Our Montessori primary classroom is a “living room” for children ages 3 through 6 years. It presents an educational abundance with shelves of specially-designed Montessori materials extending out from all directions.
The classroom is structured to provide each child with an individual program. As a child’s program is planned, the teacher keeps in mind the following behaviors that we seek to encourage in the Montessori child:
- choosing of challenging work
- completing the work cycle
- following directions
- establishing good relationships with peers
- working independently
- working without disturbing others
- lengthening attention span
- developing the child’s self-confidence
- displaying appropriate outdoor playground behavior
The Montessori classroom is divided into five areas of concentration: Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Mathematics, and Cultural.
Practical Life involves activities concerned with care of the person and care of the environment. Many of these activities are done by parents at home in tending the home environment. The child is naturally eager to pattern what she sees happening at home and comes to school with a keen interest in Practical Life. These activities include table washing, baby washing, spooning and pouring, dressing frames, silver polishing, and food preparation. Practical Life activities promote growth of independence, development of a sense of order and concentration ability, and the establishment of a spirit of helpfulness.
Sensorial activities give the child an opportunity for sensorial exploration of his environment. These activities include rough and smooth boards, knobbed and knobless cylinders, color tablets, and geometric solids. The basic reasons for these activities are developing discrimination of all phases of dimension, and building control of motor skills.
Language activities give the child opportunities to become more skilled at verbal communication and later at written communication. Individual lessons begin with conversation between the teacher and the child concentrating on expanding the child’s vocabulary. As the child matures in her language development, the “Words In Color” reading program is introduced. This method uses color to emphasize similarities and differences in the recording of sounds. From viewing the “Pop-Ups” (short movies introducing sounds and signs) to reading the charts, reading is taught as an extension of the child’s use of sounds to communicate. “Words In Color” is enhanced by the Montessori materials resulting in the orderly development of language and reading skills. From the moveable alphabet to the grammar cabinets, skills of oral and written communication build in complexity.
When the child is exposed to language activities, he also begins to explore math. Through the use of such concrete materials as the spindles, the rods, and the golden beads, the child moves from concrete to abstract thinking. The child’s development of math skills and concepts is unlimited in the Montessori classroom.
Cultural studies in the primary classroom include geography, botany, zoology, and history. This area of the primary classroom, unique to Montessori programs, satisfies the child’s curiosity about the world. From the names of continents to the parts of the arthropod, each child’s questions are answered and his knowledge of the world expands daily.