Why We Are More Than Just A Daycare
Commonly, traditional daycare is concerned with keeping children supervised and entertained. There is no curriculum per se. For an example, at most daycare’s the children just play all day, in contrast to a Montessori day care, at which they will learn their ABC’s as well as how to count to 10.
A typical daycare centers have adult-set schedules in which children are shuffled into a new activity every 20-45 minutes. These activities can be circle time, followed by art, outside play and story time. The whole group is required to move from activity to activity, even if they are engaged in the current activity or not. This kind of instruction happens at a group pace, in a group setting, even if some children move more slowly or faster than the others. In this kind of setting either child get left behind in grasping the material or become bored and act out.
A Montessori program supports a child to build independence and self-discovery. It allows them to choose their own activities and to fully explore at their own pace with an uninterrupted 3-hour “work periods”. This gives the child the opportunity to fully engage with the task at hand that interest them and allows them to move at a pace that is best suited for them, under the careful, individual guidance of their teacher. Teacher’s instructions are mostly one-on-one basis where they give a short 5-minute presentation to each child. After the presentation the child is given the opportunity to continue practicing until they are satisfied.
Parents tell you, in their own words, what makes Montessori education special. Go “beyond 2+2” and see the difference that Montessori can make in your child’s life.
It is important for children to free play, and we encourage parents to provide imaginative play activities at home but at the same time, we know that in the right environment, children are eager to learn through exploration and practice. The children in a Montessori program are surrounded by exciting opportunities to develop their skills: they practice opening and closing containers; they learn to button shirts; they identify objects by touch, sort things by color, transfer items with spoons, learn to pour water, put together puzzles, learn to cut with scissors, sew with laces, string beads, and so much more! There are also, dozens of scientifically designed learning materials such as a Pink Tower, Color Tablets, a Moveable Alphabet, math materials that teach the decimal system and arithmetic into the thousands, and many more academic activities. Each one of these activities teaches multiple skills and enables the child to problem solve, to use their hands and all their senses, and to repeat an activity and achieve mastery. A Montessori child joyfully refines their gross and fine motor skills, and ultimately, progresses to reading, writing, and arithmetic into the thousands. This is all done while the child is still in preschool. These activities are not offered at many daycares in which most of the toys the children play with are the same as the toys they play with at home.
Most daycares have twice as many children per a teacher than a Montessori daycare. Due to the larger classroom sizes the adults end up doing more for the children instead of teaching them how to be independent and do things for themselves. For example, in toddler room we support them in toilet learning, show them how to dress themselves, and engage them in individual lessons with the many activities on the Montessori shelves. Children acquire a level of physical and intellectual independence at a Montessori daycare rarely seen in other daycare environments. From day one they learn how to take care their own needs (such as dressing themselves, preparing snacks), and their environment (cleaning up after lunch, taking care of classroom plants and animals). This daily experience of being trusted with real responsibility for meaningful task, and rising to the occasion by successfully meeting that responsibility, results in children who have the earned self confidence that comes from actual mastery. From a traditional daycare a child will receive a shaky self-esteem, based on empty praise by others. We acknowledge that mistakes are necessary for learning, because we greet spilled water or a broken glass with a calm, constructive attitude, children discover that it’s ok to make mistakes, and that we can and should learn from the mistakes we made. Children at Montessori daycare acquire a growth mindset, a fundament attitude about the world that is invaluable to a joyful, successful life. They will enjoy learning how to read, write and do arithmetic because they do so, joyfully from the activities they choose. Such as drawing pictures and writing stories about them.
More Than Just A Daycare
The reason some parents put their children in daycare is to help them to become socialized. Though being socialized can mean different things in different settings. We guide the children at our school to develop what we call grace and courtesy. First we establish some clear rules that support peaceful classrooms. For example, children may only take activities from shelves, never from another child. When a child has to wait for an activity another child is working with, or when he or she stands calmly to observe a friend at work, the child practices impulse control. The children execute multi-step processes, such as table washing, and by always completing a full cycle of work which can consist of taking an activity off a shelf, to doing the activity and replacing it in its proper spot, the child learns organization and problem solving skills. We also, teach the children how to express their needs through language. (“I am working with this; you may have it when I am done,” “I don’t like it if you talk loudly,” or “I feel angry because you messed up my work.”) Teachers model this behavior with the children by shaking hands while looking into a child’s eyes as the child comes to class, or demonstrating how we politely offer food to a friend at snack time. The Montessori focus on teaching individual, pro social skills which is different from the group conformity at many daycare programs, where developmentally inappropriate skills, such as sitting still for an extended circle time, or indiscriminate “sharing” of toys may be expected from toddlers, without regard for the actual cognitive and emotional needs of the child. Grace and courtesy lessons and daily emphasis on respecting the rights of others foster a benevolent environment where pro-social skills emerge naturally.
Recent research shows that executive function skills of self-control, organization, and time management are more highly correlated with school and life success that even IQ. Montessori school purposefully develops these skills in our students.
One of the goals of Montessori is to help children acquire self-discipline: we want children to understand the right course of behavior, and to internally motivate to behave well. Our teachers do not expect immediate obedience from toddlers, nor do they offer rewards (praise, stickers, ect.) for good behavior, and punishment (time outs) for bad behavior. Instead, we believe that children naturally want to do and be good. By setting up the right environment, and modeling kind, respectful behavior, we can guide your child to develop inner discipline. When a child does misbehave, we emphasize positive alternatives. For example, when a child runs in class, we don’t yell at the child, instead, we calmly explain, “We walk in class. Let’s go back and walk to the sink together.”
The average daycare segregates children by age in each classroom while a Montessori daycare will put all the infants-2 year olds in one class and the 3-6 year-olds into another class. Each child stays with the same teacher in each class. This helps the children build a strong, family-like community, with lasting relationships between child and teacher and friendships between children of different ages. The younger children look up to and learn from the older children. By having mixed aged classrooms, older returning students are able to model healthy behavior and set a good example for the younger children; the older children benefit from the opportunity to mentor and guide their younger classmates.
Some daycares have high noise level and are proud to announce how messy they are, but in a Montessori daycare environment is surprisingly calm and orderly. The children need to be provided with an environment where they can learn without constant interruption and distractions so; they can focus and engage joyfully in a chosen activity.
Our lead teaching staff all has Montessori teaching credentials, or complete their training while employed at our school. Most childcare staff has minimal training and is under paid which leads to a higher turnover rate.
A Montessori-trained Head of School is an experienced master teacher who has the full time job of monitoring all the classes on campus and ensuring consistently high standards. The Head of School acts like a principle by regularly observing in all classrooms provides feedback to teacher to help them improve their practice and actively works with parents to resolve any student issues. In most traditional day cares are run by administrator who has no educational background in childcare.