What is the St. Nicholas Montessori Centre Method?

Dr Montessori's fundamental concept is that the learning environment should be designed to facilitate maximum independent learning and exploration by the child. In the calm, ordered space of the St. Nicholas Montessori Centre prepared environment, children work on activities driven by their own choice and pace.
They experience a blend of freedom and self-discipline in an environment designed to meet developmental needs. Contrary to a traditional pre-school, St. Nicholas Montessori Centre has a variety of activity and a great deal of movement.

What is the Montessori Process of Normalization

In St. Nicholas Montessori Centre, the term "normalization" has a specialized meaning. "Normal" does not refer to what is typical, average, or usual. Normalization does not refer to being forced to conform. Dr Maria Montessori used the terms normal and normalization to describe a unique process she observed in child development.
Dr Montessori observed that when children are allowed freedom in an environment suited to their needs, they blossom. After a period of intense concentration, working with materials that fully engage their interest, children appear to be refreshed and contented: Normalized.

Through continued concentrated work of their choice, children grow in inner discipline and peace. Dr Montessori called this process "normalization" and cited it as "the most important single result of our whole work" (The Absorbent Mind, 1949).

Dr Montessori lists these as the characteristics of normalization: love of order; love of work; spontaneous concentration; attachment to reality; love of silence and of working alone; sublimation of the possessive instinct; power to act from real choice; obedience, independence and initiative; spontaneous self-discipline; and joy. Montessori believed that these are the truly "normal" characteristics of childhood, which emerge when children's developmental needs are met.
Dr Montessori’s studies form the foundation of St. Nicholas Montessori Centre.

Why St. Nicholas Montessori Centre Learning Aids and Materials?

St. Nicholas Montessori Centre classrooms provides specially created learning aids to invite curiosity, development, and activity. Children choose materials they would like to use and work with. They are intended to evoke the imagination, to aid abstraction. Each material isolates one learning quality or concept.

St. Nicholas Montessori Centre learning materials fuel mental stimulation. There are wide and bright arrays of colors and textures: geometric forms, puzzles, maps, beads, rods, blocks, cubes, to amplify exploration. The child learns to solve problems independently, build self-confidence, analytical thinking, and gain satisfaction that comes from accomplishment.

Materials are self-correcting. When something is not right, the child easily perceives the error. As exploration continues, materials interrelate and build upon each other, various relationships explored.

St. Nicholas Montessori Centre Developmental Continuum:

St. Nicholas Montessori Centre is a flowing experience; it builds on the continuing self-construction of the child. Prepared environments, physical dimensions, desired outcomes, and documented results, carefully reflect the natural learning characteristics of the child at each stage of development.

Children perform various tasks which induce thinking about relationships. The environment offers practical occasions for introducing social relationships through free interaction.

The logical sequential nature provides orderly structures that guide discovery: Theorems are discovered, not presented; spelling rules are derived through recognition of patterns, not merely memorized. Every aspect of the curriculum involves creative invention and careful, thoughtful analysis.
In viewing learning outcomes at St. Nicholas Montessori Centre, it must be emphasized that why and how students arrive at what they know is just as important as what they know.

The St. Nicholas Montessori Centre Program

The St. Nicholas Montessori Centre classroom is a "living room" for children. Five distinct areas constitute the prepared environment:

• Practical life enhances the development of task organization and cognitive order through care of self; of the environment; exercises of grace and courtesy; and coordination of physical movement.


• The sensorial area enables the child to order, classify, and describe sensory impressions in relation to length, width, temperature, mass, color, pitch, etc.


• Mathematics makes use of manipulative materials to enable the child to internalize concepts of number, symbol, sequence, operations, and internalisation of facts.


• Language arts include oral language development, written expression, reading, the study of grammar, creative dramatics, and children's literature. Basic skills in writing and reading are developed, allowing children to link sounds and letter symbols, and to express their thoughts through writing.


• Cultural activities expose the child to basics in geography, history, and life sciences. Music, art, and movement education are part of the integrated cultural curriculum.

Why St. Nicholas Montessori Centre?

The St. Nicholas Montessori Centre environment unifies the psycho-social, physical, and academic functioning of the child. Its key tasks are to provide students with an early and general foundation that includes:

Vital Links to Understanding St. Nicholas Montessori Centre Concepts