The Montessori approach to education believes that children, when placed in a specific environment, can develop their abilities and knowledge through observation, perception, experience, and practice. They are given the opportunity to shape and develop their personality using a self-growth structure with comprehensive understanding and support. The ultimate goal of this approach is to build a self-regulated, caring, and challenging individual. Through using the Montessori teaching style, children can gain a balance of development in areas such as social, emotional, cognitive, linguistic, physical, artistic and musical.
The main significance of Montessori education is as follows:
The Division Board is a wooden board that lives in the Math area of a Montessori classroom. The board has 81 holes that are arranged in 9 rows across and 9 rows down. There are numbers from 1 - 9 printed across the top of the board and down the left-hand side of the board.
For this activity, we need nine green unit skittles, 81 green beads which are kept in a wooden box, a small green bowel, The Division Series 1, 2, and 3 sum cards, a whiteboard marker, and a cloth.
The child is introduced to the division sign in this activity, it shows the child different ways of doing division, as well as this activity gives the child a better understanding of division.
The Multiplication Board is a wooden board used in a Montessori classroom in the Math area. The board has 100 holes arranged in 10 rows of ten. There is a slot on the left of the board for the number card to be inserted in. The numbers 1-10 are printed along the top of the board. A red counter is slotted into the top left-hand corner of the board.
This activity shows the child different ways of doing multiplication, reinforces multiplication, and the multiplication (x) and equals (=) signs, as well as this activity gives the child an understanding of the process of multiplication and to memorise the multiplication tables.