Montessori 3-6 Curriculum
Language from Spoken to Written
The joy of learning is evident to all parents; there is always jubilation over a child’s first spoken word.
The Montessori preschool classroom emphasizes spoken language as the foundation for all linguistic expression. Throughout the entire Montessori environment the child hears and uses precise vocabulary for all the activities. The child is encouraged to converse with peers and staff.
Reading is taught phonetically in the Montessori classroom, as the child is ready. The concrete materials, from the sandpaper letters to the beginning of sentence analysis, allow the child to take small, logical, sequential steps to independent, fluent reading. Language work leads into cultural studies, extending the child’s vocabulary and working with the child’s fascination of the different cultures around the world.
Art and Music: Integrated Into the Prepared Environment
The arts are not treated as separate subjects in Montessori. Instead, art and music activities are viewed as integral forms of self-expression, and they complement and enhance the children’s ongoing explorations, including the enrichment of vocabulary. The materials for art and music are part of the prepared environment as part of the day-to-day activities of the children.
Practical Life: The Skills of Daily Living
As every parent knows, the preschool child wants to be with adults, to take part in the activities of daily adult life. The Montessori Practical Life materials allow him to do just that. When a child enters the preschool at three years of age, the Practical Life area provides the link between home and school. In the classroom, with child-sized tools that actually work, a young child is able to perform the same activities he has seen adults do: polishing, scrubbing, pouring, sweeping, etc. The pace is unhurried, and an adult is nearby to help if needed, but not to interfere.
These exercises correspond to a child’s sensitive period for refinement of movement and coordination as well as his growing sense of independence. “I can do it myself” is the motto the young child, and Montessori, encourages and foster this independence.
Sensorial: Exploring the World
The world is full of color, size, dimension, shape, form, sound, touch, taste, and smell. In order to continue his/her creative task of development, a child needs to satisfy and express the impressions he/she has already received. The Sensorial Montessori materials use the child’s senses to clarify, classify and comprehend the world. The Sensorial materials are specifically designed to educate the senses.
By appealing directly to the young child’s active sensory antennae, learning is a natural result of the child’s desire to explore.
Language and Reading
The vibrant conversations in the classroom lead to the formal teaching of reading. Reading is taught phonetically, following the natural sequence of oral language acquisition. The child progresses from spelling words to constructing sentences. Storytelling, poetry reading, and singing, thus fostering a joy and desire to understand the written word, support the formal structured reading curriculum.
Mathematics: From Concrete to Abstract
Preschool-aged children have naturally mathematical minds. They have the capacity to reason, to calculate, and to estimate. They are intensely conscious of quantity, counting pebbles on the beach or cookies for dessert. The concrete Montessori Mathematical materials allow these sensorial explorers to experimentation, and invention.
The Mathematics materials build on each other in increasing complexity so that the child using them will experience the thrill of discovery for him/herself as part of a natural progression.
Culture
The work of classification and language are extended in the Cultural area. Materials are available to enable scientific exploration of biology, geography, history and physical/earth science.
We have a “cosmic” approach, which allows maps, flags, booklets and models of land and water formation to be used by the children to explore the world’s continents and oceans, and people and customs, leading to an appreciation of the human family with its rich variety.