Montessori glossary · Teaching
Three-period lesson
The three-step way a Montessori teacher introduces new vocabulary: naming, recognizing, recalling.
In plain English
What it actually means
First the teacher names the thing — ‘this is rough’. Then they ask the child to identify it — ‘show me the rough one’. Only when that is secure do they ask the child to produce the word — ‘what is this?’. Skipping to the third step is how you turn a lesson into a test, and it is the most common mistake an untrained adult makes.
Why it matters to you
On a tour
It is a genuinely useful thing to borrow at home.
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Tours run mid-morning, during the work cycle, year-round.