PRIMARY CURRICULUM
"We Italians have elevated the word 'casa' to the almost sacred significance of the English word 'home', the enclosed temple of domestic affection, accessible only to our dear ones." ~Dr. Maria Montessori in an inaugural address delivered on the occasion of the opening of one the children's houses.
The Primary Class serves children from 3 to 6 years of age. It is sometimes referred to as the ‘casa’ or ‘children’s house.’ This is a term Dr. Montessori used to signify how the environment is prepared especially for the children. The multi-age mix encourages cooperative learning as it affirms the children’s own abilities and equally allows for a diverse range of emotional and intellectual development. The younger children naturally learn from their older peers, and the older children serve as models for the younger children, thus developing healthy leadership skills. Children receive the most benefits when they remain in the Primary class for the full program, or through their kindergarten year. For most children this is somewhere between 3 and 4 years, depending on the age they entered the class. This allows them to experience their changing status within the community, as well as to be exposed to all materials that are available to Primary children. Each Primary material builds upon the next, culminating in the highly academic work of the final year.
Throughout the program, children work and learn independently, in small groups, and in whole class activities. The materials are experiential in design, starting with a concrete “materialized abstraction” and gradually working towards an abstraction of the concept. The children work at their own pace, guided by the Teacher toward activities that will stimulate their current interests and help them develop new ones. The Teacher and her Assistant are trained to observe the children in their use of the materials and know when to intervene, when to give new lessons or repeat previous ones, and when to let the children explore on their own. In the Montessori classroom environment, diversity of learning styles is not only allowed for, but is also honored, as Dr. Montessori believed that her vision of peace could only be achieved in teaching a basic respect and appreciation of each individual person.
Activities in the Primary Class allow children to focus on different developmental and academic areas, following a specific sequence within each area to allow for manageable improvement. There is a 7:1 ratio in our classrooms.
Throughout the program, children work and learn independently, in small groups, and in whole class activities. The materials are experiential in design, starting with a concrete “materialized abstraction” and gradually working towards an abstraction of the concept. The children work at their own pace, guided by the Teacher toward activities that will stimulate their current interests and help them develop new ones. The Teacher and her Assistant are trained to observe the children in their use of the materials and know when to intervene, when to give new lessons or repeat previous ones, and when to let the children explore on their own. In the Montessori classroom environment, diversity of learning styles is not only allowed for, but is also honored, as Dr. Montessori believed that her vision of peace could only be achieved in teaching a basic respect and appreciation of each individual person.
Activities in the Primary Class allow children to focus on different developmental and academic areas, following a specific sequence within each area to allow for manageable improvement. There is a 7:1 ratio in our classrooms.
PRIMARY FOUNDATIONS FOR LEARNING FOR LIFE
Practical Life
Practical Life exercises are the actions people take in order to create or maintain the environments in which they live and work and comprise such activities as cleaning, decorating, gardening, cooking, and taking care of the body. While many adults find practical life activities to be tedious, children find them to be greatly interesting and will spend much time perfecting their skills in this area. As children repeat the activities, their concentration and coordination increase, and they become more independent in their ability and desire to do things themselves. These exercises also foster self control, build self esteem and self confidence. Practical life exercises provide inviting opportunities for movement that assist in the control and refinement of both gross and fine motor skills. They also teach sequencing and logic and fulfill the need of children to participate in the active life of their environment, both at home and at school. In the primary classroom there are broad ranges of activities that fall into the Practical Life curriculum. These activities include exercises as simple as putting one's work away, to sweeping or washing a table, to dressing skills, and pouring one's own drink for snack.
Sensorial
From birth, an infant is surrounded by and aware of sensory stimuli. In fact, four of the five senses are fully developed while the child is in utero. The infant refines his senses through use of them, and it is through the senses that the child learns unconsciously through the work of the absorbent mind. The senses thus become the means of information transfer between the outside world and the child’s mind.
At first, the child takes in sensory impressions as a whole, without organization or differentiation in importance. However, as the child grows, he becomes more conscious of the impressions that surround him and is more readily able to organize and classify these sensory stimuli. The child’s tendency to sort and classify his impressions allows for the formation of a framework for his further intellectual development and later abstract thought. Because sensorial refinement is integral to the child’s intelligence, we offer sensorial material within the prepared environment in an effort to help the child refine his senses further.
There are three main purposes for the inclusion of sensorial materials in the Montessori environment. First, the materials help the child in the work of refining his senses. As the child gains more sensory impressions and is able to refine his sense organs to interpret those impressions, his interaction with the world becomes much richer. They assist the child in learning to differentiate between sizes, colors, weights, forms, textures, musical sounds, odors and tastes. Secondly, the sensorial materials aid the child in classifying sensory impressions. The sensorial materials are designed to help refine the child’s ability to classify, beginning with broad classifications and continuing to more subtle. Blindfolding or closing the eyes games help to form mental images on concrete objects, paving the way to abstract thinking and a better comprehension of the world around him. Thirdly, the sensorial materials lead the child toward abstract thought. It is necessary for an individual to have concrete experiences with objects in his environment in order to be able to abstract about those same objects.
At first, the child takes in sensory impressions as a whole, without organization or differentiation in importance. However, as the child grows, he becomes more conscious of the impressions that surround him and is more readily able to organize and classify these sensory stimuli. The child’s tendency to sort and classify his impressions allows for the formation of a framework for his further intellectual development and later abstract thought. Because sensorial refinement is integral to the child’s intelligence, we offer sensorial material within the prepared environment in an effort to help the child refine his senses further.
There are three main purposes for the inclusion of sensorial materials in the Montessori environment. First, the materials help the child in the work of refining his senses. As the child gains more sensory impressions and is able to refine his sense organs to interpret those impressions, his interaction with the world becomes much richer. They assist the child in learning to differentiate between sizes, colors, weights, forms, textures, musical sounds, odors and tastes. Secondly, the sensorial materials aid the child in classifying sensory impressions. The sensorial materials are designed to help refine the child’s ability to classify, beginning with broad classifications and continuing to more subtle. Blindfolding or closing the eyes games help to form mental images on concrete objects, paving the way to abstract thinking and a better comprehension of the world around him. Thirdly, the sensorial materials lead the child toward abstract thought. It is necessary for an individual to have concrete experiences with objects in his environment in order to be able to abstract about those same objects.
Language
The Montessori Primary classroom is a conversational place. In the prepared environment, we bear in mind that language is communication, so our focus is on assisting the child in his need to communicate. Language is not a subject for the child to study; rather, it is a natural developmental process that is taking place. One of our goals is to maintain the relationship between language and meaning, so that the child can become proficient in speaking, writing, and reading.
Spoken language is the groundwork for all of the other language work that we do, as speaking and writing are so interconnected. Spoken language work includes vocabulary, rhymes, conversation, storytelling, and songs, in addition to helping the child gain self-confidence as a public speaker.
Dr. Montessori discovered that writing develops in children naturally before reading, and that, given the means, children can express their thoughts through writing long before they are able to read. Writing is exciting for children at this age, as it involves making thoughts visible. Sound analysis, the sandpaper letters (Children trace sandpaper letters with their fingertips and associate the corresponding phonemes), and the moveable alphabet all help children to write before their hands are capable of the fine dexterity required to write with a pencil. To assist in developing good handwriting, we offer the metal insets, as well as other indirect preparations for writing with instruments.
We do not teach reading to children; rather, children come to this on their own, spontaneously. When we offer the indirect preparations of spoken and written language, children discover they can read on their own. This explosion into reading is sudden and amazing. Dr. Montessori’s goal for children was the process of total reading, which is a deep and comprehensive practice of reading that is fostered by offering material to the child that allows him at a certain point to deeply absorb what he is reading, not only in meaning, but also in structure and syntax. We offer reading practice and grammar analysis as keys to total reading.
Foreign language is available as part of our enrichment activity program.
Spoken language is the groundwork for all of the other language work that we do, as speaking and writing are so interconnected. Spoken language work includes vocabulary, rhymes, conversation, storytelling, and songs, in addition to helping the child gain self-confidence as a public speaker.
Dr. Montessori discovered that writing develops in children naturally before reading, and that, given the means, children can express their thoughts through writing long before they are able to read. Writing is exciting for children at this age, as it involves making thoughts visible. Sound analysis, the sandpaper letters (Children trace sandpaper letters with their fingertips and associate the corresponding phonemes), and the moveable alphabet all help children to write before their hands are capable of the fine dexterity required to write with a pencil. To assist in developing good handwriting, we offer the metal insets, as well as other indirect preparations for writing with instruments.
We do not teach reading to children; rather, children come to this on their own, spontaneously. When we offer the indirect preparations of spoken and written language, children discover they can read on their own. This explosion into reading is sudden and amazing. Dr. Montessori’s goal for children was the process of total reading, which is a deep and comprehensive practice of reading that is fostered by offering material to the child that allows him at a certain point to deeply absorb what he is reading, not only in meaning, but also in structure and syntax. We offer reading practice and grammar analysis as keys to total reading.
Foreign language is available as part of our enrichment activity program.
Mathematics
The primary child is a fact seeker. Consequently, this is the time for the foundation of memorization of math facts. They have established internal order, precise movement, and a work habit. They are able to follow and complete a work cycle, have the ability to concentrate, follow a process and have also utilized symbols. All of this previous development has brought the child to a maturity of mind and a readiness to work with the concrete materials toward the abstraction of mathematics.
Children experience math on a daily basis, through their contact with adults who buy and sell items, calculate quantities of food, and schedule their days. However, there has been developed a very technical and specialized language of mathematics, with symbols that represent transactions and relationships, which is not accessible to children, as many of adults’ mathematical processes are internal. Dr. Montessori developed a way to make math intelligible to children through sensorial materials, which are attractive to children and give them strong impressions of mathematical concepts. Through their work, children explore and integrate these concepts and, at a certain point, begin to abstract these same concepts through repetition.
There are several stages of work in the math area, moving from more general concepts of number and quantity to more complex and specific applications, such as operations. As children progress through the stages of math work, they learn to do the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, sometimes into the millions, using hands-on bead material, abacus, and other Montessori mathematical materials. It is the use of concrete materials to symbolize these numerical concepts that allows children to initially understand these complex concepts. In fact, many adults find they understand math better after working with the Montessori materials!
Children experience math on a daily basis, through their contact with adults who buy and sell items, calculate quantities of food, and schedule their days. However, there has been developed a very technical and specialized language of mathematics, with symbols that represent transactions and relationships, which is not accessible to children, as many of adults’ mathematical processes are internal. Dr. Montessori developed a way to make math intelligible to children through sensorial materials, which are attractive to children and give them strong impressions of mathematical concepts. Through their work, children explore and integrate these concepts and, at a certain point, begin to abstract these same concepts through repetition.
There are several stages of work in the math area, moving from more general concepts of number and quantity to more complex and specific applications, such as operations. As children progress through the stages of math work, they learn to do the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, sometimes into the millions, using hands-on bead material, abacus, and other Montessori mathematical materials. It is the use of concrete materials to symbolize these numerical concepts that allows children to initially understand these complex concepts. In fact, many adults find they understand math better after working with the Montessori materials!
Geography & Culture
Geography is the most fundamental of all areas, as everything we offer to the children stems from the physical world. Our focus in the Primary environment is physical geography, what the young child sees around him every day. Geography lessons provide the children with a store of factual information and impressions of various cultures, land formations, eco-systems, and the interrelationship of all parts of the earth. Working with the sensorial, language and cultural materials related to geography is an important part of the work of a Montessori Primary classroom. The very young children are introduced early to a sandpaper globe where they can have a visual and tactile experience of the Earth. Large wooden puzzle maps are among the most popular activities in the classroom. At first, the children use the maps simply as a puzzle. Gradually, they learn the names of the countries, the climate and products of different countries. Geography vocabulary is given both orally and with prepared nomenclature cards that are used by the children as an integrated part of their language work. The children are introduced to the diversity of international cultures by means of stories, songs, celebrations, pictures, and artifacts. They also work with miniature flags of a wide variety of nation states.
Science & Nature
Practical and sensorial activities at the Toddler and Primary levels lay a strong foundation for later work in scientific classification and experimentation. In science, the children’s natural curiosity is stimulated through discovery projects and experiments, helping the children draw their own conclusions. Basic skills of science, such as measuring, comparing, classifying, and keen observing, are carefully prepared and practiced. Classification systems such as living/non-living, and vertebrate/invertebrate are taught. Children study the basic characteristics and nomenclature of plants and animals. They learn to name common domestic and wild plants and animals, and they work with materials to learn fundamental classifications such as mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Children explore simple scientific concepts like absorption, sink/float, states of matter, magnetic/non-magnetic and balance through hands on activities and experiments. Non-fiction books related to science are read aloud to the children, and they have classroom responsibilities for the care of indoor plants, as well as feeding the birds outside. The children also plant, tend to, and harvest their own classroom gardens outdoors.
Art & Music
By providing opportunities to create, express and communicate one's feelings through art and music, the child is provided with the tools to develop a critical assessment of what they see, hear and read. Art and music are experienced daily as the child works with colors, shapes, and textures. Materials which develop the pincer muscles aid the child in using a pencil, crayon, and brush.Work with shape and dimension helps the child with composition, arrangement, and form.
There is a progression in the artwork as the child’s skills develop. Cutting exercises move from very simple to quite complex exercises. Pasting work is followed later by collage. Coloring with various media (crayons, pastels, charcoal) is available. Painting on an easel, watercolor, and clay work are presented. Handwork, including sewing and embroidery, is taught. As cultural extensions, many projects are related to the child’s studies in history, geography, and science.
Both the Toddler and Primary classrooms have a rich experience in singing, playing rhythm instruments, and listening to music. In primary, the Montessori Bells is a sensorial material designed so that children can match and grade all pitches on both diatonic and chromatic scales during the sensitive period for pitch development. The material is then used to play scales and musical phrases, and can be accompanied by the voice. From this point, he may progress to the composition of simple melodies. Children are introduced to famous composers, various styles of music, classifications of musical instruments and even choreograph dances.
*The contents of this Curriculum Guide may not be reproduced, transmitted, published, displayed, adapted or altered in whole or in part without express written permission from Cross of Life Christian Montessori School © Copyright
There is a progression in the artwork as the child’s skills develop. Cutting exercises move from very simple to quite complex exercises. Pasting work is followed later by collage. Coloring with various media (crayons, pastels, charcoal) is available. Painting on an easel, watercolor, and clay work are presented. Handwork, including sewing and embroidery, is taught. As cultural extensions, many projects are related to the child’s studies in history, geography, and science.
Both the Toddler and Primary classrooms have a rich experience in singing, playing rhythm instruments, and listening to music. In primary, the Montessori Bells is a sensorial material designed so that children can match and grade all pitches on both diatonic and chromatic scales during the sensitive period for pitch development. The material is then used to play scales and musical phrases, and can be accompanied by the voice. From this point, he may progress to the composition of simple melodies. Children are introduced to famous composers, various styles of music, classifications of musical instruments and even choreograph dances.
*The contents of this Curriculum Guide may not be reproduced, transmitted, published, displayed, adapted or altered in whole or in part without express written permission from Cross of Life Christian Montessori School © Copyright
