By Cynthia Thomas
Every parent delights in the achievements of their child. They know that selecting a great Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) Education Program is the beginning of their child’s success in school. Yet, the task of finding a program that allows a child to soar while still encompassing the joys of childhood – such as daily music, art and outdoor fun – is not an easy one.
A Montessori school is one answer to this parental quest, seeking to find the giftedness in each student through a curriculum that will challenge them. One child may be learning to count to ten while another has taken out the golden chain and is skip counting by tens to 1000. Montessori lessons are focused on the individual needs of each student.
Maria Montessori, M.D., founder of the Montessori method of education, saw children as having the innate ability to absorb the immense knowledge found in their environment. She developed a scientifically proven method preparing specially designed materials that encourage the young child to touch and experience, thus grasping knowledge within the material. The method of sequential material which builds one concept onto the next creates a strong academic foundation.
The concept of mixed age groups, mirroring society, allows the academically accelerated child to stay socially connected with peers while advancing academically. Academically accelerated children are a great Wt for Montessori. What other pre-school program allows children the opportunity to expand beyond basic VPK standards to curriculum that is found in kindergarten and 1st grade? These learning opportunities found in a Montessori classroom are presented in a developmentally appropriate way, suitable for a 4-year-old child.
| MONTESSORI | TRADITIONAL |
| Reading Knows the sounds of the alphabet letters Blends sounds into three letter words Reads three letter word books Writes a sentence with the movable alphabet |
Recognizes lower and upper case Recognizes some letter sounds Writes his name |
| Math Foundation for working with decimal system Adds and subtracts (units, tens, hundreds, thousands) Counts by 1’s to 100, multiplies and divides with use of hands-on Montessori materials |
Matches object to numeral 10 Adds and subtracts (units, tens, hundreds, thousands) Counts by 1’s to 30 with help |
| Geometry Identifies different kinds of triangles (isosceles, acute, scalene, etc.) Identifies polygons Identifies curvilinear shapes |
Identifies circle, triangle and square Sorts additional shapes |
| Geography Identifies land and water on globe Identifies continents Identifies most states using maps Identifies countries on different continents Works with flags of the world Learns parts of a flag Identifies land forms |
Identifies the globe as a model Learns name of city where she lives Recognizes American flag |
