Villa Montessori Preschool Leesburg has just posted a YouTube video that highlights the school’s activities throughout the year. They thought this would be a great way for parents and the community to see a little of what takes place behind the scenes as far as how the Montessori educational style is benefitting their children. It’s also a good way for those that are thinking about sending their children to this reputable preschool to see exactly what their child’s learning experience will be like while attending the school. This YouTube video can be seen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOp4Ykfm90U.
School Director, Ms. Kimberly, had this to say about the video, “There is much that goes on at our school that parents never get to see for themselves. Many in our community also do not know exactly how our advanced learning curriculums work. That’s why we decided to put out this video that talks about how we teach. It also shows some of our activities throughout the school year, where these teaching methods are applied. It's also a great way to give the parents of prospective students an introduction to what types of teaching we do and how we do it.”
The video itself went on to talk about how the school teaches children to learn to the best of their abilities. It mentioned how their faculty and staff can recognize whether a student is an audio learner, video learner, or learns best by using both of these senses. By doing this it helps them better design curriculums to fit each student’s learning needs. In the video, it talked about how some curriculums were set up using a Reggio-Emilia approach to learning which is based on arts and sciences and how other students fared better using a more traditional Montessori approach which features a 3-hour work period where they can experience 5 different areas of learning that are set up around a room. The video also talks about the fact that the school is rarely closed and provides learning sessions year-round except for major holidays. One highlight of the video is when a 4-year old girl brings her mother to tears when she realizes that her daughter is now able to read, emphasizing how the staff and teachers work as a team to help their young learners. The YouTube video also showed how those at the school try to make their learning facility a home away from home for each student.
Ms. Kimberly also discussed the Montessori approach to learning, which is very unique. It’s explained further on their website https://leesburg.villamontessoripreschool.com. It is a child learning approach that has a simple philosophy. That is to ‘Never help a child with a task at which he or she feels they can succeed at on their own’. She says individual learning is facilitated by teachers and staff using careful observation of their students. A Montessori classroom is carefully prepared to allow the child to work independently and allow the joy of self-discovery. Ms. Kimberly says that teachers are merely guides who introduce materials that children are free to choose from again and again. Through this working and discovering, they ultimately master ideas. She says that lessons are given, but the goal is for children to discover the answers by using auto-didactic or self-correcting materials that are found only in Montessori classrooms.
The school has also taken some innovative measures to help its students continue to learn despite the ongoing virus crisis. Ms. Kimberly stated that those at the school realize the importance of continuing to nurture their students' learning needs at this difficult time. That’s why they have taken such steps as setting up virtual learning programs. This includes the use of such video conferencing platforms as ‘Zoom’. The school has been using Zoom over the last few weeks to enable students to learn remotely by talking to their teacher’s one-on-one, or by taking part in a virtual group classroom session.
More on the unique learning environment that this preschool provides for its students can also be seen here on their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/villamontessorileesburg.
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