Parents and teachers at Forestville Montessori School explain why they chose Montessori education for their children, and the impact Montessori has on their children's lives. Who do our children become? How does the Montessori philosophy aid this? Why does the world need more Montessori children - especially now? Watch the clip here and hear from these long-time Forestville Montessori families as they share the reasons they chose FMS, and the...
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Every child deserves to be known as an individual: to have their strengths recognised, their curiosity encouraged and their learning extended when they are ready. Montessori education is designed to do exactly that. Rather than offering extension as a separate program for a selected few, Montessori makes challenge, advancement and personalisation part of everyday classroom learning for every child. How does Montessori get the most from each child’s capabilities? Montessori...
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If you’ve ever noticed small, colorful shapes placed above words in a Montessori classroom, you may have wondered what they mean, or why grammar looks so different from what many of us remember from school. Those colorful shapes are Montessori grammar symbols, reflecting a deeply intentional approach to helping children understand language through function, history, and experience. Words Are Defined by the Work They Do In Montessori, grammar begins with...
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The beautiful Montessori materials you see in our preschool and primary school classrooms are as fundamental to Montessori education as the teachers are. Montessori learning materials are unlike anything used in mainstream early learning and schools. They are an integral part of the Montessori classroom and inspire curiosity, exploration, deep thinking, concentration and problem solving. Even in preschool. With their beautiful appearance and game like nature, students love to learn...
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Children at all times and at all ages are engaging curiously with the world, absorbing what they see and building their understanding of the world. In seeking to understand the world, young children ask so many questions! The Montessori geography materials meet that curiosity with simple, beautiful objects that help children put the world into context. As Dr. Montessori explains in Education for a New World, "Children are not able...
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If you come to observe a Montessori classroom, you may notice that the teacher is not the center of attention. You’ll see children moving around, working on various tasks, solving problems, and helping each other, while the teacher moves quietly through the room, watching, waiting, stepping in briefly. This is a careful, deliberate practice (and, for what it’s worth, it may be the hardest thing a Montessori teacher learns to...
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Did you and your children have fun these last school holidays? The winter holidays have us indoors much more than in the warmer months, so kids tend to get more creative at play. Hopefully you had some time to play too. Wintery days often call for board games, arts, crafts, and cooking, and more time getting imaginative at play. Play is a way for children to process and make sense...
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In Part One of this series, we explored Dr. Montessori's profound belief that imagination is nourished not by fantasy alone, but by reality. The richer children's concrete experiences of the world, the more powerfully their imagination can soar. In Part Two, we look at how this actually unfolds: how the carefully designed Montessori materials of the early childhood classroom lay the groundwork for the extraordinary imaginative life of the elementary-aged...
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Of all the aspects of Montessori philosophy that raise eyebrows, the topic of fantasy and imagination might be the most misunderstood. Parents sometimes hear that Montessori discourages imaginative play, or that it takes a dim view of fairy tales and make-believe. The reality is both more nuanced and more fascinating than that. Dr. Maria Montessori didn't distrust imagination. Actually, she revered it! She was deeply interested in understanding how imagination...
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You’ve likely picked up your primary-aged child from school and heard all about who said what to whom at lunch, and not a single word about reading or mathematics. This social focus is the heart of their world. This is one of the most fascinating (and occasionally challenging) realities of the primary years. The Montessori classroom is designed to give children freedom of movement and the ability to choose their...
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