Sensorial Curriculum

creating patterns by matching the knobbed cylinders to the knobless cylinders 

Problem solving and using visual and tactile discrimination to build the trinomial cube 

A snow globe makes a beautiful center piece for an extension to work with grading the colors in Color Box 3.

The ability to categorize, organize, and analyze requires higher level thinking and builds a strong foundation for mathematics. 

How long are the red rods lined up end to end? These students used various materials in the classroom, including their own bodies, as units of measurement to answer that question. 

Dr. Montessori believed that there is nothing in the intellect that doesn't first exist in the senses. Children are constantly taking in information from their environment. Their brains analyze the information and form impressions. From the ages of 0-3 the process is unconscious. From the ages of 3-6 observations of the environment are conscious and intentional. During the age of 2-3 there occurs a great push from the child for independence, with the child often asserting him/herself in the choices that he/she makes. He/she takes the impressions that he/she actively gets from his/her environment using his/her senses to classify information. Children from 3-6 years old need to have order to process the myriad of impressions gathered through their senses to be able to form connections between things and situations. Development as seen through brain research is a process. Repetition of exercises in a consistent environment help strengthen networks of connections in the brain.

Dr. Montessori described man's hands as the instruments of man's intelligence. The materials in the Sensorial Curriculum involve the use of the hands in a classifying act. The hands and the mind work together making a mental connection between an abstract idea and its concrete representation. The sensorial materials are concrete pieces of information that can be organized into meaningful patterns. Work with the didactic material helps to develop a strong foundation for mathematical concepts.

Seasons Greetings

Jingle Bells

Our studies of the holidays included Winter Solstice, Hanukah, Kwanzaa, and Advent. We learned about the meaning of light in each of these holidays and talked about stories of each holiday. An important thing we remember about these holidays is that they are stories that some people around the world believe and celebrate. We are not celebrating the holidays but learning about them and the areas of the world where they are celebrated. 

Geography

North America 

South America

Africa

Asia 

Eurrrrope!

Don't forget Australia

Don't forget Antarctica!

The continent globe introduces the idea of the continents. Earlier in the year we did a lot of work with the land, air, and water globe. On the continent globe each continent is painted a different color (North America is orange, South America is pink, Africa is green, Europe is red, Asia is yellow, Australia is brown, Antarctica is white, and the oceans are blue.) We sang the song printed above to learn the names of the continents. 

Last week a new work was introduced to the geography shelf to relate the spherical continent globe to the two-dimensional map as a way of representing the Earth. The continent globe and a container of playdo were brought to the work mat. We remembered that the globe is a sphere and represents the Earth and shows where places are on the Earth. It was explained that maps are another way of showing where places are on the Earth, but maps are flat, not spheres. When we look at a globe we can only see the side that is facing us. To make a map, a mapmaker has to flatten a globe. The playdo was rolled into a sphere and then cut in half and flattened to give the children an initial impression of the relationship between a globe and a map. The planisphere puzzle map was then introduced. First we found North America, where we live. We then named and traced each continent with our fingers before placing the puzzle piece into the map. We will begin using the puzzle pieces and the control chart to trace and label our own continent maps. We will also match animals to their continent on a cloth map. Soon we will begin a cultural unit on Africa.

I saw a little bird going hop, hop, hop. I said to the bird will you stop, stop, stop. He flew to the window said, "How do you do?". He shook his tail and away he flew.

Making books of birds

Tracing the parts of a bird puzzle

We have begun our studies of the five vertebrates with the study of birds. We talked about the parts of a bird and did writing work to make a book or traced the parts of a bird puzzle to make our own diagram of the parts of a bird.While doing this work, we were also strengthening our pincer grips by tracing the puzzle pieces and coloring, we added many bird names and words to our vocabularies, and we practiced careful handwriting. We talked about the characteristics of birds that make them different from the other vertebrates. We also talked about the characteristics of bats that let us know that they are mammals and not birds. There was a listening center with headphones on the science table for listening to real bird sounds. At circle we read Flute's Journey: The Life of Wood Thrush by Lynne Cherry. It is the story of a young wood thrush's first migration-across thousands of miles-from his nesting ground to his winter home in Costa Rica.

Listening to bird songs

We hung several bird feeders around the school.

The squirrels appreciated the bird feeders too.