Montessori is a method of education that is based on self-directed activity, hands-on learning and collaborative play. In Montessori classrooms children make creative choices in their learning, while the classroom and the teacher offer age-appropriate activities to guide the process.

Children work in groups and individually to discover and explore knowledge of the world and to develop their maximum potential.

Psychologists found that across a range of abilities, children at Montessori schools out-performed those given a traditional education.

Five-year-old Montessori pupils were better prepared for reading and maths, and 12-year-olds wrote “significantly more creative” essays using more sophisticated sentence structures.

Here are some statistics:

• More than 5,000 schools in the United States, including 300 public schools, use the Montessori method.
• There are about 7,000 certified Montessori schools worldwide.
• Approximately 200 public schools in the U.S. and Canada offer Montessori programs.
• The two major Montessori organizations operating in the United States are the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI, with a U.S. branch office called AMI-USA) and the American Montessori Society (AMS).

Five basic principles fairly and accurately represent how Montessori educators implement the Montessori method in many kinds of programs.

These principles include:

• 1. Respect for the child

• 2. The absorbent mind

• 3. Sensitive periods

• 4. The prepared environment

5. Auto-education