The Prepared Environment
The importance of a prepared environment rests on the belief that children learn from everything around them and on the Montessori concept of the teacher as a facilitator of the child’s efforts to create the adult she is to become.
Great attention is paid to what is put in the whole learning environment, including the materials available, how they are displayed, their accessibility to the children. The attractive powers of beauty and order are employed to both draw and keep the child’s interest. The teacher acts as a guide, demonstrating the ways in which classroom materials can help children develop the skills they need to be independent learners. A prepared environment includes not only physical aspects, but the social and emotional context in which teachers and students share the work of learning and growing.
Multi-age classes
Children from the age of three onward are grouped in classes that include three different ages; primary, early elementary, and upper elementary each have three grades included in each classroom. The middle school program includes seventh and eighth graders. In these multi-aged groups, each child enjoys the role of the youngest, the middle, and the oldest child over the time of his/her sojourn in that class.
In our multi-age classrooms, older children help with younger ones, just as they would in a big family, and in doing so reinforce what they have already learned and strengthen their own integrity and responsibility. The younger children in turn benefit because children do learn from their peers as well as from their teachers. There is much spontaneous sharing among the children.
Montessori materials in the prepared environment
In a Montessori setting, the classroom is carefully prepared to help children accomplish their goals in their own manner, whether we call it work or play. Gradually the children reveal qualities for which they are not usually given credit, such as intense concentration and surprising attention span, exactness and precise movement, a sense of order, maximum effort by even very little ones, self-discipline and respect for others, kindness, and an obvious joy in “work”.
Each classroom is a prepared environment designed to support the child’s need for purposeful activity. It is a children’s house: the furniture is easily moved; pictures are hung at child’s eye level; plants are easily watered by the children. The sink is not a toy, but a real, child-sized sink. There are many carefully designed materials to meet the child’s natural interests. The atmosphere is positive, supportive, and non-competitive.
A unique feature of a Montessori program is the use of thoughtfully designed materials. These Montessori materials are:
- Manipulative - each child learns by doing.
- Concrete - each child can touch, feel, and move objects to learn their characteristics.
- Sequenced - each child begins learning with the simple and progresses to the complex. This assures success and enhances self-esteem.
The role of the teacher
An important part of the prepared environment is the Montessori teacher, who serves as a link between the children and that environment. Dr. Maria Montessori believed self-motivation to be the key to learning. Therefore, the Montessori teacher acts as a facilitator whose role is to stimulate interest in all facets of a child-centered learning environment. Montessori teachers are expected to observe their students closely in order to facilitate each one’s growth and learning at just the right time and level.
The teacher’s work is made possible through rigorous Montessori training. During training, teachers work to learn not only how to present skills using the didactic materials, but also how to carefully observe and respond to the needs of the individual children under their guidance. Montessori teachers learn to use the materials that Dr. Montessori developed and to create their own effective materials to meet observed learning needs that students will express over the ensuing years.
The passion for Montessori education that the school’s founders brought to its creation is kept alive by current teachers in their commitment to the children. Teachers ponder and discuss observations they have made, seeking to use those insights to better serve each child’s learning needs. These dedicated teachers base their work on tested principles and continue to look for which new ideas in education may be effectively incorporated into their practice.
