The work shelf
The four areas, one at a time
A primary room has four areas, and each has its own shelf. Every piece of work sits on a tray in the same place, so a child can find it, carry it to a table or a rug, and put it back.
Practical life
The shelf closest to the door. Children pour water, sweep, button a frame, polish a spoon and set the table for snack. It is the work of looking after yourself and the room.
Pouring and spooning
Buttons, laces and zippers
Washing and sweeping
Sensorial
Wooden cubes, color tablets and shapes that a child compares by hand. The materials isolate one thing at a time: size, color, weight or texture.
Largest to smallest
Matching colors and shapes
Rough and smooth
Language
Stories, songs and the names of things come first. Sand trays and pencils follow, and children trace letters when they are ready.
Stories and songs
Sand trays and pencils
Letters to trace
Math
Beads, counters and bowls to count and sort. A child holds the quantity first, and the written number comes after.
Counting with beads
Sorting in bowls
Numbers to hold, then to write
What Montessori means here
A long morning, a calm room and lessons one to one
Spindle is a Montessori school. In our rooms that means three things: children choose their work from open shelves, they work through a long stretch of the morning without being interrupted, and a guide shows each child a new piece of work one on one. We call the long stretch the work cycle.
Work is chosen from open shelves
A long work cycle each morning
Rooms that mix three ages
See the shelves in a working room
A tour shows how a morning runs. Book one, and bring your child if you like.