What is Montessori?

Boost your knowledge about Montessori by choosing one or more videos or simply read about it below!

Choose from the short and informative video clips below to learn about the different areas of the Montessori Classroom  at New Beginnings!

Welcome and About Maria Montessori

NBMS Media Player
If you are seeing this message then you will need to install the Adobe Flash Player.

Prefer to read about it?

The Mind of the Child

After years of observing children’s behavior and studying educational practices, Dr. Maria Montessori recognized that all children want to learn and to be independent. She also observed that children pass through stages of intense interest in language, order, movement, social aspects, small objects and sensory experiences. Accordingly, the Montessori classroom is organized around an activity cycle designed to appeal to a child’s natural desire to learn. To adults, the lessons often appear as play; however, the learning activities prepare the child to learn and master future, more difficult “work.”

The Montessori Environment

Because all class activities, rules and procedures are designed to foster self-confidence and self-discipline in the child, the Montessori classroom is child-sized. Everything from tables and chairs to tools and work areas are shaped to accommodate children’s small bodies. The Montessori Guides sit at child-level to give lessons. The young students gather and replace their own work lessons on comfortably low shelves and even wash their own lunch dishes and clean their own tables using appropriately sized wash basins. All the classroom items may be handled by the young pupils; there are no “forbidden” shelves. Montessori Guides help children respect and work with the materials as well as respect the work and space of others. This, again, encourages self-discipline. The Montessori Method grew out of the natural way children use their bodies to learn about the world around them. Many of the practical life materials in the school are items that can be found in almost any home. Parents are welcome to observe their children within the school and encouraged to understand how the material in their own homes can be used to help their children learn and become independent.

Unique to Montessori

Practical Life empowers young children to care for themselves in a “home-like” environment by practicing pouring, measuring, sewing, cleaning and dressing skills. Children also help care for the classroom by watering plants, feeding animals, dusting and sweeping. All these activities form a natural part of the children’s home life and help them to connect home and school.

Sensorial Learning strengthens children’s knowledge of the real world environment as they manipulate cubes and other geometric shapes, surfaces and textures. Through hands-on exploration, children build knowledge of sensory experiences – tasting, touching, smelling, hearing and seeing. This critical series of activities prepares them for physics and mathematics.

Language work continues the sensorial approach to learning. Children get to hear and feel each letter, often tracing each letter in sand or on sandpaper. Once the phonic is connected to a letter shape, then the young students begin to match small objects to letter sounds and shapes. Again, the materials focus on the children’s desire to touch and manipulate objects. Before long, the children have internalized the principles of reading; writing soon follows.

Mathematics builds basic principles of counting, measuring and volume through hands-on learning. All Montessori stacking materials are in base-10, so when even young children stack blocks to form a tower, they are already being exposed to principles of mathematics. Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division follow the mastery of counting, again all learned by activities combining physical and mental learning designed to interest and reach the mind of young learners.

Cultural education introduces children to geography, sociology, botany, zoology and helps them build an understanding of the broader world around them. In one activity, children touch and manipulate maps and land forms. Multimedia presentations help children share the sights and sounds of other nations. Often, guest speakers, including parents, come into the classroom and share their knowledge and experiences. Multicultural experiences in and out of classroom enrich the children’s learning.