practical life sensorial mathematics language social studies

Language is an ongoing acquisition in a Montessori classroom. Since the earliest Practical Life and Sensorial activities things have been named and identified. Comparatives and Superlatives e.g. big, bigger, biggest are integrated into these activities. In the science and Geography materials animals, countries, landforms, water forms, insect, plants, parts of trees, leaves and flowers have been discussed. Children learn the names of shapes, parallelograms, rhombus, pentagon, curvilinear triangle, all with hands on experience with hose shapes. Children love language; English as well as other languages are easily assimilated at this age. Exposure to the diversity of life around us is part of the curriculum. Reading begins early by tracing sandpaper letter and learning the phonetic sound of these letters. Children can handle objects that begin with these sounds. Reading starts out much more abstract that Math, but it involves a finite number if sounds to experience and memorize. Once these have been mastered a child can begin to build words with a movable alphabet. This is more of a phonetic spelling activity than reading. By repeated experience with this sounding out of words, the child comes to the spontaneous discovery on day that this arrangement of symbols has meaning. C-a-t translates into cat, the child has taught herself how to read. Now they begin to sound out all words around them, on signs, cereal boxes, anywhere. This “explosion into reading the culmination of all the language experiences. Since English is not a truly phonetic language we then present the “exceptions” such as the, ch, sh. The child now has the skills to attack any new words they come upon. This is one of the advantages of a phonetic approach to reading.       Corrections can be made when the Childs has experienced success.