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Who was Dr. Maria Montessori?
Born in the town of
Chiaravalle
, in the
province
of
Ancona
,
Italy
, on
August 31, 1870
, Dr. Maria Montessori was in many ways ahead of her time. She became the first female medical doctor in
Italy
and she developed an educational method that still challenges the way we think about teaching our children. Through scientific observation she analyzed how children learn and observed that young children learn best in a homelike setting surrounded by developmentally appropriate materials that provide life experiences. Through this observation, Dr. Montessori indicated that:
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- Children are to be respected as different from adults and as individuals who are different from each other.
- Children create themselves through purposeful activity.
- The most important years for learning are from birth to age six.
- Children possess unusual sensitivity and mental powers for absorbing and learning from their environment which includes people as well as materials.
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Dr. Maria Montessori believed that during the first six years of life, the child experiences a series of “sensitive periods”. Between the ages of three and six, children are in the developmental sensitive period for language, good manners, order and sensorial refinement. During this period, children show great interest and power to receive particular stimuli, where they learn faster and effortlessly.
Royal
Cachet
Montessori
School
promotes these sensitive periods by providing children with the natural learning tools at the appropriate stage of their development.
In 1907, Dr. Maria Montessori founded the first Casa dei Bambini in the city of
Rome
where she began her lifelong quest in observing children, thus creating a prepared environment designed to facilitate maximum independent learning and exploration by the child.
Dr. Montessori was nominated for the Nobel Peace prize three times, in 1949, 1950 and 1951. Her advanced Montessori educational philosophy is flourishing today.
Montessori Philosophy
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Dr. Maria Montessori’s philosophy is based on the principle that children learn best within an environment prepared to nurture and enhance each child’s unique development. At
Royal
Cachet
Montessori
School
, rather than following a fixed program or schedule, children learn through work with the specialized educational materials that captivate their attention, inviting them to explore, manipulate and discover. They must do work for themselves, and only then is learning actually taking place with interest and understanding.
“I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand”,
Dr. Maria Montessori
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Fundamental to the Montessori theory is the multi-age classroom, such as the pre-school CASA classes that include children from the ages of
3 to 6
and elementary classes that include children from the ages of 6 to 9. The
Royal
Cachet
Montessori
School
educators intensely follow each child and present carefully designed lessons and materials as the child develops. Children are free to engage in independent exploration or to work in small groups, learning from and sharing with one another. Through these self-paced activities, children learn “how to learn”.
Between birth and the age of six, Dr. Maria Montessori observed that children have a remarkable, almost effortless, ability to absorb knowledge from their surroundings and to teach themselves. The child is completely absorbed in building the person he/she is to be. Modern research by Dr. Benjamin Bloom indicates that the child’s personality is firmly implanted with 50% of the mental development completed by age 4 and an additional 30% of the development completed before the age of 8 years old. The child’s development during these “formative” years is crucial to his/her future success.
Early childhood education has come to accept today what Dr. Montessori discovered so long ago. The child under six, indeed, has enormous capacity for mental absorption. Never will this sensitive period of the child be more alive than in the preschool years.
In a
Montessori
School
, children of all abilities and backgrounds are educated to become life-long learners, self-motivated problem-solvers and creative thinkers.
Why Montessori Education?
The primary goal of Montessori education is to help all children reach their full potential in all areas of life, without pressure or competition. Activities promote the development of physical coordination, cognitive preparation, social skills and emotional growth. The holistic curriculum, under the direction of a specially prepared teacher and a prepared environment of specialized Montessori exercise materials, allows the child to experience the joy of learning, to explore and “absorb” according to intuitive capabilities through exploration and manipulation of these classroom materials. These multi-sensory, sequential and self-correcting materials provide the experiences from which children create their knowledge.
With this philosophy in mind, at
Royal
Cachet
Montessori
School
we pay individual attention to each child and his/her unique ability to develop learning faculties. We help the child to develop his/her own individuality. Our "prepared environment" features an ordered arrangement of sequential training materials appropriately designed to suit the varying stages of our students' development from Preschool to Elementary. We take pride in providing for our students the environment which fosters exploration, creativity and respect with which they can nurture and crystallize their growth potential.
Royal
Cachet
Montessori
School
is not intended to just be a school, but also a community – a miniature society in which children live and work cooperatively in a highly social atmosphere of freedom and structure founded on respect. Each child is allowed the freedom to express his/her unique personality, develop individuality and is respected as an important member of the community. The children learn to honour a few carefully chosen classroom guidelines. Beyond that, they are free to work independently or with others as they choose. The child at
Royal
Cachet
Montessori
School
develops inner discipline, the ability to make important decisions and a sense of responsibility. Inspired by Dr. Maria Montessori’s vision to create a better and more peaceful world by nurturing the spirit of each child,
Royal
Cachet
Montessori
School
offers an oasis for children to learn and grow with the capacity to adapt in tomorrow's workplace. They develop skills of concentration, motivation and self-discipline. All of society benefits when children have this ability to succeed.
“Our aim is not merely to make children understand, and still less to force them to memorize, but so to touch their imaginations as to enthuse them to their innermost core”,
Dr. Maria Montessori.
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RCMS, along with numerous other Montessori schools both in and outside if our area, is currently not participating in the CWELCC.
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