Cross of Life Montessori School
  • Programs
    • Toddler Program (15 - 36 months)
    • Primary Class (3 - 6 years)
    • Catechesis of The Good Shepherd
    • The Children's Garden
  • About Us
    • Director's Letter
    • COL Church
    • Mission Statement
    • FAQ'S
    • Staff
  • Montessori
    • Montessori Overview
    • Dr. Maria Montessori
    • Montessori Library
    • The Montessori Advantage
  • Admission
    • Virtual Tour
    • Enrollment Steps
    • Online Student Application
    • Tuition
  • Parent's Corner
    • Covid-19 Procedures
    • Parent Association >
      • PA Meetings and Events
      • Pizza Fridays
    • Summer Camp
    • Calendar
    • Events
    • Forms >
      • Transportation Permission
      • Lunch Hour (12pm-1pm)
    • Student Directory
    • Staff Directory
    • Quick Reference Page
    • Birthdays in the Primary Class
    • Class Lists >
      • Toddler Class Supply List
      • Toddler Snack Shopping List
      • Primary Class Supply List
  • Giving
    • Apogee Scholarship
    • Volunteer Opportunities
    • Indirect Fundraising Opportunities
  • Blog
  • Contact

Blog

Sensorial Area

1/13/2013

0 Comments

 
Dr. Maria Montessori felt that children, even one hundred years ago, were confronted with so much stimuli that they needed help. To a child, overwhelming stimuli feels like chaos. Dr. Montessori included the Sensorial area — along with Practical Life, Language and Math — to help the child make sense out of that chaos.
Picture
Age 3.5, working with the Color Tablets
E.M. Standing wrote about the Sensorial area of the Primary environment sharing that, "the function of the sensorial materials is not to present the child with new impressions (of size, shape, color and so forth) but to bring order and system into the myriad of impressions he has already received and is still receiving." Within the Sensorial area, we offer materials that aid the child in refining the visual, auditory, olfactory (smell) and tactile senses and also include in this area cultural aspects of the world.
Picture
Age 6, Map of the United States
Dr. Montessori also wrote of how the child's mind receives impressions, referring to it as the Absorbent Mind. This Absorbent Mind takes in everything, without a filter, just like the viewfinder in a camera. It is our goal to aid the child through the work with the materials in ordering and classifying these impressions, enlarging the field of perception, learning to abstract from concrete experiences, offering "keys to the world" and providing a foundation for further learning.
Picture
Age 3, Identifying land and water with the Sandpaper Globe
Picture
Age 3, Geometry Cabinet (polygons)
Ordering and Classifying Impressions
Our senses are the ready-made filing system for creating order from the impressions being received. The Sensorial Area provides materials to aid in the refinement of each of these senses. Through ordering and classifying the impressions the child is receiving, he is able to extract the essential qualities of the information and start to make sense of it all. The human tendencies for order, exactness and exploration aid the child in creating internal order through the chaos. Through work with the materials, the new information integrates with the old and begins to have meaning for the child.
Picture
Age 3.5, Working with a Cylinder Block, stereognostically (isolating the tactile sense).
Picture
Age 3.5, Brown Stair (extension)
Picture
Age 4, Sorting shells stereognostically (isolating the sense of touch).
Enlarging the Field of Perception
By working with the Sensorial materials and refining each of the five senses, the child's awareness of the greater environment becomes more heightened and attuned. The child becomes more conscious and able to identify specific sounds, colors, smells, textures, etc. A bird's song isn't just a song anymore, it's a chickadee or cardinal. A bell's sound isn't just a sound anymore, it's the A note. A shape isn't just a shape anymore, it's a rhombus or decagon. She is developing an entire mental capacity which appreciates the finest details.
Picture
Age 3.5, Smelling Bottles
Picture
Age 4.5, Identifying the instruments in the orchestra.
Abstracting From Concrete Experiences
The child develops through the use of the hand aided by incessant curiosity and the desire to explore the environment and its qualities through direct manipulation in order to understand shape, size and form. Through the use of the hand with the materials, the child repeats experiences until finally the idea exists as a separate entity from the experience, as a mental, remembered image — a memory. Through this image, the child can abstract using memory as part of the experience. After having a variety of concrete experiences, the child learns to abstract color, pitch, temperature, smells, sounds and shapes.

Picture
Age 5, Working with the Constructive Triangles, discovering how many different shapes can be created using equilateral triangles. How many do you see?
Picture
Age 4, Map of South America
Keys to the World
The child opens the door for more experiences through refinement of the senses. This is the beginning of exploration and we begin by simply offering the child a limited experience (isolating one sense per lesson) to enable the child to enhance the field. These concrete experiences give the child a tangible purpose for observing in the environment. We unlock this door so that discoveries can be made and then applied to the greater world.  The Sensorial materials are like a window to that world. The child explores the world with greater joy, discovery and focus. When the child is given just enough, the result is profound.

Picture
Age 5, flag making
Picture
Age 5, Map of Europe
Foundation for Further Learning
Since the images in the mind of the child are gradually becoming more organized, the child becomes incessantly fascinated with certain objects and qualities. The mental development of the child grows through this classification of impressions and prepares the child to receive more information in a more orderly fashion. The child is also indirectly prepared for other areas of the environment, like math and language and also areas outside the classroom environment.
Picture
Age 3, Caring for the Cylinder Blocks by Wood Polishing.
Picture
Age 3, Geometry Cabinet (curved figures).
Picture
Ages 5 and 6, Straightening the Brown Stair
"The senses are organs for the apprehension of images of the external world
necessary for the mind, just as the hand is the organ for grasping material needed by the body.
But, both hand and senses can be perfected to perform much higher tasks and thus
become ever more worthy of the spirit that retains them in its service."
Dr. Maria Montessori
Discovery of Childhood

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    January 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011

    COLCM

    We are an AMI accredited Montessori school growing daily in spirit & intellect!

    Parenting Books

    Categories

    All
    Atrium
    Camp
    Catechesis Of The Good Shepherd
    Garden
    Growing Up
    Primary
    Toddlers

© 2020 Cross of Life Montessori
  • Programs
    • Toddler Program (15 - 36 months)
    • Primary Class (3 - 6 years)
    • Catechesis of The Good Shepherd
    • The Children's Garden
  • About Us
    • Director's Letter
    • COL Church
    • Mission Statement
    • FAQ'S
    • Staff
  • Montessori
    • Montessori Overview
    • Dr. Maria Montessori
    • Montessori Library
    • The Montessori Advantage
  • Admission
    • Virtual Tour
    • Enrollment Steps
    • Online Student Application
    • Tuition
  • Parent's Corner
    • Covid-19 Procedures
    • Parent Association >
      • PA Meetings and Events
      • Pizza Fridays
    • Summer Camp
    • Calendar
    • Events
    • Forms >
      • Transportation Permission
      • Lunch Hour (12pm-1pm)
    • Student Directory
    • Staff Directory
    • Quick Reference Page
    • Birthdays in the Primary Class
    • Class Lists >
      • Toddler Class Supply List
      • Toddler Snack Shopping List
      • Primary Class Supply List
  • Giving
    • Apogee Scholarship
    • Volunteer Opportunities
    • Indirect Fundraising Opportunities
  • Blog
  • Contact