Four Areas of Work

This area of work is the foundation for all the other activities in Montessori classroom.   Here the child integrates his various facets, physical, mental, emotional and social that he might function as a unit.  With these exercises he achieves focus, concentration, awareness of details, sequence of action, orderliness of person and thoughts, physical coordination, self-direction, social reciprocation and ultimately responsible independence.

1. Fastening Frames- Learning to button, buckle, zip, snap, hook, lace
2. Pouring- muscular control, hand-eye coordination.
3. Cutting- bi-manual coordination, precision and concentration
4. Cleaning- dust, mop, sweep, polish, brush, for gross muscle control.
5. Washing and Rinsing- sequence of action, cleanliness.
6. Folding- attention to detail, manual dexterity.
7. Food preparation- bi-manual coordination, social concern
8. Arranging- table, flowers, shelves for orderliness.
9. Skill- sewing, carpentry, ironing, cooking, gardening for muscular coordination and increasing independence

Sensorial training is designed to help the child become aware of the numerous factors in his environment such as color, sound, form, texture, pattern, temperature, dimension, weight, fragrance, taste, and density.  His/her discernment of these is determined by the degree of refinement of his senses. Until the child can create order out of the mass of impressions assailing his senses he cannot function on a truly human level.  The following materials give him the means to categorize these impressions permitting logical, deductive thinking.

1. Cylinder blocks- dimension, manual dexterity, focus.
2. Tower, Stairs and Rods- Sequential dimension, muscular coordination.
3. Color Tablets- Color awareness, contrast, identity, and gradation.
4. Geometric Solids- Solid forms, stereognostic development.
5. Geometric Cabinet- plane forms, solid and abstract.
6. Touch Boards- tactile sense of rough, smooth, and gradations of each.
7. Thermic Bottles- baric sense of hot, cold and degrees of each.
8. Baric Tablets- weights, identities and comparisons.
9. Sound Cylinders- auditory development, loud, soft, and degrees of each.
10. Constructive Triangles- awareness of plane forms, internal factors of forms

Language is a man’s primary means of communication. Its acquisition, expansion and refinement are essential to his fullest expression of thought and feelings within the framework of a society.  Montessori’s emphasis on language is not only to develop verbal skills but to give the ego greater scope of unfoldment.

1. Sandpaper Letters- introduction to language symbols, detection of speech defects.
2. Consonant Game- Practice alphabet sounds, letter .location in words.
3. Movable Alphabet- spelling without the requirement of writing.
4. Word Labels- introduction to printed word, interpretive reading.
5. Noun, Verb, Adjective, Etc. Games- parts of speech, grammar.
6. Phonograms- non-phonetic spelling and reading, extension of vocabulary.
7. Consonant Blends- sounds of letter combination, extension of basic language keys.
8. Puzzle Box- mastery of irregular words, development of memory.
9. Metal Insets- preparation of hand for writing, skill of writing stokes and holding instruments, hand-eye
10. Individual Chalkboards- practice writing letter, words and sentences.
11. Gummed Language Symbols,- emphasis on parts of speech in written language.
12. Reading Classification Packets- extension of vocabulary, reading.
13. Rhyming Game- analysis of word structure, preparation for poetry.
14. Globes and Maps- geography vocabulary, indirect preparation for foreign language.
15. Grammar Boards- analysis of sentence structure, exploration of language.

In Montessori’s math program the child is initially acquainted with solid quantity and its proportion in various relationships.  Then when numerals and equations are given in the next stage, that set of written symbols has clear meaning in the child’s mind.  Our aim is to not create ostentatious mathematicians at four and five years of age but to give him/her a concrete frame of reference of later case of mental calculations.

1. Long Rods-Awareness of proportionate increase of quantity.
2. Numerical Rods- sequence of quantity and the names of amounts 1-10
3. Sandpaper Number Symbols- introduction to written numerals.
4. Spindle Boxes- counting of Loose quantities, practice in sequence counting, introduction of value of zero.
5. Shell Game- concept of odd and even numbers, concept of pairs.
6. Decimal Layout- sensorial impression of decimal system and digits.
7. Banker Game- association of quantity and symbol in hierarchy of numbers.
8. Teen Board- quantity, numerals and vocabulary of 11 through 19.
9. Tens Board- sequence of 10-99, passage of numbers form one set of 10 to the next 10, association of quantity and symbol.
10. Bead Frame – linear counting of the squares and cubes of 1-10, skip counting.
11. Positive and Negative Strip Boards- learning addition and subtraction com