The Prepared Environment
The Prepared Environment
Maria Montessori believed that the years from three to six are the most critical for nurturing a child's curiosity and for laying the foundation for all future development. Children of this age possess what Dr. Montessori called the absorbent mind, the ability to absorb all aspects of one's culture and environment without effort or fatigue. Children form themselves by taking what they need from their surrounding environment, whether the environment is rich or poor in opportunities. The prepared environment of a Montessori classroom is designed to aid and honor the natural, universal developmental patterns of children. The materials are child-sized, and have the child's natural interests in mind.
Montessori classroom materials have a real educational purpose inherent within them; the child makes his own discoveries about his world through his work with these materials.
The Montessori Materials
Working with Montessori materials helps children strengthen their concentration, improve their coordination, and learn good working habits, but the value of Montessori works goes far beyond that. Montessori materials bring abstract concepts to life; mathematical concepts aren't frightening when a child learns about size, shape and dimension by working with a tower of blocks, or learns the decimal system by working with beautiful golden beads.
Learning to use the senses
Babies, children, even adults learn through what we observe or experience through our senses. The materials in a Montessori classroom are designed to help children learn through sensory impressions. There are smelling jars, baric tablets, bells, and sandpaper letters, just to name a few. Some of these works are part of the Sensorial part of the curriculum; others are part of language or mathematics. In each exercise, children receive, distinguish, and categorize information.