When Dr. Maria Montessori spoke of the prepared environment, she wasn’t just describing a beautiful classroom filled with child-sized furniture and neatly arranged materials. She was describing a space that nourishes the whole person, a place designed to meet children’s developmental needs, spark curiosity, and invite purposeful activity. A Montessori prepared environment is a place designed for children. And the design deeply respects children’s natural drives, including their sensitive periods...
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At Forestville Montessori School, children participate in many different sports and physical activities. These include swimming, gymnastics, tennis, surfing, rock climbing, table tennis, athletics, ball skills, skipping and Jump Rope for Heart. This variety gives every child opportunities to discover ways of moving that feel enjoyable, purposeful and achievable. It also introduces students to individual pursuits and team experiences, encouraging them to develop a positive, lifelong relationship with physical activity....
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Digital detox? No need, Montessori in the early years is screen free In a world where screens are part of everyday life, it can be surprising to enter an early-years Montessori classroom and see children learning without ipads , interactive whiteboards or personal devices. Instead, they are pouring water, sorting objects, tracing textured letters, building words, counting beads, preparing food and caring for their environment. This is not a gap...
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Spring opens a refreshing door. Suddenly, there is time (unhurried, generous time!) to kneel beside a flower and really look at it. To follow a beetle across a garden path. To press a leaf between the pages of a book and wonder later what kind of tree it came from. To ask questions that don't have quick answers and feel good about the not-knowing. This is exactly the spirit of...
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Parents and teachers at Forestville Montessori School explain why they chose Montessori education for their children, and the impact Montessori has on their children's lives. Who do our children become? How does the Montessori philosophy aid this? Why does the world need more Montessori children - especially now? Watch the clip here and hear from these long-time Forestville Montessori families as they share the reasons they chose FMS, and the...
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Every child deserves to be known as an individual: to have their strengths recognised, their curiosity encouraged and their learning extended when they are ready. Montessori education is designed to do exactly that. Rather than offering extension as a separate program for a selected few, Montessori makes challenge, advancement and personalisation part of everyday classroom learning for every child. How does Montessori get the most from each child’s capabilities? Montessori...
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If you’ve ever noticed small, colorful shapes placed above words in a Montessori classroom, you may have wondered what they mean, or why grammar looks so different from what many of us remember from school. Those colorful shapes are Montessori grammar symbols, reflecting a deeply intentional approach to helping children understand language through function, history, and experience. Words Are Defined by the Work They Do In Montessori, grammar begins with...
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The beautiful Montessori materials you see in our preschool and primary school classrooms are as fundamental to Montessori education as the teachers are. Montessori learning materials are unlike anything used in mainstream early learning and schools. They are an integral part of the Montessori classroom and inspire curiosity, exploration, deep thinking, concentration and problem solving. Even in preschool. With their beautiful appearance and game like nature, students love to learn...
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Children at all times and at all ages are engaging curiously with the world, absorbing what they see and building their understanding of the world. In seeking to understand the world, young children ask so many questions! The Montessori geography materials meet that curiosity with simple, beautiful objects that help children put the world into context. As Dr. Montessori explains in Education for a New World, "Children are not able...
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If you come to observe a Montessori classroom, you may notice that the teacher is not the center of attention. You’ll see children moving around, working on various tasks, solving problems, and helping each other, while the teacher moves quietly through the room, watching, waiting, stepping in briefly. This is a careful, deliberate practice (and, for what it’s worth, it may be the hardest thing a Montessori teacher learns to...
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