Children's House (Preschool/Kindergarten)

​The Montessori classroom is a children's house.  Children choose their activities from materials displayed on open shelves. Through repeated work with materials that capture the child's attention, they develop the capacity for concentration, order, coordination, and independence.  A self-disciplined, orderly, and focused community gradually develops.

In the Montessori preschool, five distinct areas constitute the prepared environment:

1. The Practical Life area consists of activities for care of the self, care of the environment, exercises of grace and courtesy, and coordination of physical movement.  Children learn to organize tasks and develop a mental order.
2. The Sensorial area offers children experiences for ordering, classifying, and describing their sensory impressions of size, form, temperature, texture, color, etc.
3. The Mathematics area makes use of manipulative materials to enable children to internalize concepts of number, symbol, sequence, operations and memorization of basic facts.
4. The Language area includes oral language development, written expression, reading, and the study of grammar, creative dramatics and children's literature.  Basic skills in writing and reading are developed through the use of sandpaper letters, a movable alphabet, and various presentations in which children easily learn to link sounds and letters to express their thoughts through writing.
5. The Cultural area exposes the child to basics in geography, history and science. Music, art and movement education are also a part of the integrated cultural area.

*Implementing Montessori in Public Sector, Ana Maria Villegas​
Taken from Montessori Public School Consortium