“Obstacles must be reduced to a minimum and surroundings should provide the necessary means for the exercise of those activities which develop a child’s energies.” (Maria Montessori). Therefore, here at Sakura Montessori, the prepared environment is of critical importance.
The prepared environment makes it easy for children to choose tasks accordingly with their sensitive periods and their interests; at the same time encourages children to interact with people and things around, which allows them for more practice, knowledge, and skills such as gross & fine motor and independence.
In classrooms at Sakura Montessori, the prepared environment can be seen clearly not only from the facilities but also from the layout of the room, along with the display of materials, to satisfy the developmental needs of children:
- Materials are displayed on shelves in separate areas: Practice Life, Sensorial, Math, Language, Culture (Science, History, Geography), and Art;
- All materials are ready for use and nicely arranged on shelves from left to right and from simple to complex;
- The spacing between two sets of materials and the edge of the shelf is 2 cm to prevent them from falling down and make it easily accessible to children.