de Colores!

A little snippet from the Enrichment program in December.
Click HERE to Enjoy!

Shapes

Metal insets were designed by Maria Montessori to teach handwriting. Fundamentally they are metal stencils of ten basic shapes: circle, ellipse, oval, curvilinear triangle, quatrefoil, square, rectangle, triangle, trapezoid, and pentagon. The thick, sturdy metal frame teaches the child control of her pencil as it acts as a guide. Again, the child is instructed to follow a prescribed path around the frame – counterclockwise, the same direction most round letters are formed. Later lessons include tracing the inset and drawing lines within the shapes, that mimic later strokes used in forming letters.

As children learn how to control their pencils while tracing around the various shapes, they also learn to name all of them. This is the most abstract way the child is guided in his work with the various shapes, other than trying to draw them free-hand.