Practical life activities include objects and materials normally encountered in everyday living experiences. These activities help students develop independence, a sense of order, the ability to focus, concentrate, build coordination, and organizational skills.

Practical Life activities:

• are often the first lessons the child is invited to experience and explore 

• are made of beautiful and enticing materials

• create the foundation for future academics 

• help children learn to control their movements

• allow students to master the care of themselves and care for their environment

• train the eye for reading and the strengthen the hand and pincer grip for writing

• develop patience and understanding

Grade and Courtesy lessons:
Shaking hands, acting as hosts, using polite manners, cleaning up, serve peers first, food preparation.

Examples: 
Cleaning, sweeping, pouring, dressing, learning to tie, and caring for class plants and animals.

Maria Montessori said that a primary purpose of the sensorial exercises is that “the child train himself to observe, that he be led to make comparisons between objects to form judgments, to reason and to decide; and it is in the indefinite repetition of this exercise of attention that a real development ensues.”

Sensorial activities:

• enable the child to gain information through the exploration of their senses

• encourage children to develop classification and discrimination skills

• enhance and refine the child’s sensory awareness

• develop the foundation for:

  • math skills

  • spatial relations

  • reading and writing

  • visual discrimination of length, height, width and volume

  • colors and shapes

Examples:

Knobless cylinders, knobbed cylinders, brown stairs, red and blue rods, color tablets, constructive triangles, binomial and trinomial cubes and of course the iconic pink tower.

Language is an intricate part of the classroom. Maria Montessori said, “Language is an instrument of collective thought.” It is the thing that separates us from other forms of life.

Early childhood is the sensitive period when language is formed. It is during this time that children take pleasure in listening to and then repeating the spoken language.

Language activities:

• build vocabulary with big books, poetry, and daily reading aloud

• create the foundation of writing and reading

• introduce the sounds of the letters first

• help students encode (spell) and decode (read) words by linking these sounds together

• teach students to recognize letters visually before reading whole words

• involve tracing letters with different textures before learn to write

• challenge reading and writing abilities at the appropriate level for each child 

Examples:

Sandpaper letters, moveable alphabet.

Maria Montessori believed that children could absorb mathematical concepts naturally. She deduced via observations that there were periods in children’s development where they absorb mathematical concepts and ideas naturally through the environment, as well as through the manipulation of concrete materials. The Practical Life, Sensorial and other areas in our Montessori classrooms help lay the foundation for math. These areas provide the children with opportunities to order, sequence, measure, and grade.

Mathematics activities:

• are worked through in a sequential order

• use concrete materials to help children obtain a clear vision of what they are learning

• begin with teaching basics such as numeral recognition

• develop concepts of addition, multiplication, subtraction and division

• help to internalize the concepts of number, symbol, sequence, operations fractions, etc. 

Examples: 

Bead cabinet, spindle boxes, number rods, sandpaper numerals, golden bead materials, tens and teens boards, place value cards/ mats.

The Geography curriculum creates opportunities to explore and develop concrete foundations for understanding the world.

Geography topics include:

• the seven continents (over the three-year cycle in Primary)

• concrete examples of each continent’s countries, people, language, literature, dress, and wildlife

• exploration and research through use of maps, puzzles, booklets, and artifacts introduce the child to the planet’s great diversity of land and people.

• Art: Integrated with the classroom environment, Children can explore and express themselves through various art implements.

• Garden: In the garden children learn about the parts of the plant, different types of seeds, basic planting and garden care.

• Music: During circle time, songs, games, and different instruments are introduced. Children also learn tone and rhythm.

• Physical Education: Children learn basic gross motor and manipulative skills such as running, jumping, throwing, catching, bouncing, hopping, landing and kicking. P.E. also includes key movement concepts for variety of games and activities, while allowing children to develop a positive attitude towards leading a healthy, active lifestyle.

• Spanish: Lessons focus on common phrases, pronunciation learned through rhythm and songs, and vocabulary learned through senses and concrete objects.