THE PREPARED ENVIRONMENT
MONTESSORI CLASSROOM IS A PREPARED ENVIRONMENT
Each day before class, teachers carefully and systematically prepare the environment for the students to enter. Instead of a teacher-centered, “sage on a stage” set up with the teacher’s desk at the head of the room and children’s desks aligned in uniform rows, a Montessori classroom is instead organized into five learning areas: practical life, sensorial, language, culture and science, and math. This is a key differentiator of the Montessori approach, since students are far more self-directed than in traditional top-down settings.
The prepared environment is designed to engage students in independent, self-directed learning that draws on their intrinsic motivations and helps them realize that it’s the learner inside of them that’s the most important thing to develop.
Each area includes shelves and spaces where learning objects specific to that area are available for use by the students. Students engage with the area of their choosing either individually or in collaboration with classmates, always under the close guidance of their teachers.
Nutrition
Nutrition plays a vital role in the development of every child. Luma promotes Healthy nutrition, and as part of the prepared environment, we provide delicious organic meals for our bright learners. Our On-staff Chef, carefully prepares curated meals and our Chef sole focus is providing balanced and nutritious meals. LUMA also understand that each child has various food restrictions based on their allergies, culture and even religious beliefs. Taking this major burden away from our parents, we prepare meals everyday specifically catering to your child’s needs and taste.
INDEPENDENCE
The prepared environment provides children with a safe place to explore and develop their independence. Children’s independence is supported through the structure of the prepared environment, the Montessori materials, the curriculum areas, and the guiding role of the educator. Children are actively encouraged to do and think for themselves.
Order
The prepared environment is a calm and structured learning space where children know what to expect. They find dedicated shelves of materials for each curriculum area, designated space to work at a table or on the floor, an area for mealtimes, and the ellipse where they gather together. It all follows an organic flow for movement, learning, and exploration.
Freedom Within Limits
Freedom within limits refers to the ground rules of the prepared environment. Children have the freedom to follow their own interests, move freely, and choose their work, as long as their behavior is reasonable and acceptable.
CHILD-SIZED
Doctor Montessori observed that children experience frustration in an adult-sized world. This is why she designed child-sized furniture, easily accessible open shelves, and learning materials that easily fit in a child’s hand. Everything in the prepared environment is purposefully designed to support children’s independence and self-mastery.
Real-Life
The Montessori approach emphasizes the use of real-life objects in the classroom. This includes using real photographs of animals and objects, as opposed to cartoons and using ceramic bowls and metal utensils over plastic substitutes. The reason for this is to provide children with real-life learning experiences that build their confidence and competence for real-life situations.
Freedom and Choice
Within the prepared environment, children experience freedom of movement, freedom of choice, and freedom of time. Students follow their own interests, work with an activity for as long as they choose, and work how and where they like.
