Dr. Maria Montessori discovered a good deal about the nature of the learning process in young children.  She came to believe that every child delights in spontaneous activity directed toward intellectual discovery. A carefully prepared environment in a Montessori classroom nourishes and encourages a child's natural development. Attitudes and confidence developed during these formative years will serve them throughout their lifetime.  For a confident child, new activities are not only a challenge but a delight.  A child is most apt to retain a positive attitude toward learning and acquire confidence in a relaxed atmosphere where they set their own pace, follow their own interests, and are freed of criticism and competition.

The following are some basic Montessori concepts:

1. The small child is a lover of work spontaneously chosen and carried out with profound joy.

2. The child needs to learn by doing. At each stage in a child's mental growth, corresponding physical occupations are provided by means of which they develop and refine their movements. Their natural wish, Help me do it myself, is respected.

3. Based on a profound respect for the child's personality, there is room to grow in biological independence. The child is allowed a large measure of liberty (not license) which forms the basis of real self-discipline. This is a higher discipline which originates within the child as they gain practice making their own decisions and exercising their own will. It is not a discipline which is imposed from without and based on rewards and punishments.

4. Since the children freed from competition and they do not work for praise or rewards, learning becomes its own true reward, and the sharing of learning naturally flows.  Children help each other and learn from each other; they do not compete against each other.  This results in a positive social community within the classroom.