Practical Life

The Montessori Practical Life exercises teach students to care for themselves and their environment. Students learn to dress themselves and conduct other daily activities. Through continuous repetition, children learn independence, self-confidence, concentration, and a sense of order.

Examples of Practical Life Exercises

• Foster order and sequence
• Reflect experiences the child would have at home
• Foster physical independence
• Foster the development of fine motor control

Ideas for Home

• Allow your child to dress/undress himself
• Encourage your child to help at meal times
• Let your child fold the laundry
• Have his room/furniture child sized
• Always have your child complete their task
• Allow your child to take responsibility for his toys and clean up

Language

In the language portion of the curriculum students begin by identifying sounds and later associating them with letters.  Later, students apply this knowledge to phonics and reading.  In the Montessori system students first learn to write and only later to read.  Students are introduced to French at age four, once they are comfortable with these basic language skills.

Examples of Language Activities

• Initial exercises focus on hearing individual sounds
• Children learn the phonetic sounds that letters make
• Children write phonetic words with the Moveable Alphabet
• Children learn cursive writing
• Scientific and precise language is given to the children
• A phonetic approach to reading is taken

Ideas for Home

• Speak to your child often and encourage conversation
• Use precise and rich language
• Read to your child daily
• Sing with your child
• Read a variety of materials to your child and ask probing questions
• Practice rhyming

Sensorial

The Montessori Sensorial Equipment helps children experience their world through their senses. Students learn to discriminate by sight, touch, smell, sound and taste. Once students have experienced the Sensorial Equipment, they learn to communicate their experiences and apply them to the world at large.

Examples of Sensorial Activities

• Isolate one sensory experience at a time
• Refine pincer grip
• Materials are base ten which prepares for math
• Sequence of matching, grading, language and games
• Indirect preparation for geometry

Ideas for Home

• Offer precise language
• Exploring the world through taste, touch, sight, sound and smell

Mathematics

The Montessori Math Curriculum focuses first on the concrete and then moves toward abstraction. Students first focus on numbers, mastering quantity then the symbol, and lastly associating the two. Students are then exposed to the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

Examples of Math Exercises

• Children learn quantity, then symbol and then associate the two
• Abstract math and memorization of facts is a final step in our program
• Children work with the concrete materials
• Math focuses on the process, not the product

Ideas for Home

• Let your child experience math through the sensorial materials
• Encourage your child to count everything
• Count orally – establish the pattern/sequence of numbers

Culture

Culture covers a variety of areas.  Students are exposed to geography through flags and puzzle maps, zoology and botany through plant and animal classification, music through the bells and daily singing, and religion through the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd.