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“The child is truly a miraculous being and this should be felt deeply by the educator.”
– Maria Montessori
Dr. Maria Montessori was an amazing woman. She was the first woman in Italy to receive a medical degree. Her ideals and philosophies have had a prolific influence on education around the world. There are more than four thousand Montessori schools in the United Sates and Canada, and thousands more around the world. Her methodologies are global.
Dr. Maria Montessori developed her philosophy of child development in the early 1900’s by observing and interacting with children of varying ages, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. The first Casa de Bambini, or Children’s House, opened in 1907, in Rome. It quickly became world famous and educators from around the world came to observe her amazing results.
The Montessori approach is to recognize and address a variety of learning styles. Montessori students learn through a hands on approach while incorporating investigation and research. Montessori offers a rigorous academic program.
Montessori ties the separate disciplines, such as language, math, art, zoology, botany, and geography, together into one cohesive curriculum. This integrated approach is one of her great strengths.
Dr. Maria Montessori believed that no human being is educated by another person, but that he must do it for himself, or it will never be done. A truly educated individual continues learning long after the hours of school because she / he is motivated by a natural curiosity and love of knowledge.
Learn more about Maria Montessori and Montessori education
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The purpose and aim of Sensorial work is for the child to acquire clear, conscious, information and to be able to then make classifications in his environment. Montessori believed that sensorial experiences began at birth. Through his senses, the child studies his environment. Through this study, the child then begins to understand his environment. The child, to Montessori, is a “sensorial explorer”. Through work with the sensorial materials, the child is given the keys to classifying the things around him, which leads to the child making his own experiences in his environment. Through the classification, the child is also offered the first steps in organizing his intelligence, which then leads to his adapting to his environment.
 The Pink Tower is a visual model of 1-10 cubed. It helps prepare the mathematical mind of the preschooler and increase the ability to see differences in size. The child also practices muscular control and hand-eye coordination |
 The Brown Stair is a set of 10 brown prisms, the same length, but differing in height from 1cm to 10cm. The children learn the concept of thick and thin, and begin visual discrimination of dimension. It is also a refinement of voluntary movement, muscular education of grip, and preparation for mathematics. |
 The knobbless cylinders are four boxes with 10 cylinders in each box. The cylinders vary in size for height and diameter. As with most of the sensorial materials, the cylinders aid in the development of differentiating in size and hand-eye coordination. They also strengthen the writing fingers. |
 Metal Insets: The lesson prepares the hand for writing. There are 7 different presentations of Metal Insets that increase with difficulty starting with the simple tracing of shapes to the gradation, design and superimposition of shapes and colors. This work has an indirect focus on the development of the mind. The material itself controls the errors and assist the aims of the lesson.
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 The Binomial Cube is a model of the algebraic expression (a+b) cubed. The children practice differentiating with size and color. They learn geometric vocabulary such as cube and rectangular prism |
In the Montessori classroom, five families with math are presented to the child: arithmetic, geometry, statistics and calculus. More precisely, the concepts covered in the Primary class are numeration, the decimal system, computation, the arithmetic tables, whole numbers, fractions, and positive numbers. Arithmetic is the science of computing using positive real numbers. It is specifically the process of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The materials of the Primary Montessori classroom also present sensorial experiences in geometry and algebra.
 The Sandpaper numerals aids in the recognition of numerals 0-9 by incorporating the tactile senses. They also help the child prepare for writing numerals. |
 The Number Rods vary in length from 10 cm -100 cm. Each 10 cm section resembles a unit. The rods aid in learning numbers and sequencing them. Children also learn the concept of quantity with in a whole. The number rods also complement the concept of part/whole in mathematics. |
 Cards and Counters reviews the sequencing of numbers and practices quantity to numeral association. They are also extended into patterning for the idea of odd and even. |
 The Hundred Board is a material that aids in sequencing numbers 1-100 in groups of 10. It is also a concrete example of the quantity of 100 tiles. Children are able to observe patterns in numbers. |
Practical: means basic, useful, purposeful. Life: means the way of living. Practical life Exercises are just that, they are Exercises so the child can learn how to do living activities in a purposeful way.