Our Children’s House (preschool/kindergarten) classrooms are designed for children approaching their third birthday all the way through age six, with materials and work to fit the needs of the broad span of development in this age grouping.
What will a child experience during their first year in the Children’s House?
Routines and Grace & Courtesy
Routines are essential for the child to feel safe and comfortable enough in the environment to learn. First year students spend much of the time learning new routines and practices that make the Children’s House a respectful, peaceful place where they have freedom to direct their learning journey.
Children learn things such as how walk in the classroom, using a quiet voice, using a rug for work (walking around it, rolling and putting it away), putting away work, where and how to serve themselves snack or drinking water, using the restroom and washing hands, observing friends who are working (not interrupting them), how to watch a lesson that the teacher gives, sitting safely at a table, and caring for the materials.
Another important skill fostered is the ability to choose an activity, complete it, and put it away when they are done, a process which requires both independence and concentration.
Some of the skills modeled and fostered through the environment: social awareness and social skills. Children, who typically parallel play in the toddler years, may work with a partner, participate in small group lessons, and in circle time. Some of the grace and courtesy lessons taught:
- Greetings
- Introducing oneself and shaking hands
- Pushing in a chair
- Waiting turns
- Polite interruptions
- Asking permission to join a friend’s work or a lesson
- How to respond when a friend asks permission to join or watch our work.
Practical Life
This is the first area of the classroom a Children’s House student is introduced to, as these activities are not only loved by children of all ages, but as they build life skills, the child develops concentration, coordination, independence, and a sense of order.
A three-year old’s attention span is an average of 6-8 minutes, which means some children are attentive for shorter or longer amounts of time. A child who has difficulty concentrating will find it difficult to enjoy lessons which require a greater focus and introduce math and language exercises. As the child engages with practical life activities, their attention span gradually increases. They also learn to follow multiple steps, using coordinated gross and fine motor movements – again, all essential skills for the “academic” learning that will soon follow.
For example, a child might look over the shelf of food work and choose the orange juicing activity. At first glance, you may wonder why this activity offers besides simple enjoyment! We invite you to consider the process the child follows. He picks up the tray and carries it to a table, carefully setting it down. He goes to the sink where he washes his hands with soap and water, then returns to the table where he pulls out a chair and sits down. Next, he unfolds the apron and puts it on. He will unroll the oil cloth (mat), place it on the table, then move the orange juicer to the oil cloth. He picks up half of an orange and positions it on the juicer. Then, using hand, arm and shoulder pressure and rotating wrist movement to twist the orange back and forth on the juicer. He repeats this movement over and over until he sees the cup under the juicer filling. He removes the juicer, takes a cup from the tray, carefully pours the orange juice into the cup and enjoys a sip of the sweet and tart beverage, so proud to have done it “all by himself”! When he is done, he cleans up his work, washes his cup, disposes of the orange, and replaces it on the shelf.
The practical life exercises are incredibly important, and while parents may not see paper proof of what their child is busy with during the days, they may rest assured that they are building an essential foundation for their development!
Sensorial
The sensorial activities a first-year student engages with include the iconic pink tower, brown stairs, and red rods. The sensorial activities are obviously intended to help develop the visual, tactile, baric, thermic, auditory, gustatory, olfactory and stereognostic senses. “The senses, being explorers of the world, open the way to knowledge,” said Dr. Montessori, going on to say that the materials that educate the senses “offers the child a key to guide his explorations of the world.” As the child handles the materials, he better understands his environment. Children need interactive, hands-on, sensorial experiences!
Language
First year children continue to build their vocabulary, phonemic awareness and recognition/recall/naming of the phonetic sounds of the English alphabet. They engage in pre-reading activities like sound games, rhyming, matching synonyms with antonyms, sandpaper letters and metal inset work and other activities that develop the muscles required for controlling a pencil.
Math
The beginning Montessori Children’s House student begins learning how to associate quantity with numerals towards the end of their first year. They interact with materials such as the number rods, spindle boxes, cards and counters, the bead stairs, and sandpaper numbers.
Culture
First year students begin exploring basic principles of zoology, botany, astronomy, even chemistry and physics! They are introduced to the elements of air, land and water. They may explore the physical properties of substances (liquid, solid, gas) or non-magnetic and magnetic. They classify living and non-living objects. They observe seasons and the life cycle of plants. They learn to identify and name parts of plants and different types of leaves
They also learn about the globe and maps. They learn about the continents as they explore the world puzzle map, and eventually trace, pinch punch, glue and paint their own world map! They are also welcome to explore the continent folders, where there are treasures of information that give us a glimpse of what life is like in other parts of the world. They learn about art and music.
The first year of a child’s discoveries in the Children’s House community is filled with joy and wonder, and it builds a foundation for even greater depths of exploration in years two and three!
