As a Montessorian, our fundamental beliefs are that:

• Children are to be respected as different from adults and as
• individuals who are different from one another.
• Children possess unusual sensitivity and mental powers for
• absorbing and learning from their environment.
• Children create their sense of self through purposeful activity.
• The most important years for learning are from birth to age six.

There are four things that make Montessori Education unique. They are the whole child approach; the prepared environment; the materials used in the classroom; and the directresses (teachers) who direct the child’s learning.

With the whole child approach, the primary goal of a Montessori program is to help each child reach full potential in all areas of life. Activities promote the development of social skills, emotional and spiritual growth, physical coordination as well as cognitive preparation.

In order for self-directed learning to take place, the entire learning environment – room, materials and social climate – must be supportive of the learner. The Directress (teacher) provides the necessary resources, including opportunities for children to function in a safe and positive climate.

In preparing the materials to be used in the classroom, Dr. Montessori’s observations of the things children enjoy and go back to repeatedly led her to design a number of multi-sensory, sequential and self-correcting materials. Their objective of each of the materials is to facilitate the learning of skills and aid in the understanding of abstract ideas.

The educator in a Montessori classroom is referred to as a “directress” rather than a “teacher”. Dr. Montessori felt the educator’s most important duty was to direct the child to the activities or work that the individual child shows interest in and readiness for at the time. The directress functions as designer of the environment, resource person, role model, demonstrator, record-keeper and meticulous observer of each child’s behavior and growth.