Montessori Preschool: What Sets the Standard?

The Montessori preschool is a special environment designed to allow children to learn at their own pace, discover what it is they want to learn about, and obtain social and cultural awareness and skills at the same time. In a traditional classroom, all the children are taught the same lesson at the same time, and they progress in a group. However, the Montessori method sees each child as an individual and understands that every child learns at his or her own pace. 

The Prepared Environment 

One standard of the Montessori preschool is the "prepared environment", a term used to describe the learning environment used at Montessori schools. In this environment, children will learn and work on different things at the same time. One child might be working on multiplication or letter recognition, while another may be learning about cultural music from a particular country. The Montessori preschool teachers will "follow the child", a Montessori phrase used to describe the process of taking the child's lead as far as what he or she wants to learn, and recognizing when that child is ready to move up a level in a certain subject. This environment allows children to learn at their own pace, discover what interests them, and develop skills they will continue to use for the rest of their lives. 

The Leadership Model 

Another defining feature of the Montessori preschool is its emphasis on leadership. Dr. Maria Montessori devised a learning environment in which older children tutor and help younger children while younger children model successful behaviors of older children. This helps both the younger and older child and helps each become more self-reliant and compassionate members of society. 

Montessori Materials 

The Montessori preschool is full of specific materials designed for the Montessori program, including beaded cubes that can be manipulated and are scaled appropriately so that the hundreds cube is ten times larger than the tens rod, and so on. This provides the child with a foundation for future math lessons while learning the physical implications of math in the real world. 

Your child is unique and deserves to follow the path on which he or she learns best. This will help your child flourish. A Montessori preschool is designed to provide enough guidance to ensure education and safety, but enough freedom to allow your child to become the person he or she was born to be. 


If you’d like to learn more about our preschool program, contact the Montessori Children’s Center in Fremont today.