Maria Montessori stood before a crowd of 60 underprivileged children, her students. It was January 6, 1907, and the 36-year-old educator was opening her first school: the Casa dei Bambini, or ...

namely Montessori Exercises of Practical Life, Sensorial Education, Language, Phonics & Grammar, Mathematics, and Cultural Subjects such as Geography, Botany, Zoology, and History. The five pillars of ...

The school refused her, so Montessori enrolled in the general university; studied physics, mathematics and natural sciences; and reapplied to medical school. She was admitted, becoming the first ...