PRIMARY

“Normalization”, in Montessori terms, is the process whereby a child moves from being undisciplined to self-disciplined, through work in the environment. The process occurs through repeated work with materials that captivate the child’s attention, leading to deep concentration. The curriculum contains the following components: practical life, sensorial, cultural, language, math, and peace education.

Practical Life in a Montessori primary classroom is often referred to as the heart of the environment. This area works on skills that are put into practical use in everyday life and are classified in the following sub-categories: grace & courtesy, care of the self, care of the environment, and control of movement. Each of these sub-categories supports the development of the child's autonomy, focus, concentration, and coordination.  

The Sensorial curriculum is the key to knowledge in the Montessori classroom. It builds on the foundation of the Practical Life curriculum and prepares the way for children to progress into academic work through the development of observation and problem-solving skills. The sensorial materials are designed to develop skills that help young children learn how to think, reason, make distinctions, make judgments and decisions, observe, compare, and better appreciate their world. This is the beginning of conscious knowledge.

Children engage their mathematical mind through the sensorial materials, long before they hit the sensitive period for math at about 4.5 years. With hands-on materials, students make discoveries through manipulation, experimentation and invention. Once a young child is proficient with 1:1 correspondence and linear counting, they are ready for operations.  Using the golden bead materials, a child can both see and touch the quantity as they perform addition, multiplication, subtraction and division, setting a strong foundation as they move from the concrete to the abstract.

The Primary classroom includes cultural studies, activities, and materials, which Maria Montessori defined as history, geography, physical science, botany, and zoology. These are designed to introduce the young child to our world and its diverse peoples. In addition to learning about the world we live in, the curriculum strives to foster and nurture the young child’s curiosity, encourage exploration, and develop observation skills. Age-appropriate activities and materials are presented throughout the three-year cycle.

Children acquire spoken language as a regular part of human development. Montessori classrooms are enriched with nomenclature and real-world experiences, which support reading in later years. Children prepare for reading and writing long before they hold a pencil, using materials that refine auditory, oral, visual, and sensory/motor skills. They are introduced to letter sounds during this sensitive period, and following a phonetic approach, most become emerging readers during this stage of development. Maria Montessori proposed that logical thought stems from the human mind’s ability to organize and categorize. The other powers of the mind, such as memory, imagination, and abstraction, develop from the power of order. This is the basis for including math in the curriculum for the 3-6 year olds. The purpose of the math curriculum at this level is to help children develop their thought processes, not to teach math facts at an early age. With hands-on materials, students make discoveries as they begin to move from the concrete to the abstract through manipulation, experimentation, and invention.