Be prepared! This is the motto for scouting organizations worldwide. Maria Montessori would have a said “Si Preparato!” in her native Italian tongue. And this is the message that Dr. Montessori shared with educators as she created her Casa di Bambini for the children she first taught. Providing a carefully prepared environment, in addition to well-prepared teachers, is the tradition Montessori schools uphold today and remains one of the essential elements that makes this method of education successful for the millions of Montessori students worldwide.
Dr. Montessori believed that the school environment best served children if it was welcoming and felt like a home. Casa di Bambini literally translates to ‘house for children’, and her school was designed with the needs of the children at the forefront. In his biography of Dr. Montessori, Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work, E. M. Standing tells us that “…realizing the peculiarly absorbent nature of the child’s mind, she has prepared for him a special environment; and, then, placing the child within it, has given him the freedom to live in it, absorbing what he finds there” (p.265). The environment provides the framework that allows the children’s curiosity, confidence, and spontaneous learning to unfold. It is central to Montessori education, and the environment is the first thing which makes an impact not only on Montessori students, but on visitors to Montessori schools, as well.
Walking into a classroom at The Montessori Children’s Academy (MCA), the first comment from guests touring the school is often to say how beautiful it is. It is a carefully prepared, beautiful, organized environment filled with an abundance of the highest quality Montessori materials. The natural wooden shelves display an array of neatly arranged, attractive materials. The shelves and materials are organized by area of study, including Math, Cultural Subjects, Language, Sensorial, and Practical Life. The child-sized furniture is carefully placed to promote both independent work spaces, as well as places where children may sit together to work and socialize. There is a cozy place to read, a well-lit area to create artwork at an easel, and plenty of opportunity for controlled movement throughout the room.
Every component of the Montessori classroom has a purpose. The unique materials created by Dr. Montessori grow with the children through various stages of development, as the children are ready to proceed. The classroom and materials are organized carefully and in sequential order, providing another aspect to the children’s development and learning. Materials of advancing degrees are placed left to right and top to bottom, just as we read text from left to right and top to bottom. Children are taught from the start where each particular material belongs, and they learn to return each item to its proper place after they are finished using it. This keeps things predictable for the children, and they know where to go to find what they need very quickly.
The environment and the materials within it provide the children with choices, and they allow the children to experiment and to learn with their special ‘control of error’. If a child doesn’t carry the material carefully from the shelf to the table or workspace on the floor, it may spill. There is no punishment involved in that—instead the child learns how to clean it up and put it back in order. Similarly, Dr. Montessori’s materials are created as ‘self-correcting’. The child will easily see whether or not he or she has used them in an appropriate fashion, and the child will learn inherently from his or her mistakes. This is incredibly careful preparation, and it allows children to take on challenges without feeling fear of failure. Instead, the environment promotes positive risk-taking and fosters innate encouragement for the child to succeed through his or her repeated experiences with the materials.
In addition to the academic materials, careful consideration is taken in placing furniture, decorations, and other components of the classroom. Montessori classrooms allow children to work at tables or on the floor. The furniture and shelves are arranged with purpose to allow children to navigate their way around the classroom and to practice “grace and courtesy” and self-control. Artwork is placed at the children’s eye-level, not the adults, because after all, the classroom is for the children. Generally, the artwork displayed is that of well-known artists, and it reflects the best examples of a variety of types of art or enhances a current class study of a particular artist. Living plants not only bring elements of nature into the classroom, but they also provide the children with the opportunity to learn responsibility for their care. Montessori classrooms usually contain a Peace Table (or Peace Area) where children may sit and meditate over natural objects, forming designs in a sand tray, building a small tower with smooth stones, or looking at symbols of peace, such as a wooden carving of a dove.
This beautiful, carefully prepared environment is an outward, physical example of the beautiful, carefully prepared education Montessori students receive. Montessori teachers prepare their classrooms with the knowledge that children respond to beauty and order. Of course, the final element to the prepared environment is the prepared Montessori teacher or guide who has created this place where children can feel at home, feel secure in taking risks, feel challenged, and are excited about learning each and every day.
In her book Education and Peace, Dr. Montessori said, “There is a constant interaction between the individual and the environment. The use of things shapes man, and man shapes things. This reciprocal sharing is a manifestation of man’s love for his surroundings. Harmonious interaction – when it exists, as in the child, represents the normal relationship that should exist between the individual and his surroundings. And this relationship is one of love.” (p.57) At the Montessori Children’s Academy, the teachers and children all share in a deep love of learning as they continue their Montessori journey together each day, prepared for a variety of daily adventures in their beautifully, carefully prepared Montessori environment.
