about vms

VMS will provide a framework in which scholarly and social discipline go hand in hand. Our carefully prepared environment will foster respect, cooperation, order, a wide variety of choices, and it will enable children to build their learning mechanisms on their strengths and to their full potential.

With the help of a Montessori trained educator and at each stage of development the child will acquire the tools necessary for critical thinking, and decision making. As opposed to the teacher’s role in traditional education, Montessori teacher has an unobtrusive role in the classroom activity, and the child is an active participant in the learning process.

VMS promotes strong moral and human values. Mixed age is a very important factor of Montessori classroom. This provides children with possibilities to discover ways of functioning in a real social group. In addition, a great deal of beneficial knowledge reinforcement results from this interaction of different aged children. “Our schools are alive. To understand what the older ones are doing fills the little ones with enthusiasm. The older ones are happy to be able to teach what they know. There are no inferiority complexes, but everyone achieves a healthy normality though the mutual exchange of spiritual energy”. (M. Montessori, The Absorbent Mind)
 
If this sounds too romantic– do not worry – the above theoretical framework is not as complex in practice.

If you would like more detailed information or if you are interested in visiting Vilnius Montessori pre-School, please contact me, Ivona Rožanovska at +370 606 38269, or e-mail to ivona@vms.lt

Lithuanian media articles about VMS:

www.az.atn.lt - [Read]
www.lrytas.lt - [Read]
www.zynios.lt - [Read]
www.vz.lt - [Read]
www.elta.lt - [Read]

Interview with Ivona Rozanovska
Director of Vilnius Montessori pre-School (VMS)
April 22, 2010

By Zydre Darguzyte

Ivona Rozanovska: "The child is a beautiful individual who is in the process of forming a definite personality with indefinite possibilities."

The founder of Vilnius Montessori pre-School (VMS) Ivona Rozanovska speaks about opening of the international pre-school in Vilnius. This autumn the doors of VMS will open to the first group of Montessori children. Ivona is of the opinion that Montessori method is the best developmental support for little children.

How did you conceive of the idea to establish Vilnius Montessori pre-School in Vilnius? Why Montessori in particular? Three years ago my three year old daughter went to an international Montessori pre-school abroad, where we were living at the time. Some weeks into the school year I began seeing wonderful signs of development and knowledge in my daughter that I could contribute to the fact that she attended that pre-school. So then I started learning more about the school and the Montessori method. While the picture of the method was becoming clearer and clearer in my head something else became less and less clear, and that was – why are not all the schools Montessori? This was when I began thinking that Vilnius needs a school like that. Montessori because I believe it is the best developmental support that we can provide to little children.

What are the main elements of the Montessori method? The Prepared Environment – at VMS the child spends his/her time in the most stimulating environment, where he/she will find many scientifically designed fun materials all of which the child is allowed to touch and handle. Not to mention a large section of Sensorial materials which are highly effective in training motor skills, and developing abstract cognitive abilities, but are unfortunately used almost exclusively in Montessori schools. Another main factor is observation. Montessori teacher observes the children and collects data, which helps to decide when to offer specific material presentations to the child. Last but not least, Montessori classrooms are of mixed age. Multiage classrooms are more learning efficient and this has been proved by many educators. Besides academic learning, in a mixed age classroom, which is a little model of a society as a whole, children acquire natural social skills just like grown-ups do when they interact with people of different ages.

How is Montessori philosophy special to you personally? Thank you for using the word "philosophy" because it is in fact a philosophy and a way of life, I perceive it as a complete and precise look at a human being as a definite personality with indefinite possibilities. Montessori is special to me because like I mentioned, my daughter is finishing her third year at another Montessori pre-school in Vilnius and it makes me feel that by applying the method at VMS and seeing the children draw benefits from the Montessori environment, which is rich in materials of subjects that are introduced only at the elementary school level in traditional education, it will feel like touching the magic. I am also looking forward to learning from children – children have a lot to teach us.

How is your pre-school significant in the context of the Lithuanian Montessori schools? Vilnius Montessori pre-School is the first international Montessori pre-school in Lithuania. We take the English language and use it as a unifying force for people of different nationalities who are based in Vilnius. Because of the importance of English as the leading international language we try to provide for the widespread need of teaching little children English, and we will do it in their sensitive period for learning languages when it demands almost no conscious effort from the children themselves.

How does the process of learning unfold in the Montessori pre-school? When children begin the Montessori program they usually want to touch everything. When they enter a Montessori classroom a very wide range of Montessori materials/jobs becomes available to them. This is fine, and the children usually pick up material after material, and after not spending too much time on them they put them back on the shelf, but the process of learning as such does not begin until the child is able to focus deeply on his/her work. This usually happens within the first several weeks, and that is the time when teachers role becomes significant. The teachers task is to spark the childs interest with certain works (we call childrens actions work because it is as important to them as work is to the adult people) that are adequate to the childs cognitive abilities and tendencies at that particular time in his/her life. So say, when you see a three-and-half-year-old child in deep concentration assembling and dissembling a pink tower (one of Montessori materials) seventeen times this is when we can say the learning process began for this particular child. Maria Montessori called this phenomenon "normalization".

What age children does your pre-school enroll? Our preschool enrolls children of three though six. Some children will be ready to start at two and a half, it depends on the child.

How many teachers will work at the pre-school? Montessori teacher is coming to teach from Canada, and she will have an assistant from Vilnius. So two teachers will work with one group of children.

What is teachers role in a Montessori classroom? Compared with the role in traditional education Montessori teachers role is secondary, but also very different. By secondary I mean that Montessori teacher does not stand in the middle of the classroom and wants all the children to listen to her so that she can teach them subjects – this technique brings little if no effect with little children because children have rather short and varying attention spans. Our classroom is child-centered. Teaching happens individually. The teacher gives presentations to a small group of children or to each child individually depending on the nature of the material being presented. Montessori teacher does not dictate what the child has to learn. The child chooses his/her work herself. If presentation does not interest the child then the teacher decides to wait and put it off till another time; the child is never criticized or made fun of as this could be very discouraging to him. Teacher addresses many encouraging word remarks towards the child, but there are no rewards or punishments. It is aimed that the child sees his work as value in itself.

What are you main goals connected with the new Montessori pre-school in Vilnius? Our main goal is to grow in the coming several years as a pre-school, and then we intend to take a step towards opening a group of elementary students, grades one through three.

Why do you advise parents to put their child in a Montessori pre-school and not in the traditional one? By opening VMS we are providing another choice for parents who want to educate their children at an international pre-school in Vilnius. We believe that parents choose what is best for their children. We also believe that the Montessori method elicits the best from children, and gives them ample opportunities to develop important skills early in life at the time of their crucial formative period, before the age of six.

How does a day in a Montessori pre-school differ from childrens day in a traditional pre-school? At VMS children begin their day with the morning circle. Teachers and children start the circle by singing a "Good Morning" song, and then teachers introduce important courtesies, or rules of behavior in our classroom, like ways of attracting each others attention, or waiting for a turn in working with materials, etc. Another important part of the morning circle is an element of the subject that all of the class studies together. Say, if the subject of the month is "Planets of the Solar System" the teacher will present books about the planets, and give the children opportunities to learn the names of the planets. After the morning circle the children have one and a half up to two hours of uninterrupted work time – this is the time when the children choose materials and books from the shelves and work with them individually or in small groups. After morning snack children play outside. When they get back inside they will either do ballet, yoga or music. Then it is time for a short circle, after which half day children will go home and the rest of the class will have lunch and then take a nap. After the nap children continue to work with Montessori activities and further deepen their cycles of concentration, which are very beneficial for their later learning skills. So to sum up, Montessori children spend their day being busy with the work they choose while very often children in traditional pre-schools become bored because of lack of activities available to them, which means only one thing – a lot of time gets squandered.

What is most essential in the child education process to you as a teacher and the founder of the Montessori pre-school? Many components. First and most important is the childs general happiness, which results from the loving relationship with his/her parents. This is the base for the childs receptive and developmental abilities. If there are significant problems in this department the child is more likely to experience difficulties in his/her educational path. Then it is important to pay attention to little developmental stages. Maria Montessori discovered that the child goes through various, what she called, "sensitive periods", when his/her ability and eagerness to learn a particular skill are at its height. For example, the sensitive period for learning a language is between birth and six years. This is one of the longer sensitive periods, when many children are observed being able to learn not only their native tongue, but also foreign languages with little conscious effort. Other sensitive periods include learning skills of climbing, balance, different motor skills, etc. So for instance, if the child is prevented from climbing (say ladder) at the time of his sensitive period for climbing, which usually shows sometime between the age of two and three depending on the child, then that sensitive period will pass without the child having learned or even experienced climbing. What might follow is that later in life the child might be scared when faced with the task of climbing a ladder, or might feel uncomfortable at heights. I also think that education needs to be looked at as a whole – we do not only teach math or science, or writing as separate subjects, but a lot of them are intertwined. Apart from academics, the child likes to learn social skills, and courtesies because it helps him/her predict situations, and offers a feeling of security.

What Maria Montessoris ideas captured in her method are very special to you? Perhaps you do not agree with something? Maria Montessori lived in the most turbulent times in Europe – she had lived through two World Wars. At the time of the WW II she lived in India. Her humanist and philanthropist spirit led her to writing many books on how we can change the world by starting with our attitude towards childhood. Many times at conferences and lectures she stressed her opinion that humanity needs to awaken in the child the consciousness of a human being that needs to be aware not only of the closest circle of family and friends, but also of the people in other places on Earth. Thus she instinctively introduced subjects like geography, and ethnography at her pre-school for little children. She gave the children globes, maps, photos and pictures of different people and places in the world and she discovered that children not only learned and understood what she was showing them, but they were asking for more! This global approach to the child is very special to me, and this does not at all prevent the child from feeling a part of their own community and culture. In practice this would look like this: children at our pre-school will be writing letters and receiving correspondence from other schools in the world. They will have a chance to page through issues of National Geographic magazine, and other books which offer imagery and information about other parts of the world and its people. To celebrate a birthday the child will pick a globe and carry it around the candle symbolizing the sun a number of times corresponding to the years that the child will be celebrating.

What are the main requirements that should be met by the children who can enroll at VMS? There are no specific requirements which little children need to pass in entering our pre-school.

How is VMS environment different from other Lithuanian pre-schools environment? It is different in the nature of the equipment of its classroom, which is equipped with Montessori materials, and in the organization of their work – work is seen as a way of gaining self esteem and confidence.

How would you define a child? Child is a beautiful, yet undefined being, who trustfully offers him/herself to the adult hoping for a happy outcome of his/her experiences. Montessori environment inspires the child, and is the source of many happy moments.