Key educational areas:
Practical Life
It is the most common domestic routine activities from the home that children first notice. Being inquisitive by nature at this early age they are naturally intrigued and seek to emulate the behavior of trusted adults. Logically, the Montessori program aims to capture this interest and use it to develop the child’s muscular coordination and manual dexterity. Basic routine activities such as sweeping, washing tables, polishing shoes, and preparing snacks are employed as a medium to teach children how to interact with the world around them in a cooperative social context. The goal of these simple practical life exercises is to further the development of concentration, order, control of movements, independence, and coordination through meaningful work in a familiar social setting. These most basic building blocks will form the foundations of self-discipline and conscientiousness which will standby the child throughout their personal and academic life.
Sensorial
Children are natural sensorial explorers! They learn by doing. Through exploration, manipulation and investigation of their environments it is via the senses that children build an image of world and realize their place within it. At Meta Montessori House, our classroom has been specifically designed to respond to the child’s fundamental Human Tendency to explore and manipulate. Learning materials are scientifically designed to encourage children to recognize the subtle differences in their environment, to sharpen their senses and foster their inquisitive minds. The child’s observation capabilities are tuned through learning objects which emphasis different physical attributes such as shape, size, texture, weight, temperature, pitch and color hues. Fine motor skills and abstract reasoning are developed through exercises involving matching (perceiving similarities), grading (perceiving small differences) and sorting (the perception of both similarity and difference). Our classroom has been purposefully designed in keeping with the Montessori philosophy that children learn best by engaging all five senses touch, sight, smell, taste and hearing and by such a progression is the link between the material world of the senses and the abstract world of the mind gradually constructed.
Language
Language is one of the central tenets of what it is to be human. It is through language that we learn to communicate with one another, to express our opinions and feelings and most importantly to empathize with other human beings. The Montessori program aims to provide a rich and immersive linguistic environment for the child to develop these critical life skills. An organic approach to learning is emphasized whereby basic phonetic awareness is first established through songs, rhymes, spoken word stories and poems. Once this solid foundation has been laid the child then naturally progresses onwards to more advance literary skills such as writing, reading, and vocabulary enrichment. Finally more advanced linguistic skills are developed such as sentence structure, capitalization, alphabetization, punctuation, grammar and penmanship. Ultimately the goal of Montessori education is to instill a lifelong love of language by emphasizing its artistic as well as practical aspects.
Mathematics
Mathematics is the language of nature. It defines the physical world in which we live and it is through the senses that its presence is felt. As such the sensorial approach to learning emphasized by Montessori education is the most natural method of introducing the subject. In the mathematics area of the Meta Montessori classroom through the use of special purpose designed materials the children explore concrete realizations of such abstract mathematical concepts as arithmetic, algebra and geometry. For example the concept of quantity is presented to the child in the form of a Number Rod. The rod is divided into 10cm segments by an alternating red blue coloration allowing the child to physically experience the idea of a number.
Once these concrete tangible foundations have been set the child is well prepared to move beyond them into deeper levels of mathematical abstraction.
Cultural Extensions
The Sensorial and Language activities are further enriched through extension to the cultural realm. Music, art, botany, zoology, history and geography are some of the areas used to bring to life these topics for the children. The purpose of these activities is to allow children to become aware of their place in the world, to recognize other cultures and to appreciate and respect diversity. Through such activities children develop a deeper sense of empathy and understanding which leads to an innate respect and love for their environment, the world and its many differing opinions.