Sensorial

Rational
Nicole Rousey
Lander University
Summer 2014

Nicole Rousey 1

Sensorial Rationale

The sensorial lessons in a Montessori classroom are lessons that help intensify the childs senses: visual,
auditory, tactile, gustatory, and olfactory. While children work in this area of the classroom, they are gaining the
knowledge of pre- reading, writing and math skills. Sensorial activities may seem redundant to an adult, but young
children are thrilled and intrigued by the processes. This fills the childs developmental need to participate. As
teachers we want to be able to watch the child practice and master lessons so we must observe and help spike their
interests; we do this by using different methods like: isolation of difficulty, control of error, points of interest and
three-period lesson.
There are nine major components within the sensorial area of the classroom, different lessons fit within the
following categories:

Visual This is letting the child use their eyes to see changes in things like color, shape and size.
Auditory Children will use their sense of sound, listening to the sounds they make while shaking canisters

filled with sand, rice, or a substance the child cannot see.

Tactile The sense of touch is used here, running fingers over different types of sandpaper and fabrics;

students will find a difference between hard and soft.

Gustatory Using tasting jars, letting children sample different flavors to learn about how tart, sour, sweet

things can be, that everything has its own essence.

Olfactory These sense of smell, this is similar to using the sense of taste. It is difficult to find a lot of
lessons and keep it from bothering students that may have allergies. This would be another lesson that

children can sniff bottles and learn what smells they like and do not care for.
Thermic This gives children a sense of feeling if things are hot or cold.
Baric This is a pressure, this would show children which hand they have a dominance in, as well as
letting them do more matching without being able to see what is in the jars, so it is just the pressure and
how much force the child has to use to push on the tab.

Nicole Rousey 2

1
Nicole Rousey

Visual-Stereognostic This is where children will be using more than one sense, they will use their eyes to

make a judgment on the differences as well as rolling and moving it through their hands.
Stereognostic This is when a child is going to take what they feel and imagine what it could be and then
they will be able to see and identify if what they thought was correct.
It is important that a control of error is included within every lesson. Having a control of error is always

helpful to the child. This will help the child see if a mistake was made without having an adult come and check their
work. The child can take the lesson that they completed and see if something is missing or out of place. An example
of this would be in the brown prisms, if one is not in the descending order than the smallest brown prism will not fit
flush to the top of the one next to it. A child can also take a small marble and let the marble slide down the brown
prisms, if it did not slide down all the way to the bottom and stopped in the middle then the child could see without
the help from anyone else whether or not success was achieved. Another example would be in the first color box. A
child will take this lesson and see that they can only match the blue to the blue, the red to the red and the yellow to
the yellow. There is a one-to-one correspondence and a child should be able to see that the made a mistake if the two
colors that are together do not match and change it to make it the correct match. Once a child sees a mistake and
fixes it without the assistance of an adult it will build a higher self-confidence in the child and they want to do more
challenging work because they will not be afraid of failure.
Another important part of sensorial lessons are having clear points of interest. This happens while the
teacher is showing a lesson; the teacher will make a meaningful movement or pause that will catch the childs
attention. This is done to show that an important step is happening within the lesson. A wonderful example of this
would be a lesson such as fabric matching, the points of interest are the colors, textures, and patterns of the fabric;
we want the child to see that the texture or pattern is not the same in everything. Another point of interest in this
same fabric matching lesson is making pairs; the teacher will pause to show that there is a match. I also believe that
the thermic tablets are another prime example what a great point of interest would be. It is very clear to show how
we touch our arm or cheek with a tablet and can feel a very different temperature in all the different tablets when
they are fresh from the freezer. The majority of them also have very different textures such as smooth, slick, rough,
and soft.

Nicole Rousey 3

2
Nicole Rousey

It is the teachers responsibility to know that the child is comfortable with the material. Isolation of
difficulty is when a lesson is showing exactly what is being taught, so you can pin-point what is happening. where
the teacher breaks down the lesson into individual steps including meaningful pauses that highlight certain parts of
the lesson. A teacher might see that the child is stuck on a certain part of a lesson and when we go back and show it
to them again we stop and give attention to what is happening at that very moment, to make a point for the child to
see what the lesson is showing. We show or explain what is changing so the child can see and do that step without
assistance. So when we look at a lesson like the knobless cylinders and we see a child getting stuck on the order of
the first box, this would be where the teacher steps in and might say something like This is the largest. Now lets
find the next largest. Etc. until the child can do the whole knobless cylinder box without help. These steps would
not need to be taken unless the child is really struggling and has been working on it for a long period of time.
There are different ways to teach or to show lessons to students. One of the ways is using a three-period
lesson. This is exactly what it sounds like, a lesson that is presented in three different time periods. The first period
you are making an introduction with the materials, using the words This is ____. while pointing to the object or
picture. The second period would have the child try to recognize what you showed them. The phrase that is mosted
most often used here is Can you show me _____. referring to the same object or picture that was previously
shown. The final period is seeing if the child can recall what was shown to them. This is typically where the teacher
sits back and wants the child to give all the information, the teacher will use minimal dialog in the final stage What
is this? while pointing to what the teacher wants the child to describe. Once a child can go through all three of
these periods then we know that the child has mastered this lesson and is ready for an extension, variation or even a
new lesson. A great lesson is Color Box I, you begin by telling the child the three colors of the tablets. Then ask
them if they could show you the different colors and the final period would be the student putting the lesson together
for you and telling you the colors as they put out each colored tablet.
I believe that the sensorial area of the classroom is so important to each child. At the beginning of the
childs time in a primary classroom, whether it is at age 3, 4, or 5; this is where we are setting them up for success
and getting the pre-math and language skills. After my first year in Montessori as an assistant I saw the five year
olds that came in new to Montessori without the sensorial aspect of the class and they struggled in language and
math, I think had they been given the opportunity to work more in the sensorial area they might have done much
Nicole Rousey 4

3
Nicole Rousey

better organizing their work in the beginning and not be so overwhelmed by it all. I am excited to have a classroom
of my own and watch these children grow and develop while teaching them many new lessons that they have just
Nicole Rousey 4

looked at on a shelf and wondered what to do with it, or even watched them pull it out mix it all up or mix it with
other things and put it back on the shelf because it was too overwhelming at that time. They like to do it alone; in
fact, sometimes almost in private for fear of inopportune help. (Montessori, 1914). I have witnessed so many
children that want to find a corner or very far off place away from the rest of the children when they begin a new
lesson. I always assumed it was so they could have more quiet time and now I see it is so they will not be interrupted
or have someone come in and show them how to fix what they are doing. Children have that excitement and drive
deep within them, that they want to accomplish things on their own and they do not want someone coming in and
showing them how to do it.
I noticed that children truly take the sensorial in all the other areas of the room. The children learn their
primary colors, secondary colors and so on and then take them to the math section. They not only can tell you that
the bead cabinet has the first one bead but that it is also red, the fours are yellow, and so on and so forth. They look
much past just a number or what we expect and have a deeper meaning and knowledge than traditional students.
While we teach colors, shapes, sizes and the normal things we are incorporating more than just what is expected we
bring it in to teaching how to build relationships, how to express ourselves, and how to move within the space we
are in to respect others. Dr. Montessori sums this up beautifully, As the childs body must draw nourishment and
oxygen from its external environment, in order to accomplish a great physiological work, the work of growth, so
also the spirit must take from its environment the nourishment which it needs to develop according to its own laws
of growth. (Montessori, 1914)
Silence should be a rare thing in a Montessori classroom, in my personal opinion. If there is silence
children are not moving, they are not working and therefore they are not learning. In traditional classrooms people
expect children to sit quietly at a desk and listen to the teacher; however, in a Montessori classroom one might
expect motion, some call it organized chaos. Children are working with their own materials at their own pace,
getting up changing areas of the classroom to work in, watching other children work and asking them how they did
their work. There is a wonderful time that children are expected to make silence as a group though, I am always

4
Nicole Rousey

mesmerized by how this works; to watch children lay quietly so you could hear birds chirping outside the window,
the clock ticking, and so many other sounds that you do not typically hear because of the commotion of the day.
Nicole Rousey 5

Then all strive to imitate me and attempt to do the same. I notice that here and there a foot moves almost
inadvertently. The attention of the children is drawn to every part of the body in their eager desire to attain
immobility. (Montessori, 19721967). Children no matter their age will pull all of their inner strength to not move a
muscle so they can hear every single noise because when they get to talk about what they heard everyone wants to
be able to say exactly what it was they heard.
There are so many benefits to using sensorial lesson within a classroom. As we grow as educators it will
only prove more that children lack these skills because they are not taught at home. Teachers have to remember that
even though some adults and administrators believe this is a waste of time or waste of space in the classroom that it
is a very important part to the beginning stages of learning for any child. If they do not have their sensorial needs
met then they will struggle in reading, writing, math and science later on down their path.

5
Nicole Rousey

References
Montessori, M. (1914). Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook. New York: Frederic A. Stokes Company.
Montessori, M. (19721967). The discovery of the child. New York: Ballantine.

6
Nicole Rousey