Winnipeg Montessori School 2.36

The primary goal of a Montessori program is to help each child reach full potential in all areas of life. Activities promote the development of social skills, emotional growth, and physical coordination as well as cognitive preparation. The holistic curriculum, under the direction of a specially prepared teacher, allows the child to experience the joy of learning, time to enjoy the process and ensure the development of self-esteem, and provide the experiences from which children create their knowledge.

In order for self-directed learning to take place, the whole learning environment - room, materials, and social climate - must be supportive of the learner. The teacher provides necessary resources, including opportunities for children to function in a safe and positive climate. The teacher thus gains the children's trust, which enables them to try new things and build self-confidence.

Dr. Montessori's observations of the kinds of things which children enjoy and go back to repeatedly led her to design a number of multisensory, sequential, and self-correcting materials which facilitate the learning skills and lead to learning of abstract ideas by the construction of knowledge.

Originally called a "Directress", the Montessori teacher functions as designer of the environment, resource person, role model, demonstrator, record keeper, and meticulous observer of each child's behaviour and growth. The teacher acts as a facilitator of learning.