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AN INSIGHT INTO MONTESSORI
Our Montessori approach is inspired by the works of Maria Montessori, an extraordinary woman acknowledged for her revolutionary work in education. After becoming the first female Doctor of Medicine in Italy and working with socially disadvantaged children, she developed a unique educational method known as the Montessori Method.
Tŷ Plant wishes to offer your child a home away from home. The holistic curriculum of Montessori aims to enhance children's natural learning ability and help them to build a foundation of skills for educational concepts later in life. A child's need for freedom is a fundamental part of early years development. The environment is prepared to encourage spontaneous interaction with the materials and experiences that support the need for freedom within safe and appropriate parameters.
Principles of Montessori education
- Children are valued and respected as individuals in their own right
- Recognition of a child's natural curiousities and willingness to absorb and learn from their environment
- First six years are known as the 'critical period' in which children learn and develop characteristics that will support them throughout their lives.
How your child will benefit from Montessori education
- Montessori offers freedom within a prepared environment to fuel children's need to explore and learn
- Responsive environments are carefully adapted by a practitioner to reflect the continually changing needs and interests of your child, encouraging independence, self regulation and expression
- Everything within the learning environment is accessible and available to the children to facilitate spontaneity and challenge and develop their cognitive and creative abilities
PRACTICAL LIFE
Maria Montessori observed that children are happiest when they are engaged in real-life ordinary activities and thrive on the responsbility that the task presents. Practical life activities are embedded in our Nursery classroom, providing endless opportunities for your child to engage in real life experiences, watering plants, pouring from a jug, practicing fastenings, that develop a sense of independence, concentration and co-ordination.
SENSORIAL
Children in the early years learn primarily through their senses. The carefully designed materials help to broaden and refine the senses. Through focusing on one concept at a time and enhancing your child's ability to scientifically discriminate, such as between large and small, your child will become more logical, persceptive and aware.
MATHEMATICS
Mathematics is integrated into our children's everyday lives. The Montessori philosophy states that the child has a 'mathematical mind' and an internal drive to understand the environment around them. The activities are ordered from simple to complex and concrete to abstract. The use of tactile materials enhances the child's ability to develop concepts and skills in reasoning, investigation, calculation and measuring.
LANGUAGE
The development of language in the child begins from birth. Dr Maria Montessori devised that from birth to six, the child is in the stage of the absorbent mind. The child absorbs language from their environment. In the Montessori classroom, language is approached indirectly and integrated into the children's play and learning, with the language materials providing a foundation of skills for reading and writing.