Montessori Prepared Environment And Subjects-Part 1

The Montessori classroom is a “living room” for children. Extending out from all directions are open shelves with bright arrays of solid geometric solids, knobbed puzzle maps, colored beads, metal templates and various specialized blocks and rods. In another corner are a small child’s sink, a cutting board, a dish pan and real china dishes. Nearby stand an ironing board, a clothes rack and a wash basin with a scrubbing board. The room invites activity. Independence is shaped by the clear availability and self-correction aspects of the materials.

Several things stand out as being different from the typical classroom of young children. The classroom is spacious, cleverly designed and furnished to appeal to the needs and interests of young children. You will see few posters of cartoon-like animals, and no collection of dozens of identical arts and crafts projects – done primarily by adults, with children taking credit for the “creativity”. The classroom is divided into several areas by low, open shelves which display an array of learning activities. There is order in this room. It is divided into several different areas for practical life exercises, sensorial, lanuage, math, art, geography, and science.

The exercises on the shelves are arranged in a logical order, and placed around the room according to their category and sub-grouping. Items are arranged on the shelves from the most difficult to the most complex, and from the most concrete to the most abstract.

Each object isolates one concept or skill, and is so beautifully designed that children
want to work with it with little or no encouragement from an adult. Each manipulative is also designed so that children can normally check their own work, referred to as a built-in “control of error”.

These materials are used as tools to help children work and learn at their own pace, to see abstract ideas in a very concrete, three-dimensional way, and to help them grasp and truly understand what they are working on.

“The objects surrounding the child should look solid and attractive to him, and the ‘house of the child’ should be lovely and pleasant in all its particulars. It is almost possible to say that there is a mathematical relationship between the beauty of his surrounding and the activity of the child. He will make discoveries rather more voluntarily in a gracious setting than in an ugly one.”
~ Maria Montessori”

Practical Life: A House for Children
When a child enters the Casa at 2 years 8 months to three years of age, the area
and aspect of the Montessori classroom called Practical Life may be considered
the link to the child’s home environment, and thus an extension of the child’s
developmental process.

Academic success is directly linked to the degree to which children feel they are capable and independent human beings. Even if they cannot yet verbalize it, children are asking: “Help me learn to do it myself”. As we allow children to develop a meaningful degree of independence and self-discipline, we also set a pattern for a lifetime of good work habits and a sense of responsibility. Students are taught to take pride in their accomplishments.

The child spontaneously and naturally seeks order in independence through movement and purposeful activity. The Practical Life materials involve children in precise movements, allowing them to concentrate, to work at their own pace uninterrupted, to complete their work, and to gain internal satisfaction. At three years of age, children are more interested in the scrubbing motion of washing a table than they are in getting the table clean.

The Practical Life materials also fulfill specific purposes in the real world for children: they learn to button their shirts, tie their shoes, and wash their hands free from adult help. The child also cares for the beauty of the environment, by polishing wood, by scrubbing the floor, and by dusting the shelves. The child-sized materials beckon to the child, allowing him to grow more and more independent. He chooses work as his needs unfold. In addition, Practical Life centres the child in a social atmosphere where “please” and “thank you” and a polite offer of “Do you need help with your work?” are the mainstays of conversation. A child is treated with respect and is therefore respectful.

Independence does not come automatically as we grow older; it must be learned. In Montessori, even very small children can learn how to dress and pour water. The water will likely be all over the floor at first, but with practice, skills are mastered, and the young child beams with pride. To experience this success at such a young age builds one’s self image as a successful person, and leads the child to approach the next task with confidence.

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