Crabapple Montessori School

MONTESSORI > The Montessori Difference

Montessori departs from traditional methods in ways that prepare children to contribute and lead in 21st century society.

Montessori is different from traditional education in ways that are relevant to the future.

Traditional education emphasizes a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching and views the child as a blank slate on which to write information.

Knowledge is given to the students by the teacher. In many traditional schools rote memorization of facts constitutes success, and children stay seated at a desk gleaning whatever knowledge they can from the teacher talking at the head of the class.



The Montessori classroom is a “prepared environment” that encourages individual growth and learning. Children can move about the room selecting from a wide assortment of designed materials stored on well-organized shelves. They develop practical and intellectual abilities through individual exploration of language, mathematics, geography, geometry, art, music and more. Parents new to the world of Montessori always remark on how quiet the classroom is, how beautiful it looks, and how focused the children are. This is because they are concentrated on the “work” of learning.

Montessori Approach Traditional Methods
Emphasis on cognitive and social development Emphasis on social development
Teacher has unobtrusive role in classroom Teacher is center of classroom as controller
Mainly individual instruction Group and individual instruction
Mixed age grouping Same age grouping
Grouping encourages children to teach and help each other Most teaching done by teacher
Child chooses own work Activities structured for child
Child works as long as he wishes on chosen project Child generally allotted specific time for work
Child discovers own concepts from self-teaching materials Child is guided to concepts by teacher
Child sets own learning pace Instruction pace usually set by group
Child spots own errors from feedback on material If work is corrected, errors usually pointed out by teacher
Child reinforces learning by repetition and feelings of success Learning is reinforced externally by repetition and rewards
Organized program for learning care of self and environment Less emphasis on self-care instruction
Child can work where he chooses, yet not disturb others Child usually assigned own chair
Group work is encouraged Encouraged to participate, sit still and listen during group sessions

Seeing is believing!

Stepping into a classroom at Crabapple Montessori School, parents immediately notice the difference. We invite you to experience Montessori yourself – please set up an appointment to visit us for a tour. We serve students in Alpharetta, Milton, Roswell, Canton, Woodstock, and Cumming in north metro Atlanta.

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