Wonder and Words: How Montessori Builds Language Through Biology
Rebecca Lingo • June 23, 2025

At Wheaton Montessori School, science is integrated into the experiences of students from early childhood through the freshman year of high school. We are driven by wonder, and our classrooms nurture this natural curiosity. From the moment they step into the learning environment, children’s natural curiosity leads them to explore the living world around them. We support children making sense of what they are absorbing through their senses by offering a powerful tool — language. As children effortlessly absorb new vocabulary, they also use new words to organize their thinking.


Why Start Formal Biology Lessons in Preschool?


Between the ages of two and six, children reach the peak of their sensory and language development. They are in a sensitive period for absorbing vocabulary, categorizing objects, and forming meaningful connections between words and their experiences.


Biology in the Wheaton Montessori School classroom isn’t about memorizing facts. It’s about building a relationship with life—plants, animals, and the systems that support them. Through language-rich, hands-on experiences, children develop both a scientific mindset and a deep appreciation for the natural world.


The Foundation: Observation and Vocabulary


Everything begins with observation. Through their senses and experiences with specially designed sensorial materials, children develop the ability to notice minute details, such as leaf shapes, flower structures, and animal features. Once children have had numerous experiences, we provide language to describe sensorial qualities and scientific details.


We provide key vocabulary to unlock further exploration. These words become tools for thinking and communicating and will allow them to seek more and have ownership, within structure, of their learning.


Botany: Language Rooted in Nature


Plants are all around us and are part of daily life here. Whether watering classroom plants, being in nature, or tending to outdoor gardens, children encounter a diverse range of botanical specimens. 


When in the pre-reading stage, we provide children with activities such as: 


  • Matching real leaves to wooden shapes in the Leaf Cabinet
  • Learning the names of plants, flowers, and leaves
  • Classifying plants: wildflowers, trees, desert plants, and more


Once they are reading, children begin:


  • Labeling the parts of plants with cards
  • Creating booklets and plant care guides
  • Using three-part cards and definition booklets to solidify vocabulary


Zoology: Speaking the Language of Animals


Animals captivate children—and provide rich opportunities for expanding language. From feeding a classroom fish to identifying birds at a feeder, children develop vocabulary through real-world encounters.


Pre-readers engage in activities such as:


  • Sorting animals by category (mammals, birds, amphibians, etc.)
  • Sequencing the life cycles of insects or frogs
  • Learning the external parts of animals through picture cards


Our young readers then begin:


  • Matching pictures and labels
  • Reading or creating definition booklets
  • Solving riddle games, such as “Who am I?” based on animal traits
  • Engaging in word study (e.g., animal homes, male/female/young, collective nouns)


More Than Words: Cultivating Curiosity and Connection


At Wheaton Montessori School, the goal isn’t to create little encyclopedias—it’s to nurture lifelong learners. When a child asks about a bug or leaf we don’t recognize, the best response isn’t an answer—it’s a shared investigation.


As adults, we might say: “I’m not sure what it is, but let’s look it up together.” This approach models curiosity, critical thinking, and the joy of discovery.


These language extensions in biology offer powerful tools for children by encouraging observation and reflection, fostering an emotional connection to living things, providing a framework for organizing experiences, and helping children develop precise vocabulary to express what they see.


Biology at Wheaton Montessori School connects wonder and words and equips children with the tools to explore and care for their world with confidence and respect.


Looking for ways to bring this home?


  • Go on a nature walk and label what you see
  • Set up a small plant care station for your child
  • Use picture books to explore animal life cycles
  • Keep a journal of new plants and animals your child encounters


Current families can contact us and discover how biology comes to life in classrooms for young children. We also love to share what we do!


Prospective families with toddlers and children under 4 are encouraged to sign up for a school tour the advantages of our Primary Program, which lays the essential foundation for our Elementary and Adolescent Community Programs*. Prospective families who are enrolled in the 2025-2026 School Year are welcome to sign up for Wheaton Montessori School summer camps. 


Preschool enrollment for summer and fall 2025 is ongoing and depends on availability for eligible early childhood students. There are extremely limited spots available for new children aged 4 and under for the upcoming summer and fall of 2025.


 * Individual school tours for kindergarten through 9th grade are not available, and the waitlist remains closed for the 2025-2026 School Year. The only exception is considered for students transferring from AMI-accredited Montessori schools that have maintained continuous attendance.


A child working with number rods on a mat. Text: After Number Rods: Growing a Felt Understanding of Mathematics.

After Number Rods: Growing a Felt Understanding of Mathematics

By Kelly Jonelis and Rebecca Lingo • November 3, 2025
In Montessori classrooms, mathematical understanding begins long before symbols or equations appear. It begins in the body. When young children carry Number Rods—red and blue wooden bars of increasing length—they are not merely learning to count. They are internalizing what quantity feels like. The rods show quantities in a fixed, linear, and measurable form—not loose, individual, or separate units. This difference is subtle but powerful. In many conventional early math settings, children are shown three buttons or four apples and asked, “How many?” Montessori children certainly have those experiences too, through materials like Cards and Counters. But the Number Rods introduce something more abstract: quantity as something continuous and measurable. A rod of six is one solid piece, not six separate ones. It represents a fixed magnitude that can be compared, combined, or measured—laying the foundation for the number line, for operations, and for the idea that numbers express magnitude as well as count. “This concept can be compared to an eight-ounce glass of water: you don’t have eight separate ounces, you have a glass that is eight ounces. It’s a whole quantity, not a sum of parts. Likewise, the Number Rods offer children an experience of number as a unified magnitude. The “six” rod is not three twos or two threes; it is simply six. That understanding, that a number can be both composed and whole, bridges a crucial conceptual gap for later mathematics.” Kelly Jonelis, Adolescent Program Director and Math Teacher Through countless experiences—carrying, comparing, building stair patterns, and making “ten combinations”—children begin to feel relationships between numbers. They see that five is longer than three by exactly two, and that these relationships are consistent and reliable. This concrete sense of equivalence and proportion quietly becomes the basis of estimation, measurement, and algebraic thinking. Even extensions like “memory games” or exploring one meter in length serve a larger purpose. The child’s repeated interactions with fixed quantities help them internalize what Montessori called “materialized abstraction.” They are learning, through movement and perception, what it means for a quantity to exist in space and time—a step far deeper than counting individual items.
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