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The children enrolled in the casa room are from ages 3 to 6  years.  The classroom is designed to promote independence and to allow the children to have free movement to choose their activities. Children learn best when they are allowed to choose the materials that they are going to work on and are allowed to work at their own pace. The children in the casa room are allowed large blocks of uninterrupted time so that they are not always being disturbed when they get heavily involved in an activity.

The children use mats for many of the activities and these mats help to organize and define their working space. It also helps other children to be aware of where their friends are working so that they do not accidentally disturb their work. Casa children learn from experiencing their environment through their senses. They are provided with many opportunities to touch, lift, smell, taste, carry, manipulate therefore maximizing their potential for learning. All of the activities in the prepared environment have some aspect of indirect learning. That is that the activities are preparing the child for more academic work later. A good example is washing tables. The child learns to wash the table from left to right; this indirect learning trains their brain for reading and writing as that is done from left to right. When drying the table the child dries the table using cloth in a circular counter clockwise motion. This is an indirect preparation for writing, as when we write letters such as “o” and “a” it is done using a counter clockwise circle. All activities in the Montessori classroom have a built in control of error, this means that if the activity is not completed properly then the desired outcome will not happen. A good example pouring water from one jug to another. If it is not completed properly them there will be water on the mat, table or floor. The child is able to see this and does not need a teacher to tell them that they are wrong, which may hurt their spirit.. When there is a spill the activity is equipped with a sponge and a cloth and the children know how to clean up the spill. All Montessori materials allow for repetition, it is the key to the child developing and refining their skills.

"Where Life and Learning Meet"