Montessori curriculum
Montessori curriculum
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A typical Montessori classroom sports multi-age grouping of children from the ages of 3-6yrs. The environment is well prepared to meet the physiological and emotional needs of the child.
Montessori materials used to impart purposeful lessons are self-correcting, allowing the child to make mistakes and learn by discovery, which is rewarding.
In the Montessori classroom, movement is built into the work and lessons. Learning is no longer confined to long hours of sitting at a desk. Children have the freedom to choose the work and learn at their own pace.
The Curriculum is broadly classified into
Elements of Practical Life(EPL)
Sensorial
Arithmetic
Language
Science & Culture
Elements of Practical Life
Elements of Practical Life
EPL is an area where many varied life skills are introduced. Practical life activities build a foundation on which children grow and carry over into the other areas of the classroom, and over into their everyday life.
Dr. Maria Montessori observed that children have an inherent need for order, movement & love to work. The Montessori Practical Life exercises respond to these needs.
All practical life activities involve great movements that are varied and attractive. The varieties of movements help the child’s self-awareness within the environment and increase the child's acquisition of intelligent movement. Practical life activities feed their natural desire to work and play an active role in their environment.
The Practical Life exercises are designed in 4 main areas:
1. Care of Person – through several activities such as dressing frames, the child learns to take care of himself and become independent.
2. Care of Environment – through collaborative play, nature walk, gardening and several other activities, the child learns to take care of his environment and understand social responsibility.
3. Development of motor skills –activities such as pegging, transfer, coloring, painting, out-door and indoor games play a vital role in developing both fine motor skills and gross motor skills.
4. Grace & Courtesy – polite speech, table manners, graceful mannerism become a part of everyday routine through enacting and daily practice.
Salient features of EPL : CCOI Concentration-Coordination-Order-Independence
EPL activities aim to build the child’s sense of orderliness and independence. Repetitive trials builds persistence and concentration thus making mastering an act, a habit.
Sensorial Learning
Sensorial Learning
Maria Montessori, through her observations, scientifically noted that children between the ages of 2-6 are very receptive to learn through their developing senses. Sensorial Learning aims help the child explore and absorb through the five senses of taste, touch, hearing, sight and smell.
All sensorial materials are carefully designed and confine to 4 basic Montessori principles -
Materials are designed to introduce the concepts through “isolation of a property”, enhancing the effect of a particular sense. For eg: The noise box isolates and caters to prune the sense of hearing. The touch boards enhance the sense of touch.
All materials have an in-built element for control of error. The cylinders cannot be fit properly if one is out of slot, the pink tower will not stand erect if the blocks are not placed correctly.
Forming such sensorial impressions paves way for higher math and language concepts.
There are more opportunities for repetition leading to creativity and practical learning.
Salient features :
Sensorial learning refines the sensory ability helping the child to compare, classify, sort & differentiate, thereby enhancing analytical and cognitive skills. Sensorial learning paves way for several pre-math and math concepts.
Arithmetic
Arithmetic
Math is logic, sequence, order, and the extrapolation of truth.
In the Montessori philosophy it's stated that the child has a 'mathematical mind' and an internal drive to understand the environment around them. Children have an inborn attraction for math. Their minds are full of energy that propels them to absorb, manipulate, classify, order, sequence, abstract, and repeat.
It is the precision of the presentations and the exactness of the math materials that attract children to this area of the classroom. The brilliance of the Montessori system is evident in the Math materials.
The math area contains a varied range of equipment and exercises to help the child develop an understanding of simple and complex mathematical concepts.
These concepts include numbers, counting, simple sums, measurement and fractions. All early math exercises are worked at the sensorial level so as to ensure that the child first comprehends the quantity and then relates the quantity to the symbol (example: Spindle Boxes). The materials are designed so that the child can see at a glance if he/she has made a mistake and be able to put it right without help.
While the sensorial environment prepares the child for the math area, the math materials are themselves presented sequentially.
Introduction of sets of 1 through 10 – counting to 10. Children are first introduced to the quantity and then the numerals are presented. This in turn continues to associate the numeral to the quantity. Several materials such as the number rods, spindle boxes, cards and counters aid the understanding of quantity and associating the numeral.
Introduction of the decimal system – the golden beads are classic Montessori materials to introduce the decimal system of unit, tens, hundreds and thousands seamlessly. A concrete understanding of the quantity takes place with the beads, which is followed by relating the quantity to the numeral
Operations with Golden beads – the arithmetic concepts of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are presented with the golden beads to facilitate a concrete understanding of each operation.
Linear counting – Sequencing and linear counting are facilitated through materials such as the Teen board, ten board and hundred board
Enhancing operation skills – through various materials such as the strip boards, bank game, snake game, forming arithmetic tables and memorization are introduced.
Salient features :
Working with concrete materials helps better understanding of math concepts , thereby resulting in Love for Math in place of
“Fear of math” !
Language
Language
Language is specifically a human expression and it should be a delight! Language is learned, not inborn. The mental capacity for creating language is unique; it allows the child to speak the language (mother tongue) correctly even if it is the most complicated language. Until the child is approximately six years of age he absorbs everything with little effort
In the Montessori classroom, language is given to the child within a context.
1. Preliminary Language - Vocabulary through picture cards. The Montessori preliminary exercises give the child the vocabulary for objects in the immediate environment. Sound games, classified cards, story books, rhymes and poetry play a very important role in the development of language.
2. Montessori Writing - Writing is a complex action that requires both the ability of the hand and the ability of the mind. It is the ability of the child to take something from his mind, analyze each sound, create each word, and make it visible either by using the Moveable Alphabet or by writing it on paper. Writing is introduced through tracing on sandpaper card, then on flour tray and then transitioning to paper.
3. Montessori Reading - Reading is the analysis of the language followed by a synthesis. Reading is presented in the class by phonetically sounding out words and reading stories, using phonetic word cards, sentence makers and small readers.
4. Function of words - Introduction to grammar is done using symbols and functions.
5. Montessori Reading Analysis - focuses on the structure of sentences, interpretive reading and punctuation. The child will only be successful with this if all other work in the language area has been completed successfully.
How phonics is introduced in the Montessori class
Phonics is simply the relationship between the letters of the alphabet and the sounds they make. Phonics can be introduced to children over the age of 3 to imbibe independent reading and spelling skills. Phonics is introduced systematically and sequentially. Sound recognition for each of the 26 letters and letter combinations are introduced first, followed by Short Vowel sounds and blending to read CVC words. This is followed by reading with blends, digraphs and Long Vowel sounds that make upto 44 sounds and 70 common spelling combinations.
Learning happens through well planned games and activities.
Science & Culture
Science & Culture
The Culture area of the Montessori curriculum introduces the child to the concepts of science, geography, biology and history, giving them a greater understanding of the world.
Specific materials are presented to the child for each topic to help learn the concept and vocabulary associated with it.
Eg: water-land forms models help the child visually understand the different kinds of water forms and land forms.
The 3 part cards allow the child to identify the picture, learn the vocabulary, read the names and match. The life cycle boards allow for sequencing and understanding life cycle studies.
Discussions, videos, dress-up games, short plays, rhymes & songs educational trips, gardening add on to the learning process.
Learning shlokas, bhajans , listening and enacting mythological stories is a key part of the Culture curriculum. Every festival is celebrated with appropriate activities in the school on the previous day, to help the child take a peek into our rich cultural heritage.
Value based educare is at the very core of the curriculum.
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