Curriculum

Materials in this area are designed to refine the child’s five senses and develop their mathematical mind. Things such as size, shape, color and measurement are developed in this area. 

Pink Tower: This material consists of ten cubes, each progressively larger in size. Children build the tower by arranging the cubes from smallest to largest, helping them develop visual discrimination and an understanding of gradation in size.

Brown Stair: The Brown Stair consists of ten prisms, each varying in width but the same length and height. It is designed to help children refine their sense of dimensional differences, particularly in terms of width. Like the Pink Tower, the Brown Stair encourages gradation and size comparison.

Red Rods: These are rods of different lengths, each measuring 10 cm longer than the previous one, starting from 10 cm and going up to 100 cm. They help children understand the concept of length and promote motor coordination and visual discrimination of size differences.

All of these materials support the development of the child’s sensory perception, which is the foundation for later mathematical concepts like number recognition, counting, and operations. 

Children use real, purposeful materials to learn aspects of everyday living. Through this, they develop concentration, coordination, independence and order. Students learn self-care, classroom care and practical skills such as pouring, buttoning, cleaning, food preparation, grace and manners.

Pouring, Spoon, Scoop, Tong: Children practice precise hand movements and coordination. These activities prepare them for tasks like serving food, helping them develop independence in everyday tasks.

Sweeping into a Square: This teaches children how to clean up a spill by focusing on a contained area, encouraging them to take responsibility for their environment and develop a sense of order.

Open/Close Baskets, Jars, Lids: By practicing with different containers, children learn to open and close items they will encounter in daily life, reducing reliance on adults and fostering independence.

Each activity breaks down larger tasks into smaller, manageable steps, promoting concentration, motor control and a sense of accomplishment.

Students develop social and emotional learning skills such as self-regulation, conflict resolution and community-building skills. 

The Peace area helps students to self-regulate and practice conflict resolution without needing the intervention of an adult. One of the foundational lessons from this area is the use of the Peace Rose. Students learn how to use the Peace Rose to take turns talking and sharing feelings during a conflict. 

In Montessori math, concrete materials are used to teach concepts such as counting, numeration, decimals, squaring, cubing, and the manipulation of numbers (addition, subtraction, etc.).

Math lessons are divided into:

Quantity and Numeration: Counting is learned through red and blue rods and spindle boxes, combining physical movement with the perception of growing quantity.

Decimal System: Golden beads introduce students to base ten, with units, ten bars, hundred squares, and thousand cubes, helping them understand the decimal system.

Operations: Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are introduced using golden beads, allowing children to manipulate numbers concretely.

Geometry and Fractions: Taught when the child is ready, expanding their understanding of shapes and parts of a whole.

Bead Bars: Colored bead bars represent numbers 1-10 and extend to squaring and cubing chains, offering hands-on experience with these concepts.

Montessori math encourages a deep, concrete understanding of mathematical concepts before moving to abstraction.

In Montessori classrooms, language lessons are individualized and based on hands-on, phonetically driven materials. P4 and Kindergarten students receive small-group literacy lessons daily in the afternoons.

Bunche classrooms have a rich language area with materials supporting skills from pre-language through book reading, story writing, and sentence mapping with grammar symbols. Some key lessons include:

Sandpaper Letters: Students trace the shape of each letter while learning its sound, reinforcing the connection between letter formation and phonics.

Metal Insets: Children trace shapes with stencils to strengthen their pencil grip and learn to brace the paper with their non-writing hand.

Concrete Objects: These are used in phonics games like:

• “I Spy”
• Initial letter matching
• Word matching
• Sentence object matching

These hands-on activities engage children with the language materials, helping them develop literacy skills in an interactive and enjoyable way.

Geography, concepts of time, cultural appreciation and community are taught using hands-on materials such as globes, puzzle maps, etc. 

Students use color coded globes and puzzle maps to understand geography. The elements of the earth- land, air, and water are taught through key experiences, three-dimensional landforms, pictures, labels and bookmaking. Each classroom has a continent box for all seven continents filled with artifacts and pictures for the child to explore.
 

In the Montessori science curriculum, students explore a variety of topics including botany, zoology, physiology, physical and earth science and STEM concepts using hands-on materials.

Bunche students engage in key experiences with plants, animals, foods and other natural items in the science area. They then deepen their understanding through the following:

Life Cycles: Students learn about the stages of life through real-world observations and materials.

Parts of: They study the parts of plants, animals, and other natural objects, using models and pictures.

Experiment Work: Hands-on activities allow students to experiment and explore scientific concepts directly.