CURRICULUM
The Montessori classroom is characteristically unique because there is a distinctive order to the room and a structure to how things are arranged on the shelf. The “prepared environment” is divided into areas for practical life, sensorial, language, math, and cultural (art, music, geography, history, and science). The materials are arranged in a logical order that moves from the simple to the complex, and from the concrete to the abstract. Developmentally, preschool children are very responsive to such order and consistency. Montessori materials are so beautifully designed that children are naturally drawn to them as they work at their own pace and learn through hands-on experience and investigation. As a result, they become confident and independent learners who are actively engaged in their studies.
At the preschool level, lessons are introduced in simple, concrete terms which can then be revisited in later years in greater abstraction and complexity as the children’s thirst to deepen and enhance their knowledge becomes an incredible driving force.
The Montessori curriculum may be viewed as a spiral in which separate disciplines are presented in an integrated approach through the course of studies of the universe, nature, and the human experience.
A snapshot of the components of a rich, Montessori education follows:
Practical Life
The skills for everyday life are learned here. Example tasks include pouring, spooning, arranging flowers, taking care of plants, polishing wood, learning to button, snap, zip, and the tying of shoelaces.
By engaging in these purposeful exercises, children are learning to take care of themselves and their environment. By helping to take care of the classroom community, the children grow in self confidence and independence as they learn to follow a complex sequence of steps through, for example, the washing and the setting of a table.