Montessori is an educational method scientifically designed according to children’s developmental needs. Almost 100 years ago Maria Montessori assessed that current educational practices were based on teaching children the way adults learn instead of devising a system of education based on how children learn. We only need to look at a child’s ability to absorb their mother tongue to recognize that children have a much deeper capacity for learning than adults. Montessori observed many different patterns in child development under which she designed her educational principles.

Children enter the world as unformed beings. While born only with potential, they possess amazing powers to construct themselves based partly on how all humans develop - things like walking and talking - but also based on the culture in which they are born - the ‘mother tongue’ they speak and the clothes they choose and even Barbie and Spiderman. They have no control over this ability to absorb everything with which they come in contact. (Whether we like it or not.)

We as adults can acquire information reading a book, or even through active consideration. Children do this through purposeful movement, exploration and discovery. The adult's crucial role is to foster and protect this all-important endeavor of self invention.

Children go through three distinct developmental stages. These were recognized by Montessori as 0-6, 6-12, 12-18, and 18-24. These numbers are a little bit liquid as each child develops at a different rate and can be broken in half; 0-6 is usually broken into 0-3 and 3-6 and so on. Physically these stages are represented by such developments as the loss of baby teeth and puberty.

During each of these planes the child has sensitive periods. During these periods they seek certain stimuli with immense intensity, to the exclusion of all others. These are transitory periods in which they develop specific mental functions. They occur all over the world, in every culture, at approximately the same age in all children. If a child's need for specific stimuli is not met during this ‘sensitive period’, the individual loses this opportunity for optimal development.

During the first plane of development the best way for Montessori educators to aid the child in constructing themselves is to observe these sensitive periods and create opportunities within the classroom to respond to appropriate stimuli.

Dr. Montessori was able to identify distinct human tendencies, the same tendencies that have accounted for man's survival since his first appearance on earth. These are things that we all share, but that need to be acutely offered to young children. Exploration. Orientation. Communication. Work. Manipulation. Order. Exactness. Repetition. Abstraction. Self-Perfection. She built an environment for children based upon these tendencies and allowed them to explore within it. The Montessori environment enables children to discover the world for themselves, much as the first humans on earth must have done.

The students' building of their mental lives is an arduous, ceaseless and delicate labor which no one can do for them.

To aid them in this construction we need to create a place where the sensitive periods, the human tendencies and the planes of development are all being observed. Where each child works at their own rate according to their own interests.

Like a seed that will not grow unless it is given water, soil, sunshine and air, a child will not flourish unless given a safe and enriching environment that meets their developmental needs. This allows them to build their unique selves - a pumpkin seed won’t create a sunflower no matter how much we wish it.

The Montessori environment needs to fulfill all of the different needs of the child to aid them in their own self construction.

In the classroom, the Montessori teacher prepares an environment which allows the children to come in contact with the qualities and facts of the world as presented through the Montessori materials. The teacher is the link between each child and this prepared environment. This role alternates between a direct and indirect one, as the teacher closely and continuously observes each child and watches for the next manifestation.

When a class first begins, all the children need continual help in their relationships with one another and care of the environment. They need to make a connection to the teacher and know that she cares for them and understands them. Gradually, in response to their new environment and the teacher's careful guidance, the children develop into a harmonious, independent community. The teacher becomes a participant/observer in a community of children.

This environment enhances the children's inner discipline, concentration, belief in themselves and belief in each other. They develop a sense of responsibility and an appreciation for the world and the things and people within it, achieving harmony with life.

A true Montessori environment will have aided the child in the construction of their own life, a fulfilled life that is a part of the greater good.