A : Montessori classrooms should be bright, warm, and inviting, filled with plants, animals, art, music, and books. Interest centers will be filled with intriguing learning materials, mathematical models, maps, charts, international and historical artifacts, a class library, an art area, a small natural-science table, and animals that the children are raising. In Primary (elementary)class, you will also normally find computers and scientific apparatus. You should not find rows of desks in a Montessori classroom. There will not be teacher\'s desk and chalk board in the front of the room. the environment will be set up to facilitate student discussion and stimulate collaborative learning. Montessori classrooms will be organized into several curriculum areas, usually including: language arts (reading, literature, grammar, creative writing, spelling, and handwriting); everyday living skills; sensory-awareness exercises and puzzles; geography, history, science, art, music and movement. Most rooms will include a classroom library. Each are will be made up of one or more shelf units, cabinets, and display tables with a wide variety of materials on open display, ready for use as the children select them. Students will typically be found scattered around classroom, working alone or with one or two others. teachers will normally be found working with one or two children at a time, advising, presenting a new lesson, or quietly observing the class at work. each class should contain the full complement of Montessori materials considered appropriate for this level. The furniture in the classroom will be the right size for the students. There will be few, if any, toys in Montessori preschool classroom. Instead, there should be a lovely and extensive collection of learning materials that match the developmental capabilities, interests, and needs of the children enrolled in each class. These educational materials allow for multiple modalities of learning and discovery, offering a wide range of intellectual challenges.

A : At the heart of any system of early childhood education should be the child. Maria Montessori based her entire method on her observations and understanding of the child as he is, not as adults imagine he might or should be. Dr. Maria Montessori then devised a total environment to help the child develop himself as a total human being. She saw the role of the teacher as one of directing activity rather than actually teaching, so she preferred to use the name “directress” instead of “teacher”.

A : In a Montessori school, your child teaches himself through his use of the specially designed Montessori materials. These are alternative, generally simple, child-sized materials that are self correcting; that is if a child makes an error, he can see it by looking at the material itself. In this way, no adult is needed to point out his mistake and perhaps injure his self-esteem. Your child learn to work alone and with others in a Montessori school – he can usually make this choice himself. He learns to follow the class “ground rules” and may often remind other children to follow them as well. Because he can choose his own work and do it at his own pace, your child has many opportunities for success; the Montessori classroom is noncompetitive. He will also have access to plants and animals and will help care for them. The Montessori classroom is an attractive place in which your child can be free from adult domination and can discover his world and build his mind and body.

A : Unlike the teacher in a traditional school, the Montessori directress is not the center of the classroom. Instead, she is very often hardly noticeable in the room as the children are working. She has no desk and spends her time working with children at child-sized tables or on the rug. The directress must be a keen observer of children and needs to have a clear idea of each child’s individual level of development. She then determines what materials are best for each individual child in this way and helps him learn the proper use of each material; she then leaves him with it and returns to observing. The directress interferes only when necessary. She must be flexible and willing to try new ideas to help each child. Your child will come to see the directress as a friendly helper and guide, someone who is there when needed, but mainly someone who helps him to do things for himself.

A : Although the Montessori method has very definite structures, it is also flexible and open to individual interpretations. Because no two people are exactly alike, each Montessori classroom, being largely dependent on the interpretation and abilities of the directress, will be unique. It is wise for parents to meet with the directress and, if possible, also observe her class in action in order to discover her particular style of Montessori.

A : In Montessori schools the child is seen as a dynamic learner, full of creative potential and in need of the maximum possible freedom to be allowed to develop as a happy, confident individual. Montessori schools therefore place emphasis on the importance of process. In more traditional schools children are seen to be in need of more active instruction and control from adults – there is less trust in the child’s own inner abilities and more emphasis on ensuring very defined results. So Montessori schools are learner-centered, whereas traditional schools tend to be more teacher-centered.

A : Maria Montessori saw that there was a difference between truly creative imagination (based on reality) and fantasy (based on non-real events). When she watched children play she realized that they really wanted to be able to do real things in a real world, rather than just pretend. So Montessori schools really value imaginative play but will always try to help children work with real objects and situations.

A : Montessorians believe that true creativity stems from individual freedom of expression. What you won’t (or shouldn’t) find in a Montessori school is 20 pieces of art to take home that all look the same! Your child will be encouraged to express him or herself through singing, dancing acting, taling, drawing, painting, sticking, gluing, cutting, arranging and writing. What we know is that, unlike adults, children aren’t really interested in the end result… they are much more interested in the fun and fascination of the creative process.