"The hand is the chief teacher of the child."

Internationally celebrated in her later years for her accomplishments, Dr. Maria Montessori would redirect those who put her before the focus of her life's work. "I am but a finger pointing to the something beyond myself," she told them. "Look not at the outstretched finger but at what it is pointing to. Look at the child."

Regarded as one of the most brilliant and original thinkers of her time, Dr. Maria Montessori viewed education not as the mere acquisition of knowledge, but as the means of optimizing the potential for human fulfillment.

The first woman to graduate from the University of Rome, College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1896, Dr. Montessori's early experiences as a physician led her to make observations concerning childhood learning which were to revolutionize modern educational thought.

Returning to the University to study psychology, philosophy and anthropology, she became a professor of anthropology in 1904. Utilizing her scientific approach, observation and diagnosis in her subsequent studies of children in all conditions throughout the world, she formulated her educational methodology based on the natural stages of human development.

She described these stages as Planes of Development which occur in approximately six-year intervals, each of which is further subdivided into three-year segments.

Each stage is characterized by distinct Sensitive Periods or times when a child can most easily master a particular learning skill. It is the role of the Montessori teacher to recognize these periods in individual children, introducing them to the appropriate manipulative materials in the classroom environment.

At Near North these planes of development form the basis for the academic structure and content of the curriculum. Classes are based on three-year age groupings. Thus younger students observe, imitate and internalize skills learned from older students, broadening their interests and abilities. Older students are able to exercise leadership and nurturing skills while demonstrating and reinforcing what they've learned.

The planning and preparation of materials and classrooms serve as an essential part of the curriculum. Through a balance of individual instruction, small group lessons and unstructured time, students progress at their own pace in a socially supportive, noncompetitive atmosphere guided, within a structured, prepared environment, by a skilled and creative Montessori-trained staff.

"A child's work is to create the person she will become. A child works to perfect herself."