Three Year Multi-Age Grouping at Mad River Montessori School
The Montessori approach to early childhood education is not a one or two year “get ready for kindergarten” program. Montessori called it “an education for life”. The benefits of a Montessori early childhood education are most visible in children whose parents agree with the Montessori approach and will support their child—and our school—by committing to the three year program (or four, if they enter the program as a 2 year old), remaining at Montessori school through the child’s kindergarten year (the year that they are 5 years old by the first day of school).
Montessori educators value multi-age groups and strive to balance their student enrollment with first, second, third and (depending upon the age at entry into the program) fourth year children. The teachers create a complex and sequential learning environment that allows for careful observation and encourages kindness and mutual respect. This is part of the genius of Montessori’s call for mixed-age groupings. A variety of activities take place simultaneously in the prepared environment. Children engage in different activities and each child is involved according to his/her ability and interest. It is in such an environment that children learn from observing each other. Mixed age groups ensure that as children move through the classroom they will be surrounded by older and younger peers. This facilitates both imitative learning and peer tutoring. A multi-age grouping in a Montessori classroom gives the child opportunities for success at every stage of development. The first year is the year of introduction (the foundation); the second year is the year of practice; the third & fourth years, synthesis. This carefully prepared Montessori environment where children of mixed ages work together is conducive to cooperation and eliminates the need for competition.
Upon entering the Montessori environment a two or three year old child is free to observe other children working. Parents may ask what happened at school and, inevitably, the child will respond by saying, “Nothing”. What parents may not realize is that the child absorbs information effortlessly simply by being in the environment. The day of doing “nothing” may have consisted of observing a Sandpaper Letter lesson or seeing children doing addition with the golden bead place value materials, watching an older child sweep up a spill around the snack table, participating in a grace & courtesy game and orienting him/herself to the materials and people within the classroom. Children are exposed to new information even if they don’t “formally” have a lesson. All of this observation of the environment and sequential introduction to the Montessori materials in a calm and unhurried atmosphere provides a foundation for the learning that will follow.
The second year student has the benefit of knowing where all the materials “live” on the shelves and the social grace and courtesy protocols of the classroom. They have explored the beginning practical life and sensorial materials and are ready to use their enhanced skills (in fine motor control/coordination and sensory classification) to practice and to discover the materialized abstractions inherent in all Montessori activities. They continue along the path to writing and reading at their own pace and apply the sensorial knowledge they have absorbed to begin to understand the language of mathematics. These “middle” children can see where they began as they notice the younger children receiving the introductory lessons and they can see where they are going when they observe the older children. They begin to appreciate the sequence of the materials and are eager to move along the continuum of lessons.
The five or six year old child who experiences the full three (or four) year cycle of the Montessori environment gains the full benefit of a Montessori Primary education and is well prepared for whatever the next school options might be. This is the year of synthesizing all the impressions of and explorations in the classroom and applying them to the advanced work in Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Math, Science, Geography and the Arts. They have learned to choose their work and engage in long periods of concentration with focused attention. These children may iron the cloth napkins that the three year old child folded and the four year old child washed. They may sew a bag and embroider it with a creative design. They can use their skills in classifying information to organize and make a book of categories of mammals or the life cycle of frogs. They read books to themselves and to the younger children. They may write sentences and then symbolize them according to the parts of speech. They explore the colored bead chains and learn the squares of numbers. The multiplication bead bar layout leads to the decanomial square. They learn the names of the countries within the continents and make maps. They create models of land forms with sand and water. They compose music with the bell materials. They use creative expression to embellish their written work and delight in their artistic efforts. These children become experts with the materials and enjoy sharing their expertise with the younger children. There is no better way to reinforce one’s own knowledge than by teaching someone else. When peer-to-peer learning is self-directed and when it happens because children are ready, willing, and able to participate it bolsters the older child’s self-confidence, opens doors for younger children and sharpens the academic and social skills of both.
A key component of a successful Montessori early childhood program is the multi-age grouping of children from three years to six years of age. The younger children have the advantage of the role models and “teaching” of the older children. Like sponges, they learn by absorbing information from the Montessori materials, the other children and teachers. The older children internalize the knowledge they have gained from working within the Montessori environment and have the opportunity to develop habits of sharing and compassion as they interact with the younger children. Their self confidence soars and their ability to engage new challenges with focused attention sets them on a path of lifelong learning. Part of the “magic of Montessori” is the multi-age grouping of children.
Please consider this information as you decide whether or not a Montessori early childhood education at Mad River Montessori is the best choice for your family. A successful Montessori experience for your child and the success of our school depends upon a parent’s commitment to our three or four year program which includes the kindergarten year.