Montessori education…
teaches children to think for themselves, not to remember or memorise facts but to think about things and work it out for themselves. Rather than giving children lots of right answers, Montessori educators keep asking the right questions and these lead the child to discover the answers for themselves.
A Montessori classroom…
is a children’s community – a home from home where children are encouraged to be independent, children of different ages learn alongside each other, caring for their own environment and developing at their own individual pace according to their own strengths and weaknesses.
The Prepared Environment…
is organised into areas: language, maths, practical life, sensorial, cultural activities, arts and music. The room is calm, quiet and loving in which children have the freedom of choice of activities which are stimulating, exciting and interesting to them.
Children are free to move…
freely around the environment, selecting any activity they have been shown and work with it for as long as they wish, as long as they do not disturb others at work or damage any materials. They then put the activity back in their place when they are finished.