The Everyday Living/Practical Life Area of the Montessori Classroom
The Montessori classroom allows children to choose from many areas of the classroom. This letter will explain one of these areas. The area is known as the Everyday Living or Practical Life, area. I will shorten these terms to EDL(Everyday living) and PL(Practical Life).
The EDL/PL area consists of the perfect hands on materials for young children to learn from. Common items in this area are familiar items that you would find in a home such as: cups, bowls, pouring pictures, utensils, trays and water. These materials allow the child to manipulate freely and independently exercises such as: Pouring, spooning, squeezing, twisting, stringing, folding, pounding, washing and scrubbing, personal care lessons, food preparation and many more concepts.
These activities allow children to learn by practicing these skills and perfecting them. When children repeat these activities they are learning: Concentration, coordination, confidence, order and independence. These are all direct aims of these activities. These activities also: strengthen the pencil grip, develop observation skills, coordinate muscle movements, refine fine motor skills, and eye hand coordination as well as improve language skills. All of these skills are examples of valuable lessons that the child is gaining by spending time in the EDL/PL areas.
Take note of the materials being used when observing children working in the EDL/PL area. In this area you will see that there is a sequence to the activities and materials. These activities are set up by the teacher to guide the child, for example: Large to small, long to short, hand to tool, and wet to dry. The intent is to move forward through these activities from the easy to the more difficult skills throughout the year. This allows the children time to master each new skill or lesson introduced through practice, manipulation and exploration while building the skills mentioned earlier.
In the book “The Absorbent Mind” written by Maria Montessori, she writes about how children learn countless bits of information by absorbing everything in their environment: Language, attitudes and expressions. She held the belief that a child’s mind is like a sponge absorbing all information and stimuli, good and bad. The Montessori teachers take on the role of preparer, observer and role model to help lead the child to confidence and independence. They do this by keeping in mind the absorbent mind using detailed, sequenced, complete examples and activities. What we do around children matters. It is our responsibility to the children who are watching and observing us all of the time, to set a proper example in word, action and expression.
The Montessori classroom allows children to choose from many areas of the classroom. This letter will explain one of these areas. The area is known as the Everyday Living or Practical Life, area. I will shorten these terms to EDL(Everyday living) and PL(Practical Life).
The EDL/PL area consists of the perfect hands on materials for young children to learn from. Common items in this area are familiar items that you would find in a home such as: cups, bowls, pouring pictures, utensils, trays and water. These materials allow the child to manipulate freely and independently exercises such as: Pouring, spooning, squeezing, twisting, stringing, folding, pounding, washing and scrubbing, personal care lessons, food preparation and many more concepts.
These activities allow children to learn by practicing these skills and perfecting them. When children repeat these activities they are learning: Concentration, coordination, confidence, order and independence. These are all direct aims of these activities. These activities also: strengthen the pencil grip, develop observation skills, coordinate muscle movements, refine fine motor skills, and eye hand coordination as well as improve language skills. All of these skills are examples of valuable lessons that the child is gaining by spending time in the EDL/PL areas.
Take note of the materials being used when observing children working in the EDL/PL area. In this area you will see that there is a sequence to the activities and materials. These activities are set up by the teacher to guide the child, for example: Large to small, long to short, hand to tool, and wet to dry. The intent is to move forward through these activities from the easy to the more difficult skills throughout the year. This allows the children time to master each new skill or lesson introduced through practice, manipulation and exploration while building the skills mentioned earlier.
In the book “The Absorbent Mind” written by Maria Montessori, she writes about how children learn countless bits of information by absorbing everything in their environment: Language, attitudes and expressions. She held the belief that a child’s mind is like a sponge absorbing all information and stimuli, good and bad. The Montessori teachers take on the role of preparer, observer and role model to help lead the child to confidence and independence. They do this by keeping in mind the absorbent mind using detailed, sequenced, complete examples and activities. What we do around children matters. It is our responsibility to the children who are watching and observing us all of the time, to set a proper example in word, action and expression.
The Language area of the Montessori Classroom
12/7/22
The Language Area in the Montessori Classroom
Language in the Montessori classroom is a multi-faceted area of learning for a child. When thinking of a language curriculum, people often think of: letter recognition, learning to read, writing letters and writing words; however, there are many skills that are incorporated into their learning process. We need to consider all of those skills in the child’s language development in the Montessori classroom.
A child’s language development begins before the child enters into a preschool or kindergarten program. These skills even begin before a child is born. As a baby’s ears develop in the womb, A bond begins as the baby begins hearing our voices. As children grow they develop the abilities to do such things as; listening, speaking, sorting, memory activities, rhyming, classifying, sequencing, observing, manipulating, and interpreting auditory and visual information. These skills are essential to successful and complete language development skills.
Activities in the Montessori Language area of the classroom are directly influenced by activities and materials from other areas of the Montessori curriculum. The activities in the Everyday Living area are the beginning step of language. Practicing these skills expand the child’s language skills creating a foundation for learning language. The direct aims in the Everyday Living area of the classroom are: concentration, coordination, confidence, independence and order. Practicing these skills lead the child to expanded interest in the classroom and it is important for the child to master these skills. The Sensorial area is the second step in continuing language development by: naming, comparing, differentiating and manipulating hands-on materials. Many hands-on materials were designed and developed by Dr. Montessori. She knew that physical manipulation helps the children to internalize these concepts.
Reading to children often encourages questions and conversations. New vocabulary will be assimilated by hearing stories, having discussions and answering questions. These things are significantly beneficial to support language growth. In the Montessori classroom the child has the opportunity to continually expand their language skills while they are being introduced to the abstract basis of our language which are, letters.
The Sandpaper Letters which are made of boards with sandpaper letters on them. Dr. Montessori created this material to help the children to develop the skills of; auditory perception of sounds which correspond to the written symbol, to develop the visual and tactile perception of letters, and to help with visual memory. This material also aids in the preparation for both writing and reading. The teacher introduces the child to these letters by tracing the letter with two fingers, following the same direction in which the symbol is normally written, while saying the sound of the letter. Use of this material gives the child a threefold impression: he sees the shape, he feels the shape, and he hears the sound of the letter.
In the Montessori classroom children are introduced to learning the phonetic sounds of the letters before they learn the alphabetical names of letters in sequence - the alphabet. The phonetic sounds are given first priority because these are the sounds they hear in words. For example, a child can hear the phonetic sound “T” at the beginning of the word “top”. He cannot hear the alphabetical sound (letter name) “tee”.
Continuing in the Language curriculum is the process of training the ear to distinguish sounds at the beginning, ending, and then middle of words to further develop reading readiness. The process of training the eye the left to right direction we use for reading is another step that must be reached before the child can ever be expected to read words. We cannot take for granted these seemingly small but very necessary skills that the child must acquire to begin to read.
Along with reading, many parents question the writing development of their child. Preparation for writing is available in many areas of the Montessori classroom. EDL/PL, Sensorial, Art, and many specific Montessori materials offer pre-writing skill practice. Several factors must come together for the child to be ready to write. One being the correct pencil grip, Dynamic Tripod Grasp, which is not generally developed until ages four and a half to six years old. Children need to practice many activities that strengthen the fine motor control before a pencil is even introduced. Pencil control must be mastered for the child to succeed at writing. It just takes time and repetition. In our classrooms we there are plenty of opportunities to practice writing skills.
Dr. Maria Montessori believed that no human being is educated by another person. He must do it himself or it will never be done. A truly educated individual continues learning long after the years he spends in the classroom. He is motivated from within by a natural curiosity and love of knowledge. Dr. Montessori felt, therefore, that the goal of early childhood education should not be to fill the child with facts from a pre-selected course of studies, but rather to cultivate his own natural desire to learn. Only then can education of the individual occur.
Language in the Montessori classroom is a multi-faceted area of learning for a child. When thinking of a language curriculum, people often think of: letter recognition, learning to read, writing letters and writing words; however, there are many skills that are incorporated into their learning process. We need to consider all of those skills in the child’s language development in the Montessori classroom.
A child’s language development begins before the child enters into a preschool or kindergarten program. These skills even begin before a child is born. As a baby’s ears develop in the womb, A bond begins as the baby begins hearing our voices. As children grow they develop the abilities to do such things as; listening, speaking, sorting, memory activities, rhyming, classifying, sequencing, observing, manipulating, and interpreting auditory and visual information. These skills are essential to successful and complete language development skills.
Activities in the Montessori Language area of the classroom are directly influenced by activities and materials from other areas of the Montessori curriculum. The activities in the Everyday Living area are the beginning step of language. Practicing these skills expand the child’s language skills creating a foundation for learning language. The direct aims in the Everyday Living area of the classroom are: concentration, coordination, confidence, independence and order. Practicing these skills lead the child to expanded interest in the classroom and it is important for the child to master these skills. The Sensorial area is the second step in continuing language development by: naming, comparing, differentiating and manipulating hands-on materials. Many hands-on materials were designed and developed by Dr. Montessori. She knew that physical manipulation helps the children to internalize these concepts.
Reading to children often encourages questions and conversations. New vocabulary will be assimilated by hearing stories, having discussions and answering questions. These things are significantly beneficial to support language growth. In the Montessori classroom the child has the opportunity to continually expand their language skills while they are being introduced to the abstract basis of our language which are, letters.
The Sandpaper Letters which are made of boards with sandpaper letters on them. Dr. Montessori created this material to help the children to develop the skills of; auditory perception of sounds which correspond to the written symbol, to develop the visual and tactile perception of letters, and to help with visual memory. This material also aids in the preparation for both writing and reading. The teacher introduces the child to these letters by tracing the letter with two fingers, following the same direction in which the symbol is normally written, while saying the sound of the letter. Use of this material gives the child a threefold impression: he sees the shape, he feels the shape, and he hears the sound of the letter.
In the Montessori classroom children are introduced to learning the phonetic sounds of the letters before they learn the alphabetical names of letters in sequence - the alphabet. The phonetic sounds are given first priority because these are the sounds they hear in words. For example, a child can hear the phonetic sound “T” at the beginning of the word “top”. He cannot hear the alphabetical sound (letter name) “tee”.
Continuing in the Language curriculum is the process of training the ear to distinguish sounds at the beginning, ending, and then middle of words to further develop reading readiness. The process of training the eye the left to right direction we use for reading is another step that must be reached before the child can ever be expected to read words. We cannot take for granted these seemingly small but very necessary skills that the child must acquire to begin to read.
Along with reading, many parents question the writing development of their child. Preparation for writing is available in many areas of the Montessori classroom. EDL/PL, Sensorial, Art, and many specific Montessori materials offer pre-writing skill practice. Several factors must come together for the child to be ready to write. One being the correct pencil grip, Dynamic Tripod Grasp, which is not generally developed until ages four and a half to six years old. Children need to practice many activities that strengthen the fine motor control before a pencil is even introduced. Pencil control must be mastered for the child to succeed at writing. It just takes time and repetition. In our classrooms we there are plenty of opportunities to practice writing skills.
Dr. Maria Montessori believed that no human being is educated by another person. He must do it himself or it will never be done. A truly educated individual continues learning long after the years he spends in the classroom. He is motivated from within by a natural curiosity and love of knowledge. Dr. Montessori felt, therefore, that the goal of early childhood education should not be to fill the child with facts from a pre-selected course of studies, but rather to cultivate his own natural desire to learn. Only then can education of the individual occur.
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