The Montessori Work Cycle

The Montessori Work Cycle is the time when children are free to work with any materials on their classroom shelves that they have been introduced to. The introduction occurs through a presentation to either the individual child or a small group of children, who are ready to explore new materials and have shown interest in learning more about them.

The child is encouraged to take the work off the shelf, and independently work with the materials on a table or at a work mat. When complete, the child will return the materials neatly back on the same shelf.

The image gallery below will walk you through this work cycle as follows:

• Child working with Curriculum / Cultural 3-part nomenclature cards building vocabulary through picture and words association
• Children working in Practical Life area to strengthen 3-finger pincer grip / fine motor activities
• Child working in Language area with sound baskets and matching objects to corresponding letter sounds
• Child working in Language area practicing writing skills
• Children working in Language area to practice reading comprehension and writing skills
• Child working in Math area with Teen Bead Stair to practice associating quantities to the abstract numbers
• Several children working with sensorial materials during work cycle, including Trinomial Cube, Knobless Cylinders and Sound Cylinders
• Child working with Brown Stairs and Pink Tower combination using their own imagination for creation of various structures
• Child working in the Math area on addition problems with the help of the Addition Board