Skip to main content

A Montessori Dictionary

By Montessori Learning, Montessori Philosophy No Comments
Hollis Montessori have shared a 'Montessori Dictionary', helping families understand some of the common terms used in a Montessori environment. Absorbent Mind – A mind able to absorb knowledge quickly and effortlessly.  Montessori said the child from birth to six years has an “absorbent mind.”  Adaptation – Related to the idea of an absorbent mind (Haines, 1993) is a special power of the young child that can be called the power of adaptation.  This...
Read More

Some Observations on History

By Montessori Learning, Montessori Philosophy No Comments
"It is the cultivation of the human personality of every individual that will form the new world.” Maria Montessori     The 2020 Treasure Article is an adaptation of a text that Maria Montessori wrote in 1948, during her second stay in India. She ponders on our outlook and interpretation of history — a topic that could not be more fitting in a time that is bringing so much new wisdom and new insights...
Read More

The Rights of a Child

By FMS Values, Montessori Learning No Comments
‘Childhood has shown me that all humanity is one.” Maria Montessori   Thirty-one years ago, world leaders made a historic commitment to the world’s children by adopting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, an international agreement on childhood.  It’s become the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history and has helped transform children’s lives around the world.  The Rights of the Child according to the United...
Read More

Books About Kindness

By Helpful Hints, Montessori Learning No Comments
“Let us treat them, therefore, with all the kindness we would wish to develop in them.”  Maria Montessori Tomorrow, Friday 13th November is World Kindness Day.  If there is any year our generation has needed kindness in the world, it’s been this year.  Are you finding that people around you are kinder?   I am.  I’m also finding that people have slowed down and stopped rushing around being busy for busy...
Read More

Grace and Courtesy: More Than Manners

By Montessori Basics, Montessori Philosophy No Comments
Sometimes it can feel like our society has abandoned previous social norms. In some ways, this is a good thing, especially when social norms are not inclusive or are harmful. Many of these norms, however, are important in nurturing a society in which human beings treat each other with kindness and respect. Somewhere along the way we forgot our manners. This brings us to a critical element in Montessori education:...
Read More

Series to Get Hooked On: A Book List to Keep Them Reading!

By Helpful Hints, Montessori Learning No Comments
When was the last time you read a book that was so good you hated to see it end? Perhaps it was part of a series and you quickly got your hands on the next book, or perhaps it was an author’s style that you loved so you began reading everything you could find that they’d written. New readers can experience the same feeling. All it takes is one truly...
Read More

Montessori Basics: Following the Child

By Montessori Basics, Montessori Philosophy No Comments
“When a child is given a little leeway, he will at once shout, ’I want to do it!’ But in our schools, which have an environment adapted to children’s needs, they say, ‘Help me to do it alone.’ ” - Maria Montessori in The Secret of Childhood Montessorians are often heard saying, “Follow the child.” It’s a statement that guides us each day and drives our work in very particular...
Read More

Thrive at Five

By Montessori in Action No Comments
When Maria Montessori developed her educational method, she created programs that encompass a three-year learning cycle. This three-year cycle corresponds with Montessori’s planes of development, each of which spans six years of the child’s life: First plane: 0–6 years (Absorbent Mind) Second plane: 6–12 years (Childhood) Third plane: 12–18 years (Adolescence) Fourth plane: 18–24 years (Young Adult) Within each plane of development, there is a natural separation and transformation that...
Read More

Beyond a Curriculum: Offering the Universe to the 6 to 12-Year-Old

By Montessori in Action, Montessori Learning No Comments
What is it that makes Montessori for primary aged students different? What is it that the primary teachers plan and deliver? What do the children actually learn in the primary classrooms? Sometimes it can be a little unclear as to what is going on in the 6-9 and 9-12 classrooms. Parents receive snippets of information from Transparent Classroom. It provides them with a list of activities and how their child is progressing. Children may or...
Read More

Beyond Accomplished – Expanding Horizons

By Montessori in Action No Comments
When asked where she would like to have her photograph take, graduating student Ria Aung-Thein thought for a moment then was very sure of her desired environment: “The Birth-3 cottage because that’s where I started at FMS.” Back where it all began, Ria joined the school when she was 3 months old in our NIDO Program and then moved to Parent Toddler.  She wasn’t able to join the Toddler Program...
Read More