Children between the ages of three and six learn by doing. It is a special kind of doing, carefully directed within a “prepared environment” full of beautiful materials that call to the child’s inherent desire to learn. The concrete materials allow children to explore the world through all their senses: and to develop the signal capacities that set the stage for all future learning: concentration, coordination, order, and independence. In the course of the three year developmental cycle, the child goes through an intense period of change, including the transition to cooperative play and more complex social interactions, a language explosion leading to beginning skills in writing and reading, the emergence of number sense and the foundations of math, and great changes in physical development. Carefully trained adults respond to these changes in social and emotional, cognitive, and physical development with appropriate lessons to support each child’s growth and emerging capabilities.

The Lower Elementary Curriculum