6 Components of a Montessori Classroom
/“The first aim of the prepared environment is, as far as it is possible, to render the growing child independent of the adult.”
We talk about it almost every week: the environment has the power to be one of a child’s greatest teachers.
We realize this can sound a little too good to be true.
A Montessori teacher, or guide, is always at work. Tirelessly observing each child and carefully maintaining and preparing the environment to meet him where he’s at.
There are six crucial aspects of a classroom that a Montessori teacher must look for and provide. Through these components, a student will be sure to have an environment that not only encourages learning, but actually plays a large role in teaching him.
1. Freedom
We’ve talked before about freedom within limits and the Montessori classroom. It’s a topic you’ll hear often. That’s because without it, you don’t truly have a Montessori education.
Without freedom, we aren’t really ever letting a child become himself. We’re trying to superimpose on him who we think he should be. Freedom allows him to come into his own personality with guidance from the adults in his life.
When allowed freedom, students can explore based on their own curiosities and interests, therefore pursuing a more authentic education timed perfectly for each student’s developmental needs.
In a nutshell, freedom in a Montessori classroom allows teachers to treat students with respect, acknowledging their individuality and providing an environment to suit each individual’s educational needs.
2. Structure & Order
You can almost never talk about the freedom of a Montessori education without following it up by talking about the limits...or the structure and order.
Children love routine. It allows them to work within the parameters of a predictable environment. They know what to expect, and from that, can better understand where they fit in.
As Maria Montessori’s quote below mentions, “...the environment must be a living one…” This points out that a structured environment doesn’t mean one that is rigid and unchanging. It’s simply familiar, and the basic order and flow of it are predictable.
Part of the role of a Montessori teacher is to prepare the environment in a way that entices students to explore. This means introducing novelty into this structured environment. The flow, routine, and expectations overall stay the same. But the new and novel breathe life into the classroom in a way that reminds students of the infinite possibilities the world has to offer.
3. Community & Social Life
Creating an environment completely geared towards children makes a powerful statement. The classroom is theirs. Students depend on the classroom to meet their needs. The classroom requires students to care for it.
This sets the stage for the classroom community. When children carry the responsibility for caring for the classroom, they in turn carry themselves differently. They treat each other differently.
Students rely on each other to care for the materials. To care for the plants and animals. To care for the environment. To care for each other.
That freedom mentioned earlier? That allows them to make mistakes (like people of all ages). And it in turn trusts and assists them in correcting those mistakes (like people of all ages).
The foundation for social and community living is brought down to the level of the students by preparing the environment in a way that trusts and respects them. With this, they gain confidence first to act independently in their environment. And then to interact respectfully with peers in their community.
4. Beauty & Atmosphere
Beauty inspires. It stimulates a response from the very soul of a person.
In the case of a Montessori classroom, this applies to the physical, outward appearance of the environment as well as the general atmosphere and feel of the space.
Again, a huge part of the teacher’s role is to prepare the classroom to be a space that is inviting both in beauty and in feel. This helps settle the child and invites him to respond and interact with it.
The beauty of the room does not mean elaborately decorated or full of expensive furnishings. Rather, the opposite. Montessori classrooms tend to be simple and minimalistic. The beauty is in the order.
An atmosphere can be nurturing through modeling by the teacher. This means exemplifying patience, friendliness, kindness, and comfort.
By setting the stage in this way, students will feel welcomed and drawn into an environment perfectly prepared to nurture their developmental needs and foster a lifelong love of learning.
5. Reality & Nature
Interaction with our world and its natural laws is one of life’s greatest teachers. Perhaps Paula Polk Lillard said it best in Montessori: A Modern Approach when she said:
“This emphasis on nature should permeate the atmosphere of the Montessori environment, and be one of its most readily recognizable components. The room and outside area should be alive with growing things of all kinds which are cared for by the children. In addition, there should be magnifying glasses, microscopes, and simple experiments of many varieties for the children to perform themselves. Perhaps most important of all, the children must have unhurried time in the woods and country to discover oneness with creation and absorb the wonder of the natural world.” (p. 59)
6. Montessori Materials
If we were to take a poll on what people thought the 6 components of a Montessori classroom would be, this one would probably top the list. While Montessori materials are definitely an important part of the classroom, they only serve the classroom if the other components are also in place.
Ultimately, it’s possible to run a “Montessori home” without having a single Montessori material. As we try to emphasize, the Montessori philosophy is much more about inviting children into our lives in meaningful ways and guiding them as they grow.
That being said, a Montessori classroom does carefully curate specific materials designed to allow for the students to “self-teach”. Through working with the materials, a student can build a concrete understanding of concepts.
He refines his senses through his experience with materials that focus on shape, size, space, color, location, sound, geography, and much more. A well-trained teacher will help guide and lead him to his own discoveries.
In the beginning, these materials, or works, all emphasize the concrete. This builds a strong foundation on which the student can build. He will then begin to apply this concrete understanding to bigger ideas. He will combine his areas of knowledge. He’ll sort and organize them in his absorbent brain.
This foundation will serve him throughout the rest of his education. The materials will become more abstract, building on the knowledge acquired through exploration in his early years.
“Plainly, the environment must be a living one, directed by a higher intelligence, arranged by an adult who is prepared for his mission. It is in this that our conception differs both from that of the world in which the adult does everything for the child and from that of a passive environment in which the adult abandons the child to himself...”