montessori magic: In the Classrooms With ......Our Five Year Olds ~ Part 1

Sunday, 23 February 2014

In the Classrooms With ......Our Five Year Olds ~ Part 1

In the Fall of 2011, I wrote a series of posts about the work the children were doing in the classrooms. They were titled Catching Up With.... and can be accessed through our archive. Those posts illustrated what children of different ages and stages in the Montessori three year casa/preschool curriculum were working with at the beginning of a school year. This series of posts will illustrate what the children are working with in the middle of a school year. The photographs of the children were taken in January and February.

(Please note that the Montessori casa/preschool program is a three year program with children enrolling before the age of four. The children in the photographs have been with us for anywhere from 2 1/2 to 4 years and attend school five days per week.)

Our French Language Program

Our French Language program is a vital part of the curriculum at our little yellow Montessori school. The children receive daily French lessons in small groups with Madame D., our French teacher. Many graduates of our three year Montessori preschool program attend French Immersion programs for grade one as they have both a very strong English and French base on which to build upon. By the time the children are in their third year of our Montessori program, they are able to read and write small words and sentences in French.

A French Reading Book

A Page From a French Reading Book

Five and a half year old R. is working her way through our French readers with Madame D. In September, R. will begin grade one at a French Immersion school.

R. enjoys reading our French books.

The following are some pieces of R.'s French work that she completed during the month of February. One of the topics Madame D. discussed in February was the Parts of the House. The children have also been introduced to this work in English. The five year olds (SK age) and some of our four year olds (JK age) completed this work with Madame D. (You can click on the images to make them larger.)

La Maison - The House

The Rooms of a House

The Puzzle Maps

In each of our Montessori classrooms, you will find a map stand filled with eight large rectangular Puzzle Maps - a map of the continents, and individual maps of Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia, Europe and our own country, Canada. Each map consists of removable wooden pieces that represent the political or geographic divisions of land that are the subject of each individual map.

As part of the Montessori curriculum, children are introduced to the Land and Water Globe, the Continents Globe and the Puzzle Map of the Continents when they are 2 1/2 to 3 years old. When they can identify all of the continents, they are free to explore the Puzzle Maps of each individual continent as well as their own country. Emphasis is placed on learning the names of the countries in our home continent of North America as well as learning the names of the provinces and territories of Canada.

Five and a half year old D. is very interested in the Puzzle Maps. He has been working his way through each of the continents, eager to learn the names of as many countries as he can. His favourite maps are Europe, Africa and Asia as they have so many countries! Here he is absorbed in his work as he uses the Atlas to label the countries found in the continents of Africa and Asia.

The Puzzle Map of Africa

The Puzzle Map of Asia

After he labels the maps, D. can write the names of individual countries on a paper map of each continent.

Fractions

The lessons on fractions are highly anticipated at our little yellow school. They are introduced to children in their third year of the Montessori casa (preschool) program. All of the children in the classroom are drawn to and fascinated by the two trays of red circles divided into many parts.

Parents who visit our school often marvel at the fact that we are teaching the children fractions as the Ontario Curriculum does not introduce fractions until grade three. For the children, it is just a natural progression of the Arithmetic materials. When the materials are as beautiful and concrete as these, it is very easy to grasp the concept of fractions. The aim of the Fraction Insets material is to introduce the child to the idea of fractions as the division of a whole into equal parts.

The Fraction Insets

The children are introduced to the Fraction Insets and are invited to freely explore them. This includes taking out the sections, counting them, comparing sizes, etc. Each circle represents a fraction, which is taking a whole (the circle) and breaking it into equal parts that are all exactly the same. The children are then introduced to the names for the parts of each circle - whole, halves, thirds, etc.