Helping Our Children Learn Through Diversity
Method Home
Dr. Montessori believed in the worthiness, value and importance of children. It is necessary to encourage a child by means of some exterior reward that would flatter his baser sentiments, such as gluttony, vanity, or self-love, in order to foster in him a spirit of work and peace. We learned that a child who is permitted to educate himself really gives up these lower instincts. A sparse environment of carefully chosen materials calls the child to work, concentration, and joy.
A child learns from direct contact with the environment, by means of all the senses, and through movement; the child literally absorbs what is in the environment. At Kidsland toys and materials are very best quality to call forth self-respect, respect and care from the child toward the environment, and the development of an appreciation of beauty.
The Prepared Environment: Since the child learns to glean information from many sources, instead of being handed it by the teacher, it is the role of our teacher to prepare and continue to adapt the environment, to link the child to it through well-thought-out lessons, and to facilitate the child's exploration and creativity. At Kidsland the environment is arranged according to subject area, and children are always free to move around the room, and to continue to work on a piece of material with no time limit.
Children learn directly from the environment, and from other children, rather than from the teacher. Our teachers are trained to teach one child at a time, with a few small groups and almost no lessons given to the whole class. She is facile in the basic lessons of math, language, the arts and sciences, and in guiding a child's research and exploration, capitalizing on interests and excitement about a subject. Large groups occur in the beginning of a new class, or in the beginning of the school year, and are phased out as the children gain independence. The child is observed, by our teachers. Children learn from what they are studying individually, but also from the amazing variety of work that is going on around them during the day.
When the environment meets all of the needs of children they become, without any manipulation by the adult, physically healthy, mentally and psychologically fulfilled, extremely well-educated, and brimming over with joy and kindness toward each other.
Children learn directly from the environment, and from other children