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©Tomorrow’s Child Magazine Winter 2006 5
When a child transfers from Montessori to a new kindergarten,
whether in a public or private environ-ment, she spends the first
few months adjusting to anew class, a new teacher, and a whole new
system withdifferent expectations. This, along with the fact
thatmost kindergartens have a much lower set of expecta-tions for
five-year-olds than most Montessori programs,severely cuts into the
learning that could occur duringthis crucial year.
TheImportanceof theKindergartenYear in
theMontessoriClassroom
ontessori is an approach to working with children that is
carefullybased on what we’ve learned about children’s cognitive,
neurologi-cal and emotional development from several decades of
research.
Although sometimes misunderstood, the Montessori approach has
beenacclaimed as the most developmentally appropriate model
currently avail-able by some of America’s top experts on early
childhood and elementaryeducation.
One important difference between what Montessori offers the
five-year- o l dand what is offered by many of today’s kindergarten
programs has to do with
by Tim Seldin, President
The Montessori Foundation
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6 ©Tomorrow’s Child Magazine Winter 2006 •
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how it helps the young child to learnhow to learn.
Over recent years, educational re-search has increasingly shown
that stu-dents in many schools don’t really un-derstand most of
what they are beingtaught. Howard Gardner, Harv a r dPsychologist
and author of the best sell-ing book The Unschooled Mind g o e sso
far as to suggest that, “Many schoolshave fallen into a pattern of
giving kidsexercises and drills that result in theirgetting answers
on tests that look likeunderstanding. Most students, from asyoung
as those in kindergarten to stu-dents in some of the finest
colleges inAmerica, do not understand whatt h e y’ve studied – in
the most basicsense of the term. They lack the capaci-
But won’t my five-year-old spend her kindergarten yeartaking
care of younger children instead of doing her own work?
No, not at all! When older children work with younger ones,
theytend to learn more from the experience than their
“students.”Experiences that facilitate development of a child’s
independ-ence are often very limited in traditional schools.
Most five-year-olds have been waiting for the longest time to
beone of the “big kids.” The experience of playing the
leadershiprole does wonders to reinforce the five-year-olds’s sense
ofautonomy and self-confidence.
One important difference between what Montessori offers
thefive-year-old and what is offered by many of today’s
kindergartenprograms has to do with how it helps the young child
learn howto learn.
A great deal of research shows that, quite often, students in
tra-ditional programs don’t really understand most of what they
arebeing taught.
❊The kindergarten year isa critical component ofthe three-year
EarlyChildhood Montessoriprogram. This is the yearwhen children’s
earlierexperiences are inter-nalized and reinforced.When they
leaveMontessori beforekindergarten, many oftheir earlier
learningexperiences may be lostbecause they are notreinforced or
completelyunderstood.
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7©Tomorrow’s Child Magazine Winter 2006 • www.montessori.org
As a “developmental” approach, Montessori is based
on a realistic understanding of children’s cognitive,
neurological, and emotional development.
Because Montessori teachers are developmentally
trained, they normally know how to present informa-
tion in an appropriate way.
What often happens in schools is that teachers are
not developmentally trained and children are essen-
tially filling in workbook pages with little under-
standing and do a great deal of rote learning.
S u p e rf i c i a l l y, it may appear that they have learned
a
l o t, but the reality is that, most often, what they have
learned was not meaningful to the child. A few
months down the road, little of what they ‘learned’
will be retained and it will be rare for them to be able
to use their knowledge and skills in new situations.
More and more educational researchers are begin-
ning to focus on whether students, young or adult,
really understand or have simply memorized correct
answers.
ty to take knowledge learned in onesetting and apply it
appropriately in adifferent setting. Study after study hasfound
that, by and large, even the beststudents in the best schools can’t
dothat.” (“On Teaching For Understand-ing: A Conversation with
HowardG a r d n e r,” by Ron Brandt, E d u c a t i o n a lLe a d e
r-ship Magazine, A SCD, 1994.)
The value of the sensorial experi-ences that the younger
children havehad in Montessori are often underesti-mated by both
parents and educators.Research is very clear that young chil-dren
learn by observing and manipu-lating their environment, not
throughtextbooks and workbook exercises.
In a primary classroom, three and four-year-olds work with
theconcrete Montessori learning materials, gradually forming a
men-tal picture of concepts, such as: How big is a thousand? How
manyhundreds make up a thousand? And what is really going on whenwe
borrow or carry numbers in mathematical operations?
continued on p. 8 ...
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8 ©Tomorrow’s Child Magazine Winter 2006 •
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The Montessori materials give the childconcrete sensorial
impressions of ab-stract concepts, such as long division,that
become the foundation for a life-time of understanding.
Montessori gives children a founda-tion for abstract
understanding, but theprocess is anything but complete as theybegin
kindergarten. Two-, three-, andf o u r- y e a r-olds absorb
impressions fromthe world around them like sponges.Their learning
is generally unconscious.
Fi v e - y e a r-olds are beginning to reflectupon the world.
They pay closer atten-tion, notice more details, ask more
ques-tions, and begin to explain the world intheir own terms. The
kindergarten yearis a time when the child begins to inte-grate
everything she learned in the firstfew years.
Although many parents have heard,and on some level appreciate,
that theyears before first grade are the most im-p o rtant years in
a child’s education, deci-sions about a child’s preschool and kin-d
e r g a rten often receive less objectiveanalysis than goes into
selecting a newc a r. There is a tendency to assume thatthe local
schools are fundamentally goodenough. In doing so, parents
underesti-mate the amount of learning that take splace in the third
year of Montessori.
Learning to be organizedand learning to be focusedis as
important as any aca-demic work. Doing work-sheets quickly can
beimpressive to parents, butthere is rarely any deeplearning going
on.
By the end of age five,Montessori students willoften develop
academicskills that may be beyondthose advanced beyondthose.
Academic progressis not our ultimate goal. Ourreal hope is that
they willfeel good about themselvesand enjoy learning.Mastering
basic skills is aside goal.
Have you ever heard the
quote, “All I ever needed to
know, I learned in kinder-
garten?” I’ve seen this quote
many times before, and, as
most people, I have read it as
an innocuous statement of
someone’s judgment,
dismissing it before ever
really appreciating it. But, the
other day, in an airport, I came
across this statement. Be-
fore dismissing it, as I had
previously, I actually took
a moment to ponder the
statement.
Where Are They Now ...
Chelsea Howe
Graduate StudentLoyola College (MD)
Production Assistant The Montessori Foundaton
10 Years in Montessori The Barrie School, (Silver Spring,
MD)
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©Tomorrow’s Child Magazine Winter 2006 • www.montessori.org
9
In a few cases, kindergarten Montes-sori children may not look
as if they arenot as advanced as a child in a very aca-demically
accelerated traditional pro-gram, but what they do know they
usu-ally know very well. Their understand-ing of the decimal
system, place value,mathematical operations, and similari n f o
rmation is usually very sound. Wi t hreinforcement as they grow
older, it be-comes internalized and a perm a n e n tp a rt of who
they are. When they leaveMontessori before they have had thetime to
internalize these early concreteexperiences, their early learning
oft e nevaporates because it is neither rein-forced nor commonly
understood.
Montessori is an approach to work-ing with children that is
carefully basedon what we’ve learned about child de-velopment from
several decades of re-search.
If you are a former Montessoristudent or know someone whois,
we’d love to hear from you tofind out how Montessori affectedyour
life. Contact Chelsea [email protected].
hat did I learn in kindergarten,and where was I when I was
inkindergarten? I was sitting in
Patti and Susan’s class on a big tapedcircle singing, Deep Blue
Beluga, takingnaps in the afternoon, learning to sharemy
mid-morning snack with other chil-dren, learning the art of tying
my shoestaught by older children, even buildingbig pink towers in
an attempt to masterthe best plan to make it, successfully,stand
taller each and every time. Iremember the playground, and
learningthat there are different areas of the play-ground, divided
by different childrenand different activities; but, there was
acollectivism that was shared, in that wewere invited and
encouraged to partici-pate in all of the groups and all of
theactivities. But, most of all, I rememberPatti and Susan and
appreciating that Icould go to school every day, be wel-comed with
a hug, and dismissed backto my parents with a good-bye hug.
Tw e n t y-one years later, I am still in thesame place;
however, Patti and Susan arenot my teachers, but they are
representedin any “authority” figures I meet, as they donot need to
be feared, but can be appreciat-ed. I still know how to share, and
to appre-ciate the diversity that life offers. I recognizethe gifts
that people bring in their every d a ypersonalities that allow me
to learn fromthem –whether it’s in teaching me how totie my shoes
(which I’m proud to say I’vemastered), or in sharing with me
some-thing that’s totally unique to them. I have
always internalized the desire to respect di-versity not only in
backgrounds, but in per-spective as well. And, I appreciate that I
amimmersed in various different backgroundse q u a l l y, as I can
learn and share with all,rather than be limited in my
associations.
I am in graduate school for psychology,with one year left in
this program. Many askthe scary question of: “What will you dowhen
you’re done?” But, I know the answerto this question, “I will go
on. I will learnmore. I will go to more school to achieveenough
education that I can be and do whatI want to in this world.” It may
be a lawyer, aw r i t e r, a psychologist, even a television
per-sonality – but, I respect that there is morefor me to discover
in myself for now. I takecomfort that my education and my
experi-ences will help lead the way.
Montessori provided me with the won-d e rful gift of
appreciating learning – not justfrom books, but learning from
within. Itfostered in me the independence, the driveto excel and
succeed in all that I do, andmost importantly, the love and
appreciationI have for myself in that I was taught to cele-brate
who I am and use my potentials asmy very gifts in my everyday
experience.
I can honestly say, that I have so muchcuriosity for life
because I was given the op-p o r t u n i t y, from a very young
age, to ques-tion why things happen the way that theydo. I was
given the luxury to learn at myown pace, though still covering all
of thematerial, to further excel and master thethings that were
more fitting to me.E s s e n t i a l l y, I have carried that
Montessori
experience with me through all of theseyears- learning all that
is required of me,but really focusing on the most salientand
stimulating things that are unique tome. My education, therefore,
is not re-stricted to the classroom or books, but isomnipresent in
all facets of life.
I am aware of how fortunate I am tobe where I am and to have
accomplishedall that I have in my life. But, in reality, Ihave to
thank my parents for having cho-sen Montessori. My teachers (fromk
i n d e rgarten and beyond), however,may have been my greatest
asset foropening the doors of exploration, en-couraging me to be
confident in myself,and to have courage to learn, on somany levels,
what life is about. I won’tdismiss that quote anymore, as I
oncedid. I will embrace it, appreciate it, andcommunicate this with
others. If others’k i n d e rgarten experience can be aspoignant,
comforting, and stimulating asmine, we can make a huge difference
inwhat we, as the next generations, canmake of the future. After
all, everything Iever needed to know, I really did learn ink i n d
e rg a r t e n .
By the end of kindergart e nMontessori children are generally
do-ing very well academically. Montessorioffers them enriched
lessons in math,reading, and language, and if they arer e a d y,
they normally develop excellents k i lls.
The key concept is readiness. If achild is developmentally not
ready togo on, he or she is neither left behindnor made to feel
like a failure. Ourgoal is not ensuring that childrendevelop at a
predetermined rate,but to ensure that whatever theydo, they do well
and master. MostMontessori children master atremendous amount of
inform a-tion and skills, and even in the cas-es where children may
not havemade as much progress as wewould have wished, they
usuallyhave done a good job with their
work, wherever they have progressedat any given point, and feel
good aboutthemselves as learners.
Tim Seldin is President of the MontessoriFoundation, Chair of
The Intern a t i o n a lMontessori Council and co-author of T h
eWorld in the Palm of Her Hand, Celebrationsof Life, and The
Montessori Wa y.