Montessori Preschool Sensorial & Practical Skills
Children are introduced to Sensorial Life Skills/Practical Life Skills. The Practical activities are designed to introduce children to concepts such as sorting, sequencing, spooning, and dressing. They are activities that one might find in their home environment. The activities in this area of the classroom provide opportunity for the child to complete a cycle of work, strengthen hand-eye coordination, walk successfully to a table or rug carrying a tray with objects and strengthen hand development which prepares a child for writing.
The Sensorial are of the classroom is the pre-math area. The Sensorial materials are designed to isolate one feature of the objects so that the children can learn, for example, to sort, organize materials in a gradient manner (short to long, dark to light, rough to smooth), work with matching 2-dimensional pictures to their 3-dimensional representatives, match smells, and learn about one-to-one correspondence. Once the child masters the basic presentation and the concept of the activity, the Sensorial materials are designed to inspire further extensions and creations out of the materials.
Montessori Preschool Language Program
Language is taught through phonetics awareness and recognition utilizing many senses to ingrain the sound, shape, and feel of the letters. With the multi-modal approach to learning, the concepts and understanding are strengthened in the child’s developing brain. Over the course of the child’s time in the Montessori preschool program at Oak Grove in Oakland, they will be learning beginning sounds, ending sounds, word building using cards and pictures all the way through to beginning reading. Additionally, there are many activities that center around whole language, helping the child to understand directions, finding parts to whole, finding the missing pieces and so much more.
Montessori Preschool Mathematics Program
As with all Montessori materials, Mathematics is taught from concrete to abstract. Staring with the basic sequence of understanding what the numerals represent and attaching quantity to the numerals. With the use of tactile counters and counting objects, the children have a rich experience of connecting quantities to a numeral representation. Going through the math curriculum, the children continue to expand upon their number recognition and number association. Toward the end of their preschool cycle, children may be efficient in simple addition and subtraction, and sometimes simple multiplication.
Monthly theme units are presented covering various continents, artists, composers, and historical figures. Children are fascinated with these theme units and truly enjoy discovering details about them. Developing a whole child is a vital aspect to Oak Grove Montessori, which goes far beyond academics. We strive to provide a quality, nurturing environment that provides strong academics balanced with understanding the emotional and social needs of the child. In the Montessori Preschool Program, there is focus on the journey in a child’s educational and social/emotional path understanding that each child is an individual and that no child’s journey will look the same. Contact us today to learn how your child can thrive with us!
