What Makes Montessori Education Unique?
Cultivating a Love for Learning
A Montessori education is unique in its profound respect for a child’s sincere desire and ability to learn, and in its recognition of his need for independence. A balanced attention to intellectual, physical, emotional and spiritual development is regarded as fundamental to their progress and enjoyment in learning. Children have an innate curiosity and love of work, and of order, that can become life-long traits if encouraged appropriately. This is the role of our staff and their joy of teaching.
The Montessori method is based on observation, first and foremost. Observe the child, in order to discover his unique personality, needs, tendencies, and talents. It is preparation of educational material in the environment to meet these needs; it is respect for each child’s rhythm and choices, interests, and ways of processing information; and, it is a profound respect for – and protection of – the crucial periods of concentration and contemplation, that nurture the child, and reveal the normal human: happy, peaceful, kind, generous, focused, hard-working, healthy, and creative.
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The Royal Montessori Difference
Montessori vs. Traditional Education
The goal of both Montessori and Traditional schooling is the same: to provide learning experiences for the child. The biggest differences lie in the kind of learning experiences each school provides and the methods they use to accomplish this goal. Montessori educators believe both differences are important because they help shape what a child learns, his work habits, and his future attitudes toward himself and the world around him.
- Montessori Education
- Emphasis on cognitive and social development
- Teacher has guiding role
- Environment and method encourage self-discipline
- Mainly individual instruction
- Mixed age groups
- Grouping encourages children to teach and collaborate
- Child chooses own work
- Child discovers own concepts from self-teaching materials
- Child is allocated time to work on and complete lesson
- Child sets own learning pace
- Child spots own errors from feedback of material
- Child reinforces own learning by repetition & internal feelings of success
- Child can work where he chooses, move about and talk at will (yet not disturb work of others), group work voluntary
- Multi-sensory materials for physical exploration organizes program for learning care of self and environment
- Traditional Education
- Emphasis on rote learning and social behavior
- Teacher controls classroom
- Teacher acts as primary enforcer of discipline
- Mainly group instruction
- Same age groups
- Teaching is done by teacher; collaboration is discouraged
- Curriculum structured for child
- Child is guided to concepts by teacher
- Child generally allotted specific time for work
- Instruction pace set by group
- Errors in child’s work highlighted by teacher
- Learning is reinforced externally by repetition, rewards & punishment
- Child is usually assigned seat and is required to participate during group lessons
- No organized program for self-care instruction – this is left primarily up to parents
The Toddler Program
18 Months to 3 Years Old
We engage and encourage from the beginning; this is the time when children use their bodies, senses, and emerging problem-solving skills to learn about and make sense of their world in the ways most meaningful and effective for them. While respecting individual personalities, the focus at this stage of development is on cultivating basic motor coordination, independence, and language development. Care is taken to respect different levels of maturity and separation concerns. This allows children to settle into their new environment as smoothly as possible.
Our teachers give toddlers responsive, individualized attention to help build skills in:
- Sensory and Perception
Self-Help
- Physical and Motor Skills
Language
Social and Emotional Growth
Potty-Training
Royal Montessori Academy
Mankind can hope for a solution to its problems, among which the most urgent are those of peace and unity, only by turning its attention and energies to the discovery of the child, and to the development of the great potentialities of the human personality in the course of its formation.
The child who has felt a strong love for his surroundings, and for all living creatures, who has discovered joy and enthusiasm in work, gives us reason to hope that humanity can develop in a new direction.
Listen to the child, to the child’s rhythm. Respect our environment, the self, and all of us who make up mankind.
The child can only develop by means of experience in his environment. We call such experience work.
The Primary Program
3 to 6 Years Old
Children at this stage of development have the ability to embrace knowledge and activity without effort, or fatigue, because of an “absorbent mind.” One teacher and one assistant teacher welcome children into each primary classroom.
To aid this period of self-construction, our teachers encourage individual, as well as group work. Focus is on engaging the children in purposeful work. The ability to think and express with more clarity are cultivated in the following ways:
Practical Life exercises instill in the child the care for oneself, for others, and for the environment. Activities are those children might enjoy at home, including “grace and courtesy.”
Through tasks such as buckling a shoe, children develop the muscular and fine motor co-ordination necessary for handwriting. Their powers of control and concentration evolve, so they learn to work at a task from beginning to end.
Sensorial Material serves as a tool for both physical and cognitive development. The children develop mental order by being allowed to explore their world through their senses and respond to their natural desire to sort, classify and arrange both the physical properties of their environment and more abstract experiences.
Mathematics material similarly helps the children evolve from a solid understanding of basic mathematical principles, to preparation for later abstract reasoning. This also helps them develop problem-solving capabilities.
From tracing sandpaper numbers, they move on to the decimal system with the golden bead material for counting, and start to assimilate the concepts of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, through the bank game and other group exercises. In this way, they learn to love mathematics!
Reading & Writing ability is developed by paying attention simultaneously to the mind, the hand and the eye of each child, a multi-sensorial approach. Practical life and sensorial exercises enable the use of a pencil, pen or chalk. Children gain a notion of rich and precise language through bilingual conversation, story telling, poetry and songs.
Presented with a sandpaper letter for example, the child will look at it, trace its outline, repeat the sound, thus acquiring an audio, visual and tactile awareness, which promotes the development of written expression and reading skills.
Geography, Biology, Botany, Zoology, Art & Music is presented as extensions of the sensorial and language activities. The children learn about people from other cultures including their language, food, dress, music and behavior.
Royal Montessori Academy is dedicated to guiding and nurturing children’s’ full development by providing a learning atmosphere that promotes peace, harmony and respect based upon Montessori principles of education.
Health and Nutrition
Healthy, Organic, and Grass-Fed Meals
Honest & healthy. Sustainable & humane. Deliciously mouthwatering. All of our meals are prepared fresh daily and delivered to our facility ready to enjoy. They all include protein, grains, fruits and vegetables. We also provide organic milk and juice. We offer breakfast, lunch, dinner and 2 snacks for a full day program. There is always a fresh fruit incorporated in the daily snack. We take our kids’ nutrition and well being very seriously.
Our poultry is beyond organic and free range: it’s 100% pastured and organic-fed.
Our beef is beyond pastured: it’s 100% grass-fed and 100% grass-finished. They meet the highest standards of the American Grassfed Association.
Daily Schedule
What We Do On a Daily Basis
Peace Through Education
Teaching Children to Love Themselves and Their Environment
Establishment of a peaceful environment lies at the core of Montessori education. Dr. Montessori was the champion of the revolutionary concept of an open classroom, where children are guided rather than controlled. She believed that by giving children the freedom to exist in a cooperative environment rather than a competitive one, they learn respect, how to work both alone and collectively, and with children of different ages and abilities. In fact, they learn more readily from observing others because of their mutual differences, as they are at their most absorbent stage of knowledge acquisition as young humans.
The mission of all Montessori teachers is to create an atmosphere of calm, order and joy in the classroom and to be there to help and encourage the children in all their efforts, allowing them to develop self-confidence and inner discipline. With the younger students at each level, the teacher is more active, demonstrating the use of materials and presenting activities based on an assessment of the child’s requirements. Knowing how to observe constructively and when, and how much, to intervene, is one of the most important talents the Montessori teacher acquires during a rigorous course of training.
When Montessori principles are applied in the wider context of society, their possibilities are vast and all encompassing. It is only through teaching children to love themselves, their work, their peers and the environment within which they exist, that we can expect them to continue on as such as adults in the world community. Peace can only be achieved through education.
Doctor Maria Montessori (1870 – 1952)
The Mastermind Behind Our Education Methods
An exceptional neurologist, specialized in child development, Dr. Maria Montessori was, in fact, the first Italian woman to ever receive a degree in medicine. In January 1907, she created the “Casa dei Bambini” in San Lorenzo – a poor industrial quarter of Rome.
She observed the needs of the infant through adolescence. Her analyses and scientifically designed learning program have been an international inspiration of early childhood education.
Dr. Montessori believed the purpose of education is to be an aid to life. It should go far beyond the mere acquisition of knowledge in various areas of culture. Her teachings were based on a psychology honoring the individuality of the child, with the aim of harnessing a child’s innate delight in discovery.
Two of Montessori’s primary influences regarding child psychology were the French physician Jean Itard (1775-1838) and his student, Edouard Seguin (1812-1880). Their work profoundly inspired Dr. Montessori, who in turn developed a deep understanding of the connection between the physiology and neurology of the child.
Dr. Montessori’s insights – which foster harmony through disciplines of grace and courtesy, self-reliance and self-esteem – continue to universally inspire families, educators and governments from all walks of life.
Get In Touch
Stop In or Drop Us a Line
We are located at 337 Route 9 South, Manalapan, NJ 07726. You can call us at 732-786-3133.
If you have any questions about our programs, pricing, or anything else, feel free to contact us using the form below or at [email protected].