Montessori in the Natural World - The Durham Parent
The best teacher for the young child is the great
outdoors. Equipped with curiosity and a sense of
wonder, he eagerly explores the natural world, both
plant and animal, from tiny insects, busily going
about their business to small seeds that can amazingly
grow into enormous trees.
Let's see how the Montessori environment can aid the
young explorer in his exciting voyage of discovery!
We will look at two examples: The classified cards
and the botany cabinet. The classified cards:
imagine 7 almost-identical pictures of a horse.
Here's how each picture differs. In the first
picture, all of the horse is beautifully colored in,
and the picture is labeled "The Horse". In the
subsequent pictures the horse is not coloured in,
except for one part which is coloured red and labeled.
E.G. the head, the neck, the fore legs, the hind legs,
the mane, etc. so each part of the horse is isolated
so the name can be taught to the child. There are
numerous sets of these pictures awaiting the interest
of the child including, for example, parts of the
butterfly, bird, turtle, fish, iquana, flower, leaf,
tree, ant, bee, spider, and even parts of a house, a
place setting, a shoe, a shirt and a computer!
These pictures create an awareness in the child of the
individual parts of birds and animals, etc. and then
provide a world for them thereby satisfying the
child's expanding thirst for knowledge and his/her
strong desire to give a word to every new object he
encounters.
The botany cabinet: picture a beautifully-crafted
wooden chest with three drawers. Inside each drawer
are six yellow wooden squares. Each square contains a
puzzle piece inset: a painted green leaf shape. What
fun to remove the leaf shapes, mix them up, and then
correctly replace them!
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After this has been mastered,
the child, of course, is eager to know their names.
Now, their leaf shapes do not represent particular
leaves such as maple or oak. No, there are botanical
leaf shapes, representing classifications of leaves.
You probably learned their names in your biology class
in High School. At that time, the learning of new
words held little fascination for you so you do not
remember them. The young child, however, has a
passion for words, so Dr. Montessori reasoned, this is
the best time to present as much language to the child
as possible. These leaf shapes are also an example of
what Dr. Montessori called "Keys To The Environment".
For example, if a child is in a garden or in the
woods, he will make observations such as "A lilac leaf
is cordate, the leaf of the lily is linear!"
In other words, the "Keys" help the child to make
sense of his world, which in turn adds to his
self-esteem. The child can do any subsequent activity
with the botany cabinet, the last of which he might do
when he is about 4 1/2 years old, which is to make a
book with the title "My Book of Botanical Leaf
Shapes". This involves tracing the leaf shapes on
square paper, colouring them in, and writing their
names, such as cordate, linear, reniform, lanceolate
and acciculate, because when you're over 4 years old,
you can write acciculate.....can't you?
These natural science activities are just a small part
of the Montessori environment called the Cultural materials.
[End of Article]
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Montessori Math - The Durham Parent
One day, just wait and see. I'll do it!" says an
exuberant 3-year old Jimmy to his mother after coming
home from school. In the classroom that day, most of
the children had gathered to admire 5-year old Dean's
work: labeling 1,000 golden beads, counting by 10's
to 1,000. What an accomplishment. And what fun!
Before a child is 6 years old in a Montessori class,
he has been exposed to the numbers from 0 to 9,000,
including adding and subtracting and multiplying, with
3 digits! And everything he does, he does with joy;
because in a Montessori class the children choose
their own work, and of course, what they choose is
fun! Is Mathematics fun? In the Montessori
environment it certainly is!
Dr. Montessori really showed her genius when she
devised the attractive, Montessori Mathematical
materials that introduce these concepts one small step
at a time. Let's examine some of them: the ten
colorful red and blue Number Rods that the child first
mixes up and then puts in order; the sandpaper
numbers, where the young 3-year old child can feel the
numbers, see them, hear the teacher say them and
repeat them to himself. When he has mastered the
recognition of these numbers, he is ready to match the
number symbol with the quantity, first with the Number
Rods where the quantity is fixed and the symbols are
loose; then with the Spindle Box, where the numbers
are fixed and the wooden spindles (the quantity) are
loose.
With the next material, Numbers and Counters,
both the symbol and quantity are loose. This material
also lends itself to the introduction of the concepts
"odd" and "even".
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Now the child is ready for the
numbers from 10 to 19. With the "Teen Board" he will
build the numbers from 10 to 19 and match them with
colorful beads. With similar materials the child
learns the numbers to 99. When this is mastered, why
stop there? The child is now ready for....the decimal
system!
With fun materials that make the symbols and
quantities of 1, 10 and 1,000 so easily
understandable, the child can now build his knowledge
of the numbers to 9,000. When you attend a Montessori
Math Workshop, you will be sure to see a demonstration
of the "Bank Game", an activity spontaneously chosen
where 3 or 4 children each bring together a quantity
and number in the thousands and proceed to discover
the total. What fun!
There are cubes with the numbers 1 to 10. Each square
and cube has a colour-coded accompanying chain. A
child is invited to choose first the chain of the
square of 2, which is 4. The next step is to label
the chain; 2, 4 in this case. The chain for the cube
of 2 will have 8 beads. This activity also teaches
the child "skip counting", e.g. 2,4,6,8 and
3,6,9,12,15, etc., which is preparation for
multiplication. The last step in this exciting
activity is to take the chain for the cube of 10,
which is 1,000, and methodically label it: 10, 20,
30, etc. to 1,000.
What a test of perseverance and
concentration! No wonder Dean's friends all stopped
what they were doing to come and admire his achievement!
[End of Article]
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Learning Through the Senses - The Durham Parent
I like your wool blouse. Mommy bought me a pair
of corduroy pants." At three-years old Rebecca is
aware of the different man-made fabrics. She learned
this through the part of the Montessori environment
called the Sensorial materials. During the first six
years of the child's life, the senses are still being
refined and developed. These senses include sight,
hearing, touch, taste, smell and the stereognostic and
basic senses. (If you are not familiar with the last
two terms ask about them at the next Open House you
attend.)
Since most learning occurs through the senses, it is
vitally important that there be no gaps. So if you
want your child to be a surgeon, don't wait until
she's in university. To be a skilled surgeon, one
requires a sensitivity to touch and this isn't taught
at university! To be an artist, one needs an
awareness of shades and hues (among other things), to
be a master chef, a sensitivity to taste. All these
senses are developed before the child is 6 years old!
After the age of six, the senses are basically set, so
we see why educators like Montessori emphasized the
importance of education during the early years.
Let's look more closely at some of the Sensorial
materials. Colour Box #1 consists of 2 red, 2 blue
and 2 yellow tablets that the child simply matches.
Gradually she works up to matching 11 colours in
Colour Box #2. In Colour Box #3 there are 9 colours,
with 7 shades of each colour. Imagine the fun mixing
them all up, and then putting them in order again!
The Colour tablets also provide another example of how
the materials develop self-esteem. The child is
always shown something with which she can succeed!
This is because young children have not yet formed an
opinion of themselves and the world around them.
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If most of her attempts meet with success she feels that
the world is a great place and that she is a capable,
dependable person. If on the other hand, she meets
with a lot of failure, she might feel "Life is hard.
I don't do things well. Maybe I'm hopeless."
So a charactistic of the Montessori materials is that
they are sequential, one step at a time, or as I heard
a parent put it, "inch by inch, anything's a cinch".
With the Sound boxes, to refine the sense of hearing,
the child will shake 3 pairs of boxes and match their
sounds. Later, she gradually increases the amount of
boxes. Another challenge is to put them in order from
the quietest to the loudest. The first Rough and
Smooth Board, to develop the sense of touch, is simply
divided into a rough and smooth surface.
The second
board consists of rough and smooth strips. On the
third board, the rough strips are graduated from fine
to very rough. Then there are a set of squares that
the child matches. Words cannot do justice to these
attractive materials that invite the child to come and
participate. You must visit your local Montessori
school and see them for yourself.
Another charactistic of some of the Montessori
materials is what Dr. Montessori called "Keys to the
environment". After working with some of the
materials, the child is more aware of that particular
quality in the world around her. I have seen a child,
after a friend has entered wearing a new dress, go to
Colour Box #3 and find the exact shade of the new
dress. When the children match the swatches from the
box of fabrics they later become interested in what
cloths are made of. These "Keys" also enhance
self-esteem.
They enable the child to say "I can make
sense of the world and I can do it by myself!"
[End of Article]
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A visit to Blaisdale Montessori School - The Durham Parent
When I exclaimed, "I wish I'd had that when I was a
child!" Mrs. Eleanor Wilson, the founder of Blaisdale
Montessori School, said that this remark is commonly
made by parents when they visit her school. First, we
toured the "Casa" class. Children aged 3 to 5 were
all happily engaged in activities of their own
choosing: pouring, polishing, sweeping, using
tweezers, tongs, ladles, funnels, locks, keys and
dusters. All were activities that are found in the
home and, as Mrs. Wilson explained, help develop
muscular co-ordination, concentration and self-esteem.
I saw children using materials that refine the senses
of touch, sight and hearing, and writing stories--in
cursive!
"Before the children leave this class," Mrs. Wilson
explained, "they can often read at a Grade 2 level."
And Math, using Montessori's unique math materials, by
age 6, the children know their numbers from 0 to 9,999
--including adding, subtracting and multiplying with 3
digits! On the walls were maps that the children had
made and labelled--of Canada, Australia and the United
States! Following Dr. Montessori's dictum, 'Give the
child the best', children at Blaisdale are exposed to
classical art (at the entrance to the class was a
picture of Renoir's "Two Girls at the Piano" and 5
Group of Seven paintings lined the corridor).
Pictures of Beethoven, Vivaldi and Mozart illustrated
the "Music of the Month", a feature that Mrs. Wilson
introduced 33 years ago in 1969 when the school was
first opened.
While visiting the Elementary classes for children
ages 6 to 12, wide-eyed six-year old Carson told me
"The Casa was wonderful, but the Elementary was
awesome!" The core subjects of Math and Language are
still taught individually, as they were in the Casa
(Pre-School), encompassing "Cosmic Education" (Dr.
Montessori's term). The curriculum includes basically
"everything" explained the Elementary teacher
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including Botany, Zoology, History, Geography and even
Palcontology and Astronomy as well as the Arts,
Physical Education, Drama, Choir, Ballet, Karate and
Chess. I observed 2 children working on a ten-foot
time-line of the Prehistoric Age.
Blaisdale also offers a Toddler program for children
16 months to 2 1/2, a Summer program and, in their 2
acre Pickering location, a class of 13 children ages
12 to 14 (Grades 7 and 8). Some of the children in
this class have been at Blaisdale since they were
Toddlers!
Mrs. Wilson explained that as well as the Montessori
training, all of the staff are required to take the
Adlerian course (for effective discipline) and the St.
John Safety Course. French begins in the Casa class
where the assistant speak French most of the time.
Mrs. Wilson, being very health-minded, ensures that
the fluorescent lights are full spectrum, the children
drink only filtered spring water and healthy
refreshments and lunches are encouraged. The School
is open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Blaisdale is a member
of the Canadian Council of Montessori Administrators.
The CCMA is a professional organization dedicated to
upholding high Montessori standards and encouraging
professional development of its members. Blaisdale
has a Montessori-trained Administrator, Heather Wilson,
who received her A.M.I. (Association Montessori
Internationale) training from Renilde Montessori, Dr.
Montessori's granddaughter.
Space does not permit a further description of
Blaisdale's well-established program, but you could do
as I did. Call their head office to arrange a visit
(tel. 905-509-5005), or for more information.
You'll be impressed. I certainly was!
A Blaisdale Parent.
[End of Article]
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The Prepared environment - The Durham Parent
Three-year old Jennifer is scrubbing a table. Tommy,
aged 5, is labelling a map of Canada, and four-year
old Robert is tracing geometric shapes. These
children have chosen their own activities from "The
Prepared Environment", which consists of specially
designed educational materials laid out on shelves in
an attractive, orderly classroom.
This "Prepared
Environment" is divided into the following activities:
Practical life reflects activities that the child is
familiar with because they are found in the home.
Thus the activities are a link between the home
environment and that of the school. Children are
attracted to these activities because, as every parent
knows, children want to do what Mommy and Daddy do,
i.e. wash dishes, use nuts and bolts, open locks with
keys, pour liquids, sweep, dust and polish. Even
clean up a mess! The list goes on.
Sensorial activities involve the children in the
refinement of their senses, e.g. sight, hearing,
touch, taste and smell. The senses of the child are
still being developed from birth to age 6, and of
course, we want them to be as keen as possible, since
all learning occurs through the senses. There are
some senses of which many of us may not be aware.
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For instance, the basic sense (to distinguish weights), or
the stereognostic sense (identifying objects by feel).
Academics includes Language, Reading and Writing. In
a Montessori class, by the time children are 5-years
old, they are reading at a Public School level
equivalent to Grade 2--at least! And, since every
activity the children do, they choose to do, every
activity is done with joy! Because, when you are a
little child, you choose activities for one reason -
because it's fun! Each lesson is given individually
to the child when he is ready and interested, so that
when he does choose an activity, he has had a previous
lesson in it.
Mathematics activities include Art, colouring,
painting, cutting, pasting, drawing, and also Art
Appreciation which we will explore at a later time.
In Music the children acquire a repertoire of songs,
play rhythm instruments, move to music, and are
exposed to classical music for musical appreciation.
But this is only the beginning as the child eagerly
absorbs subjects such as Botany, Natural Science,
Geography, Music and Art.
[End of Article]
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THE JOY OF READING - The Durham Parent
As we look in on 4-year old Amanda who is writing a
story about her cat, we observe some of the materials
that help her learn how to write, and note that there
is an overlapping into reading. Let us now look
around the "Prepared Environment" at more of the
attractive materials that have invited Amanda to
further pursue her reading adventure.
Although Amanda
knows the sounds of the letters of the alphabet that
she learned with the sandpaper letters, she will work
with a great many more reading materials before she
will read from books. Here are some of them:
the movable alphabet, consisting of large individual
letters with which to label miniature objects such as
hat, hen, mop, drum, flag and stamp; classified
cards: various categories of pictures, from the
utensils in Mommy's kitchen to Daddy's tools.
Always
of interest are pictures that show "parts of" from
parts of a fish, a bird, a flower, to parts of a
house. With all these pictures the children have fun
matching them to their correct labels. This is easy
to do because there is a duplicate for each picture
with the correct word already there. When the child
herself feels confident enough, she will match the
labels and pictures with the duplicates,and then use
these duplicates to check how well she did. And what
fun to do the "action" words. Large individual words
that invite the child to silently "read and do", such
as "hop", "jump", "run", "rub".
After the child has
explored the "Phonegram" booklets, she can act out
"crawl", "dance", "sleep", "eat", and "scratch".
Then there's a wealth of word activities with which to
have fun! Matching baby animals to their mothers,
male animals to females (a goose and a gander), number
of symbols with their words, and singulars and
plurals, to name just a few.
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We must remember that the child from ages 1 to 6 is
what Dr. Montessori called a "sensitive period" for
language. They have a passion for words. (Please
call if you would like to know about a very easy word
game you can play with your child to help her
understand that words are made up of sounds.) Because
of her passion for words, before the child leaves the
Casa class (children from ages 3 to going on 6) she
will have been exposed to .... grammar!
Yes, to the
function of the noun, the verb, the adjective, the
adverb and the definite and indefinite articles. Do
you remember how much you loved grammar when you were
in grade 5, 6, 7 or 8? You didn't? Maybe it was
because you were no longer in a "sensitive" period for
language. Dr. Montessori recognized various other
"sensitive" periods for different areas of learning in
the life of the child. To learn more about them,
inquire when you visit Blaisdale Montessori School.
By attending a Language workshop, you will see a
demonstration of the reading materials we have
mentioned and much more!
You will also learn how
vocabulary is taught, how language permeates the
classroom environment, and how you can enrich your
child's vocabulary at home.
[End of Article]
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