About the Founder
Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori was an Italian physician, educator, and innovator, best known for her educational method that builds on the way children learn naturally. Maria Montessori was born on August 31, 1870, in the provincial town of Chiaravalle, Italy. Her father was an official of the Ministry of Finance working in the local state-run tobacco factory . Her mother, was well educated for the times and encouraged Maria to continue her own education —unusual for Italian women of that time .
At age 13 Maria entered an all-boys technical institute to prepare for a career in engineering, she soon had a change of heart and graduated with honors in 1896 from Sapienza University of Rome becoming one of Italy’s first female physicians. Maria’s early medical practice focused on psychiatry. She later developed an interest in education, attending classes on pedagogy and immersing herself in educational theory. Her studies led her to observe, and call into question, the prevailing methods of teaching children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
In 1907, Maria accepted a challenge to open a full-day childcare center in a poor city district of Rome called San Lorenzo. Using scientific observation and her experiences in her early work with children, Maria designed learning materials and a classroom environment that fostered the children’s natural desire to learn and provided freedom for them to choose their own materials. Thus creating what is commonly know today as the Montessori Method.
credits: amshq.com/wikipedia.com
Primary Avenues
PRACTICAL LIFE
PRACTICAL LIFE
PRACTICAL LIFE
These are activities that aim to the care of the person, of others and of the physical environment where they live in. These activities include tasks that are familiar to the child: washing, polishing, setting the table, arranging flowers, etc. Through these and other activities, children achieve coordination and control of movement and exploration of his/her surroundings.
SENSORIAL
PRACTICAL LIFE
PRACTICAL LIFE
The sensorial materials are tools for children to refine each of their senses. Each material isolates a specific quality: smell, size, weight, texture, flavor, color, etc. In this preschool age, when children are exposed to a large scale of sensory information, these materials allow them to find order and meaning to the world, raising th
The sensorial materials are tools for children to refine each of their senses. Each material isolates a specific quality: smell, size, weight, texture, flavor, color, etc. In this preschool age, when children are exposed to a large scale of sensory information, these materials allow them to find order and meaning to the world, raising their capacity of perception. Children begin to find an admiration for everything that surrounds them.
LANGUAGE ARTS
LANGUAGE ARTS
LANGUAGE ARTS
Language is an avenue that begins at birth and continues well after preschool. Montessori language materials are designed primarily to teach children the intricacies of written and spoken language. Activities include matching picture to picture, object to picture and learning the phonetic sound in association to its letter. Students use
Language is an avenue that begins at birth and continues well after preschool. Montessori language materials are designed primarily to teach children the intricacies of written and spoken language. Activities include matching picture to picture, object to picture and learning the phonetic sound in association to its letter. Students use language materials to explore letters, sounds, handwriting, and eventually spelling and writing.
MATHEMATICS
LANGUAGE ARTS
LANGUAGE ARTS
The materials help the child to learn and understand mathematical concepts when working with concrete materials that lead them intuitively to abstract concept. It is important to recognize that sensorial materials act as the gateway to math by teaching the fundamentals of dimensions and quantity. In turn, this helps lay a strong foundation for the areas of math related to algebra and geometry.