Montessori Basics: The Planes of Development

Maria Montessori based her entire educational philosophy on the idea that children developed through a series of four planes. Each of these planes is easy to recognize and has clear, defining characteristics. If we study and understand these stages, we can approach our interactions with children with a new perspective.

Learning about the planes of development isn’t just for Montessori educators. Understanding your child’s development can help at home, too.

The First Plane: birth-6 years

During this stage children absorb everything like sponges. They are, indeed, excellent examples if what Montessori called ‘The Absorbent Mind.’ This is a time in which we are able to utilize what Montessori called sensitive periods of learning. While each child is different, there are typical patterns that emerge in regards to brain development and general readiness to learn particular skills.

During the first three years of this plane, all learning is done outside of the child’s conscious mind. They learn by exploring their senses and interacting with their environment. During the second half of the plane, from about 3-6 years, children enter the conscious stage of learning. They learn by using their hands, and specialized materials in the Montessori classroom were developed with this consideration.

During this time, children have a wonderful sense of order. They are methodical and can appreciate the many steps involved in practical life lessons in their classrooms. The organization of the works on their classroom shelves is intentional, which appeals again to this sense of order.

The first plane is a time in which children proclaim, “I can do it myself”; it is a time of physical independence.

The Second Plane: 6-12 years

During the elementary years children begin to look outside themselves. They suddenly develop a strong desire to form peer groups. Previously, during the first plane, a child would be content to focus on their own work while sitting near others. In the second plane, a child is compelled to actually work with their friends. It is during this time that children are ready to learn about collaboration.

During the second plane there is a sudden and marked period of physical growth. This may be a contributing factor to the observation that many children of this age seem to lack an awareness of their body, often bumping into things and knocking things over. Children begin to lose their teeth around this time as well. Their sense of order and neatness tend to fade a bit during this plane.

Throughout the second plane, children’s imaginations are ignited. Since Montessori education is based in reality, we find ways to deliver real information to children through storytelling and other similar methods. For example, when teaching children about the beginnings of our universe, Montessori schools use what is called a Great Lesson. The first Great Lesson is a dramatic story, told to children with the use of props, experiments, and dramatics (think: a black balloon filled with glitter is popped to illustrate the Big Bang, with bits of paper in a dish of water used while talking about particles gathering together). This lesson is fascinating for children in the way it is presented, but gives them basic information about the solar system, states of matter, and other important concepts.

Children in the second plane have a voracious appetite for information, and are often drawn strongly to what we in Montessori call the cultural subjects: science, history, and geography. While we support their rapid language and mathematical growth during this time, we are also responsible for providing them with a variety of rich cultural lessons and experiences.

It is important to note that children develop a sense of moral justice at this time. They are very concerned with what is fair, and creating the rules to a new game is often as important (if not more so) than playing the actual game itself.

This is the period of time in which children are striving for intellectual independence.

The Third Plane: 12-18

The third plane of development encompasses the adolescent years. During the second plane, children become aware of social connections, but in the third plane they are critical. During this time children rely heavily on their relationships with their peers. They feel a strong desire to remain independent from adults, although they are not quite ready to do this entirely. It is our job to find ways that allow them to experiment with independence while also providing a safe structure in which they may do so.

Children in the third plane tend to require more sleep, and they sleep later than when they were younger. They long for authentic learning experiences, and Dr. Montessori imagined just that. Her ideas of Erdkinder (children of the earth) led her to contemplate a school setting that would support children’s development during this time. She imagined a farm school, in which children would work to keep the farm operational, but also contribute to planning and decision making while doing so.

During the third plane children are refining their moral compass while developing a stronger sense of responsibility.

The Fourth Plane: 18-24

The final plane is a time in which young adults are striving for financial independence. They are often living away from home for the first time, and use this time to figure out where they fit into their society. Many make choices to further their education and/or explore career paths.

It is during the fourth plane that people begin to develop a truer sense of who they are as individuals.

Each plane of development should be mindfully nurtured. If a child is able to experience one developmental phase in a rich and carefully prepared environment, they are ready to fully take on the next phase when it is time.

Newer Post >

Montessori Del Valle: A legacy of child-centered education

By Victor Martinez • August 8, 2025

Tears of happiness flowed down the cheeks of Marti Filley, the founder of Escuela Montessori Del Valle, as she thought about the impact El Paso’s first Montessori school has had on the community. “It’s pretty overwhelming,” she said, smiling through those tears. “I didn’t set out to do anything like this, it just came together.” Escuela Montessori, founded in 1974, just celebrated 50 years of serving the community. Filley was a first-grade teacher at St. Clement’s Parish School in El Paso and a busy mother of two children disenchanted with the state of education. “Teaching was so top down,” she said. “’This is how we do things; this is the curriculum.’ I wanted to do what was best for each individual child rather than everybody starts at point A and take them through all the way through. I was so tired of it, but yet, I love teaching.” She struggled with trying to figure out how to have it both ways. “I really liked working St. Clements, it was a good place to work but I began to really think about things that I would do differently if I had my own school,” she said. “That kept developing in my mind. I thought I could do better.” She was correct. Escuela Montessori now has two campuses — the original at 212 W. Sunset Rd. in the Upper Valley, and another, Coronado Montessori on the West Side at 7011 Westwind Dr., built in 1981. Filley’s son Steve and her daughter-in-law Jackie run the day-to-day operations of both campuses. “The thing that I am most proud of is that from my mom starting the business to my grandmother running the other locations, to my wife pretty much running both, it has been pretty amazing,” Steve Filley said. “You hear about women owning their own business, this exemplified it.” Jackie Filley calls her mother-in-law a pioneer in El Paso education. “She is a pioneer not only to have the vision for it, but to do it and each year and persevere,” Jackie Filley said. “She is still very much involved. We are a family business but it’s not just us, it’s all of us discussing and processing different ideas. For me, I’m so proud to carry on what she started and to make sure her vision stays the same. She had done such a great job, this is who we are, and it works.” Montessori education Montessori schools are educational institutions that implement Maria Montessori’s method of education, which focuses on child-centered learning and individualized instruction. They emphasize hands-on learning, student agency, and a prepared learning environment. “Research shows that 80% of a child’s natural intelligence is developed by age 8,” Marti Filley said. “A huge percentage of that by age 3, so early childhood education has become very, very important as people are beginning to understand that.” A Montessori education is designed to take advantage of a child’s sensitive years between 2 and 12, allowing them to learn at their own pace and pursue their individual interests. Marti Filley, who founded Escuela Montessori Del Valle in 1974, visits with students Gianna and Dominic Nino. Photo by Ruben R. Ramirez She said Maria Montessori understood that and incorporated that thought process into her method of teaching. “That’s kind of what we do,” Marti Filley said. “It’s important for children to learn how to work independently, it’s important for them how to concentrate, how to socialize, all the beginning things that you need to have before you can really start the learning process.” Maria Montessori was an Italian physician and educator best known for her philosophy of education, the Montessori method. She is celebrated for her innovative educational method that mirrors how children naturally learn. She opened the Casa dei Bambini (Children’s House) in 1907 in Rome. Her educational method is in use today in many public and private schools globally. “Montessori was very aware of the importance of nature and a children’s development,” Marti Filley said. “At Escuela, we’ve taken that part to heart because they see what they learn. It’s not just that we teach them, it’s that they absorb it and internalize it by being in nature. What our teachers teach and present to the kids is based on nature and animals. Objects that they can see, touch and smell on our campus.” The Upper Valley school grounds include goats, chickens and a pollinator garden that is registered by the state of Texas as one of the places where it’s supposed to be a stopover for the monarch butterflies. “We basically home school these kids when the parents can’t,” Steve Filley said. “It’s kind of a home school environment.” Humble beginnings Marti and her husband Dwight Filley moved to El Paso’s east side from California in the early 1970s. She had been a first- and second-grade teacher in California, so she decided to start a summer program for her two toddlers. “We fixed up the garage at our house and I went door to door, knocking on every day and explaining to parents what we were doing,” she said. “We ended up with 12 to 15 kids. I didn’t have any further plans at the time.” A few years after teaching at St. Clement's Parish School, an old college roommate called her from Phoenix and asked her if she knew the Montessori method of teaching. “I had heard about it, but I really didn’t really know or understand much about it,” Marti Filley said. “She told me a lot about it, so Dwight and I went to Phoenix to see her school where she already set up as a Montessori school. I loved it, this is what I was thinking about.” She already set up the little garage summer school for the neighborhood children so opening up a Montessori in El Paso was the next logical step. Dwight, who was in commercial real estate at the time, found a plot of land in the Upper Valley off Sunset Road. “He brought me out here and that’s when the lights went on, this could be a school,” Filley said. The first class was 15 children, 3- and 4-years old and the following year was 30 to 35 students. “We needed more space so built another classroom,” she said. "Then a few years later, these pre-school children needed to move on so we built the kindergarten building next store in 1997." Escuela Montessori Del Valle, which includes children 18-months to 6th grade, averages about 90 students, while Coronado Montessori on Westwind averages 70 students from 18-months to 3rd grade. Enrollment is year-round, as long as they have spots available. Moving forward “When we got started in 1974, there were a lot of exciting things going on,” Steve Filley said. “Now, you have so much competition with the public schools, you have charter schools, you have church schools, you have a lot of Montessori schools in El Paso with directors and teachers who she trained, by the way.” Steve Filley is excited about the future. “It’s really a great time because parents are looking for alternatives in their child’s education,” he said. “We have two and three generations of children coming to the school where my mom was the teacher and now the grandkids are in the school and even not far away from great-grand kids in the school. “ Jackie Filley said the Montessori education is attractive to young parents who are disenchanted with the public school system. “We have a certain appeal, especially to younger parents who are seeing how the public system is going and don’t agree and have different morals goals and ideas on how to raise their children and who are looking for something different.” Sitting in a small square space that serves as her office, the tears return to Marti Filley’s eyes when asked how many lives does she think she has touched. “I’m not good with math, so I would say thousands,” she said. Her son Steve quickly weighs in, “try 5,000 to 10,000 lives, maybe more.” Looking out the office window, watching parents with their children walking the grounds, Marti Filley smiles. “We have many examples of people who have come back and told us so and so is a doctor or working in D.C. or such and such is an engineer,” she said. “They all have taken some good things from the school and gone forward with their lives.” And they are in peace. “One of the things that I love about our school, and that I’m proud of, is when young people come back to visit the school and they are showing new parents around, they always say how peaceful it is here and how much the love the atmosphere. It makes them feel at home and comfortable and peaceful, which is an important thing to feel.”

The Journey Begins by Marti Filley

By noreply • April 2, 2025

A montessori guide is sitting on the floor with two children in a classroom.

The Role of the Montessori Teacher

December 13, 2020

Sometimes it’s easiest to begin by explaining what a Montessori teacher isn’t. A Montessori teacher is less like the traditional idea of an instructor, and more like a gentle guide. They don’t consider it their job to give a child information. They rather lead children in the general direction and give them the tools they need to find the information themselves. Maria Montessori once said, “The greatest sign of success for a teacher...is to be able to say, ‘The children are now working as if I did not exist.’” Montessori Teachers Cultivate Independence In a Montessori classroom, rather than seeing a teacher at the front of the classroom giving the same lesson to every child, the teacher will be working quietly with individual children or small groups. While that is happening the rest of the children are free to spend their time doing the work that calls to them. A Montessori teacher works hard to create structures that allow children to be independent and to trust themselves as learners. One large part of what a Montessori teacher does is to intentionally prepare a classroom environment that is developmentally appropriate, is inviting to children, and supports them on their journey to work independently. This environment is constantly changing in tiny ways as the teacher notices new and evolving needs of the students. Montessori Teachers are Trained to Think Like Scientists Parents should know that Montessori teachers are highly trained. Most have recognized Montessori credentials in addition to their college degrees. Montessori certification programs are intensive and demanding; one might compare them as being the equivalent of another college degree. These training programs don’t just teach Montessori educators how to use the specialized materials; there is extensive coursework about Montessori philosophy, child development, and integrating the arts. When it comes to assessments, Montessori teachers don’t rely on standardized tests; they rely on the power of observation. They have notebooks brimming with evidence of what their students have mastered, need more support with, and are curious about. They are constantly recording what they notice children working on, how that work is being executed, and ideas they might have in anticipation of a child’s next steps. Montessori teachers literally sit beside a child and determine exactly what they know about a wide range of content areas. Montessori Teachers Think Long-Term Because of Montessori’s three-year cycles, teachers have the unique ability to consider their big picture when working with students. There is a natural tendency to allow the children to genuinely learn at their own pace. Getting to know a child and their family well over the course of a few years really supports this approach. Montessori Teachers are Often Called ‘Guides’ ...and for good reason. While children in Montessori classrooms have an abundance of choice in their educational pursuits, Montessori is based on the idea of ‘freedom within limits’. It’s the Montessori teacher’s job to carefully craft those limits. Children rely on having a certain amount of structure in place. This gives them comfort and a safe place in which they can take risks and try new things. Montessori teachers set some boundaries and then carefully help students navigate within them. What if your second grader loves to read but tends to avoid math? Their Montessori teacher will find ways to ensure the math still gets done. Sometimes this involves a gentle discussion with a child about time management skills, priorities, or setting goals. Sometimes the teacher will find a way to integrate the child’s interests into the less desirable work. Sometimes all it takes is a minor change in the environment. Montessori teachers gives children freedom, but they assist children in finding their way to success in this environment. Montessori teachers value independence, self-reliance, and intrinsic motivation. They also value cooperation, kindness, and strength in community. Still curious? Call us to set up an appointment today to observe in a classroom. See what Montessori is really all about.