"The essence of independence is to be able to do something for one's self."  ~ Maria Montessori

This area of the preschool environment assists in refining the movements of the child through activities such as pouring, sponging spooning, and stringing.  The child will practice the “Practical” tasks in life such as our button dressing frame, screwdriver board, polishing a mirror, sweeping, and cutting cucumbers.  As the year progresses, the tasks grow in refinement and complexity to increase concentration and a growing sense of order. Materials are sequenced so that each new activity challenges the child to focus and organize to complete the task at hand.

“The senses, being explorers of our world, open the way to knowledge.”    ~ Maria Montessori 

This area of the preschool environment assists in refining our senses through isolation of individual senses.  Children will discriminate by size, color, shape, sound, smell, and touch. The children will recognize similarities through matching and differences through grading.  Variations and extensions of the materials will deepen the senses to see relationships as the children build patterns and designs.

“Our aim therefore is not merely to make the child understand, and still less to force him to memorize, but so to touch his imagination as the enthuse him to his inmost core.”              ~Maria Montessori

This area develops the various components of language that lead a child to be able to communicate as well as understand what is being communicated. The readiness skill to recognize differences and similarities, sequence and retell a story, understand position, and classify assist in a growing comprehension in both visual and auditory instruction.  In preparation for reading, all materials of the environment organize in a left to right, top to bottom layout to prepare the brain for tracking print. Children use multiple senses as they are introduced concretely to the symbol and sound relationship of letters. As this relationship develops, children will begin to blend the sounds to form words- a phonetic approach to reading readiness.   Children also experience extensive vocabulary in all areas of the environment. Many activities involve matching and labeling using the written word – a whole language approach to reading readiness. Children are moved at the pace in which they are prepared to be successful and gain confidence in expressing ideas and approaching the start in their reading journey.

“Children display a universal love of mathematics, which is par excellence the science of precision, order, and intelligence. “  ~ Maria Montessori 

This area of the preschool environment develops the “mathematical mind” of the child.  Through concrete experiences for quantity, the child learns the meaning of a number and then makes the association with the numeric symbol for that quantity. The tactile experience of the sandpaper numbers allows the child’s sense of touch to support the visual representation of each number. After mastery of the numbers to 10, teens and tens are introduced.  Using the base of 10, children are invited into higher quantities and introduced to functions of addition and subtraction. Children are also introduced to the concepts of time, money and graphing.

"We especially need imagination in science. It is not all mathematics, nor all logic, but it is somewhat beauty and poetry." ~ Maria Montessori

This area introduces several disciplines of science:  botany – our study of plants, zoology -- our study of animals, physics -- our explorations and discoveries,  health – our study of our bodies and senses. It is an area of discovery and wonder as we take a closer look at the world around us.