While the intrinsic drive to socialize and the supports needed to regulate that drive were prominent in earlier planes of development, this motivation takes priority in the Third Plane, when learners are transitioning from their reliance on environments prepared for them by adults to ownership on the design of those environments themselves. Now, the preparation of the environment shifts from creating a space within which learners use social engagements to learn about or explo

We know that one of the noticeable changes as children move into the Second Plane of development is their new interest in social settings and groups. Montessori teachers support this engagement by offering more opportunities for small groups of learners to work together and for inspiring lessons that include large-scale, multiday, group engagement. Visitors often note the difference in noise and visible activity in the Elementary classrooms. It's as though learners have shed

If you imagine a traditional preschool, you might think about children sitting together at circle time, singing songs all together, listening to stories all together, playing games all together, or exploring the outdoors all together. Indeed, search for "preschool" in your search engine, and you'll find all sorts of choices of pictures of children in groups, happily grinning at the camera. Montessori classrooms take a little different slant. Yes, you'll find time when childre

The Freedom to Interact with Others reflects one of Montessori's Tendencies of Humans: the Tendency toward Communication. We understand that part of the nature of human development is to engage and interact with other humans, to come into union with them, to learn together, make meaning together, progress together. And we understand that this drive is particularly critical in the early years of life, when we seek to surround children with language rich environments and highly

If you think of school as a place in which children are all lined up in their desks or sitting around the same circle, staring ahead at the teacher and doing the same thing, you may be surprised the first time you visit a Montessori school. Children are scattered around the room, some at tables with a friend or two, some on the floor working at a small carpet, some standing at a countertop, some sitting in a loft looking down on the environment. Many work with other peers. An

If you're paying attention to the media, you probably think Middle School is going to be overwrought with hyper-dramatic social conflicts and petty battles between the cool kids and the nerds. Middle School isn't the easiest time socially, but Montessori classrooms provide a different model for the necessary socialization of Middle School and, as a result, often see a different kind of climate. You're less likely to see the cliquey exclusion typical of TV shows about kids thi

A key quality of Elementary learners is their heightened awareness of their peers and friend groups, and an often new attention to how they fit within the group of children around them. This is a great time to reach out to specific children your child wants to spend time with on the weekends, to plan adventures together or just to let them have open-ended, unscheduled time at the park together. In these early days of school, listen for the names that get repeated most often:

While the intrinsic drive to socialize and the supports needed to regulate that drive were prominent in earlier planes of development, this motivation takes priority in the Third Plane, when learners are transitioning from their reliance on environments prepared for them by adults to ownership on the design of those environments themselves. Now, the preparation of the environment shifts from creating a space within which learners use social engagements to learn about or explo

We know that one of the noticeable changes as children move into the Second Plane of development is their new interest in social settings and groups. Montessori teachers support this engagement by offering more opportunities for small groups of learners to work together and for inspiring lessons that include large-scale, multiday, group engagement. Visitors often note the difference in noise and visible activity in the Elementary classrooms. It's as though learners have shed

If you imagine a traditional preschool, you might think about children sitting together at circle time, singing songs all together, listening to stories all together, playing games all together, or exploring the outdoors all together. Indeed, search for "preschool" in your search engine, and you'll find all sorts of choices of pictures of children in groups, happily grinning at the camera. Montessori classrooms take a little different slant. Yes, you'll find time when childre