- The Classroom
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A Montessori classroom is quiet, bright, clean, well-maintained and attractive. Nothing should be tom, broken, dirty, or otherwise unattractive. Furniture is child-sized, and there is no teacher's desk. The typical classroom consists of four areas: Practical Life, Sensorial, and Mathematics. Practical life includes activities such as buttoning, sweeping, pouring, slicing, tying, etc. Sensorial includes activities to stimulate and train touch, smell, taste. Most Montessori classrooms try to include ways for the children to interact with the natural wood, perhaps through a classroom pet (rabbits, gerbils, mice, etc.), or a small garden where the children can plant vegetables or flowers.
In schools that extend to the upper grades, Montessori classroom still includes a three-year age in order to establish a non-competitive atmosphere in the classroom. This system allows for children to review the work as many times as necessary and to move rapidly through the materials as they are able, as well as allowing children to become natural teachers with what they have learned. The children realize that class is different for each person and are less likely to keep track of where other children are academically. |