A Montessori curriculum is designed at meeting the child’s learning potential and keeping in line with his developmental needs and interests. A Montessori curriculum comprises of 5 key areas of learning. They are - practical life, sensorial, mathematics, language, and culture.
Parents of Montessori kids often become inquisitive when they see the classroom setting and the various types of materials and tools in a Montessori classroom, asking questions like "What is your curriculum like?", "What subjects do you teach?", "What do the children learn?"
With each passing year, children under Montessori education gradually are introduced to newer and more challenging learning materials and concepts that are age appropriate. These tools and learning toys are created with a specific purpose to have a certain progression with a built-in control of error. In a typical Montessori classroom the younger children learn from the older children, thereby broadening their learning horizon and not restricting children to a particular class as per their specific years of age. Montessori classrooms have prepared environment in order to foster the child to learn through his own experiences and the teacher acting as a facilitator and a guide to the child’s learning process. The curriculum is prepared so as to foster understanding simple to complex studies through concrete to abstract concepts, and learn easy to difficult skills effortlessly. Montessori learning is divided into 5 key areas of learning: Practical Life, Sensorial, Mathematics, Language, and Culture
Practical Life Activities enable the children to learn about their surrounding environment and the ways to care for themselves and well as their environment. These activities enable the children to master the skills required for survival viz. concentration, coordination, order and independence in this area. Young children are acquainted with the house rules of working, respecting others and using materials properly. These activities also prepare the child for reading and writing, develop fine and gross motor skills, eye-hand coordination, as well as role-play grace and courtesy dialogues/presentations.
In a typical Montessori classroom, children possess all sorts of materials for dry or wet pouring exercises, cutting paper activities, folding exercises, washing plates or scrubbing tables. Children also learn to look after plants and pets. Instructions like 'the prominent Walking Line' that is taped or drawn as a circle in the classroom and 'the Silence Game' are used to convey rules of 'no running' and 'using indoor voice' in the classroom.
The children subsequently progress to Sensorial area which was built by Montessori and expose them to concrete experiences that will enable them to understand their abstract thoughts in the future and also help them to express their sensorial experiences. The activities are aimed at the development of the child’s intellectual senses, thereby also developing their observation skills and their eye for details. Sensorial materials enable the children to develop their visual perception, tactile impressions, auditory sense, and olfactory and taste perceptions. The activities using the materials include matching and grading materials that help isolate the sense of sight, sound, touch, taste and smell in the young children. Furthermore, the didactic materials are also built to assist children in developing them on the concept and method of writing.
The various materials include knobbed cylinders, the famous Pink Tower, long rod, broad stairs and the knobbed cylinders. Children are then gradually introduced to shades of primary and secondary colours, concepts of shapes, geometry and algebra. They experience more sensorial exploration offered through touch boards, thermic tablets, baric tablets, sound cylinders, musical bells, gustatory (taste) bottles and olfactory (smelling) bottles.
Montessori trainees are often impressed by the materials in the numeracy area which are designed by Dr Montessori to present one concept exclusively through specially designed materials. The child learns the concept of quantity, recognising numbers, counting and their sequencing with the help of materials like number rods, sandpaper numbers, spindle box, counters, short bead stair and Seguin Boards. The mathematics instructions proceed from concrete to abstract. The concrete materials and the activities related to it help in the development of awareness of mathematics and, and mathematical/analytical thinking.
The Golden Beads exercises perfectly explain the world of the decimal system which is usually presented in abstract form such as decimal system and other operations for primary school children which could generate the seed of dislike towards mathematics amongst them.
As the children understand the concept of numbers, they will begin with their adventure of arithmetic such as addition and subtraction using boards and tables which will ease the child to perform mathematical operations mentally later.
Montessori teachers make use of the phonics approach to enhance the vocabulary and explore both written and spoken language of the children and also to infuse an appreciation for creative writing and build a love for reading.They begin learning the phonetic sounds and creating words phoneticallythrough the various language based activities like the sandpaper letters and the moveable alphabet; progressing to use Insets for Design to develop the mechanism for writingwith the Pink, Blue and Green series and the Small Movable Alphabet; read others works and communicate their thoughts and feelings with others.It is a known fact that literature forms the pillars of a civilization and language is the bricks that form those pillars.
The rules of grammar are introduced using different colour code cards and objects.
"Cultural" is a fascinating area that young children enjoy in discovering. Maria Montessori termed the cultural curriculum as the "Cosmic Curriculum". It includes the intricacies of animal and plant life, the knowledge of geography, and the history of people who have shared our planet over time. It allows the children to learn about music, stories, and artwork. It enables the children to understand respect, responsibility, cause and effect, consequence of one's own actions and peace.
The children will learn about the different cultures by use of avariety of globes, puzzle maps and folders containing images from different nations. This helps the children to develop their ability for creation, and develop fine motor skills. Children will learn to appreciate the world around them and are encouraged to wonder more about it. They will also become aware of the need for care and protection of environment in order to maintain harmony and balance on this planet. Maria Montessori included Cultural studies in the Montessori curriculum because she knew that the purpose of education was also help the child develop his personality, adapt to his own culture and become a responsible citizen of the state.
Art & Craft and Music & Movement are essential constituents of the Montessori curriculum. During Art lessons, or at any time of the day, children are allowed free use of painting and modelling materials so as to build their art vocabulary, awareness on various art techniques and idea on the different kinds of expression through art. Songs or poems are sung with musical instruments like castanets or bells to expose children to rhythm patterns and creative expressions. Use of arts allows the children to develop awareness and respect for the artists and their contributions to society and its cultures.
Computer graphics and other technology are a modern age art forms which are gradually finding their ways to the Montessori classroom as children today are learning to use technology at an increasingly young age. Nevertheless, it must be kept in mind that for very young children, exposure to technology should only be introduced after they develop a strong sensorimotor experience.
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