
Essential Montessori will work hard, together with you, towards that strong beginning.
The Montessori Classroom
A Montessori classroom offers these specific areas to support physical, intellectual, and social development:
Practical Life
Practical life shelves host activities which will refine small muscles in the hand, practice hand eye coordination, strengthen the pincer grip, and develops physical functional movement of the wrist. These important physical preparation skills are achieved through pouring, spooning, transfer with tongs, and varied miscellaneous utensils. Transitional exercises offer sequencing, categorizing, sorting, and multi-dimensional work.
Cultural
Experiencing other cultures and their people is crucial to understanding our world. With looks into each continent, a child may get the first opportunity to see a part of another society. The materials give children a limited, although important idea of what is out there. Science and history explores units to expose children to the natural world. Vertebrate classes, human body, dinosaurs, simple machines, are just a few of those units.
Language
Language in the Montessori classroom is a strongly phonetically based program. The multi-sensory sandpaper letters begin the reading process, followed initially by spelling first, then moves into early phonetic words progressing to longer phonetic reading materials. Phonograms are also built into the series. Each child is allowed to move at a personal pace that provides strong guidance, support, and individual assistance if/when necessary.
Sensorial
The classic sensory equipment created by Dr. Montessori continues and supplements further progress with the senses. It is through our senses that all information is processed. The collection of information and accurate integration of that information leads to better decision making skills. Some of the traditional materials are the knobbed cylinder blocks, pink tower, geometric solids, and knob less cylinders to mention a few.
Mathematics
Montessori math always moves from the concrete to the abstract. Hands on manipulation of quantities is vital to the foundation of the child’s understanding of mathematical functions. From the initial recognition of numerals through one-to-one correspondence and to addition, subtraction, base ten decimal system, construction of complex numerals, and place value summarizes some of the math available.
Art
Art in our Montessori classroom is as important as the rest of the areas. Skill development is emphasized, enabling the student to use those skills in creating multi-step projects. Every week we offer three new activities, collage gluing, and an additional place for creativity at an easel or art table.
Outdoor Nature Space
Our outdoor space houses a play structure, sandbox, and stage. There is ample green running space, along with equipment for child initiated games and activities. We go outside as much as possible. Fresh air is vital for a healthy individual, and gross motor exercise is readily accomplished through free play. The only things that keep us inside are excessive wet/muddy ground or temperatures below twenty degrees.
