Our Basic Approach | The Maria Montessori Philosophy | Areas of Study | Discipline

AREAS OF STUDY

PRACTICAL LIFE: Practical Life is the most important area of the Montessori classroom. It is here where the children learn order, concentration, coordination and finally independence. These four qualities is what makes them successful learners in the academic areas of the environment. Practical Life is a pre-curser to reading and writing. The activities are set up on a left to right basis, we read and write left to right and it also helps the child to practice crossing their mid-line. Using tools such as tweezers, spoons, tongs and basters helps strengthen the child's fingers for writing. One will find the younger child using the Practical Life materials to master skills but the older, more experienced child will use these materials to unwind and relax after more taxing activities.

SENSORIAL: Sensorial is the area of the classroom where the children learn through their senses. Sight, sound, touching and using their bodies to construct formations using material such as the Red Rods or the Pink Tower makes this area one of complete learning.  The sensorial materials all have a built in control of error, leaving the child to problem solve and use their critical thinking skills. The sensorial area of the classroom is a pre-curser to math. Many of the material are mathematically based and can be presented as such to the older child. The younger child will explore through their other senses.

ART: Art is always available to the children and includes activities such as painting, gluing, cutting, designing and creating. The role that art plays to a child is extremely important: children do not use art to produce a finished piece. Children need art as a process - they are much more interested in the process that is involved in producing art than they are in the finished product itself. We offer art in all forms and medias throughout the year.

HANDWRITING: Maria Montessori believes that anything a child learns needs to be recreated through the hand. Handwriting in any form is encouraged. From scribbles to writing ABC's, we at Hopper Creek encourage children to use their hands. The metal insets are a wonderful Montessori material which gently helps to guide children from scribbles to precise hand movements. The metal insets also allow for creativity and geometric language.

SCIENCE: Science can be taught throughout the classroom. The science area can be centered around a particular unit of study, such as dinosaurs, whales, insects, the planets, weather, polar animals, spiders or any other unit of study the children may be interested in. Weight, measurement, magnets, color mixing, science experiments, graphs and nature are all included in this area of study.

MATH: The math area of the Montessori classroom is by far Maria Montessori's most extensive and impressive work. Math is taught by a hand's on method where one can see a one-hundred cube or one hundred in linear form. Numeric numbers from zero to nine are made of sandpaper. This enables the child to "feel" a number thereby patterning the brain for when they are ready to "write" the number. Children learn to recognize their numbers, relate quantity to symbol, count, add and subtract, all in their own time. The math materials enable a child to see and feel what they are learning in their world of numbers.

LANGUAGE: Language. So vast, so needed, so complex yet in the Montessori environment, broken down to such simple form. Each step is carefully calculated to meet a child exactly where they are. From training the ear to hear and differentiate sounds, to recognizing letters/sounds, to corresponding sound to picture or object, to blending these sounds which in turn becomes reading, this area of the classroom encompasses by sight, sound and touch all a child needs to love the process of learning to read! Because learning is limitless in the Montessori environment, reading can go wherever the child is capable of taking it.

GEOGRAPHY: Geography is a comprehensive study of the world broken down into smaller units of study. Children learn the continents of the world by using a hands-on puzzle map. Each continent can then be broken down to the study of people, religions, cultures, trade, attire and way of life. The list is endless in the geography area. Land and water forms, flags and world events make this area another area of the classroom that is used daily in every form.