The Core Curriculum
Consists of five interconnected basics areas :
Practical Life
Practical Life exercises provide self help skills that lead to independence. They allow the child to take care of himself, others and environment. The movements required build self confidence as the child gains self mastery. The experiences of Practical Life have objects and materials normally encountered in everyday living experiences such as cleaning, pouring, dressing, and polishing.
The exercises of Practical Life fall into four major categories:
- Care of Self
- Care of the Environment
- Grace and Courtesy
- Control of Movement
Sensorial
Maria Montessori believed that nothing comes into the mind except through the senses. The purpose of the Sensorial activities is to help the child in his efforts to sort out the many varied impressions given by the senses. The Sensorial materials are designed with a built in feed back to control of error to show when mistakes have been made. The child then remains independent of your oversight and develops an inner, personal incentive to practice and improve.
Mathematics
Learning Mathematical concepts in a Montessori classroom begins concretely and progresses towards the abstract. They are developed from simple to complex. Order, coordination, concentration, and independence are experienced by the child using these materials. By combining this equipment, separating it, sharing it, counting it, and comparing it, they can demonstrate to themselves the basic operations of Mathematics.
Language
In a Montessori classroom children learn the phonetic sounds of the letters before they learn the alphabetical names in a sequence. Reading instruction begins on the day when the children want to know what a word says or when they show an interest. Writing or the construction of words with the movable letters- nearly always precedes reading in a Montessori environment. Language allows children to be confident to speak and understand as they explore the world.
Cultural
Children of this age are urged by the laws of their nature to find active experiences in the world about them. The indirect aims in Montessori cultural education are to help the child develop his own personality, adapt to his own culture, and become an independent, useful member of his society. Montessori cultural materials provide individual activities, which helps the child to acquire knowledge in the areas of cultural, biology (botany and zoology), geography, history and science.