Sturrock Montessori Academy

Montessori is an educational method based on the works of Maria Montessori.  She was one of the first female physicians in Italy whose clinical observations of how children learn and her desire to help children led her to give up her univerisity chair and medical practice to teach children.

Dr. Montessori analyzed how children learn and the effects of the environment in which they learn.  She found children are motivated by a natural curiosity and teachers should prepare an environment to cultivate a student's natural desire to learn.

"[E]ducation is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being.  It is not acquired by listening to words, but in virtue of experiences in which the child acts on his environment.  The teacher's task is not to talk, but to prepare and arrange a series of motives for cultural activity in a special environment made for the child." Maria Montessori, (The Absorbent Mind, 8)

Montessori classrooms are carefully prepared environments that are learner centered and developmentally appropriate.  Montessori materials are an integral part of the prepared environment. 

 The materials are multi-sensory developed to assist the students in mastering concepts such as math and language.  The materials encourange students to work independently and at their own pace.