Core Elementary Montessori Materials

The main, core, essential materials needed for the elementary years vary from album set to album set.

The following list corresponds with the AMI albums. This list is not comprehensive for a classroom of multiple children, but represents the core essential materials if you must build slowly or are in a homeschool or tutoring environment. Not every child needs every  material, but this list covers almost every child. 

Environment:

·         Pencils, colored pencils, sharpeners, erasers

·         Paper supplies (various sizes and formats)

·         Receipt tape or similar for making timelines

·         Research resources in every subject area (including dictionary, thesaurus, atlases)

·         Work plan and work journal system

Language:

·         Language Analysis boxes (not the primary version!)

·         Grammar Boxes and filler boxes

·         Grammar Symbols (could be printed on cardstock)

·         3 small movable alphabets in 3 different colors (printed on small tabs, stored in small box)
·         etymological dictionary (or 3)

Mathematics – pull most of what you need from recombining components of the following; this list will get you most of the way:

·         Decanomial Bead Bar Box (55 of each bar, includes the 10s)

·         Bead Bar cabinet

·         Fractions working box (has 10 wholes of each fraction 1-10)

·         Racks and Tubes division (more lower elementary, some use in upper elementary)

·         Elementary Negative Snake Game

·         Large Bead frame (skip the small bead frame for elementary)

·         Checkerboards (multiplication and decimal multiplication)
·         Decimal Fraction Board and cubes

·         Pegboard (get one that is 30 by 30 and you can modify for all purposes) and pegs

·         Binomial and Trinomial Cubes

·         Stamp Game

·         Cubing material

Geometry:

·         Impressionistic Charts

·         Geometry Sticks

·         Geometry Cabinet (or a version of)

·         Iron Material (or cardstock versions of)

·         Protractors and rulers

·         Constructive Triangles (or a cardstock version of)

·         Blank material to create nomenclature

·         Elementary Geometry Solids

·         Area material (can be cardstock)

·         Volume material (metal containers and wooden blocks)

Biology:

·         Impressionistic Charts

·         Variety of plants and animals to explore and care for (and associated accoutrements)

·         Microscope (by 2^nd year if possible)

·         Dissection kit (could be just for plants)

·         Blank material to create nomenclature

History:

·         Impressionistic Charts

·         Black Strip

·         Hand Timeline

·         History Question Charts

·         Clock with hands that move correspondingly to one another

Geography:

·         Impressionistic Charts

·         Demonstration supplies (according to the album pages you have) – these will be used for demonstrations and experiments throughout a variety of areas

o    Including glass test tubes and stoppers; heat source; some chemicals

·         Blank material to create nomenclature

·         Economic Geography cards

Art & Music:

·         Research material for composers and artists

·         Research material on musical genres

·         Bells OR tone bars (both is preferable when possible; if can only have one: tone bars in two octaves)

·         Art supplies (brushes, watercolors, clay, etc. according to interest and area of history being studied)