{"id":1392,"date":"2024-11-04T11:53:53","date_gmt":"2024-11-04T16:53:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/?p=1392"},"modified":"2024-11-04T11:53:53","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T16:53:53","slug":"making-sense-of-the-sensorial-area-in-the-prepared-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/2024\/11\/04\/making-sense-of-the-sensorial-area-in-the-prepared-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Sense of the Sensorial Area in the Prepared Environment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Imelda McShane, Early Childhood Head Teacher<\/strong>
and Doreen Adamo, Early Childhood Head Teacher<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is the obvious value of the training and the refinement of the senses which,<\/em>
by widening the field of perception, furnish an ever more solid and richer basis to the\u00a0development of the intelligence. It is through contact with and exploration of the environment<\/em> that the intelligence builds up its store of operational ideas.\u201d<\/em>
~ Dr.\u00a0Maria Montessori<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Montessori Methodology emphasizes that Sensorial education is a fundamental part of a child\u2019s development. By engaging with Sensorial materials, children are provided with experiences that help them understand and internalize the world around them in a concrete way. The essence of Sensorial education lies in its ability to refine the senses, leading to heightened perceptual skills and cognitive development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Children live in a world of senses where they need to classify and express the impressions they have already received. Sensorial education in the Montessori classroom aims to develop and refine the five senses \u2013 tactile, visual, auditory, olfactory, and gustatory. Montessori Sensorial materials help children make judgements and comparisons based on isolated individual characteristics, such as size, shape, weight, texture, color, sound, and temperature. By providing a Prepared Environment where children can explore and manipulate these materials, The Montessori Children\u2019s Academy allows its students to clarify, classify, and develop a keen awareness of their surroundings to better comprehend their world. \ufeffThe materials help children relate new information to what they already know. They find a sense of order in these materials.  With order comes knowledge. This is crucial as it lays the foundation for complex thought processes and problem-solving skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with enabling children to clarify and internalize such concepts as size, shape, weight, texture, color, sound, and temperature, the Sensorial materials also provide a basis for the development of other skills, such as Music, Culture (awareness of classification), and Language (sound discrimination, visual perception, and eye-hand coordination). When children trace the Sandpaper Globe, they are taking in knowledge that will later be used when tracing the Sandpaper Letters. Later, the muscles of their hands will remember the tracing motion as they write their letters. Also, when children are given the opportunity to manipulate and internalize the Sensorial materials, they are then able to reach a level of abstraction needed for the study of mathematics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Maria Montessori emphasized that \u201cthe training of the senses makes people observers\u201d. The tactile and hands-on nature of the Sensorial materials make them accessible to children with varying abilities. This inclusivity ensures that all children, regardless of their development, can benefit from Sensorial education. Montessori Sensorial materials are designed to be self-correcting, allowing children to independently discover and learn from their experiences, fostering a sense of autonomy and confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Color Box 3<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The child\u2019s first exercise with color is Color Box 1, which contains six tablets – two red, two blue and two yellow. The child pairs the tablets and learns the corresponding color names. Gradually, in Color Box 2, more pairs of colors are added. Ultimately, the child will be able to name and match eleven different pairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the next step, Color Box 3, the child will grade the colors by using seven different shades of nine different colors. The shades of each color are graded from very light to very dark. To carry out this work, the child must differentiate the intensity of the shades and place the tablets in order from the lightest to the darkest shade of each color. [See photo above.] Teaching children to be aware of the fine differences in color aids them in future work involving visual discrimination, such as reading, art, scientific research, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Binomial Cube<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The Binomial Cube helps develop the child’s perception of differences in proportion in three dimensions.\u00a0This cube represent, in a concrete way, the binomial equation (a + b)3<\/sup>. The child removes the blocks in layers and once all of the blocks are removed, the cube can then be rebuilt, one layer at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Geometric Cabinet<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The Geometric Cabinet is a wooden cabinet of six drawers, each containing cutout geometric shapes. The child works with one drawer at a time, removing the shapes from the drawer.\u00a0Once the pieces are removed, the child is shown how to trace the shape of the empty space and find the correct match by tracing the outside of the removed pieces. In the next step, the child will use the drawers to match cards with corresponding shapes.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Sound Matching<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Sound Cylinders, as well as bells, are used for refining a child’s auditory sense. Sound Matching, such as identifying bells by sound, enables the child\u2019s auditory sense to become heightened and more able to discern differences in sound when learning letter sounds, number names, vocabulary, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Geometric Solids<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The Geometric Solids are made of wood and painted blue. The solids are explored through both sight and touch. Work with this material helps develop the child\u2019s awareness of the shapes and where these shapes occur in the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Knobbed Cylinders<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The Knobbed Cylinders consist of four wooden blocks containing ten cylinders each. The dimensions of the cylinders can vary in both diameter and height. After receiving a lesson with each block separately, the child may then work with blocks in combination, using two, three, or four blocks together. The child removes the cylinders from the block or blocks, placing them in random order, and then returns the cylinders to their correct places and the correct block(s).<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Stereognostic Matching<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The Stereognostic materials allow the child to recognize shapes through the movement of the muscles of the hand.\u00a0By using two hands,\u00a0the child is shown how to feel the objects, then separate and match them according to shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In summary, Sensorial education invokes the essence of being alive. The aim, purpose, and value of Montessori Sensorial education are intertwined with the goal of supporting the holistic development of young children. By refining their senses, children develop essential cognitive skills that serve as the foundation for lifelong learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is exactly in the repetition of the exercises that the education of the senses exists;<\/em>
not that the child shall know colors, forms or qualities,\u00a0<\/em>
but that he refines his senses through an exercise of attention, comparison and judgement.<\/em>
~\u00a0Maria Montessori<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Imelda McShane, Early Childhood Head Teacherand Doreen Adamo, Early Childhood Head Teacher \u201cThere is the obvious value of the training and the refinement of the senses which,by widening the field of perception, furnish an ever more solid and richer basis to the\u00a0development of the intelligence. It is through contact with and exploration of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1400,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[28,261,279,3,298,299,1],"tags":[10,4,144,259,147,19,300,260],"coauthors":[16],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Sensorial-1.jpg?fit=276%2C422&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7icff-ms","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1304,"url":"https:\/\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/2024\/06\/12\/understanding-montessori-math\/","url_meta":{"origin":1392,"position":0},"title":"Understanding Montessori Math","author":"Tori Inkley","date":"June 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Arati Joshi, Early Childhood Head Teacher \u201cChildren display a universal love of mathematics,which is par excellence the science of precision, order, and intelligence.\u201d~ Maria Montessori Dr. Maria Montessori, the founder of the Montessori Method of Education, believed that a child is born with a \u201cmathematical mind\u201d. From birth, children\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Early Child Education"","block_context":{"text":"Early Child Education","link":"https:\/\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/category\/early-child-education\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-4.04.15\u202fPM.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-4.04.15\u202fPM.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-4.04.15\u202fPM.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-4.04.15\u202fPM.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-4.04.15\u202fPM.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-4.04.15\u202fPM.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":779,"url":"https:\/\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/2019\/01\/03\/making-sense-of-it-all-the-montessori-sensorial-area\/","url_meta":{"origin":1392,"position":1},"title":"Making Sense of It All – The Montessori Sensorial Area","author":"Alex Chiu","date":"January 3, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"By Alex Chiu This month, The Montessori Children\u2019s Academy will host the third in its series of Parent Education Workshops on January 9th from 7-8PM at the Short Hills campus. The topic for this upcoming workshop is the Sensorial area of the Montessori classroom, a hallmark of Montessori education. 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