Work circle
A work circle in a Montessori facility is nothing more than a time when a child acquires knowledge independently, in an appropriately prepared environment.
This is a time in the daily schedule when a child can choose from many materials on the shelves what is closest to their actual interests and needs.
They also decide their place of work: at a table or on a rug. They can work with a given material for as long as they want. Occasionally, a child returns to a given activity several times during the day or leaves it for the next day.
This is the principle of freedom and freedom of action. This allows children to be independent of adults.
Freedom understood in this way teaches them to make decisions, plan work, accustoms them to responsibility for its organization, course, and execution.
However, a child's freedom is not without limits.
Montessori said that “the limit of freedom is the common benefit, and the form is what we call good upbringing”.
This means, in short, that this freedom is defined by the freedom of another person and the rules that apply in a given group, as well as the material itself, which in the prepared environment appears in a single copy.
Working in silence, speaking in an undertone, maintaining order, putting things back in their place is an expression of respect for other children and teachers.
Reliability in self-control and completing work is an expression of respect for oneself.