A frequently asked question:
What is montessori?
Montessori Education was created by Dr. Maria Montessori, and can be traced back to 1907.
Her philosophy to education was an approach that called for child centered learning. This type of learning is for a child to be motivated and eager for knowledge. It values the human spirit in the development of children, physically, socially, cognitively, and emotionally.
Dr. Montessori’s method has garnered success for over 100 years throughout the diverse cultures of the world in schools.
We at Rainbow Preschool are proud advocates of the Montessori Education.
Here are examples of some of the hallmarks of this method used at Rainbow Preschool:
The Pink Towers:
• The purposes of the pink towers are for children to understand sequence and order by
building graduated blocks in 3 dimensional sizes.
• This activity develops visual and muscular perception, which in turn leads to a child’s
observation of their environment. In addition, a child increases coordinated movement.
• As equally important, the activity introduces math through size concept and prepares
students for the decimal and number system.
The Cylinder and Solid Insert:
• The purpose of this is to help children gain visual perception of depth and dimension.
• Encourages student to become aware of surroundings which includes height, length,
width, and depth of an object.
• Helps a child learn fine motor skills
• Fine tunes a child’s readiness for the finger and thumb form of a pencil grip
The Red and Blue Rods:
• Using the red and blue rods encourages a child to learn the names of numbers 1-10,
and visually associate the numbers with the correct quantity. This teaches numeral
recognition, quantity, and prepares a child for learning additions.
The Golden Bead Material / Counting Chain Arrows:
• Drill in the ability to count by 1’s, 2’s, 5’s, and 100’s.
The Trinomial Cube
• Has a direct purpose to teach children about the cube shape. However, this activity also
indirectly shows a child the mathematical form of trinomials- an introduction to algebra,
in preparation for formula proof, (a+b+c)3 at the elementary level.
Hope that shed some lights to what Montessori is!
