A Montessori classroom is a wonderful place for a child to be! It is filled with calmness and peace with children of mixed ages busily and happily working. It is a place where every child is treated with respect and understanding, love and nurturing and is able to fulfill their natural curiosity about the world. The environment is carefully prepared designed to allow the child freedom of movement, and invite him to become involved and challenged. The classroom encompasses many areas including, Language Arts, Mathematics, Sensorial, Practical Life, Culture, Science, Art, Foreign Language and Music. Within each area materials (work) are specifically designed to invite the child and spark his interest. A Montessori classroom is truly a child's world, designed for his size, set at his pace and full of discoveries.
Practical life: The practical life area and activities lay the foundation for the child's introduction to school by providing a link between home and school. Many of these activities are tasks that a child will see done daily in his home, thus easing the transition to school for him. Practical life activities include pouring, spooning, sweeping, polishing, buttoning, etc. These activities are designed to assist in developing social skills, building personal independence, enhance fine motor movements and build the power of concentration. " A child's work," Dr. Montessori wrote, " is to create the man he will become. An adult works to perfect the environment but a child works to perfect himself."
Sensorial: The senses play an important role throughout our lives. A young child meets the world around him through the constant use of all his senses. The purpose of the sensorial materials is to refine and develop the child's senses so that the senses can better serve the child's development. The materials isolate one defining quality such as color, weight, shape, texture, size, sound, smell, etc.
Mathematics: In the early years the mathematic materials are designed for the child to touch, see, feel and handle in order to give him a concrete understanding of number recognition, counting, quantity, and measuring.
Language Arts: Language Arts is incorporated throughout the classroom in many activities on a daily basis. Montessori classrooms incorporate the phonetic based system or teaching reading and writing.
Culture and Science: All children have an inherent curiosity about our world. In the Montessori classroom we explore, discover and learn about many aspects of it including, geography, history, botany and zoology and hands on science.
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