We are back in the groove at Little Hoku. It feels great to be back in the school routine, with the classroom abuzz with excitement for learning, discovery, and play. The children have been thrilled to see their friends and are enjoying favorite lessons and new activities too.

New Lessons: Sensorial

One of the new lessons we have is a tasting activity where the children try and match the different tastes of sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. It has been very popular. 🙂 This lesson is part of the Sensorial Area.

This area of the classroom is very special and unique to Montessori. It is where many of the iconic materials like the Pink Tower, Brown Stair, and Binomial Cube reside. The activities in this section of the classroom isolate the different senses and their qualities. Montessori talked about this area giving the children “keys to guide their exploration of the world.” 

Through the experiences the child has in the Sensorial Area we are helping develop more nuanced perceptions that help bring about their utmost enjoyment of life in all its richness and possibility.

We have Color Boxes where the children match colors or grade them from darkest to lightest. There are also Baric Tablets where tablets of different weights are sorted into categories of heavy and light. Blindfolds are used in many of the activities to help isolate the sense of touch.

One activity using a blindfold is the Touch Tablets where the child feels different variations of rough and smooth and matches them while blindfolded. You will also find a lot of activities that introduce geometric shapes and work with geometric design. This helps the child’s perception of shapes in their environment become more honed. 

We introduce vocabulary once the child has thoroughly explored the shapes. The idea is through working with the sensorial materials the child may have an even richer experience as they explore the world around them.

Song Sharing 

I like the flowers

I like the daffodils I like the mountain

I like the rolling hills

I like the firelight when all the light are low 

Boom de- ahh- da Boom de- ahh-da Boom de- ahh- da Boom de- ahh-da (repeat)

 

Have a great long weekend! Warm regards,

Ms. Eva