Sensorial is an area of the Primary classroom that is uniquely “Montessori.” Many of the jobs hearken directly back to Dr. Montessori when she set up her original classroom for the benefit of the young, unattended children in the housing projects of Rome in the early 1900’s.  Dr. Montessori could see the advantage of having the children develop and refine their five senses.

She also understood that if a child was presented with materials where they could check their work themselves, and know visually that the job was done correctly or incorrectly due to the precise way the materials were used, then their level of independence and self-confidence would increase.  Dr. Montessori referred to this concept as the “control of error’’ and it has great significance throughout the classroom, and especially in the sensorial area.

As the child begins to explore the sensorial works, one of the first jobs introduced is called the pink tower. “The pink tower has ten pink cubes of different sizes, from 1 centimeter up to 10 cm in increments of 1 cm. The work is designed to provide the child with a concept of small and big.” The child starts with the largest cube and puts the second-largest cube on top of it. This continues until all ten cubes are stacked on top of each other. The control of error is visual. The child sees the cubes are in the wrong order and the tower becomes unstable if a larger cube is placed on top of a smaller cube.

Many of the sensorial materials are made with 10 components so that the students get used to counting 1-10 quite naturally.

For instance, the brown stairs is made up of 10 sets of wooden prisms and introduces the concept of thin to thick. “Each stair is 20 cm in length and varies in thickness from 1 to 10 cm. When put together from thickest to thinnest, they make an even staircase.”

After the initial pink tower and brown stair lessons are mastered, both materials can be used together forming interesting combinations.

Another set of ten pieces is the red rods.  “The red rods are rods of equal diameter, varying only in length. The smallest is 10 cm long and the largest is one meter long. Each rod is 1 square inch thick. By holding the ends of the rods with two hands, the material is designed to give the child a sense of short and long.”

Many other works make up the sensorial area of the classroom.

Triangle box

Once the basic sensorial lessons are mastered, numerous extensions can be practiced with each of the materials.  Often sensorial materials will engage the interest of the child for long periods of time because the materials are concrete and the “control of error” is so immediate.

There are also many math and language applications using the sensorial materials, such as labeling the materials, or taking a moment to count the quantity of materials used in a particular job.  Sensorial is part of the classroom that uses all five senses and draws directly from the wisdom of Dr. Montessori in a concrete, useful and vivid way.

Reminders:

Chinese Group Assembly on December 15th.

All are invited to our Winter Performance!  Mark you calendars for next TUESDAY (12/16) at 9:30am in the Multi Purpose Room.  SEE YOU ALL THERE!!

Half day dismissal on Friday (12/19).  Pick up is by 11:15am.  Enjoy your WINTER BREAK!!  School resumes on Tuesday (1/6).

Please remember to exchange your child’s change of clothing to match the colder weather and label all of their clothes with their name.  Thanks for your assistance.

A great big “thank you” to Cooper and William and their families for providing delicious snacks and beautiful flowers for our classroom.