NIGHTINGALE MONTESSORI
Reimagining Education Since 1978
Hidden deep inside the budding spirit of every child are eight embryonic seedlings. When prompted by the stimuli embedded in a nurturing environment, these seedlings germinate and give rise to the child’s early psychic development. Biologist and educator, Maria Montessori, observed that the human species has a double embryonic life: the biological embryo unfolds within the mother's womb and the psychic embryo burgeons forth during the first three critical years of life as the infant brain fleshes out its genetic blueprint. Montessori likens the work of the newborn's cognitive development to the biological work of a human embryo.
Driven by their innate curiosity and impulse to learn, toddlers quickly acquire their native language and culture. If we fulfill the inborn potential of each child, we can more fully realize the potential of the human race.
"Within the child lies the fate of the future." – Dr. Maria Montessori
To unlock the full potential of all learners and promote self-realization, Nightingale's teachers design learning experiences and environments that align with each child's developmental path so as to nurture their eight inborn learning traits ("seedlings") that live and grow in the absorbent minds of all our children:
1. ABSORBENT MIND: In the formative years of every toddler there is a unique sensitivity to the environment that leads them to subconsciously absorb and internalize lessons from their surroundings so they can more readiily adapt to life. Montessori coined the term "Absorbent Mind" to describe this remarkable capacity of children from birth to age 6 to naturally absorb information from their environment. She outlines a continuum of unfolding: from the unconscious phase (birth to age 3) when they acquire knowledge about the world without formal instruction, to the conscious phase (age 3 to 6) when they begin to engage more actively with their surroundings.
2. CURIOSITY AND THE URGE TO DISCOVER: We honor the child's innate inquisitive spirit that engenders an unfolding desire to fully experience, explore, and make sense of thier world.
3. INDEPENDENCE AND SELF-RELIANCE: Our prepared learning environments nurture the child's craving for autonomy and offer oportunities to be resourceful, inventive, and self-directed in their learning.
4. DESIRE TO SELF-PERFECT THROUGH REPEATED EFFORT: We support the child's internal drive to tackle every challenge through repeated effort and hand-on experience. Mastering tasks at their own pace builds confidence, resilience, and pride of learning.
5. MAXIMAL EFFORT: We encourage the spirited engagement and perserverence of each child. Achieving mastery through independent trial and error empowers the child to strive further and fulfill their inborn potential. We honor that inner drive that strives to meet each challenge with the greatest possible effort as they build and perfect their skills.
6. PERCEPTION OF ORDER and HIGHER ORDER THINKING: Nightingale assists the child's natural capacity to perceive patterns, relationships, and order in things. The sense of order informs critical reasoning and engages higher order thinking. The discovery of the underlying logic that governs correspondences between concrete objects and abstract representations empowers the mathematical mind, deepens their instinct for language, and eventually their capacity to decode and encode language.
7. EAGERNESS TO ADAPT and CREATE: The wondrous sense of order that empowers problem solving skills, is also a trait that is foundational to creative thinking. We celebrate the child enjoyment of inventing and constructing new imaginative forms based on hands-on experiences.
8. AESTHETIC SENSE: Nighitngale fosters the child's natural love of order and beauty. Sensory experiences awaken emotional and motor sensibilities, which in turn kindles a desire to recreate that beauty and express satisfaction in their own work.
