From Toddler to High School Graduate and Beyond – Montessori Education

Kindergarten Graduation 2016
If you’ve heard about Montessori schools, more than likely it’s been about preschool or kindergarten. But Montessori education encompasses the full spectrum of childhood, which Dr. Maria Montessori called The Four Planes of Development. In the coming weeks, we’ll review each plane or phase as it relates to the classes we offer at Colorado Christian Montessori.

For more than 50 years Dr. Montessori studied children of all ages from every background and socioeconomic status. The result of her decades of observation and research became The Montessori Method: A body of principles of philosophy, psychology and pedagogy combined with a vast range of auto-didactic materials.

In other words, every Montessori classroom environment is:
  • designed ahead of time with great thought and care 
  • prepared specifically for the child’s age
  • created to engage and foster self-learning and independence.
Montessori education responds to the needs of the total human being at each stage of development. The Four Planes of Development, each six years long, identifies how children learn at each stage.
  1. Birth to Age 6 (infancy) – Physical and biological independence. The hallmarks of this age are the development of the absorbent mind and individual personality. 
  2. 6 to 12 (childhood) – Mental independence. This includes elaboration of mind and personality.
  3. 12 to 18 (adolescence) – Social independence. This is a significant period of developing a child’s social policy, such as finding their place in society and groups of peers.
  4. 18 to 24 (transition to adulthood) – Spiritual and moral independence. In this phase a person experiences the elaboration of social policy.
Stay tuned to learn more about how these age groups break down and how we honor each age and stage at CCM.

Be blessed,
Andrea Spikes

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