What is the Montessori Method?

Who was Maria Montessori?

Maria Montessori was born in Italy in 1870. She became one of the first women to graduate from medical school in Italy, earning her degree in 1896. Montessori’s early work focused on children at a mental institution, and her experiences led her to develop a keen interest in education and child development.

Montessori’s work as a physician and an educator was influenced by the progressive education movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which emphasized child-centered learning and hands-on experiences.These influences shaped Montessori’s belief in the inherent potential of every child and the importance of a prepared learning environment.

What is the Montessori Method?

Maria Montessori herself designed the materials that to this day are used in the Montessori classroom. She also had a comprehensive theory of the nature of the child as well as child development that her method is based on. 

At the core of her method is respect for the child. Respect is shown by not interrupting the child's concentration. Respect is also shown by giving students the freedom to make choices, to do things for themselves, and to learn for themselves.

Her observation of children in various environments led her to the belief that young children, simply by living, are constantly learning from the world around them. Through their senses children constantly absorb information from their world. They then make sense of it because they are thinking beings.

Children learn best in a prepared environment that enables them to do things for themselves. Always child-centered, the learning environment should promote freedom for children to explore materials of their choice within the rules of the classroom. 

Montessori also believed that children are capable of educating themselves. This is one of the most important beliefs in the Montessori method. Montessori teachers provide the environment, the inspiration, the guidance and the encouragement for children to educate themselves.

Montessori rejected the notion that all children of the same age develop and progress at the same pace. Instead, she believed that the multi-age classroom enables younger children to learn from older children and experience new challenges through observation while it allows older children to reinforce their own learning by teaching concepts they have already mastered and to develop leadership skills and serve as role models. Because each student’s work is individual, children progress at their own pace; there is cooperation rather than competition between the ages. This arrangement mirrors the real world, in which individuals work and socialize with people of all ages and dispositions.

What is the Montessori Curriculum?

The Early Childhood classroom offers your child 5 areas of study: Practical Life, Sensorial, Math, Language, and Cultural Studies. What are the lessons in these areas?

Practical Life

Children learn daily-life skills, such as how to get dressed, prepare snacks, set the table, and care for plants and animals. They also learn appropriate social interactions, such as saying please and thank-you, being kind and helpful, listening without interrupting, and resolving conflicts peacefully. In addition to teaching specific skills, Practical Life activities promote independence, and fine- and gross-motor coordination.

Sensorial

Children refine skills in perceiving the world through their different senses, and learn how to describe and name their experiences—for example, rough and smooth, perceived through touch. Sensorial learning helps children classify their surroundings and create order. It lays the foundation for learning by developing the ability to classify, sort, and discriminate—skills necessary in math, geometry, and language.

Math

Through hands-on activities, children learn to identify numerals and match them to their quantity, understand place-value and the base-10 system, and practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. They also explore patterns in the numbering system. With an exploratory approach, children do more than just memorize math facts; they gain a firm understanding of the meaning behind them.

Language

Activities throughout the Early Childhood classroom teach language, help children acquire vocabulary, and develop skills needed for writing and reading. The ability to write, a precursor to reading, is taught first. Using hands-on materials, children learn letter sounds, how to combine sounds to make words, how to build sentences, and how to use a pencil. 

Cultural Studies

A wide range of subjects, including history, geography, science, art, and music, are integrated in lessons in the cultural area of the curriculum. Children learn about their own community and the world around them. Discovering similarities and differences among people and places helps them develop an understanding and appreciation of the diversity of our world, and a respect for all living things.