Montessori is a philosophy of education formulated by Dr. Maria Montessori (1870-1952), an Italian physician who had a particular genius for observing young children as they are rather than as adults wish them to be. What a child experiences as he uses his hands, his mind remembers. The Montessori classroom is a meticulously designed and cared for environment where the child can handle and manipulate materials that demonstrate basic universal concepts. The beautiful and orderly equipment invites him to do this at his own periods of interest and readiness. Through this enriched, unpressured environment, children learn to read, write, and calculate in the same way they learn to walk and talk -- one experiential step after another.
It is an unfortunate historical fact that the term "Montessori" was never copyrighted, and is, therefore, widely and freely used to describe any environment that uses Montessori materials or that is "unstructured." To protect the efforts, philosophy, and methodology of Dr. Maria Montessori, the Association of Montessori Internationale and the American Montessori Society train and certify Montessori teachers and establish high standards for Montessori environments. Counterpane's Primary (ages 3 to 6) and Lower School classes (ages 6 to 12) are led by teachers certified by either the American Montessori Society (AMS) or the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI).