Dr. Maria Montessori was the first female to graduate from the University of Rome with a medical degree. She defined the educational goal as
"the development of a complete human being, oriented to the environment, and adapted to his or her time, place and culture."
What is so remarkable is that her method of teaching arose from simply observing children. She saw that the children absorbed knowledge from their surroundings, essentially teaching themselves. Utilizing scientific observation and experience gained from her work with young children, Dr. Montessori designed unique learning materials for children.
As time and needs of today change, the tools of Montessori learning continue to evolve with the larger AMS community. Many of Maria's materials remain highly relevant and are used in Montessori classrooms today. Her method has created a dynamic classroom environment that foster the children’s natural desire to learn, better yet, cultivate a life-long love for learning.
The Sensorial area of the classroom helps children become more aware of smaller details that are often overlooked. Each sensorial activity focuses on one important quality such as color, weight, shape, size, texture, sound or smell. Sensorial activities develop the senses of perception and discrimination for exploring and noticing small differences in patterns as well as fine motor function development in the hands. The sensorial area builds the child’s concentration for a wider awakening of the senses and perception for distinguishing different qualities and patterns.
The Language area of the Montessori classroom encourages development of early-literacy skills through the use of phonetic sounds. In the Language area children are exposed to various types of phonetic awareness activities to build a strong literary foundation. Montessori Language activities are designed to improve a child’s vocabulary, listening skills for common sounds, and differentiating between objects and pictures. Language activities include learning the shapes and sounds of letters, practicing fine motor skills by writing, vocabulary development, matching words and pictures, reading development with word lists, practicing parts of grammar (nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.), creating sentences and reading silently.
The Math area of the Montessori classroom encompasses the use of concrete materials for the recognition of numbers and the recognition of quantity as well. Through these activities, children learn exactly how much a symbolic number stands for (i.e. the number 5 means counting the correct number of objects to make the number 5). Mathematics activities are divided into six categories that include: counting and the decimal system, memory work, concrete abstraction, arithmetic tables and geometry. Children are introduced to more complex mathematical procedures and concepts as they are individually ready. Often times a child will complete a mathematical activity a few times until he feels ready to attempt a concept that is more difficult.
The Culture area of the classroom encompasses a variety of subjects that are supplementary to the Montessori method. Cultural subjects include: Geography, Zoology, Botany, Science, Art & Music and Spanish and Mandarin Languages. Studying these subjects provide children an opportunity to explore their curiosity of different and worldly ideas. Studying Geography allows the children the opportunity to understand their own culture as well as many others. The children can relate and understand cultural diversity and ultimately come to appreciate differences between humankind. Science in the Montessori classroom allows the children to observe and work with hands-on experiments that will cultivate a lifelong interest in nature and discovering more about our unique world. Through the study of Botany, the children learn about plants (what they look like, how to take care of them, how they grow, etc.) so that they may appreciate nature in a more organic way. The study of Zoology shows children animals from all around the world (where they live, their unique Eco-systems, what they eat, how they grow, etc.) Lastly, the study of art & music allows the children a very unique opportunity to express themselves. Children have an expressive and uninhibited experience of moving, dancing and singing among their school peers. Art & Music allows children to gain a literary understanding of language and develop their cognitive, social and emotional skills in a constructive way.