If you’re looking for preschools for your child, there’s a good chance you’ve seen or considered a Montessori preschool if you’re unsure what the difference between a Montessori school and a traditional preschool, we’ve got a blog post here that will help you understand the main differences.
How to Choose the right preschool
The right preschool is going to be dependent upon the family and the needs of your child. Consider your family, childcare needs, and child when you start researching preschools. Some families need part-time preschool for socialization, while others need full-time childcare with extended hours to accommodate work schedules.
You’ll want to research the preschools in your area and narrow them down to those that meet your criteria so you can choose one that will work for your family.
Why you should consider Montessori for preschool
Montessori schools and traditional preschools teach very similar early childhood education. Both will help your child learn their A, B, Cs, and 1,2,3s. Both will help children learn to be comfortable in a classroom environment and help them make friends.
Children in a Montessori preschool will learn other skills that will stay with them forever. They’ll learn how to be independent in a safe, age-appropriate manner. The classroom environment is set up for the children to be able to reach the materials and choose the works they want to learn about and use. The child gets to lead their education based on what interests them, which sparks a love of learning.
Montessori Classroom Environments
Children in a Montessori preschool often have indoor and outdoor classroom environments where they learn about the world around them. They may plant flowers in a garden and watch them grow or spend time outside exploring nature or taking a nature walk on the campus.
A Montessori classroom is a tranquil, peaceful environment for the children. They learn to care for their environment and take pride in the classroom. It’s theirs to care for. They take turns cleaning up, sweeping, mopping, and ensuring everything is cared for and cleaned up daily. This helps them learn to care for their personal items and those in the world around them.
The Montessori classroom environment is different from a traditional preschool in some ways. The class materials are all arranged on low shelves at a child’s height so they can inspect and choose the materials they want to learn about. The items in the classroom are made of natural materials, including wood, glass, and ceramic. In a Montessori classroom, you’ll likely find a three-year-old child watering flowers in a breakable vase. We believe in exposing children to fragile items and teaching them how to care for and treat them so they are less likely to break.
Consistency within the Montessori Preschool Classroom
Finally, and probably most importantly, your child will stay with the same teacher for preschool. Children in our Montessori Primary program are between ages three and pre-kindergarten. They spend the entire time in the same classroom with the same teacher. They’re in a room with older and younger peers in their age range. The children work together and build great relationships with their classmates and teachers over the three-year cycle. You don’t have to worry about your child constantly changing teachers.
Montessori preschool teachers are professional educators certified through the Montessori associations in specific age levels and earn continuing education credits to keep up to date.
If you want your child to learn more than their ABCs and 123s in preschool, you should consider a Montessori preschool program. Your child will learn the traditional preschool curriculum and so much more. They’ll learn about navigating friendships and building their emotional intelligence, and they’ll learn to care for themselves and their environment and how they impact others. And when they get to elementary school, they’ll have the skills they need to succeed.
If you’re considering Montessori for preschool and are in the Spring, TX area, we would love to have you tour Klein-Spring Montessori and see the Montessori difference for yourself. We’ve served the Spring area for over 37 years and would love your family to join us. Contact us today to learn more.
