Primary
Ages 3 – 6
During this stage of development, the child explores the world sensorially and learns to become functionally independent so that they can learn to “do it myself”. Dr. Montessori calls this plane of development the time of the “absorbent mind” where the children construct their intellect through the absorption of their environments, language, and culture.
“During this period the personality undergoes great changes. We have only to compare the newborn babe with the six year old to see this."
~Maria Montessori
Practical Life
The Practical life area is a collection of exercises or activities structured from everyday events and communal life. Another way that we can see this area is to consider them activities in gracious living. It is here that the young child learns to act mindfully, joyfully. The child begins to relate to another in a generous and thoughtful manner.
LANGUAGE
The language activities are meant to give specific language to experiences that the child has already internalized. They bring to consciousness what was previously unconscious to the child. Through these activities, the guide may be offering new information or offers opportunities for the child to become aware of his self-knowledge.
Sensorial
The sensorial materials were created to aid the refinement of the visual, tactile, olfactory, gustatory, auditory, and stereognostic senses. In order to support the child’s intellectual development, these materials are offered when the child has developed control of movement so that the child’s focus is on the intellectual exploration and discovery of the properties of the objects in relation to each other.
MATHEMATICS
Math can be considered a specialized sensorial experience which helps the child to perceive the world more precisely. In these specialized sensorial experiences, the abstract mathematical concept is isolated and then given to the child in “materialized abstractions”. As the child manipulates these concrete materials he comes to understand the abstract mathematical concept.
Discovering the world through a hands-on approach
“The child builds his inmost self out of the deeply held impressions he receives.”
~ Maria Montessori