Montessori Benefits

Education at CPE Montessori Chelsea is based on the principles developed by Maria Montessori and extended and refined by Montessori teachers in Canada and around the world. At the heart of this approach is the belief that children will best reach their potential by having the freedom to learn in a classroom especially prepared for exploring under the careful guidance of a trained teacher.

One of our first educational objectives is to develop in each child a strong self-esteem.  This objective goes hand in hand, as Maria Montessori claims is the basis of all education, with the need to learn the basic tools of life.

At the CPE Maison Montessori de Chelsea, children aged from 24 months to 5 years are grouped together allowing them to socialize and have role models from all ages.  

The benefits of a Montessori education include the following.

• Provides individual instruction: Each child is allowed supervised free choice of classroom activities and freedom of movement based on his or her interests, so long as these activities do not disrupt the well-being of the class.
• Promotes initiative and self-confidence: Materials are structured and presented to enable self-teaching and independent activity, which develops self-reliance.
• Emphasizes learning through the use of tangible sensory objects, which reinforces memory and understanding.
• Provides a supportive, carefully prepared environment scaled to the needs of the child and designed to teach a sense of responsibility and self-discipline.

WHAT IS THE MONTESSORI METHOD
This system of education is both a philosophy of child development and a rationale for guiding such growth. It is based on the child's developmental needs for freedom within limits, as well as, a carefully prepared environment which guarantees exposure to materials and experiences. Through this, the child develops intelligence as well as physical and psychological abilities. It is designed to take full advantage of the child's desire to learn and their unique ability to develop their own capabilities. The child needs adults to expose him to the possibilities of his life, but the child must determine his response to those possibilities.

The main premises of Montessori education are:

• Children are to be respected as different from adults and as individuals who differ from each other.

• The child possesses an unusual sensitivity and intellectual ability to absorb and learn from his environment that are unlike those of the adult both in quality and capacity.

• The most important years of a child's growth are the first six years of life when unconscious learning is gradually brought to the conscious level.

• The child has a deep love and need for purposeful work. He works, however, not as an adult for completion of a job, but the sake of an activity itself. It is this activity which enables him to accomplish his most important goal: the development of himself - his mental, physical, and psychological powers.

What makes a Montessori Education unique

GOALS OF A MONTESSORI SCHOOL
The main purpose of a Montessori school is to provide a carefully planned, stimulating environment which will help the child develop an excellent foundation for creative learning. The specific goals for the children who attend a Montessori school are:

Developing a positive attitude toward school - Most of the learning activities are individualized: i.e., each child engages in a learning task that particularly appeals to him... because he finds the activities geared to his needs and level of readiness. Consequently, he works at his own rate, repeating the task as often as he likes, thus experiencing a series of successful achievement. In this manner, he build a positive attitude toward learning itself.

Helping each child develop self confidence - In the Montessori school, tasks are designed so that each new step is built upon what the child has already mastered, thus removing the negative experience of frequent failure. A carefully planned series of successes builds upon inner confidence in the child assuring him that he can learn by himself. These confidence building activities likewise contribute to the child's healthy emotional development.

Assisting each child in building a habit of concentration - Effective learning presupposes the ability to listen carefully and to attend to what is said or demonstrated. Through a series of absorbing experiences, the child forms habits of extended attention, thus increasing his ability to concentrate.

Fostering an abiding curiosity - In a rapidly changing society, we will all be students at some time in our lives. A deep, persistent and abiding curiosity is a prerequisite for creative learning. By providing the child with opportunities to discover qualities, dimensions, and relationships amidst a rich variety of stimulating learning situations, curiosity is developed and an essential element in creative learning has been established.

Developing habits of initiative and persistence - By surrounding the child with appealing materials and learning activities geared to his inner needs, he becomes accustomed to engaging in activities on his own. Gradually, this results in a habit of initiative - an essential quality in leadership. "Ground rules" call for completing a task once begun and gradually results in a habit of persistence and perseverance for replacing materials after the task is accomplished. This "completion expectation" gradually results in a habit of persistence and perseverance.

Fostering inner security and sense of order in the child - Through a well ordered, enriched but simplified environment, the child's need for order and security is intensely satisfied. This is noticed in the calming effect the environment has on the child. Since every item in the Montessori classroom has a place and the ground rules call for everything in its place, the child's inner need for order is directly satisfied.

DISCIPLINE
Ground rules protect the rights and liberty of each individual child and the group as a whole. They promote the internalization of pro social behaviors and values including: self control of impulses, consideration of others, and a sense of responsibility for oneself and the welfare of the group. Ground rules can help to make life at school easier, make the days run more smoothly, enable children to be more independent, and help to develop responsibility. The number of ground rules is generally kept to a minimum, stated and presented in a positive manner with an emphasis on safety, respect for others / environment, and the results benefit all members of the group.

Here is a list of some typical, often automatic, ground rules used in a  Montessori classroom:

• The child selects a material to use from the shelf and takes it to a suitable table, floor and/or other designated work space.

• The child is free to use the material as long as they like as long as it is treated with respect.

• After using the material, the child returns it to its place on the shelf, in the same condition in which it was found, for the next person to use.

• The children restore the environment, clean up spills and messes, put rugs away in proper order, push chairs in etc., after each activity.

• The child is free to work alone - no child is forced to share with another materials they have first chosen for activity.

• The child has the right not to choose any materials or activity.

Many other common ground rules are established to ensure safety if special equipment is used, when traveling as a group, or when staying within supervised areas.

For more information about Montessori education, see the links on our Montessori Resources page.

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