There are five major areas of curriculum in a Montessorienvironment that were discovered through Dr. Maria Montessori’s scientificobservation of the natural tendencies children have toward learning. Thecurriculum areas are universal except for the Practical Life area, which isinfluenced by culture; for example, using a fork in Canada to eat food isdifferent to the use chopsticks in Japan. The four main areas of the Montessoricurriculum are, Practical Life or Everyday Living Skills, Sensorial or learningthrough the senses, Language and Mathematics. The fifth curriculum area isCulture. The Montessori culture area includes Geography, Science, Music, Artand Yoga.
Practical Life(Everyday Living Skills)
PracticalLife or Everyday Living Skills activities are important to teachchildren to function in their own environment and find their place in theirworld and culture.
PracticalLife exerciseshelp children find their place in their home by becoming involved in how their homeworks and how they can best function in their home. When children becomeinvolved in the workings of their home, it creates a great sense of pride andbuilds self-confidence. This sense of self-confidence will be imprintedin their being for future success.
PracticalLife exercisesinclude pouring, sorting, food preparation, care of self (hand washing,dressing oneself), care of the environment (table setting, sweeping), and graceand courtesy lessons (saying excuse me, introducing oneself.)
PracticalLife skillsare the foundation of all other areas in a Montessori environment.
Consequently, all of the PracticalLife activities aredesigned to be purposeful work that leads children to more complicated work;children refine their fine motor skills through repetition of Practical Life exercises.
PracticalLife activitiesbuild children’s concentration, coordination, order and independence enablingthem to master other Montessori curriculum areas. Children love the Practical Life area because it enables them to doadult work in a child size environment.
With more and more success comes greater confidence, giving themthe internal foundation to believe in themselves with the realization that theycan conquer any task through repetition and perseverance. Theconcentration children develop through using PracticalLife works will aid infuture skills and success in other areas of the Montessori curriculum such as Sensorial, Language and MathandCulture.
Sensorial
The Montessori Sensorialcurriculumpromotes the development and refinement of the five senses. Children learnthrough their senses and all materials in a Montessori environment providelearning through touch, taste, smell, sight, hearing or hands-on manipulation, “nothing comes to the intellectthat is not first in the senses” (Montessori, Secret of Childhood,p.100).
Sensorialexercises demonstrate an introductionto Math using the Base Ten Mathematical orDecimal System, “Therefore, we think of our Sensorial materials as a system of materialized abstractions,or of basic mathematics” (MariaMontessori, The Absorbent Mind p.170).
The Sensorialmaterials and curriculum createa method of learning through the senses and an introduction to the Montessori Mathematics curriculum. Children enjoyexploring Sensorial exercises especially around the age of3 and 4. Some examples of Sensoriallearning activities are sortingobjects, matching colours, matching same tastes or same smells. A popularMontessori Sensorialwork is the pink tower wherepink cubes are built from the largest at the bottom to the smallest cube at thetop. The pink tower cubes are a concrete representation of the DecimalNumeral or Base Ten System of Mathematics. Children love to build the pink tower!
Language
The Montessori preschoolLanguage program is a complete literacy programfor children ages 2.5-6. The program begins with story-telling, soundgames with objects, and eventually children are introduced to grammar by age6. The reading and writing materials are didactic in nature as childrenare able to practice the materials on their own in a cozy reading or writingnook. The Languagecurriculum is phonetic innature and utilizes games and powerful teaching tools to help children learn todecode phonetic words, high frequency/sight words, diphthongs anddigraphs. It is powerful in promoting early reading and writing skillsusing a variety of games and activities.
Dr. Maria Montessori realized that there is a sensitive periodof language development and that the richer the learning environment, the morebeneficial for the acquisition of a child’s skills and love of reading andwriting.
The Montessori Language program is a powerful curriculumsupporting the natural ability and love children have for language. At Home With Montessori provides a rich Montessori Language environment with the necessaryactivities that enable children to become literate at an early age.
Mathematics
The Montessori preschoolMathematicscurriculum is a powerfullearning tool for developing a strong foundation in math. Dr. MariaMontessori realized that all children have a“Mathematical Mind” and that when they are given theopportunity to explore math in a concrete way, through “hands-on” materials,abstract math concepts become easier to comprehend. She created her Mathematicsand Sensorial curriculum based on the DecimalNumeral System or Base Ten Mathematical system. All MontessoriMathematics materials are based on abstractconcepts and create concrete learning materials that children useindependently.
The Montessori Mathematicsprogram creates a concrete foundation of math skills that areinvaluable for future learning. The Montessori Math materials cover recognition of mathpatterns, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, short and long,fraction work and skip counting.
Culture
The Montessori Culture curriculum is focused mostly on Science, Geography, Music,and Art. Yoga exercises are a modern addition to the program. The Culturecurriculum provides a wide arrayof activities including learning about the continents of the world and theiruniqueness such as animals and habitats. Montessori Cultureactivities include pictures ofthe places and people of the continents, books and flags of the world. Children learn the names of the continents, oceans and countries of theworld. They learn through “hands-on” materials such as puzzle maps of theworld.
Similar to math, science can be a challenging subject forchildren but when introduced during the “AbsorbentMind” period oflearning, children become familiar with concepts of observation, science,hypothesis etc. MontessoriCulture activities help to inspire a love oflearning and offer children a new perspective of the world. Children’s eyes light up with the Montessori games and activities that explorefar off lands, providing their imagination with more places to explore andcountries to visit in the future.
