Designing a Montessori Classroom

A Montessori classroom belongs to the students. It shouldn’t be too big, but nice and cozy with learning areas. We always decorated the classroom with the children’s paintings and baked play clay sculptures. I still have my children’s framed pictures and clay sculptures decorating my house. Here are some more design ideas you can use at home or in a classroom.

Montessori & Milestones

Most pediatricians are concerned about children making milestones within a certain age. Some people think that Montessori education should not worry about a child’s milestones in development. I know that we write down dates when a child accomplishes certain tasks in a Montessori preschool classroom because it gives insight to a child’s development and readiness for more complex activities. It’s also a way to know if a child needs remedial help. So keep on writing down your’s child’s accomplishments. It’s important to know that kids reach milestones at their own pace, some things come earlier and some things come later. It’s all good!

Introducing a Second Language

I was always taught that you should first introduce the language your child will use in school and society. When a child knows the primary language well, then introduce the second language. This helps avoid confusion of blending both languages. For example, when my daughter could count in English, I taught her how to count in Norwegian. She was 2 at the time and this seemed to work very well. In fact, she finds learning languages easy because she was introduced to more than one language before the age of 6.

Here are some interesting ideas about bilingual language. In fact, I find this quote by Dr. Silvana Montanaro, MD very interesting:
“If we could have two, three, four or five different persons speaking different languages around the child, she could easily absorb all of them without any particular effort, provided that each person speaks to her ALWAYS AND ONLY in their language. But this is possible only in the first years of life.”-

I wonder if anyone has ever done this and documented it?