Emphasis on cognitive and social development

Teacher has unobtrusive role in classroom

Environment and method encourage self-discipline

Mainly individual instruction (some group instruction)

Mixed age grouping

Grouping encourages children to teach and help each other

Child chooses own work

Child discovers own concepts from self-teaching materials

Child works as long as he chooses on his project

Child sets own learning pace

Child spots own errors from feedback of material

Child reinforces own learning by repetition of work and internal feeling of success

Multi-sensory materials for physical exploration

Organized program for learning care of self and environment (polishing shoes, cleaning the sink, etc.)

Organized program for parents to understand the Montessori philosophy, and parent/teacher conferences