Montessori classrooms are a place for exploration and personal growth Montessori is one of the fastest growing education programs in the world. South Carolina has more public Montessori schools that any state in the US. There are over 8,000 Montessori schools in the US and 20,000 worldwide. Many provinces in China have adopted Montessori as the curriculum of choice. Thousands of parents pay for their child to attend a private Montessori school and .many famous people are graduates of Montessori programs. These celebrities include Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Founders of Google), Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Jimmy Wales (Founder of Wikipedia), Kathrine Graham. Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Prince William and Prince Harry, Jeff Bezos (Founder of Amazon) and Taylor Swift. So, what makes Montessori programs so unique: • The Montessori Method considers the most important years to be educated are ages 0 – 6 years old. • In the Montessori classroom, children of different ages are educated together similar to a home setting. • The child’s day is spent doing self-chosen work. • Grades are not given to the students as each child advances as work is mastered. • Montessori is successful with a variety of students – gifted, learning disabled or special needs. The Montessori program utilizes a unique set of learning materials. In order to offer Montessori programs, teachers must go through a special training program that is accredited by the Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education. Teachers must spend over 600 additional hours of course work and practice teaching to receive a Montessori Diploma. The majority of teachers in Florence One Schools have attended the Palmetto Montessori Institute, which is accredited. After this rigorous preparation, teachers are ready to set up their own classrooms and begin teaching young children. The Montessori Preschool classroom is unique. The teacher must carefully arrange the perfect environment that includes home living materials, sensory materials, mathematic materials, language materials and cultural learning materials. Teachers spend many hours preparing the classroom so that children can learn to choose their own learning materials, practice them and return them to the shelf in perfect order. Teachers strive to make sure that students develop mental order, the ability to concentrate, coordinated body movements and personal independence. As new students work in the classroom at the first of the school year, it appears like a group of ants climbing around the anthill. The teacher and assistant teachers move about the classroom briskly assisting children as they make mistakes and often appear not to know where to go next. By October, the tone of the class changes dramatically. The children who once appeared disorganized are “changed”. They choose work carefully; gracefully handle the materials and return them to the shelf when they are finished. The average observer can hardly believe their eyes when the young children go about in an organized fashion in a Montessori classroom.
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